So... uh... yeah. Been a while. Got some free time, thought I'd get back into writing despite past experiences with the NaruSaku community, especially after reading all the reviews. I hate when authors say something like that but it really meant a lot when I saw all those reviews, so I figured instead of sitting on my butt while bored and angry at work I'd write. Also since it's been quite a while I lost my flow a little with this chapter so please excuse me if it's not up to snuff, however it's bound to only get better from here. So without further adieu...



Naruto cracked his neck loudly as he slowly pulled himself out of his small run-down bed. He wasn't feeling particularly as rested as usual, but he wasn't feeling particularly tired either. He closed his eyes and focused, recollection slowly dawned upon him as the memories his clones had collected made themselves known to him. He recalled that they worked late into the night, but stopped early enough so as not to completely exhaust himself. He realized his clones had learned a new jutsu for him, a very basic one but useful none the less. His eyes widened for a moment, then he got a devious grin as another gem of knowledge crossed his mind. He realized why Kakashi told his team not to eat, one of his clones had come across a book which detailed an old test given to academy graduates to test their teamwork and see if they could work outside the rules. He looked at his clock and saw he still had an hour to go, deciding he'd eat breakfast.

Forty-five minutes later Naruto arrived at the designated training ground with a full stomach ready for Kakashi's little test. Because Kakashi's test wouldn't require them to actually beat him, Naruto decided it would be more productive if he sent some clones off to train while he dealt with the test in person. He decided the best way to go about it was the way he had tried the previous night, with sending them to the local library to study jutsu. When he arrived he noticed Sasuke and Sakura were already there and waiting, he waved to them but didn't receive much of a greeting from either of them. He shrugged off their impartial greeting and found moved off towards some trees, holding his feet up against the trunk he began doing push-ups with his legs sticking up in the air, leaning against the tree in an attempt to get a good work out while waiting for their tardy teacher.

About thirty minutes after the pre-arranged time Kakashi showed up, giving a bogus excuse for why he was late. His eye lazily glanced towards Naruto, slightly impressed that he wasn't wasting time like the other two. Kakashi's eye narrowed for a moment as realization dawned on him. He realized Naruto was supposed to be the goofball, why was he so serious about training, and why was he doing it before the test he told them all that he was going to give that morning. Something was fishy about all of this and he decided he needed to keep an eye open during this particular test. Kakashi gathered them all up and explained the nature of his test. Naruto couldn't help but grin despite how hard he tried to suppress it. His grin did not go unnoticed, Kakashi narrows his eye as he studied Naruto.

'What is he grinning about? Does he think this is going to be easy? Is he so smug that he thinks he can catch me just because he did a little training? Or is there something more to his grin than that.' Kakashi thought to himself.

Naruto patiently waited until Kakashi said they could begin, and when the command was given the three students scattered into hiding spots in the wooded area around the training ground. Naruto began searching for his two teammates, it wasn't long before he came across Sakura. He whispered her name quietly as he approached, startling her slightly as she turned around and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Naruto! What are you doing? You're going to give away my hiding spot!" she said louder and harsher than he would have liked. Naruto made a 'Shh' motion with his hand and crawled next to her.

"Sakura, there's no way we can pass unless we work together, he's a jounin and he's not going to easy on us. I think this is part of the test." He lied, knowing full well this had to be part of the test. She raised an eyebrow at that statement and contemplated it herself.

"Well what about the bells? There's only two of them, which means only two of us pass." She asked, trying to think of the reasoning behind the test.

"Well, I don't know the specifics, but I think it may be that he's trying to divide us when the trick is working together... I could be wrong, but look, if we get Sasuke on board, you two can have the bells and you get to move on anyways even if I'm wrong." He explained to her. It was true that he didn't know the specifics as the text he had read was rather vague about the test but he was confident that he had the answer. She thought about it for a moment and nodded.

"That does make sense... but just remember that if you're wrong me and Sasuke-kun get the bells!" She answered to which he responded with a simple nod and a grin.

"I'm sure that I'm right on this, so here's my plan, Sasuke and I will make an opening, and you'll grab the bells, even if Sasuke doesn't agree with me, I'll take advantage of him trying to get the bells and help further distract Kakashi." He explained to her, eliciting a nod from her.

He crawled out of the bush backwards and began searching for Sasuke, finding his superior hiding spot in a tree, he climbed up quietly while whispering Sasuke's name. Sasuke turned to face him quietly when Naruto arrived at his branch.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing, what do you want?" said Sasuke in a rather bitter tone.

"Sasuke, surely you've thought about how suspicious this all is right? He's a jounin, there's only two bells and there's three of us." Naruto began to explain, silencing Sasuke and getting a strange look from the raven-haired Uchiha, one of contemplation and disbelief, surprised the goof off blonde had actually been thinking about this sort of thing. Sasuke remained silent but nodded.

"The fact of the matter is, he's trying to divide us in a test of teamwork, there's two bells so that we'll distrust one another but there's no way to win without the three of us working together. Even if I'm wrong on this, I'll relinquish the bells to you and Sakura, it's a promise I made to her and a promise I'll make to you.

"Heh, that's actually good thinking Naruto, I think you may be onto something... but just remember, if you're wrong it'll be your ass." He said with smirk on his face. Naruto nodded and pointed towards Sakura's hiding spot.

"Sakura's hiding right over there, we'll hit Kakashi from the side and push him back towards her, then I'll call out for her and she'll grab the bells." Naruto explained to Sasuke causing the smirk to broaden and to nod slowly.

"You really thought this through, I have to say I'm impressed Naruto." Naruto grinned back at Sasuke and nodded.

"Let's go, just go all out together with me on Kakashi, we have to fight to kill, I doubt we'll actually hurt him though." Naruto explained turning serious. Sasuke nodded slowly, turning serious as well then the two proceded to jump from the tree and begin their attack.

Kakashi's eyes widened as the two genin came at him.

'These two are on the right track, but are they leaving Sakura out? Are they cutting what they think is their weakest link?' Kakashi wondered as he still thumbed through his book while the two young ninja came at him.

They attacked with simple taijutsu, not moving Kakashi towards Sakura at all as she waited quietly in the bush, Kakashi smirked under his mask, seeing exactly what they were doing.

'Clever... they're trying to push me towards her so she can grab the bells, they're working together perfectly, but let's just see what they can do...'

Sasuke growled as he realized they weren't even getting Kakashi to move. He knew they'd have to do something big if they were going to push Kakashi back to Sakura.

"Naruto! Stand back!" He called out as he started making handsigns. Naruto took note of the handsigns, his clones had been reading about the individual handsigns and what they meant the night before.

'Horse sign, it's a fire jutsu... perfect I'll just add my own little spin to it.' Naruto thought as Kakashi thought something similar, wondering how a genin could use a fire style jutsu.

As a fireball started heading towards Kakashi, he quickly dodged by moving to the side with his expert speed. He began chuckling to himself until he noticed Naruto had been making hand signs as well.

'What!? Shit, I couldn't read Naruto's handsigns because of that fireball and trying to dodge it,' His eyes widened even more as Naruto took in a deep intake of air which seemed to gather around his mouth. 'SHIT! It's a wind jutsu!'

A sudden burst of wind issued forth from Naruto's mouth, hitting the flames and fanning them towards Kakashi. Kakashi was indeed a very fast man, but not fast enough, the flame engulfed his arm albeit for mere seconds and he leapt back panting, his arm singed and his favorite book on fire. As his eye caught his book he gasped and screamed at the top of his lungs, issuing looks of surprise from all 3 genin. Kakashi fell to his knees and began openly weeping at the loss of his book.

"That... that... that was my autographed collector's edition copy... how... how could you!" Kakashi shouted inbetween weeps.

"NOW!" Shouted Naruto, noticing Kakashi's dismay and how close he was to Sakura's position.

Sakura burst out of the bushes and grabbed the bells from Kakashi's waist with zero resistance, Kakashi was too busy weeping over the loss of his precious book to care.

"Fine! You all pass... You did good and can have the rest of the day off, but tomorrow's a mission, so meet me here at the same time... now get out here... I don't want to see any of you right now." He said, with venom dripping in his voice. He was too angry about his book to be impressed with their team work.

Naruto chuckled and walked off without saying a word, heading home to resume his physical training while his clones did their research and practicing jutsu. He was determined to learn better chakra control so he could make more clones by the end of the week. As he walked off he left his two teammates who were so happy about their success and shocked by Naruto's insight that they found themselves discussing what had happened and what was to come...

And there you have it, been a while and I'm not sure the flow came out the way I wanted it when I started the story, but I feel it's an adequate chapter.