Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of its characters.

A/N: As always, thanks for the reviews, favorites, follows, etc. It really means a lot to me! Here's a new chapter. Let me know what you guys think!

~Rox

The mist from the previous night started to evaporate into the oncoming dawn. The three ninjas huddled so closely that their knees touched. Naruto and Sasuke crouched on either side of Sakura. "So what can you both do? Specialty skills-wise?"

"Oh! You guys are gonna love this! I can do Kage Bunshin!" Naruto fist-pumped the air. "Like I can make fifty of me and they just charge straight at Kakashi."

"Various fire-style jutsus" Sasuke whispered. He did not want to risk the chance that their sensei could hear their plan.

Sakura nodded and withdrew a kunai from the black weapons pouch strapped to her thigh. She dug the tip of the weapon into the dirt. "So here is where we are now in the forest." She dug the kunai into a different spot and marked it with an X. "Here is where Kakashi is, presuming that he did not move. We will have locate him again in order to continue. Still, I want you, Naruto, to take ninja wire and thread it from this point—" she lifted the kunai and stabbed it into a spot to the south of the X before moving it to a spot to the north of Kakashi. "To this point. Drag the wire with you and pretend to be attacking Kakashi, okay Naruto? Use one of your clones to spread the wire while keeping him distracted. Sasuke, you're going to help me create a shuriken-throwing trap so that when the wire is snagged the trap releases." Sakura glanced up at the boys. Naruto nodded vigorously, but Sasuke's brows furrowed.

She continued "Naruto, you're going to try to attack Kakashi again, except this time I want you to bring the wire from this point to this point." She drew a line in the dirt from a point east of Kakashi to a point west of Kakashi. "Sasuke, you're going to help me build an exploding trap, about six tags wide, when this wire is triggered. Then, Naruto, you're going to take another wire and stretch it on the outskirts from the south point to the east point and repeat this from the west to the north. Thus, if any of the wires are snagged, both traps release. We're going to build one more trap from below. While placing all of the other traps in place, Naruto I need you to take some of this…" She reached back into her weapons pouch, except this time she pulled out a rusty tin flask. "And spread it with a clone again, throughout the area between the traps, where Kakashi will still be standing. Which is another responsibility for you, Naruto. You have to make sure that Kakashi does not move too much while fighting off your clones."

Naruto watched the map she had drawn in the dirt intently. "Got it. But what's the flask do?"

"It's just alcohol."

Sasuke coughed. Did the annoying fangirl plan on getting Kakashi drunk or something?

Naruto's eyes widened. "Um…Sakura-chan why?"

The girl glanced up to the sky and judged how much longer they had based on the position of the sun. "Because it's easily accessible, and it's going to make a really big explosion once the tags all go off, especially combined with one of Sasuke's fire jutsus." Sasuke and Naruto continued to stare at her. She sighed. "Look, I had a feeling that big explosions might be helpful today so I stole some of my dad's alcohol." The boys did not respond. Sakura deemed that they had accepted her answer and continued. "After all the traps are set, all three of us are going to come out and herd Kakashi into stepping into the traps and setting off a chain reaction of shuriken and explosions. We have to be careful not to step into any of the traps we have set nor get too close to the area the traps will be directed at. Our herding will then consist of our strongest ranged attacks all at once. Sasuke, you will stand here." She marked the spot in the dirt with an S. "Naruto, here." She marked an N. And I'll go here." She marked an H. "The physics of it should work out so that Kakashi, to dodge our attacks, will step straight into the traps."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly think he'll just drop his bell after that? Do you think little traps could take down a jounin?" His dark eyes bored through her. Stupid, naïve girl.

"No. Which is why while he's recovering from the explosions, all three of us move in and go straight for the bell. He placed it in his right jacket pocket, if I remember. Naruto, you will attack from above, Sasuke you will attack from the center of his body, and I will attack around his feet. It may not work, but it's the best we've got." She glanced from Sasuke to Naruto. "So are you guys willing to try this or?"

Naruto grinned. "Of course."

"Hn."

"Okay, Naruto, you're up first." She reached into her pouch and relinquished five long coils of ninja wire to Naruto. "Naruto, after the final attack, promise me that no matter what goes down, you go straight for the bell and don't worry about anything else until you have it." Fierce green eyes locked with playful blue.

"Okay, yeah, Sakura-chan. No problem! You're really taking this seriously."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Being a ninja is serious, Naruto. Good luck."

"Don't worry! I'll place the traps so sneakily he won't suspect a thing, Sakura-chan!" His hands flew through a series of seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten Naruto clones appeared. The real Naruto handed the wire to one of them. "Alright, let's go!" They took off towards the southern point Sakura had drawn in the dirt.

Sasuke eyed Sakura for a moment. "What was that about?"

"Huh?"

"The 'promise me that no matter what goes down' bullshit?" Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest.

Sakura smirked. "That, Sasuke, is part of our plan B."

A light pink and gold burned into the blue in the sky just above the tree line. The cold of the night started to dissipate. A warm, humid heat would soon replace the chill. Leaves swayed in the branches near the forest. Some trickled off of the trees and danced lazily into a slow moving, clear blue ravine. Kakashi stood in the center of a clearing in the Konoha forest. His nose was buried in a small orange book. His genin had approximately thirty more minutes left. He had not moved since this test began. He had no reason to, as his students had not engaged him in battle. Though, for the last couple of minutes, he had sensed their chakras grouped close together. So they were planning strategizing together. Good. Naruto's chakra signature had just separated from the group.

"Eat shit, sensei!" A massive shrill roar erupted to the south of Kakashi.

Kakashi raised his eyes from his little orange book to see eleven orange-clad blonde boys charging straight at him. Within seconds, they were upon him sending sloppy punches and kicks at him. Kakashi effortlessly blocked and evaded all of the attacks and sent sharp punches and kicks into the boys. Numerous poofs sounded as the boys disappeared one by one, until only the real Naruto struggled against Kakashi. However, the jounin did notice a second Naruto running back into the forest to the north of him. Interesting. Kakashi could foil their plot, but he wanted to see what these cute little genin had in store for him. The real Naruto performed a substitution jutsu and appeared behind Kakashi where he sent a shuriken at the man's back. Kakashi plucked the shuriken out of the air without even turning to see it. He sent it back at Naruto who disappeared into the north end of the forest.

A minute passed. No new movement. Then, a roar of "I'm not done yet, asshole!" sounded to the east of Kakashi. Ten new Narutos launched themselves at Kakashi, who was quite certain that the real Naruto was somewhere intermixed with the rest of them. He evaded a shower of overthrown punches and caught one of the Narutos and tossed it roughly into three of the other Narutos. Four consecutive poofs met Kakashi's ears. Kakashi elbowed the real Naruto and sent him colliding into another two Narutos who immediately disappeared. Kakashi ducked under the twin kicks of two of the other Naruto clones who ended up kicking each other into oblivion. The real Naruto stood and coughed. "Damn, sensei, you are an asshole!" Kakashi however noticed one extra Naruto disappearing to the west. Naruto threw three kunai at Kakashi. Kakashi extracted his own kunai and easily deflected the three Naruto sent. Naruto used this extra time to escape back into the woods. Kakashi scanned the woods and found Sasuke and Sakura's chakras standing close together. Interesting. He looked forward to seeing what they had come up with.

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Are you finished attaching the tags?"

"Yes. Hopefully we are still undetected." Sakura bit her lip.

"Oye, dickface! We're still not done yet." Another wave of ten Narutos was upon Kakashi. He sighed and defeated them one after another in an easy taijutsu battle. Did the boy not understand that this strategy clearly was not working? Nevertheless, Kakashi had to admire the boy's intense amount of chakra. Even without the Kyuubi, his chakra reserves were very advanced for a genin. He did want the Uchiha and jinchuriki to succeed, truly. They would prove…amusing little pets.

Two Narutos , one presumably the real one, fled from the battle this time. One ran east, and another ran north. Kakashi frowned. Very suspicious. The sun now shone brightly marking the new day. He glanced to the ground and observed that it was still wet, despite the fact that most of the dew should have just evaporated. He caught a glint of metal out of the corner of his eye. Ninja wire? Still, he did not move. He was curious.

Naruto met Sakura and Sasuke in the forest. "All set up! Let's go!"

Sasuke grunted. "Into position."

Sakura twitched with annoyance. This was her plan. What right did Sasuke have to say "into position." He had not done any tactical planning. This was not his operation! Still, she remained quiet and headed to her position.

They counted out thirty seconds.

Kakashi glanced at the sky. His team had ten minutes left. So they planned something big for the end. Great. Yet, still far too obvious.

"I'm back, asshole-sensei!" Naruto's voice rang through the clearing as he charged towards Kakashi. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He sent four more Narutos charging at Kakashi, while he himself stayed back a little.

"Hn. Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke appeared and charged towards Kakashi from a side slightly to the left of Naruto.

Sakura said nothing and charged from a third point. She had not yet mastered any impressive ranged jutsus, and she had to settle for emptying the rest of her weapons pouch at Kakashi.

Kakashi smirked and jumped into the air, avoiding Sakura's weapons. He landed and then flipped backwards, avoiding the many Narutos. He watched as Sasuke's great fireball did not take a direct path to him and instead was heading towards the ground. He took a step back and felt his foot snag a wire. The earth around him erupted into a flurry of explosions. He could no longer see as the smoke blinded him. Using a minor wind jutsu, he avoided the many weapons aimed at him while the explosions went off one after the other. Each explosion built on the last and set the earth around him into a fiery hailstorm. He brought his kunai up to deflect a shuriken. Smart. They had worked effectively to diminish his senses. He grunted and his hands formed seals faster than eyes could follow. "Suiton: Doshaburi no Ame no Jutsu!" Water lifted from the nearby ravine and started to pour down on the earth and extinguish the fires from the explosion. He hurriedly ducked under the oncoming fist of the airborne Uzumaki and deflected a kick from the Uchiha. He jumped over the girl's low kick to his ankles.

Then, he moved behind the Uzumaki and moved his hands in a position similar to the tiger seal with his forefinger and middle finger on each hand outstretched. "Sennen Goroshi!" He implanted his fingers directly towards Naruto's anus. The boy screeched and went flying. Kakashi had to restrain himself from laughing. Messing with his genin was too amusing.

Naruto fell to the ground and rubbed his injured butt.

Sakura sent a quick jump kick to the back of Kakashi's head. He turned and gripped Sakura by the ankle. She screamed as he tossed her into Sasuke. The two collided and roughly hit the grass with Sakura sprawled on top of Sasuke and their limbs intertwined.

Sakura's face reddened. This was the first time she had ever been that close to a boy. She could feel his muscles tense beneath her. She tried to rise to her hands, but her elbow was caught under Sasuke's body and she fell back onto his chest. "S-sorry Sasuke-kun."

"Hn. Get off."

She extracted her limbs and scrambled off of the boy. She sat on her knees and looked up at Kakashi. Her eyes appeared wide and unsure of herself while the blush had not yet vanished.

Kakashi glanced up to the sky and the position of the sun. "You have five minutes left before you all fail."

"Give me your bell now, Sakura. It's over." Sasuke spoke as he rose to his feet.

"W-what!? No! We still have time." Sakura jumped to her feet. "Come on. We can try, please?"

"It's over, Sakura. Give me the bell" Sasuke growled. He narrowed his eyes as he walked over to her.

She took a step back. "No! We can still try. We can do this. Right, Naruto?" She glanced furtively over to the blonde boy who still lay sprawled on the floor.

"Right, Sakura-chan. Just give me a moment." Naruto weakly rose onto his hands and knees.

"S-see! We can definitely do this!" Sakura smiled, but one of her eyes squinted more than the other eye.

Sasuke eliminated any between the two. He stopped a mere two inches before her. Dark hair obscured dark eyes. "What don't you get, you fucking cunt!? You're too weak. You would be a disgrace as a genin. Give me the bell and step down." He smirked predatorily, locked eyes with Sakura, and offered her his upturned palm.

"Hey! Don't talk to Sakura-chan like that!" Naruto managed to stand.

"Why did you call me that, Sasuke-kun?! I thought you were nice!" She broke the eye contact and stared down at the ground at her feet. "A-at least on the inside…" Tears formed in the corners of Sakura's over-wide light green eyes.

The jounin watched the scene. Intriguing. How far gone was the last Uchiha? He had heard medical ninja gossiping about his diminishing sanity. Yet, was the boy truly heartless already? Had the hatred already coiled around his heart and bled it dry, inch by rancid inch, of compassion?

Sasuke laughed. "Where did you put the bell, Sakura?"

"I-I…" She blushed.

"Three minutes left," Kakashi supplied.

"Fucking annoying, obsessive cunt!" Sasuke sent a vicious punch to Sakura's stomach.

She gasped and fell to her knees clutching her stomach. The tears flowed freely now. "N-no! You're not the Sasuke-kun I know! You're a selfish monster!"

He laughed again. "Oh, the one you thought you knew, huh? Terrible shame that I'm not him." He drew a kunai and jumped on top of Sakura. His weight forced her onto her back. He sat on her thighs.

She trembled. "Please, Sasuke-kun…don't…"

Naruto drew a kunai and ignored the pain in his butt. "Get the fuck away from her, teme! What the hell is wrong with you!?" He glared at Kakashi. The look in his eyes was accusatory. That man had turned them all against each other. They could have been friends…

Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

Sweaty pink hair clung to her forehead as Sasuke reached into her pants pockets searching for the bell. "I-it's not there."

"Then where is it!?" He pulled her pants down to where he was seated on her thighs, exposing childish white panties with little pink bows woven into the hemline. His thick black hair drowned the sides of his face and concealed his blush from everyone but Sakura. "Where the fuck is it!?"

"I…" She blushed heavily. He brought the kunai to her throat.

Naruto lunged forward just as Kakashi lunged forward. Kakashi shoved Sasuke roughly off of Sakura while Naruto attached himself to Kakashi's back. Naruto's fingers touched the bell in Kakashi's jacket pocket, and he quickly extracted it. Sasuke landed on his back a good five feet away from Sakura.

Sakura hurriedly pulled up her pants. The blush had not faded. She reached down her shirt and took a bell out from her bra. She walked over to Sasuke, who had only risen to his knees, and handed him the bell. "Here, Sasuke." She did not look at him. She had wanted him to pretend to want to fight her and kill her for the bell. When Kakashi intervened and Naruto snatched the bell, it was supposed to happen during a fight. They were supposed to be battling each other. Instead, he forced her to the ground and tore her pants down her legs. She did not like this spin of events. Of course, she had acted consistently with the events as they presented themselves. She was nothing if not opportunistic. Still, she could not help but wonder how much of her "scared" acting was acting. The tears had not stopped falling, and she was not sure if she understood why. She had done her best to kill any feelings she had for Sasuke the previous night. Yet, the man in her hand, the man of her dreams, needed some sort of face as a placeholder, and Sakura had not yet found a new face. Sasuke was right when he said that he was not the boy she thought she knew. He never was. She never knew him. The sole survivor of a massacre. Damaged and fucked up, maybe beyond repair, not some quiet, protective pretty boy.

Surprise hit Kakashi for the first time he had ever tested a genin team. They had done it. They had actually stolen a bell from him. He smirked behind his mask. The potential, he could almost taste it. His own little demons. "Time's up. But look at that, two of my cute little students have two bells. Congratulations, Naruto and Sasuke. You will both be my students."

Sakura wiped the tears from her eyelashes and started to collect her kunai. So what now? Did she have to enroll back into the academy? Would her parents even let her? She was not sure if her tears were real or an act anymore. She just gave up her career to a boy who had never respected her and who possibly never would. But that was the deal to get Naruto to pass, right? She yanked a shuriken out of the dirt.

Sasuke smirked and turned to Naruto expecting to see the blond boy celebrating.

Instead, Naruto glared at Kakashi. "Are you serious!? You're going to fail Sakura-chan when she's the only reason we have these bells?! I wouldn't have mine if it wasn't for her planning, and she just handed hers over to Sasuke! That's not right, Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Dobe. I would have gotten mine from her anyway through combat."

Naurto turned his icy stare to Sasuke. "But you didn't, now did you?" He sighed and walked over to Sakura. He crouched down next to her and started to collect her ninja wire. "I'm done with this bullshit. Sakura and I will find a new sensei."

"I never said that Sakura failed" Kakashi spoke softly.

Sakura's eyes darted to Kakashi. "What?"

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Congratulations, Sakura. You pass. Welcome to Team Seven."

"What? Really?" Her eyes widened. "But you said that we could only pass if we had two bells."

Kakashi shrugged. "In the ninja world, rules change fast. You were able to unite your team. All three of you demonstrated superb real world tactics. To take down an enemy stronger than yourself, it is sometimes necessary to put prejudices aside and unite with weaker enemies who share your common stronger enemy. That was one of the goals of this test. The other goal was to see how you could function as a team. While you may have limited talents, you were able to work with what you had and use the most important skill a ninja has in his" he glanced pointedly at Sakura "or her arsenal: deception. You used my prior knowledge about Sasuke's mental stability in order to orchestrate a scenario in which I genuinely thought he might hurt you, and I intervened. Ultimately, you used the intelligence I had gathered about Sasuke against me. Meanwhile, Naruto used this opening to retrieve my bell and theoretically take down the stronger threat."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "So that thing with Sakura…that was just an act, teme?"

Sasuke glanced emotionlessly at the ground. "Yeah, dobe. I don't want to kill innocent people…only the bad ones. And I'm not a rapist." Sasuke wanted to hide. Kakashi knew about his mental instability, and he had deemed him psychopathic enough to snap and abuse Sakura. And Sakura herself…she knew enough about his madness to know that Kakashi would expect Sasuke to be cruel enough to kill or torture her. The whole fucking village thought he was mad, didn't they? He could hear their voices in his head as they dragged the Uchiha name through the mud. Uchiha Sasuke. Sexy psychopath. So when would the fear supersede the allure? They thought he was shit show. Damaged goods. He started to grasp why he had so many fangirls. Their parents had told them that he was simultaneously dangerous and pitiful. A forbidden, dark secret that they thought they could fix and make happy again. But they couldn't. He didn't want their love confessions or their caresses. They only wanted to fix him. Change him. Own him. Use him as a symbol of their status among other girls. None of them wanted to know him. Maybe he was a shit show.

"So we're all a team now? Teme, Sakura-chan, and I…we're all going to be genin together under you, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes. You are now all officially genin of Konoha." Kakashi nodded at the trio.

"Alright! I'm going to be Hokage in no time!" Naruto fist pumped the air. His stomach suddenly growled loudly.

Sakura giggled. "It's going to take a little longer than that, Naruto. But we should all get food soon. You used up a lot of chakra today." The sheer amount of chakra that Naruto had scared her a little. How many clones had he made during the day? Thirty? How was that possible for a genin?

Naruto laughed. "Yeah! You, me, teme, and sensei should get something to eat!"

Sasuke rubbed his forehead. "Fine, dobe." He glanced to Sakura, but her eyes were glued to Naruto. She laughed and agreed with Naruto.

Kakashi shook his head. "I am afraid I cannot attend. I have places to be. Missions to sign you three up for…Meet me on the Konoha Bridge tomorrow at seven AM." He waved to his genin and started to head back to the village.

"Missions!? Awesome!" Naruto bellowed.

Sasuke sighed.

"Oh, then, Kakashi-sensei, could I talk to you for a moment?" Sakura called after her sensei.

Kakashi turned to face the girl. "Yes, Sakura?"

She bit her lip and walked up to him. "Can we walk a little bit so the boys don't hear…?"

"Sure." Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets and walked beyond a blanket of towering trees with the girl.

Birds chirped overhead. A little squirrel foraged for nuts in a nearby tree. "You said I had no potential…why did you let me pass?"

Kakashi smirked. "Because you surprised me, Sakura. Neither of those plans came from Naruto or Sasuke, did they? Sasuke is too headstrong to admit needing to cooperate with others, and Naruto is not tactful enough to come up with such a plan."

"But you said I had no potential…" She watched the little squirrel as it seemed to bicker with another little squirrel.

"You don't. Compared to Naruto and Sasuke. But I'm giving you a chance to prove me wrong. You shouldn't be a ninja. You should not throw your life away. I will not suffer idealistic fools. But perhaps you can surprise me again, in regards to your potential. Naturally though, you will have to work much harder than Sasuke and Naruto to achieve similar results. This is not some sappy, I believe in you speech. I don't believe in you. If you want to go down this route, force myself and everyone else to believe in you." With that, he vanished.

Sakura bit her lip in contemplation. It still was not a supportive comment, but it was not exactly degrading either. Maybe she was just getting used to Kakashi.

"So, teme, why did Sakura seem so upset after if that was the plan all along? It worked, didn't it?"

"I don't know. Girls are weird." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. The plan never involved him pulling her pants down. Or calling her a cunt. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time to make the plan work. It seemed…natural? Sasuke avoided sharply inhaling. Was he a monster? He was not Itachi. Never. But, why was it so easy for him to terrorize Sakura? She was annoying, but she was innocent too. He blushed at the thought of the white panties, but the thought was only momentary. It did not matter. She did not matter. If she got scared too easily on a plan she wrote up, that was her problem, not his.

"Sakura-chan! Are you done yet!?" Naruto's voice called from beyond the trees.

"Yeah! Just give me a second!" Sakura yelled back. She ran through the trees to rejoin Naruto and Sasuke. Her boys. Her team. At least, for now.

"Let's go to Ichiraku's for ramen!" Naruto rubbed his stomach. He hoped his wallet had enough to pay. He had not bothered to check that morning.

"Sure! I could go for some of that." She did not look at or acknowledge Sasuke.

"Hn."

They set out for Ichiraku's.

The curtains were drawn over the round windows of the Sandaime's office. Kakashi knelt before a colossal stone desk. "I have selected the next Team Seven."

The old man behind the desk smiled bitterly as he kneaded his hands through his beard. "Good. Training will start tomorrow. Nothing typical, Kakashi."

Kakashi laughed darkly. "Oh, of course not. Don't worry. I have something…quite interesting planned."