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Kaleidoscope

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When Naruto showed up to the meeting place the next day, he felt determined. Determined to show his teammates and his sensei, just what he was capable of. He knew how to read lips, he could sign; he knew how to communicate despite his deafness.

But this whole mask issue… well, it was just that. An issue.

How was he supposed to overcome that? Just that thought had kept him awake that night, trying to come to an appropriate conclusion on how to overcome it.

He had thought of asking his team to sign for him, but then he would be watching them, not his teacher. That could be a problem if Kakashi-sensei was teaching them a technique.

How the hell was he supposed to do this?

Naruto looked up to his teammates, who were sitting calmly in the field. Sasuke sat with his legs bent upwards, elbows resting on his knees. His fingers hung limply between his legs, his face as blank as always. Hinata was doing something with her hands, although Naruto couldn't see what exactly it was. Her face was a strange shade of scarlet, however. Behind them both, sat three vertical logs; about the thickness of a barrel, and the height just taller than that of Naruto.

Naruto sat himself in between his two teammates, feeling quite unsatisfied by the fact their sensei wasn't there. Of course, they knew he'd be there, eventually.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Naruto had gotten bored. Sasuke had stayed in his position, the same as Hinata. Naruto had been squirming in his spot, obviously irritated.

Naruto twisted his hands in his lap, feeling his irritation build. Where was Kakashi-sensei? Rubbing absently at the back of his head, he looked at his teammates. Well, not much help there. His mind wandered to the issues that both Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei had brought up the day before, criticising the team on their non-existent cooperation.

"If all you know is what is obvious, then that's just sad. As a team, you are supposed to know each other, inside and out, if you want to be a good team. As you are, you would all die on your first mission… you have failed in my eyes already"

Naruto grit his teeth, climbing slowly to his feet.

"Okay Sasuke-bastard, let's spar." Naruto spoke aloud, standing directly in front of Sasuke, giving him a cold look. Sasuke just looked up, bored.

"And why would I do that?"

'Because of what Kakashi-sensei said. We need to get to know each other. If I can figure out your weaknesses, than I'm sure the bad guys will be able to do so much quicker than I could.' Naruto signed while grinning foxily. This would be FUN.

Hinata though, had other ideas.

"N-no. D-don't. I have a-another idea." She blushed furiously when her two teammates looked at her – one with a raised eyebrow, one looking oddly like his name-sake.

"And that would be…?"

"We… we could um…" Her face bloomed with colour, her hands fiddling near her chest. Normally, she wouldn't be so bold, but she wanted to be able to participate with her teammates. She couldn't do that if they sparred; they'd never want to spar with her, she was too weak. She also realised how selfish those thoughts sounded, and promptly scolded herself.

"We could… find Kakashi-sensei."

"….What?"

"I-it could be like a g-game of cat and m-mouse…?" She suggested, staring at the ground. She was startled when Naruto let out a loud burst of laughter.

'That sounds' great!' he signed, barely controlling the words he formed. Sasuke just shook his head, mumbling under his breath. But nevertheless, he gradually stood up, hands in pockets and looking bored.

The fact that they were even willing to go along with what she suggested was a minor miracle. They'd really let her make the decisions? Her face flushed, her fingers poking together in her embarrassment.

"Yes, that does actually sound like a decent idea. Unfortunately, I have other plans."

Sasuke and Hinata jumped at the new voice (although Sasuke would later deny it), both swivelling to find the source of the voice. Naruto was confused at his teammate's sudden movements, and decided to see what had made attention drift. Their eyes looked up to find their silver-haired sensei perched atop the middle vertical log, peering at them amusedly.

"The Hell!? You were supposed to be here ages ago!" Naruto seethed, pointing a not-so-threatening finger towards the Jounin. Sasuke glared at their sensei; he was just as unimpressed as the others, but was less willing to be so vocal about it.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said in a non-apologetic voice; actually, he sounded rather the opposite. "But there was this weird looking wolf thing on the side of the road and I decided to help it. It was rather fascinating, really. It had fire in its eyes and looked like it was made of jelly."

"Bull!" Naruto roared, the same time Sasuke snorted "I doubt it."

Hinata looked shocked, feeling slightly in wonder that a creature such as that should exist, but when Naruto and Sasuke voice their opinions, she mentally chastised herself at believing something so obviously false.

Kakashi only shrugged at their responses, stretching out of his perch and dropping to the ground next to his students. One hand found the inside of his pocket, the other pulling a book seemingly out of no-where and began reading.

"Okay, so this idea of mine, is… similar, in what Miss Hyuuga had originally suggested. Except for looking for a person, per se, you'll be looking for… things."

The arrangement seemed to have caught the attention of two of his students, but pissed of the third.

Naruto pulled on Hinata's sleeve, forcing her attention on himself. Her face scarlet, she translated; "H-he wants us to go look for t-things."

'Why are we looking for things?' Naruto signed, narrowing his eyes at his teacher.

'Well, normally, I'd have you try to capture some bells that I had in my possession. However, because of the circumstances of this group, I can't exactly have you doing that. After all, you did require your hearing to help you locate them on my person. So, instead, I'll have you achieve a task to do with sight, instead.'

Kakashi had decided to begrudgingly put his book back into his pocket, and switching to sign language. Naruto felt a pang of annoyance, but let it slide.

'Now, I have a list of things you'll need to find. These will be hidden, some obvious, other not as much – and if you don't have them by sundown, then well…' Kakashi trailed off, giving them all a meaningful glance.

The two boys gave him two twin glares, while Hinata looked to her hands. She really didn't want to mess this up for them…

'So, here is your list…' Kakashi snapped his fingers, and three identical-looking scrolls appeared in his hands. 'Now, there is a catch to this. Everyone has different things on their lists, and each item has different values. The goal is to get as many items, and therefore as many points as possible. Unfortunately, the person with the least points… well…. They'll be going back to the academy.

The three Genin reached out and each grasped a scroll. Unravelling them, they scanned over the contents. Naruto's eyebrow twitched his eyes narrowing as he scanned his list.

Scavenger hunt!

- A purple dog (50 points)

- A kunai, from a different team (10 points)

- Iruka, bring him back here (100 points)

- A pair of panties (50 points)

- The next Icha-Icha novel (200 points

- A ramen bowl from Ichiraku's (20 points)

- Ten shuriken (30 points)

- That weird dog I saw (1000 points)

Naruto snuck a glance at Hinata's list, seeing that some of her items were identical to his. When he saw a pair of boxers on her list, a wicked smile came over his face.

"Hey Hinata, I'll swap you mine for yours!" he motioned to the list, and Hinata's face flushed dangerously. Her embarrassment was so high, she barely noticed that she let out a startled squeak and thrust her hand out. Opened her eyes (that she hadn't noticed she'd shut), she saw that Naruto was flying on his back several yards back, face painted with a bright red handprint that rivalled the colour of her own face.

"H-Hinata…" Naruto whimpered. Well, that was definitely a shock. He would have expected that reaction from, well, Sakura. But not her.

Sasuke was trying to fight the smirk that was playing at his lips, while Kakashi just laughed.

"That was great!" Kakashi laughed, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "Absolutely beautiful. 100 points for you, Hinata!"

Naruto sat up, rubbing at his face. Hinata's eyes resembled dinner plates, and she rushed to his side, dropping her scroll as she did.

"I-I-m so s-sorry!" She stuttered, trying to help him sit up. Her face was still red, brightening a little at their close proximity.

Naruto mustered a small smile, noticing her sincerity.

'I'm fine. Don't worry. I shouldn't have said anything.' He signed back, watching as she ducked her head and let out a small sigh. He gave his attention to Kakashi then, his eyes changing to a glare.

'Oi, Kakashi-sensei. What the hell is with this list? It has some pretty weird stuff on it. How are we supposed to get any of this stuff?'

Kakashi shrugged, 'You're a Ninja, aren't you? Figure it out.'

'…Sensei?'

'Yes?'

'You're a freaking pervert.'

~ ҉ ~

And this is how Naruto found himself at the woman's bathhouse in Konoha, in his Sexy Jutsu (he wanted to blend in as much as possible), trying to steal some random woman's clothes. His disguised face was a light pink, eyes a little too wide for the situation. He laughed lightly to himself, as he sifted through the unattended clothing.

It was every young boy's dream to be able to get himself one of these items, but Naruto was only really willing to get them because of the task. He had already managed to get the kunai (from Chouji – he traded him a bag of chips) and the shuriken. He planned on going to Ichiraku's to get the bowl, and then he was going to see if he could manage to get Iruka away from the academy for those extra points. After all, he absolutely refused to be the person with the least points. He was NOT going back to the academy!

He really had no idea how he was going to get the purple dog, the next Icha-Icha book (for goodness sake, he was not going to go out and buy a porno book for his teacher!) or that stupid fictional-wolf thing that Kakashi had made up.

After a few moments of his searching, he found exactly what he was looking for. Holding them out in front of him, he examined his find. Pink and flowery. Huh.

He shoved them in his back pocket, and made a stealthy escape through the back entrance of the bath house. He some-how managed to escape without being caught by a staff member or from any of the visiting women, which he was thankful for. All the women in Konoha proved to be quite temperamental and has a tremendous amount of strength hidden within their petite bodies. And Naruto knew this, because he had been caught there before.

Walking out the back, he lifted his arms behind his head, letting out a satisfied laugh. He was about to release his Jutsu when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A scowl crossed his face when he noticed a weird red and white bushy thing against the wall of the women's bathing area. By the way the bush jiggled and shrugged, he was assuming it'd be laughing to itself. But considering that bushes don't laugh, he knew what it was.

"Hey! Perv!" he yelled out, which instantly alerted the bush, as well as the several women in the bathing area. With several screams from the inside of the walls, the women made their exit as the pervert shook his head, turning to look at his interrupter.

"What do you wan-" The pervert stopped talking, instead his mouth dropped open in a gasp, eyes as wide a saucers. His face instantly transformed from annoyance to smitten.

Naruto found himself scowling. The man has long white hair that was just way too long for a man to have. He wore some red garments and tattoos adorned his face. And Naruto could definitely tell he was an old geezer.

"You, my dear, are a beauty. Would you like to feature in my new book?" he gestured to a few books that Naruto noticed around his feet.

"Why would I want to be around a pervert like you?" Naruto grit out, crossing his arms. This only made the pervert's face light up even further, so Naruto decided to disrupt the old man's fantasies.

Naruto dispelled the Jutsu, and watched as shock, irritation, then finally resignation fell over the old man's face.

"Oh." Was all he said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'Oh? That's it?'

The old man raised a curious eyebrow, squinting when Naruto began to sign. "Yes, 'Oh.' I'd heard rumours about some brat that liked to pull pranks on people, but I didn't realise that he'd pull a prank like this on a helpless old man.

'Helpless old man? You're nothing but an ero-jii-san!"

"Perverted grandpa? Ha! Ha-ha!" The old man laughed aloud, clutching his belly. "Well, I suppose that's a little accurate. But I wouldn't call myself perverted… I'd call myself someone who had an eye for beauty, rather. And besides, I'm actually a great sage!"

'Ero-sennin' Naruto corrected, a firm look in his eye. The old man gave him a withering look.

"And what might your name be? Hm?"

'N-a-r-u-t-o' Naruto spelled, as he usually did with new people. And odd look passed over the old man's face. If Naruto hadn't been paying close attention to the old man, he would have missed the way he mouth "but that's the name of…"

A spark of recognition went through the old man's eyes, and he smiled despite his situation.

"Well, hello Naruto. I'm Jiraiya."

~ ҉ ~

Half an hour before sundown, the three Genin met up with Kakashi at the spot they were at earlier. Each of them carried several items with them, as well as a couple of strange acquirements. Naruto has managed to get everything except for the damned fictional-wolf thing, even Iruka, who apparently had the afternoon off. He managed to find a stuffed purple dog toy in the kindergarten section of the academy, which Iruka said he could borrow for the task.

Sasuke had several items with him as well. He has with him several scrolls, a few ninja related weapons, some flowers (oddly enough) and some other items Naruto couldn't make sense of.

Hinata… well, she had several items lying at her feet, but her worried look spoke volumes.

'Okay! How many points did each of you managed to wind up, huh?'

"460!" Naruto declared proudly, dumping everything he acquired on the ground. The stupid pervert he met at the bath house just happened to be the author of those damn porno books. So he was able to get a copy off the old man (under the deal he showed him the Sexy Jutsu again… just, eeww).

'Oh! Did you get the book' Kakashi seemed a little too excited, and Iruka sighed, pressing his palm against his forehead. Naruto held out the book between two fingers, and Kakashi almost pranced forward in his excitement to get to it. With a weird look in his eye, Kakashi deposited said book into his back pocket.

'Right. How about you, Sasuke?'

"460."

'Good work. You, Hinata?'

"….440"

There was a pregnant pause, and Hinata's confidence dropped even further as possible. Naruto felt a pang of sympathy go through him, while Sasuke just stared at his teammate, expression unreadable. Kakashi sighed, and then spoke and signed; "So, that mean's…. Hinata, you're going back to the academy."

"WHAT!?" Naruto and Sasuke both yelled. Hinata just cringed, already expecting her fate.

'As I said from the start, the person with the lowest points has to go back to the academy.'

Even Iruka seemed appalled at the idea.

"Kakashi! You can't just send her back to the academy! Teams have to be in three's! If she goes back, than the boys…"

"Can't pass either? Yes, I know."

Sasuke curled his hands into his palms, finger nails biting into pale flesh. "You knew this from the start? Then what was the point of getting us to do this stupid task."

"In all honesty, two scrolls accounted up to 460 points, discluding the last item. The third scroll, only account up to 440. Someone was always going to fail the test, regardless of how many items people managed to get." Kakashi said meaningfully, hands interpreting his words in front of him. "It was just determined on who drew the wrong scroll. I could have set her back, and kept you both, but, well… that wasn't the point."

'Than what was?' Naruto signed, too angry for words.

"I've already told you, but obviously, you didn't listen."

"P-please, punish me, n-not them!" Hinata pleaded, tears in her eyes.

Naruto grit his teeth, and Iruka began to speak up, but a raised hand from Kakashi silenced him.

'This has nothing to do with you, Iruka. They are my students now, and all decisions made by me, are final.' The two men exchanged glares, before Iruka huffed and returned to the academy. Naruto instantly felt less solid as his teacher walked away. Iruka could have fought for them… but now…

Kakashi gave them all a look. "I need to go to the academy to inform them they'll be getting a student back. I'll return in five minutes exactly."

And then Kakashi made the appropriate hand-signs, and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke; poof.

Hinata tried to hastily wipe the tears from her eyes, floods of disappointment running through her system. She let them down, she knew it.

Sasuke glared angrily at where Kakashi disappeared to. How could this happen? He sighed, rolling his eyes as he bent to collect the items he dropped on the ground. The flowers, although slightly droopy from lack of water, were perfectly fine. He looked from the flowers to Hinata and back, a though occurring to him. If it had been anyone else, he would have permanently ignored her. But the way she looked so… disappointed in herself, and worried more about them than herself… well…

Sasuke grabbed the flowers off the ground and moved to where Hinata had dropped in the dirt, hands rubbing at her eyes. Naruto was standing not too far away, his expression a mixture of disbelief and guilt.

Trying not to look like someone who cared, Sasuke dropped the flowers in front of the crying girl, and took a few steps back.

"Crying is a sign of weakness; you shouldn't cry." Was all he said; and while they were harsh words, Hinata still nodded in agreement, picking the flowers up and clutching them to her chest; crushing the flowers against her jacket.

Sasuke's words seemed to snap Naruto out of his trance, and he flashed his teammate a deathful glare.

'Crying does not make her weak! It shows that she actually has feelings, you prick.' Naruto signed, and Sasuke only just managed to see the movement from the corner of his eyes. He snorted in reaction, crossed his arms over his chest and promptly ignored him.

Naruto walked over to Hinata, crouching next to her.

'Where's the scroll?' he signed to her, making each movement easy for her to follow. With shaky hand, she pulled out the scroll from her pocket. With two hands, Naruto grabbed the scroll from her hand. His hands lingered on hers, which caused a blush to rise against her cheeks despite her tears.

Naruto grabbed his own scroll, and swapped his with hers.

'There. You can stay, I'll go back to the academy.' Naruto signed, releasing her hands. Going back to the academy was the last thing he wanted, but if Kakashi had to change the damn tasks because of his lack of hearing… well, maybe he wasn't cut out for this sort of thing just yet. Hinata's eyes widened.

"N-no! You w-wanted this f-for so l-long! I w-won't let you g-give it up b-b-because of m-me!"

Naruto shook his head.

'It doesn't matter.' He lied, and judging by her expression, she knew. 'The scroll is mine now; Kakashi-sensei will just have to deal with it.'

A dark shadow surrounded the two, making them jump. They both shrunk back at the sight of Kakashi, who looked absolutely murderous.

'Will I now?' He had a wild look in his eyes; even Sasuke seemed shocked. 'I don't take rule breakers well, Naruto. I should send you all back, just for that.'

'I have the scroll; there's no proof that it was Hinata was the one to take it in the first place!' Naruto stood his ground, standing to look Kakashi straight in the eye.

'Send me back, and let the others through!' Naruto's hands were a flurry of anger, his words reflecting his emotions. Sasuke moved forward, one hands moving up to be placed on Naruto's shoulder, pulling him back.

"The least you can do, is take five points off of both of us, and give them to her. That makes the scores even at 450. That way, no one has the most points, and no one has the least." Sasuke spoke with such clarity and calmness, it made Hinata feel slightly calmer. Kakashi rose an eyebrow. While Naruto hadn't been able to hear, or read, the words, he understood the words had some form of effect on their sensei.

"You'd do that, then? Give up something of your own, just for her to stay here?" Kakashi spoke the words to the raven-haired Genin, but signed the same words to the blonde.

"That's what teammates are for, isn't it? We help each other when we need it." Naruto spoke, words strong and clear. Hinata felt like crying again, but not for the same reasons. These two would still want her around, despite this?

Kakashi straightened his back, giving them all a firm look. Before his eye lit up and he clapped his hands.

"Well done. You've all passed." At their confused looks, he elaborated, hands moving fluidly. "What I mean is, this test was never about getting the points. It was about helping each other so that everyone could pass. Just because you had different items, did not mean you couldn't help each other to get them. I did say that the person with the lowest points would go home; but as Sasuke said, if all of you had the same points, then not one of you would technically have the lowest points. Team work is the most important value in any team or person. It's not about who can achieve the best, or who does it the quickest, or whatever. It's about helping each other. I'm glad you both figured it out."

Hinata jumped up, hugging her two teammates, "Thank you! T-Thank you!" she cried out, hugging them both tightly around the necks. After about point five seconds, she realised just what she had done. Face flushing a dangerous red, she opened her mouth; and promptly fainted. The two boys fought a blush at the action, both moving to catch their teammate.

Kakashi smiled fondly while the two boys fussed (both denying it later, of course).

At least things would never be boring. Kakashi watched after them, hoping that they'd remember this. He didn't want them making the same mistakes he did.

~ ҉ ~