Three hours rolled by, everything moving in a revolving circle. Sakura would shout, Sasuke would pout, and Naruto would ignore it all. There was little to do while the gennin waited, and Naruto seemed to show a lazy side of himself.
The moment his two teammates left on their own, he stretched out in the grass besides the bunshin resembling his old friend Seiji. He found that in gazing silently at the sky, he could forget all of his problems, his worries. He found contentment for a while in the endless blue of the summer sky…
But that was all broken by a puff of smoke right before noon. Naruto glanced up in confirmation before tiredly dragging himself up and over to the pack he had brought along with him. He wrapped his fingers around the strap and sighed quietly before grunting and lifting it onto his back. He then trotted over to Kakashi for whatever there was in store.
Kakashi watched his approach in silence; a frown threatening to break out, not that anybody could see it behind his facemask.
"Where are your teammates? Didn't I tell you to arrive here?" Naruto nodded and thumbed over to where he thought the two had gone. Kakashi nodded. "I guess we can wait to see it they come back…"
Naruto gave a small grin before dropping the sack with a bang. A small cloud of dust rose up, almost as if to flee the bag's presence. The bag was huge, covered in enough pockets and drawstrings to hide a dead body. A pair of black Velcro straps crisscrossed over the top to hold it shut, while another lighter strap could be tossed over one shoulder to hold it up. Naruto quickly rejoined it on the ground, this time closing his eyes.
Kakashi almost frowned again at the boy's obvious lack of interest. Before he could question it, however, Naruto cut him off with a curt explanation.
"I'm resting for the upcoming spar."
The silver haired jounin felt himself sweat a little. "Ne, spar? When did I mention a spar?"
Naruto opened his eyes and looked at him almost in disbelief. "When you mentioned survival training, you obviously meant survival against you, right? Why else not to eat breakfast but to slow us down and distract us during a fight?"
Kakashi sweat dropped. "So you ate then?"
"…No. You told us not to."
Kakashi smiled a bit behind his mask. "I'm glad you think enough of me to actually follow my rules, especially that one. I think I'm actually starting to like you kids…"
Naruto grinned slightly to himself as well. "Starting to like us," he mused, "…I'm glad."
Kakashi resigned himself to waiting for a bit longer, its not like he was in any hurry. He leaned up against the tree, were Naruto lay nearby, and opened a book. A large X on the back cover stood out from the orange coloring. Naruto craned his neck to look at what his sensei was reading, before he began to chuckle.
"You're a pervert are you, Kakashi-Sensei?"
"Hnn, what's it to you?"
"Heh, heh, Seiji was a perv too, but he could never get his hands on one of those. The legendary Icha Icha Paradise book collection." Naruto looked up at the sky in reminiscence, his eyes shining in an almost prideful fashion. "He tried everything, but the store clerks wouldn't let him have a copy. They said he was too young. He said it was 'cus they were too busy jacking off to it in the back room themselves to let a poor deprived child have a whack at it…"
"Kid had good taste," Kakashi mumbled absently, before the words finally registered. "Poor deprived child? Why didn't I ever think of that?"
Naruto finally broke down. The memories of that incident were too much, and the way Kakashi had responded did him in. He clutched his sides and began to laugh. Quietly at first but it steadily grew louder until it became a set of full-grown guffaws. He rolled over onto his stomach as a faint stream of tears came from his eyes. It felt so good. He hadn't laughed in months.
Finally he began to calm, leaving a smiling yet slightly puzzled Kakashi nearby. Who knew the kid could laugh?
Naruto was silent for a moment before he turned to Kakashi. "I would like to start soon. Should we go look for the others?"
Kakashi stared lazily over at the brush of the surrounding forest. "Nah, here they are. Lets begin."
Naruto nodded curtly, re-shouldering his pack and facing Kakashi in and 'at ease' position. He stared silently at the two returning gennin as they pushed their way out of the brush and into the clearing. Sakura was chatting loudly with an under responsive Sasuke. They both froze when Kakashi cleared his throat, bringing their attention to him.
"Are we ready to start?"
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"
"Mah, whatever, lets begin."
Kakashi revealed two silver bells that he had been holding in his gloves, shaking them so they tinkled in small resounding ringing noise, and tied them with a piece of red yarn to a loop on his pants. He laughed inwardly when he saw how Naruto eyed the bells with certain fascination.
"What do we have to do with a couple of bells, sensei?" inquired Sakura cautiously.
"In order to pass, you must steal one of these bells from me, in whatever fashion you choose."
"But there are only two bells…"
"Then I guess one of you will fail. If YOU want to pass, I suggest that you come at me with intent to kill," he smiled behind his mask. "I am a jounin after all. You have until noon, which I suspect will arrive soon. Loser fails and doesn't get lunch." He gave an absent wave of his hand. "Better get going…"
All three gennin promptly vanished, leaving a trail of disturbed air, wind whistling through the waving trees. Kakashi yawned. A faint cracking noise alerted him to the presence of one of the gennin.
"Already…?" he inquired, turning to face the challenger. He was faintly startled at the one that stepped quietly out of the shadows to meet his wary gaze. "…Sakura?"
True to his observation, a faintly smirking Sakura stood before him, readying a simple taijutsu stance. A wind blew around her bubblegum-pink hair, causing it to dance wildly about her face, generally blocking the view of her emerald eyes. She then, in turn, brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I need a bell, sensei…" she stated quietly, "and I intend to have one."
The girl's demeanor startled Kakashi. Was this really Sakura? If it was, he might have to change his opinion of her slightly. He reached for his kunai pouch.
Sakura reacted quicker than Kakashi thought possible. The moment his hand twitched, she exploded out of her stance, appearing almost instantaneously next to him, ready to strike.
Kakashi wasn't a jounin for nothing; he quickly shook himself of the initial shock and dodged a simple kick sent by the pink haired gennin. He was surprised again, however, when a second kick followed behind it quickly, almost fluidly. He was hard pressed to dodge again, but pulled it off flawlessly. He was, after all, one of the best.
The blows continued to rain, an intricate pattern of punches and kicks, barely avoidable at the speed and precision they were carried out. He was hesitant to block after Sakura missed a punch and landed it on a tree, her fist blowing right through the trunk. He was also trying to avoid striking back; she was only a gennin after all. He was stuck.
He felt as if he was involved in some kind of intricate dance, and grew more and more aware that he was being led, his steps predetermined. They danced through the clearing, back and forth in an almost erratic step, before the silver haired jounin was led straight into a trap.
He leaned back to avoid a simple axe kick, faintly feeling a taught wire on the back of his neck break. An instinct born of hundreds of battles told him to move, and he quickly obeyed. He twisted, but not fast enough. Dozens of shuriken burst through the foliage straight at him. Kakashi was still moving when they all caught him in the back, sending him tumbling forwards.
His body disappeared into a log.
Replacement JutsuSakura cursed and vanished too.
Confusion is an awful thing. Almost the instant Sakura vanished from the clearing, she reappeared and dropped from the branches of a nearby tree. Kakashi, who had concealed himself in view of the grounds, watched Sakura's shocked face as she scanned the foliage.
She looked…confused. Like she saw something that she wasn't expecting. Like she saw a ghost…
Like she saw…herself…
Then it hit him. Maybe that wasn't Sakura; maybe he had been fighting one of the other gennin under the guise of a henge. If so, he put his money on Naruto. Sasuke didn't seem like one who would hide with the pretext of being somebody else… He would want his own credit.
The question soon became, not who, but why? Kakashi pondered this for a few minutes. Why would any of them change guise? And how? The concentration required to hold a proper henge along with the complex kantas preformed would have to be done by someone with either perfect control or bottomless stamina…
A rustle to the left of his location halted further thought. Kakashi peered silently out through a forest of leaves.
His view wasn't perfect, but a few shadowy shapes made themselves out. The first shape that he recognized was Sakura, who had moved further out and became harder to see. The second shape revealed itself to be…
Kakashi leaned forward a bit to clear his view of the interfering leaves, holding an upper branch with his right hand and shadowing this eyes with his left. The cool metal plate on his gloved hand pressed pleasantly against his forehead as he squinted. The blurry features of the distant face began to sharpen…
Finally he recognized the face. A smirking Sasuke…
"Why the hell are you laughing?" Kakashi pondered out loud.
"Because…" a whisper answered by his ear, causing him to whirl around in surprise, "Because of a plan that pulled itself together…"
Kakashi almost gaped as a stoic Naruto, crouching behind him, waved the pair of tinkling bells in his face before pulling them out of the danger of being swiped back. Naruto then lifted the two bells to his ear and gave them a firm shake.
Kakashi made to say something, but was quickly silenced by Naruto holding up his hand. "Did you know," he asked quietly, "it's said that every time a silver bell rings, an angel gets its wings?" He gave them another shake, letting the silvery twinkle hover in the air for a few more moments before he quickly leapt from the upper boughs back down to the clearing, strolling to return to his teammates.
Kakashi was in mild shock. How had that kid gotten so close to him? Why did he take both bells when he only needed one? And what did he mean by a plan? Were they all working together? Did they figure out the meaning of the exam? Had they succeeded where so many others had failed?
"Ah, forget it," he thought, "I'll just ask them."
Of course Sasuke had agreed to Naruto's plan, it was a win/win situation for him. The dark gennin had every right to smirk. Naruto had approached him directly, after the spar between Sakura and Kakashi had concluded in a tie.
His plan had been simple, and the only downside Sasuke could see was that he had to pass it on to the currently ignorant Sakura, who was at the time wandering perplexed through the clearing.
Sasuke was smart, one of the best of the year, so even he knew he stood no chance against the obviously powerful Kakashi outright, and every good chess player knew how to utilize a pawn. Naruto just happened to be a willing candidate…
No questions asked on how the blond would accomplish what he proposed, and its not like Sasuke cared if he did anyway. Fail and there was one less gennin for competition, succeed and both boys got a bell. There was no flaw, no time for second guessing anyways. To succeed it had to be implemented almost immediately.
The brunette left his hiding place and subtly made his way over to were Sakura had stopped, next to the previously toppled tree. She was staring at it intensely when Sasuke arrived and spoke quietly in her ear.
"Don't move, stay completely calm. I need you to listen to me…"
Sakura jumped discreetly, but ultimately obeyed as Sasuke passed the information on to her. However, instead of immediately carrying out her part, her green eyes lingered on the stump of the tree, previously having been destroyed by one of her stray punches.
"What's up with the tree, we need to move!"
"I…don't think I did that, or did I?"
"Hnn?"
"I mean, I saw myself fighting Kakashi, and she-I…umm…well, that was the person who knocked the tree over…furthermore-"
"Look, we need to move. We can think about this later. Come on."
"Yes, Sasuke-kun…"
Without further comment, both gennin moved quickly to the other end of the clearing, trying to do so without drawing too much attention to themselves. Kakashi couldn't suspect anything yet…
Not until Naruto got the bells…
Kakashi arrived at the meeting place of the tree examinees, nearby the three wooden poles jutting upward from the ground. He studied their faces. Sasuke looked triumphant, Sakura looked confused, and Naruto looked like, well, Naruto. His facial expression had yet to change.
"Alright," announced Kakashi as he stepped up, "Spill, what's up?"
"Well," started Naruto, surprising Kakashi, "Sasuke and Sakura both passed sensei." With a quick flick of his wrist, he tossed one bell to the smirking Sasuke, and the other to a surprised Sakura, who nearly dropped it by mistake. "I guess that means I failed."
"Wha?" cried Sakura. "We…we passed!" She smiled winningly, before the rest of his statement dawned on her. "And Naruto…failed? Why?"
"He didn't get a bell, Sakura," Sasuke stated calmly. "He can't pass without one."
"But he did all the work, didn't he?"
"Ne, no, no, Sakura, you and Sasuke held a more judgmental role. I simply grabbed the bells."
"But-"
"No buts Sakura. I failed. I guess I can try again next year…"
"Actually," Kakashi interrupted, "You're wrong."
"How so sensei?"
"Naruto can't try again next year. Since he didn't pass the exam, his nin-license has been officially revoked. He's not allowed to be a shinobi."
"What?" Naruto whispered, in dead shock. He had failed, so he couldn't be a ninja? His promise was already broken… "But I need to be a shinobi, Kakashi…"
"Well…" Kakashi drew out in thought. The boy had gotten them to work as a team, if not by common consent then by tricking them. "I suppose you can have one more chance, but you have to answer my question."
"…" Naruto waited for the question.
"Who was it that I was fighting earlier?"
"That was me," Naruto deadpanned. He said it in such a way that it seemed anybody who hadn't figured it out was either a moron or a complete idiot.
Kakashi nodded, "I thought so…well ok, you pass."
"Just like that?"
"You fought well Naruto, along with the subtlety you showed in order to approach me from behind and the strength to knock over that tree."
"…I never knocked over a tree."
Kakashi stared while Sakura slowly nodded, her hair bouncing as her nods became more feverish. "So the scorch marks-"
"An explosion tag. To make it look like I was strong and you wouldn't block and continue dodging."
The jounin nodded in understanding. "Clever, and how did you hold the henge?"
"…I never used a henge either."
"Then how-"
Naruto abruptly turned and plodded over to the forest, drawing his overly large pack out of the brush. He then opened it up and drew a few things out to show off its contents. "My disguise kit. A henge doesn't always work out, so it's useful to be proficient in other terms of hiding identity."
"But why pretend to be somebody else?"
"…So you would underestimate me. I needed you caught off guard."
"Ah…" this kid was smarter than he looked. He thought things through, and moved decisively. "One last question, why implement a plan after that good fight, then give both bells to the others?"
"…Like I said before, you needed to be off guard, and I lost that advantage. You are a jounin after all… And I gave the bells away because it seemed a little too self centered to suggest a plan, use both teammates help then leave one of them behind. It was my plan, if anybody needed to suffer because of it, that would be me…"
Kakashi smiled widely behind his mask. "Good answer. A ninja that disobeys the rules is trash, but a ninja that leaves his friends behind is even worse trash. You gennin may make me proud yet. Congratulations…Team 7."
From the Desk of Tyr'll
Sorry, but it always takes me a while to come out with new chapters…and the next my take longer...so much to do...
I hope that this one is up to standards; I wanted the exam to be a little original but stay ultimately the same. Only Naruto has changed, along with the others he has currently influenced.
One last note, I have no real definite pairings at the moment, but things will happen later. I can't help but write a little romance.
And there will be NO YAOI. I'm not really a fan of that. Well…maybe a little Gaara/Naruto, but only in reasonable amounts…but no gay pairings in my fic. No worries!