A/N: I have guinea pig BABIES! They're so adorable. :) Please review!

Also, I've decided to update once a week. :)

Disclaimer: Why do I do this again? I don't own Naruto, but 'Lin-chan and the plot are mine.

Chapter 9: A Team Called Seven

"Sorry I'm late. I got lost on the road of life."

~Hatake Kakashi~

"When are we gonna be finished with desecrating the monuments?" Caitlin asked as she, Sasuke, and Naruto hung from a rope atop the Hokage monument.

"In just a sec, 'Lin-chan!" Naruto shouted back from the face that he was drawing all over.

Suddenly, their teacher, Iruka started shouting at them. "What do you think you're doing, you idiots! Get down from there and get back to class, all of you!"

They all got down, both Caitlin and Naruto pouting. Sasuke just looked smug, 'I-told-you-so' written all over his face. Both of the blondes had perfected the art of understanding Sasuke. It may have taken years, but they had accomplished it.

When they arrived at the Academy, Iruka-sensei tied them up so the three wouldn't escape, and then proceeded to lecture them about the fact that the exams were tomorrow and they needed to be prepared, blah, blah, blah. They then were made to practice transforming, which ended with Naruto using the taboo jutsu, as Caitlin called it. After class, Iruka-sensei made them clean the monument, which caused Naruto to complain the whole time.

Iruka took the three for ramen after they finished. He mostly talked to Naruto at first since he knew that Sasuke and Caitlin had been roped in. Naruto finished their conversation by asking, "Your headband, can I wear it?"

Iruka told him after that that you can only get it when you graduate, which made Caitlin worry. She knew that Naruto sucked at genjutsu. It was why she had started studying it at the age of nine. She knew that it was something that Naruto would have trouble at, and she had tried everything to help him with it. Nothing worked. He just wasn't a genjutsu type, which was all there was to it, not to mention his massive chakra reserves... She didn't know what would be on the test, but if it was genjutsu…

x~x~x

The next day, they were all up bright and early for the exam. Caitlin was reviewing with Naruto when she realized the time, and that Sasuke had already left.

"Gah! We're gonna be late! And Duck Butt didn't tell us! I'm gonna kick his ass!" Caitlin shouted as she stuffed a piece of toast in her mouth and grabbed Naruto, rushing out the door. Because of their training with Gai-sensei, all three were faster than the regular chunin, but none of them reveal it.

They arrived in a few minutes, on time. Caitlin was still considering killing Sasuke, but she decided there were too many witnesses. I'll get you next time, Duck Butt!

x~x~x

Caitlin tried to find Naruto after the test later that night, but soon realized that he was nowhere to be found. She tried Sasuke's house, and when realizing that Naruto was not there, she decided to check and see if Sasuke knew where their blonde friend was.

"Duck Butt, I can't find Naruto. Have you seen him?" Caitlin asked Sasuke, who usually stayed with them now, though they had to buy most of the floor they lived in of the apartment complex.

Sasuke shook his head, silent, though a frown marred his face, revealing his worry.

"Let's go find him."

x~x~x

Caitlin and Sasuke both were exasperated at Naruto when he finished his story. "Seriously Naruto, you're way too trusting. He told you to STEAL a scroll, and you still did it!" Caitlin ranted.

"Yeah, but it turned out okay in the end. Iruka-sensei is okay and I learned a cool jutsu!" Naruto said, a wide grin on his face. "Oh, and I graduated too! Can you paint my face up for photos tomorrow?"

Caitlin sighed. "Sure."

x~x~x

Caitlin watched, giggling as Naruto and Sasuke fought. Naruto had jumped up on the desk in front of Sasuke and they were now having a staring match. Caitlin's mouth gaped open as the kid in front of Naruto accidently nudged him, causing the shinobi to kiss.

Caitlin burst into laughter as Naruto started wiping his mouth on his shirt and Sasuke started coughing violently. She literally fell to the ground in her laughter as her two best friends moved to opposite sides of the room. She then sat next to one of her other best friends, Hinata, since she wasn't about to choose from one of the boys.

"Who d-do you think y-you'll end up p-partnered with?" Hinata asked.

"Hopefully Naruto and Sasuke. We work together best, and I would be disappointed if ended up with some idiot or fan girl/boy," Caitlin replied. "I'd be happy to end up with you or Shino too, but…"

"I understand," Hinata replied, a smile on her face. "T-They'd be l-lost without you."

"I hope not," Caitlin muttered as they started calling out teams. She listened attentively, until finally Iruka called out, "Caitlin… Uzumaki Naruto… And… Uchiha Sasuke."

A grin threatened to tear Caitlin's face in half as Sasuke smirked and Naruto started jumping up and down.

There were a couple more cells made, and then the sensei's started to show up. Soon enough, Team Seven was the only team left waiting for their sensei.

Naruto was restless, constantly in motion. Sasuke sat with his hands folded before his face, obviously deep in thought while Caitlin sat on top of the desk, reading a book. Naruto finally stopped his pacing and grabbed an eraser which he posed over the door. Caitlin looked up with a raised eyebrow, but didn't comment.

Caitlin was taking an educated guess in this, but the ridiculous lateness made her assume that her sensei was Kakashi. He had been late every time the boys begged him to train them. So, obviously he would be late to this, and to get back at his constant lateness Caitlin decided that she would let Naruto follow through with his prank.

When he saw the prank, Sasuke just sighed and said, "I doubt he's going to fall for that, Naruto."

Naruto pouted, but sat by the door and waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, Kakashi, their new sensei, entered, in a cloud of dust that was caused by the eraser. Naruto burst into laughter, holding his stomach while Caitlin rolled her eyes at his antics.

Kakashi sighed, and then they all went to the roof, where Kakashi proceeded to tell them about himself, which reveal nothing about him, but they already knew him pretty well, so it didn't matter much.

"Why do we have to do this?" Naruto demanded, frowning.

"Just get it over with," Sasuke muttered, a scowl fixed firmly in place.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant cup ramen, but I like it better when Iruka-sensei treats me to ramen at Ichiraku! I also like my teammates, teme and Caitlin! I hate the three minute wait after I pour in the boiling water. My dream is to someday be a better shinobi than the Hokage and then all the villagers will have to acknowledge my existence at last! My hobbies are pranking and practical jokes. Oh! And training with you guys," Naruto stated, a grin fixed firmly on his face.

Next was Sasuke. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate, but I don't see that it matters, considering some of the few things that I like are the dobe and Caitlin. I will not talk about my dreams, but I do have an ambition, which is to find the truth about that day."

Now, it was Caitlin's turn. "My name is Caitlin. I'm an orphan, so I don't have a surname. I like my teammates, the color green, books, and crab meat. I dislike most idiots, people who are constantly late, green jumpsuits with orange leg warmers, and the color pink. My dream is to protect the people I love and help them achieve their dreams. My hobbies are reading, learning, training, writing, and annoying Bakashi-sensei."

Kakashi nodded. "I think we all understand each other. Real training begins tomorrow."

"You're not training us now because it's too early in the day, Bakashi-sensei," Caitlin said, joking. She and the other knew the truth by now, so she wasn't truly going to get on his case about his lateness.

Before Kakashi left, he told them that there was a 66% failure rate, which Caitlin didn't believe because she had read everywhere on this. There wasn't a test like that that had such a percentage of failures. Or at least, not from what she had read. But she knew sensei's could give test and if they failed, were sent to the Academy. She didn't tell the boys until he left, which majorly relieved Naruto, who didn't want to go back to the Academy. She left out the part about it maybe being correct, just because she believed in her team, and if there was such a test, they would pass it.

x~x~x

Naruto's stomach growled from where he was tied up. The three had failed Kakashi's test. The boys had just refused to work together, even though Caitlin had practically begged them to be a team, and that they could have the bells and she would go back.

Of course, they didn't listen, and now the teammates were in this predicament. Caitlin and Sasuke were allowed to eat, while a hungry Naruto had to watch. Caitlin finally just thought, screw it, and gave the rest of her food to the other blonde. If she passed once, she could easily pass again.

"Don't give him all your food. He can have some of mine too, so we can all eat," Sasuke said as he helped her untie Naruto.

Suddenly, Kakashi appeared in a poof of smoke, which cause Caitlin to yelp in surprise and Naruto to jump back as Sasuke held his ground.

"You pass," Kakashi stated, giving them his strange eye smile.

x~x~x

Team Seven had been doing D-Rank missions since then, and they were all tired of chasing that crazy cat. Naruto was the most vocal about it however, and demanded a C-Rank mission from the Hokage.

"Team Seven, your next mission is-"

"NO, NO, NO, no thank you!" Naruto shouted with his arms crossed in a X. "I want an awesome mission! Find us a better one!"

"Preferably a not D-Rank," Caitlin interjected.

After that, the Hokage explained the mission ranks to the genin, and the ranks of the people inside of the village that were ninjas. Caitlin understood, but it didn't mean she liked it. She had to pinch Naruto to make sure he listened to the Hokage, and because she was fair, she pinched Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei too. They were both expecting it, so neither flinched.

Naruto was still rubbing his arm when the Hokage agreed to let them have a C-Rank. Naruto jumped for joy, shouting at the top of his lungs while the rest of them rubbed their ears.

Of course, this changed as soon as they saw their client. Caitlin tried to ignore him, but nearly had a temper tantrum like Naruto by the time they were at the gates.

Caitlin stared at the gate with awe. Both she and Naruto had never been out of the village, so this was all new to them. Caitlin ignored Naruto and the bridge builder's argument to ask Sasuke, "What's it like outside of the village?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Not very different from inside. In other villages in Fire country, there are less ninja. I've never been to Wave, so I can't tell you anything that your books can't."

"Hey, Caitlin?" Naruto said.

"Hmm?"

"Do they have ninjas in other countries?" Naruto asked.

Caitlin smiled. "Yes, they do. In Wave, they don't have a Hidden Village, so there are no ninjas. In other countries, like Iwa or Kiri, there are Hidden Villages, so they have ninjas."

Kakashi suddenly took out a scroll that had the five shinobi countries marked and started elaborating on Caitlin's explanation. The boys both listened attentively, not wanting to be pinched again. Besides, Naruto was actually curious about this.

Caitlin paused when she noticed a puddle. What the heck? It's dry as a desert out here yet there's a puddle? That can't be right…

Just as she was about to say something about it, two ninjas appeared out of the puddle. She stared with horror as they wrapped a chain around Kakashi, and ripped him to pieces. Sensei… He couldn't be! Then she noticed that there wasn't a body, but logs. She was so relieved she could have laughed, had there not been enemy ninjas and a job to do.

She jumped in front of Tazuna, trusting Sasuke to help Naruto, who had frozen when he saw Kakashi go down. Sasuke's shurikens sliced through the wind after he threw them and caught the chains on trees. Sasuke himself soared through the air, and then he jumped on the ninjas' heads, kicking them in the face in the process and grabbing their gloves.

The chains suddenly snapped off the gloves, and the nin ran at Naruto, the sharp fingers of the glove extended towards him. The other ninja ran at Caitlin and Tazuna. Caitlin stood in front of the man, her scythe out of her summoning scroll, and slicing through the air towards the ninja.

Caitlin's strike had sliced the ninja's glove, but nothing more as Kakashi finally arrived back on the scene, holding both the ninjas in place from behind.

As Kakashi apologized for being late, Caitlin ran towards Naruto. "Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto blinked slowly, and then nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Your hand, dobe." Sasuke said, pointed towards the injured appendage.

"Their claws are soaked in poison. We have to remove it quickly," Kakashi muttered. "We must open the wound and remove the poison from your body. Don't move much; the poison will spread." Kakashi paused. "Tazuna-san?"

"What is it?" the bridge builder nervously demanded.

"I need to talk to you. These look like Hidden Mist chunin. They are known to continue fighting no matter what," Kakashi said.

"I thought we weren't supposed to encounter other ninjas on a C-Rank mission," Caitlin murmured as they surrounded the now bound enemy nins.

"We weren't. With ninjas attacking us, this at least boost it up to a B-Rank. This was supposed to be a simple protection mission," Kakashi replied.

"Naruto's wound… we need to get him to a medic…" Caitlin said, frowning. "I don't know what poison it is…"

"This mission might be too much…" Kakashi muttered. "I guess we should return to the village to get treatment for Naruto…"

Naruto snapped. Caitlin watched with horror as he suddenly stabbed his hand with a glinting kunai in an attempt to remove the poison.

"With this kunai," Naruto declared, "I'll protect the old man. We're continuing the mission!"