Author's Rant: HELLO! Ciara here with a new chapter of Bloody Blossom! Think of it as a birthday present for myself and to my dear readers.
Bloody Blossom
"Well at least I know you're coming at me with everything you got" He smirked as he saw them tense. "And how should I say this. . . I'm actually starting to like you three." Kakashi's lone visible eye closed, indicating a smile. Sasuke regarded him coolly while Naruto grinned thinking it as a good thing and Sakura remained impassive.
"Now. . ."
The three students tensed readying themselves.
"START!"
Iruka and the third Hokage, Sarutobi, were sitting at a desk facing each other. Both were drinking tea and had a calm aura around them, creating a scene perfect for small-talk and a meeting.
"Iruka," The third started. "I know you didn't come here just for tea." He looked up to him with a steady gaze. "What is it that you wish to see me about?"
Iruka sighed and dropped his head in defeat. "You're right. . ." He admitted. "Three of my students have been assigned to squad seven, and I heard that the Jounin assigned to them is . . . Just how hard of a trainer is he?"
Sarutobi took a sip from his cup. "Kakashi, you mean." He corrected. "You are concerned about him." It was more of a statement rather a question.
"I am." He planted his fist firmly on the table. "I heard that his training methods are a bit . . . harsh." The last word was meant for a whisper but Sarutobi heard him loud and clear.
"I worry about those three. Sasuke and Sakura-san I can put my trust in their passing, but Naruto."
Sarutobi smirked and let out an amused sound. "I'm surprised Iruka. You worry about these three more-so than your passed students." He smiled and reached into his Hokage robes and pulled out a book. He then placed it on the table pushing it forward towards Iruka, who in turn looked at it in question.
"What is this?" He asked.
"All the trainees who have ever been assigned to him. Those who passed and those who failed." The Sandaime Hokage told him with a blank face.
Iruka gulped and reached for the book. "May I?"
The Hokage nodded in agreement and Iruka began flipping through the pages and his eye-brows furrowed in concentration.
Sarutobi smirked when Iruka gasped. "Found something?"
"This—This is. . ."
Kakashi stood in the middle of the training grounds scanning the area with his lone black eye.
"A ninja must know how to conceal himself effectively in the presence of the enemy." He said aloud. Kakashi attached the bells to his waist making it harder for them to retrieve them without him knowing it. Looking around once more he smirked when he easily found the Uchiha concealed well, within the foliage of the trees. Sakura, however, seemed to have vanished; along with her little cat. Kakashi smirked when he heard the faith sound of a bell not too far in the east of the training grounds.
Well, well, well . . . I guess those brats took the instructions well. They've hidden themselves fairly good for their level. Sasuke needs work on masking his chakra, and Sakura, she got careless on bringing that cat, though I'm surprised to see that she knows how to hide that well. Stealth point for Sasuke and Sakura and for the Kyuubi boy . . .
"You and me!" A loud obnoxious voice yelled. "Right now! Fair and square!" Naruto yelled as he stood on the other side of the clearing fists planted on his hips in a defiant stance.
Sasuke frowned in his hiding spot as he eyed the blonde male. "Idiot."
"Ha?" Kakashi stared at him, bored as Naruto began jumping up and down readying to fight. "Is he serious about fighting me alone?"
Sakura stared at them in her own little hiding spot, Chii at her side sitting perfectly still. "Naruto-san . . ."
Kakashi sighed and turned to fully face him. "You know. . ." he started. "-compared to the other two you're a little bit . . . weird."
"SHUT UP!" Naruto yelled. "THE ONLY WEIRD THING AROUND HERE IS YOUR HAIR!" and without further warning Naruto charged forward with a loud battle cry. Kakashi fully aware of his movement moved to reach for something in his pouch, Naruto upon seeing this abruptly stopped and tensed waiting for his sensei's next move.
"Shinobi Tactics number one: Taijutsu; physical art." He recited in monotone voice.
Naruto hacked his brain to remember what the term meant and eventually settled for it being hand to hand combat of all shinobi, "Then why is he reaching for a weapon?" He thought with a glare directed at Kakashi. Eventually Kakashi pulled his hand out of his pouch and out came an orange book.
He opened it.
And began reading.
Naruto's hands fell limp to his sides as he watched his suppose to be sensei read away as he stood a few feet away. "What the . . ?"
"What are you waiting for?" Kakashi asked not once looking up from his book. "Make your move."
"B-But—Why—I mean why are you reading that book?" Naruto asked obviously confused.
"Why?" Kakashi repeated. "To find out what happens next, of course." He drawled out. "Don't let it bother you, with your weak attacks it won't matter if I'm reading or not." Naruto growled at the obvious insult and clenched his fists tightly.
"I WILL KILL YOU!-!" He blindly charged at the man fist raised in the air to aim a punch directly to his face.
As Naruto approached fist swinging in the air like a monkey Kakashi waited for the right moment where the blonde swung at him. Naruto became more agitated as the silver haired jounin caught his punch in one hand, not even moving an inch, growling he swung his free arms only to be blocked once more. With both his arms occupied his pushed himself off and allowed to use the jounin as an assist to get his legs high enough to aim a well deserved kick to the stomach. Quickly seeing through the attack Kakashi released the Kyuubi container's arms and ducked away from the kick.
Naruto grinned in a triumphant manner, spotting an opening in the scarecrow's nearly perfect defense, he threw a quick punch. "Now your mine!"
Alas victory was short lived as his fist met air.
"What the—?" Naruto's fist fell limp to his side as his sensei seemed to disappear completely from his sight.
"Guard your back at all times." Kakashi scolded lightly as he appeared behind Naruto, his hands together with his index and middle fingers pointed up. His book was in-between his palms as he remained crouched on the ground.
From her hiding spot, Sakura watched the exchange silently Chii at her side, eyes twinkling in amusement his tail swishing from side to side. "Mew." She sighed and once again began to move in closer to the fight, her faithful companion mimicking her every move.
Sasuke peered over the leaves as he tried to get a better look on their sensei's movements. "Those seals. . ." he muttered. His eyes widened as soon as he identified them as a fire technique.
That idiot is going to get himself killed.
"You should have moved, but now it's too late." Kakashi told the blonde as Naruto first noticed the 'hand sign'. "Leaf village secret taijutsu finger jutsu!" He yelled with an evil gleam in his eye. Kakashi's hand rose as he poked Naruto in the butt, hard. "A thousand years on pain!" He yelled, sending Naruto flying with a major pain in his rear.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he flew forwards, clutching his throbbing backside.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in irritation as he watched Naruto fly into the river creating a big splash then to his sensei who resumed in reading walking away from the blonde.
"Idiots."
Sakura raised a brow at the idiotic actions, she knew her sensei and teammate were acting like complete fools and that the jounin was only poking fun at the gullible blonde, but for him to actually commit a stunt such as that gave her bad premonitions on their future training if ever they were to pass this test.
And once again that word flashed into her mind.
Pass.
That is the only thing on her mind right now. To be recognized as a true ninja, it will allow her to search for her beloved onii-sama.
"I must pass." A small jingle of the bell was what she got from her beloved pet as a source of encouragement.
"Let's move Chii." The small cat meowed in agreement and hoped off taking the lead. Sakura smiled in amusement as the black feline zipped from tree to tree.
She heard the faint sound of paper being turned. Narrowing her eyes she quickly moved out of sight, sticking closely to the trunk of the tree.
Closing her eyes, Sakura tried to expand her chakra in hopes of finding Kakashi.
"Where is he . . ?" she mumbled out. "Where are you hiding sensei?"
"Right behind you sakura-chan!"
Her eyes snapped open as she turned around almost colliding with her sensei. He was crouch down at her level, their faces inches apart.
"Mitsuketa" Kakashi's lone visible eye closed as he gave her a smile. "Sakura-chan."
Her eyes narrowed as she quickly reached for her kunai pouch in hopes to fight him off before he could do some major damage.
Unfortunately for her Kakashi was faster, holding up his hands to form a simple genjutsu, Sakura's chunin level speed didn't match up to the Jounin's.
Her vision began to blur as leaves began to swirl around her and Kakashi. She blinked trying to clear her vision then opened them again only to see Kakashi nowhere in sight.
"Where is—"
"S-sa—kura…" A strained male voice reached her ears as she began to walk away.
"Uchiha-san?" recognizing the voice immediately, she turned around.
Sasuke, as she had guessed, was behind her. However, he had kunai digging into his flash and blood oozing out of the wounds. Weak and at a loss of blood, the Uchiha was using a tree trunk to keep him from collapsing completely.
"S—Sakura . . .H-help m-me…" Sasuke begged as he reached out for her, only to retract it as soon as he started coughing out blood. She watched as it flowed out of his mouth and down onto his already soiled shirt.
She frowned and brought her hands up in the form of release then softly whispered "Kai" dispelling the weak jutsu.
Her eyes narrowed, mouth set into a grim line as she stared at the mass of trees yards away from her where she guessed her sensei was currently observing her,
"I find it insulting that you, sensei, thought that I would be foolish enough to fall for a trick like that" Her mouth twitched into a small frown. "I will get those bells."
"Ninja tactics number two; genjutsu, Sakura was like a master against it… "Kakashi muttered as he landed further up north from where Sakura was.
Kakashi smirked as he felt her chakra spike up, bells ringing in his ears once more as Sakura began to move. "Heh, as expected . . ." closing his book with a sigh he once again placed it in his vest pocket safe from harm.
Sasuke glared at the man who appeared before him as he continued to stare off the distance and ignore him. Eyes narrowing at what he said, Sasuke hid a smirk in silent appraisal for the young girl.
Kakashi finally finished with his musings eventually noticed the Uchiha standing before him. "Ah! I see you've finally shown yourself, you and Sakura disappeared awhile ago that I thought you've run off, and for Naruto. . . not so much"
Sasuke glared at the man and bit out with a snarl "I'm different from those two."
"Yeah?" He questioned with an eye brow raised. "Why don't you say that after you get the bell, Sasuke-kun?" he dangled the small object before him for added taunting effect. Sasuke turned to face him and ignored the taunting suffix the man added to the end of his name, like he was impersonating a fan girl. The Uchiha moved fast and took out three shuriken, throwing them quickly at Kakashi. His sensei dodged easily.
"There's no use in just using normal attacks." Kakashi scolded. Sasuke smirked and threw a kunai in the air, cutting a rope above him as it went upwards.
"A trap?"
The man wondered as he had to dodge the trap, letting the eleven kunai hit the tree behind him instead of his body. As he skidded to a stop, Sasuke appeared behind him.
"What?"
Sasuke aimed a kick at the side of his sensei's head, but Kakashi still managed to block it with his arm, despite the speed of the attack. He grabbed Sasuke's ankle and held it firmly in place as the Uchiha twisted his body around to punch Kakashi. His fist was caught so he carried on, twisting his body more to kick Kakashi's head with his free foot. To block this, Kakashi had to release Sasuke's fist and hold his arm above his head, letting his forearm take the bulk of the hit.
The bells jingled and Sasuke smirked as he reached up to grab one, but Kakashi noticed his plan too soon. So, as Sasuke's fingers grazed across the small silver ball, Kakashi released him and jumped back a bit with a curse muttered under his breath. Sasuke flipped over and landed on his feet, breathing rather heavily, as Kakashi skidded to a halt.
'What a guy. I don't even have time to read Icha-Icha paradise with him attacking me.' Kakashi thought as he prepared for another defense or block, even resorting to dodging with the powerful blows.
'This might take a while. . .'
'I have to keep going.' Sakura recited over and over like a mantra in her head. 'to find onii-sama…'
Her determination grew as she hoped from tree to tree.
'FOR ONII-SAMA!'
"Kyaaah!" A small five year old girl yelped as she fell to the ground with a thud. Looking up at her attacker, tears in her eyes, as she gave her a thwarted look.
"Is that all you got? Sakura-sama" The honorific added to her name was mocking but she didn't even notice to busy at scolding herself.
Like any other day she was out training with her older cousin, under the strict order of her father, to learn the basic of Ninjutsu.
"N-no!" She yelled indignantly, wiping the dirt off her person. "D-Do it again, Asuka-nee!" She got up into her fighting stance once more glaring at the thirteen year old.
Asuka hid a smirk as she lifted up her rod and began to charge at the girl. "Roger that."
Sakura gracefully dodged the wooden as it came to her left, back flipping she narrowly escaped the blow to her head. Asuka frowned as her movements became more agile and decided to step it up a notch. Throwing her weapon in the air, Asuka began to use hand to hand combat. Sakura's eyes widen as Asuka's fist almost connected to her right shoulder.
"N-Nee-san!"
Asuka glared. "Keep up! Never ever second think while in combat!"
"B-but!" Her eyes widened as she gave a powerful blow to her stomach sending her a few feet back, her body hitting a tree. She began coughing and clutched her stomach in pain.
"Suck it up!" She growled. "Surely you can do better Sakura-sama" Asuka sneered.
"I-It hurts!" Sakura cried out tears in her eyes.
"Shut up!" She growled. "Stand up and we'll do it once more!"
Sakura's began crying as she shakily stood up. Asuka smirked and ran up to the five year old fist raised, ready to attack.
"I was under the impression that you were working on weapon aim and not hand to hand combat, Asuka-san." A cold voice entered the training ground interrupting Asuka's attack.
"T-Takeshi-sama!" Asuka kneeled in respect
Sakura's eyes lit up at the voice. "Onii-sama!" She twisted her body to see him, but soon regretted after as pain shot up from her stomach.
Takeshi was at her side in a flash before she could hit the ground. "What's wrong?" he whispered.
"N-nothing, A-Asuka-nee and I were just training." She assured with a strained smile.
Takeshi frowned and took the girl into his arms, lifting her up easily. The eleven year old boy then turned to the older girl pinning her with a glare.
"T-Takeshi-sama!" She begged forehead touching the ground. "P-Please don't tell H-Haruno-sama!" She cried out. "I do not wish to be punished!"
The air was tense.
"Why would I do that?" He said with a calm and eerie voice.
Asuka's head shot up. "Y-you m-mean?" She stood up and gave the boy a smile. "Arigato, Takeshi-sama."
Glaring at the girl safely tucked into the boys arm she made a reach for her once more. "Come now Hime-sama, we have training to attend to."
Sakura shook her head then buried her face into her brother's neck. "N-no! I want to stay with onii-sama."
Asuka growled and grabbed her by the arm. "Let's go!"
"No!"
"Why you little—!"
SLAP!
She fell to the ground with a thud, grasping her now red cheek with her hand.
"Touch my sister again," His cold blue eyes stared at the cowering teen. "And I'll kill you."
Tears began to fall as she gave a shaky bow and proceeded to flee from the scene.
Takeshi watched as the older teen scrambled to get away, he glanced down at the whimpering girl in his hold and whispered reassuring words to her.
"Hime, as a Haruno know your responsibilities," He chastised softly. "Fight your own battles."
"Fight your own battles."
Her brother's words echoed in her mind as she kept on running. "I will make you proud, brother."
She heard Chii fall into step beside her.
"Now to find Hatake-sensei."
"I'll admit that you're different from the other two." Kakashi said as he acknowledged Sasuke's ability with an indifferent look.
With that said Sasuke smirked and began to do a series of quick hand seals.
"Horse." The Uchiha stated first. "Tiger." He said second. "Katon Goukakyuu no jutsu." Sasuke finished, taking in a deep breath after he said it.
'What? That technique is not something a Genin can do!' Kakashi thought to himself in shock. 'He shouldn't have enough chakra.'
Kakashi was, however, proven wrong when Sasuke took his stance and blew out great waves of fire, forming a pit in the ground by melting away most of the earth due to the intense flames. He was able to hold the jutsu long enough to that it would have burned the victim to a crisp and then burned away the ashes before letting go of the jutsu. The fire soon cleared without the chakra to hold it and no one was there.
"He's gone!" Sasuke stated in shock. "Is he behind me?" He growled, looking in all directions. "No…above? Not there either. Where is he?"
He heard a faint rumbling sound when a hand shot up from the ground and grabbed the Uchiha by the ankle. "Beneath you!" Said Uchiha looked down at the hand holding him in place.
"How-?" He questioned in shock.
"Doton Shinjuzanshu no jutsu!" Kakashi said as he pulled Sasuke down.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sasuke yelled.
Kakashi rose from the ground and stood in front of the boy. Sasuke had been pulled under enough that his head and part of his neck were the only things above ground. Usually he pulled the enemy under completely, allowing them to suffocate, but that would have been a bit too much.
"This is the third ninja tactics know-how, ninjutsu." Kakashi informed him as he crouched down. "How is it? Can't move, right?" He mocked.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he looked away.
"Looks like your talents are quite exceptional. But…" He started as he rose to his feet.
"They say that nails that point out get driven back with a hard hit on the head before they can get out any further." Kakashi finished, taking out his book again and flipping to his page.
"Damn it!" Sasuke cursed.
Kakashi had to hide that smirk coming up with his book.
"Hatake-sensei." A soft voice called out followed by the jingling o bells.
And here comes trouble.
"Ah, Sakura-chan" He turned her head to greet the clad in black pinkette. "I was wondering where you were." He opened his lone visible eye and diverted his gaze towards her feline companion. "And I can see you have your cat with you."
Her eyes narrowed. "His name is, Chii."
"O…Kay." He gave her a blank stare.
Sakura frowned and glared at the jounin, sensing a familiar chakra she glanced down at the immobile Sasuke, who blushed seeing as Sakura saw him in such a state, before shifting it back to the amused Kakashi.
"Sensei," He got his attention once more. Not bothering to warn him before hand she disappeared only to reappear at his side sending a powerful round-house kick. Using his fast reflexes, Kakashi barely managed to block the attack.
'She's fast!' He thought, eyes widening a fraction.
Sakura growled and made a 'Tch' sound of disdain. Using momentum she twisted her body to aim a well deserved punch to the head, this time she got lucky and planted a firm one to the side of his cheek with enough force to send him staggering back. Sakura smirked and proceeded to send a flurry of kicks and punches towards the disoriented jounin who had trouble dodging each and every attack.
As Sasuke watched the fight from his place in the ground, he couldn't help but have mixed emotions. Sakura was able to land a hit to their jounin sensei, he didn't know whether to be angry or impressed. . .
And the fact that her stupid cat was sitting on his head didn't help either!
Kakashi began to take her more seriously catching every punch and kick the teen threw at him, when Sakura's eyes flashed in anger she threw another punch to his stomach only to have Kakashi's reflex move on their own accord, in which he accidentally threw a punch strong enough to send her skidding back, falling to the ground with a large thud.
'Crap!' Kakashi thought. 'I didn't mean to hit her!'
Sakura up slowly, her hand flew up to her cheek and her eyes widened when she felt a little blood seep out from her mouth.
"S-Sakura-chan?"
She wiped the blood with her dainty fingers and stared at it for a long minute before her head dropped.
Kakashi started to look worried. "Sakura?"
Her shoulders began shaking and Kakashi's started to move forward towards the fallen girl. "S-sakura?"
Her head snapped up, eyes glaring as angry tears fell from her emerald orbs. Wordlessly she once again began to charge at the jounin, blind with tears and rage. Kakashi blocked each one. Finding it useless to fight the girl, he quickly pressed the pressure point in her neck, causing her to lose consciousness.
Sakura's body fell to the ground with a thud.
Kakashi sighed and stared at the young girl slumped on the floor. He sighed and ran a hand over his silver locks. 'What a handful these kids are…' He watched the black cat, Chii, saunter over to its mistress nudging its nose to the side of her face to wake her up.
Kakashi's eye narrowed. 'That cat. . .'
Suddenly the ringing of his previously set alarm clock sounded throughout the quiet training ground.
"Well it seems that we're done here," Glancing over to the Uchiha who was still squirming in his little hole, making a quick hand sign, the boy was spit out of the ground. "Sasuke, carry Sakura over to the clearing with the target poles." He casually instructed walking away as he spoke.
Sasuke glared at the back of his head then shifted his eyes towards the sleeping pinkette. He walked over to her prone form, gulping slightly he moved to scoop her up into her arms, only to have Chii nudge her awake and have her stirring up and stark to wake.
"Uchiha-san?"
"Kakashi wants us to meet us over there."
"Oh . . . so we failed?"
". . . Hn."
". . ."
". . ."
"Haruno?"
". . . I see."
"Hn."
When the two arrived at the area, the first thing they noticed was Naruto tied in between the two wooden poles, which left them to decide whether to stand as his left or right.
"So . . ." Kakashi drawled out standing in front of them. "None of you managed to get even a single bell, and as you can see… Naruto cheated." Kakashi gave a cheerful look. "Either way I predicted the same! Even if Naruto wasn't tied up he still wouldn't have the chance to touch, much less retrieve one of the bells." This earned a rather indignant 'HEY!' coming from Naruto which was promptly ignored.
Naruto's stomach growled loudly causing the other two to turn their gazes towards his loud stomach, he blushed under their heated gaze.
"Your stomachs are growling, eh?" He asked in a taunting tone as he stood before them, full and happy.
"By the way…about the results of this little training exercise; none of you need to return to the ninja academy." The older man told the three sitting before him. The words seemed to perk up Naruto, but the other two were still slightly wary of the older man and his tricks.
"Does that mean…" He thought for a moment, "W-we three…?" Naruto trailed off, dancing with his feet and grinning from ear to ear. Sakura frowned, but Sasuke smirked in triumph.
"Yes…" Kakashi nodded in agreement. "You three…should quit being ninjas!" Kakashi stated angrily as he watched Naruto's celebration die down to shock within a second of him saying those words.
Sakura, much to the worry of Sasuke –as he was the only one who could see her-, was swaying in and out of consciousness again, but seemed determined to stay awake.
"U-Unbelievable. He never passed a student?" Iruka asked in awe as he set down the book.
"Iruka, I do not know if those three young Genin should become ninjas right away." The third confessed. "But, Kakashi's decisions – I trust in his judgment."
"Q-Quit being ninjas!-?" Naruto all but yelled. "Why!-?" he questioned—No, demanded to know.
"Because, you three are just children who don't even understand what it means to be a ninja." His tone was bored, but you can hear the edge in it. Sasuke growled and ran at the man quickly, ready to pummel him. However, Kakashi got the upper hand and turned the attack around to that he was casually sitting on top of Sasuke as if the latter were a sofa. His foot rested on the Uchiha's head and he held Sasuke's arm behind his back.
"You all let your emotions get the better of you!" He yelled. "For right now—Sakura! Kill Naruto or I'll kill Sasuke!"
Sakura froze and stared at the man, her hand itching to her weapon pouch, but remained still.
"W-Wha—" Naruto stuttered, frozen in fear.
"See? You are all just kids." Kakashi said with a sigh. "Do you guys think being a ninja is easy? Why do you think we're training by breaking up into groups? In other words, you three don't understand the answer of this test, no matter how easy it is."
"The answer?" Naruto asked.
"That's right. The answer to determine whether you pass or whether you fail this exam. Geez, are you brains empty? Do you not get the concept of why you are in a group?" He asked slowly.
"So what about the tree people being in a group?" Naruto demanded, getting annoyed by the suspense.
Sakura frowned and slumped to the ground. "Teamwork." She bit out disdainfully.
"Exactly!" Kakashi turned to glare at Naruto.
"Naruto!" He yelled at the blonde. "All you did was work on your own!" Naruto squinted his eyes as he clenched his teeth in frustration.
"Sakura!" He continued. "You fought well but you let your emotions get the better of you!" She glared at her shoes and kept quiet.
"And you," Kakashi said directly to Sasuke, pausing to press his foot down harder on the Uchiha's head. "You assumed that those two were only going to burden you and did everything yourself."
Sasuke hissed in pain, but it eventually changed into a growl of anger.
Kakashi sighed and released Sasuke from his hold. "Look at this." He ordered, walking to the stone. "There are many names carved into this stone. All those names are people who are praised as heroes in this village."
"I like that! I like that! Believe it!" Naruto yelled. "I've decided that I'm going to have my name carved into that!"
Sakura's head snapped onto his direction and glared. "Fool."
Naruto was taken aback by the sudden change of attitude from the girl.
Sakura faced the stoned and placed her hand together in silent prayer. " "They are all heroes who died while on duty." Sakura watched as realization slowly hit Naruto. His face saddened and he looked down at the ground.
"My best friend's name is also carved here…," Kakashi confessed, looking sorrowfully at the stone. "This is a memorial…"
"I'll give you one more chance," Kakashi told them with a sigh. "However, the battle for the bell will be much harder after lunch. Eat up, but only if you are up to the challenge. But! Naruto isn't allowed food. Feed him and you fail." With that said, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"I have to leave, We have the new entries for the academy and I can't leave the other senseis to sort thought them all." Iruka said as a way of excusing himself with a bow.
"Iruka, do not hate Kakashi for his ways of testing." Sarutobi told the brunette.
Iruka stopped and didn't bother in turning around. "Hai."
Sasuke was eating his lunch, quickly but politely, as Sakura just pushed hers around a bit. At first she was hungry, but a few bites later and she had lost her appetite. The reason? Naruto's stomach was growling loudly and she felt guilty for eating when he cannot.
"I'm okay! Even if I don't eat!" Naruto claimed as his stomach let out another contradicting moan of protest.
Sakura stared at her lunch box and sighed. "Naruto-san," She said while standing up. "Open up."
"S-Sakura-chan," Naruto said as his eyes grew teary at her kind gesture. Sakura gave him one of her rare angelic smiles.
"Thanks. But…what about you?" Naruto noted.
"Don't worry," Sakura assured him. "I don't eat as much as you do."
"But I-" Naruto was cut off from his words when Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand and plunged the rice into the blonde's mouth roughly.
"Wha—"
"Just eat, we all need as much energy to pass this test."
"Y-You guys!" He began tearing up only to have another clump of rice shove into his mouth.
"Just eat dobe." Sasuke smirked and shoved some more rice in his mouth.
A massive cloud of smoke appeared, changing the weather from sunny to storming in less than a second. Kakashi stood in the centre of the storm, since he conjured it, with an evil look on his face. He appeared to be angry, very angry in fact.
"You three!" He yelled heatedly.
Naruto jumped in surprise and Sasuke got ready to fight once more.
"You three broke the rules. Are you prepared for the punishment?" He asked them cruelly. "Any last words?" Kakashi questioned as he preformed hand seals and the storm got worse.
"B-But!" Naruto protested. "Y-You just s-said that the three of us is a t-team!"
"We're a team," Sasuke said, aiding Naruto in his excuse of why they did what they did. Sakura, seeing that the two were awful at this, took over for them.
"As you said, Hatake-sensei. The three of us are a team." She started. "We are only as strong as the weakest link."
"Yeah! Believe it!" Naruto added, not being able to help himself.
"Is that so?" Kakashi asked, getting closer to them.
"Yeah!" The three answered confidently.
"Well then," Kakashi smiled. "You three pass!"
"Pass?" Sakura echoed.
"What do you mean we pass?" Sasuke questioned. "We broke the rules."
"You pass…you're the first squad that ever succeeded. The others did exactly what I said, and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves," Kakashi informed them. "A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, yes. But…those who betray their friends are worst than scum. You've just proven yourselves worthy of the title ninja."
"Yeah! I did it! I did it! I'm a ninja! Ninja! Ninja!" Naruto began to cheer. Sakura smiled and Sasuke only smirked though, the latter acting more mature than their blonde haired teammate.
"The exercise is over. Everyone passes. Team seven starts its first mission tomorrow," Kakashi ended with a bright grin as far as they could see.
"Let's go home."
Sasuke and Sakura followed their sensei away, leaving Naruto tied to the post all alone.
"DON'T LEAVE ME TIED UP HERE!-!"
Ooookaayy long ass chapter, I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors and such seeing as I'm a little tipsy from the alcohol I drank, tequila :d
Sooo?
Yeah I know that sakura didn't pose much of a threat seeing as her main offense here was only taijutsu. But her Kekkai genkai will be revealed in the wave mission.
Read and Review?
NCAE tomorrow wish me luck!