This chapter is UNEDITED.
"You should definitely aim to be a medic Sakura." Naruko announced.
Sakura blushed at the compliment casting a side glance at Hinata Hyuuga who stood quietly in the corner, his lavender eyes downcast. He was a handsome boy indeed, shy perhaps but he'd managed to capture her her heart since day one.
I'm going to marry him one day and show Ino-pig, Shannaro.
"I didn't do much." Sakura said modestly but inner Sakura was basking in the compliments Naruko was showering her with,"I just gave you the medicine."
"But you knew exactly which medicine I needed." Naruko supplied,"And I stopped vomiting right away. That's some skill, dattebayo."
"If I'd found you sooner I could have helped more." Sakura said trying to sound as professional as possible, inner Sakura was keeping a keen eye on Hinata-kun's reaction,"Where were you anyway? You weren't in the bathroom."
Naruko cast a side glance at Sasuke who now had an amused look on his face as he watched the exchange.
That bastard better not open his mouth.
"Well errr I was just somewhere." Naruko said vaguely,"Vomiting in the bushes."
In truth, Naruko had been in a bathroom heaving into a toilet before Sasuke found her. The bathroom happened to be the men's one.
In Naruko's defence she'd hardly had the time to notice the sign when she'd been on the verge of spilling contents of her stomach on to the floor. Sasuke had already made fun of her all the way he'd led her back to Sakura but had strangely stopped when they'd arrived.
Hmmm must be one of his evil plans.
They'd been waiting for quite sometime now and even the Hyuuga group had left. Naruko could feel Sakura getting impatient without the passive Hyuuga to admire.
She peeked out into the hallway,"Why is team seven's Sensei so late?"
Sakura nodded,"This way I won't even get to see Hinata-Kun soon."
"Hmm." Naruko said taking the duster in his hands,"Shouldn't we punish our Sensei for being late?"
She then stood on a chair and placed the duster between the door so that when their new Sensei did enter it would fall straight on his head.
"Not bad Naruko-chan." Sakura admired out loud, of course never make the mistake of doing this around Hinata-kun but since there was only Naruko and Sasuke (both of whom had zero affiliation to the Hyuuga) around, she let inner Sakura's thoughts to the surface.
Sasuke snorted,"As if a jounin would fall for that stupid trick like that."
As if on queue the door opened and the duster fell on a spiky mop of whitish grey hair.
Naruko laughed in triumph while Sakura tried her hardest to hide her giggle around her Sensei. Sasuke on the other hand was wondering what kind of jounin they'd be assigned that he'd fallen for a stupid trick.
The white haired man looked at them through the single eye that wasn't covered,"Hmm how can I say this? My first impression is... I don't like you guys."
_
It was not a bad day to be on the roof, Naruko had been forced to eat lunch there under worse circumstances, shivering in the cold all alone and away from her classmates.
This time though she was not alone.
That was a proud moment in itself, granted that her company consisted of the jerk Uchiha and their weird Sensei but at least she had Sakura-chan with her.
"So introduce yourselves." Kakashi announced,"Your likes, dislikes, hobbies and your dreams for the future."
"Why don't you introduce yourself first?" Naruko shot back.
"Yeah..." Sakura agreed,"You look suspicious."
"Well my name is Hatake Kakashi and I have no interest in telling you my likes and dislikes." He said,"As for my dreams... I have plenty of hobbies."
Sakura looked at Naruko,"So all he really told us was his name."
Before Naruko could reply Kakashi cut her off,"Now it's your turn."
"Oh me!" Naruko enthusiastically raised her hand,"Let me go first."
Kakashi nodded as Naruko started,"Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruko. I like cup ramen! What I like even more is the ramen in the restaurant which Iruka Sensei often takes me too. I dislike waiting the three minutes it takes for cup ramen to be cooked."
Kakashi couldn't help but sigh, this girl didn't think of anything but ramen.
"And I want to be the First Lady Hokage of this town." She said all the mirth draining out of her voice replacing it with a sort of determined fire,"So that everyone will have to acknowledge my existence."
Well Kakashi couldn't deny that she had indeed grown up in a rather interesting way.
"And I suppose my hobbies are pulling pranks." Naruko finished.
It was Sasuke's turn next. Stoic as ever he sat inbetween the two girls,his face a picture of focus.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." He started,"There are many things I dislike but I don't like anything. I don't want to use the word dream but I do have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."
Both Naruko and Sakura looked at their male team member both mirroring expressions of shock although Sakura looked the slightest bit intrigued.
As for Kakashi, he wasn't surprised as he was well aware of the details surrounding the Uchiha massacre and the only survivors ambition to get revenge was to be expected.
It was Sakura's turn.
"I'm Haruno Sakura." She started,"The thing I like- well there is a person I like."
A dreamy far off expression took over her features,"I like the colour of lilac, not the harsh and overly bright ones but the soft gentle one like his eyes. And my dream for the future..."
She trailed of clearly lost in her fantasy and Kakashi had to clear his throat which made her shake her head and continue,"I dislike anybody who thinks that they have the right to steal him from me especially certain insufferable pigs."
Naruko gulped and made a promise to herself that she wouldn't even look at the Hyuuga the wrong way.
Kakashi on the other hand didn't know what to make of the the third member of the team.
He was never very good with girls and he'd been handed the only team of graduates with not one but two aspiring kunoichi's which was a rare thing in its own right.
Naruko was a special case among the girls he supposed, her motivation stemmed from the fact she was shunned by everybody in the village and her support system had been practically non-existent but Sakura like most other girls her age was clearly interested in love more than ninjutsu.
"Tomorrow there will be survival training at five in the morning." Kakashi announced,"Its a test really. Out of the twenty seven graduates only nine will be selected, the rest will be sent back to the Academy."
"WHAT?!" Naruko jumped up her blonde pigtails flailing around,"But that's not fair!"
Kakashi simply shrugged clocking in Sasuke's slightly irritated expression and Sakura's shocked one. Naruko had obviously taken her surprise to another level entirely but Kakashi was starting to learn that was just who she was.
She'd grown up in an interesting way, indeed.
"I suggests you don't eat and come." Kakashi suggested,"After all things could messy."
Naruko had routine in which she went home and cried everyday. Sometimes it would last an hour, other days it would be over in a couple of minutes.
It was a necessary part of her day though, unless she cried and vented out her frustrations, she'd never be able to keep up her upbeat bright facade and forget about they way the villagers looked at her.
Annoying freak.
That's what they'd called her, that's what she'd always be in the eyes of the villagers, the outsider.They saw her as a monster, not the lonely little girl she really was.
Sometimes she wanted to scream, I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!
The demon inside her was something that had been shoved in without her permission by the fourth hokage, who was probably even a bigger bastard than Sasuke. What had given him the right to ruin her life? Why her?
But in the end it made her all the more determined.
She knew she wasn't the smartest or the most talented, but she was Naruko Uzumaki and she would work harder than anybody else to become the First Lady Hokage and win everybodies approval.
She'd show them that she wasn't a monster.
She'd show them she wasn't just some helpless little girl.
She'd show them that she could not only become a ninja but she would become one of the greatest ninjas, dattebayo.
So that day she didn't cry.
Instead she went straight to Iruka-Sensei and asked him to help her train. He had an odd look on his face when he heard her Jounin Sensei's name but none the less he was eager to help. After all Iruka Sensei was the closest thing she had to family, no he was family and he was her friend.
Her only friend.
For now.
By the time she arrived at the training grounds Sasuke and Sakura were already there.
"Morning Sakura-chan!" Naruko said brightly and Sakura smiled politely back,"Morning Naruko-chan."
Naruko couldn't help but beam. Naruko-chan, she'd never heard anybody add the suffix with her name. It was something that was inbetween close friends only and well Naruko had never had any friends to get close to.
"Bastard." Naruko regarded Sasuke. It kind of pissed her off how he could look so good even though the sun had barely risen. Even the usually well kept Sakura looked a little haggard which was normal considering they'd had to wake up early in the morning and trudge all the way here with no breakfast.
"Idiot." Sasuke replied back coolly without bothering to even look at her.
Sakura beside her opened a thick book and Naruko leaned over and peered at it,"Ne Sakura-chan what is that?"
Sakura looked at her,"Oh Naruko, I took your advice about the medical jutsu. This a book about some basics. It's a little advanced for me at this stage but it surely is interesting."
"Wow Sakura-chan! That's awesome!" Naruko enthusiastically replied,"I'm sure Hinata will be impressed, dattebayo."
Sakura's eyes shone brightly as she went back to reading.
Naruko aimlessly twirled one of her pigtails as she thought about yesterday's training session with Iruka-Sensei. It had been hard work but she'd finally got a new trick up her sleeve.
"Oh Sasuke." Sakura called out to the raven boy who was practicing with a kunai and a few shuriken,"Can you please help me? I can't understand a term."
"Don't ask the asshole, Sakura-chan!" Naruko offered,"I'll help!"
Sakura looked at her apologetically,"I'm sorry Naruko-chan but I don't think you'll understand any of these terms."
Naruko turned red with embarrassment and looked down. She didn't dare to look at Sasuke's face he'd probably have some sort of smirk commenting on how she was an idiot.
Naruko knew she wasn't the smartest in her classes nor was she the prettiest and most of the time she didn't care. She didn't need to be any of those things, she just had to be a great ninja.
And that she would be.
That she already was, she just had to become even greater and show everybody else.
So Naruko looked away busying herself with the surroundings as Sasuke helped Sakura. When she became Hokage the first thing she'd do was put Sasuke in his place.
Everybody thought that he was so great while she was just an annoying freak. She'd show them that she was much better than the Uchiha once she became Hokage and everybody learned to appreciate her coolness.
Oh and she'd give a national holiday and dedicate that entire day to ramen.
When Kakashi finally arrived it was nearly ten 'o' clock.
"You're late!" Naruko and Sakura accused as Kakashi simply shrugged.
He put down a clock and announced,"The timer is set for noon." He then dangled two bells in front of front of the three of them,"You have to take these from me by then. Those who don't manage to get the bells will be tied to the posts without lunch."
The three of them blanched.
So this why he'd told them not to eat breakfast.
"There are only two so one of you will be sent to the Academy regardless." Kakashi finished,"Make sure to use your shurikens and kunai you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."
"But you'll get hurt." Sakura blurted out.
"Yeah." Naruko agreed,"You couldn't even dodge an eraser. We'll end up killing you."
"In the real world those without real talent are often the ones that bark the loudest." Kakashi stated,"And since you were dead last in the Academy I suppose you should just give up already."
Naruko fumed, dead last. Give up?
He asked for it.
Naruko attacked with her kunai without thinking twice.
One moment she was about to slash at her Sensei with her kunai the other she was standing facing the other way her hand bent backwards the tip of the kunai pressed against the back of her throat.
What the hell is this kind of speed?
Kakashi pushed her away,"Slow down, I haven't even say start yet."
The three graduates looked at him stunned, the level of his speed was unprecedented for them, so much so that none of them had even seen his movements. Sasuke allowed a smirk to grace his lips, So this was the level of a jounin.
"Well it seems like you've finally started to acknowledge me." Kakashi said,"Hmm... I'm finally starting to like you guys."
There was a pause before he announced,"START!"
And then the test began.
Naruko didn't hide like Sasuke and Sakura she simply stood in front of Kakashi her hands on her hips.
"Come fight me!" She announced loudly. She wasn't some coward who had to run and hide from the silver haired man. She was a ninja, a proper Academy graduate at that. She wasn't some helpless little girl either, after all when the other kunoichi's were busy in class arranging flowers Naruko had always skipped it and crashed the boys training.
She was rejected, bullied and unwanted but that never stopped her from going back.
So Naruko wouldn't back down or hide from the challenge.
While this all made sense to Naruko, Sasuke and Kakashi both thought this was plain idiotic. Sasuke had expected as much, the girl was the definition of an idiot according to the Uchiha but Kakashi hadn't expected her to be so... off.
When Kakashi said so out loud Naruko simply huffed.
"The only thing off is your haircut." She remarked before she proceeded to attack.
Although Iruka Sensei had tried to drill it into her that going head first into a battle wasn't the smartest move she still barelled straight for Kakashi but had the sense to abruptly stop when Kakashi reached into his pack her eyes cautiously fixed on his hand wondering what weapon he was going to pull out,
"Ninja fighting lesson one: Taijutsu." Kakashi announced,"Hand to hand combat."
And then he whipped his hand out of his pack to reveal a-
A book.
A book.
"Why do you have a book?" Naruko asked confused.
"Isn't it obvious?" Kakashi had already opened the book and started reading,"I want to know what happens next. Don't worry about it, this won't make any difference against you guys."
Naruko fumed, no difference, was that how little he thought of her? There was no way she was holding back now.
Naruko was a flurry of kicks and punches as she attacked Kakashi. Naruko would have probably claimed that this was easily her best performance to date had Kakashi not dodged every single one of them.
While reading a book.
Naruko didn't give up though, her kicks and punches got angrier, faster until she found herself precariously standing at the edge of the river with Kakashi nowhere in sight.
Suddenly she froze as she felt his presence behind her.
"Never let an enemy get behind you." He simply stated and with the use of one finger he poked the back of Naruko's head but it was enough to make her lose her balance and send her plunging into the icy river.
The water dulled her senses and for a minute she was groggy. Was she truly so weak? Was she-
Suddenly Iruka Sensei's face came into her mind.
It's not about being weak or being strong, Naruko. It's about fighting for what you want and doing anything to get it.
She wanted to be Hokage.
She wanted everybodies approval.
And she would not give up.
Naruko emerged from the water spluttering.
Kakashi simply raised an eyebrow,"Haven't you had enough?"
"I am not giving up!" She announced as half a dozen shadow clones emerged from the water all of them wearing the same determined expression on the same face as Naruko.
Kakashi didn't even have time to be impressed as all. Seven Naruko's' launched themselves at him.
"That won't be enough-"
And suddenly there was an eight one. The other seven managed to pin his limbs his place as the final one which had crawled from behind him was sent to deliver the blow.
And somehow Kakashi disappeared before her fist could make contact and instead it hit a clone of hers which popped and vanished.
"What the-" and before Naruko, the real one could say anything more she suddenly found a rope slip around her ankle and jerk her upwards the momentary shock breaking her shadow clone jutsu.
Kakashi then proceeded to tie her hands too in a quick flash making he unable to use any kind of jutsu to free herself.
"Let me out!" She yelled.
Before Kakashi could respond with a resounding no! Sasuke saw this opportunity and attacked leading Kakashi out of the clearing and away from Naruko.
Who was still hanging upside down from a tree.
Ugh!
She tried to free herself but to no avail. Naruko didn't know how much time had passed until Sakura came running back into the clearing her face pale and shaken.
"H-H-Hinata-k-Kun b-bleeding-" she started stammering and Naruko looked at her blabbering teammate.
Why would Hinata Hyuuga be here?
"Sakura-chan snap out of it!" She called,"It must be a trick! Genjutsu!"
Sakura's eyes widened and then she closed her eyes and murmured,"Kai!"
When she opened them all she saw was her teammate hanging upside down from the tree all the bloody images of a wounded Hinata-Kun gone.
"Sakura-chan can you help me?"
Sakura instantly heeded the request by cutting the ropes that held Naruko captive which deposited her to the ground with a thump. Sakura had to admit that she'd been pretty impressed with Naruko's clone technique earlier and when she suggested that they should find Kakashi before noon Naruko quickly nodded and ran into the cluster of trees with her.
Only to find Sasuke.
Well at least Sasuke's head.
"What happened to you?" Sakura asked wearily thinking that this probably was another genjutsu.
"Ninjutsu. He buried my body in the ground." He sighed,"Can you help me?"
Before Sakura could offer a response Naruko beside her burst out laughing. She doubled over as she pointed and laughed at the body-less Sasuke who looked grumpy to say the least.
"Well you weren't looking so fine yourself hanging upside down from that rope, pigtails." Sasuke said drily.
"This is coming from the persons whose head is the only thing above ground." Naruko shot back,"Duck-butt."
Sakura was starting to see a pattern here.
Naruko and Sasuke were from two ends of the spectrum, not only with her shiny blonde hair and sky blue eyes in comparison to Sasuke's dark hair and even darker eyes but in personality too.
Headstrong, extroverted, Naruko couldn't have been more different than Sasuke who was as calculating as they came.
But Sakura could swear that the second both of them started talking to each other they sounded almost exactly the same, childish and immature.
While this wasn't a particularly unusual thing to see when it came to Naruko, Sakura was surprised to see Sasuke behave like that. It was a side only Naruko could bring out, the blonde did have a knack to piss him off in a way that no one else did Sakura had seen it first hand yesterday after Sasuke had arrived with a pale Naruko in toe both bickering over something.
None the less with both her teammates acting like two year olds Sakura naturally became the moderator between them.
So she simply rolled her eyes as Naruko continued to laugh at Sasuke whilst the Uchiha struggled to get out. Sakura helped Sasuke in the end of course, she had to do her role as referee between the both of them justice but she didn't call foul when the first thing the raven haired boy did after getting out was aim his clans fireball technique straight at the blonde.
Naruko barely managed to dodge it and it singed the end of one her pigtails which lead her to leap at Sasuke who gracefully dodged and almost sent her careening into the hole he'd come out from.
Of course Naruko didn't give up there as she attacked him again and Sasuke again dodged leading to an endless cycle. Sakura quietly watched, giggles escaping her ever so often, after all moderator or not their fights were extremely entertaining with Naruko hopelessly flailing around and Sasuke gracefully dodging.
In fact the three of them might as well have forgotten why they were in the training grounds in the first place and when the bell rang their eyes widened realisation dawning on them.
"Shit!" Naruko said as all three of them took off.
_
Kakashi was already there when they reached. He had the bentos in his hand and all three of them were lustfully eying the food their stomachs growling in sync.
"Well all of you failed." Kakashi announced,"Mostly because you're failures as ninjas."
"I am not a failure as a ninja!" Naruko asserted loudly.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow,"Then tell me why none of you have been able to answer the true purpose of the test?"
"The true purpose?" Sakura asked confused,"What's that supposed to mean?"
Kakashi sighed,"If I tell you the answer what's the point? But here's the deal I'll still give you the bentos, it's up to you three to decide who gets to eat it and who doesn't and then after lunch you three can come take me on, together. And if you share..." Kakashi cracked his knuckles threateningly,"I don't have to tell you there will be consequences."
And then he simply vanished.
The three of them turned to look at the two bento boxes.
"Sakura-chan should get one." Naruko said firmly,"She helped both of us."
"You both are girls." Sasuke offered gruffly,"Eat it, I'll manage."
As if just to prove him wrong his stomach growled.
Both the girls giggled, Naruko was just louder.
Naruko may have been a girl wasn't exactly delicate. She'd been shunned, chased around, battered, bruised and bullied far too many times. She didn't need Sasuke's pity just because she wasn't a boy and she sure as hell wasn't going to accept it either.
Personally Sasuke felt that Sakura deserved the bento the least out of all three of them, she may have helped Naruko and helped him get out of the ground but being a ninja meant more than just being support.
But the determination in Naruko's eyes made Sasuke falter before he could say it out loud. He'd noticed Naruko's incessant need to seek approval from their pink haired teammate but he'd never known just how far it extended.
"We should fight for it." Naruko told Sasuke matter of factly.
"That's simply stupid." Sasuke said drily,"Because not only will you lose but also waste both our chakra's in the process, dead last."
Naruko instantly started shouting," Get ready to eat dust bastard. You're so full of-"
"Or we could just share." Sasuke cut her off curtly.
Naruko looked at him like he was stupid,"What? You heard that we weren't allowed to do that."
Sasuke sighed, opening the bento box,"He's not here anymore. Besides we can't hope to defeat him alone. That's why he put emphasis on together. He wants us to work as a team and to be fairly honest that's our only shot at getting the bells which is why I can't have you fainting on me."
Naruko was the definition of an idiot but her shadow clone jutsu was a powerful asset and Sasuke knew that. Sakura was smart yes, but in the end it was Naruko's combat ability that really mattered.
"I won't faint, I'm not even hungry!" Naruko said. Her stomach growled right on schedule which earned her a smirk.
"Well what makes you think that I'm going to work with you?" Naruko huffed,"You look down on me because I'm a girl and think I'm weaker than you just because you beat me in a couple of tests by fluke."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her,"You must be smart enough to know that you can't become Hokage if you don't even qualify to become a genin. Even you can't be that much of an idiot, idiot."
Naruko would have replied to that but Sasuke added,"Oh and I beat you in all the tests, dead last."
Naruko would probably attempted to start a fight again had Sakura not marched upto them and put her bento box there and stood in the middle of the both of them before Naruko could leap at Sasuke.
"Sasuke is right. We have to become genin and we can't face Sensei alone. " she said,"We have to do this together we have no choice."
Out of all three of them Sakura knew she was at a disadvantage. She'd not missed the glance that Sasuke had given her but she had been surprised when he didn't say it out loud and chose to keep quiet about it probably because of Naruko's generous offer.
Sasuke was on a league of his own and while Sakura was leaps and bounds smarter than Naruko, she didn't have the hyper unpredictable energy that the blonde girl seemed to posses along with her ability to produce clones.
It was one of the main reasons she'd chosen to work together. Worst comes to worst after they'd subdued their Sensei together it would be first come first serve thing as to who'd get their hands on the bell.
And if Sakura wasn't one of them, well then she would outsmart either of them and snatch it from them if need be.
It was cheap dirty trick but Sakura would do it if she had to. Hinata-Kun's group would definitely pass and so would Ino's. She would not, could not be left behind.
She would become a shinobi worthy to marry the Hyuuga heir. Fancy clan or not she had something to prove here and she wasn't going to back down now.
Naruko still looked puzzled but she none the less nodded.
"There isn't a third pair of chopsticks." Sakura said with a start.
Naruko beamed, this was a perfect opportunity to practice what she'd trained with Iruka-Sensei last night,"Oh don't worry, I've got it!"
She closed her eyes and made an unfamiliar gesture and suddenly there was poof and another Naruko appeared beside her. The real one didn't open her eyes though and after another moment there was another poof and the clone Naruko had vanished and in her place were a pair of chopsticks.
The real Naruko opened her eyes and happily picked up the chopsticks to start eating. Both Sasuke and Sakura stared on, Sasuke wasn't too impressed, he figured if she could do a shadow clone jutsu at their level transforming them into objects couldn't be that hard. He was appalled though at her sheer idiocy of washing chakra on a pair of chopsticks.
Sakura on the other hand was shocked. While she'd had no real enemity against the blonde girl and Sakura did find her weird and annoyingly hyperactive at times but all in all Naruko was nice she supposed. Nice or not it was unsaid notion for Sakura to believe that Naruko was simply headstrong and aggressive, which gave her an upper hand in combat and if it came to a battle of wits and ninjutsu Sakura would win.
But now Sakura had realised that her spot in the trio was definitely right at the bottom. Because those clones, not only were they real but Naruko somehow had the chakra after all the fighting and no food to transform the clones.
For the first time Sakura was jealous of Naruko.
Naruko didn't notice this turmoil of course and started eating with Sasuke and Sakura soon following suit, their hunger overpowering everything else. Although on edge their ravenous hunger didn't allow the three of them to notice Kakashi's presence until he appeared right in front of them the wind blowing furiously and the sky growing followed by Kakashi's appearance.
He might have said something, Sakura assumed he'd have told them that they'd probably failed but before he could say anything Naruko moved. It was a miracle in itself managing to move with that overwhelming pressure of power that Kakashi brought with him but what was more surprising is that she'd moved to throw her chopsticks at Kakashi.
Sasuke was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected the short blonde girl to have so much fire in her. Sasuke had known her to be stupid, clumsy and absolutely reckless but that sort of determination in her eyes gave a clear message,I am not giving up.
So Sasuke wants going to either.
Midway through the air the chopsticks reverted back into a flying blonde girl whose legs were precisely in position to kick Kakashi's face. He dodged sending Naruko's clone off with a poof and almost instantly Sasuke leaped engaging Kakashi in combat.
It lasted only a handful of seconds before Sasuke was thrown back to his teammates but it was enough for Naruko to summon around half a dozen clones and transform them.
With a puff of smoke they are no longer clones of the blonde girl with pigtails but instead they were wide array of beautiful grown naked women with mist covering their, ahem, ahem delicate bits.
Kakashi's jaw dropped.
It was not only because of the naked women surrounding him were drop dead gorgeous or that he'd probably have to have a talk with the Third regarding Naruko's creative ideas but Kakashi was shocked because of the girl who lead the pack.
A tall brunette who was the exact replica of the woman on the cover of Kakashi's Icha-Icha Paradise.
Naruko had been observant enough to not only see the face of the heroine on the cover of his book but also had the time to understand and recreate her exact body structure.
It was a talent that was almost unprecedented.
Kakashi had never truly been caught off guard but the twelve year olds thinking had made him mildly surprised and that's all the opening Sasuke really needed.
In that split second of distraction Sasuke swiped at Kakashi with his Kunai but Kakashi was gone by the time Sasuke could do any real damage and there was a log in his place.
A substitution jutsu. The same one he'd used earlier on Naruko.
And yet somehow the Uchiha looked triumphant.
Although he'd not been able to get the bells he'd managed to cut off Kakashi's pack which had fallen to the ground along with the a second there even Kakashi was puzzled at Uchiha's grin at the blonde fox. They surely didn't think that they'd cut off his supply of weapons with just that pack, did they?
Another look at Naruko and Sasuke instantly started making the seals for what looked like his clans fireball jutsu.
Kakashi dodged it but was once again impressed at the size of suppose he shouldn't have underestimated these young ninjas.
The fireball abruptly stopped and Kakashi was once again surprised to see that it had served as merely a tool of distraction for their real plan.
Because while Sasuke had obscured Kakashi's view Naruko had once again transformed her clones into dozens of copies of Icha-Icha Paradise lying on the ground jumbling the real one taken from his bag with them.
Ah, a hostage situation.
Kakashi picked up the one closest to him, while the cover and the back was copied to a tee, which was another very, very impressive feat on Naruko's part the inside of the book was blank.
Kakashi dropped it and the fake book disappeared with a poof.
"We'd like to trade the real book for the bells." Sasuke announced smugly.
This time Kakashi was truly stunned. He'd never expected them to think so much through. He'd heard their conversation before and he knew that they hadn't discussed any of this, they simply worked together seamlessly making up the plan as they went,
But Kakashi wasn't a prodigy for no reason. Within seconds and in a speed which none of them could keep a track of he'd sorted through all the copies of the book and he returned to his position with the real book in his hand already opened to the page where he'd left off.
The three of them looked at him their faces filled with disbelief and disappointment. They'd failed to get the bells after all.
"Oh don't worry you passed." Kakashi decided to put them out of their misery.
The three young ninja blinked at him.
"Eh? Really?" Unsurprisingly it Naruko who responded first with a big smile spreading over face,"I'm a genin now dattebayo!"
Sakura looked at her Sensei confused,"But why? We didn't manage to get the bells from you and on top of that we broke the rules and shared the food with each other."
"You guys were the first to break the rules." Kakashi answered,"Mainly because everybody else dumbly followed the rules and gave up. Those who break the rules of the ninja world are called trash but those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash. Therefore you guys officially pass. Starting tomorrow Team 7 will begin with their duties."
"Yes!" Naruko pumped her fist into the air because now she was one step closer to her dream.