Kakashi watched from out of view as Sasuke fell into another one of Naruto's traps and had to admire the ingenuity that his blonde student had, he hadn't ever thought of using empty toilet rolls, ninja wire and a live rabbit in such a way as Naruto had. That being said he couldn't ever imagine anybody being having thought that such random items could be used in such a fashion and he was starting to figure out just how much thought that the blonde put into every trap.

He recalled observing the reports of how even members of ANBU had fell into Naruto's traps when giving chase to the blonde for whatever mischief he had gotten himself into. While shinobi were trained to predict the most logical of traps, consisting mostly of cut a ninja wire to cause a string of events to occur, Naruto's used a much more wide array of both how the trap was triggered and the following scene to play out. With some more training in the department, Kakashi didn't doubt that Naruto's skill set could be used prominently in escort missions in order to protect high profile clients.

Part of him hadn't wanted to come watch his team partake in this little experiment of his but having his team eliminated during the first phase of the Chunin exams was a slight blow to his pride. Even though Gai hadn't seemingly rubbed it in his face as of yet, he knew that the overly eccentric Jonin would spend months on end proclaiming how his team was greater than Kakashi's. The sharingan wielding Jonin however didn't really feel intimidated by that, nor did he feel bad about the fact that both of his fellow first time senseis had managed to get their teams into the next round seemingly without hassle. It was more so the fact that if this hadn't been an exam but rather a test of survival there would be several more names on the memorial stone that he was responsible for.

As he watched Sasuke untangle himself from the mess he was in, Kakashi figured that he would have his team skip out on doing another 'D' ranked mission today and focus completely on training for the next few days. He would continue doing obscure training methods in the morning, perhaps tomorrow he would have Sakura doing the same thing as Naruto was today. That afternoon he figured that he would teach them the water walking exercise, frankly he was surprised that his team hadn't put two and two together when they had seen him fighting Zabuza atop the lake followed soon after by him teaching them how to use their chakra to climb trees. Finally he figured that he would work on their taijutsu, it wasn't very efficient of Naruto to be able to summon so many clones of himself but only using a very backstreet brawler fighting style. Kakashi sighed as he rubbed his one visible eye, noting how the training he was going to be doing would be reminiscent on the amount of training that Gai's students did. Frankly though, if it would save their lives he was willing to push them as far as they could go.

…

Sasuke grumbled as he removed himself from the mess that had been made, silently swearing that Naruto would pay a hundred fold for the damage that had been done. It wasn't as if the traps were physically painful, the humiliation however was unbearable. Sasuke didn't even know how the blonde had managed to get his hands on so many duck feathers and due to the prior trap that he had fallen into his clothing looked like it had rolled through an animal pen. A part of him felt like ditching his outfit and continuing on the day without any garments excluding his underwear, yet he wouldn't be surprised if that was what Naruto wanted him to do. A shudder ran down his spine as he imagined being trapped to a tree without his clothes on while fangirls fought one another in order to get closer to his near naked body.

A rustling in the nearby bushes alerted him of danger and he lifted his arms up in a defensive position, knowing that if this was another one of Naruto's traps there was no point getting into a fighting position but rather to prepare himself for the horrors ahead. Thankfully it wasn't such a disastrous event that played out but as Sakura fell into the opening Sasuke could see that he hadn't been the only one to have suffered throughout this training.

The pink haired girl was in a state of confusion for the most part as she looked up at Sasuke, thinking whether or not this was another one of the blonde haired boy's pranks but thankfully when he leant down to give her a hand back to her feet she knew that this was legitimate. "You look like crap," she commented as she pinched her nose, quickly noticing that there was also a disturbing aroma surrounding the Uchiha.

"Likewise," said Sasuke as he took the comment in stride. It seemed as if Naruto hadn't gone easy on either of them. While he was covered in duck feathers and had something vaguely smelling like animal feces keeping the feathers in place, Sakura had had most of her clothes ripped and looked as if she had been dumped in a muddy swamp. He figured that some of the scratches she had on her were from not avoiding the first phase of Naruto's traps but one thing he quickly took notice of was her hair. Whether intentionally or not, one of the traps the blonde had set up had sliced a solid chunk of her formerly lengthy hair off, leaving the remaining amount jagged and rough. Even though he knew that the girl was likely going to deal more damage to Naruto than himself due to this latest revelation, he couldn't help but notice that he didn't mind the way Sakura looked in this situation. With mud and dirt covering some of her features along with the unkempt hair it actually looked as if Sakura was somebody who took their training seriously. He had to remind himself however, that this was Sakura he was thinking about and quickly he pushed those thoughts back into the depths of his mind.

"So what now?" asked Sakura highly tempted to return to the river where they started and wash herself clean. "Even if we both travelled through the traps together it would still be risky."

"No kidding," said Sasuke as he cupped his chin in the palm of his hand. "We need a way to force him out of hiding, make him lower his guard and come out of hiding."

Several seconds passed before Sakura snapped her fingers. "I've got an idea."

…

Naruto grinned to himself as he finished setting up the final trap he had in store for whichever of the two poor souls wandered his way. The rotten eggs and expired milk in his refrigerator would finally go to use for something that wouldn't result in an upset stomach for him while the various broken pieces of crockery and cutlery he had lying around the house would work as impromptu projectiles. They weren't meant to hurt anyone, rather force them to the side where they would get bombarded by leaves and branches after being coated in sticky mud that didn't seem to be able to dry.

However, the snapping of a twig behind him immediately caught his attention. From his last sightings, Sakura was towards the west of the training field's center while Sasuke was towards the north. He was strategically positioned about two hundred metres into the south-east corner as that was probably where they'd be least likely to look, so it was a surprise to the young ninja to find another presence within the immediate vicinity. Rotating his head with a violent jerk as he stopped whatever he was plotting, he raised his arms in a defensive motion so as to protect himself from any attacks coming his way.

But nothing was coming his way. Rather, the figure was running away from him in sporadic movements. What really took him by shock was the figure in question, the skin hinted at it but the familiar jacket gave it away... it was Hinata.

'What's Hinata doing here...?'' Naruto thought in confusion but the answer became quite clear as a masked bandit burst into the clearing, advancing on the Hyuga heiress. To Naruto the situation was clear and he quickly leapt from his position in front of Hinata protectively, praying that he was good enough to defend his classmate.

He waited for the blow to come his way, but to his surprise it never did. Opening his eyes and blinking slightly in response, he was surprised to see the bandit had halted completely and was standing a stiff pose. As a questioning look overcame his features his knees suddenly buckled, courtesy of a kick from his behind, causing him to fall over onto the ground. While on the grassy floor Naruto could do nothing to avoid the wild haymaker which made solid contact with his head, almost knocking him out.

"Gotcha," Sakura's voice rang out from behind him, smoke making its way towards Naruto's eyes signifying that a henge had just been dispersed. With a more shocked than understanding look on his face, Naruto looked towards the masked bandit that had been giving chase to "Hinata" almost unsurprised to see Sasuke standing in his place.

The henge had done nothing to displace the duck feathers that had been stuck in the Uchiha's raven locks, a fact that Naruto was reminded of as the would-be avenger sent a murderous stare his way. Chuckling uneasily, Naruto stood up and turned around slightly to find that Sakura's clothes had seen better days... much better days. The dirt that didn't look as though it would wash out anytime soon would be the least of her worries as there were a multitude of rips and tears on her shirt, it was a miracle in itself that the thing hadn't fallen off yet.

"Uhhh... fancy that," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck with a grin atop his face, hoping that his teammates wouldn't attempt to seek any form of revenge. "That was a pretty good idea, I didn't see it coming."

"I know," Sakura puffed out her chest slightly. "I came up with it after all."

The two shared a small chuckle and even Sasuke had a slight smile visible on his face before the violent swirling of a few leaves interrupted them. "Interesting, for a moment there I didn't think the two of you would manage to catch Naruto," said Kakashi as he lazily pushed up a strand of silver hair.

"It's surprising that he managed to evade us for as long as he did," admitted Sasuke. "It took us forever to even get the slightest hint of where he was hiding out."

"I wasn't hiding," interjected Naruto before continuing as the two Genin present gave him confused stares. "I was just setting up and fine tuning a whole bunch of traps."

"Speaking of which, where'd you manage to learn all that stuff Naruto?" Sakura's eyes glistened slightly at the prospect of learning something new, "the academy didn't teach us how to mix shuriken, kunai and duck feathers in our traps."

"I didn't, I improvised," shrugged Naruto. "Making traps is pretty similar to setting up pranks so I just swapped a kunai for a chalk duster, a shuriken for a bucket of paint and all that."

"So anyway, I think that about sums up this page of today's training." Kakashi flipped a page in his book as he made his appearance, "Now onto the next one!"

The three Genin held back a collective groan. "Does this mean we waste more time playing hide and go seek?" asked Sasuke, bored.

"No, in fact we're doing something a little more fun than that. And by fun, I mean fun for me and frustrating and repetitive for you." Despite the fact that it sounded as though Kakashi was going to teach them something new, Naruto couldn't help but admire the subtle hint in the man's words that made it sound as though he couldn't care less about how much suffering they had to endure.

"Better get this over with then," Naruto grit his teeth as he looked towards his sensei.

"We're not going to be training here. You've got half an hour to get lunch before meeting me back at this point, and be prepared to get wet."

…

Neji stood guard, his Byakugan active and scanning every possible angle for any sign of danger that could be approaching. While he had taken arguably the most damage in the battle against the Sannin, he had decided to take first shift which allowed everybody else to rest up and tend to their wounds. While Lee had boldly proclaimed that he should have been the first watch, Neji had instructed him otherwise.

For the moment both Team Gai and Team Eight had called a temporary truce, neither of the two teams coping well after their fight with Orochimaru. Neji figured that the most likely scenario from here on out would be that both teams would coincide with one another in order to get the number of scrolls needed in order to pass to the next event. Part of him wanted to say that fate had decreed it this way but having watched Hinata step in front of him in such a way had torn at his definition of the word.

Throughout his life he had known it was fate which meant that as a member of the branch family he had to serve and protect those of the main family. Having watched the roles be reversed for just that smallest of moments had shaken him, Hinata had chosen her own path and now lay unconscious in the confined space with Tenten repetitively dabbing a wet cloth upon the Hyuga's brow. Neji couldn't help but be worried for his cousin, at the hands of Orochimaru he had thought that he would have died, that fate had only allowed him to proceed that far. In one moment all concept of fate was shattered and now he was struggling to figure out just what he believed in.

"Neji," said Lee from beside him as the green clad ninja pulled his leg warmers off, revealing the weights underneath. "It has been decided that we need to get our friends medical assistance, yourself included. Since we can't leave the forest until the end of the test, I'm going to go get us some extra scrolls so we can proceed to tower and have our friends looked at."

"Go," commanded Neji, as Lee took off his weights and placed them on the floor before vanishing in a burst of speed. Neji leant against the side of the tree, figuring that even if fate no longer had a hold over his life, it would never allow Lee to be anybody other than himself.

…

Sakura panted along the side of the riverbank, her chakra levels exhausted beyond belief. She had managed to grasp the concept of the exercise relatively quickly after only having fallen into the water once but she found that she couldn't stand on the water for an extended period of time. Naruto and Sasuke had fallen in a number of times, the blonde shouted at the last Uchiha that he would get this perfected before he did.

"Are you alright?" asked Kakashi who had taken this time to set up a small campfire as to dry off his pupils.

"Just a bit exhausted Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she gladly accepted the warmth from the fire.

"It's to be expected," said Kakashi. "Of the three of you, you have the lowest amount of chakra yet at the same time have the most skill in controlling it. Naruto is the opposite in where he has mountains of chakra but dismal control whilst Sasuke has moderate reserves and moderate control."

Sakura looked towards her teammates who were still struggling to find the right balance above the water surface. "So what's the final point?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," replied Kakashi, not quite understanding the question.

"Kakashi-sensei, I can understand that this exercise will become vital later on down the track but it only shows that we each have something to work on. If what you say is true and my chakra levels are small in comparison of my teammates, does that mean that I'm the weak link?"

"At the moment, yes," said Kakashi being perfectly blunt which aggravated his pupil somewhat. "However, this gives us something to work with at the same time."

"How so?" asked Sakura.

"It all depends on what division you want to set your mind towards."

"What do you mean by division?"

"Well, the three of you are a three man squad," said Kakashi breaking it down. "The three of you need to be able to adapt to every situation as a team. If you break down the specialties of everybody, you have Naruto who is primarily a brawler, he loves getting into close combat but that could be because he doesn't know of any long distance attacks. Sasuke is adept at both Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, being able to fight from a range and close up."

"So you're saying that as the third member I have to be the ranged specialist?" asked Sakura.

"In a way, but not entirely true," said Kakashi. "You look at the the female member of the Sannin Tsunade, she was a medic and quite possibly the greatest medic who ever lived so her role was at the back of the three in order to heal her allies when they got wounded. She broke that mould however with her monstrous strength making her a vicious fighter at the same time with the ability to destroy buildings with a single punch."

"That's incredible," said Sakura in awe.

"What you have to decide Sakura, is how you can best help Naruto and Sasuke and show that you are by no means the weak link," said Kakashi with an eye smile. "I can't tell you what to specialize in, this is something you'll need to do yourself. If you'll excuse me I need to see how these two are going."

With that Kakashi left Sakura who turned her attention to the fire in front of her, the flames licking at her skin. She was surprised to see how much Kakashi was actually teaching them at the moment and part of her wanted it to remain this way for a while longer. She recalled that somewhere in the academy it was more than likely that when the team became Chunin in rank they would be split up to do different missions that required specialists for the assignment. At the moment however, she didn't want Team Seven to split up.

Sakura knew she needed to contribute to the team in a way that only she could. Like Kakashi had said, at the moment she was the one least likely to charge forward but she needed to be able to find some way to be able to contribute from behind. Either Genjutsu or Medical jutsu would be the prominent ways to go, yet at the moment she was aware her chakra levels were not high enough to maintain a number of Genjutsu nor did she know whether or not Kakashi had the control able to teach her medical jutsu. While she could use the next few months to improve on both her stamina and chakra levels, she needed to find a way in which to properly help out in the next mission.

Looking back on the 'C' rank mission that they had taken, Sakura recalled how both Naruto and Sasuke had been able to contribute but she had been able to do nothing, simply ensuring that she would be the last line of defense if both of them had fallen. Yet if they had fallen, then what chance did she have?

Getting to her feet, Sakura looked towards the river where she could see both Sasuke and Naruto standing atop the water and even though they were both slightly shaky, they seemed to have gotten the concept down quite quickly. Clenching her fist, she silently swore that she would do what she could and do it to the best of her abilities as a kunoichi of Konoha.

...

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