Hello friends! Sorry for the exact 30 day wait on this chappie, i moved houses and shortly after that my computer broke again :O im contemplating getting a new one. But enough of me and my lesser happenings. Before I close, id like to take a line from my good friend KingKakashi.

I am thoroughly disgusted that kishimoto hasn't done anything NaruHina related since the confesion now reaching 57 issues! Heehee!

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He was rather impassive on what to do before the resulting 2-3 hours before 6pm when he was to meet Kakashi. He could…hone his skills slightly before the meeting for their…whatever they were going to do.

Nah… honing skills he could do later.

Hone his skills? Dammmit..he said that already!

Train? Ah hell, he wasn't going to go anywhere. With a slight smirk, Sasuke headed to the training field early. Making one small realization.

I really need a social life.

But could you blame me? I mean look at all the graduates. Especially the girls. Maybe I could knock 'em out. Heh, wouldn't that get to their heads, if they had brains anyway.

Damnit, what am I going to do about my teammates? Naruto seems different, he now certainly has the drive to be a heartless shinobi. But his skills lack. Still, he has potential. Hinata is all the same, but her powers work almost in total reverse then Naruto. She has potential as a fighter, but personality wise, she's even worse then Naruto used to be. Any case, I have work to do if I want to build a strong team.

Sasuke almost didn't notice he had arrived at the training field. But he couldn't help being lazy before he began. He looked toward the lunches still on the logs that stuck vertically upward.

"It's nearly 5pm and he wanted to wait for lunch? If it weren't for this meeting I would have had my dinner." He said aloud, slightly sick of not hearing his own voice.

"Yes indeed Sasuke, the same with me".

Sasuke was immediately at attention, seeing Kakashi resting on a tree.

"Oh its you….you sounded like someone else, you startled me."

'He sounded exactly like Itachi!' Sasuke thought.

Kakashi however did this purposely. He wanted to exploit Sasuke's personality and fears. Sasuke had openly admitted that Kakashi has surprised him when he used the genjutsu to disguise his voice.

'He fears his brother I see…I'll have to see to it that Sasuke learns the courage to face his brother with his comrades.'

"What are you doing here so early? Its still 5:12pm". Kakashi asked without much care.

"Heh…didn't know what else to do on my spare time."

Kakashi chuckled as an insult came to mind.

"Did it ever occur to you that you posses no life?"

"Honestly….yes."

That was certainly an answer Kakashi didn't expect to hear.

"Remember Sasuke, teamwork is an essential use for all things…including dealing with your brother".

Kakashi decided that this early reunion turned slightly awkward and decided to take his leave for the next half hour. In a puff of smoke, he vanished, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

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It certainly seemed like a long 30 minutes for Sasuke. Kakashi's little trick had left Sasuke wondering about the past. Although Sasuke was never the only one on earth, as Hinata and Naruto also had troubles to deal with. Hinata arrived at the scene to see Sasuke with his back to a post leaning on it.

"Sasuke-kun, how are you today?" She asked slowly, but loudly enough, and a way that she wouldn't stutter.

"I've been better, getting ready for whatever it is Kakashi planned for us by having a simple rest". Sasuke's breath hitched slightly in his throat and how friendly he was being. Wishing to make himself forget about that, he almost desperately changed the subject.

"So where's Naruto?"

Hinata looked at the ground sadly at the reminder of the previous day. "I don't know…I think I hurt his feelings when I called him fat yesterday…I hurt him a lot I think."

"Oh, so is that way he has no ramen in his lunch eh?" He scoffed slightly. Somewhat amused by the situation.

"Yes…I don't know for sure but it could be".

Sasuke smirked as another realization came into mind, just not one about himself.

"Heh…whether he knows it or not", Stopping his sentence slightly as he propped himself off the pole. "He's whipped".

Hinata blushed and smiled slightly, as she only heard that statement when people refered to couples.

A couple…I don't think Naruto would like me as a girlfrie-

"Hello troopers!" Kakashi yelled out rather cheerfully while entering the fray. "Now, who is ready to begin"? He asked seriously.

At this time Naruto arrived at the posts. "Urgg….sure." He mumbled sleepily.

"Oh! Well hello Naruto, you are a few seconds late. Do you know what that means?"

Naruto barely shook his head, more tired then he was uncaring about what Kakashi meant. He didn't get much sleep.

"It means I'm going to deprive you of your weapons for this exercise. If this had been a mission, a few seconds is all it would take to lose everything, your lucky I'm only taking your weapons."

Naruto's eyes suddenly widened furiously, the only reason he didn't get sleep was because he was up all night assorting his planning and weapons, mainly searching for the giant shuriken he had impaled Mizuki with.

"Damn you." Was all he muttered as he dumped on the floor his large selection on kunai's, shuriken, ninja wire and the giant shuriken, all recently polished and sharpened.

"Alright children, time for the games is over. Your not going on a mission, nor are we training at all. I'm here to test your skills, and if you can learn how to pass this test, then we will truly be team 7. I have here 2 bells. What you little ones are to do, is to take a bell from me and the two that succeed will be my team. And the last…gets to watch the rest of us eat our lunch while they stay tied to that post there."

If Naruto could control when his stomach growls, now might have been a good time. As he didn't have a nice lunch to look forward too. He wasn't to sure why he had forgotten to pack ramen, but now he wished he wasn't so tardy.

"By the by, this exercise starts now."

Both Sasuke and Hinata fled the scene and Naruto remained isolated still in front of Kakashi, who raised an eyebrow at Naruto's inability to make a move.

"Don't tell me your planning to recklessly charge at me?" He asked with amusment in his voice.

"What makes you think I'm that dumb?"

"Well maybe in that specific way no, but generally, your grades state that you are dumb."

"Could a dumb person kill a chuunin?"

"If the chuunin is also stupid, sure."

"Actually I thought that was quite an accomplishment". Naruto furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he said this.

Kakashi's eye crinkled as he stated harshly. "For someone who's going to be the Hokage, defeating a chuunin is an easy task."

Naruto took a battle stance calmly. "Then maybe I should upgrade it to defeating a jonin, right here and now!"

Kakashi was amused at this. But not as amusing as his book. Ah! The book, that outa get on his nerves. Pulling out his favorite book, he referred back to one of his favorite scenes.

Naruto didn't like to be blown off like that. With no weapons, he created shadow clones and circled around Kakashi, making it harder from him to keep track of the moving clones.

At least that's what he hoped.

The instant they switched their target and ran for Kakashi, the jonin vanished suddenly. The real Naruto panicked for half a second until he realized his clones were dispatched by thrown kunai knifes, as Kakashi rested on a nearby tree.

"Hm…your display so far I'd say is pathetic. Kudos on learning that fancy jutsu though". He commented pitifully.

Kakashi jumped off the branch straight for Naruto readying hand signs for a genjutsu that he was sure would leave Naruto shaking in his boots.

Kakashi heard the faintest rustling in the bushes as a kunai shot right out of it. Kakashi was forced to turn his attention to the thrown weapon as he caught it out of the air. But as he turned his head back to Naruto, he was gone.

'Hmm…she's fast".

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Naruto found himself in a small clearing quite far away from Kakashi. He turned to see who had whisked him away to safety as he saw Hinata's concerned face.

"Why did you save me instead of taking the bell from sensei? That was-"

"N-no…what good is the reward of any mission, even in this case, worth if you're not prosperous…as a team?" She stated softly as she handed him a steaming bowl of ramen.

"I…I'm sorry about what I said. It was harsh and I lost my temper…your love of ramen is what made you the person you are…in a way…I guess." She poked her fingers together timidly.

"I know that you truly can't be heartless…but I also know that a team without Naruto…isn't a team that I'll be part of. Would…w-would you like to pair up? The two of us could get the bells….a-and become team 7." She separated her blasted fingers as to not appear weak.

The boy was agape truly. Even if he was the way he had been before, he wouldn't be able to know how to react to such a thing like this. All sorts of responses crossed his mind until….

"Thanks…" He finally replied. Perhaps life didn't need to be as complicated as Naruto made it out to be.

"For what"? She questioned softly.

"Saving me…I'd have been down and out if you hadn't". He replied, sounding more grateful then usual. Hinata smiled at this promptly and ushered him again to eat his ramen, before it got cold.

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Kakashi sat mildly in the middle of the large clearing, sensing the impatient presence of Sasuke very close by.

As if on cue with his thoughts, 6 shuriken dashed out of 6 different bushes around Kakashi. On alert, Kakashi jumped upward swiftly and onto a tree branch.

'He used ninja wire to set off the traps to send a multitude of weapons at me from all directions.' He stole a glance at the weapons he had made Naruto discard at the beginning of the exercise. And surely, the ninja wire and kunai were no longer on the pile.

He was put on the defensive as he was suddenly bombarded by 10 Sasuke clones.

'Well they aren't shadow clones, but I'm impressed that he remembered the basics'

Kakashi jumped off the branch and onto the ground where the discarded Kunai still lay. The Sasuke clones still chasing behind. Kakashi swiftly grabbed one of the Kunai that was still attached to the wire, cutting the wire with his own kunai, he grasped the end of the wire and spun around so that the Kunai on the other end swung around him in a circle, quickly dispersing of the clones, although he was also careful not to take out the real Sasuke.

"Your not the only one who can take use of your opponents weapons Sasuke." He replied seriously before you could see him smile under his mask. "You should have remembered to clean up the mess first though."

"Tsk". Came a simple reply as Sasuke stood alone now. Sasuke quickly readied hand signs rapidly. Rapidly for a genin anyway.

As Sasuke took a deep breath, Kakashi recalled the technique. He was impressed by the boys agility and strategic elements. If only he put them to better use.

"You won't be able to hit me from that far away Sasuke."

Still holding on to his breath, he replied back. "That's what you think"! A little smoke coming off his mouth as he said this. He prepared more hand signs and suddenly the wire around Kakashi came alive and wrapped around Kakashi like snakes. Still with his breath hitched he prepared more hand signs.

'Ahh so this was chakra controlled wire, I can see why Naruto brought it along. Seems like it came in handy. I COULD escape…but I'd like to see what fancy jutsu this boy might try next. If these 3 don't shape it up quickly, they are all going to fail. The only one who hasn't tried to apprehend me is Hinata. All she's done to effect the battle is grasp my attention long enough to snag Naruto off. But is this out of her care for him, or are they truly working together?'

As he finished his thoughts Sasuke finished his extra hand signs. Arching his head back, he called out his technique.

"Rapid Flame storm"!

A warning bell went off in Kakashi's head. That was a ranked B jutsu. Although it required extra time to channel, it was a strong fire move and approached the target quicker then most fire attacks.

"Now when did he have the time to learn that?" He mumbled softly. Sasuke truly wanted to end it right here.

Sasuke blew out his massive assault toward Kakashi, working more like a flamethrower then a fire ball. Kakashi easily cut through the chakra rope with sheer force. If Sasuke hadn't forgotten to keep his chakra in the rope, it would have been too strong to break, and Kakashi might have escaped from the rope a different way.

'Sasuke had the setup to actually hit me, but I don't think his low chakra reserves could have handled so much stress on chakra. He had to hold his breath while talking and create more hand signs. Even for Sasuke it's difficult. What a shame, they might have made a great team.'

As he completed his thoughts, he jumped out of the way of the rapidly approaching fire storm.

At that moment, Naruto and Hinata shot out of two bushes, completely on opposite ends of Kakashi.

'Hmm, the timing and coordination is perfect. Witch means they are working together. Although I doubt they have the skills to successfully apprehend me with an assault like this one.

Kakashi instantly rushed for Hinata, knowing that she was more skilled in hand to hand combat. He surprised Hinata with his speed as he threw her over his shoulder with little effort right into Naruto's rather blindly shot path. However as they made contact, both disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'Shadow clones I see. There actually making this interesting.'

He looked at Sasuke who was on his hands and knees taking large breaths. He was too tired to continue his assault for a bit, but he'd need to keep an eye on him.

Then, 2 Naruto's and Hinata's rushed out of 4 separate bushes. Kakashi dispersed of them rather quickly, and returned to reading his book.

"Trying to defeat me with quantity over quality won't work Naruto."

"We'll see about that". He heard a call from all directions. Kakashi had a feeling the next wave was going to be much more then double.

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"Remember Naruto-kun, your clones are only one tenth of your true strength. So don't worry if this doesn't work. You remember what needs to be done?" Hinata asked, more serious then shy now.

He nodded. "Right. Make him used to the skill level of clones and overwhelm him when the real thing goes above the standards, right?"

Hinata smiled as she nodded.

"One more thing Hinata…" Naruto asked as he frowned a bit and looked down.

"What is it Naruto-kun?"

Naruto seemed very worried about this question. "Do you like me more the way I was before?"

Hinata gasped slightly at his question, after giving a mere second of thought she smiled sadly. "Do you want my honest opinion?" Naruto hesitated at what that could mean, but he nodded. He thought slowly,'Here it comes…'

"I like you more the way you are now". And she hugged him. "The way you are now….your smarter, sharper, you care more about the world around you because you aren't so oblivious. You've never been so…aware of me. Ever since you've been this way, you noticed me more…and that makes me happy."

Naruto had been wide eyed at his importance to her, and he smiled. But his smile dropped as he remembered what they were supposed to do.

"Come on Hinata-chan, we have to get those bells."

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This time 30 clones of both Naruto and Hinata rushed Kakashi, as Kakashi was dispatching them, Sasuke steadily caught his energy again.

'Urrg, ok I can't do that again…I need more practice with that jutsu. If I wasn't doing that in combo with the ninja wire, I might have recovered quicker though.' He finished his thoughts to the multitude of clones rushing Kakashi. Sasuke was on alert immediately.

'No! Naruto and Hinata are working together to get the 2 bells! I can't let them take this away from me. Not now or ever!'

Sasuke knew he couldn't make shadow clones like Naruto could, but he could create more regular clones to cause more confusion to sneak in and take a bell. Making the required hand sings for 20 clones, they charged into the mass.

Kakashi saw this as he dispatched 5 Hinata clones in one sweep kick. He made a mental note to make sure no Sasuke clones came too close.

When the shadow clone count of both the Naruto and Hinata clones went down to 10 each, 50 of each clone again rushed at Kakashi. This time the real Naruto and Hinata were among them.

"Enough playing around". Kakashi said calmly and softly, but the intensity was heard through all three genin in the fray. Kakashi readied a few hand signs and called out his jutsu.

"Crater pit jutsu!" A large bowl, 20 meters in diameter erupted in the ground around Kakashi, a lone pillar stood in the middle of the crater with Kakashi standing. The plummet to the 10 meter deep pit had disrupted all the clones leaving the 3 collapsed at the bottom.

"You 3! That was a pathetic display not of power, but of teamwork! Naruto! Hinata!" He turned his attention to them. "Your efforts to work as a team failed!"

Naruto and Hinata were questionable about this. They worked as a team and formulated a plan, how was that wrong? In fact, Naruto made a point to ask.

"What did we do wrong? We worked together and even had a plan to-"

"You did everything wrong Naruto, in the fact that you are wiling to help Hinata and not Sasuke, even though he was there when you made your second assault. Sasuke, even though you witnessed them using teamwork together, you were selfish and still tried to take the bell from me by using the most advanced tactics you could come up with."

The group remained silent until Naruto decided to make a point.

"But me and Hinata couldn't have teamed up with Sasuke! There was only two bells."

Kakashi's eye furrowed slightly, he was used to this routine of failing the teams he was assigned. Still, he wanted to make sure the team he got could work as a team.

"You say you and Hinata made a team, but if you were unwilling to put your teammates before yourselves, you were never a team at all. You ignored Sasuke."

Naruto looked toward Sasuke, who looked toward Hinata. As all their gazes met, they all nodded. Sasuke took out the giant shuriken from Naruto's Pile of weapons. Passing it to its owner Naruto, Naruto laced the massive weapon with chakra and sliced at the pillar Kakashi stood on. As expected, it sliced through like wet paper. This gesture actually caught Kakashi off guard.

Hinata and Sasuke jumped off the wall at a rapid pace. Kakashi knew he couldn't evade as he was still suspended in the air, only going one direction; down.

As Hinata and Sasuke charged Kakashi's from the side, Naruto jumped straight upward with a Kunai Hinata had lent him meant for the assault on Kakashi with the shadow clones. They were all equal distance from Kakashi.

If Kakashi deflected Hinata's and Sasuke's attacks with his arms, all he had was his feet. Normally he could repel an attack with them still, but as Naruto was charging with bladed weapons, he couldn't block them with his feet. He also couldn't parry the attack with another weapon, he couldn't hold a weapon with his foot.

Kakashi didn't usually get caught off guard. 'The fact that these children caught me off guard might blow my reputation a little, although even if they hit me, this assault is a bit weak.'

Kakashi knew it was a bit too late to tell them to stop in midair. They seemed to be in the zone either way, they wouldn't hear him he supposed. Kakashi had to remember that he couldn't harm these genin too much during the exercise so he couldn't throw weapons to throw them off. He had only one option to follow the rules and stay safe.

He swiftly lifted his head band off his eye, activating the Sharingan. Instantly, the movemets of his opponents slowed down considerably in his minds eye. He waited until the group was a bit closer and then, he clashed out. He kicked the giant weapon safely out of Naruto's hand and grabbed Sasuke's leg that was aiming for his head, and threw him toward Hinata.

They both in turn, vanished in a puff of smoke. Kakashi gasped as he felt a kunai just miss his arm from below. But he could hear that the kunai had hit something.

The Bells!

Surely enough, the bells had been cut off his belt and were now falling to the ground due to the well aimed kunai Naruto had thrown. Luckily for Kakashi, the bells were still in arms reach. He quickly reached over to grab it, but was assaulted by Hinata who attacked the joints in his arms, numbing them effectively for the next few minutes.

Kakashi wasn't out of the fray yet. He flipped himself over in midair and kicked Hinata in the stomach to keep her out of reach from the bell. Kakashi remembered that a strong pulse of chakra through your arm could take away the arm numbing effect of a hyuuga strike. After he did so he turned back to the bells, but the bells weren't there in the air.

There in the air? When Kakashi thought about it that sounded silly, but that last moment was so swift he was sure the bells would still be there. If they had fallen to the ground, Naruto would have snatched them immediately. He looked down to see Naruto's determined and focused gaze, but he didn't have the bells.

Finally Kakashi hit the ground inside the pit Naruto who was in the bottom of the ridge vanished in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi looked up out of the pit to see the 3 genin standing near the edge.

"We outa thank you sensei, your pit really gave us the win on this one." Sasuke commended both bells in hand.

Kakashi retraced the steps in his mind. He now knew when Naruto had created shadow clones behind his back. When he checked Hinata and Sasuke's assault from the side, Naruto replaced himself with a clone, and vise versa when he checked Naruto's position. And then the real Hinata and Sasuke hid nearby, in the bushes or maybe under the ruble that the pillar created.

"You all did fantastic, you all kept me on my toes. I honestly didn't expect you to be able to take the bells. But you 3 are an extremely talented trinity."

All 3 smiled at the compliment, doing all that had not been easy. Kakashi landed beside them and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto, originally I thought your use of the shadow clone was horrible. But you proved that you could take use of every tactic and advantage you had and time it with incredible precision. Without your sharp mind and instincts the squad would have failed."

He then put a hand on Sasuke's shouler as well.

"Sasuke, you had the best agility and strength of this team and yet you still were confident in your comrade's ability to see through. You served as the main assister and you exercised your patience to wait for the right moment. Without your quick mind to go and take the bells at the right time this team would have failed also."

"Hinata, you are a very talented young lady who will grow into a beautiful woman. But you showed you could put your shyness aside and get to work when the time was needed. Your quick thinking to immobilize my arm and give yourself as a human target effectively gave your team the time to take the bells. Without either of you, your tactics would have failed."

Hinata blushed at the compliments. Her stomach was a small price to pay for the team success; she would feel better in the morning.

It was now evident to all three now that not only was this exercise supposed to make them see the importance of teamwork, but to bring them closer as a team.

"My students…you all pass. Team seven's first mission starts tomorrow!" He exclaimed.

"YEAAAAH! WHOOOO!" Sasuke shouted and held his hand up for a high five to Naruto and Hinata. Who stared at him dumbfounded at his outburst. Even Sasuke couldn't help but be embarrassed at his antics.

Was the loneliness in Naruto's life truly over? He looked over at his first friends, and at the first person to except him; Hinata. He smiled to himself.

His loneliness…just might disappear forever.

Then together, as a team, students and sensei laughed together and walked home together.

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Ahhhhh that was a nice chapter I think. Sorry for the late update, I moved houses and shortly after that my comp broke down. Be prepared for the next episode of Inviting the Dark!

Next time! Wake up call: The chuunin exams arrive!

R&R plz :)