As usual, I don't own Naruto. I used to but that was in a dream, and sadly my attempts to sink the whole world into Eternal Tsukuyomi so everyone lived in it failed. I would had gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids and that stupid talking frog! (They're toads, I know, but calling them frogs piss them off.)
Chapter 7: Team Seven
"Sasuke." Iruka greeted as he stood on the Uchiha's doorstep the next morning, sporting a cast on his right arm and his usual chunnin vest. It covered the multiple wrappings the older ninja had around his torso, but it couldn't hide the winces every time he had to start moving and take a step forward. Which was exactly what Sasuke silently invited him to do.
Iruka looked around, and after scanning every object in the room out of reflex he found himself curiously noting the infrastructure of the place. He hadn't had many chances, if any at all, to witness an Uchiha house from the inside. The deceased clan were very secretive and secluded with such things, at the point where they refused for their compound to be built the same way as the rest of Konoha. Uchiha-only contractors had to be brought in to the village from other areas of Hi no Kuni, so the style and materials of their homes were entirely different to anything Iruka had ever seen.
Sasuke noticed the distraction in his teacher, but he himself was too distracted in thoughts to be curious about it. To him it was more important to observe the older ninja closely, trying to figure out the purpose of his visit. 'Surely he isn't here to sight-see… especially with those wounds.' Sasuke wondered in his mind, even the paltry Academy education on the topic teaching him to see such obvious signs of injury. All shinobi needed to be trained to look for weaknesses, it was something done almost unconsciously by any self-respecting nin. The boy sat down on a very comfortable wooden chair, almost wincing from a sudden memory as his body pushed down on the seat's cushion. Once upon a time always sat there by his father when a lecture was coming, and Sasuke unconsciously had chosen his usual seat while Iruka, by luck, chose Fugaku's. The chunnin couldn't have known of course, and he decidedly didn't look about to lecture Sasuke if his concerned gaze was anything to go by.
No, Iruka was worried about something and he was the first one to break the silence. "Sasuke, I apologize for coming here so early. You must be preparing for your team assignation in a couple hours, but what happened yesterday..." he said, then shook his head as he thought it better. "It was unexpected. You went beyond your call of duty. And, Sasuke, this must have been a particularly difficult thing for you. I don't doubt you as a ninja – you have your hitaite, after all – which is why I'm here as your equal. So if you want to talk about anything that troubles you, you can always talk to me about it. I'm sure it's not easy to digest the first time that you killed someone, even if he was a traitor." Iruka explained, his eyes glued to the boy's jet black orbs with even more softness that he had ever offered as a teacher. But it was also with eyes that have seen horrors without blinking. Sasuke immediately wanted to trust them, but the chunnin's words shook him.
'Yeah, I killed Mizuki didn't I...' he idly wondered to himself, remembering the traitorous chunnin's last attempt for a wind jutsu that merely fueled his own demise. Wind was more than just weak to fire, it could increase a fire jutsu's power if the wind-style user wasn't careful about it. Mizuki had been desperate and threw caution to the wind. Literally. A pile of charcoal was all that was left of the man.
But…
'It wasn't my first kill...' Sasuke bitterly bit back, unable to trust that much in his academy teacher. Flashes of Itachi gurgling his last words as he fought back drowning in his own blood made Sasuke close his eyes shut, shaking his head and instinctively leaning away from Iruka who immediately saw the almost violent reaction and instantly hugged the boy. The chunnin could only say a few words of comfort as the boy slowly got himself back together, trembling less and less until he didn't feel like a leaf in the wind and noticed Iruka's arms around him. He hadn't felt that in so long that his first instinct was wanting to push him away and run, but instead he mumbled "I'm ok" so that the chunnin would let him go. He hadn't had the heart to push him away, not when Iruka would never know the horror Sasuke truly committed. "I-I'm fine sensei, Mizuki deserved it. I did what I had to do, and I would do it again." he said with much more strength in his voice as Iruka knelt before him, looking into his eyes as if to make sure the boy was saying the truth. Apparently the chunnin found what he was looking for, even if he was saddened a bit by it.
'What am I doing, telling a kid that it's ok that he killed and ok that he will kill again?' Iruka wondered as he recognized Sasuke's words as the textbook instruction on his shinobi guilt management class. He himself had said those words to Sasuke only a few months ago, and there was a bitter taste to hearing them back from the boy with such conviction. But he knew, oh he knew, that it was the right thing to do and it was better to hear that than to hear nothing from a corpse he'd have to bury. Iruka wasn't a half-assed teacher to believe he was condemning his students to a life of horror because of what he taught. But he didn't stop himself from acknowledging it would be even better if he didn't need to teach them such things because the world was such a good place.
Silently Iruka nodded at Sasuke in approval of his words and patted the boy's knees, then stood up. "You saved me and Naruto, Sasuke. I'm sure killing will never make you feel good, but you don't have to think of it that way. You protected us, that's what you did." Iruka said as further encouragement, a warm smile sneaking into his face. 'If he was Naruto I bet he'd like me to ruffle his head right now. As it is, though, I should count my blessings. He actually listened to me.' the chunnin thought to himself and waved goodbye with a smile, not wanting things to be even more awkward for the Uchiha. Sasuke gave a polite "Thanks" in return and closed the door after the man, only to look down in shame once he made sure Iruka couldn't somehow see it. 'Who did I protect the first time?' he asked himself, even as a voice in his head that sounded awfully close to Itachi's told him it hadn't been his fault.
"Why are we the only ones left?" Naruto complained for the hundredth time, kicking his feet over the desk while Sakura's face shifted between scowling at the boy and marveling at Sasuke. 'At least the teme can have fun...' Naruto thought jealously, trying his best to ignore how "The Girl Of His Dreams" only had eyes for the Uchiha. He had told himself he'd never get between his friend and his dates, even if Sasuke himself told him Sakura was just annoying to him. Of course, Sakura herself would clog him every time Naruto forgot that and asked Sakura for a date. He secretly loved how Sasuke would get angry at the pink-haired girl every time she hurt Naruto, and she would quickly apologize to the Uchiha. It still had a bit of a sting that Sakura would only apologize if Sasuke told her to do it, but it was better than nothing.
Of course, for Sasuke this was pure torment. Sakura was too bubbly for him, especially when he just wanted to brood about his clan and what he had done. He knew she'd never understand him, and he hated that she pretended to date him without even knowing him. Especially when she kept hurting Naruto. It wasn't a secret that the boys were best friends. Besides, what the hell had Naruto done so wrong? Sakura didn't seem to hate herself for asking him on a date every day, so why would she be mad at Naruto for occasionally asking her out? The hypocrisy made him flip out at Sakura a few times, but she didn't seem to give up.
Funny, how the two were so alike.
"Good morning." A silver-haired man casually said while entering the classroom, then waved at the three genin. It was 4pm. "YOURE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed in unison, making the man scowl. "My first impression of you: I hate you. Meet me at the roof." he ordered, then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "What the hell?" Naruto asked perplexed, looking at Sasuke for answers. Said boy shrugged. "Maybe he's that quick? He has to be our jonin." he offered as an explanation, making Naruto shrug too. "Umm, if he's our jonin then shouldn't we be hurrying to the roof?" Sakura timidly suggested - she'd be shouting it at Naruto, but she was looking at Sasuke when she said it – which made both boys suddenly blink and then start running while they both thought the same. 'Sakura has better common sense than us?!'
On the roof, the silver-haired man quickly spoke while the three kids sad down at front of him. "Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves?" he asked in a casual tone, but Sasuke wasn't fooled. It was basically an order, one he knew Naruto would be itching to follow first. "Hey, why don't you start so we can have an idea what you want?" Or not. Naruto went out and nearly shouted that question, pointing at the man who shrugged and opened his mouth under the face mask he wore. "Well, my name's Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate… Hmm, I don't feel like telling you that." he declared, making all three gennin faceplant. The man simply continued. "My dreams for the future… never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies." he said with a shrug, making Sakura facepalm and the two boys sweatdrop. "Hey, you're not saying much of anything!" Naruto accused, but Kakashi merely ignored him. "Now you three go. What are your names, likes and dislikes, dreams for the future and hobbies. Shouldn't be too hard for you gennin, right?" he said, his suggestion turning Naruto purple from anger.
"My name's Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen and training with Sasuke, I hate the five minutes it takes to cook instant ramen and when that snake lady beats Sasuke up so much he can't train! My hobby is pulling pranks! And I'm gonna be Hokage, believe it! Good enough for ya?" he said with a defiant grin, making Kakashi sigh. "Next." he said, looking at Sasuke while Naruto gaped at the blatant ignore. "Hey-!" Naruto started to shout but Sasuke started with a smirk, internally choking at how Kakashi already knew what buttons to press. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training with the knucklehead next to me, tomatoes, and not having a crazy snake woman try to kill me. I dislike most sweet things, people that insult Naruto and traitors. Ummm, I don't particularly like you either Sakura." he stated and looked at Sakura as he said the last part, making the kunoichi jump startled then look down in shame for the rest of his words. "My hobbies are to train on my own and walk around blindfolded. My dream is to be like my older brother and restore my clan..." he said the last part far less sure of himself and looking down as he spoke of Itachi.
"Very well. You there, pinkie. Your turn." Kakashi spoke up, making Sakura's head lift up in attention. "Hai! My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." she trailed and softly giggled as she looked at Sasuke but quickly stiffled it. "My hobbies are… umm… I dream of being a good kunoichi and, umm..." she spoke softer and softer each minute, looking at Sasuke every time she hesitated. Said Uchiha boy sighed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and trying to ignore the fact she was fangirling all over him all of the time. "And what do you hate?" Kakashi casually asked, making the girl glare at Naruto who gulped, but didn't dare say his name. All four people understood.
"Alright, guess we got that out of the way." Kakashi concluded, then stood up straight. "You're each unique, and you all have your own ideas. We're ready for our mission tomorrow." he coolly added, making Naruto forget all about his anger and jump up in excitement. "What are we doing Kakashi-sensei? Are we rescuing a princess? Saving Hi no Kuni? Sneaking into-?" Naruto went on to ask but the jonin cut him off. "It's a task that all four of us will be doing together. A survival exercise." Kakashi answered, letting the three gennin complain about it.
He was surprised, however, when Sasuke held Naruto's shoulder before the blond could complain and looked directly into Kakashi's eyes. 'Sharp kid...' Kakashi mentally acknowledged, but outwardly kept his nonchalant demeanor. "Does that mean you'll be training us?" he asked, but Kakashi shook his head making the Uchiha frown in confusion. "Now why would I train three brats who aren't even real gennin anyways?" he said, letting the implications sink into the three kids whose eyes went wide as saucers before he went on. "I'm the one that decides if you three pass or not. As it is, from the twenty-seven candidates that passed the Academy exam us jonin will only be passing 9. So the chances you three fail this mission is sixty-six percent." he declared with a dramatic tone, enjoying endlessly how each of the gennin had their own expression for horror. "Be at Training Ground Three like designated at 9:00am sharp, and bring your gear. I'd suggest skipping breakfast if you don't want to be puking it all over the field once we start the test. That's all I got to say about that." Kakashi declared, then disappeared in another swirl of leaves that left all three gennin gapping at each other in confusion, horror, anger and determination.
As Kakashi stood before the Memorial Stone he couldn't help but smile at how they didn't look as if they had caught on to what he said. 'Guess it wasn't just me that didn't understand teamwork right away, sensei. I find myself hoping they learn it tomorrow, however. I'd hate myself if I had to fail your son, after all...' he thought to himself, then started to read every name in the stone as he always forced himself to do. Soon there was nothing but the stone and wind in the field, leaving it empty until three nervous gennin arrived the next day ready for their final test.
Anko fidgeted with a senbon as she waited inside Sasuke's house for the boy, silently cursing herself for not having been around the day before or even earlier that same day. She had seen Iruka go into the boy's house and leave it with very different attitudes, and even if it didn't take a genius to figure out something happened between them she was such a genius.
Then the Hokage had finally let her know who his jonin sensei would be. Kakashi was the logical choice of course, and the team had Naruto there as well, but hell if Anko wasn't pissed about it.
There were few people she would ever consider more unstable than herself. The silver-haired jonin was one of them.
She had nothing against Kakashi's skills or even his personality. The guy was laid back, as well as the most skilled jonin in all of Konoha. Maito Gai could match him in battle and was arguably the best taijutsu user in the world, but sadly the man limited himself mostly to that. Kakashi did no such thing, and few hoped to ever best him in a ninjutsu contest. Even bloodline users paled in comparison to the sheer number of jutsu the man's Sharingan had copied over the years and some people feared it could copy such kekkei genkai despite this being impossible. Fear wasn't always logical, after all.
But when Kakashi went on suicidal missions and openly push teammates away when he was forced to take a mission with one? He might not be the type to cry about his past, but with the amount of brooding and self-flagellation he does there really wasn't any need for it. There had to be something cathartic in torturing yourself with the most painful memory you've ever received, she concluded. Of course she wasn't the same and would gladly drink herself under the table if it meant forgetting about Orochimaru. She had tried. And failed.
Thoughts on Sasuke's sensei were pushed aside when the boy in question silently entered his own house. He never had the chance to see Anko coming. The house's defenses were good, but lacking in updates since Sasuke couldn't become a seal expert overnight and the village believed ANBU patrols were good enough to make up for it. Said ANBU knew Anko's intention, however, and would only stop her if she harmed him. That left her all the freedom in the world to hug Sasuke from behind as a few of her snakes wrapped around him.
If he tried to yell or fight back before the paralysis jutsu hit him she had no idea, but she definitely felt a shiver.
"Awww my cute little gaki, you thought you'd get rid of me that easily?" Anko purred to his ears, silently undoing the jutsu and not feeling surprised at all that Sasuke stayed still despite of it. Of course, this wasn't the first time she did this and she had to swear not to speak of what happened then. There was enough decency in her that it wasn't something she'd want to talk about anyways.
"Was it too much to hope?" Sasuke answered with enough snark on his tone that even Anko immediately got angry about it.
"Why you little – is this how you say hi after a whole day of not seeing me?" she replied, feigning hurt by the end. By his dry chuckle she was too late in holding back her own snarky tone.
"Didn't know you missed me." Sasuke now teased, and Anko knew he knew he had got to her. 'Fine, you win this time brat.' she mentally conceded while letting go of him and getting uncharacteristically serious.
"You got into trouble, brat. At least you did good. Really good. Come with me to your lake, there's something we have to talk about there." she ordered, making Sasuke snap into full attention. Anko never "talked". She always used words like chatting or "spilling your guts out" but never talk. 'Something put her into business mode… Was it me? Why would she care about me killing Mizuki? She brags about every mission she takes for Kami's sake, and they're always bloody, so what the hell!' Sasuke thought to himself, furiously trying to figure out what Anko was up to as he did what he was told.
Once they got to the lake, Anko swiftly summoned a piece of paper and held it at front of Sasuke. "You may be told otherwise, but summoning contracts are mostly owned by the villages. You bet that Konoha keeps its most important contracts to itself, too. Nobody cares much about small contracts though. So I got two contracts for ya. One is a big contract, owned by the village. The other one belongs to the Uchiha clan. I can't even read it brat, only you can, and it's for crows. It's actually yours by… inheritance." she explained, almost hesitating at the end. It obviously came from Itachi, and Sasuke remembered it as he had been spoken to about heritage already.
He wanted it, but at the same time he didn't think he deserved it. The big contract sounded interesting, however.
Before he could voice all that, however, Anko spoke again. His own hesitation must have been all over his face because the tokubetsu jonin didn't give him a chance to argue.
"You're gonna have both. Look, the big contract is with the snakes. Orochibastard took the main scroll to it but the village has the power to create a new one, since its master is technically the village itself. Yes, that means there's now two main scrolls going around but that's besides the point. You're signing them now, but you can't use them until you get a good relationship with your summons. Got it?" Anko explained and ended with a warning look, making Sasuke slump in defeat.
"Yeah, got it Anko-shishou..." Sasuke resigned himself, grabbing the paper and bending to his knees so he could sign it on the ground. "It's with blood, right?" he asked, already biting his thumb even before Anko gave him the nod. It was a simple summoning seal, the boy didn't even have to write his name on it. A poof was heard when he traced a line of blood in it and performed the summoning jutsu, and a rainbow-colored snake slithered through the cloud that appeared looking at Sasuke before twisting towards Anko.
"Hey there purple brat. Pale brat doesn't want anyone elssse getting our contract y'know. But, uhh, thisss one isssn't getting it for a different reassson. Popsss sssaid ssso. He sssaid he'd love to give it to him, but got 'ordersss from above'-" the snake spoke and what interrupted at Anko's squeak of surprise and confusion before continuing "-whatever above isss, I dunno, but they sssound important. It ain't you-know-who at leassst. Popsss sssaid he hasss to wait two weeksss then do this again usssing all the chakra he'sss got. Sssssssssorry Anko." the rainbow-colored snake said before poofing away, making both master and student stare at the now empty ground with equally puzzled looks.
"Uhh, so I'm not getting the snakes as a summon?" Sasuke asked, making Anko shrug in response. "This didn't happen with me brat, the fuck should I know? 'S long as Orochibastard isn't involved ya should be fine." she declared, and Sasuke accepted the answer even if he was skeptical about it.
"Forget about that, try the crows now!" Anko barked, making Sasuke glare at her. She pulled out the scroll containing the crows' contract and threw it to him, who laid it down on the ground and wrote his name on it. He tried ignoring the fact he knew it was Itachi's name above his even though it was blurred, and again performed the summoning jutsu. It was as easy to do as breathing, his Sharingan having copied it from Anko in one of the sparring matches she forced him to use it.
The crow that appeared was the same size as any normal crow, but scars in the form of a cross over each eye quickly threw away the idea that it was just a crow. Sasuke idly wondered how the animal managed to keep its eyes with such wounds, but knew better than to ask.
"Ahh, you were bound to call for us. You were spoken about in high regards to us by our previous summoner, after all. My name is Odin, and I have genjutsu capabilities as well as good advice. Don't mind the eyes please. I can assure you it wasn't as painful as you think, seeing as it was done at purpose in order to enlighten me. I was born blind you see." it explained, as Sasuke respectfully let it speak before introducing himself.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, your new summoner." he declared with a neutral tone, earning an unexpected sigh from the crow.
"I already know that. However, what I do not know is why the snakes have told us you would have a most interesting contract soon. If you proved yourself worthy of it, that is." the crow spoke with annoyance in its tone, making the Uchiha glare. "So you know about it, too?" he asked, and the animal nodded in response.
"They spoke to us through a mental connection that had laid dormant for years. Perhaps even decades. Our elders trust it, however, and so we decided we'd still allow you to sign our contract anyways. Normally you would be unable to sign more than one contract, but if this is what we believe it is then this case would most certainly be an exception." the crow explained, ignoring the growing confused look from both of the humans present. Even Anko had no idea of what was going on; she wasn't very well versed in contracts, and had thought her brat could have signed them both without much problems.
"Okay… So what is this other contract I need to be worthy for?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the crow who flapped its wings in his form of a shrug. "Afraid it is not my right to say so master Sasuke. All I will say is, the summoning contract you may be receiving could very well be the strongest of all. The summoning animals it is with are, of course, related to the snakes. How or what they are, that is for you to find out when they want you to." the crow declared, and although he wasn't happy with it Sasuke nodded in acknowledgment. Anko was seething, however.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she furiously demanded, having hoped Sasuke would share her contract. The crow merely bent its head forward as if it was smirking at the woman, then poofed out of existence. Anko blinked, then glared at the spot the crow used to occupy. Sasuke merely shrugged helplessly, mentally sharing his master's question but finding it useless to ask it out loud.
"Brat, I have no fucking clue what those animals want from ya but you better bring your A-game. I'll be around when you summon those snakes in two weeks like they asked you to. If Manda shows up we'll have to kill it." she warned, then turned to leave.
"W-wait a second! I'm so confused..." Sasuke called out to her, but Anko dismissed him with a backhand wave as she already walked her way towards the gate to the outside. "Figure it out kid! Your summons, your problem now." she declared and left a quiet Uchiha, who wanted to summon the crow back but failed to do so once he tried. The animal had telepathically told him to wait until the crow himself wanted to be summoned, as it was discussing the event with its fellow crows. Sasuke didn't even know summons could talk telepathically, the shock helping him simply taking Odin's word and forgetting about it for now.
He felt prepared for anything Kakashi could throw at him even without the crows. They were something he didn't expect, after all. And who could expect him to already be well-versed in summoning animals in the first place?
Sasuke couldn't help but feel nervous about it the next day, however. He had run Kakashi's words over and over in his mind and still felt uneasy despite having prepared as much as he could for it. There were multiple wires and exploding tags rigged for trap gear in his kunai pouch and pockets; Kakashi had said it was a field, so Sasuke prepared the standard traps for such an area. 'Aren't I the most clever ninja out of the Academy' he mentally patted himself for it, idly wondering if Naruto or Sakura would had caught on to the verbal tip. He didn't think they had.
It sucked that he had to skip breakfast, however.
"Yo!" Naruto grinned and waved at the Uchiha as he approached Training Ground Three, having a smile and a wave in response from the raven-haired boy. It had seemed Sakura was the last to arrive, but was still five minutes early even if she did feel nervous about having both boys get there before her. Her timid "Hi Sasuke" was met with a roll of the eyes from the boy, who pointed at the super-eager blond waving madly at her. And how could she ignore his "Hi Sakura-chan!" that he screamed at the top of his lungs? Seriously, Sasuke couldn't help but be annoyed at it.
She seemed to wise up about it and grunted a salute back, making Naruto grin at her proudly for finally getting her attention. Sakura sighed and extender her hand to the boy, making him blink and look at it as if it was the weirdest thing in the world. "I just wanna start all over, since we're a team now and all. Nice to meet you, I'm Sakura. Can you please stop screaming at me all the time?" she said in the most polite tone she could muster, making Naruto blink a few times before realization sank in.
"O-oh! You always got annoyed at me 'cause I'm so loud? Why didn't ya say so?" he replied with an innocent chuckle, shaking her hand with a sheepish grin. "Alright, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'll be Hokage one day. Believe it! But I'll also not scream at ya, sorry 'bout that." he declared and quickly let go of her hand, nervous at the gesture he definitely wasn't familiar with.
'Wait, was it that easy?' Sakura wondered as she looked at the blond rather stunned, having expected him to complain about it. Sasuke internally smiled; he knew Naruto would do next to anything if she asked him to, but whether for lack of knowing about it or lack of malice the girl had never used that against the boy.
The relative peace after the agreement helped them keep from pulling each others' hairs as Kakashi took at least two hours to arrive, making even Sasuke pissed off. "YOU'RE LATE!" all three shouted at the jonin as he casually walked towards them, hands in his pockets. "Maa maa, I just got lost in the road of life." Kakashi casually excused himself, to the shriek of "LIAR!" from Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke was too busy containing his twitching eyebrow to comment, though he knew it was true.
Kakashi didn't seem to had even heard them.
"So, let's get this started shall we?" he commented while pulling out two bells from his pouch. "You'll have to catch these. Whoever holds one when the timer is up will get lunch." Kakashi added, poofing a timer into existence and setting it on the ground. "If you fail to get one before the exercise ends, I'll send you back to the Academy."
"WHAAAAAT?!" was the cry from the two more vocal genin, as Sasuke limited himself to glare at the man.
"There's only two bells. One of us can't pass, then." the Uchiha pointed out, not liking the implication that Kakashi meant to send one of them back to the Academy no matter what.
"That's right. I did say you had a 66% chance to fail, but I'm feeling generous. Now your chances are only 33%… Or it would be, but I don't like brats. I might as well fail all of you if no one gets the bells from me." Kakashi drawled out with a carefree shrug, followed by another shriek of outrage from the gennin.
"That's not fair/What do you mean?" Sakura and Naruto asked at the same time, but Kakashi simply jumped backwards to stand several meters away from them. "Come and get me, if you can." the man teased as the timer started, then pulled out a book from his pouch and started reading.
"Hey!" Naruto growled, receiving no response as Kakashi merely ignored him while Sakura rushed to hide in the bushes next to the open field they were in.
Sasuke, however, could only facepalm as he knew what Naruto would do. He knew it was too much to hope for that the blond would simply cool off and act like a stealthy ninja for once. 'This Kakashi guy pressed Naruto's buttons like it's nobody's business, the idiot is gonna rush him' Sasuke thought and was instantly proven right. The Uchiha secured the bandana around his eyes as quickly as he could, sensing as Naruto's punch was easily parried by Kakashi's free hand who didn't even have to stop reading.
"Damnit Naruto!" Sasuke growled out but rushed to flank Kakashi, who easily jumped away from the shuriken the Uchiha tried to distract him with. "Wha-" Naruto barely let out before Sasuke roughly yanked him away and threw him to the ground, hitting it with a thud.
"What the hell you did that for teme?" Naruto growled, sobbing his hurting butt while standing up. Sasuke didn't let his gaze away from the jonin even for a second.
"Idiot. What makes you think you can face a jonin alone?" the Uchiha asked, making Naruto grit his teeth. "So what? You guys need the bells, I'll just kick his ass! You two can take em when he's tired, even if he does kick the crap outta me!" the blond replied, making Sasuke want to facepalm right there and then.
"A noble sacrifice." Kakashi sarcastically muttered while passing to the next page, not looking the least interested in what the boys were trying to do. Even if that was kicking his ass.
Not that he had to. Naruto wasn't even close to landing a scratch on him. It was pathetic by his standards, but at least they weren't running away scared. His carefree demeanor seemed to have worked as well; Sasuke already intervened to help Naruto, and the blond wasn't selfishly trying to rush him. Even if it was a foolish plan, it held his teammates into account. Kakashi couldn't fully knock that down. It would be a noble sacrifice, if an useless one as well.
"So what do YOU wanna do then?" Naruto demanded to know while pouting and crossing his arms. Kakashi couldn't help but think of the thousand ways he could kill the boy for taking such a defenseless stance. In fact, that gave him an idea…
Even for Sasuke's senses Kakashi had moved in a flash, crouching behind Naruto with an evil glint in his uncovered eye. 'Let's see how you handle this!' Kakashi thought to himself as he held two fingers stretched out in the tiger seal, pointing them right at Naruto's unprotected pants. "Thousand Years Of Death!" he shouted as his target flew off screaming bloody murder before crashing into a lake a few meters from where he stood. 'Damn, I didn't think he'd be so quick to react. And he took a bullet for the team, too.' Kakashi admitted to himself as Sasuke crawled out of the water, having used a Kawarimi with Naruto at the last moment who now blinked and wondered what the hell did Kakashi do. He was used to Sasuke's chakra tugging on him for Kawarimis, as the raven-haired boy had occasionally helped him with pranks and Naruto helped him back to escape from Anko's relentless pursuits so he automatically accepted it.
He felt bad for Sasuke, but he was damn glad he did. Getting poked in the butt sounded way too painful.
It also pissed him off.
Kakashi didn't like the look of rage on Naruto's face, and had to try really hard not to be intimidated by the sheer number of clones the blond popped out a second later. 'So that's what he fought Mizuki with? Even unprepared jonin could lose to that if it's a bad matchup for their skills. This is crazy levels of orange...' the silver-haired jonin analyzed, calmly closing his Icha Icha Paradise book and pocketing it.
"We're gonna kick your ass for that!" the Narutos said in a chorus, but Kakashi simply hummed. "If you're done making plans for a date later, I want to get back to reading my book. Just come at me with intent to kill, not that you'll even touch me." he taunted with a mocking tone, a bored look in his eyes. Mentally he marked the spot he heard a gasp from when Naruto used his Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. A rookie mistake from Sakura, but to her credit it would take superhearing to having heard that slip. Which a high jonin usually had.
'Now, to get through the sea of orange first...' Kakashi thought to himself as the first clones threw their first punch, that he easily evaded and countered with fluid and lightning-quick motions. The next dozen of clones had similar luck, even as Kakashi limited himself to taijutsu. 'Hmm, should I crank it up to ninjutsu?' he idly wondered while blocking a kick that got a bit too close, only to notice that the next clone was attacking faster than the rest.
"Hiya!" the clone let out while throwing an overhead spinning kick, making it the second hit Kakashi had been forced to block and the first one to make the man jump back. It was easy to dispatch the Naruto clones waiting for him there, but something was off. 'His clones shouldn't have this strength or speed… A henge, then. Sasuke sure thinks quick on his feet.' Kakashi mentally acknowledged and started doing handsigns, only for a clone to throw a kunai at him.
It was way too close to dodge and keep doing handsigns, so he snatched the bladed weapon out of the air and threw it back. Of course the clones couldn't hope to rain metal on him; they'd hit each other more than threaten him, but if he stayed still to do handsigns…
'Hmm. So they're keeping me from using ninjutsu. Not bad.' Kakashi had to again acknowledge, resorting to pure taijutsu again as if it was no trouble for him. Then a literal wave of Narutos jumped at him, as if preparing to dogpile on him. While Kakashi wasn't having it and would simply burst through the middle of it with a kick, instead he jumped back and barely dodged a fireball that blasted through the clones and nearly hit him head-on.
"Damnit!" one of the Narutos cursed, presumably the real one, and Kakashi tagged the likely place where Sasuke had to be to have fired his jutsu. 'I need to keep track of that. It's an honest to goodness Fireball Jutsu. Well then...' Kakashi decided, and a puff of smoke came out of the smoke bomb he quickly cracked in his fingers. When it dissipated ten shuriken shot out of his hands, all of them hitting clones that poofed out of existence. "You'll have to try harder than that." Kakashi goaded, visibly untouched and untroubled.
Then the Narutos smirked and all of them ran the handsigns for the Fireball Jutsu. Kakashi's mouth opened just slightly under his mask, thrown off-balance by the sudden trick only to narrowly avoid a single fireball that came from behind him.
'Ugh.' Kakashi mentally groaned as he had not completely evaded the attack. Then, he poofed out of existence.
"Wh-what?" the Narutos asked in confusion before the ground broke and one of them was sucked into it all the way to his neck. 'Naruto' poofed and turned into Sasuke, who blinked in utter confusion as Kakashi popped out of the ground at front of him and stood tall. "You gave yourself away Sasuke." Kakashi gravely declared. And then frowned as the Uchiha smirked. "And you just went into the center of a sea of Narutos." Sasuke declared, and immediately punches and kicks started raining into the jonin.
By the time Kakashi fought his way out of the sudden dogpile he was definitely scratched. Sasuke freed himself when he hadn't been looking, though his smell of dirt let Kakashi keep good track of him even if he wasn't using chakra to heighten his senses. By then even Sakura joined the mayhem of Naruto clones, convinced by the real Naruto who Sasuke had instructed to do so. The pink-haired kunoichi hesitated at first, but when a Naruto clone decided they didn't have time to waste and Henge'd himself into Sasuke the girl wasn't the wiser and quickly complied.
They still couldn't so much as touch the bells, though. Sakura had attempted a mild genjutsu that made it look like she was also performing the Fireball Jutsu alongside Sasuke, which almost threw Kakashi off until he again disappeared into the ground. As resourceful as the three were, they had no way to unearth him and the jonin didn't fall to any of their tricks after that. The timer sounded just as the man came out of the ground reading his book, signaling the end of their chance to get him.
"Hmm, you three gave it pretty good tries. I was thinking you'd need more time to show me your worth, but it seems like this is enough. So. Who of you knows which two I should pass?" he asked as if it was rhetorical, making all three gulp and look at each other.
Sasuke was the first to look down, clenching his fists. "My fireball caused more casualties to Naruto's clones than even you did. Sakura's method to take advantage of them was less harmful to our own side, so they should get to pass." he declared miserably, his eyes locked to the ground.
"No way! He cleaned through my clones like paper! It was you guys that actually did anything cool to him, like when Sakura got him all dizzy and you kept almost burning his butt!" Naruto protested, but Sakura shook her head. "No Naruto, your clones were the only reason we could do anything. Besides, my genjutsu was useless unless Sasuke did something great. And Kakashi-sensei didn't fall for it. I'm weaker at taijutsu than you two, so I was the useless one..." she spoke, ending it in a whisper as the thought of being useless made her eyes sting. She knew Kakashi would be strong, but the word didn't quite cover the man's ability to sleepwalk through everything they did.
"Well, if I put your stories together it means you three were equally useless. That makes you..." Kakashi sentenced, drawing out the end as the three gennin winced and prepared for the worst. "...Pass!" he happily exclaimed. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura promptly face-vaulted.
Hi there boys and girls! Here's a new chapter! Oh, I'm late? Well, I got lost on the road of life. Enjoy the chapter!