AN: Alas, Naruto is not for sale, so I cannot buy it... I have decided that sarcastic lines work just fine, so I'll be using them from now on. Just because I can. And as I have just returned from Chicago, I posted this as soon as I could for you all. Enjoy! -demonicnargles
"Speech"
thought / talking in mind
"Demon speech"
Demon thought / talking in mind
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
Kyuubi knew that Naruto was hated by the villagers, but he figured that they would at least take his money when he tried to buy something. I guess Naruto was fortunate that someone else bought his food. If Naruto had been left to buy food, he'd have starved. Kyuubi had planned to buy something before meeting his team this morning, but he had been thrown out of every clothing store he had tried to go in. And he hadn't dared to try and enter the store with the weights after seeing the glare the owner gave him. Kyuubi needed to buy the stuff himself to avoid raising suspicion, but no one would sell to him. Perhaps a henge... but no. Then they would think I stole it from whoever I henged into. Kuso!
Kyuubi mused about his 'activities' this night as he walked to the training field, to which he was already and hour and a half late, since the villagers had been slow to give up on the chase. Some of them had obviously trained as ninja at some point. Things had gone downhill almost from the moment he had taken this body. He was once the fearsome Kyuubi no kitsune, a demon so strong that the strongest ninja in existence had given his life merely to imprison him. Now he found out that he could hardly use enough of his power to beat ordinary ninja, and even then he could only use that much for a minute or two. After getting used to that, he had become a ninja to keep up his disguise as Naruto, for fear of being discovered. Since when was Kyuubi afraid? And once he had done that, he had been forced to steal to have any hope of becoming stronger. Now he was not only a pathetic human, and not only a ninja of a village he had tried to destroy, but now he was a thief. And his short career in thievery had led to his current status on the bottom of the social ladder: Murderer. No one knew, but that had been due only to luck. He had over heard a conversation about the missing jounin. Not only had the ANBU found the trail to Mizuki's corpse, but they had recognized that that was where the body was. Only the presence of the wild dogs had kept the ANBU from investigating further. That was way too close.
Kyuubi had eaten breakfast, despite Kakashi's warning. He had planned on shopping for a while, and he figured that he would be okay after taking time to shop.
He walked into the clearing of the training field. He saw Sasuke and Sakura, but no sign of Kakashi. He stopped and sniffed the air. At least I didn't lose my senses when I got this body, Kyuubi thought. His enhanced sense of smell found no trace of Kakashi, nor did his sensitive ears detect anyone other than himself and the two genin. He walked over towards the two.
"WHERE WERE YOU, YOU BAKA! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN HERE AND HOUR AND A HALF AGO!" Sakura screamed.
Kyuubi wasn't fazed at all. "Is Kakashi here yet?" I finally got this voice down. It takes so much concentration to keep up, though. I shouldn't talk very much.
"Well, no, but..."
Kyuubi sat by one of the posts in the clearing. If Kakashi wasn't here by an hour and a half after they were supposed to meet, then he was either dead, delayed by important work, or chronically late. If he didn't have a good excuse, Kyuubi would plan on showing up at least and hour and a half late to every meeting Kakashi was coming to. For now, he just leaned back against the post and closed his eyes. He could feel Sakura looking at him. He checked the chakra of his genjutsu. It was as good as he could get it. His eyes were only a shade darker than Naruto's. Surely she hadn't noticed that. Kyuubi scowled. Maybe she was just weird. He let himself drift off to sleep, since there was nothing to do.
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
Sakura stared at Naruto. He had changed so much from when she had first met him. She remembered when he was a prankster, always smiling, always laughing, always shouting about how he was going to be Hokage. No matter how many people made fun of him, he always did whatever he felt like. Like wearing bright orange clothes. Sakura had never understood why Naruto liked orange so much. She knew very little about Naruto, but she knew enough to be aware that his food and clothing had always been bought by the Hokage, because he had no parents. She wondered how he expected to be a good ninja when his clothing was such a garish color. Without even thinking about it, she voiced her question out loud.
"Why do you always wear orange clothes, Naruto?"
Naruto didn't answer. Looking a little closer, Sakura realized that he was asleep. She could remember when he would have jumped at the opportunity to talk to 'Sakura-chan'. She still remembered the times he had shouted at her about how orange was a great color, and how ramen was the best food ever, and anything else he could think of. But slowly, his outbursts had become less and less frequent. She had thought that he was getting a little common sense. But he had also begun to sleep in class. And he talked to people less and less, until it was rare to hear his voice. In fact, the only times she could recall him talking within the last year, was when he had either gotten in trouble, or been asked a question. And even then, his voice was quiet, and his replies were short.
Sakura shook off the weight that seemed to have settled on her shoulders. At least now Naruto didn't interrupt her when she talked with Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun... Now that she thought of it, Naruto was a lot like Sasuke-kun now. Except Sasuke didn't sleep as much. Maybe Naruto has gotten himself a good role model, Sakura thought. And such a handsome one, too!
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
Kakashi walked into the clearing, a full two hours late. The team was exactly as he had thought it would be. Sasuke was brooding, Sakura was staring at Sasuke, and Naruto was sleeping. Could I have possibly gotten a worse team? I have a loner, a fan girl, and a bum. Just great...
Sakura jumped to her feet when she heard Kakashi arrive. "YOU'RE TWO HOURS LATE! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!"
"Oh, I was on my way here, when I noticed an elderly lady trying to cross the street-"
"LIAR!"
Kyuubi was awakened by Sakura's screaming. Is she always this loud? he wondered. He had only been around her twice since being assgned to her team, and both times she had woken him with shouting of a volume that could wake the dead. Seeing that Kakashi had arrived, and that everyone else was now standing, Kyuubi got up.
"I'm glad you're all here. Today, we will be doing a survival test."
"But Kakashi-sensei, we did lots of those in the Academy," Sakura whined.
"But this one will be harder. And if you fail, you will be sent back to the Academy."
"WHAT!"
Kakashi waited until his ears stopped ringing. "Yes, don't be surprised. The final examination you took tested your ability to use techniques. This test will determine your ability to use them in a combat situation. Your goal," he pulled out two bells, each attached to a string, and put the ends of the strings into his belt. "...is to get a bell by noon, using any means necessary. Those who get a bell will pass. Those who do not will be sent back to the Academy."
"But sensei, there are only two bells," Sakura noted.
"Yes. So at least one of you will be going back to the Academy." Kakashi pulled out an alarm clock (who knows where he had been keeping it) and set it on one of the three posts in the clearing. "This clock will go off at noon. Now try and get the bells, starting now!"
Sasuke and Sakura each immediately leaped into the forest to hide. Kyuubi just stood where he was and stared absently at Kakshi. Kakashi is a jounin. We are genin. Barely. I might be able to get a bell if I use my power, but there has to be a trick to this. Not one of us, in theory, should be able to even touch him. Not one of us... Ah. This is supposed to build teamwork. Then why are there only two bells? Hm... Of course. That is to try and keep us from using teamwork. I see it now. But how can I convince the other two to work with me? Hm...
Kakashi waited for Naruto to go hide. But he didn't. He just stood there, staring at him. What a weird kid. Maybe he's too lazy or too sleepy to hide. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Kakashi pulled out his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise. He read for a little while. Isn't Naruto going to do anything? He's still staring at me. Kakashi faced away from Naruto and kept reading. He could feel the boy's gaze burning into the back of his head. He turned around, and sure enough, Naruto was still staring. I won't let a creepy genin freak me out. And what's up with his eyes? I think there's something wrong with them...
Kyuubi came out of his thoughts with a start when he realized Kakashi was scrutinizing his eyes. Kakashi was ten feet away, but if he noticed the genjutsu... Kyuubi sprang into the forest to find the other genin.
There's definitely something up with his eyes. It's almost like a genjutsu. But I don't think Naruto can even do a genjutsu. How weird. Sensing something behind him, Kakashi whirled around and caught a kunai between his index finger and his middle finger. "Hello there, Sasuke."
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
Kyuubi found Sakura easily, since her red outfit was only slightly less noticeable than his orange one. "Hey, Sakura," he whispered.
Sakura spun to face him, holding a kunai. "Oh, it's just you," she whispered back.
"Sakura, this is supposed to be a teamwork exercise. We need to work together with Sasuke to get the bells."
"But Kakashi-sensei said-"
"Forget what he said," Kyuubi hissed. "That was just to make it less obvious."
Sakura thought for a moment. Yeah, he's right. Why didn't I see that?
They heard a disturbance back towards the clearing. They nodded, and crept back toward the clearing to see what was happening.
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
Sasuke scowled at Kakashi as the jounin towered over him, smirking. Not only was Kakashi taller than Sasuke by at least a foot, but Sasuke had been buried up to his chin. Kakashi pulled his book back out and resumed reading. That had been more fun than he had thought. The boy was obviously talented, but talent wasn't important in this exercise.
Kyuubi and Sakura saw Kakashi standing next to Sasuke's head. Kyuubi slapped a hand over Sakura's mouth just in time to prevent a loud "Sasuke-kun!" from giving away their postition. After shooting Kyuubi a dirty look, Sakura realized why he had done that. Being the smartest kunoichi in her class, she came up with a plan to get Sasuke and then have all three of them attack Kakashi. She quickly whispered the plan to Kyuubi, who made a few suggestions of his own, while still trying to speak as little as possible. Once they settled the plan, Kyuubi nodded and snuck to the designated location. Once he was in place, Sakura struck.
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
Kakashi wondered what had happened to the other two genin. Maybe they had decided to leave. At any rate, he would wait until noon just to be sure. He continued to read his book, smirking when he heard Sasuke resume his attempt to wriggle out of the ground.
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Are you alright!" Sakura burst from the edge of the forest, running towards Sasuke. Kakashi rolled his eyes. Had he seen that coming, or had he seen that coming... He walked towards Sakura, who was frantically trying to dig Sasuke out.
Feeling a presence behind him, Kakashi dodged to the side and turned around. Naruto stood where Kakashi had been not even a second ago. Kakashi smirked. The boy had obviously hoped to use Sakura's outburst to-
Kakashi dodged to the side to avoid a kunai from Sakura, then again to avoid one of Naruto's. Kakashi's eyes widened. Sakura only faked her outburst! Or did she just see an opportunity arrise while digging? Kakashi backed up to the edge of the forest, looking at the three genin in the middle of the clearing. Naruto and Sakura finished digging out Sasuke, and then they began whispering amongst themselves. Kakashi smiled. Maybe they got the teamwork part of it, but they're still standing out in the open. Time to- Dodge!
Kakashi moved out of the way just as a kunai whizzed past him from behind. He turned to see where it had come from. He jumped out of the way of the kunai the three genin began throwing his way. A kunai trap, perhaps? His instincts suddenly screamed for him to move, and Kakashi dodged to the side to avoid a kunai thrown from a different side. How many traps did they set up? Or maybe one of them is a bunshin, to allow the third to throw kunai from the forest. Kakashi considered opening his Sharingan to see for sure, but decided against it. They're just genin. I can't go that hard on them.
Suddenly the three genin in the clearing began throwing lots of kunai, and at least twice as many as they were throwing began flying out of the forest. Kakashi dodged around, working his way towards the genin in the middle. He knew that at least two of them were real, since normal replications had no physical substance, and therefore couldn't dig up Sasuke, whom he knew was real.
Suddenly Naruto ran from his spot in the clearing straight at Kakashi. Kakashi smirked. This kid has no idea what he's in for. I'll just dodge to the side, and- Kakashi suddenly realized that the genin were no longer aiming for him, but were throwing their kunai just around Naruto, to keep Kakashi from dodging. Looking back, he noticed that the kunai from directly behind him were the only ones not hemming him in towards Naruto. Those kunai were coming straight at him, and he couldn't dodge them. Naruto is going to hate me for this, Kakashi thought. He grabbed Naruto by the arm, swung him around, and used him as a shield for the kunai behind him.
To Kakashi's great surprise, Naruto disappeared in cloud of smoke just before the kunai hit, allowing five of them to plant themselves into Kakashi's chest. Stunned by Naruto's disappearance and the pain of having several kunai stuck in his torso, Kakashi failed to notice Sasuke coming up behind him until the last moment. He turned and blocked Sasuke's punch and the following kick, when he felt a slight tug on his belt, looking down, he saw that the bells were gone.
Sakura giggled tossed a bell to Naruto, who had just come out of the forest.. She was sure that this was a teamwork exercise by now, and so was not worried about Sasuke failing. Sasuke stopped his attack and waited quietly.
Kakashi stood, amazed at the work of these three genin. "Uh, you guys apparently figured out the real purpose of this test, and I guess you pass. We'll meet here at 8:00 in two days. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see a doctor." With that, Kakashi vanished in a poof of smoke.
Sakura ran over to Sasuke. "Great job Sasuke! Hey, do you want to go to lunch with me to celebrate?"
"No."
"Well, okay then. Naruto, I guess we could..."
She turned, and noticed that Naruto wasn't even there. Where'd he go? She jogged to catch up with Sasuke, who had started down the path back to Konoha. "Can I walk back with you, at least, Sasuke?"
"Whatever."
Sakura giggled.
linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline
End of chapter. Please review!