First off I would like to apologize for the extended delay. School and work have been keeping me busy and don't leave me with a lot of free time. That said I was also very unhappy with how nine turned out so without further ado here's the new and improved chapter nine. Hope you all enjoy.
Out of the ten teams Iruka announced at the beginning of class, nine of them were gone. Team 7 sat alone in their old classroom, waiting for their Jounin instructor, Kakashi Hatake, for about an hour. It was becoming painfully clear the man was no closer to showing up, either. Naruto, having fully recovered from his unfortunate run of diarrhea, grew increasingly impatient with each passing second, and started pacing across the room 30 minutes in.
'Unbelievable! My first day as a Genin and I spend the first half of it glued to a goddamned toilet seat, and now I'm wasting the second half of it trapped in this damned room because my Sensei is late.'
Several other thoughts raced through his mind until he came to a realization. He was going to have to set a trap for the tardy Jounin and teach him a lesson. Looking around the room, Naruto spotted a chalky eraser resting on the shelf of the blackboard. Snickering to himself, he snatched up the eraser and dragged a chair over to the door.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, warily watching the orange-clad genin.
From his seat, Sasuke watched the exchange as Naruto told the girl his plan. Utterly ridiculous. As if a Jounin, an elite shinobi, would fall for such a childish trap. When Sasuke voiced his claim, Sakura instantly agreed with him and called Naruto an immature brat, although Inner Sakura was hoping it would work.
"Hey, it's the best I could do with these resources!" Naruto defended, "If this was my apartment the man would have a balloon filled with piss flying at him for being so late."
Both Sasuke and Sakura turned green at the thought of being pelted with a balloon filled with Naruto's piss. Sakura was about half a second from clocking the blond straight in the jaw before the door started to slide open.
A man with spiky silver hair, face concealed by a mask, and his left eye covered by his Konoha headband stepped inside. The eraser fell straight onto the man's head, bounced off, and landed on the floor. Naruto pointed and laughed at his "victim", while Sakura and Sasuke just looked utterly flabbergasted it actually worked.
The silver-haired man, glanced down at the eraser before plucking it off the ground. After examining it and the three children in the room, Kakashi spoke.
"Well, my first impressions of you three is," his voice was calm and almost uncaring, "I hate all of you."
After their brief introduction in the classroom, Kakashi led his three charges to the rooftop where he interviewed all of his potential students. He sat them down on some steps, casually leaning against the railing across from them.
"Well, how about you guys introduce yourselves?"
Sakura spoke first. "What do you want to know?"
Kakashi glanced at the girl and shrugged. "Names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, you know, stuff like that."
"Hey. How about you introduce yourself first?" Naruto piped up. "We already know each other, you're the stranger around here."
"Naruto, shut up." Sakura hissed.
"Fair enough I suppose. My name is Kakashi Hatake. There are a lot of things I like and dislike. I have a lot of hobbies. As for my dreams for the future, well, quite frankly that's none of your business."
The three genin all looked at one another.
"So all we got out of that was his name?" Sakura quirked a brow..
Before either boy could respond, Kakashi cut in. "All right, now it's your turns. Let's start with you."
Sasuke looked up to see Kakashi staring pointedly at him. He momentarily considered his responses.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, there's not really much I like, and there's really only one thing I hate. My dream is more of an ambition: to restore my clan and kill the man who brought it down."
There was a long pause as everyone recalled the man Sasuke mentioned: Itachi Uchiha.
'I figured as much.' Kakashi nodded, swerving his focus to Naruto.
"And you?"
Naruto perked up, excited at the prospect of someone wanting to actually know something about him.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like eating ramen, setting traps, and playing pranks. I hate the way most people treat me, like I'm some kind of monster, or just flat out ignoring me."
Sakura blushed a bit as the bitter memory of her confrontation with Sasuke replayed in her head. "I have quite frankly too many dreams to count but I've narrowed it down to two for you. My first is to one day become the greatest Hokage Konoha has ever had and show people once and for all that I'm not worthless."
"And the second?"
"I want to help Sasuke bring down the man who killed his clan, and who killed my brother."
That caught everyone off guard, but no one moreso than Sasuke. For the past five years, after all the times Sasuke and Naruto trained with each other, the blond never once said anything about wanting to bring down Itachi. Instead, he always talked about the various different pranks he pulled or would pull. The thought Sasuke now had an ally in his fight to kill Itachi brought a small smile to his face, which he quickly hid.
For his part Kakashi hid his surprise quite well, the mask covering his face certainly helping. Still, the more the Jounin thought about it, the more it made sense.
"And finally, the girl."
Sakura blushed. When Kakashi first placed the question her responses were simple. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, with a mention of how she disliked Naruto's immaturity, though that was mostly because he made the best reactions when she criticized him. Hypocritical, she knew, but still funny. However, after hearing Sasuke's and Naruto's answers, she was glad Kakashi selected her last. It gave her time to reconsider and not appear as a shallow witch who only cared about one thing… like Ino-pig.
"My name is Sakura Haruno, I like reading and studying, I dislike it when I come across something I can't understand. My dream for the future is to become a strong kunoichi and hopefully fall in love."
Not perfect, but miles better than her first draft. Kakashi seemed to agree, which led Sakura to wonder if he let her go last on purpose.
"I'm sure you will." he said before addressing them all. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, we are done for the day. Tomorrow we start our first set of duties. Survival training." All three of the kids looked confused at the declaration.
Sakura raised her hand like a diligent student. "Um, Kakashi-Sensei, why is our first exercise survival training? We've already had plenty of that at the academy."
Kakashi chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Naruto scowled.
"It's just that, you guys are going to freak out when I tell this next bit."
"When you tell us what?"
"Well firstly, tomorrow I'm going to be your opponent. Secondly, out of the 30 graduates, only 9 will go on to become full genin. All of the rest will be sent right back to the academy. This 'survival training' is your final test. And it has a 70 percent dropout rating."
A pin dropping in the silence that followed could be heard as clear as day.
"What?!" Naruto shrieked, "Then what the hell was the whole graduation for?!"
"That was just to weed out the truly hopeless cases." Kakashi explained, handing out sheets of paper. "Bring all of your equipment to the training field tomorrow morning at 7. Oh, and you'll want to skip breakfast, otherwise you'll probably throw up."
Once Kakashi dismissed them, Naruto suggested for the second time that day, they all go get some ramen together. This time his two teammates agreed to the proposition and together the three potential genin made their way to Ichiraku Ramen. Teuchi and his daughter greeted them with warm smiles when they arrived.
"Oh, Naruto! Will it be the usual today?" Teuchi asked without looking up from his cooking.
"Yep, thanks Teuchi." Naruto replied as way of greeting.
It was then that Teuchi's daughter Ayame noticed the others.
"And what will your friends be having?"
Sasuke took a moment to look over the menu before settling on the beef ramen. Sakura on the other hand politely declined on account of her diet. However, her virtually roaring stomach prompted Naruto to order her a large bowl of pork ramen. Everyone ignored Sakura's protests and a few minutes later the three of them were enjoy steaming hot bowls of ramen. The three ate in silence until Sasuke said the one thing all of them were thinking about.
"What are we going to do about tomorrow?"
The question weighed heavily on them. A test with a 70 percent chance of failing. What kind of test would it be? How could they possibly prepare themselves for something they knew virtually nothing about?
"Let's start with what we know about the test." Sakura suggested. "We know Kakashi-Sensei referred to it as a survival exercise, he said he would be our opponent, and he told us to meet at the training field at the edge of the forest at 7. So what does that tell us?"
"It tells you that you guys are in for a heap of trouble." A voice called from behind them.
The trio turned to Ayame Kazan standing right behind them.
"So I hear that you guys got stuck with Hatake. I'm sorry to hear that."
"Why's that, Ayame?" Naruto asked while Sasuke and Sakura exchanged confused glances.
Ayame chuckled, taking the seat next to Naruto. After giving a brief nod to the ramen chefs across the counter, the two started preparing her a bowl.
"I'm guessing he told you about the tests' dropout rating. What he didn't tell you is his personal failure record."
"His personal failure record?" Sakura frowned.
"Kakashi's been offered the chance to teach dozens of genins. He's failed every single group he's ever tested."
The children were silent as the chopsticks fell from Naruto's numbed fingers.
"He fails all of his students?" Sasuke asked, ending the silence.
"Every single one. None of them ever measure up to his standards. To be honest, another Jounin and I started placing bets on whether or not he might actually pass a team or not. I win every time."
Despair settled down over the children. Naruto stared down at his half empty bowl of ramen, struggling to come to grips with reality. Kakashi Hatake always failed the teams he's assigned. Did that mean he and his team were already doomed to go back to the academy?
"No," he whispered.
The others gazed at him expectantly. The blond pointed at Ayame.
"You say Kakashi always fails his students and that you always bet that he does? Well, I'm going to make him pass me and tomorrow you're gonna lose your little bet."
At Naruto's words Sasuke felt his doubts begin to disappear. "That's right. Tomorrow, no matter what it takes, we'll pass whatever Kakashi Hatake throws our way."
Sakura nodded in agreement, although she still had her doubts. She knew the only way they would pass was if they worked together. They then departed for their homes to get a good night's sleep.
Left alone, Ayame watched them go as Teuchi placed her bowl of ramen on the counter. "I'm gonna lose my bet, huh? Those idiots. I'm betting on them."
The next morning, Team 7 all met at the training field at the specified time, fully expecting to see Kakashi waiting for them to arrive. He was not. In fact, Kakashi wouldn't arrive for another two hours, giving the three of them time to come up with a few strategies.
"Good morning, children." Kakashi greeted cheerfully upon arrival.
"You're late!" both Sakura and Naruto shouted while Sasuke glared. Kakashi ignored their angry shouts and pulled out a clock.
"This is set to ring at noon. You have until then to complete this assignment."
"And what is the assignment?" Sasuke asked, eager to make good on his words from the night before.
Kakashi held up two small silver bells. "Simple: take these from me. The one who doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of the stumps behind me and will be forced to watch as the rest of us eat our lunches. Additionally, the one who fails to get a bell also fails the test and will be sent back to the academy."
The three genin stared dumbly at the Jounin's latest statement.
"Feel free to use any and all techniques you can. If you aren't trying to kill me, you won't succeed."
"Wait a second!" Naruto shouted, "If there are only two bells, why do you bother putting us in teams of three? You're screwing us over before we even start!"
"Only a fool expects life to be fair to them." Kakashi tied the two bells to his belt. "Now then, when I say so, the exercise will begin."
He looked at his three potential students, all glaring back at him with determination.
"Go."
The ninjas before him vanished.
"A ninja's most vital skill is the ability to hide without being seen." Kakashi said to an empty field.
He glanced around warily. "Although it seems they have that one down at least."
What he didn't say was he had a pretty good idea where they all were. Sasuke hid in a tree directly behind him, Sakura was laying under some bushes, and Naruto… was standing right in front of him for all the world to see.
'Maybe I spoke too soon.'
"Alright old man, let's go! You and me!"
"Shinobi lesson 1, taijutsu." Kakashi sighed, reaching into his pouch.
Naruto took a step back before he face vaulted at the sight of what Kakashi grabbed. His favorite book, Make Out Paradise, written by the legendary Toad Sage himself.
"What is that?"
"It's a book." Kakashi replied, turning to the page he marked. "Oh don't worry about me, you don't really pose much of a threat whether I'm reading it or not. Besides, I have to know what happens next."
Naruto turned beat red, charging forward. "I'll fucking show you what happens next!"
Kakashi stepped away from a punch and caught its follow up before tossing Naruto to the side. He then ducked under the following kick, smiling as Naruto exposed his back to him. Memorizing his page number, Kakashi shut the book and made a hand seal. Tiger. A trace of chakra shot out of Kakashi's fingertips. Sakura shouted a warning from her hiding spot. Too late.
"Konoha's most sacred, hidden taijutsu technique." Kakashi announced as he shoved his fingers up Naruto's butt.
"1000 Years of Death!"
Before any of them knew it Naruto was flying through the air at great speed before landing in the river. Kakashi returned to his novel.
'Well, that was absolutely humiliating.' Naruto thought, sinking to the bottom of the river, 'But at least he's right where I want him.'
He made some shadow clones and had one swim a little further down the river before he surfaced, pulling himself back onto the shore.
"So, ready for round 2?" Kakashi asked, still reading his damned book.
Naruto spat out some river water, standing up to point at him defiantly.
"Just you wait! I'm going to pound you into next week!"
Four shadow clones burst out of the water behind him.
Kakashi sighed as the five Narutos bore down on him. "I guess Arashi never taught you about attacking stronger opponents."
He moved to engage the blond and his clones. The fifth clone who swam up river made his presence known, latching onto the Jounin's back. The clone distracted him long enough for the other four clones to dog pile him. With the Jounin pinned, Naruto took the opportunity to grab one of the bells. His wrist was caught in a grip like a steel vice before Kakashi forced himself to his feet, sending all six Narutos flying.
"Sasuke, now!" Naruto called, soaring through the air.
He pulled on a thin metal wire. A ball of fire shot out from Sasuke's hiding spot as the wires planted by Naruto's clones tightened around Kakashi's body. He was able to briefly make out a surprised expression from Kakashi's visible eye before the fireball enveloped him.
"All right! We got him!" Naruto celebrated as the fire cleared, revealing a scorched log.
"...Or not." he amended, quickly scanning the area around him.
A shiny glint caught his eye and Naruto saw one of the bells lying on the ground next to a tree.
"Hey guys, the idiot was in such a hurry to escape he dropped one of the bells." Naruto announced, approaching the shining object.
Stopping just short of it, he made a shadow clone to retrieve the bell. The clone was hoisted up into the air by a rope around his ankle.
"I thought so." Naruto commented as his clone cursed.
Wary of a second trap, he picked a branch off the ground and carefully pulled the bell towards him with it.
"Well that's one down," Naruto shoved the bell into his pocket. "and one to go."
As he left to find his teammates, Kakashi watched from his hiding spot, smiling under his mask.
"All right, so we got our hands on one of the bells. Now we need to get the other one. Any ideas?" Sasuke addressed the team as they met deep in the forest.
Glancing back and forth between his two teammates, he waited expectantly for either of them to come up with a plan like the one that got them their first bell. That plan had been a collaboration between Sakura's logical thinking and Naruto's inherent ability to improvise. Sakura came up with the basic plan: Naruto had to restrain or distract Kakashi long enough for Sasuke to hit him with a fireball. Naruto came up with the how and when and, thanks to his years of pranking, recognized Kakashi's rope trap.
"Before we try to get the second bell, I think we should decide who gets the bell we currently have." Naruto placed the bell between them.
"Anyone have a nomination?"
The three genin all stared at the key to passing this test. None of them made a claim for the bell, for fear of creating a conflict when they needed to work together. After a few minutes of silence however Sakura spoke up.
"I think Sasuke should get this bell."
"Hmph, you would say that Sakura." Naruto muttered, crossing his arms in irritation.
The others braced themselves for Naruto complaining about doing all of the work but not getting the reward.
"However in this instance I agree with you."
Both Sakura and Sasuke were surprised by Naruto's statement, which brought a smile to his own face. He loved surprising people.
"Sasuke was at the top of the class at the academy. He worked the hardest and despite the numerous distractions, mostly coming from the girls in the class," he said that last part with a playful sneer at Sakura, "he never lost focus. I'm not selfish enough to keep him held back out of spite."
With the initial decision made Naruto plucked the bell off the ground and tossed it to Sasuke.
"Now what about the other bell?" Sasuke asked, catching the bell in his palm.
"I think I have an idea." Naruto replied as the others closed in.
Kakashi stood alone in the forest, reading his book as he patiently waited for his three potentials to make their next move. So far they'd done an excellent job of surprising him with their teamwork, but now that they had one of the bells came the true test, and it wasn't getting the second one away from him.
He wanted to see if they could put aside their own wants for the good of the team, so he allowed them to get one of the bells to see if they would be divided over who would get to pass. As he turned the page, he heard a faint rustle in the trees around him. He was less than surprised when a second later dozens of shurikens erupted from the trees. Leaping to the side, he noted the shurikens were from almost a dozen different trees.
'Naruto's using his clones again.'
While Kakashi was still in the air, three kunai knives flew out of the bushes heading straight towards him. 'Smart. Attacking me while I'm locked in trajectory.'
He contorted his body so the knives flew past him. When he landed, he flashed through the hand seals for a mud wall to block a series of fire balls launched from behind.
"You three are going to have to try harder than that."
A shadow appeared overhead. Kakashi squinted his eye to see Naruto coming down on him, ready to introduce his heel to Kakashi's face. In a blur of motion the silver-haired Jounin's hand shot up, grabbing him by the ankle. Using the young blond's downward momentum, Kakashi spun Naruto around before throwing him into the oncoming Sasuke. The two slid across the ground for 10 feet before they came to a stop.
"Almost had him." Naruto sighed, rising to his feet.
Kakashi didn't want to admit exactly how close they were to overwhelming him.
'Guess I'll have to start taking them a little seriously.'
Swallowing his pride, Kakashi earmarked the page he was on and put Make Out Paradise into his pouch.
"Okay then children, you have my attention now."
It quickly became apparent to Sasuke that he and Naruto were completely outmatched against their teacher. The silver-haired jonin moved swiftly, blocking and dodging the two genins' attacks. He, however, never threw a punch of his own. Instead, he redirected their own attacks at each other.
As Kakashi guided Sasuke's fist to Naruto's stomach, realization struck him. For all the times they trained together, they never trained to fight with each other. They had always trained by fighting against one another. A quick look at Naruto told the young Uchiha that Naruto concluded the same. The blond placed his hands over his eyes. To anyone else it would look like the genin was rubbing his eyes trying to clear them, but Sasuke saw a different meaning.
'Time to use your Sharingan.'
Sasuke nodded, his dark eyes turning red. When he turned his enhanced gaze towards Kakashi, Sasuke could see the surprise register in his eye.
"Now! Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he and the blond charged at Kakashi.
Naruto pulled ahead of Sasuke to throw five shurikens.
Kakashi recovered from his surprise, dodging to the side before he moved to intercept Naruto. Sasuke tracked the movement with his Sharingan, yelling at Naruto to duck. The blond obeyed and five balls of flame rushed over him followed by Sasuke using him as a launch pad. Kakashi stopped his attack short, jumping back to avoid the fireballs. They collided with the ground, kicking up enough dust to hide Naruto from Kakashi.
"Not bad." he remarked, looking up to catch Sasuke's descending foot.
Sasuke twisted his body around, reaching for the remaining bell. Kakashi shoved Sasuke away just as four Narutos emerged from the dust cloud. Kakashi swore, catching the punch of one of the clones and ducking under the kick of another. All four Narutos blindly leapt onto Kakashi just as Sasuke reappeared behind him, flashing through the hand seals for another jutsu. A wave of heat washed over them before a blistering inferno consumed them.
"Think we got him?" Sasuke asked as Naruto came out of the bushes.
"Don't see how we could've missed."
"Oh you don't, do you?" Kakashi's voice asked from beneath them.
Before either of the children could act, a steel grip wrapped around their ankles and pulled them down. Within seconds, Kakashi stood before Naruto and Sasuke, who were buried up to their necks.
"Not too bad, children. You almost had me there. Now where's the girl?"
"Right behind you, sensei." Sakura announced whilst pressing a kunai to Kakashi's back.
As she did so she carefully reached for the second bell.
"So you used the boys as a distraction so you could get behind me unseen." Kakashi analyzed, "Clever girl."
"The most important weapon in a ninja's arsenal is patience." Sakura quoted from their earliest lessons as she tugged the bell free, just as the timer sounded.
Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled at his three students as Sakura and Sasuke tried to dig Naruto out of his hole.
'They work well together. Very well. But there's one last test for them.'
"All right! We did it! We won!" Naruto jumped with joy almost as soon as he was unearthed. Sakura couldn't help but laugh with him while Sasuke did his best to hide a smile and look dignified.
"Yes you guys got the bells, well done." Kakashi agreed, "So who's getting tied to that stump being sent back to the academy?"
The tonal shift was immediate.
"I'll let you guys decide that on the way back."
And just like he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
From a distance, Kakashi watched them debate who would get the second bell, evidently Sasuke was already slated for the first one. Leaving Naruto and Sakura to decide which of them would fail. He watched and waited for the debate to spiral into an argument, but it never happened. Naruto just kept waving off the bell while Sakura kept insisting Naruto take it. That's when Naruto made a shadow clone and Kakashi heard him say.
"When the odds are stacked against you, cheat."
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke found Kakashi waiting for them by the memorial stone and the three stumps. The silver-haired jonin was still nose deep into his book when he spoke.
"So which of you has the bells?"
He peeked over the edge of his novel to see Sasuke and Sakura each holding up their bell. He glanced at Naruto.
"I guess that means you failed then, Naruto."
The blonde just smiled, "No I don't."
Kakashi raised a curious eyebrow. Naruto produced a tinkling little bell from his pocket.
"We all pass."
Kakashi's eye widened at the sight of the little bell, quickly snatching all three of them out of the hands of his students. With a practiced eye, he examined the three bells. They were all indistinguishable from one another. From behind his mask, he smiled.
"You're right Naruto, you all pass. You all worked together to get the two real bells, and instead of condemning one of your number to failure, you found a way to ensure that you all succeeded."
"We either pass as a team," Sasuke started.
"Or we fail as one." Sakura finished.
Still smiling, Kakashi handed his three students the bells back, "Well done, Team 7."
Later that night, Kakashi met with Ayame at a sake bar, not too far from Ichiraku's
"So I hear you finally passed a team," Ayame practically sang, pleasantly buzzed.
Kakashi just nodded in response, sipping his drink.
"So how'd they do it?"
"The same way everyone passes: they worked together towards a common goal."
"From what I hear, they managed to dupe you out of tying one of them up."
Kakashi sipped his sake again before telling Ayame Naruto's plan. "Naruto had his shadow clone transform into a perfect copy of the bells. Not a bad idea."
"Not a bad idea? That's bloody brilliant!" Ayame exclaimed, "Wish I had thought of that."
The two drank in silence for a few more minutes before Kakashi looked at the clock and noticed the time. With a deep sigh he reached for his wallet, pulling out a hundred ryo and sliding it over to Ayame.
"You always win our little bets, Ayame."
Ayame smiled as she accepted her winnings. "Only a fool bets against an Uzumaki, Kakashi."
Having passed and officially becoming Genin, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura find themselves want a more challenging mission than what they are being given. Fortunately a bridge builder from the Land of Waves has just what they're looking for. Next time: The Bridge Builder
