"Naruto, I seriously think you shouldn't be doing this," Sasame called out to the orange-clad boy.

Her and Sasuke had found Naruto with a bunch of his clones that were, strangely, fighting to get into the same bathroom. Sasame had dragged Naruto away to have lunch with them, but the two boys ended up arguing most of the time.

(Well, Naruto argued. Sasuke mainly ignored him and 'Hnned' at certain intervals.)

They went back to the classroom to wait for their sensei with everyone else but he hasn't shown up yet. Everyone had left, including Iruka-sensei, so Naruto thought he'd play a prank on their sensei as payback for being more than an hour late.

"Well, he shouldn't be late then, dattebayo!" he countered as he slid a chalkboard eraser on top of the door. When the door opened, it should fall on his head.

Sasuke remained silent, his chin on his clasped hands. He couldn't stop thinking about what Sasame said to Haruno earlier. Her words just wouldn't leave his head no matter how hard he tried.

Sasame sighed. "Naruto," she said. "Our sensei is supposed to be someone teaching us how to be better shinobi. Do you really want to anger him like this?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply but stopped when the door opened and the eraser dropped on the person's head.

Naruto laughed loudly. "HAHAHA! You fell for it,!" he shouted out in glee as he rolled around the floor in laughter. "That's what you get for being late, dattebayo!"

Sasame sighed and looked at the man presumed to be their sensei. "I'm sorry sensei," she said regretfully, "I tried to stop him."

Sasuke merely stared at him. 'This is the guy who's supposed to be our sensei?' he thought in disbelief. 'This guy is a Jounin?'

The man was dressed in dark blue shinobi pants and a long-sleeved shirt, the same color as Sasame's battle qipao. He wore the standard Konoha flak jacket and on his hands were fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand. He had his weapons pouch strapped to his right leg and a mask covering the lower half of his face. His hitai-ate was slanted over his left eye and he had spiky silver hair.

"Hmm," the man said. "My first impression of you three...I'm not impressed."

Naruto scowled at the man, Sasame frowned, and Sasuke merely stared at him.

"Meet me up on the roof," he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

They all looked at each other before Sasame got up. "Well," she said as she started towards the door. "Let's get this over with."

The boys followed behind her, walking up the stairs and onto the roof where their sensei was waiting.

"Finally, you're here," he said nonchalantly. "It took you long enough."

Naruto scowled at him again and sat down on the ground opposite him, Sasame taking the seat next to him and Sasuke taking the seat next to her.

"Well, now that we're all here, why don't we introduce ourselves," he said, his attention on a book in his hands. "Tell me your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, things like that."

"Why don't you go first sensei," Sasame suggested. "We all know each other, you're the unknown one."

"Me?" he said in a bored tone. "Well, alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are my business. Dreams for the future...well. And I have many hobbies."

Naruto and Sasuke were exasperated. 'We only learned his name,' they thought equally.

Sasame however, was in shock. "Wait," she said in shock. "You said your name is Hatake Kakashi?"

He looked at her. "Yes…"

Sasame gasped. "Sugoi," she said. "I didn't know you'd be one of the senseis."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at her in confusion. "You know this guy Sasame?" Naruto asked her.

Sasuke was wondering the same thing.

She shrugged. "I know of him," she replied. "Kaa-san says he's a pretty well-known shinobi."

"As interesting as this sounds," Kakashi interrupted them, "we should move this conversation along. You next blondie."

"Okay then," Naruto said excitedly. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and Iruka-sensei and Sasame and Sakura-chan and Hokage-jiji! What I dislike is people who think they're better than everyone else, bullies, and the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook!"

Sasame and Kakashi sweatdropped at al the ramen that was in his statement. 'That's a lot of ramens,' they thought in unison.

Sasuke merely glanced at him in disdain at his choice of food.

"My hobbies?" Naruto mused. "I guess I like pranks."

"But my dream," Naruto exclaimed excitedly with determined eyes, "is to be the greatest Hokage! That way people can acknowledge my existence and treat me like I'm somebody, dattebayo!"

Sasame smiled at him while Sasuke glanced at eyed him out of the corner of his eye, vaguely interested.

Kakashi closed his eyes as he, presumably, smiled. "Well that was interesting," he said cheerfully. He pointed to Sasame. "You next blue-eyes."

Sasame sat up. "My name is Zanya Sasame. I like my Kaa-san and my Tou-san, my friends Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun, Hinata-san, and Naruto. And I love Tomato Soup!" she finished excitedly.

Sasuke turned his head towards her slightly at the mention of her favorite food. Naruto merely had a thoughtful look upon his face at the thought of someone's favorite food being something other than ramen.

"I dislike bullies, people who use others for their own purposes, fangirls, people who believe girls can't fight, and I absolutely hate liars," she finished with a deep scowl.

Sasuke and Naruto didn't say anything about her last comment, but they were definitely curious.

(Sasuke hid his curiosity better than Naruto)

Kakashi was the only one who had an idea of why she hated liars so much.

"My hobbies?" she said thoughtfully. "Training, I suppose. My dream is to grow up and be the kind of shinobi my father would have been proud of," she finished strongly.

Naruto smiled at her and gave a thumbs up.

Sasuke merely glanced at her before quickly looking away.

"That was enlightening," Kakashi said thoughtfully. He pointed at Sasuke. "And now you brooder."

Sasuke glared at the name but answered anyway. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like many things but I guess I like training. And tomatoes," he added with a glance at Sasame. She beamed at him.

"I dislike many things, chief among them fangirls and traitors," he said with a scowl. "I don't have any hobbies. And...I don't want to use the word 'dream'...let's call it ambition. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain...person."

Slightly tense silence met his declaration.

Naruto was sweating. 'I hope he wasn't talking about me!' he thought nervously to himself.

Sasame was staring at him in concern. 'Who's this person he wants to kill?' she wondered to herself.

"Well," Kakashi said as he straightened up. "That was very informative. Also, I hate to break this to you guys, but you're not yet shinobi."

"NANI?!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke was scowling at the man while Sasame was looking at him with wide eyes.

"We passed the damn test to graduate! What do ya mean we're not shinobi, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted out in frustration.

"The test at the academy was to see who had the potential to become shinobi," Kakashi explained. "Those who passed have to undergo another test by their sensei. But this test has a 66% chance of failing."

"Alright, then bring it on, dattebayo! We can pass any test you throw at us!" Naruto yelled.

"The test isn't right now," Kakashi said patiently, although on the inside he wanted to bang his head against something hard at how impatient he is. "Meet me at training ground three at 5 am tomorrow. Oh, and I suggest not eating unless you want to puke. Ja ne."

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Nobody spoke for a moment. All of them, even Sasuke, was just a little too stunned by what the silver-haired man had said.

Sasame was the first to break the silence. "Well," she said. "That just happened."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "Who was that man Sasame-san?"

"Hatake Kakashi," Sasame answered easily. "He's pretty well-known."

"Yeah, that's what you said earlier," Sasuke stated. "What makes him so well-known?"

"Yeah," Naruto added. "You look like you about to fangirl over him, dattebayo."

Sasame glared at him. "Do not call me a fangirl," she hissed at him. He shrank back slightly at her scary glare.

"Anyways," she continued speaking in an even tone. "He's famous because of his track record. He graduated from the academy when he was five years old, became a chuunin when he was six years old, became a Jounin when he was ten years old and joined the ANBU when he was thirteen."

Both Sasuke and Naruto were staring at Sasame with wide eyes.

'That's an even better track record than Ita...that man!' Sasuke thought to himself in shock.

"Whoa," Naruto said quietly. "That guy did all of that?"

Sasame nodded. "That's what my Kaa-san told me," she said.

Naruto's jaw remained unhinged. 'Wow! That guy is amazing!' he thought to himself. 'He's not as useless as he looked!'

"We should all go home," Sasame said after its been quiet for five minutes. "We'll need to get up early for tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded and walked away from them without a word or a backward glance.

"See ya tomorrow Sasame!" Naruto said to her and then he too took off running down the stairs of the school.

Sasame sighed. 'Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a pain in the ass,' she thought. 'Or as Shikamaru-kun would say, it'll be such a drag.'

~wWw~

Sasame yawned as she walked towards training ground three the next day. When she got home yesterday and told her mother who her teammates were, as well as the extra test she had to do, she wasn't surprised. She said she was there when the teams were decided because they had wanted her to take on a genin team but she declined.

She also said that it's against the rules to tell genin hopefuls about the extra test unless they find out using their own means. She said she believed Sasame could do it though.

Since Kakashi-sensei said not to eat, her mom forced a lot of food on her for dinner to compensate for this morning but she was still hungry.

When Sasame arrived at the training ground she noticed that Sasuke was the only one there and looked about as tired as she did. He was leaning against one of the three training posts and seemed to be struggling to stay awake.

He looked over at her when she walked up and sat down against one of the other training posts. "Ohayo Sasuke-san," she said through a yawn.

"Hn."

She looked at him in amusement. "Is that all you ever say?"

He looked back at her. "Hn," he repeated, although there was a quick dart of emotion through his eyes. It could've been amusement, but Sasame wasn't quite sure.

Naruto chose to stumble into the training ground at that moment, his bright orange jumpsuit hurting their eyes and a hand rubbing one of his eyes, his other lifted in acknowledgment. "Hey Sasame," he said tiredly. "Hey, bastard."

Sasuke glared at him but was too tired to send an insult back.

Sasame leaned her head against the post behind her. "Hey," she said after a moment. "Do you think sensei will be late like he was yesterday?"

"Well, if he is, then I shoulda stayed asleep longer," Naruto grumbled.

Sasame glanced at him, and then at Sasuke. "You guys can sleep," she offered. "I'll stay up and keep watch."

"That's not fair Sasame!" Naruto immediately protested. "You're tired too."

"Hn," Sasuke said.

'Was that him agreeing?' Sasame thought in amusement. "It's okay," she said out loud. "I don't mind. If we're going to be teammates we should look out for each other right?"

"If you're sure…" Naruto trailed off but he was fighting a losing battle with his eyelids.

Sasame nodded. "I am," she said firmly. "Go. Sleep."

Naruto leaned back against the post. "'Kay," he muttered. "Goodnight."

He was out in a matter of seconds and begun snoring.

She chuckled. 'Man, I kind of envy how easy he can fall asleep,' she thought in amusement.

Sasuke got her attention by calling her name. "Sasame-san," he said. "We can all go to sleep."

'I think that was his way of saying I don't need to stay awake,' Sasame thought to herself in bemusement.

"Sasuke-san," she said. "It's fine. You need to rest for this test sensei is going to make us do."

"So do you," he countered.

"I'm not sleepy anymore," Sasame said easily, trying to unsuccessfully hide a yawn.

Sasuke eyed her suspiciously. "Fine," he relented. "Wake us as soon as he gets here."

"Sure."

Sasuke looked at her before nodding and leaning back against the post. And then he was asleep.

Sasame sighed and turned her face upwards to stare at the sky. 'I really hope sensei won't be late,' she thought, 'but I wouldn't hold my breath.'

She leaned back against the post and tried to keep herself awake and distracted by mentally reciting the shinobi code over and overagain.

However, after a couple of hours of doing that and with still no sign of their sensei, Sasame was getting impatient.

She sighed again and got into a meditation stance. 'Meditation helps clear the mind and maintain focus,' she repeated the statement her mom said to her inside her head. 'For shinobi, focus is crucial to surviving. If you go into a situation with a distracted mind, death could be imminent for you and your teammates. If you have focus, you can get out of there intact.'

Sasame evened out her breathing and closed her eyes to concentrate. She blocked out the sounds of birds, Naruto's snoring, and even the sound of the breeze filtering through the trees.

She blocked out all sound, reached deep within herself, and began to focus.

~wWw~

When Sasame came out of her meditation, the sun was higher in the sky, and there was still no sign of their sensei.

Hearing a noise next to her, Sasame looked over to see Sasuke stirring slightly. After a minute, his eyes opened and he gazed around in slight confusion. However, his eyes quickly lost their unfocused look as he gazed around his surroundings. He blinked when his eyes landed on Sasame.

"Sasame-san," he said in greeting. He looked around the training ground again before glancing at the sky. He frowned. "It's almost noon," he noted. "Is Kakashi-sensei still not here?"

Sasame shook her head. "No," she sighed. "This is ridiculous, he shouldn't be this late."

"Hn."

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, who was still snoring without a care in the world. "We should wake up the idiot," he said.

Sasame frowned at him. "You shouldn't call him an idiot Sasuke-san," she scolded.

He merely looked at her. "Hn."

She rolled her eyes, knowing that she was fighting a losing battle with that one. She walked over to Naruto and shook his shoulder slightly. "Naruto," she called out. "Naruto wake up, we have to be ready for when sensei gets here."

Naruto continued snoring, merely shifting in his sleep when Sasame shook him harder. She sighed. "How the hell are we supposed to wake him up?" she asked in frustration.

"I got it," Sasuke said as he stood up. He walked over to where Naruto was and stood over him. He looked at him a moment before he bent down and smacked him across the face.

"Sasuke!" Sasame gasped, forgetting to add the suffix to his name in her shock as Naruto woke with a yell. "You didn't need to wake him like that!"

"It worked didn't it?" he asked. He stepped back as Naruto scrambled up and glared at him.

"Bastard! What the hell was that for?!" he shouted angrily, rubbing the cheek that was smacked.

"Tch. Idiot," he said. "Sasame-san tried to wake you up earlier. It didn't work so I used my way."

"You didn't have to smack me, dattebayo!" he protested irritably.

However, before anyone could comment any further, there was a swirl of leaves and Kakashi was standing before them. He held up a hand. "Yo!"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted while pointing at him. "YOU'RE LATE!"

"I'm sorry," he said. "But as I was making my way here, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take a different route. And then I saw an old lady who needed help with her groceries. I couldn't just walk away." he shrugged in a 'what can you do' sort of way.

There was silence as the three students stared at the man incredulously. 'Is he serious?' they all thought simultaneously.

"Anyway," he said airily, "I think it's about time to start the test."

Sasame, Sasuke, and Naruto all straightened up after he said that, their focuses all trained on him.

Kakashi took out three Bentos and placed them on top of the posts. He then took out two bells that were held together with a string. "Your test is to take a bell from me. If you don't manage to take one from me before noon, you don't eat lunch."

Three stomachs growled in unison after he said that.

Sasame scowled at him. "That's why you told us not to eat," she realized. "You wanted us hungry so we'd work harder to get the Bentos."

Kakashi's eyes closed in a smile. "Got it in one!" he said joyfully.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Naruto blurted out. "Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells!"

"I was waiting for someone to notice," he said, his voice still annoyingly cheerful. "You are correct, there are only two bells. That is because whoever doesn't get a bell will be going back to the academy."

"NANI?!" Naruto shouted out in horror.

Sasame had a hand over her mouth in shock and Sasuke was frowning at Kakashi while glancing at his two companions.

Kakashi hung the bells at his waist. "Come at me with the intent to kill, or you won't get a bell," he said seriously. He took out an alarm clock. "Ready...set...GO!"

All three of them jumped away.

~wWw~

Sasame hid in the bushes and stared over to where Kakashi was still standing.

'Something's not right,' she thought in suspicion. 'Kaa-san was always telling me cool stories about missions she and her team used to take. She never mentioned any two-man genin cells that she couldn't have encountered. And while there are apprenticeships, there aren't that many and they're usually done with only one person with a single sensei. But Kakashi-sensei said that he'll take two students. That's just not done!'

Sasame glanced around and started to stealthily move out of her hiding place.

'I need to talk to Sasuke-san and Naruto about this,' she thought. 'We need to figure out the actual goal of this test,'

But before she could go any further, a voice rang out, causing her to look in its direction. What she saw made her want to slam her head against a tree. Repeatedly.

Naruto was charging at Kakashi with reckless abandon, throwing out sloppy punches and kicks that the other man easily caught or dodged.

'I guess I should find Sasuke first then,' she inwardly grumbled. However, another shout from Naruto caused her to glance back at them.

She doesn't know what Kakashi did but Naruto was sent flying away, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Sasame sweatdropped. 'I guess I'll go to Naruto first then,' she deadpanned to herself.

She hurried over to where she saw him fall and came upon a stream. Naruto burst from its depths as soon as she came close.

He was coughing and spluttering out water and was muttering some very unkind things about Kakashi-sensei under his breath.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sasame asked in concern.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up. "Oh, hey Sasame! I'm fine! I just have to try a new tactic against Kakashi-sensei, dattebayo!"

"About that," Sasame said. "I think there's more to this test than what sensei said."

"What?" he said with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I'll explain once we find Sasuke," Sasame said as she started walking back the direction she came from.

Naruto followed behind her, grumbling about 'not needing that damn bastard's help' but Sasame ignored him.

When they got back to where Kakashi was, they were shocked to find Sasuke's head sticking out the ground.

Well, Sasame was shocked. Naruto just thought that the whole thing was hilarious.

"Look at you bastard!" he crowed in amusement. "Kakashi-sensei got you good, dattebayo!"

Sasuke glared at him venomously. "Shut up dobe!" he roared, humiliation coloring his cheeks slightly.

"Both of you SHUT UP!" Sasame yelled out, effectively cowing them into silence, temporarily shocked by how loud her voice got. "We have bigger things to worry about."

She turned to look at Sasuke. "I'm sorry but the only way to guarantee you'll listen is to leave you in there," she said apologetically.

He glared at her.

"Just listen," she said. "Doesn't this test seem odd to both of you?"

"Hn."

"What's wrong with it?" Naruto said cluelessly. "All we have to do is kick sensei's ass and get a bell."

Sasame sighed. "Guys just...think for a second. Where has it ever said that Konoha has genin teams with only two genin? Iruka-sensei always told us that there are always three people under a sensei," she insisted.

"Apprentices," Sasuke grunted out.

"Apprentices are only given to one person under a sensei," she countered. "So why would Kakashi-sensei say he'll only take on two students?"

"Maybe he was lying?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah," Sasame answered. "But why?"

No one spoke for a moment.

But then -

"A distraction."

Sasame and Naruto looked down at Sasuke. "Huh?" Sasame said. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah bastard," Naruto added. "What are you talking about, dattebayo?"

Sasuke glared at him. "Kakashi-sensei said that one of us would have to go back to the academy if we don't get a bell," he said mulishly. "That would cause us to fight over each other to get a bell first, right?"

"Yeah," Sasame nodded slowly. "And if we were too busy fighting, we wouldn't find out about the real test."

"But what's the real test?" Sasuke asked.

"...maybe teamwork?"

Sasame and Sasuke both looked over at Naruto in shock. "What did you just say?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto scowled at him. "I said teamwork, dattebayo!" he said angrily.

"What made you come to that outcome Naruto?" Sasame asked.

He blushed and looked away. Scratching the back of his head, he answered her. "Well, you guys said he wanted us to fight so...what if we worked together? Maybe that's why he tried to trick us?" he said uncertainly.

Sasame stared at him in awe. "Naruto you're brilliant," she exclaimed. "It makes perfect sense!"

"It does?" Naruto and Sasuke said in unison.

Sasame nodded. "Yeah, it does," she said. "He wanted us worried about being sent back to the academy so that we'd do everything we could to prevent it."

"And see if we can catch the hidden test," Sasuke realized.

"Exactly," Sasame said smugly. She bent down next to him. "C'mon Naruto, we have to dig him out and then come up with a plan to get those bells."

~wWw~

Kakashi was standing in the middle of the field, seemingly bored by everything around him as he supposedly read a book in his hands. But in actuality, he was thinking.

'Hm, things have been quiet,' he noted to himself. 'Naruto has already tried getting the bells from me, and so did Sasuke. But Sasame hasn't made a move yet. And the boys haven't tried again. I wonder what they're planning?'

His musings were interrupted by the sound of shuriken being thrown. He looked up to see several flying towards him but he lazily moved his head to the side and allowed them to fly by.

He heard a shift him the air behind him and whirled around in time to catch Sasame and Sasuke's kicks that were aimed at his head.

'They used a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Jutsu) on the shuriken,' he noted in surprise. They knew I'd dodge them. By dodging them and allowing them to go past me, it opened up the opportunity for Sasame and Sasuke to switch with the shuriken and attack me. Very well played.'

Using the hold he already had on their ankles, he tossed them away. They hit the ground and rolled to their feet. They came at him again and Kakashi had to put a little effort to keep them from grabbing the bells.

'Hm,' Kakashi noted to himself. 'They're a little sloppy but have the potential to work together at least averagely.'

Suddenly they both jumped back and threw kunai at him. Kakashi grabbed his own kunai to deflect them but they exploded in puffs of smoke when they got close to him. From the smoke came two Narutos that tackled him to the ground.

Kakashi was caught off guard and didn't even try to dodge him. He landed on the ground with a slight 'oomph!'. When he quickly sat back up, he looked towards the three preteens and saw a smirking Sasuke, a smiling Sasame, and a grinning Naruto, who was holding up the two bells.

"How was that sensei?" Sasame said cheerfully.

"Yeah! We got you, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered.

Sasuke merely smirked wider. "Hn."

Kakashi admitted defeat. "Good job," he praised as he stood up again. "Now, who's going back to the academy?"

"No one," Naruto said confidently. "We figured out your little test sensei!"

"Yeah," Sasame nodded. "You wanted us to use teamwork to get the bells. You're not actually sending any of us back to the academy."

"I see," Kakashi said with no emotion. "Is that your final answer?"

All three nodded determinedly.

"Well then, I guess there's only one thing left to say to that," he said ominously.

They gulped.

"You three….pass."

Naruto cheered in glee. "Hell yeah, dattebayo!" he said happily. "We freaking passed!"

Sasame was hopping from foot to foot in joy, a smile lighting up her face.

Sasuke's smirk softened into a small smile fleetingly before his face arranged itself into a neutral look.

"You guys passed because you looked underneath the underneath," Kakashi explained. "Everyone else I tested did what I told them, no questions asked. Some people stick to what they're told because it means not breaking the rules. People who break the rules are scum, that is true. But you know what? People who betray their friends are worse than scum."

All three stared at their sensei after he said those words.

"He's actually kind of cool, dattebayo," Naruto said tearfully.

Sasame smiled up at him. "You got it, Sensei!"

Sasuke just smirked again.

"You are now my students," he explained. "Meet me again tomorrow at 9 am. Ja ne."

And in a swirl of leaves, he was gone again.

When he disappeared Naruto let out another cheer. "We did it, dattebayo!" he said. "We're finally ninja!"

Sasame giggled. "Yeah, I guess we are."

Sasuke glanced at her. "We probably wouldn't have passed if you hadn't tracked us down," he admitted.

"Yeah," Naruto added with a grin. "We owe ya one Sasame!"

She blushed. "It's no problem," she waved her hand about. "So, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"Hn," Sasuke said. He turned around and walked away, a hand lifted in farewell.

"Yeah, see you and the bastard tomorrow Sasame!" Naruto called out as he ran towards his apartment.

Sasame sighed and allowed a smile to grace her face. A squeal wanted to leap from her mouth but she held it in and started making her way home.

'I can't wait to tell Kaa-san!'