Hey guys I'm back! I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, but with studying and exams and other such things I just haven't had time to write. Hopefully you will enjoy this new chapter :)


Thoughts: Italics.

Inner Sakura: Bold Italics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own all OC's.


Sakura sighed as she held her head in one hand, the other resting on the table. The classroom was a buzz with the newly appointed genin, all eagerly awaiting the naming of the teams. The rosette was sitting alone at her table watching the goings on with interest. A knot of tension formed in her stomach and she nervously adjusted her hitai-ate, which she wore in a similar way to the ribbon she had worn up until today, on top of her head keeping her bangs away from her face. 'What if I'm not ready for this? What if I'm not ready to be a kunoichi?' The doubts had been running through her mind since last night, when the excitement of passing the exams had turned into worry.

'Enough with the complaining! You're giving me a headache…'

Sakura 'tsked' in annoyance. 'What do you want?'

The conciousness, who had named herself Inner Sakura, scoffed. 'I want you to suck it up! You're a kunoichi now, so act like it. You've wanted this for as long as we can remember.' Inner Sakura usually made an appearance every now and then. She had manifested when Sakura was very young, becoming her inner voice, voicing somewhat opinionated comments.

The rosette groaned, placing her head on the table. 'I know, I'm just worried. I can't help it.'

She was suddenly very concious of the time when she realised that Naruto was late. She glanced around the classroom, searching for his noticable orange clothing, but there was no sign of him. Knowing that little knucklehead he had probably slept late.

A soft smile formed on her lips as she thought of the blond. He truly was her best friend; he saved her when she was little and had been protecting her ever since. The fact that they might spend their lives as ninja apart deeply saddened her. Sure, she might see him during missions, and around the village, but it wasn't the same.

A sudden series of hysterical screams interrupted her thoughts.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke!"

She groaned, face-palming. Why today of all days? At least by getting separated into teams she wouldn't have to listen to Sasuke's fan-girls.

Looking up, she saw that the Uchiha was surrounded by a group of hysterical girls, including her former best friend, Ino Yamanaka.

Sakura felt a twinge of sadness as she watched Ino fawn over the broody Uchiha, flaunting her impeccable figure. However, her long pale blonde hair — which was tied into a ponytail — often swiped him across the face as she turned to squeal shrilly with the other girls, much to his obvious annoyance. She had replaced the clothing of her childhood for a short purple vest like blouse with a raised collar and a purple skirt that was cut off on the sides; around her stomach and legs she had wrapped bandages to hide the bare skin, and she also wore purple and white elbow warmers. Sakura noticed that she had her hitai-ate tied around her waist as a belt.

The Yamanaka Heiress had liquified the friendship between herself and Sakura, believing that Sakura also had feelings for Sasuke, and had declared her, her rival. However, she had denied it profusely, but Ino had refused to believe her.

Said former-friend spotted the rosette and hurriedly made her way towards her.

"Forehead!" she called loudly.

Sakura groaned at the nickname, which had obviously intended to be insulting. "What do you want, Ino-pig?"

The Yamanaka bristled at the name, but continued, placing her hands on her hips, "Sasuke-kun's going to be on my team for sure, so don't get your little hopes up about him being on yours!"

"I'm not, and I don't want him on my team anyway, you can have him for all I care." These irritating jabs about Sasuke and Sakura's 'apparent' feelings for him were really grating on her nerves.

Ino paused for a moment, her pale blue eyes wide and surprised, unsure of what to say next. Of course, Sakura had brushed off her comments about her precious Sasuke-kun before, but she had never sounded so…indifferent and cold. Shaking off her surprise, she folded her arms and smirked, "Well, I just wanted to let you know that you'll have no chance with him." She moved away from the table, going to her own seat.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. She had never liked Sasuke and was pretty sure that she never would. Ever since the massacre he had changed, and not for the better; he wasn't the same energetic little boy she had known as a child.

At the sound of the classroom door sliding open, Sakura spotted a head of golden locks and a wide smile automatically spread across her face. "Naruto!" she called.

Naruto looked up, spotting his crush, and an equally wide grin spread across his face as he raised his hand in greeting, moving through the classroom towards their table. He noticed that several pairs of eyes were glancing at him, and he assumed it was due to his new attire. True to her word, after sneaking him out of the hospital, his mother had taken him shopping, much to his displeasure. But it had been a choice between staying overnight at the hospital or going clothes shopping, and he would choose shopping any day.

As replacement for his orange jumpsuit, Naruto now wore a dark blue jacket — which he left unzipped revealing a black t-shirt beneath — a few shades darker than his sapphire eyes with two orange stripes travelling down the sleeve from shoulder to wrist. The hem of the jacket was also orange and on the back was the crimson crest of the uzumaki clan; Kushina had commented that it was a lot like the jacket his father had worn as a genin, except for the colours, crest and the fact that Naruto's jacket had a hood. He also wore light grey pants and orange fingerless gloves with metal-plating, along with his regular blue ninja sandals. In addition to his new attire he had a pouch attached to his back pocket filled with various shuriken, kunai and other such items, and on his right leg a bandage was wrapped just above his knee with another pouch containing a kunai; the placement of these pouches were traditional for any shinobi. On his forehead Naruto wore his hitai-ate proudly, choosing to wear it the traditional way.

The young Namikaze took his seat next to Sakura, and a blush flooded his cheeks when he noticed her examining his new outfit curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied, quickly looking away with a lightblush across her cheeks, smiling. "I like your new clothes. But I thought you loved your jumpsuit."

"I did," Naruto sighed longingly. "But, it got ruined, so Kaa-chan took me shopping."

Sakura chuckled, placing her chin in her hands, her blush now under control, "Let me guess, you over-did it with training?" 'Of course he did, it's Naruto. He always over-does things.'

The blond in question leaned back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest, his forehead furrowed in a frown. "No, I wasn't training. But, I wish I was."

Sakura's eyebrows raised in surprise before coming together, concern alighting in her jade eyes. "What happened?"

Naruto proceeded to fill her in on the details of the events of the previous night, excluding everything about the Kyuubi and him being its Jinchuuriki. 'I can't tell her, not yet. I can't risk her shunning me like everyone else.'

Sakura was stunned. "So Mizuki-sensei stole the Scroll of Seals, betrayed the village, and nearly killed Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto nodded an affirmative, "If I hadn't jumped in front of that giant shuriken, Iruka-sensei would probably be—"

"Wait, WHAT?! You jumped in front of a giant shuriken?!"

The blond stared at Sakura, who was now standing, with wide eyes. He continued cautiously, "Yeah, that's why I had to get new clothes. There was a huge hole the back of my jacket from the shuriken, plus it was badly stained from the blood…" He yelped when the rosette grabbed him by the collar.

"You were hurt?! Why are you here?! You should be in the hospital, baka!" She shook him, a knot forming in her stomach. That idiot, what was he thinking, interfering in a fight between two full-fledged shinobi?! Her breath quickened as she thought of what could easily have happened. 'He could have died!'

The rest of the class appeared to have noticed the ruckus, and were now focusing their attention on the two with interest.

"B-but, Sakura-chan, I'm fine! The doctors let me leave the hospital last night." It had been a while since Naruto had seen her so upset about something. "I promise, I'm fine," he said slowly, in an attempt to calm her.

At his words, her breathing slowed and she returned to her seat. She ran a hand through her pink locks, letting out a sigh, filled with relief, before looking directly into Naruto's sapphire orbs. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course, dattebayo!" He grinned widely, giving her a thumbs up.

"Good," she smiled, before striking the top of his head with her fist.

Naruto cried out, rubbing the new bump on his head gingerly. The other genin in the class chuckled, looking away from the duo now that the apparent drama was over; they had become accustomed to the two's love-hate relationship over the years, more love on Naruto's part though. It was obvious to them how much he liked her. The only one who seemed oblivous to that was Sakura.

The young Namikaze continued to rub his head, whining as he did so. "What was that for?"

Sakura folded her arms as she replied, "For acting before thinking. You could have been killed."

"I know."

Sakura paused and glanced at her companion. He was staring at the desk, and was running a hand through his unruly blond locks, a habit Sakura noticed he did when he was deep in thought. He wore a serious expression on his face, his eyes hardening slightly. "I know I could have died, but at the time, I didn't care. The only thing I was thinking about was not letting that teme Mizuki kill Iruka-sensei. That's part of what it means to be a shinobi, right? To not let our comrades die, and even die trying?"

The rosette didn't reply for a moment. She had never seen Naruto so…serious, and focused. But, it almost seemed like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Did what happened really change him that much? "Yeah… I guess it is." She started as the classroom door opened.

Iruka entered the room, looking a little worse for wear, a bandage visably wrapped around his forehead instead of his hitai-ate, and there was a clip-board in his bandaged hands. Following him were several shinobi and kunoichi, whom the genin could only assume were their soon-to-be jounin senseis.

Iruka glanced around the room at each of his students, well, technically they weren't his students anymore. Hopefully he had prepared them well enough for what was to come. He caught the eye of a certain blond-haired genin and smiled encouragingly.

"Good morning everyone, I suppose you're all getting a bit impatient now so we'll just get on with the placing of the teams." He looked at the clip-board in his hands. "Team Ten will consist of…Ino Yamanaka…Shikamaru Nara…and Chouji Akimichi." A shrill complaint echoed from a corner of the room. "Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi."

A tall man with short, black, spiked hair, tanned skin and brown eyes stepped forward. He wore the standard uniform of a Konoha shinobi, except his sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms, and a black bangle dangled from each wrist. White bandages were wrapped around his upper arms, and he wore a blue sash around his waist with the kanji for fire inside a white circle. He wore his hitai-ate in the traditional way around his forehead. Naruto instantly recognised him as the son of the Sandaime.

The shinobi in question rubbed his short black beard before he spoke, "Team Ten, follow me."

Once the newly formed team had quitted the room, Iruka moved on to the next team on the list. "Team Nine is already on the field. Team Eight with consist of…Hinata Hyuuga…Kiba Inuzuka...and Shino Aburame. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi."

A kunoichi stepped forward and every male in the room immediately admired her beauty. She had long, black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and wore make-up consisting of red lipstick. Unlike the other jounin, she didn't wear the traditional uniform. Instead, she wore a red, mesh armour blouse with only one sleeve, and over the top of this was a material resembling bandages with a pattern on it similar to rose thorns. On her hands and upper thighs were bandages, and she, like Asuma, wore her hitai-ate on her forehead. However, her most striking feature was her unusual red eyes. "Team Eight, if you would please follow me."

Iruka watched the jounin leave with her team before glancing back at the class. "Okay, Team Seven will consist of…Naruto Namikaze."

Naruto sat up straighter in his seat at the sound of his name and stared at Iruka intently.

"…Sakura Haruno."

Both genin stood up in their seats, crying out happily, both with similar thoughts; thanking Kami they were on the same team.

"…and Sasuke Uchiha."

Immediately their cries stopped and they sat down, slumping in their seats and groaning. Around the classroom Sasuke's fangirls were screaming in despair, while the last Uchiha looked less than pleased. 'Great, I'm stuck with the dobe and the weakling. How am I going to become strong enough to kill Itachi with those losers for team mates!'

"Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." The newly formed team looked along the line of jounin curiously, but none of the ninja stepped forward. Iruka knowingly shook his head with a sigh. "Moving on…"


-Two Hours Pass-

The newly formed Team Seven were the only ninja remaining in the classroom, and there was still no sign of their sensei.

Naruto had resorted to pacing agitatedly, while Sasuke and Sakura remained in their seats. Over the course of the two hours, Sasuke had refused to speak to his new teammates, but they were not too eager to attempt to strike up a conversation with him either. Sakura had tried several times to speak to the Uchiha, but all she received was a 'hn' in return, so she eventually gave up.

Naruto looked at the clock on the wall once more. His cry of frustration startled his two team mates.

"When's our sensei going to show up, dattebayo?! We've been waiting for hours!"

Sakura sighed, "Calm down, Naruto. He or she has probably just been held up, be patient." Although, the rosette was beginning to grow rather frustrated by the wait, too.

A 'tsk' came from the Uchiha, and he said, "Just sit down and shut up, dobe."

"What'd you say, teme?!"

Just as an argument was about to ensue, the classroom door slid open. All three genin fell silent as they looked up in anticipation.

A male jounin entered the room, and what immediately caught the team's attention was his unusual, pale grey hair, which appeared to defy grafity, and the unsual placing of his hitai-ate; it was tilted to the left, covering his left eye. He also wore a navy mask which covered the lower-half of his face; as a result the newly appointed genins had no idea what their new new sensei really looked like. His attire consisted, simply, of the standard shinobi outfit, the sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms; on his hands he wore metal-plated fingerless gloves.

Kakashi raised his hand in greeting, "Sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the scenic route."

The classroom was suddenly so silent crickets could be heard chirping outside. The three genin stared incredulously at the jounin.

"WHA-A-AT?!"

Naruto and Sakura — the rosette had shot up from her seat, toppling the chair in the process — stormed towards the jounin, shouting various unintelligible things; the only words that could be made out were 'lies', 'liar' and 'late'. Sasuke, who had remained in his seat, simply stared at the three with a bored expression on his face, but to the trained eye it could be seen that his eyebrow was twitching in annoyance, and there were faint signs of a vein throbbing on his temple.

Kakashi sighing and folded an arm across his chest, placing a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "My first impressions of you three… You're idiots." All three genin sweat-dropped at his words. "Now, if you've finished complaining, follow me."

Naruto stared intently at the jounin before them. Kakashi had led them onto the roof of the academy, and the genin seated themselves on a row of steps facing their sensei; the shinobi leaned against the metal barrier on the edge of the roof. 'There's something familiar about him… Have I met him before?' However, he couldn't seem to remember when or where he could have met this shinobi.

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Okay, why don't you introduce yourselves." He pointed at Sakura. "Let's start with you, Pinky."

A vein sprouted on Sakura's temple. 'Pinky?!' In the confines of her mind, Inner Sakura wasn't all too pleased with the nickname either. But, she forced back her annoyance, and instead asked, "But what should we say, sensei?"

"Oh, I don't know… Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future."

Naruto spoke up, "Why don't you introduce yourself first, sensei." 'Maybe then I'll figure out why he seems so familiar.'

The jounin in question sighed, "Me? Very well..." He folded his arms across his chest and looked up at the sky with his visible eye. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes. Hobbies… I have a few. As for my dream… I haven't really thought about it."

Naruto and Sakura sweat-dropped at the jounin's words. 'The only thing he told us was his name…' they thought simultaneously.

"Weren't you going to start, Pinky?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the use of the nickname, but, shrugging it off, she said, "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like training and spending time with my friends." The rosette smiled at Naruto, who grinned brightly in return. "I dislike bullys and people who make fun of my friends. My hobbies… I like reading." A look of determination settled in her eyes as she raised her fist, "And my dream is to surpass my father and become an ANBU Black Op, and become the strongest Kunoichi in the village, shannaro!"

Kakashi smiled approvingly under his mask. 'I thought girls her age would have been focused on boys, but this one appears to be focused on her career as a kunoichi. Promising…' He glanced towards the blond boy sitting beside her. "Now you, the idiot in the middle."

Naruto wisely chose to ignore the jibe; it wasn't the first time he had been called an idiot. Adjusting his hitai-ate as he spoke, he began, "My name is Naruto Namikaze. My hobbies are playing pranks and training. I like my friends, my family and ramen, and my dislikes are people who betray their friends and temes who think they're better than everyone else." He sent a pointed glare at Sasuke, which Kakashi noticed. The glare, however, was soon replaced by a wide grin, "And my dream is to surpass my father and become Hokage, the greatest Hokage Konoha had ever known!"

The grey-haired jounin nodded. It was the response he had expected, what else from the son of the Yondaime and Kushina Uzumaki. He glanced at the brooding Uchiha. 'It will be interesting to see what this one has to say.' "And lastly you, Emo-boy."

Sasuke appeared to ignore his sensei's words, instead beginning his own introduction. He leaned both of his elbows on his knews, bringing his intwined hands to his face. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are many things that I hate, and there aren't a lot of things I like. And I don't have a dream, but an ambition; the revival of my clan, and to kill…a certain man."

Silence fell following Sasuke's words and each teammate had varying reactions. Naruto stared at the Uchiha, his arms folded across his chest. 'How the hell am I going to work with this guy? It's obvious he won't want to work with us… But, Mikoto-san would want us to try. We have to, for her.'

At his words, Sakura felt a shiver run down her spine as she stared at Sasuke with wide eyes. 'What do those fan-girls see in him, seriously? His ambition…to kill a certain man… It's a bit disturbing…'

Kakashi, on the other hand, stared intently at the last Uchiha worriedly. 'It's just as I thought. This one's going to be trouble; I'll have to keep a close eye on him.' "Alright, you three all have unique personalities. I like that. We're going to begin a mission starting tomorrow." The three stared at him expectantly, two of the genin sharing the same curious expression.

Naruto was the first to speak. "What kind of mission, sensei?" He hadn't expected to be given a mission so early. Nonetheless, he felt a thrill of excitement by the thought.

"First, we're going to do something that we four can do." He paused, allowing the genin's anticipation to build up. "Survival training."

Naruto and Sakura shared a groan, while Sasuke voiced a 'hn'. They had done survival training multiple times over their years at the academy. The twelve-year-olds hadn't expected to begin their lives as ninja with yet more survival training. The young Namikaze leaned on his elbows on his knees, placing his chin in his hand. "Survival training? You can't be serious…"

Sakura eyed her sensei suspiciously. There was something more to this, she was sure. "Why are we going to train when it's a mission? We had plenty of training at the academy."

Kakashi closed his one visible eye before replying, "This is no ordinary training."

"Then what kind of training is it?"

The jounin didn't reply, but began to laugh in an eery, creepy way, a laugh promising violence and horror. Each member of Team Seven, not excluding Sasuke, felt a shiver run up their spines, the hairs on the back of their necks standing on end in response to the sound.

Continuing to chuckle, Kakashi said, "Well, if I say this, I'm sure you three are going to be surprised." He suddenly fixed the three genin with a stern expression. "Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine are going to become genin. The other eighteen will be sent back to the academy. In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test with a drop out rate of sixty-six percent."

The reactions of the genin varied; Sakura stared at the jounin with wide eyes; Naruto gaped in shock, horror in his expression; Sasuke's forehead furrowed, his eyebrows coming together in a frown.

Kakashi smirked under his mask. "See? You three are surprised!"

Naruto stood, his hands shaking, agitation rolling off of him in waves. "No way! If over half of us aren't going to become genin, then what was the final exam for?!" There was no way he was going back to the academy. He had worked too hard for this!

"That?" The jounin shrugged. "It just picks out those who are qualified to become a genin." The twelve-year-olds were dumbfounded; they may have passed the graduation exam, but they weren't ninja yet.

Kakashi continued on, seemingly oblivious to his team's turmoil, "Anyway, I'm going to determine whether you pass or fail tomorrow. Meet me at the Third Training Ground; bring your ninja equipment and meet at 5:00 a.m sharp!"

Naruto stared at the ground, his hands balled into fists at his sides. 'I'm not going to get sent back to the academy. I won't let this beat me. I'm a Namikaze, dattebayo! I have to make him recognise my abilities!'

Sakura's jade eyes hardened as she stared at her sensei. 'If I fail this test, I won't become an ANBU. I refuse to let Tou-chan's dream die! I have to become a kunoichi!'

Sasuke remained in the same position, but he clenched his shaking hands together, his eyes filled with a steely determination.

Kakashi stood and turned away from the genin, "Now then, meeting over." He glanced over his shoulder. "Oh yeah, don't eat breakfast. You're going to throw up if you do." All three genin sweat-dropped. The survival training was sounding ever worse by the minute.

The jounin raised a hand to his head in a two-fingered salute in farewell, saying a quick, "Later," and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Suddenly, something clicked in Naruto's mind. That strange hair, and the mask… "I knew it!"

His exclamation startled his teammates, although Sakura was the only one who looked at him expectantly. The blond placed two hands behind his head. "I knew I recognised Kakashi-sensei! I remember meeting him a few times when I was little. He was a member of my father's genin team."

Sakura's eyes sparked with interest, "So, our sensei was taught by the Yondaime Hokage?" Naruto's words appeared to have captured Sasuke's attention also, as he glanced at the blond with some interest. "He must be pretty powerful if your father was his sensei."

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know, I didn't really talk to him much." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "So, what should we do now?"

Sakura stood, swiping the dust from the back of her dress as she moved to stand beside her friend. "Maybe we could go get something to eat, does Ichiraku sound good?"

Naruto grinned widely at the thought of his favourite ramen stand, and he nodded enthusiastically. As they made to move away he glanced at Sasuke, noticing that the Uchiha was still seated on the step. A feeling of pity crept its way into the boy's chest; he knew Sasuke would probably kick his ass if he found out he was feeling sorry for him, but he couldn't help it. He had no family, unlike Naruto and Sakura, and he probably didn't have many, if any, friends. A smile formed itself upon his lips as he asked, "Hey, teme, do you want to come to Ichiraku with us?" The least he could do was try to get to know his new teammate.

Sasuke, however, stood from his seat and walked past the duo. "Yeah right, like I'd want to hang out with you losers." Without another word he disappeared down the stairs.

Naruto's blond eyebrow twitched in reaction his new teammate's response to the invitation. 'Teme…'

Sakura frowned as she stared at the back of the retreating Uchiha, "What's his problem? I know he's an Uchiha but does he really have to act like he's better than us?" She walked towards the edge of the roof and leaned back against the metal barrier, resting her hands upon it. "He could have at least come to Ichiraku with us, instead of just leaving like that." The rosette eyed Naruto curiously. "Since when have you wanted to be friends with Sasuke, anyway?"

Shrugging, he moved to stand beside her, leaning his forearms on the cool metal. The Namikaze's sapphire eyes gazed over the many buildings of Konoha, watching the villagers go about their business. "Well, we're going to be teammates for kami knows how long, so I thought we might as well get to know him. But, obviously, the teme isn't interested." He groaned. "Damn it, he's going to make teamwork hard, dattebayo! But, we have to try, Mikoto-san would have wanted us to try."

Sakura smiled at the blond's words; underneath his brashness and impulsive tendencies he really was a softy. But Naruto was right, Sasuke's mother would have wanted them to try to be his friends, especially now that they were on the same team.

'Even if he is a complete asshole?'

The rosette laughed inwardly at Inner Sakura's blunt words. 'Yeah, even if.' A playful smirk formed on the corner of her lips as she stole a glance at her companion, "So, I take it you don't plan on being his rival anymore?"

Naruto's reaction to her words was just as she expected.

"I'll never let that teme beat me! I'll prove to him who's the best shinobi, even if it means being his rival for the rest of our lives, dattebayo!"

Sakura laughed as he continued to rant; for some reason, the two boys had tried to best each other in everything pertaining to being a shinobi since they first started the academy, from taijutsu to ninjutsu to weaponry. So far, they have been tied in all skills, neither appearing to be stronger than the other. 'They'll never give up until someone gives in.' Although she was happy to be on Naruto's team, she had a feeling that she was going to have to be the one to keep him and Sasuke in line.

Pulling herself from her thoughts, she sweat-dropped when she realised that Naruto was still boasting about how he was going to be better Sasuke. With an exasberated sigh, she struck the top of his head with a fist.

The boy yelped, rubbing the now sore spot on his skull. He glared at the rosette, "I think you just killed some of my brain cells, Sakura-chan…"

Sakura ignored him, instead moving towards the stairs. "Stop ranting and come on already, I'm starving." She turned to say something more, only to pause when she saw that he was standing on top of the railing. "What are you doing?"

Naruto grinned brightly, "Stairs are lame, and I'm a shinobi now; rooftops are more my style. I'll race you! Whoever gets there first has to buy the winner as many bowls of ramen they want." He chuckled mischievously. There was no way Sakura was going to beat him in a test of speed.

The rosette paled at the thought of losing to Naruto. 'Naruto eats an average of eleven bowls of ramen every time we go to Ichiraku, I can't afford that! No way, there's no way in hell I'm losing, shannaro!' Without a second thought, she forced chakra to the soles of her feet as she jumped up onto the railing beside the blond and pushed off hard.

She landed lightly on the roof of a building opposite the academy. Looking back with an amused expression, she saw that Naruto was watching her in disbelief. She laughed as she ran across the rooftop. "I hope you have Gama-chan with you, Naruto," she sang, "You're going to need him!"

The Namikaze watched with a blush across his whiskered cheeks as his crush sped across the rooftops. His heart pounded wildly and his stomach performed several backflips. The sight of Sakura leaping through the air — the sunlight caressing her skin, the wind whipping her pink locks from her face, a wide confident smile upon her lips — was enchanting.

After a moment he realised that she had got ahead of him in their one-on-one race, and he quickly leapt off of the rooftop, following Sakura's trail, fearing that his precious Gama-chan would soon become considerably lighter. "Hey, that's not fair! You got a head start, dattebayo!" The only response he received was a peal of laughter.


The alarm clock blared loudly in Naruto's ear before he summoned the energy to lift a fist to turn it off. With bleary eyes his sapphire orbs glanced at the time, which read 4:35 a.m. With a groan the boy rolled off of the mattress and proceeded to dress himself sleepily. "Damn Kakashi-sensei… It's too early…"

Carrying his jacket, the young Namikaze shuffled down the hallway, rubbing his eyes as he stepped down off the top step of the stairs. However, he stepped into thin air, missing a step. His tired eyes widened and he yelped as he tumbled down the stairs, landing at the bottom in a heap.

Sitting up, Naruto rubbed his head, now wide awake. "This really isn't going to be my day, is it?" he muttered irritatedly.

"Naruto-niichan?"

Turning, the blond spotted his imouto staring at him tiredly from the top of the stairs. Her deep red locks were in a tangled mess on top of her head; one eyebrow twitched ominously as she spoke, "What in Kami's name are you doing?"

Naruto stood, walking towards the door, before answering, "I have to go to train with my team and Kakashi-sensei; he wants us to meet at 5:00 a.m…." He groaned. "That teme-sensei! Why didn't he make us wait until later, dattebayo!"

"Shut up, Naru-baka! You'll wake Tou-chan and Kaa-chan!" She sighed tiredly, folding her arms. "I'll never sleep at this rate…" She paused, glancing at Naruto quizically, "Wait, aren't you going to eat breakfast before you go?"

Her brother shook his head, "No, Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat anything because we'd throw up."

Again she sighed, face-palming in the process. "Kami, you really are an idiot." Akari cut him off before he could protest. "He's obviously trying to weaken you. By skipping a meal, you will tire quickly, you won't have as much stamina as you usually do, and so on. So just eat something, and please, please try to be quiet? I'm going back to bed…"

Naruto was dumbfounded. He struggled to contain an exclamation, not wanting to wake his parents, especially his mother. Waking Kushina too early was like asking for a death wish.

How could a ten-year-old academy student figure it out before him, a genin? If Sasuke found out about this, he would never hear the end of it…

Although, now that he thought about it, Akari was right. Glancing at the clock, which now read 4:55 a.m, he hurried to the kitchen. 'Hopefully Kakashi-sensei won't mind if I'm a little late.'


-Thirty Minutes Pass-

Sakura yawned widely as she sat against one of the three wooden stumps embedded into the Third Training Ground. The sun was rising over Konoha, bathing the trees and distant buildings in a warm orange glow. Bird song seranaded through the trees. The sound of running water from the river which ran alongside the training ground was soothing; the morning air was still chilly, stinging her cheeks. She glanced at the entrance of the training grounds. There was still no sign of Kakashi, nor Naruto.

The rosette sighed once more. 'Naruto must have slept late.' She hoped he would arrive soon, though; this silence was making her feel awkward and uncomfortable.

She looked up, watching Sasuke, who was standing against the second of the three stumps, eyes closed, hands in his pockets. Several times Sakura had attempted to strike up a conversation with the brooding Uchiha, but all she received in return was silence, or a grunt if she was lucky.

Not to mention she was tired, she was hungry, and spending the past forty-five minutes with a broody Sasuke just made her morning worse. To top it all, she was dreading the survival test. Her stomach twisted nervously as several thoughts flashed through her mind.

What sort of survival test was it? What was Kakashi going to make them do? Would they fail? Would she fail?

If she failed she would be sent back to the academy, or maybe Kakashi would stop her from becoming a kunoichi, period! Then she would never become an ANBU Black Op, nor would she become the strongest kunoichi in the village; she would be forced to watch from the sidelines as others protected the village. Her father's dream would never be fulfilled.

Sakura shook her head quickly, slapping her cheeks. No! She shouldn't think that way. She couldn't quit before they had even begun. She had to try.

"Sorry I'm late!"

She looked up, spotting Naruto running towards them. As he grew closer, Sakura couldn't help but admire how much his new attire suited him. It made him look more like a shinobi than that horrible orange jumpsuit. Silently she thanked Kami, and Kushina, that he had the sense to not choose yet another outfit of the same abnormally bright colour…

The boy paused before them, bowing over to catch his breath. He quickly noticed that Kakashi hadn't arrived yet. 'Thank Kami,' he thought. 'At least he won't know I was late.' Naruto straightened and pulled two apples from his pouch, holding them out to both teammates. "Here, eat these. I'm guessing neither of you ate anything this morning."

Sakura sighed, face-palming. "Naruto, Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat breakfast or else we'd throw up, so I'm not taking the chance." Sasuke, surprisingly, nodded in agreement.

Naruto gave a small smile, 'I guess I'm not the only one who didn't figure it out.' At least now if they did find out that it was Akari who had told him about it, they couldn't exactly hold it against him."But he was tricking us! By skipping a meal, we'll tire quickly, we won't have the stamina to do a lot a jutsus, and lots of other stuff. So just eat the damn apple, dattebayo." He tossed the fruit to both teammates, who caught them easily. The blond noticed that they were staring at him with mild surprise. "What?"

Sasuke simply grunted but reluctantly bit into the apple after a moment's hesitation. Sakura gave a small smile, replying a quiet, "Nothing," before also biting into the fruit eagerly.

Naruto grinned, moving towards the third stump and sitting down against it, folding his legs. He glanced at the rising sun and sighed. He had a feeling it was going to be some time before Kakashi appeared.


-5 Hours Pass-

"I'll kill him! I'm going to kill that damn Kakashi-sensei!"

The aggravated Namikaze stomped back and forth before his teammates, who were both just as frustrated as he, though not as verbally so.

"Five hours! Five freaking hours! Are you kidding me? Two hours was pushing it, but this is ridiculous!"

Before his teammates — namely Sakura — could attempt to calm the raging blond, the jounin in question appeared in a puff of smoke. The grey-haired shinobi raised a hand in greeting. "Yo!" He said cherrily.

Two of the irritated team mates erupted, "YOU'RE LATE!"

"An old woman needed help with her groceries…"

The three genin stare at him, less than amused. Kakashi coughed into his fist, "Let's move on." Moving to one of the stumps, he set an alarm clock on top of it. "The alarm is set at twelve o'clock." The jounin glanced at his possible students, who were eyeing him intently, and held up two silver bells, both on strings. The bells made a light jingle as they swayed, moved by the slight breeze. "Today's topic is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't will have no lunch, I will tie you there," he pointed to one of the stumps, "and eat lunch in front of you."

Naruto sighed, relieved that his sister had been there to tell him Kakashi's true motives. His teammates, while surprised that the young Namikaze had actually figured it out, were silently thanking him.

Kakashi, however, was surprised by the lack of reaction from the genin. He had at least expected expressions of despair or dread, not these masks of calm. Under his mask he smirked. 'Maybe these three will give me more of a challenge than I thought.'

Sakura spoke as she examined the two bells in the jounin's hand, "Wait, why are there only two bells? There's three of us."

Kakashi attached the objects to his pants, replying as he did so, "Since there are only two, at least one person will have to be tied to the log. That person will fail since he, or she, failed to complete the mission, and will go back to the academy." The three genin, while startled by the news, gained a new expression of determination. "It might be just one, or all three. You can use your weapons to fight me. You won't be able to get these bells unless you have the will to kill me." Naruto swallowed forcefully, his teammates having similar reactions to their sensei's words. "When I say 'Start', we will begin."

Team Seven get into defensive positions, crouching slightly, watching every move Kakashi made carefully. When Kakashi shouted out the magic word which told them the test had begun, the three genin leaped away, disappearing from his sight. Kakashi nodded, 'Good choice.'


High in a tree at the edge of the training ground, Naruto crouched low on a branch, obscuring himself from sight, attempting to mask his chakra signature. One of the first lessons they were taught at the academy, was to conceal yourself and assess your enemy before attacking. Of course, the blond had never been fond of this particular lesson, prefering to charge head first into battle.

But this time was different. This test would determine whether or not he became a true Genin. He had to pass!

Naruto closely examined his sensei, and sweat-dropped.

Kakashi didn't even look like he was readying himself for an attack. He was simply standing in the open with a little orange book in his hands, a light blush across what could be seen of his face. The young Namikaze face-palmed as he instantly recognised the book as one of Jiraiya's perverted Icha Icha novels. 'Great, I have a pervert for a sensei.'

Focusing back on the situation at hand, Naruto attempted to come up with a plan of attack. 'I could attack him head on and use my clones to overwhelm him...'

However, he could already find flaws in that plan. Again and again he shot down each idea. This guy was a jounin, there was no way he would succumb to such simple attacks!

He couldn't defeat him and get the bells alone.

Discretely, Naruto leaped away from his post in the tall tree, reached out and searching with his chakra. He needed to find his teammates.


In the training ground below, Kakashi glanced at one of the trees as he felt the faint chakra signature move towards the other two barely detectable chakra signatures hidden in the bushes and trees. He smiled faintly beneath his mask. 'Now they're getting it.'


Sakura crouched low in the bushes, the foliage carefully concealing her body from the sight of her sensei. The twelve-year-old wracked her brain, searching for a plan to take down Kakashi. She frowned as she eyed the jounin from her hiding spot. There had to be a hidden motive to the test, a hidden meaning they had to figure out…

"Sakura-chan?"

The rosette yelped, startled, swinging her fist in the direction of the voice. Her hand connected with the cheek of her attacker, and he let out a cry of surprise.

"Why-y-y-y, Sakura-chan?" he whined dramatically.

Sakura blinked several times, staring at her blond friend, "Naruto?" She moved to sit beside the boy, who was rubbing his now red cheek with a pout on his lips. "Sorry, but what do you expect when you sneak up on me like that, baka!"

"How was I supposed to know you would hit me!" The young Namikaze sighed, folding his arms across his chest. "Anyway, do you have any ideas about how to take the bells from Kakashi-sensei?" When the girl shook her head, responding in the negative, Naruto scratched his blond locks in thought. "Neither could I… Any strategy I came up with was doomed to fail. Its impossible for inexperienced genins like us to take on a jounin alone, even though I hate to admit it, dattebayo…" he grumbled, dejectedly.

Sakura frowned, "So what are we supposed to do?"

With a smirk, Naruto said, "We have to work together and take him down as a team. Tou-chan always said that while a ninja working alone is a powerful opponent, a team working together can be an unstoppable force."

"So, if we work as a team, we'll be able to take him down!" Sakura concluded excitedly.

Naruto nodded, satisfied with their discovery. "Now we just have to find Sasuke-teme and let him in on the plan."


The Uchiha in question, like Naruto had been, was crouched low on a tree branch, concealing himself behind the trunk, but just enough to still have Kakashi in his sights. He had come up with several strategies to take down the jounin. This was his chance to reveal the power of an Uchiha! He just had to wait for the right moment to strike.

Suddenly, he sensed the chakra of his two teammates, looking to the side to find them both standing on his perch. He frowned in annoyance, "What do you two idiots want?"

Ignoring the jibe, Naruto stepped forward to address the clearly irritated Uchiha heir, "Sakura and I think we should work as a team to take the bells from Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura nodded, and said, "Face it, Sasuke, if we work alone there's no way we can take on a jounin. If we don't work as a team we'll get sent back to the academy. So, will you help us?"

The Uchiha merely 'hn'd' and turned away from the duo. "Like I'd work with you losers. You would just slow me down." He leaped away from his teammates before they could protest.

Naruto growled, "That teme…!" With a sigh he looked at his remaining pink-haired teammate. "I guess we're going to have to do this without him."


Meanwhile, Kakashi remained in the middle of the training ground, occasionally giggling pervertedly as he read his beloved book. Suddenly sensing a chakra signature, the jounin glanced up only to find Sasuke standing several metres before him.

The Uchiha heir glared at his sensei and moved himself into an offensive stance. Kakashi sighed, remaining in a relaxed stance and returned his one visible eye to the book in his hand. 'Naruto and Sakura haven't moved from their spots from what I can sense. So, this one is going to take me on alone… Either he's confident in his abilities or he prefers not to rely on others… I'm going to assume the latter.' Staring at the genin, he said, "Are you sure that it's wise to try to take these bells from me alone? You're only a genin, what chance do you have against me?"

Sasuke growled in response and threw several shuriken at the silver-haired jounin, who dodged the attack rather easily

Kakashi, rather disappointed, stated, "There's no use in just using normal attacks."

However, rather than reacting with frustration as Kakashi had expected, Sasuke smirked. He threw another shuriken. The jounin, who had skidded to a stop, followed the direction of the small weapon, watching as it sliced through a carefully concealed rope in the trees. 'A trap?' he thought curiously. His question was answered when he instictively dodged several kunai knives which had seemingly appeared from nowhere. As Kakashi dodged the trap, Sasuke suddenly appeared behind the jounin.

Surprise spread across what could be seen of Kakashi's face as he placed his book in his weapons pouch and twisted around to block a kick from his potential student. He quickly grasped Sasuke's leg with his available hand. However, Sasuke would not be so easily beaten as he swung a fist towards Kakashi. The jounin caught the offending fist with his other hand. Sasuke in response twisted upside down, attempting to kick his sensei once more only to be once again blocked.

The Uchiha smirked, realising the advantage of his current position, and moved to grab the bells.

As Kakashi noticed the actions of the genin he quickly threw him back and leaped out of his reach, ensuring the bells were not taken.

Both shinobi move out of their offensive and defensive stances, each eyeing the other carefully. Kakashi chuckled, still mildly surprised from Sasuke's display of skill, and said, "I'll admit, you're different."

Not reacting to the words of his sensei, Sasuke quickly formed several hand signs, ending with a tiger seal. He gathered the needed chakra, forcing it into his throat, visualising the chakra heating rapidly. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" he cried out, breathing deeply.

Kakashi visible eye widened in shock as he exclaimed, "What? A genin shouldn't be able to do that jutsu! He shouldn't have enough chakra!"

A large ball of fire erupted from Sasuke's mouth and hurtled towards Kakashi. As the fireball struck the spot where Kakashi was standing, the explosion created a smoking crater where the jounin had been. The smoke disintigrated, but there was no sign of Kakashi.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, shifting into a defensive stance. "Where is he?" He glanced around, examining the trees and bushes, and looked upwards in preparation for an attack from above. 'Is he behind me? No, above? Where is he?!'

Suddenly, the genin felt a tremor beneath his feet and a voice echoed from below him.

"Beneath you."

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror as a hand burst out of the ground and grabbed his leg.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

The young Uchicha cried out as he was pulled down towards the ground, his body passing through the earth.

The dust slowly cleared, revealing a disgruntled Sasuke, his body from the neck down buried in the ground.

Kakashi, now visible, crouched in front of him with what appeared to be an amused expression. "This is the third ninja tactics know-how, Ninjutsu. How is it? Can't move, right?" Sasuke looked away with a frown. "It looks like your talents are exceptional. But..." He stood, pulling out his Icha Icha novel. "They say the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down."

Sasuke cursed as Kakashi disappeared, "Damn it!"

Meanwhile, his two teammates crouched in the tree from which they had observed the fight. Both where impressed by Sasuke's show of skill, and where intimidated by Kakashi's obvious battle experience. Sakura's eyebrows came together in a small frown as she watched the Uchiha struggle in vain to free himself. "Shouldn't we help him?"

Naruto however, laughed, placing his arms behind him head. "Nope, it's great seeing him with his sorry ass kicked for once. I say we leave him there for a while longer, dattebayo!" He chuckled, a wide grin across his whisker-marked face.

Sakura scowled, folding her arms across her chest, as she stared at her friend disapprovingly. "Naruto…"

The young Namikaze rolled his eyes at his crush. "Fine, fine. Let's help the teme. He's not going to like it though, dattebayo…" The two leaped down from their perch, landing lightly on the ground below with low thuds.

Sasuke glanced over towards at the sound and 'tsked'. "What do you losers want?"

His rosette teammate smiled shyly, "Well, you look like you could use a little help, so we thought—"

The disgruntled Uchiha interrupted with a frown and glared at the duo, "You thought you could help me? As if I would need help from the likes of you idiots. I don't need help."

Naruto glanced at Sakura pointedly, one eyebrow raised, with a look that said, 'I told you so,' and sighed. He crouched before Sasuke's head with a determined expression. "Listen, teme, if you don't want to lose that" — Naruto flicked the hitai-ate on the Uchiha's forehead to deliberately irritate the genin — "we have to work together. It's almost noon, we have about an hour left to get those damned bells. We need to plan a strategy to get them. So, do you want to be a shinobi or do you want to go back to the academy like a loser, dattebayo!"

That had clearly riled up Sasuke; he growled, his gaze sharpening as he struggled with further vigor. Finally he sighed, not looking at his teammates as he spoke. "Could you…help me?" To Naruto and Sakura it sounded like it pained him to speak those words.

The duo nodded and started digging.


Kakashi stood in the middle of the training grounds reading Icha Icha Paradise. With a sigh he glanced at the alarm clock that was still sitting on the stump. It read 11:30 am. The genin were running of time. He supposed he might have to fail another yet team.

Suddenly, he sensed two chakra signatures and turned to see Naruto and Sakura charging him, fists and kunai at the ready.

Naruto reached him first, using his momentum to leap into the air and swing his leg towards Kakashi's head. The jounin ducked, dodging the strike, only to came face to face with Sakura, who was close enough to strike him a blow to his side with her kunai. He quickly dodged again, backflipping away from the two genin. Before he could even pause to gather his thoughts he heard a voice cry out from behind him.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

He moved just in time, a large ball of fire striking the spot where he had been standing merely a few seconds before hand. However, the fire continued forwards, striking Naruto and Sakura.

Kakashi looked on in shock and horror as the two genin screamed in pain. Placing his book in his back pouch, he looked at Sasuke with fury, preparing himself to launch on the trecherous genin. However, before he could do so, he turned back to Naruto and Sakura as he heard two loud 'poofs'.

The fireball created by Sasuke had dissipated, and where the scorched bodies of the genin had been where two puffs of white smoke.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened. 'Kage Bunshins?!'

The jounin suddenly lurched forward as he was struck by a body from behind. He glanced back to see Naruto holding tightly onto Kakashi's torso, pinning his arms. Two clones where holding onto both of his legs, immobilising him.

Naruto looked up at his teammate and shouted out, "Now, Sasuke!"

Sasuke charged forward with a cry, launching at the jounin with a flurry of strikes. However, before he could land a hit, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving a log in his place. Sasuke halted his assault while Naruto dropped the log and dispelled his clones.

Kakashi stood several metres away, looking at the genin with a hint of amusement and some pride. 'Now they're getting it.' He chuckled, deciding to taunt the two headstrong twelve-year-olds. "Is that the best you can do? I'm sure you two can do better than that."

Without a response, the two genin again charged Kakashi from different angles. They hit him with various strikes, but no matter how many times they tried, Kakashi blocked every single hit. They were furious in their attacks, never faltering or hesitating. Kakashi gathered that their strikes were fairly strong for genin. With the right training they could become formidable foes.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Naruto and Sasuke halted their attack and leaped away from their sensei, folding their arms across their chests. Kakashi, though puzzled, shook his head and said, "You have only five minutes left, I suggest that if you want these bells you keep trying to take them."

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, it's a bit too late for that."

Kakashi turned at the sound of the young feminine voice, to find Sakura grinning triumphantly. The rosette held up the two silver bells grasped in her hand, a wide grin upon her face. The jounin blinked, startled, and quickly patted his side.

The bells were gone.

Beneath his mask, the grey-haired shinobi smirked and asked simply, "How?"

Naruto and Sasuke approached them, both smirking. Naruto placed his hands behind his head, grinning widely. "I figured out we couldn't beat you and get the bells alone; you're a jounin, you'd kick our asses in a heartbeat. So I found Sakura-chan and filled her in, but when we told Sasuke the teme thought he was too good to team up with us." Sasuke gave a 'hn' in response. "When he got his ass handed to him by you he agreed to team up with us."

"Only because you two wouldn't stop pestering me," the proud Uchiha stated.

Just as Naruto was about to argue, Sakura interrupted with a cough. "Anyway, we decided that we should try to distract you to get the bells. So, Naruto made two clones and one of them transformed to look like me. The clones would do a frontal assault to distract you while Sasuke snuck behind you and used his fireball jutsu. We knew that you would dodge it though so the attack would instead hit the clones; we hoped that you would still think that they were me and Naruto. While you were still in shock from our 'deaths', Naruto made two more clones and all three tried to immobilise you while Sasuke attacked. However, while you were occupied with Naruto and Sasuke, I attempted to get the bells by concealling my chakra and sneaking up to your side while you were distracted."

She sighed. "But, you did a substitution before I could even touch them. So we put into effect Plan B. Sasuke and Naruto, being stronger than me in taijutsu, would attack you with various attacks, not giving you the chance to dodge, while I took the bells from behind." The rosette giggled. "I suppose we did well, huh, Kakashi-sensei?"

Before Kakashi could agree or disagree, Naruto interrupted his thoughts, stepping forward towards Sakura. "But what about the bells? There's two bells but there's only three of us! Does that…does that mean one of us is getting sent back to the academy?" the blond boy asked, disheartened.

Kakashi, chuckling, decided to put the three genin out of their misery. "What did you three learn during this test?"

Naruto looked at his teammates before exclaiming with a laugh, "That you're super strong, dattebayo!"

His rosette teammate slapped him across the back of his head and folded her arms across her chest with an expression that was a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "No, baka, we learned that we have to work as a team."

"We're a three-man team, we have to work together to take down our enemy," Sasuke said, much to the surprise of his two teammates.

Sakura nodded, a small smile of triumph on her lips as she looked at Kakashi. "Yeah, we three are one!" Naruto, grinned a foxy grin, bobbing his head in agreement.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, walking closer to the team, "You three are one, eh?" He examined the suddenly apprehensive twelve-year-olds closely, before giving a one-eyed smile. "You pass!" They blinked in surprise. "You pass." Kakashi repeated.

Sakura smiled, "We pass? Thank kami we got the bells in time…"

Kakashin shook his head, disagreeing, "No, the bells don't matter." The statement quickly caught the attention of the genin. They could clearly see that he was smiling beneath the mask. "The objective of the test was not to do what I told you to do and try to get the bells, but to work together as a team and not individually. You three are the first team I have passed. The people I had previously were blockheads who just listened to what I said." All pleasure left his voice as the jounin grew serious. "'Shinobi need to think beyond the normal.' In the world of shinobi, those who break the rules are called scum. But those who don't take care of their friends are even worse than scum."

As a breeze sweeps through the training ground, bringing with it leaves from the surrounding trees. Traces of tears gathered in the corner of Sakura's eyes; Naruto grinned broadly and cheered; Sasuke gave a small smile.

Kakashi continued, "The training ends here. Everyone passes. Team Seven will start doing missions tomorrow!"


I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I've decided not to put a time on how long I will take to put chapters up, but I've got plenty of time to write now that its summer! I hope you all like Naruto's new outfit haha! If not… oh well haha. So, thanks all for reading Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.

BlueEyedBabyy