Neji, Sakura and Yoshi stood there staring at there jounin sensei standing at the middle of the field. When none of them spoke a word, Yoshi broke the silence, "So what was it you wanted us to do here?"

Kakashi eye smiled on that question."As I said. We are going to have a test. Actually, you three are. I will be just sitting here reading my platinum edition Icha Icha paradise novel I just bought."He swiftly took out an orange book from his left pocket and a kunai from his right pocket. He quickly threw the kunai right in between him and the three genins."Your test is to do whatever you can to take this kunai of the ground. Failure to complete the test within two hours means you will be thrown back into the academy.""What" , Sakura shouted, "You can't do that." "Well," their sensei remarked, "my games, my rules. Your time starts NOW."

Upon hearing that, Sakura and Neji were already out of sight leaving Yoshi in the middle of the field. He was looking around for his team mates fluttering his hands like a butterfly-Where are my team mates. Kakashi took the privilege of lifting his eyeball up to him, "Certainly not the brightest, now shoo." Getting a hold of the situation, Yoshi ran behind into the forest using the trees as cover. Just a few meters away was Sakura, a kunai in her hand peeping at Kakashi from the other side of a tree, looking for an opening to attack. Neji was nowhere to be seen. While Kakashi seemed like giggling while reading the book.

Just then, a whitish blur could be seen jumping from tree to tree behind Kakashi, who was quick to notice. 'Good, that hyuga kid has skills able to sneak up on me so close.' Kakashi thought. But before he could think of anything else, a swarm of shuriken came flying at the jounin. Hoping like a rabbit, he gracefully dodged all of them but it was too late before he noticed the smoke bombs attached to them. A cloud of smoke formed, and Neji sprang from the bushes with a kunai in hand racing towards the kunai on the ground, intent on pulling it off and passing the test. But to his dismay, another clone sprung from the ground and got hold off Neji, completely restraining him. Finding her chance, Sakura sprang from behind the trees and dashed towards the Kakashi clone. Using whatever taijutsu she learned from the academy, she tried to free Neji from the clone. Using the momentary distraction, Neji crouched in a downward spiral like manner and threw what appeared to be soft punches at him. The clone not able to withstand Neji's assault anymore puffed out of existence.

Yoshi wanting to be a part of the action now, reached for his backpack and took out a small green scroll. Throwing it to the ground, the sealing scroll opened to reveal much smoke and the faint shadow of a large figure of about twice his height.

Meanwhile at the battleground…..

"Gentle fist", Kakashi proclaimed, "Looks like you mean business. Alright then let's get to it." The jounin pocketed his book back assuming an unusual albeit lazy stance. Neji was thinking 'There's no way we can defeat him. He is a jounin and he can take on a hundred genins like us single handedly. But if there was a a distraction, a decoy who could keep him engaged. 'Sakura' he thought to himself. Then he looked at her and smiled. The girl was quick to realize what he meant.

Neji and Sakura dashed towards Kakashi attacking him from both sides. Kakashi was quick to put Sakura out of play with a fast kick to her belly. But Neji was giving him a hard time. After all, the Hyugas were known for there taijutsu and Neji was a prodigy among them. Still, it was getting more and more difficult for Neji to keep up with the jounin who was blocking his every move with ease." Looks like your plan failed, Mr. Hyuga. Using Sakura as a decoy was foolish, considering her close combat prowess."

Neji grinned, "She wasn't the decoy. I was." Kakashi, then coming to know of their strategy, turned his eyes towards the kunai. Sakura was rushing towards it. Kakashi tried to stop her, but Neji stood in between. "Even though it was clever, there's still one flaw in your strategy" , Kakashi said smilingly and dispelled into smoke .'Shadow clone' he thought…"Oh no! SAKURA" , Neji shouted. But before she could react to his call, three clones sprang from the ground surrounding her. When Sakura was then sure of their defeat, a sickle like weapon pierced from one of the clones which soon dispelled. Looking at her savior, she saw a four armed figure with sickle for hands in each. It was Reaper, one of Yoshi's puppets. Having a thin wooden face and legs covered in a kimono like dress it wore, it had a devilish, lizard like grin on it's face. The rest of the two clones, taken aback by such a move proceeded to attack it. "A puppeteer, I didn't know there was one in Konohagakure. This is getting interesting." , said Kakashi in a slightly serious demeanor.

Reaper's four sickles were proving more than enough to handle the clones. One of them jumped over the puppet and threw several kunai at it while the other one used a roundhouse kick to stop it from reaching Neji and Sakura. Taking it for an opening, Neji leaped from his place and used his gentle fist to engage one of the clones. The clone tried to counter it but Neji's repeated strikes to his vitals was too punishing for him and it vanished in a puff of smoke leaving only Kakashi in the field.

Neji, Sakura and Reaper dashed towards it. Neji threw a straight punch at him which he blocked with his arm while reaper charged at him from behind with it's sickles pointed towards him. The jounin jumped up, dodging the attack and using the momentum to step over the puppet's head and land gracefully on the ground. Sakura, the nearest to where Kakashi landed, ran to attack. But her punch was easily deflected with a gentle wave like motion of the jounin's right hand and Neji, who was running towards Kakashi intending to attack his blind spot, was the one who suffered the full force of Sakura's punch. "Neji-Kun", Sakura yelled in guilt."Man, he's good.", Yoshi spoke lightly from above the tree. Reaper then in a last ditch attempt, attacked Kakashi reaching at him and swinging it's sickles in a rhythmic manner. He dodged the puppets moves and flipped back in air to land over two of reaper's four arms, incapacitating them. Back in between the trees, Yoshi smiled' He fell for it'. Then using reaper's free hands, Yoshi trapped 'Kakashi' within his grasp using it's sickles to lock him in. Then, the chest compartment of the puppet suddenly opened and several kunai were launched at him. The blunt force of the launched Kunai was enough to launch him into mid air.

But then…. Neji , Sakura and Yoshi who were smiling after getting him at last, now looked at the block of wood in his place."Kawarimi" ,Sakura remarked. The kunoichi couldn't utter another word when she felt something cold touching her neck. Turning her eyes, she saw Kakashi holding a kunai to her neck, while his left hand held another kunai pointing Neji's right eye."You both are dead. So, you failed the test."Kakashi was grinning behind his mask now."Sorry." was all he said at last.

"We are not defeated. Yoshi is still out there.", Sakura claimed."Oh, really", Kakashi replied, "He will be joining you very soon."

Yoshi was hearing their conversation now. But to be frank, he didn't know what to do. Kakashi was too fast for his puppet attacks and the cyclops kept on using shadow clones. He was thinking of a strategy now when he heard something creeping behind him.

"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH", Kakashi yelled before thrusting his middle and index finger into Yoshi from behind. Yoshi never even got a chance to scream as he crash-landed right next to Sakura, who was now shaking her head in disappointment."Ooowwwww…..What the hell was that?" Yoshi screamed in agony.

"That was my secret jutsu, One thousand years of…" "Alright, alright" Yoshi interjected Kakashi , " I heard it the first time when you screamed it near my ear at point blank range."

Kakashi smiled."Well, I wouldn't worry about it right now. But, I hope you have emptied your stomach today because my advice would be not to use the toilet for at least two days. Or else, it will be really painful. Trust me."

"Crap, I have not gone to the toilet since yesterday."(Yes, Ninjas also use the toilet. Unbelievable, right.)Yoshi gulped after saying that. Right now, he was wondering what his sensei said was true.

"So, we didn't pass the test?" Sakura asked in a low voice. Kakashi heard that and walked to her. He smiled at her and lowered his face so that she could look at him straight in his eye. Then he gently put his hand over her head and increased his smile. Sakura started thinking' Maybe, he'll say yes.'

"No" , Kakashi whispered which everyone heard.

"What? Come on. You can't do this to us. We just became Genins and you want us to go back to the academy." , Yoshi begged. Neji never said anything, as if he knew what was going to happen.

"There were many flaws in your strategies. But to point out some of them. First, anybody remember about the kunai." , Kakashi said." What kunai" , Yoshi was scratching his head now." Exactly, you all became so obsessed with defeating me that you totally forgot about your mission's objective which was to take the kunai of the ground, by any means possible. I even intentionally left you with many chances to do so, but you just kept coming at me and never went near the kunai."

Sakura smiled a little after hearing that, tip of the tongue coming out of her lips. Neji was looking at the kunai, still plunged into the ground. Yoshi, just kept scratching his head.

"Second, all of you have skills, but during the fight you never thought for a second to use them appropriately. Like Neji, you rely too much on your Juken, and you lack deception in your style. Yoshi, your puppeteering skills are good but the way you fight completely gives openings for the enemy to attack you. Sakura, your taijutsu is average yet you joined Neji in fighting me head on. What you should have done is protect Yoshi from me as he is vulnerable at close range."

"And third, any of you care to look down at the ground for a second." All the three genins looked down to see rectangular papers, hundreds of them, flooding the ground. 'Those shadow clones' Neji thought 'they were laced with these papers'." Had it been a real fight, those could have been explosive tags. And then, you all would have been dead .A ninja always remains vigilant and alert of his surroundings, which you were not." , Kakashi ended that sentence with a loud voice.

The genins, realizing there mistakes just stood there for ther sensei to speak. Kakashi broke the silence, "But it wasn't that bad as it sounded. You guys worked as a team….. more or less, which is quite a feat."

"So, what becomes of us now", Neji asked after hearing Kakashi."Well, I don't know."Kakashi replied, turning back and walking out of the stadium," But, today I won a very large bet in a card game this morning, so it must be my lucky day."

"Wait a second, what the hell is that supposed to mean." ,Yoshi asked in a puzzled tone, still scratching his head.

"It means you passed, crackpot.", Kakashi answered sarcastically, turning his head to the three genins, " guess you three eggheads are part of Team Kakashi now. Team Kakashi, hmmm…. sounds nice". The jounin kept murmuring something to himself.

"Your training starts from tomorrow. Be here at 6. Don't be late. I don't like late comers. Kakashi finished his sentence and shun shinned away from the area.

Sakura was delighted on hearing that while Yoshi was jumping in joy. He couldn't hold it any more and punched a nearby tree in excitement only to writhe in pain after that when his hand became blood red due to the swelling. When Sakura turned around to look at Neji, he was gone, already out of the field and walking on the footpath now, perhaps back to his home. He had a peculiar look on his face. Sakura had been a fangirl of Neji for all her life and one thing she could say clearly after looking at him was that Neji was happy. I will make you proud Father, Neji thought, Fate is on my side.

Returning home, Yoshi sat down on his bed. In his pajamas now with a night cap that looked more like a decorated Christmas tree, he laid down on his bed, closing his eyes, excited about what would happen tomorrow.

So how did you like the fic? I know it may not be that good but please post your reviews so that I could get a chance to improve it. All suggestions as well as criticisms are openly welcome.