Fragments
-o-
New Neighbors and Reasons to drink
-o-
Naruto grinned happily as he felt the weight of the headband settle on his head.
Even if he had done it once before, getting Iruka's acknowledgment felt good. It felt as if he belonged.
Now if only he didn't also feel the burning on the back of his head, the one that signified that Sakura choose it as a suitable receptacle for one of her kunai.
She hadn't left the entire night, and in the end he couldn't concentrate enough to learn even one more jutsu from the scroll. He did managed to memorize the idea though. That would be enough to work them out on his own, later.
"Let's go get some ramen Iruka!" He shouted. Neutral ground, where Sakura couldn't just kill him and any witnesses seemed like a good idea to him.
Iruka laughed, shaking his head. "Of course Naruto, we need to get somebody to collect Mizuki though."
"Bah, we'll just tell an Anbu on the way or something." Naruto dismissed his teacher.
He just hoped Sakura wouldn't decide to finish the chunin. That could make this way more complicated than it had to.
He looked around briefly but couldn't sense her at all, not even a whiff of alcohol... he had gotten used to that awfully fast.
-o-
Sakura finished the jutsu, and felt new energy course through her. Watching Naruto pour over the scroll kinda felt like watching Madara pour over his.
The same kind of concentration, shaken by the knowledge that somebody watched, somebody who could kill them any second they choose to do so.
She smirked. Maybe they could have fought back, maybe not. But if they wanted a chance to defend themselves, they needed to keep an eye out for her.
It reminded her of many such nights. At first spend with her teammates.
After the clash only her captain could be spared.
After Konoha had been destroyed, together with Ino.
And finally alone, watching a target, observing it's habits, until she could be sure to win.
She had shivered then, telling herself it had been the night air.
Still, she wandered into the academy. Naruto had only been interested in exposing Mizuki and gaining an explanation for his usage of shadowclones. That he tried to learn other jutsu? Who cared, she had her own and those were all she needed.
She opened the door to the classroom, scanning the students already there.
In one corner sat Hinata Hyuuga. Sakura glared at her, another traitor. Following Naruto to satisfy her little crush.
Hinata shrank back from Sakura's glare, trying to hide herself.
Sakura shook herself. If Sasuke had taken her with him...
Sighing she tried to smile at the shy girl. It came off as a grimace, but better than the glare.
Luck of the draw. If Hinata had stayed, maybe she wouldn't have become as obsessive with continuing Naruto's legacy, breeding monsters, attempting to take over the world with them...
And if Sasuke had taken Sakura with him... well, who knew.
She searched for Ino, who glared at her, but didn't shrink back in fear, like yesterday.
"Hey Ino." She should stay away, really she should. But Ino... she had been the only one left. And if she had a chance to talk to her again. Then she would risk it, so what if Ino could die again? So could Sakura. And this time Sakura would die before Ino did, or immediately after.
"What do you want crazy lesbian?" Ino growled back, holding her head high and hiding the slight tremble very well indeed.
"Hehe, still upset over my little prank yesterday?" Sakura asked grinning. With Ino she could grin, the easy companionship comforting her.
"Yes! I mean no!" Ino screeched.
Ah, so easy to rile her up. Sakura snickered. It had been very hard to get anything out of Ino but a grunt, close to the end. But then, Sakura hadn't exactly said much either. She moved, enveloping Ino in a hug. It had all been said at that point anyway.
"Don't leave me again." She whispered into the startled Ino's ear.
"What the hell... are you drunk?" Ino pried Sakura off her and stared at her face. Sakura nodded, giggling.
"Yeah, I'm celebrating." Good booze and you, she didn't say.
"We aren't supposed to drink." Ino whispered back, shock written all over her face. "What if Iruka noticed it?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "So what? He won't."
The door opened and Sasuke entered the room, he looked around. His face carefully optimistic, a hopeful grin tugged on his lips, once he spotted Sakura.
Sakura almost gave in, instead she glared back. He couldn't be trusted. He only cared for revenge, nothing else mattered.
And it didn't matter that he didn't act like Sasuke at all. He looked too much like Sasuke to not be Sasuke.
"What the hell forehead? What's it with you giving Sasuke the evil eye? Normally you would be all over him." Ino looked at her strangely.
"And you wouldn't?" Sakura returned the question.
"Well of course, he's the best catch ever!" Ino said as if that was a law of Nature. "But, I just have to know why you suddenly changed your mind. Did you find anything that made him..." She leaned in, making sure nobody was listening. "undesirable?"
She finished lamely.
"You mean beside the massive mental problems? The pathological need for revenge? The disregard for anything female?"
"He's gay?" Ino shouted, eyes wide in horror.
The entire class looked first at her, then at Sasuke.
"Makes a lot of sense..." One boy nodded.
"Yeah always wondered why he didn't take one of the girls up on their offers." Another said.
"And you know in the showers..."
Sasuke watched the speculation with growing panic, Sakura noted in amusement.
"Well, it's one explanation." She said, shrugging.
"I'm not gay!" Sasuke shouted, storming towards Sakura.
In that moment Naruto entered the room, exactly in front of Sasuke. The two collided, falling to the floor, Sasuke on top of Naruto, noses nearly touching.
Sakura suppressed the blush that threatened to rise easily. Ino didn't.
"You mean he and Naruto?" She whispered.
"If you kiss me again there will be pain." Naruto said evenly, danger swinging with every word.
"Kiss you again? I never, ever kissed you before!" Sasuke shouted back.
The whispering in the room reached a new level.
Naruto blinked, while Sakura narrowed her eyes.
The other kids might think Sasuke was just denying. But Sakura knew better, he had never kissed Naruto, or at least thought he didn't. And with every other change in his behavior...
Damn, she had no idea what it meant. But he may not be the Sasuke she remembered...
"Settle down!" Iruka shouted. "Naruto, Sasuke get to your seats."
The two boys scrambled away from each other. Trying not to look like they were looking at each other.
Sakura nearly snickered. If she hadn't been a good as she was, they would probably have succeeded too, she was fairly certain she was the only one who noticed the looks exchanged.
"I'll now assign you your teams and Jonin." Iruka said to the now quite class.
"After your assignment you have a short break, to get to know your team."
The boys and girls looked at each other excitedly. Pity most of them wouldn't make it past their teachers tests.
-o-
This was so unfair! Sakura knew perfectly well that he was not gay! But now the entire class thought he was.
No thanks to Naruto. He glared at the blond.
He had never kissed him. Never! If he had he would remember damn it!
Naruto looked at him, but instead of the anger Sasuke had expected Naruto looked back with... curiosity?
"Team 7..." Sasuke perked up as he heard his team designation.
"Haruno Sakura." He could see Sakura sit up straight.
"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto gave Sakura a look, Sasuke had no idea what it meant, but Sakura returned it with narrowed eyes.
"And Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka finished.
All three members of Team 7 nodded, and settled down again.
Sasuke wanted to cheer, but he doubted it would be appreciated. Especially by Sakura.
He remained quite, while Iruka finished assigning the teams. Sasuke remembered only some of the teams. Most had failed after all, at least the first time.
"Ok, you have one hour to get to know your team, if you don't already know each other." Iruka finished smiling, he looked at Naruto for a second. Sasuke frowned, why would Iruka worry about Naruto... and why had Naruto failed yesterday? He had been too distracted to think about it then, but Naruto had failed... though that had obviously been planed. Naruto's presence here showed that.
Still, something...
"Up Uchiha." Sakura stood in front of him, and looked down. Her gaze hard, but not quite a glare.
Naruto stood beside her. "Yeah Sasuke, let's get out of here. We need to talk."
And if that wasn't the greatest understatement of the millennium...
"Yeah." He muttered. Though he did smile at Naruto, who did smile back.
Things were definitely looking up.
-o-
They sat on the roof of the academy, eating their lunch in silence. Well Naruto and Sasuke were eating. Sakura had apparently opted for a liquid breakfast.
"You shouldn't drink this early in the morning." Sasuke admonished her and blinked. "Or at all! You are twelve!" He added.
"I'll drink when and however much I want asshole." Sakura growled back. "Also, I'm 25. So very much able to drink, thank you very much brat."
Naruto sighed, this was still better than her flaring her killing... "25!"
Both Naruto and Sasuke shouted, shocked.
"I would quip about the world not stopping after you two killed each other, but I suspect you aren't the same egoistical brats I know." Sakura shrugged.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who still hadn't gotten over his shock.
"No I doubt we are. For example Sasuke here is way, way too cheerful to be the one who stuck a chidory down my chest."
Sasuke whirled around gasping. "I did what?"
Sakura stared flatly at Naruto. "Suppose that's better than getting burned alive by amaterasu..."
Sasuke shuddered. "Yeah that's extremely unpleasant..."
Now Sakura and Naruto stared at him.
"Wait, you were burned by amaterasu?" Naruto asked horrified. That had to be one of the most painful deaths ever."
"Yeah, I managed to wound Madara pretty badly. But... he was just so fast. Got me then." Sasuke hung his head.
Naruto frowned slightly. "I fought against you. It was a double knockout, we would have died, if Madara hadn't shown up."
Sakura, he noticed, watched them with some interest.
"He said he only needed me alive, not in good health, to extract the fox. Then you..." He pointed at Sasuke, but immediately shook his head. "No the Sasuke from where I came, did something with the sharingan..."
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, the fourth and Itachi taught me how to manipulate time and space with the sharingan. And once the fox gave me his power... all of it... I could do... something. I can't explain it..."
Naruto almost smiled as the Uchiha trailed off, to look at Naruto in dawning comprehension.
"You are a jinchuriku too?" He asked, a small smile forming on his lips.
Naruto nodded. "Well the only one here, since you said you don't have the fox anymore. The fox probably merged with the one in my stomach or something."
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. You have no idea how glad I am that it's you that has the fox. Imagine if it was somebody like Danzo."
Naruto shuddered. "You said something about the fourth teaching you... my father was alive? Where you come from I mean?"
Sasuke looked down, but nodded. "Yeah, so he isn't here." He looked at Naruto's stomach. "He sacrificed himself yes?"
Naruto just nodded.
Sasuke continued. "Yeah, back home... " He stumbled over his words, and had to start again. "Back home my own father sacrificed himself. He realized that Madara was probably planing something, and that this attack would further the segregation of the Uchiha."
Sasuke looked around. "It happened here didn't it? The Uchiha were driven out of the village slowly and then... something happened."
Naruto looked at Sakura, who had been quite through their conversation. But she didn't seem inclined to say anything now.
"Yeah, Itachi killed them all." He said, quietly.
Sasuke's eyes widened in apparent horror. "No, no way."
Naruto debated, whether to tell him that it happened on Konoha's orders, or not.
"They... they wouldn't have tried that would they?" Sasuke whispered. "They couldn't have planned to actually do it..."
Naruto looked at him sharply. "What do you mean."
Sasuke shook his head. "My father had been right, Madara had planned something. However, because the fourth was alive and my father sacrificed himself to stop the Kyuubi, we were considered heroes. We were integrated further into the village, instead of driven to the sidelines."
He leaned back. "Still, Madara tried to incite us into rebellion. It didn't work... but if my father hadn't sacrificed himself..."
Naruto nodded, he glanced at Sakura, who watched them impassively. No way to read her face at all. No way to see how this affected her.
"I... I don't want to know why Itachi did it do I?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto shook his head. "No, probably not."
Sasuke nodded. "Then don't tell me. I don't need to know. I have seen where hatred leads. I don't want to follow Madara's footsteps."
Sakura snorted, took a long drag from the bottle on her side and laughed in earnest.
"This is so messed up. The Uchiha actually being part of the leaf. Sasuke having a sheltered happy childhood... him not being a brooding moody bastard after more and more power..."
She laughed madly, not stopping at all. Damn, Naruto could hear the pain in the laughter. And from what she told him, he could imagine why. Obviously Sasuke had betrayed her team, just like he had betrayed his. But, if this Sasuke, who sat with them had been on her team... maybe it would have been different. Maybe all the pain... He sighed no use thinking about what if's. It had happened, now you moved forward.
His eyes widened as Sasuke moved forward, towards the hysterical girl. Naruto opened his mouth to stop the suicidal fool. He would get himself killed and he didn't have the Kyuubi to regenerate from kunai wounds to the chest.
"I'm sorry." He muttered, as he actually hugged the hysteric girl.
Sakura stopped and looked at the boy, murder in her eyes. Naruto saw her hand go for one of the pouches on her side, but Sasuke shifted his position slightly, pinning her hand.
"I'm sorry for what I did, that hurt you so much. I... I can't make it up to you." He looked at her, admirably fighting the flinch when he looked into her eyes, when he faced the hatred Naruto had faced yesterday.
But his face hardened. "But I can make the future better. This time I will protect you."
Sakura had stopped struggling, but those words were definitely the wrong ones.
If anything she looked at Sasuke with more hatred than before. "I don't need your protection brat. I have fought enemies that would make you piss your pants in unholy terror. I have done things that would make you loose your stomach, in disgust." She spat at him.
"I'm not a dainty little flower that will swoon the second you show up to save her. I've killed more often than you can imagine. Your protection is about as necessary for me as a kunai to back."
She twisted her hand into a seal, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
A second later she stood behind Sasuke, kunai at his throat. "I can kill you whenever I please. Naruto might have protection from instant dead thanks to the Kyuubi. You? Don't!"
Sasuke turned around, wiping her spit off his face. And smiled. "I know." Man to hide his shaking like that... he was pretty damn good, had to give it to him.
"But you are my friend. Even if you aren't exactly her. And I don't leave my friends when they hurt. I will make it better."
Sakura glared for a few more seconds, then turned away and sat down, facing away form them.
Naruto grinned widely, almost monstrously so. He liked this Sasuke. He had balls, he had the right attitude and he stood by his friends. Even if they were very different than what he remembered.
Naruto didn't even considered what the last thing meant. It was so much better that way.
"Well. Let's continue with our explanation on why we are here shall we?" Naruto said, hooking his arm around Sasuke, who looked at him first in shock, then in elation.
"Yeah, you haven't finished your story yet Naruto." Sasuke said.
-o-
Sakura barely listened to Naruto's story, or Sasuke's angry growls, whenever he did something stupid in the story.
She stared out, over the Konoha, damn the brat. Damn him to hell. How dare he... how dare he...
She didn't whimper, but she wanted to. She gulped, how had he affected her like this? She actually felt like crying! Not that the tears were hard to suppress, but she hadn't even felt like that when meeting Ino. Why now? She spend only a year with those bastards. And yet and yet...
"Sakura? How did you come back?" Naruto asked gently from behind her.
She didn't react. She didn't know how.
There were so many things she wanted to do, to say. And some of them would get her into trouble with the authorities. Especially with a body as weak as this one. She would have to train pretty hard, to get back the toughness, she trained herself up to back in the hellhole.
"Come on Sakura-chan." Sasuke seemed to approach her for another hug. She actually considered letting him!
"Madara." She hissed, not turning around. She could feel the two recoiling though.
"He send me back." She looked at the Hokage monument. "After the chunin exams, after the invasion..." Naruto nodded, she could feel it. Sasuke didn't. But his history probably had no Invasion and he only knew what she was talking about from Naruto's tale.
"First Sasuke left, to join sound. A day later Naruto disappeared. You were just gone. Hinata too.
"I don't know what you did, or how you managed it. Nobody left alive knows. But, when you returned..."
She turned around, to look at the boys. She wondered if they could see it. The monsters, following in Naruto's wake. Hordes of them, creatures shaped directly out of chakra. Bred only to kill.
"You led an army of monsters, whoever stood in your way died. Apparently you planned to conquer the world. And you wanted to start with Konoha."
Naruto looked very green at this point. She took some small pleasure from it, but not much.
She returned to look at the monument. It hurt to remember. Those who could, never talked about it. And of those, only Sakura and Kakashi managed to face Naruto, riding what appeared to be the Kyuubi. He had smiled, not his usual smile. But a cruel one, harsh, evil. Neither Sakura nor Kakashi had had any desire to step in his way, and kept hidden.
"Sasuke seemed tame by comparison." She continued, shuddering. "He used humans. For a given value of human at least." She looked at her two listeners.
"Maybe you faced some of Orochimaru's creations?"
Naruto nodded, while Sasuke shook his head.
"The fourth killed him, shortly after the Kyuubi attack." Sasuke said.
Sakura shrugged, from what Madara said he had been brilliant, but he also hated Konoha with as much passion as Madara hated the Uchiha. After Sasuke left, she didn't have any more encounters with Orochimaru, so she couldn't judge.
"Well, ask Naruto about them, they are rather frightening, once they have been turned into weapons. And Sasuke did turn them into weapons. Better weapons than Naruto's chakra beasts.
"Of course, Naruto had a lot more beasts than Sasuke had ninja."
She clamped up. The battle, again at the Valley of the End. It had been renamed after the clash. The Valley of Worlds End. She had been there, watched the battle, seen the glee as her ex-teammates ripped into each other...
"It was a double knockout. Both killed each other. More than half their forces had been slaughtered, when they clashed."
She wished it had been the most horrible thing she had ever seen. But that spot was reserved to one of the villages slaughtered by the chakra beasts, after they were freed of Naruto's control.
"The rest began to roam the nations. And, whatever they met, they killed."
Sasuke looked green, Naruto shook with rage.
"I'll cut it short here. In the end the Nations were stretched thin, containing the monsters. Some more than others. Resources became scarce, people went to war. Again and again."
Was Sasuke crying? Geez.
"When I met Madara there weren't any survivors from Konoha. The place had been razed so many times... by humans and monsters."
She pulled out a new bottle and drained it in one go, she didn't want to remember those pictures.
"He told me that he might have a way to prevent this from happening. To send me to the past..."
Sasuke growled a little. "Why would he do that? Isn't that what he wants?"
Naruto looked at Sakura, who looked back, eyebrow raised.
"Nah, at least not where I come from." Naruto answered. "He wanted peace, by forcing it on the entire world. The plan somehow involved the moon."
Sakura snorted, she never said it to his face. But that plan had been doomed from the start. And it had been stupid. Also something she never mentioned.
"Yeah same here." She backed Naruto up.
Sasuke gaped at them. "That's the most stupid thing I ever heard..." He got out, after a few seconds.
"Sure is." Sakura confirmed. "Anyway. He send me out, to collect some stuff for the jutsu. Scrolls, potions etc. And then he used it to send me here."
She smirked, as she turned around. "And lemme tell you. I love it. Decent booze a body that isn't horribly disfigured and doesn't hurt all the time."
It had been so exhilarating, to feel young again, she nearly danced, only remembering at the last second, that these were the people who had ruined her world. At least potentially.
She settled down again, bringing her glare back. Even if not at full strength.
"Well, that's my story. Now what?" She looked at the boys in front of her.
-o-
Sasuke didn't know how to feel. When Naruto had told him his Clan was gone... it felt horrible. But, to have your entire world ripped apart, piece by piece until absolutely nothing was left?
He somehow didn't feel he had the right to complain. Besides, he did have his friends. Well at least Naruto.
But Sakura would come around. He had managed to hug her without getting eviscerated. Always a good sign.
Naruto cleared his throat. "I would have suggested following what happened last time as much as possible..." He looked at Sakura, hugging her bottle protectively, then at Sasuke, smiling tentatively.
And shook his head.
"But you'll both agree that's impossible. Sakura is just too messed up and Sasuke is... well not nearly messed up enough."
Sasuke tried not to laugh at that, he really did! So it just became a girlish giggle. There went his manly street cred. Good thing there weren't any witnesses.
"You can say that again. He's disgustingly cheerful." Sakura grumbled, glaring at him.
"I just have a positive outlook on the future. If you expect bad stuff to happen it will." He repeated the fourths favorite rebuke to those who called him too optimistic.
"Bah, I'm sure you'll make good fertilizer once a monster craps you out, you're full of bullshit already." Sakura laughed harshly.
"Hey, I'm way to good to die to one measly monster."
"And there's your first mistake. You assume it will be only one!"
"Shut up, both of you!" Naruto shouted, ever the voice of reason. "I still want to do a few things by the book." He continued.
Sakura shrugged. "I assume you mean our book, since Sasuke doesn't have the same version?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto, a little hurt that he forgot.
"No I mean the book of this world. I mean I have no idea what happened, but this world looks more like ours, than it does like his. So we can assume..."
Sasuke cut him off. "Don't assume, it only leads to trouble."
Sakura nodded, smirking nastily. "Or my blades, they so enjoy cutting up idiots who assume they can have fun with me, just because I'm alone in the wasteland."
Sasuke decided not to think about that any further. He suspected that he would have to block a lot of thoughts on Sakura.
"After I have my fun with them of course." Sakura finished.
"Err, ok..." Naruto nodded, carefully. "But still, at the moment that's all we can do. So I want to go help Wave out." He also ignored Sakura's... whatever.
Sasuke looked at Sakura, who stared at Naruto, before she shrugged. "If you can arrange it in such a way that Tazuna comes exactly when you start whining? Be my guest. I think I can think of some uses for Zabusa's pretty bodyguard."
She leered at the boys.
Sasuke shuddered. Ok he would not get into a relationship with her anytime soon. Anko always warned him of girls like Sakura. They had gone through too much and enjoyed hurting people too much to have a normal relationship.
"As long as he doesn't die." Naruto muttered.
Sasuke felt rather left out, so he focused on the rather more imminent problem.
"Err you guys are aware we have to pass the test our jonin gives us first?" He asked.
Both looked at him blankly.
"It might not be that easy you know?" Sasuke tried again.
They continued to stare.
"Our sensei forced us to search the forest of death for a ring he lost in there. For three days! When we were fresh out of the academy!" Sasuke nearly shouted at them.
They blinked.
"Huh, sounds interesting." Naruto muttered.
Sakura shrugged. "So what? Can't be all that hard." then she remembered to glare. "Bastard."
Overcompensating much? He didn't say, but it was encouraging. The fact that she already seemed to accept him.
And they were right. He had managed that once. He would again, if he had too.
Naruto opened his mouth. "Sadly we won't have to do anything like that. We have Kakashi as a sensei, remember? He will just give us the bell test."
Sakura nodded, as Sasuke stood there and stared.
"The bell test? Are you sure?" He asked.
They nodded.
"Oh that's alright then. So, any of you have some food they are willing to share? I was kinda preoccupied this morning."
They looked at each other, and shook their heads.
"Nah, we've been out late, kicking Mizuki's ass." Naruto answered nonchalantly.
"Huh? Why?"
"Cause he's a dirty traitor, that's why." Sakura said, equally nonchalant.
-o-
Naruto grinned at his teammates. Though Sakura's tale had chilled him somewhat, mostly because he realized just how close he came to that version of him on occasion. She told them, and revealed that part of herself.
And now, when she looked at them, some pain had left her eyes. Plenty left, but the healing had started.
"Alright! So we'll ace the bell-test,"
"Kick Kakashi's ass, always wanted to do that, but the bastard died on me, before I had the chance." Sakura interjected.
"As I said, ace the bell-test, kick Kakashi's ass, try to get the Wave mission, if necessary make them give it to us. I think I can keep a shadowclone close to the village gate to watch out for Tazuna ..."
Naruto listed what to do.
Sasuke nodded, grinning happily. And damn if that didn't make Naruto happy. To see Sasuke not brood, to see him happy... ok it also scare the shit out of Naruto, but he would get over that sooner or later.
Sakura on the other hand. She glared at the two of them, grumbling something about overoptimistic brats. Seeing her, not brood, but certainly depressed... and drunk. And how did she managed to still stand? She should be unconscious by now. He could smell the alcohol, from a few feet away.
The last two bottles had to be sake. No way a little slip of a girl should be able to down that much alcohol...
Suddenly she stood up.
"Gotta go to the ladies room you two. Do me a favor and kill each other while I'm gone?" She said, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"You know?" Said Sasuke, staring at the spot Sakura had just vacated, his voice shaking just a tiny bit. "I don't think I like this Sakura very much."
Naruto grunted his agreement. "No kidding, she has quite the cheerful attitude doesn't she."
"Yeah. Think it's the alcohol?"
"Definitely the alcohol." Naruto agreed.
"Once we go to Wave we destroy her supplies?"
"Sounds good."
"Then it's agreed." Sasuke held out his hand with a grin. Naruto glanced at it in confusion.
Sasuke's grin slipped, as he retracted his hand.
"Sorry, forgot that you weren't..." He murmured, turning away from Naruto.
"No no!" Naruto quickly stopped him. "Show me what you used to do. I'm sure it'll be fun."
Sasuke looked back dubiously, then nodded, his smile returning.
"Well, you just kinda hold each others wrist and shake. Not much more, it's just a gesture we kinda made up when we were little... it's kinda stupid." He trailed off, red from embarrassment.
"Hey we are little kids, kinda." Naruto waved off, holding out his hand.
Sasuke nodded, taking Naruto's wrist. "Then it's a promise." He said solemnly.
"It's a promise." Naruto agreed.
"What are you two hatching?" Sakura grumbled from behind them.
Sasuke nearly jumped out of his skin, Naruto only managed to stop himself because he had smelled her a second ago.
"We promised not to kill each other, or even attempt to." He lied smoothly. No way would he ever admit to the planned alcohol removal attempt.
"A true pity." Sakura sighed, settling down again.
If she had been joking, if only she had been joking. Naruto would have felt better. True, there was no heat behind those words. But, she actually had hoped they would kill each other.
But he let it drop. He didn't have to live in a world where her actions led to everybody he ever loved dieing...
"So there's the chunin exam, after the wave mission." Naruto tried to lead the conversation back to it's original topic.
Sakura waved him off. "Not interested in talking about it. It's too far off. Let's just focus on the bell test for now. We have no idea what has changed here yet. Maybe there won't even be a chunin exam."
Naruto snorted. "Why not? And we have to be ready for..."
"Maybe this isn't anything like our world moron." She cut him off. "Let's make sure to gather some info first. Before we make any more assumptions. Disgustingly cheerful over there had a point."
Naruto sighed, but let it go. They would have more than enough time to talk about it later.
"Um, you know I just realized... shouldn't we maybe tell somebody about us?" Sasuke piped up.
Naruto stared at him. That, that actually was a good point.
But Sakura glared at Sasuke. "No way, I'm not going to tell everybody I meet I'm from the future in which everything went wrong somehow."
"Not everybody. Just the Hokage, or Anko..." Sasuke defended himself.
The idea had merit, Naruto agreed. If they could get support...
"Then you can screw every bit of freedom we have as genin." Sakura said. "We'll have to do the work we supposedly have already done before, give Intel to whoever ask for it. No thanks, I prefer to be considered a normal genin."
Naruto felt his eyebrow rise, even as he watched Sasuke's do the same.
Sakura glared. She apparently couldn't do anything else.
"Ok fine, an exceptionally talented genin." She conceded.
Their expression didn't change.
"With problems. You assholes. As if you... "She looked at Sasuke. "Well, you." She pointed at Naruto. "Didn't have problems as well. I can practically see them!"
She had him pegged. Still...
"I trust the Hokage." He said, Sasuke nodded beside him. Sakura glowered at them.
"But, in the interest of team unity and coherence..." He continued, alienating her now might spell the end for whatever agreement they had reached. "I'm willing to wait until after Wave, to reach a final verdict on the matter." Wow, he managed to bring some real nice words in there. Maybe the perverts teachings weren't all in vain?
She looked at him, with narrowed eyes, before she snorted and nodded. "Fine, let's go back to class. Make a show of being present, then do whatever we want. No point waiting for Kakashi."
He nodded and pushed himself up. Sasuke already stood.
"Sharingan Kakashi?" He asked. "He's really our teacher?" He cooked his head. "I don't know whether to be happy or depressed."
Naruto looked at him in confusion. Sure, Kakashi needed some motivation to teach you. But they could provide that. And once he did get motivated he did a good job.
"Huh? Why would you be depressed that we got him?" Naruto asked.
Sakura shuffled after them, listening to the conversation, while glaring daggers at them. Funny how fast you could get used to that... or did just fall into old habits again? She did glare at him like that rather often. Even shortly before he died... kinda.
"Well." Sasuke started, then leaned in conspiratorial. "Anko says that he's pretty broken and if he ever got a team. Well he would probably fixate on them like some kind of doting father and always consider us his children he needs to protect. No matter how strong we get."
Anko again. Sasuke had mentioned her before...
"Well, maybe yours is like that." Or maybe Anko is full of shit. "But this one doesn't have that problem." Naruto assured Sasuke.
Sakura snorted.
"Am I wrong Sakura?" He asked.
"You just didn't have the unique opportunity to be his only surviving genin. Worst mother hen ever!" She answered him, before she turned away and pulled out another bottle... how many of the damn things did she have anyway?
"Uhh... I suppose..." He muttered.
Sasuke shifted nervously. "Uhh is he really that bad?"
Sakura sighed. "He wasn't. Not as long as you two were with us."
"Oh... good thing we won't leave then." Sasuke said cheerfully.
And damn, was that a smile on Sakura's face? Did miracles actually happen?
Naruto grinned to himself.
"Yeah, we won't leave you alone ever again!"
Oops that had been a bit much, she was back to glaring.
Sakura's face shifted again, to a dangerous leer. "Never alone? Ohh that sounds fun, I think I'll bring you to that club I know, only women allowed. You can use your sexy no jutsu." She smirked at them.
Naruto gulped, he would rather not remember the times he used it like that.
Sasuke on the other hand...
"Sounds interesting. I assume Sexy no jutsu is a modified henge?"
Sakura stared at him. Naruto stared at him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"What? I've always wanted to infiltrate a lesbian club."
At this point Sakura started laughing like a madwoman.
All in all, Naruto decided. This iteration of team seven was off to a much better start than the last one.
-o-
Kakashi sighed as he looked at the door. He desperately hoped he would be able to fail them.
He didn't want to teach these kids. Not Sasuke, who would have so much to proof. Nor Naruto, who had even more to proof. Never mind the slight guilt he had, not watching over the kid like he should have. He tried, sure but he did have more on his plate than keeping an eye on a kid.
That's what chunin and genin were for.
The girl... well, she was smart, slightly above average in the physical tests, best in the written ones. She would one day make a fine kunoichi... just not under him.
He took a deep breath and opened the door. Maybe he could annoy them into doing something stupid and be rid of them all the faster. The bell test might not be necessary. Ok annoying his fresh genin had only worked once, but he could hope right?
He looked at the empty classroom. Well what do you know it had worked again.
"Oh so he is here already. I told you we should have asked that old lady for directions." A young voice said from behind.
"But she seemed as lost on the road of life as we were." Another voice answered.
Kakashi slowly turned around.
His missing genin had somehow appeared right behind him.
"True, but she had help across the road at least. Maybe she could have pointed us to the nice young man who helped her." Naruto said.
"Maybe." Sasuke nodded. "Anyway did you wait all this time for us Kakashi sensei?" He asked.
Kakashi stared at his students. The situation had spiraled badly out of control. His students had one upped him. And he hadn't even said a word yet!
A giggled came from behind the boys. A little pink haired girl... positively stinking of alcohol... the hell?
And she held a book. A familiar little book. "Ohh this is the best part." She muttered to herself, totally engrossed. "Man, I can't believe I forgot about this..."
"My first impression of you..." He said. The boys perked up. The girl apparently hadn't noticed him, too engrossed in her excellent literature.
"You did your homework. Meet me at the roof." And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
-o-
His team arrived an hour later. He had debated going to search for them, instead he had opted to read his book.
He didn't bother looking up as they arrived. "Punctuality is a virtue for every ninja." He said.
The girl, who had somehow misplaced her book, shrugged. "Eh, we came across this kitten you know? All alone in a tree, we couldn't just leave it there could we?" She delivered it absolutely flat, no desire to appear at all concerned for the poor kitten, also she glared at the boys, indicating who had the idea to save the kitten.
"You left it all to the boys I assume?" Kakashi asked, looking at the boys.
"So what? If they had just agreed to let me cook it, we would have been here an hour earlier." She muttered, before sitting down.
He had never been so glad for his mask. This must be how Gai felt, whenever Kakashi played with him. Totally out of his depth. Constantly on the loosing side of their verbal sparring.
"I... see." He managed to utter.
"She's inhuman." Sasuke glared at her. "She actually wanted to eat it!"
Naruto patted him on the back. "There there, we managed to stop her."
She glared at the boys. "I'll have you know that fresh kitten is delicious."
All three stared at her.
The worst thing in Kakashi's opinion? He couldn't tell if they were all just playing him... or if she was serious.
Not that his nin-dogs would care. They would love somebody who ate kittens for breakfast, he just didn't think he would.
"Nearly as good as puppy." She added, licking her lips. And looked at him, grinning!
His poor poor dogs. No way would they ever be left alone with her.
And did she fall into a barrel of sake or did she actually drink that much? Had to be the former, if she drank the sake to stink like that, she would be dead.
"So. Let's get to know each other." He said, to break the very, very, awkward silence and to distract himself from the very disturbing girl.
"Tell us about your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams." He smiled at them. Only Sasuke smiled back.
He mentally reviewed that sentence. Sasuke smiled back. His files said that he would rather slit his own throat than smile. Ok, he wasn't quite that bad, but close.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like my friends..."
Kakashi sighed, there went Iruka's description of the boy, if only he could claim they were enemy infiltrators. But no infiltrator would ever make these kind of mistakes in assuming an identity.
"... I dislike those who would hurt my friends. My hobbies are training, flirting and... well that's private." Hmm his face fell at the last point. Wait, flirting? He was a bit young for that.
Iruka had been totally wrong about the kid. He acted as if... as if the massacre had never happened.
Maybe he had an accident? A blow to the head and forgot about it? Things like that happened... ninja forgetting everything, friends, family, tragedies. And if you wanted to forget...
Iruka had noted that Sasuke acted strange yesterday. No, all three of them. Maybe they were under the influence of a genjutsu? Or maybe the accident caused trauma for all of them... but then he would have heard of it.
Oh well, nothing to do about it but watch them.
"My dream is to one day defeat a certain Uchiha." Sasuke finished, fist clenched in determination.
Well, maybe he just forgot the worst of the massacre. Or maybe he talked about it to Sakura and Naruto. Which might just have given him the peace of mind necessary to ground him and allow him to find some peace?
Naruto on the other hand had been humbled by the horror the Uchiha had experienced and calmed down somewhat.
And Sakura, who grew up quite sheltered was driven to drink by the story.
Scarily plausible and probably wrong. Well, if they made it through his test he would have ample time to ferret the truth out. If.
"Ok. Naruto, you next." Naruto, who had given Sasuke a thumbs up during his introduction, nodded.
"Well, you all know my name already. I like ramen, toads and training. I hate having to wait for my ramen and those who hurt my friends." He paused, tilting his head to one side.
"My hobbies are... hmm training I suppose, not much else. And my dream? Well, I will become Hokage, but that isn't a dream."
Kakashi stared at the boy. Everybody knew he wanted to become Hokage, but to put it like that, as if there was no question whatsoever...
"My dream is to protect all those I care about, no matter the opposition." He smiled sadly. "But, that is just a dream I'm afraid."
Kakashi looked at the blond long and hard, before this he wouldn't have thought the blond Hokage material. Now? At least he understood the responsibilities. If his skills could be brought up.
"Next one." He muttered, still in thought.
"Whatever. I'm Haruno Sakura. I like sake, beer and any other form of alcohol. I dislike traitors and assholes messing with the laws of Nature. So pretty much every ninja including myself."
Kakashi blinked, all thoughts of Naruto gone from his mind. Alcohol? So she actually drank that much? How did she keep standing?
"My hobbies are drinking, stalking my prey and sleeping. My dream is to taste every alcoholic beverage the world has to offer." She smirked at him and her teammates.
"How... unique?" Kakashi ventured carefully.
"You mean messed up." Sakura countered easily.
"You shouldn't drink like that." Sasuke muttered disapprovingly, but Sakura send a glare his way and silenced him.
"Well, I suppose I should introduce myself?" Kakashi asked, to prevent them from squabbling, certainly not to stop himself from thinking too much about Sakura's answer. Besides once they failed his test he would be rid of them. Easy as that.
"What for?" Naruto asked. Sasuke glared at him, but Sakura nodded.
"You are late to everything, you read Icha Icha in public, your love for it is legendary, you got the sharingan. You visit the memory stone as often as possible and few have ever seen your face." Sakura shrugged.
Kakashi opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. No sound came out.
Naruto send a glance over to Sakura. "Oy, don't just list his negatives. Let's be fair here. He'll also never leave a comrade behind." He cooked his head, face scrunched up, thinking. "Ok there was just that one positive, but still."
Sakura rewarded Naruto with a flat stare. Sasuke tried to suppress his laughter but failed miserably.
"Umm...ok, as I said before, you did your homework. I suppose I did give you more than enough time." Kakashi finally managed to say, ungrateful brats the lot of them.
"Yeah yeah, get on with it." Sakura waved him off and pulled a bottle from one of her pouches.
The two boys glared at the bottle, but said nothing.
He really should do something about that, even if for just one day they were his responsibility. He stood up, reaching for the bottle.
Sakura snarled, and spiked her killing intent. He actually took a step back, before he could reign himself in again. Damn the brat had a lot of killing intent. Maybe talking her alcohol was a bad idea.
Only one day, her parents could take care of her then.
On the other hand, the snickers from the sidelines informed him, that if he didn't get the bottle whatever credibility he had would be lost.
"Hand over that bottle girl." He glowered at the her.
She glowered right back. "I paid for it, get your own damn booze."
"There will be no drinking while on duty." He tried again.
"Ask me if I care." She countered. "Besides there are no rules like that in the regulations."
"I make the rules."
The snickers again, damn brats. But if they could use killing intent, so could he.
He spiked his own, glaring bloody murder at the girl.
She blinked and snorted. "Got ta do better than that pretty boy. I know kittens more menacing."
Kakashi stared. He couldn't do anything else, he just stared. The girl, the fresh, freaking, genin! Just took enough killing intent to induce a heart attack on most civilians, and she blinked! Blinked! As if it she had been hit by a foam kunai or something.
He looked at the boys, to see if they were alright, Naruto stood there, his expression mirrored the girls, utter boredom.
Sasuke looked mildly impressed at least...
So... he couldn't scare his genin... at all.
He wouldn't cry, just because his genin wouldn't accept his authority... he wouldn't cry, just because he had been outdone by genin... nope, no crying.
At least not where they could be seen.
"Fine." He muttered, he would get them for this. Oh would he get them. "First team meeting is tomorrow, training ground 7." He smiled at them. "It's survival training." They looked at each other and shrugged.
"If you fail you'll go back to the academy." He prodded them. But honestly, he didn't really expect a reaction. If they had found out as much as they did, they probably new this bit too.
They didn't disappoint him, shrugging again, Sakura yawned.
"Hmm you know about the failure rate then?"
Bored nodding all around him.
"Then you are dismissed." They turned around, and made their way off the roof.
"Just one more thing." They stopped, well the boys stopped, Sakura continued walking, slower though.
"You shouldn't eat breakfast, you'll puke." He grinned at them, but the boys just rolled their eyes and followed Sakura. Spoilsports.
He watched edge of the roof they had disappeared over...
Slowly he walked over and looked down. His genin walked down the road, the boys chatting, the girl guzzling a bottle... he frowned, she should be weaving around the street, not walking as easily as the boys.
He would have to get to the bottom of this.
But first the test. And for his humiliation... they would have to face more than just him.
He chuckled, rubbing his hands together. Gai would love an opportunity to introduce new genin to the flames of youth wouldn't he?
Sure, it would annoy Kakashi as well, but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.
-o-
Sasuke sat in training ground 7. Eating his homemade bento.
He loved his good looks, just a little bit of flirting with one of his neighbors, a middle aged woman. And he had a very nice bento. It didn't taste like the ones his mother made, whenever he ate at home, or visited. But it was good nevertheless.
He had two more, for his teammates. At first the woman had glared at the thought of Naruto receiving one of her bentos. But Sasuke had talked her around. Explaining that the fourth knew what he was doing, that he would never risk the village by using an unsafe seal.
She had still been skeptical, pointing to Naruto's pranks. But a little tale about a kid, who hated by everybody around him, no friends, no one with even the slightest kind word... a little sadness creeping in, a little quiver of the lips.
She had been crying by the time Sasuke finished, made the bento extra big and told Sasuke to invite Naruto to eat with her anytime he liked.
Sasuke smiled at the memory. He would gain acceptance for Naruto, just like he had gained acceptance from the village.
He looked up, as Naruto made his way into the training ground.
"Naruto! Over here!" He shouted, waving the blond over.
Naruto grinned and plopped down beside him.
"Shouldn't we be training or something? We do need to become stronger." Naruto said easily. And blinked at the bento that Sasuke thrust at him.
"Yeah, but we can enjoy ourselves a bit before then. Besides an empty stomach produces less chakra than a full one." He winked at Naruto.
Naruto nodded happily and dug in. A second later he stopped. And stared at the food.
"Something wrong?" Sasuke asked. Hopefully the woman hadn't poisoned the bento. He didn't think so, but...
Naruto's adoring stare quickly reassured him though. "This is awesome. I didn't know you could cook!" He very nearly shouted. Before diving in again.
"I can't, I asked one of my neighbors for some food." Sasuke laughed, seeing his friend make a pig out of himself always amused him.
Naruto looked up, with a raised eyebrow. "Just like that? Man if I asked now..." He trialed off, his face fell for a second. Then it lighted up again. "But I will get their recognition. I did it once I can do it again."
Sasuke nodded. He liked that about Naruto, he always bounced back, from whatever the world threw at him, no matter which world he happened to live in.
"Well, you could just ask the woman who made that for you. She invited you over. Said she wanted to apologize for the way she treated you." Sasuke watched his friend's face, all wide eyed and confused.
Also choking. Sasuke handed Naruto some juice.
"What?" Naruto asked, unbelieving.
"Eh, I just told her how you were all alone, had nobody to look after you, and that the fourth would never use an unsafe seal. She turned around pretty quick."
Naruto stared at him. "No way..."
"She even cried as she made your bento." Sasuke added.
Aww, now Naruto teared up, how cute.
Ugh he sounded like a girl. He shouldn't have let Sakura drag him everywhere.
Maybe he could undo the damage, if he let this Sakura drag him around? Chances were he would end up with a fine collection of manly hobbies... or in leather bent over a chair, getting spanked by a guy in even more leather.
He wouldn't put selling him as a gay slave past this Sakura.
Speaking of. "Hey Sakura!" He shouted at the approaching girl, giving her his most winning smile.
She returned it with her most evil glare... ok one of her less evil glares. She had quite the collection of glares after all.
"Morning idiots. It's disgusting how cheerful you already are." She greeted them.
"Sasuke brought food." Naruto said between bites. "Why shouldn't we be cheerful?"
"Feh." Sakura hissed and turned away.
"I have a bento for you too." Sasuke said, carefully holding it out for her.
She turned to him, still glaring.
But she returned, snatched the bento and walked away.
He nearly missed the muttered, "Thank you".
He smiled, especially when her face lit up in pleasure.
It was eery, how she changed, when the near permanent frown disappeared. It almost seemed as if she lost years and went from a weary old woman, back to the child she should be.
"It's good." She muttered, looking down at it. "Like the one my mother made..." She took another bite, slowly chewing. Eyes closed.
Sasuke looked at Naruto, who also watched her, smiling.
Sasuke scooted close to Naruto. "She" He trailed off, not knowing to continue.
Naruto just nodded, eyes still focused on Sakura. "Yeah."
Only those words were needed. They would do their damnest, to bring that happiness to her more often. To wipe away her pain, and replace it with better memories.
"You are all here already, good." Kakashi said. Sasuke whirled around, he hadn't noticed the man appear, too engrossed with Sakura, who looked at the man, then her food. She quickly polished off what remained and stood up, her mask firmly in place again.
"Kakashi, up so early? I thought we had some time to train before you showed up." She drawled.
Kakashi just rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
Naruto frowned at the man, who had interrupted Sakura's happy time.
"Well, since we are all here, I can explain this test to you." Kakashi continued.
"I even asked for some backup." He smiled through his mask. "Can't make this too easy for you now could I?"
Sasuke felt a shiver run over his back. Backup sounded bad. Usually the jonin tested his students alone.
And then he saw it. The horrible, horrible green, the jumpsuit, the eyebrows.
"Gai." Naruto and him muttered together, horror evident in their voices.
Behind him stood his team, Lee, Neji and Tenten. Sasuke looked towards Sakura.
She stared at Lee. But not with the horror he had expected, instead with...
"Ahh such a beautiful flower. I, the beautiful green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee. Will protect you forever." Lee cried out, throwing a kiss towards her.
Everybody's eyes widened, as Sakura turned her cheek and accepted the kiss, a small blush and a huge grin on her face.
"Oooh how nice of you Lee." Sakura winked at him.
Sasuke looked around. Naruto stared, his mouth open, eyes widened in horror.
Neji looked as if he ran headfirst into a wall.
Tenten stared at the girl, eyebrow raised, mouth opened in slight confusion.
Gai smiled, teeth shining. But his eyes showed his confusion.
Kakashi just watched on in silent horror, shaking his head in denial.
Even Lee took a few seconds to realize he hadn't been rejected. He blinked a few times, before he grinned, showing off his shining white teeth. And gave her a thumbs up.
Sakura blew a kiss back.
And Sasuke knew the bitter taste of defeat. He had been beaten, utterly beaten by Lee. Lee had gotten a girl before he, the great Uchiha had managed to.
He bowed his head. The first step to improve yourself, was to accept that you had been defeated after all.
The second step was to analyze why you had suffered defeat.
And it was easily apparent why.
Item one, Sakura hated him, or better a certain version of him. That made it very hard to impress her.
Item two, she didn't hate Lee. He probably didn't abandon her. Also he would probably have supported her through the hard years that followed...
Damn, how did you beat that?
But Sasuke was on her team. He had that advantage at least. He smiled at Lee. Savor your victory, it wouldn't last.
-o-
Naruto shook his head. She had a thing for Lee! Lee! Mini Gai!
This... this was...
Well she always had been nice to him after the chunin exams. So he shouldn't be too surprised.
And if he and Sasuke had both defected, it would be perfectly understandable.
Still she remained standing where she was, not moving closer to Lee.
Naruto wondered why. Then she pulled out a bottle and Naruto realized just what would happen if Lee got close to her.
He gulped and looked at Kakashi, who had apparently gotten over his shock.
"Uhh Sensei?" Naruto ventured, but Kakashi waved him off, as he tried to recollect himself.
"Not now Naruto, I need to reassemble my worldview." Kakashi said.
Naruto nodded, he could understand that, but.
"But Sensei, I need..."
Gai coughed into his hand. "While I fully approve of my cute Lee's fortune, we came here to test you three. Though I don't know why Kakashi devised this overly harsh test."
Kakashi had apparently managed to regain his center and focused on Gai.
"These three just seem exceptionally capable. I merely want to test their limits." He grinned at them.
Gai nodded. "I see, and while a fight against you would give you first hand knowledge, a fight against opponents much better, but still in their league would give a far more accurate show of their skills." He nodded.
Naruto raised his hand, desperation slowly crept into his body, as he watched Sakura look at Lee, her smile slowly shifting into something very very creepy.
Especially with the bottle of very strong alcohol on her lips.
"Uhh, Gai sensei I don't think..."
"Don't worry, Naruto. I won't let my students hurt you too much. I'll make sure they stop well short of any permanent damage." Gai pinged his teeth at Naruto.
"Are you scared Uzumaki?" Neji snorted, his voice filled with disdain.
Naruto looked at the fool, who thought Naruto feared him. "No I'm not, at least..."
"You should be. I can see your destiny. And you are destined to fail. You will never become Hokage Uzumaki. Failures like you, will never amount to much." Neji glared.
Ok the idiot wanted his ass handed to him by Lee? He could get his ass handed to him by Lee.
"Whatever you say asshole." Naruto shrugged.
Sasuke glared at Lee, then at Neji.
Tenten stood there, face buried in her hand.
"I'm surrounded by idiots." She muttered.
Suddenly Sasuke stood beside her. And patted her on the back.
"Don't worry, they will eventually grow up." He smiled softly at her. Not that it seemed to have much of an effect, she just raised an eyebrow.
"Oh and you think I'm not counting you amongst the idiots?" She asked him.
"Of course you do. Doesn't mean I'm not right though." Again that smile, and a wink.
And Tenten smiled back, even while she shook her head.
"I see the tales about you being a depressed brooder are false." She said.
Sasuke shrugged. "All lies and falsehood spread by jealous children. How could I ever brood in the presence of a beautiful flower such as yourself?"
She chuckled, just before she attempted to punch him in the face.
"Nice try Uchiha, but I'm not a girl that falls for flowery speeches." She shouted at Sasuke, who had retreated to a safe distance. "I hear enough flowery metaphors daily."
Sasuke shrugged, still grinning. "I know. But I bet they can't deliver it with such flair."
"Kakashi can you get on with it?" Sakura interrupted the couple. "I want to introduce myself to Lee. Can't do that from here, now can I?"
Kakashi sighed, but nodded anyway. "Yes yes I suppose I should explain this test to you."
He pulled out three bells and flung them to the three genin of Gai's team.
"You'll have to get all three bells. Only if you give me the bells will you actually become a genin."
"Otherwise it's back to the academy yeah yeah." Sakura muttered.
"So we just get the bells from them and give them to you?" Naruto asked.
"We? I only accept the bells from one person." Kakashi smirked at them.
"Kakashi, that's just too cruel, you can't do that." Gai cried.
Naruto sighed, the ploy was ridiculously obvious. Still better not say anything.
"I can and just did. Only one of them is worth of becoming a ninja anyway. Isn't that right Sasuke?"
Naruto just wanted to punch Kakashi. The idiot didn't even realize... no he did. Judging by the dejected expression on his face as he watched his genin not react at all. Or with scorn for him.
"Yeah, Naruto is the only one worthy of it." Sasuke agreed.
Sakura snorted, but nodded her head.
Kakashi sighed, then smiled. "Ok usually you would already have passed, since you obviously can work as a team." He nodded to them.
"However, you pissed me off. So I'm adding to the test. Hand me the bells, and I'll accept that you aren't just arrogant beyond all reason and really are that good. Maybe you'll even last till twelve. You have four hours, to try and take the bells from Gai's students. Every hour me and Gai will take any bells you have already collected away from you." He stared at them, his eye dancing with glee.
"I hope you enjoy yourself." He looked at them all. Only Gai's students had reacted at all, shuffling uncomfortably in Lee's and Tenten's case, an angry glare in Neji's.
Gai just watched impassively.
"Begin!" Kakashi shouted.
-o-
Here's chapter two, I'll probably go over it some more in the future, but it's readable enough for now I think^^