Emolette: Yay! Let's celebrate!

Naruto: Why?

Emolette: Because I made it to chapter seven!

Sasuke: Congratulations, but why do we have to celebrate?

Emolette: Because I've never made it to chapter seven before! Yay me!

Naruto: How come you've never made it to chapter seven before?

Emolette: Well, I've been writing stories for years and I've been wanting to post them on this particular sight that also posts fanfictions but alas, I couldn't. So, my stories were forgotten after a chapter or two because I didn't have any motivation. But now that I'm posting my story here, I get motivated by my readers to keep on truckin'! It doesn't hurt that after years of waiting, I finally got my laptop!

Sasuke: Good for you.

Naruto: Yeah! Emo-chan made it to seven!

Emolette: And I'll keep on going until I think up of a ending, but there's still a long way. . .

Sasuke: Good luck with that.

Naruto: Yeah! Lots and lots of it!

Emolette: ^^ Arigato gozaimasu! Now, on to chapter seven!

Chapter Seven

" The Bell Test "

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura arrived at the third training ground at the crack of dawn, just like Kakashi said, but the silver-haired jounin wasn't there yet. Sakura was dead on her feet, muttering to herself about needing her beauty sleep as she sat down on the base of a tree and tried to catch some shut eye before Kakashi gets there. Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand weren't really that tired because they slept early the previous night (in the treehouse to be exact because they trained to get ready for the drill) but they were also annoyed that Kakashi was going to be late. They sat down, back-to-back, under a tree and closed their eyes to meditate (though they looked like they were sleeping also).

The hours passed and the sun was high in the sky before Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke with a small poof.

"Ohayo," he said but he then saw his sleeping students under the shade of the tree. He sighed and shook Sakura awake first.

"Huh? Wha - ?" she said, rubbing her eyes. She then saw Kakashi and her expression turned from tired to angry. "YOU'RE LATE!!!" she yelled.

"Gomen," said Kakashi, rubbing his ear. "I got lost thinking about the meaning of life."

Sakura sweatdropped. That was a lame excuse..

Kakashi went over to the two supposedly sleeping boys and he laid a hand on their heads, intending to bonk them together, but in a flash, the boy's hands reached up and grabbed each of Kakashi's hands and squeezed it hard enough to break it. Naruto and Sasuke opened their eyes and glared at Kakashi as the jounin winced in pain.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" cried Kakashi and the preteens let go of his hands.

"You're late," they said simultaneously as they stood up.

"You didn't need to squeeze so hard," whined Kakashi, massaging hands.

"Then you shouldn't have come late," said Naruto with a glare.

"Okay, I learned my lesson," said Kakashi, but he crossed his fingers behind him. "Anyway, let's start with our drill shall we?"

Kakashi went over to one of the three wooden posts that sat in the middle of the field and placed an alarm clock on top of it. He then help up two bells that jingled as he swung them.

"The obective," he said, jingling the bells. "Is to take these two bells from before the alarm rings. You may use any means neccessary, but I warn you, if you don't come at me with the intent of killing me, then you will never get the bells."

Both Naruto and Sasuke smirked. Not going to be a problem, they thought.

"But sensei," said Sakura, pointing at the bells in Kakashi's hand. "Why're there only two bells?"

"Good question," said Kakashi, his eye curving upward and tossing the bells in the air. "I'll tell you the answer if you manage to get them from me." He caught the bells and tied them around his waistband. "You have until noon to get the bells from me, so that gives you a good forty-five minutes. So, on my signal." The three genins stood in a ready stance, their eyes on their sensei." Ready. . . Set. . . Start!"

The genins jumped and disappeared. Kakashi's eye curved upward.

"The basics for a shinobi are to conceal yourself and remain hidden," he said to himself. "They did well in concealing themselves, but lets see how well they survive."

Kakashi walked towards the middle of the field and took out his orange Icha Icha Paradise book, a grin forming under his mask. Let the games begin.

Sasuke-kun, where are you?

Sakura jumped through the trees, frantically searching for her true love as if she'll find him. Sasuke was always on her mind, the only thing on her mind. She didn't really care about anything else, only Sasuke. Man, this girl needs to get her priorities straight.

Sakura gasped and stopped in her tracks when she saw Kakashi standing in a clearing just below her.

"Phew, that was close," she said to herself.

"Sakura," said a voice behind her and Sakura spun around to see Kakashi crouching behind her, his hand forming a sign.

Sakura was then engulfed in a swirl of leaves and her eyes glazed for a moment before refocusing again. The pinkette blinked and looked around, finding herself on the ground.

"Eh?" she said, looking confused. "Why am I here? Where's sensei? What happened? What's what?!"

Sakura was confused. Go figure.

"S-Sakura. . ." said a voice that the flat-chested pinkette knew very well.

"Sasuke-kun!" she said, turning around with glee but that was short-lived.

Sasuke was crounched near the base of a tree, completely covered in his own blood and pierced with kunais like a target dummy.

"Sa-Sakura," said Sasuke, coughing up blood. "He-Help me. . ."

Sakura just stared, her eyes wide with horror, then she shrieked. Not screamed, shrieked (since she is a banshee) and she fell backwards, her world turning black. The bloody Sasuke she saw flickered and disappeared from existence, being just a simple genjutsu.

In the tree just above where the illusion appeared and disappeared, Kakashi idily turned a page in his book.

"Hm. . . maybe that was too much," he mumbled to himself.

A shrieked pierced the air, making birds fly off from the treetops. Naruto and Sasuke stopped their jumping and looked around, wary of their surroundings.

"Looks like that scarecrow got the banshee," said Naruto with a smirk.

"Looks like it," said Sasuke, unsmiling. "But I think we have to go get her. This is a test of teamwork."

"Aa," said Naruto although relunctantly and the two friends turned around and leaped away towards the source of the scream.

It didn't take long for them to find Sakura lying on the ground with a shocked expression on her face. Both Naruto and Sasuke sighed.

"Fooled by a simple genjutsu," said Naruto, shaking his head. "And she's the genjutsu type. How much more weak can she get?"

"I hope not any weaker or that'll be trouble," said Sasuke, bending down and shaking Sakura.

"Hu-huh?" said Sakura, opening her eyes. When she saw Sasuke bending over her she suddenly sat up and wrapped her arms around the Uchiha's neck. "Sasuke-kun! You're alive!" she cried.

"Hey! Get off me!" cried Sasuke, prying Sakura's strong hands off him.

"Would you stop it!" hissed Naruto with malice and Sakura let go of Sasuke only to glare at him.

"Don't tell me what to do dobe!" she said and Naruto couldn't take it. He went up to the pinkette, grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up effortlessly, letting his killing intent radiate from his body.

"Do you think ths is a game?!" he said, slightly shaking Sakura and Sakura's eyes became fearful. "You think that just because Sasuke's with you, you'll be alright? News flash pinky! He's not the one going to save you all the time. You have to save yourself! Just think about it for a moment with that large forehead of yours!" Sakura was shaking in Naruto's grip, but she didn't struggle as she looked into those cerulean eyes and saw the realness of the anger in those eyes. Naruto tightened his grip and let out all the anger he had against Sakura. "In a battle, one wrong decision will lead to your death! In a battle, there is always a death! Sasuke won't be helping you all the time just because you say so! There are people out there stronger then Sasuke, stronger then me, and stronger then our sensei and those people just might kill us all if we had the misfortune of meeting them! So you better suck it up, stop thinking about Sasuke, start thinking about yourself, and become stronger, not to impress him, but to survive because in the state you're in now, your head would fly off your shoulders before you even enter a battlefield. Look at you, losing to such a simple genjutsu just because it looked like Sasuke. You don't deserve to be a kuniochi."

Sasuke watched Naruto knock some sense ito the pinkette, agreeing with every word his blond friend said. If she just stopped being so fangirlish. Naruto let go of Sakura and she fell to her knees, shaking with fear.

Wha-What was that? Was that really Naruto, the dobe in our class? H-How come he acted that way? There was so much. . . anger in his eyes. And it was towards me. Is that the true Naruto?

Sakura shakily looked up at Naruto, who was looking down at her with no hint of emotion in his eyes.

"Pull yourself together," he said, his voice monotone. "To pass this test, we have to work as a team. So we'll have to formulate a plan to beat Kakashi and take those bells."

Sakura gulped, then nodded. Naruto smirked, but it was the thirsty kind of smirk. . . thirsty for a battle.

"We'll get that one-eyed scarecrow," he said, turning away. "I've got a plan."

Sakura stood up and nodded enthusiatically, finally getting serious. She didn't want to go back to the academy after all. Sasuke slightly smirked to himself and gave kudos to Naruto.

He always knows just what to say.

"Hm. . . is it me, or has it gone quiet?" asked to Kakashi to himself, leaning against a tree with his book open in his hand.

The forest certainly had gone quiet. No birds chirped, no forest creatures scampered, there wasn't even a gust of wind. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and knew it was a sign that something was up.

A leaf from the branches above him floated down and set itself on the pages of Kakashi's book. Kakashi stared at it, then closed his book without taking the leaf out. Suddenly, a dark blur appeared at Kakashi's right and rushed up to Kakashi with such speed, that he barely even had time to think before he was knocked backward by a hard kick to the jaw. Kakashi flew for a moment, his brain processing what just happened, then gave himself a mental shake before backflipping and sliding along the ground for a moment before coming to a stop.

"Very good Naruto," said Kakashi, massaging his chin and looking at his student with sun-kissed hair who stood, smirking at him, a few feet away. "I never would've thought that a genin would hit me so hard."

Naruto just smirked. Kakashi narrowed his eye, then it traveled to what Naruto was holding in his hand. It was an orange book, the one that Kakashi was previously reading.

"What?!" he cried and he checked his pouch, hoping that it was just an illusion. It wasn't and he glared at the blond jinchuuriki.

"You want it back?" asked the blond with a smirk as he waved the book around. "I'm sorry, but I can not give it back to you. You're underestimating us and I don't like it. So, knowing how much you love it, I'm going to burn this book as your punishment."

The orange book in Naruto's hand became black and charred as it burst into flames. Kakashi didn't even ponder on how Naruto did that for his eyes went wide with horror, then narrowed in a fierce death glare.

"You're going to pay for that," he said menacingly, his killing intent leaking from his body, and Naruto smirked.

That's it. Give me all you got, he thought.

Kakashi reached up to his hita-ate and lifted it up. His left eye had a scar on it, but what was even more surprising was that the iris was red and had three tomoes in them.

"You have a sharingan?" said Naruto, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Wow, didn't see that coming."

"You won't see this coming either," said Kakashi as his hands formed hand seals to swift for the eye to see. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

The river that was lazily flowing at the far end of the field started churning and rising up, forming a dragon, and it rushed towards Naruto, who just stood still with that smirk glued onto his face.

"You're as strong as I thought Kakashi-sensei," he said before forming hand seals as swiftly as Kakashi did and Kakashi's eyes went wide in surprise. "Doton: Doryuuheki no Jutsu!"

Naruto opened his mouth and a mudlike substance spewed out of it, surrounding the blond and hardening as the water dragon Kakashi created crashed down onto it.

How does he know that justu? thought the silver-haired jounin as the water jutsu dispelled. The earth wall still stood, but Kakashi couldn't sense Naruto's presense inside of it. . . until Naruto appeared behind him.

"Gotcha," said the blond and he threw a flurry of kicks and punches at Kakashi. Kakashi was knocked off guard and he barely had time to block all the attacks.

He's strong, thought Kakashi. He should be physically weaker then me, but his attacks are as strong as a jounin's. Just how strong is he though?

Naruto threw a right kick at Kakashi from the air. Kakashi saw this and caught it with his right hand. Naruto threw a left kick at Kakashi and the jounin caught it with his left hand. Naruto smirked upside down in front of Kakashi and, for a brief moment, the silver-haired shinobi was confused on why he smirked, until he noticed that both his hands were holding Naruto's legs.

Shit! thought Kakashi as Naruto reached for the bells on his waistband. Kakashi moved his body backwards just enough so that Naruto only touched the bells with the tip of his finger.

Damnit! thought Naruto as he pushed himself away from Kakashi and landed a few feet away from him.

"I'll admit you surprised me a few times Naruto," asked the jounin, his sharingan eye flashing. "But is that all you got?"

Naruto just glared. "I told you not to underestimate me!" he cried, his hands blurring as he formed a series of hand seals. He then bent backwards, the two fingers of his right hand forming a hook in front of his mouth.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" cried the blond and he bent forward as a stream of fire flew from his mouth, towards Kakashi.

"The hell - !" cried Kakashi before jumping.

"I'm not done yet!" cried Naruto, going through another series of hand seals and repeating his movements. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

Multiple blasts of fire came from Naruto's mouth and flew towards Kakashi who was still in the air. Kakashi's eyes went wide as the fireballs found their target. . . or so Naruto thought for, a moment later, Kakashi became a log that was burnt by the fireballs.

Crap, kawarimi, he thought as he carefully scanned his surroundings, looking for Kakashi's aura. When he found his sensei, he smirked, crounched down, and spread his hands onto the ground.

This battle's finished Kakashi.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was standing under a tree, panting and clutching the arm that got burned by Naruto's fire jutsu. He was completely surprised at Naruto's level. Though he - Kakashi - didn't fight at his full strength, he had a hard time just thinking as Naruto attacked.

That kid really knows his stuff, thought Kakashi. Even though he's only twelve, he knows jounin level ninjutsu. Kyuubi must really be working his butt off to make Naruto this strong.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt something grab his ankle. He looked down with wide eyes and saw a gloved hand gripping his ankle in a firm grasp.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu," Kakashi heard a voice say, muffled from being below the earth, and he felt himself go down until only his head stuck out of the ground. He struggled, but he couldn't get himself out of the ground.

"That bastard!" cried Kakashi, struggling to get free but the ground was just way too tight.

In front of him, Naruto burst out of the earth and stood in front of his teacher, a smirk on his face. "You shouldn't call a minor like me that name Kakashi-sensei," he said, dusting himself off casually. "That's pretty rude and you could get arrested for verbal abuse."

"Verbal abuse my ass," mumbled Kakashi, glaring at Naruto.

Naruto crouched down in front of Kakashi and covered the jounin's left eye with his hitai-ate again. "You won't be needing this anymore," he said. "And F.Y.I., the fight we just had wasn't even real."

Kakashi looked up at Naruto with a "WTF" expression. "What did you say?" he asked, his eye wide.

"In fact, all of this isn't real," said Naruto, his smirk becoming wider as he lifted a hand and snapped his fingers.

"This is taking a while," said Sakura, looking down at Kakashi and Naruto. Kakashi was slumped against the tree he had been leaning on and Naruto sat cross-legged in front of him, his eyes closed.

"Quiet," said Sasuke, his hand in a seal. "I need to concentrate."

Sakura shut her mouth and waited. No need to snap Sasuke-kun. . . Wait, was I just annoyed with Sasuke-kun?! she thought, her eyes a bit wide.

Naruto said this would be quick, thought Sasuke. It's been five minutes. I expected him to be here three minutes ago. Well, Kakashi is a jounin and I'm sure he wouldn't be defeated so easily.

Then all of a sudden, Kakashi's eyes flew open and he gasped for air. "Holy crap!" he cried, seeing that he wasn't buried neck-deep into he ground.

Naruto opened his eyes more calmly and he smirked at Kakashi. "Now, wasn't that interesting Kakashi-sensei?" he asked as the jounin sat up.

"Okay," said Kakashi, putting a hand to his face. "Would you please care to explain what happened? When was I put under a genjutsu?"

Sasuke answered this. "When that leaf floated onto your book," he said, letting his hands fall to his side. "You fell for it once you looked at it. It isn't one of my more powerful genjutsus, but it's effective."

"You did the genjutsu?" asked Kakashi, looking up at Sasuke. "Then how come I was fighting Naruto?"

"He wanted to," said Sasuke with a slight pout that made Inner Sakura squeal.

I can't believe I fell for a genjutsu made by a a twelve-year-old, thought Kakashi, mentally kicking his own ass. Am I getting rusty or is Sasuke more powerful then he lets on, just like Naruto. But what if they're just fooling me into believing that they're strong? Damn, I don't know what's what anymore. They're really playing with my head.

Kakashi sighed, his head aching over such a simple thing. Naruto sensed his confusion and he smirked to himself as he stood up.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," he said. "What about the bell test, did we pass?"

Kakashi looked up at him. "Did you get the bells?" he asked.

"Course we did," said Naruto. "Give 'em here Sasuke."

Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out the two bells. He tossed them to Naruto and it jingled as the blond caught it with one hand.

"This test was about teamwork right?" asked Naruto, letting the bells hang from his hand.

"Yes," said Kakashi. "But only you and Sasuke worked together to bring me down. Where does Sakura fit into this?"

"Sakura represents the. . . weakest in the group," said Naruto and Sakura glared at him.

"Do you disagree Sakura?" asked Kakashi, seeing the glare.

"No," said Sakura to Kakashi's surprise. "I might not like hearing it, but it's true."

Who went and knocked some sense into her? thought Kakashi.

"Anyway," Naruto pressed. "Sakura represents the weakest in the group, so the stronger ones, representing me and Sasuke, will accomplish the mission and one of us, representing me, will sacrifice himself to save his teammates and still get the mission done." At that, Naruto tossed the two bells to Sasuke and Sakura. "So, I sacrifice myself and will go back to the academy while you have to pass the other two."

Sakura looked a little shocked at this but Kakashi and Sasuke had a feeling Naruto was going to do that.

"Though your method wasn't what I expected," said Kakashi, standing up and dusting his bottom. "Your concept is exactly right.'

"So?" asked Naruto, raising an eyebrow.

"So, you all pass," said Kakashi, his eye curving upwards.

"YATTA!!!" cried Sakura, punching the air. "I'm not going back to the academy!"

Naruto and Sasuke just smirked at each other and Kakashi stood there, grinning under his mask.

These kids are strange, but there may be hope for them yet.

The three preteen's stomachs were growling up a storm, since they took Kakashi's advice seriously and didn't eat breakfast, but they were relieved when Kakashi brought out bento boxes for them. They sat down under a large tree and ate their lunch while Kakashi was busy reading his book (he was relieved to find out that it wasn't burnt to a crisp). The three genins were quiet while they ate their lunch though and Kakashi found that unnerving and annoying.

"Kids shoudn't be so quiet," said Kakashi, breaking the silence.

"What's it to you if we're quiet every once in a while?" said Naruto, annoyed that the peaceful silence was broken.

Kakashi didn't answer that. There was a moment of silence, until Kakashi was hit by a bolt of lightning (in his own mind).

"Ah, Naruto, I almost forgot," he said, closing his book, and Naruto looked curiously at him.

Kakashi gestured for the blond to follow him and Naruto put aside his half-eaten bento and followed the silver-haired jounin into the forest. When they were a little way away, covered by the shadows of the trees and bushes, Kakashi turned to Naruto, reaching inside his pouch

"Hokage-sama wanted me to give this to you," he said, taking out a scroll anad handing it to Naruto.

Naruto stared at the scroll for a moment before taking it. It was a simple but very thin scroll tied with red string, but there was an emblem on it that looked like a spiral and despite the string, there was a blood seal.

"What's this?" asked the blond.

"You father prepared it the day you were born, which as also the day Kyuubi attacked Konoha," answered Kakashi and Naruto's body tensed at this but didn't show any other sign of surprise.

"How long did Sandaime hide this?" asked Naruto, his voice monotone.

"He was planning to give it to you, and tell you the truth, when you become a chuunin," said Kakashi. "But he told me that you already knew and was being taught by Kyuubi himself, so he thought that he might as well give it to you now that you're ready."

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment. He breathed deeply, not sure if he even wanted to be angry or sad, but after a moment he looked up at Kakashi, his eyes betraying no emotion.

"Why did he tell you?" he asked. Though he kept his face blank, he squeezed the scroll tightly in his hand.

"Because I used to be your father's student," said Kakashi, noticing Naruto's gesture but not mentioning it. "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret also."

"I trust you on that," said Naruto, closing his eyes. "I also trust you not to question what Kyuubi does to me. He isn't as bad as everyone thinks."

"Though I have a hard time believing that, I'll take your word for it," said Kakashi with a slight chuckle. "Now, let's go back shall we?"

". . . I'm not hungry anymore," said Naruto, turning away and hiding his eyes in his hair.

Kakashi's hand twitched. He wanted to put it on Naruto's shoulder, to show that he understood whatever he was feeling because he too lost his father, but the jounin found it hard to do so. Maybe it's because the two had just met and doesn't really trust each other yet, and Kakashi was still uneasy about what he saw in the blond's eyes the other day, yet he still wanted to be there for his teacher's child.

. . . Maybe. . . when the time comes, thought Kakashi.

"Do you want me to tell the others that you went on ahead?" was all Kakashi could say. Damn him for being such an awkward person!

". . . Sure," was what Naruto said before he disappeared. Just disappeared, with nothing but invisible air swirling around him.

Kakashi stared at the spot where Naruto disappeared, sighed to himself, then went back to his two remaining students. He has to learn how to be close to people again. He's getting rusty at that.

Emolette: Yeah, crappy ending 'cuz I kinda rushed through this. . .

Naruto: But it was funny when I buried Kakashi neck-deep into the ground -snickers-

Sasuke: At least it wasn't me this time. . .

Emolette: I suck at fighting scenes. . . I need some help with it. . . until then, bear with me folks.

Sasuke: . . .

Naruto: . . .

Emolette: . . . So. . . Should I make this short?

Sasuke & Naruto: -nods heads-

Emolette: Okay. See ya'll in the next chapter. Oh, and thank you Hawkgirl90 for the review! I will do better and proofread my stories five times, and more, to check for errors. Stupid new laptop, it doesn't have any microsoft word in it yet. . .