Disclaimer: This is a Disclaimer
;
Team Seven were on the veranda outside and above the schoolhouse. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke looked towards their newest instructor, a curious man wearing a mask over his mouth, and his headband stylishly over his left eye. "Greetings everyone." He called out in a nonchalant voice. "Before anything, I think we should develop a rapport together by learning about each other." His words were met with silence.
;
The Genin stared cautiously not sure what expect; he looked slightly out of place slouching over the railing he was on, like a bum. Is...this truly a Jonin?
;
"Right..." the man said, still being lazy with his words. "How about one of you start by introducing yourselves, your hobbies, likes, dislikes, and future dreams?"
;
"Why don't you go?" Stated Naruto before anyone else could open the mouths. "We don't even know who you are." A sweat drop formed on the Jonin's head at Naruto's unabashed cheekiness.
;
"Well, I'm Kakashi Hatake." He said dryly. "I have plenty of hobbies. I like alot of things, and there isn't too much that I dislike. My future dreams are no one else's to know." A slight wind started to pick up, amidst the silence.
;
"Alright." said Kakashi, looking to Naruto. "You're next." At this Naruto perked up.
;
"Here I go then!" Said Naruto quickly. "I'm Naruto Haruno-Uzumaki, but I go as Naruto Uzumaki. My hobbies are pranks. I enjoy all kinds of ramen but my favorite is the Microwave kind..." as he continued on, both Sakura and Sasuke squinted their eyes to him, and even Kakashi stared at the boy funny as he spoke with a rapid obsessiveness of his favorite noodle dish, and then his unyielding hatred for anyone who makes fun of his hair.
;
"And my dream." He stated slowly, low enough that everyone had to strain themselves to hear. "Is to show everyone that genetics or prestige doesn't matter, by becoming Hokage." At this, Kakashi had a slight grin on his face, and decided to press on and pointed at the boy in the middle.
;
"And you?"
;
Sasuke, still slumped over his arms locked eyes to Kakashi, looked almost to ignore his sensei, but then in a loud whisper:
;
"My name is Sasuke Uchicha. I have no hobbies. I dislike everything and enjoy nothing. And I can't call this a dream because it will become a reality: I will kill a certain man and then restore my clan to its former power."
;
Anyone could see the frown etched on Kakashi's face, though he expected such a statement.
;
'He better not mean me!' thought Naruto, starring to fidget.
;
"He is so cool!" Sakura mentally squealed, though, she too was at a loss for words.
;
After that, Kakashi then looked to Sakura, the irony of teaching the 4th's legacy amusing him. "Sakura, it's your turn."
;
Still blushing, Sakura looked to Kakashi to speak, but her eyes drifted to Sasuke when she actually started speaking. "My name Sakura Namikaze." Giggle. "My hobbies consist of a certain boy, who I really like." Giggle. "I dislike annoying boys who aren't that boy I like!" This time, she tilted her head to Naruto, who was staring angrily and Sasuke, who himself was still staring angrily into space.
;
"This is going to suck."thought Kakashi staring at the Genin lazily, ignoring the girl dreams, which were most likely about having that "certain boy" for herself.
;
"Alright." Said Kakashi standing up. "Now that we got that out of the way, we're going to have our very first mission." Pulling out three ninja scrolls, Kakashi passed the scrolls to his students, who started to read them quickly, but Sakura finishing first:
;
"Survival training? Against you to test our effectiveness as Genin? But why?"
;
"We all passed the Academy exam." Naruto called out. "Why are we through another Genin test? Though saying nothing, Sasuke's eyes were asking the same thing.
;
Their quizzical expressions fell when they noticed Kakashi's chuckling. When they asked again, his laughing grew faint, though he was still smiling through his mask.
;
"The Academy test," he stated, "were to weed out the failures, from the ones with the most potential. This test, however, is to see if you can go beyond sheer luck and be a capable ninja. You don't know the best part!" Kakashi's eyes drifted from student to student. Sakura's fear of the unknown. Naruto's disbelief of what he considers unfair. Sasuke's determination to continue on past the idiots he's surrounded by.
;
"The best part is this test has a 33% chance of success!" Even Sasuke's mouth fell open in shock. Out of the 10 teams only three will be Genin. The other seven teams will be sent back the Academy for more training." Kakashi's cheerful expression almost made everything just a terrible joke, but everyone knew he was deadly serious... The odds were against them.
;
"Bring any weapons you have with you and don't eat breakfast unless you want to taste it coming back up." Kakashi small smile vanished along with him, leaving the Genin alone. After a minute, Sasuke, having already burned his mission statement, left to contemplate, and train. After awhile, Naruto left as well, eyes filled with upset, and sweat in his brow.
;
"What am I to do?" he whispered to himself. "I went too far just to go back..." As he stepped away from the veranda, he looked into the sky, almost waiting for a sign before leaving. Sakura, being the last to leave, slowly got up from her seat, and drifted off, head full of thoughts.
"I can't fail. Sasuke-kun and I are a once in a lifetime chance. We musn't seperate!" After a bit of walking, Sakura's thoughts finally drifted from staying with Sasuke, to taking precautions to actually pass tomorrows test.
;
"Other than the training grounds, and the time, and the vague objective of "Defeat Kakashi-sensei", I have no idea what will happen tommorow...But he's giving us a day to prepare..."
;
The Leaf Ninja's Weapons and Armory Shop was Sakura's destination. To be honest, the young ninja never carried her own weapons. Shurikens and Kunai were provided by the Academy, but being training supplies, it meant they are to be returned when you finished.
;
"Welcome to Asakura's!" called out a large bearded man with a smile when Sakura went through the front door. When she walked a longways from the door to the counter, the large man's gaze widened, and he bent so low that his face rested on his glass counter.
;
"Honorable Fourth's Daughter! Of course your money's no good here!" Sakura raised her arms up quickly, trying to stop the embarassing display.
;
"No, please, I insist-
;
"No way!" the man called out, bringing his head up from the glass. "The greatest hero of this village never had a single coin taken from Asakura, and neither will you! So, what do you need?"
;
"Uhh...Shurikens, Kunai...Knapsack?" Sakura said, defeated. As the store clerk went into the back of his shop for the throwing tools, Sakura felt something...A chill prickling down her spine...A burning sting at the back of her head...It wasn't a killing intent, but it was someone who wanted their presence known. The girl, as Sakura noticed, was a brunette with buns in her hair, slightly taller than Sakura, and eyed her as a rival would. The feeling, which our blonde heroine is unacustomed to, made her quite nervous.
;
"Alright, Knapsack, filled with more blades to skin a cat with." the old clerk came out from the back, and seeing the girl: "Tenten, how did you're mission go?"
;
"Just fine Dad!" The brunette called out, eyes never leaving Sakura's. Sakura turned away slowly, to grab the sack, and quickly left a thanks, and left, feeling chills pricking harder at the back of her head from a kunoichi who at the way she's acting, must be a Genin herself. Sakura then decided, for then at least, to ignore the girl: At the moment, her fight is with Kakashi sensei, a man she needed to know about, and for that, she whisked off to the Public Records to find something, anything, to help with a counter attack
;
++Meanwhile++
;
"You must think yourself so cool, don't you?"
;
"No, not really." Kakashi's unhidden eye held a strong gaze towards Anko as the two waited for their meals, in a new upscale restaurant outside the village, to talk of many things, ninja related, and otherwise.
;
"Well you must think so, intending to fail Sakura-chan tomorrow."
;
"I will give them ample time and resources to beat me, just like I have for my past 5 Genin potential teams-
;
"That you all failed. You're holding fresh eyed youngsters above a pedestal they can't reach at this level!"
;
"If they all die, then there will never be a level to reach." Kakashi's words were sound, and sure. "I teach lessons that hundreds of our comrades never learn. Lessons that are more important than anything else taught. I am keeping them alive, and if it means they go back to the Academy, or Washed out, so be it."
;
Anko, deep down knew he was right, but she didn't feel a need to admit that. She slowly raised her glass of sweet tea to her lips, and sipped, and changing the subject:
;
"Aren't you going to eat your meal?" A sizzling grilled rainbow bass was tickling both of the Jonin's nostrils, but Kakashi wasn't partaking.
;
"I've decided to save it until later. I'm not really that hungry."
;
"...Kakashi. Take off the mask and eat."
;
"Mask? What mask? You're saying there's something on me?" The innocent look was annoying, but Anko said nothing, looking down at her food, also a rainbow bass, but was then rudely bumped! Her tea almost fell out of her hand! She turned around, eyes full of rage, to find Kakashi apologizing.
;
"Shadow Clone?" When Anko turned again, she found Kakashi's fish, eaten. Not even a bone was left.
;
"You know, just like that, I became hungry!" laughed Kakashi, grinning ear to ear, ignoring the hellbent stare he was getting.
;
"You're such a child." Anko whispered as Kakashi continued to laugh, but then he went silent. A strange sense of heat suddenly enveloped the male ninja's throat! He started to cough hard, and his eyes started to go blurry.
;
"A-Anko..." Then it was her turn to look innocent
;
"What's wrong Kakashi-kun? You don't like spicy things?" a Catlike grin immedietely etched on Anko's face as she added: "I guess that pepper I added to your fish was a bad idea? Well here!" Anko slowly passed her glass of tea to the other side of the table, to a sweating, sputtering Kakashi.
;
"Go ahead..." Her eyes focused on the lower end of his face. "You can have all the tea you want...
;
++Next day++
;
Kakashi slowly walked into an enclosed area of the training grounds where Team Seven were waiting. They looked tired, and very, very hungry.
;
"Good morn-
;
"YOU'RE LATE!" shouted Sakura and Naruto as loud as they they could muster. Though silent, Sasuke was also angry, leaking killing intent towards his sensei who chose to ignore it. Not even losing the stride in his step, Kakashi beckoned his students to follow him into the open area of the training grounds, which they did, angrily, stomping around.
;
Kakashi eventually pulled out of his backpack a timer clock and when the group were finally away from the trees, he placed the timer, now ticking, on the closest tree stump
;
"All right, set for noon." said Kakashi, focused on the three and taking two bells from his pocket and attaching the bell strings to his pant straps. "You're mission is simple...Take these two bells from me before the timer rings for lunch. Those who do will eat specially prepared bento boxes, and will continue on as Genin. Those who don't will get tied to a stump, and will be sent back to the Academy."
;
"But Sensei?" asked Sakura, raising her hand. "There's three of us, but two bells. On the best conditions, one of us at least will go back." Kakashi looked back at her, impressed.
;
"So she caught that? A first. Guess I'll throw her a bone." The true test, if you get that far, is too see who is willing to give up everything for their team." The frown etched on the Genin's faces meant that was an answer they weren't expecting.
;
"Come at me with everything." Kakashi said slowly, his voice reaching through Sakura's, Naruto's, and Sasuke's inner depths. "Come at me intending to kill, or you have already lost. Understand?"
;
They all nodded.
;
"Then Go!" The three Genin in a flash of leaves dissapeared.
;
To Be Continued.