A/N: I just realized I've uploaded three chapters in just a week. Whoo, boy. This is now officially the most amount of work I've put on one story. Tell me what you think about it. :)

Daunting Prospects: Chapter 3

...

Disciplined Training:

Naruto had done it.

As he stared into the bells he had grasped in his hand, the realization started to hit him.

He had done it.

He was now, well and truly, a genin. No written exam that took half his attention to complete. No anticlimactic graduation. No displaying basic jutsus that he had mastered years ago.

Instead, he was given an opportunity to demonstrate his skills in an assessment that had truly tested his mettle as a shinobi, and Naruto's team had gone head to head with a jonin–as generous as that jonin had been–and come out the victor. It was glorious.

A groan interrupted Naruto's thoughts. He turned towards the sound, only to see Sasuke laying on his stomach, breathing heavily.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?" asked Naruto, concerned.

"I'm fine. That–that jutsu took far more out of me than I liked." he said, grimacing.

Naruto understood. The two of them had poured quite a bit of chakra to produce that hurricane. Even his own reserves were running low.

He heard a gasp come from behind them. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura leapt from the forest to Sasuke's side.

Sasuke winced. "I'm alright, Sakura. Just help me sit up, please. Be careful, too. Everything hurts right now."

Nodding, Sakura helped Sasuke prop himself up to a sitting position. After he was able to maintain it by himself, he gave her a grateful nod.

"Ahem." They all turned to their sensei, who was watching them with that all too impossible smile of his. Seriously, how could the man do that with just one eye and two thirds of his face covered up? "I really would appreciate a play-by-play of your thoughts. I'm curious how the three of you came up with that strategy to get the bells."

They all glanced at each other, wondering who should go first. Sakura jumped the bullet and decided to be the one who explained first. "Well, Naruto came to me while I was hiding to ask for my help. He said I didn't really have a choice–he and Sasuke-kun would get the bells with or without my help, but, if his suspicion was right, that you were lying about failing us, and we needed to work together. I realized he was right, so I worked with them."

Naruto nodded. "Sasuke wanted to just forget Sakura and rush you. I kind of wanted to do the same, but–I don't know–something felt weird. So I thought, whether or not you were lying about the bells didn't really matter. There wasn't a chance Sakura was gonna get the bells over us, so it was the right course either way.

"Either beating you was easier and Sasuke and I got to pass while Sakura failed," Naruto, feeling bad, sent Sakura an apologetic look. She just waved it off, muttering about how he was right. "Or the whole point of this was teamwork and we all got to pass. Win-win all around."

Sasuke, really not liking that he wasn't the one who figured out the hidden machinations of the bell test first, just responded with his classic, "Hn." Naruto chuckled.

Kakashi smiled. "Look underneath the underneath is what I always say. I'm assuming you discussed each other's strengths and weaknesses, then devised a way to take advantage of it." At the nods he received, he responded with," Good job, the three of you. Funnily enough, you're the first group I've ever passed. From here on out, you're all genin and members of Team 7."

Even Sasuke couldn't help but smile at that.

"Meet me here tomorrow at eight for training. I'm proud of all of you. And here." Kakashi pulled out a wad of ryo from his pouch. "Use this to buy yourselves some dinner to celebrate. I can't join because I have to inform Hokage-sama of your success, but I'll be there in spirit."

Throwing the ryo to Naruto, Kakashi blurred away.

Naruto turned to his teammates. "Ichiraku's?" he excitedly asked.

Sasuke nodded, a glint of amusement on his face. "Ichiraku's. I did promise."

Before Naruto could whoop in joy, Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, guys, but I'm supposed to meet Ino for dinner right now. I'm actually running late because of Kakashi deciding to take his time." She muttered some unflattering words after that last sentence. She perked up a second later. "I can definitely come along tomorrow, though."

Feeling disappointed–Naruto really was looking forward to some team bonding–he nodded. "I understand, Sakura. We definitely should grab ramen together soon."

Sasuke snorted. "Yes, yes. We'll miss you and everything. Can you please take me to the hospital first, Naruto? I can barely move."

Naruto and Sakura, feeling amused at his plight, laughed.

"I guess I'm a comedian now," said Sasuke, scowling.

Racing through the rooftops towards her favourite restaurant, Hebi, Sakura couldn't stop grinning. The thought of becoming a genin had been something she'd been putting off thinking about for the longest time. It was always a far off goal, something that had felt to her as something to work towards, and not something she would experience now.

Here, in that moment, she was a genin, and it felt so exhilarating, she wanted to squeal. Shout out to the world that she, Sakura Haruno, was now a kunoichi!

And she was on a team with Sasuke!

Her mother had always beaten into her that her studies were most important, and that, for the sake of her future, she should disassociate herself from the fangirls that had plagued her crush. Wishing nothing more than to make her proud, Sakura followed her advice. She didn't hound Sasuke like the other girls; instead, she decided to subtly admire him instead. It wasn't like she could control her feelings, so she didn't bother. But with her actions, she tried to do everything Ino did not.

She treated Sasuke as any other classmate, never making her feelings clear.

But now, with them on a team? Maybe there was a chance she could act on her desires… Blushing intensely, she cleared her head. No, Sasuke had made his distaste for fangirls clear. Displaying her feelings or–heavens forbid–asking him out was off the table. If a relationship blossomed, it would be because Sasuke saw her qualities and wanted to be with her.

She looked down at her qualities and grimaced. She shook her head to clear her thoughts again. She was only thirteen. Just a few years more, and she would fill out.

Nodding, she landed by the entrance to Hebi, the place she and Ino had decided to meet in.

Entering, she instantly spotted her friend. She was near the back of the restaurant. As she walked up to her, Ino squealed when she saw Sakura's headband.

"You graduated too?!"

Sakura had the biggest smile on her face as she sat across from her friend. "I did! Did your sensei also make you go through a second test?"

Ino shook her head. "Asuma-sensei told us he was supposed to, but that he didn't really feel like it. He just played shogi with Shikamaru instead. I don't know whether to feel angry at his laziness or grateful that I didn't have to go through some bullshit to pass a second time. Well," she decided scowling was the best response, "that actually doesn't bode well for the rest of our lessons. Is he going to be lax with those too? I am so not looking forward to that."

Sakura felt like she could understand. As difficult as the bell test was, it kind of proved that their sensei was powerful. Being strong didn't make you a good teacher–especially after he said they were the first team of his to pass–but she was hopeful. He seemed like he cared about them.

"But when I asked, he did tell us what the other genin teams were going through. So spill it; how did the bell test go?"

Sakura did, feeling it hard to reign in her excitement throughout her story.

"Wow, so he fell for your genjutsu? Isn't he supposed to be a jonin?"

Sakura shook her head. "Sasuke-kun and Naruto literally sent a cyclone made of fire at him. He was way too focused on surviving that, so when I caught him in a genjutsu that made the jutsu last longer, he didn't think anything of it."

Ino pursed her lips, thinking. She nodded a second later. "Yeah, I can see. But, Dear Sage, a cyclone made of fire? How powerful are those two?"

Smiling, Sakura took the chance to gush about her two teammates. "Very. They were keeping Kakashi on the backfoot the entire time." She turned insecure then. "Ino, I really don't know how I'm going to keep up with them. If they're that far ahead of me now, what about a year from now? They've always been brilliant. All I have right now is genjutsu, and I'm not that good with it yet."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Sakura. You're brilliant, too. If you put your mind to it, you'll catch up with them. You know that, and I know that."

Sakura beamed at her, grateful that she had such a caring friend.

"Now can we talk about the fact that you have two babes on your team, while I have Shikamaru and Choji? How unfair is that!"

She couldn't help but groan. As amazing as Ino was, her fixation on boys sometimes was maddening.

"Did you really have to eat so much ramen?" asked Sasuke, flabbergasted at the fact that Naruto felt it was okay to order every item off the menu.

A loud burp was Naruto's response.

"You literally made me run out of my money, too. I haven't got any cash on me now."

Naruto waved away his complaints. "You can afford it, Uchiha heir. It's just a one time thing, anyway. Lighten up. We just graduated."

Sasuke thought it over, just realizing that it never really settled in. He was a genin now. That meant he was on the first step on the path of avenging his family, and he… didn't feel a sense of achievement from it.

Not like Naruto, anyway, who acted as if the world was all right and dandy now that they finally became shinobi. And honestly? Sasuke couldn't blame his friend. He wanted him to celebrate. Naruto deserved to after the bombshell that was thrust on him yesterday.

But he couldn't share in the euphoria. Because, while Sasuke reached the rank of genin at age thirteen, Itachi had reached the rank of Anbu Captain at the same age.

Sasuke sighed. Although he couldn't celebrate his–later than he'd like–graduation, there wasn't any point in depressing over it, either. Fact was, he wasn't as strong as he wanted to be. What could he do? Get stronger from here on out.

"Hey, Sasuke? Do you… think we could stop by the cemetery?"

Cemetery? Why would–Oh. Sasuke's face softened. "Of course, Naruto."

He couldn't feel proud over graduating, but being there for Naruto when he needed him?

That was something he could celebrate.

/-/

"Does he really have to be so late all the time?" complained Sakura.

Naruto couldn't help but share in her displeasure. They were at the location Kakashi told them to be, and, despite the evidence from yesterday advising against it, all three of them had decided to come early.

After waiting for over an hour, they were annoyed by their overly tardy sensei. Sakura continued airing her disapproval. "I'm going to burn that book he keeps reading all the time if he doesn't hurry it up soon."

"Now that just isn't nice, Sakura. I paid a premium for this, you know."

Startled, they all looked up. Sitting on top of the tree they had decided to lie on was Kakashi.

"How long were you up there?" asked an annoyed Sasuke.

Kakashi shrugged. "About twenty minutes. You should look up more often. I've killed many ninja because they didn't think to look there." He jumped down to land in front of them.

"So you just wasted an hour of our time to teach us that?" asked a disgruntled Naruto.

Surprisingly, he shook his head, "No, I actually wasted twenty minutes. Before that, I was busy arguing with our esteemed Hokage."

"What about?" asked Sakura, frowning.

"Well, my cute little genin, every new team has a quota of D-ranks they have to complete. Remember when I told you you're the first team I passed? Well, that's partly because I don't want to have to ever see Tora again."

"Who the hell is Tora?" asked Naruto.

"You really don't want to know. And, thankfully, you won't ever have to. I was able to convince the Hokage to allow us to spend the time training instead. Applause for me, please." Kakashi sweat dropped when they refused to. "Hmph. Whatever. Not like I didn't have to give him half of my collection of Icha Icha Paradise." he muttered.

Sasuke ignored his muttering. "What will you be training us in, sensei?"

Kakashi perked up at the question. "Well, I won't be training you as a team, that's for sure, but as individuals. Sakura, I'll be honest with you," he sent her an apologetic look. "I checked the report from the Academy thoroughly, and, with how far behind you from Naruto and Sasuke, you'll never catch up with them if I focus on all three of you equally.

"What I have planned for this next month is for most of my focus to be on Sakura. I won't be neglecting the two of you, of course. Hokage-sama would kill me if he found out. So," Kakashi pulled out a few scrolls from his pouch. He threw one to Naruto.

"Naruto, in that scroll is a useful Earth jutsu I… stole from an Iwa shinobi. Read it over for me, would you?"

Naruto did so. What he saw impressed him. The jutsu's name was Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense, and it worked much like it did when he burrowed into the ground. When he was underground, he was able to sense vague impressions of where people were. This jutsu granted him the same ability, but without the need to be below the ground. When he saw the jutsu's rank, he couldn't help but gawk.

"A B-rank jutsu?"

Kakashi nodded. "From what I saw, I think you're more than ready for it, and having a sensor on this team is incredibly valuable. It should take you most of the month to learn. The jutsu is incredibly chakra intensive, however. It's not feasible for me to use it, so I'm excited to see you master it in my stead. And here," He tossed him a large notebook. "You said you wanted to learn Fuinjutsu, right? I wasn't kidding when I told you it took years. It's best you get started now."

Naruto hugged the notebook to his chest and gave Kakashi the biggest smile he could.

Kakashi smiled back at him, not needing words to realize how much the gesture meant to him. He looked to Sasuke, "Now for you, my little Uchiha. I'll be honest, I have something very interesting in store for you."

Sasuke gazed curiously at Kakashi, grabbing the scroll thrown at him. Naruto looked over his shoulder to read the name.

"Chidori?"

Kakashi puffed up his chest in pride. "Made by yours truly. I don't know if you'll be able to learn it completely by the end of the month, but if you truly are a prodigy, it should be achievable."

Sasuke made a face. "Just watch me then, Kakashi-sensei. I'll learn it before the month is done," he said, the challenge getting to him.

"Follow that scroll exactly, Sasuke, and you should be safe. But if you go overboard, you could die." he warned with a somber tone.

Properly sobered, Sasuke responded with a nod.

Kakashi turned to Sakura. "Now for you, my little sakura petal." He chuckled when she cringed at her nickname. "You can't hit them all. I'll come up with a better one. So, Sakura, you and I will become very acquainted with each other in the next month." Naruto couldn't help but shake his head when he saw the present she received was a pair of weights thrown at her feet. When it landed, dust blew everywhere. "We'll be using good old Gai's method–pure hard work."

Sakura eyed the weights fearfully. "I won't actually be wearing those, will I, sensei?"

Kakashi laughed. "Oh, no, you absolutely will, and you're gonna hate every second of it.

Kakashi stood a distance away from Sakura in their little part of the forest, far away from any living soul. He examined the changes that had undergone her body in the past month.

Her muscles had toned considerably, and she had grown slightly–not too much, of course. Not in that small of a time frame, but nonstop exercise and practice coupled with a diet of only meat that Kakashi had forced her to eat had made the change apparent.

But the changes inside were what interested Kakashi, and what he was currently testing.

"Are you ready, Sakura?" he called out to her. A nod was his only response.

He charged her, appearing by her side in an instant. Aiming for her ribs with a kick, he put enough force that, if it hit, would end the fight.

But it was not to be. When his attack landed, she burst into a cloud of sakura petals. They surrounded him, trying to block his view. He dispelled the genjutsu, and the petals disappeared with it.

Kakashi found himself to be alone. Frowning, he focused his senses. Suddenly, he jumped back. Two kunai flew through where his head just was. He heard quiet footsteps behind him. Turning, he was met with two Sakura's.

Kakashi had a tight grasp on his chakra pathways, so he was sure it wasn't being manipulated. One of them was a basic clone and the other he was sure was the real Sakura. He engaged them, spinning to deliver a roundhouse quick that would hit the both of them.

His attack passed through the clone–causing it to burst into smoke–and the other narrowly dodged. He was upon her a second later. She did her best to withstand his onslaught of taijutsu blows, but she was being torn apart. He aimed for a punch on her solar plexus.

It landed, but before Kakashi could disengage, Sakura surprisingly held onto his arm. She pulled a kunai from her pouch, attempting to stab him. He snorted, before disappearing in a body flicker.

The two stared at each–Sakura, with frustration, and Kakashi, with amusement, before Sakura suddenly flashed through hand signs.

Dozens of bullets made from water poured from her mouth, intending to pierce him. Kakashi decided to be a bad sport and body flickered to her side. Unfortunately, it seemed she was aware of his plan, because when his kick landed, she disappeared in a burst of petals.

Kakashi, sensing this wasn't just a minor illusion, hastily dispelled the genjutsu, but it was too late. Out of nowhere, he was caught in a flood of water. It crushed and pounded him.

Fortunately the pressure stopped soon after. Sakura didn't have the reserves to prolong the technique. He hurriedly got to his feet, only to find she was gone once more. He checked his chakra again to ensure he wasn't caught under another genjutsu. The girl had an incredible talent of catching you in an illusion at the most random of moments.

Kakashi caught a glint of something blitzing towards him at the corner of his eye; frowning, he jumped away to not be anywhere near it. It was a kunai with a seal trailing behind it. Must be an exploding kunai, he thought.

It was not. Instead, a large amount of smoke began to cover the entire clearing. Kakashi was now completely surrounded by it. Instead of body flickering away to safety–unsure if maybe Sakura prepared a trap just in case for it–he ran through the hand signs for his wind barrier.

Now safely incased in a dome made from wind, he decided now was the best time to escape when he started to barely hear an explosion seal begin to activate. When he landed on a nearby tree, he found himself stepping on an exploding tag. Sakura was really starting to go crazy with these.

Jumping back, Kakashi was now a far distance away. Just to be safe, he dispelled his wind dome and got as far underground as he could. He could hear loud boom sounds continuously for the next minute. When it was silent for the next few minutes afterwards, he decided to carefully venture up to the surface.

When Kakashi saw what happened to their clearing, he could only sweat drop. Their clearing was now three times its original size, and there was now a lake in the middle of it.

Distracted by the sight, Kakashi didn't notice the figure blitzing towards him before he was quite literally stabbed in the back.

"Yes, yes, yes! Finally, I got you!" squealed an excited Sakura.

Wincing in pain, he pulled out the kunai carefully. He gave her a disgruntled look. "You didn't have to go so deep, you know? Just a scratch would've been fine."

Sakura, unperturbed, shook her head. "I had to make sure I got you, Kakashi." She scowled. "I refuse to go through any more of these spars."

"Well that's no way to show you're gratitude, Sakura. You should thanking me–you've practically doubled in power. Now," Kakashi lifted his shirt slightly and turned to show her his back, "can you heal me already? I have to go check on your teammates."

Always eager to practice her less offensive orientated art, Sakura carefully healed him with her Mystic Palm. She decided to strike up conversation in the meantime. "I wish you would've trained me more in Medical Jutsu, Kakashi-sensei. It's pretty fun to use."

Sighing in satisfaction at his wound feeling better, Kakashi answered, "That wasn't the point of this month, Sakura. You were supposed to get stronger, and we've achieved that. You can practice more at the hospital in your free time from now on."

"Alright, it's done, sensei," said Sakura, deactivating her Mystic Palm. She smiled, "You just dumped a bunch of textbooks at my feet. How hard would it have been to get some more? I had more than enough free time, since you never let me leave this forest."

Kakashi chuckled in amusement. "If you miss your family, then go see them now. We're going on a mission tomorrow, so enjoy it while you can."

With a puff of smoke, he disappeared.

Minutes later, Kakashi appeared before Naruto. The boy was practicing his calligraphy. Checking over his shoulder, it was apparent that it wasn't perfect yet, but Naruto was getting there.

Kakashi was proud. His student had been taking to the practice like a fish to water. He had no doubt he could soon begin teaching the boy how to get started with the craft.

Naruto jumped back in fright suddenly, seemingly only noticing him now. "Kakashi-sensei, stop doing that!"

Giving his classic smile, Kakashi asked, "Doing what, Naruto?"

"You know what I'm talking about," he said pointedly, giving him a grumpy look.

Kakashi, ignoring his displeasure, put his hand on Naruto's head and rubbed it. "Come on, kiddo. Time to test you on that jutsu I gave you."

Naruto followed his command, putting away the scrolls he was writing in away in his pouch. Soon, the two were facing each other. He gave him a confused look. "How are we going to do this?"

"Well, I currently have a shadow clone roaming the forest right now. You're to find him using that jutsu and point to him. If you catch sight of him, he'll be unable to move until you either point to his location or walk away because you didn't notice him," explained Kakashi.

Naruto nodded, then flashed through the required hand signs. "Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense," he muttered before touching the ground with his hand. It seems he isn't experienced with it, Kakashi thought. But he'll master it in time.

Naruto stood frozen in that position for a few moments. When he was ready, he sprinted through the trees, with Kakashi following just behind.

For a few minutes they just jogged, the forest passing them by in a blur and Naruto occasionally stopping to get a read on the clone's position. It seemed they finally caught up, because they were met with twenty of Kakashi's clones.

Naruto looked hesitantly up at Kakashi before muttering the technique again. He shook his head. "I know these have to be basic clones, but the jutsu's acting like they're real," he said with a scowl.

"One of them is real, and you're going to have to figure out which," said Kakashi, not giving anything away.

Naruto gave a frustrating sigh in response before gathering his chakra. With the amount he was outputting, his hair became even spikier than usual. Slamming his hands on the ground, he shouted, "Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense!" The ground began to shake slightly. Naruto opened his eyes–having closed them to concentrate–and pointed at one of the clones in the back. "That one–to the far left. It feels different from the rest."

All the clones disappeared. Once the smoke dissipated, statues made of earth were in their place. Naruto grimaced. "That's cruel, Kakashi-sensei. How was I supposed to be able to tell them apart?"

Kakashi reassuringly patted his head. "But you just did. Go home and celebrate, Naruto. We have a mission tomorrow, so make sure you're prepared."

With that, Kakashi body flickered away.

Sasuke was meditating, seemingly to recover his chakra. Kakashi attempted to wait for him, but after twenty minutes, he interrupted his student. "I just need to see it."

Sasuke didn't bother to open his eyes to respond. "But it won't be perfect."

"It doesn't need to be, Sasuke. You weren't even supposed to get this far. The fact that you made enough progress in a month to where it's close to perfect is astonishing."

The praise consoled Sasuke somewhat, but he still wasn't happy. With a sigh, he said, "Fine, but I'll have it down by tomorrow."

"I have no doubt you will," said Kakashi with a smile.

Sasuke carefully went through the hand signs and then clasped his right arm. Lightning covered his hand, making thousands of bird-like chirping noises.

But the technique was volatile. The electricity constantly dimmed and brightened as Sasuke poured all of his chakra into it.

Suddenly, barely a blur, he charged at a nearby tree, intent on slicing through it. He succeeded, the tree falling due to being cut in half. Sasuke laughed in triumph at the sight.

He had every right. As Kakashi examined the training ground, he could see quite clearly all of his past failures. Bounders that had hand sized fissures plastered all throughout them and trees that weren't sliced all the way through.

Kakashi knew then.

They were ready.

A/N: I really wanted to introduce the Land of Frost Arc, but this was starting to get a bit too long. That'll happen next chapter.

So, Sakura. Don't worry, she's not on the level Sasuke and Naruto are at, but she's relevant now. She's not too experienced with Medical Ninjutsu either, but she'll improve as time goes on. I'll also be straying away from making her similar to Tsunade. She's taking a completely different path from our favourite busty blonde.

By the way, I'm not forgetting about the Land of Waves. It exists, but my original arc takes precedence, so it's being moved up on the timeline. Review and give me feedback on what you think. It's the only way I can improve. :D