Immortal Phoenix

Author: The Phoenix is Immortal

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor am I making any profit from this work.

Chapter 17: Take the Bells

After meeting wrinkly human and Kakashi human, I took my ninja headband in my claws and flew back to the academy.

After all, Naruto and his…new team would be meeting Kakashi human soon. I wanted to see their reactions.

I soon got the academy, but apparently, the Kakashi human was not there yet. He must be late…

Naruto, Sakura human, and Sasuke human were all in the classroom. There were some other humans also. I, who was now the size of a hawk, landed outside the window. I would come in either when all the other humans were gone or when Kakashi human actually came.

Soon, all the humans, with the exception of Naruto, Sakura human, and Sasuke human were left. Time to go in, I supposed.

I circled the building, located the door, flew in, and navigated through the inside of the building to the class. The window should have been open. It would have been much easier.

Once I was inside the classroom, I landed onto one of the front row desks.

Naruto brightened up, Sakura human looked surprised, and Sasuke human narrowed his eyes. I guessed that the other two did not know who I was.

"Akarui! You're here!" Naruto was happy. "What are you holding?"

I lifted up the headband. Let's see if Naruto can guess. "Um, why do you have that?"

Nope, he could not. Try again. I just waited, looking at him. "Um, is that yours?"

He got it. I chirped. I picked it up with my beak. Would he get what I wanted him to do? I wanted him to tie it around my neck (since the possibility of me being strangled and dying that way was quite low…and where else was I supposed to put it).

Naruto actually understood. I believed that it was because he spent such a long time with me that by now he understood my actions without me having to talk. I wanted to surprise the Sakura human and the Sasuke human later. Sasuke human might not be surprised though...

So Naruto tied the headband around my neck.

After that, Sakura human spoke. "Naruto, what is that?"

Naruto answered. "It's Akarui!"

Sakura had a strange look on her face. "You have two birds named Akarui?"

"Nope!" was Naruto's cheerful reply. Sakura human just looked confused. The Sasuke human just watched. He did not seem to like to talk much.

After a long while, Naruto got impatient. The Kakashi human was quite late. So Naruto got the chalkboard eraser and put it between the two doors, leaving the doors slightly open. Whoever opened it next would get a hair full of dust.

I did not prevent him. Doing pranks and tricks could actually make someone smarter…and Naruto needed some more intelligence.

The two humans said something in response to his actions, but I was not listening, so I did not register what they said.

Then a hand appeared and pulled the door open. Kakashi human got a hair full of dust. Poor human. I felt really bad for him by this point.

Naruto was laughing yelling, "Hahaha, you fell for it!" I thought he was going to fall over from laughter.

Sakura human began apologizing for Naruto. Sasuke human said nothing.

"My first impression is that…I don't like you guys." That came from Kakashi human. "Come to the roof."

The human disappeared. I flew over to Naruto and landed on his shoulder as he and his new team ascended the stairs. Note to self: Get some sort of cloth protection for Naruto's shoulder. I was probably giving him a lot of cuts since I was at a bigger size. Not that he said anything about it.

We got to the roof. "Well, how about we introduce ourselves." Now Kakashi human wanted us to introduce ourselves? "We can start with likes, dislikes, dreams for the future and things like that."

"Hey, how about you introduce yourself first." Naruto said that.

The Kakashi human introduced himself. I honestly was not listening since I already met him and all.

Then Naruto went. I knew him also, so I did not listen.

Then Sasuke human. Apparently he wanted to kill someone. Most probably his brother.

And Sakura human…well I did not learn anything from her except that she did not like Naruto.

My turn. The reactions should be good. "I am Akarui. I like learning about different things. I dislike…things. Dreams for the future…I am already living it. Hobbies, well, see above at my likes. I am…a nin-bird, I suppose." No need to tell them my dislikes, sometimes those could be used against you. Or Naruto could use it somehow against me. I would rather not have to eat my least favorite food and things like that.

Sakura human looked more than surprised with her gaping expression and all. Sasuke human's eyes had widened then narrowed again. Perhaps he remembered me? Kakashi human already knew about me, so no reaction from him. And Naruto looked surprised that I had revealed myself.

"Naruto! Your bird can talk!" Yes, Sakura human. I am glad you noticed.

"Hn." Sasuke human's reaction was really boring.

"What? You're a nin-bird?" That came from Naruto.

"Yes Naruto. I talked to the wrinkly human about it. I shall be working with you. Why else do you think I asked you to put on the headband for me? So that is all."

Kakashi human then spoke up. "So now that the introductions are finished, tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobi."

"Really? What kind of duties?" Naruto really wanted to know, it seemed.

"Survival training," responded the Kakashi human. Survival training? What was that?

I was thinking about that, so I did not notice that the conversation continued. Until he told us something that surprised me.

…Apparently, out of all the graduates, only…nine would become genin. What? The graduation test was for what then?

"Then Kakashi human, tell me, what was the point of the graduation exam?"

"Yeah! I worked so hard for it!" Naruto had…and now to find out that it was a waste…

"Oh that? That was just to see who had the chance to become genin."

He had to be joking with me. Naruto and I had spent years working on that stupid, stupid Clone Jutsu and now to find out this? I wanted to light something, preferably Kakashi human's hair, on fire.

"Anyway, come to the training ground tomorrow, and don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up. Don't be late tomorrow."

Later, at night, Naruto was training. As for myself, I was planning to light Kakashi human's silver hair on fire. A nice big, bright bonfire.

All those years…when Naruto could have gone on…were wasted. I was not happy.

And tomorrow, well…Naruto would pass. That was a certainty. Especially if I had anything to do about it.

When Naruto arrived at training ground, Sasuke human and Sakura human were already there. Kakashi human was not.

Yesterday, I had gotten something for Naruto to put on his shoulder so that my talons would not dig into his shoulder. So I was comfortably on his shoulder.

This morning, I had demanded breakfast. Naruto said that I was not supposed to eat any, but I was hungry…and whatever we were doing would require energy. Besides…I do not take orders from humans. When Naruto saw me eat, he got hungry also. So he ate.

Apparently the other humans had not, judging by the noises that came from the stomach area of the humans.

We waited for a while, before Kakashi human finally arrived.

He then proceeded to explain to us the point of the survival exercise. We had to get a bell. The one who did not get the bell would go back to the academy.

So, this was to eliminate the weakest member of the team? Wait…a team. Did they expect the children to work in a team to defeat the jounin? I believed so...It was a bit much really. The children, while they had not just met, had certainly first met with all three of them being in the same group. And they expected teamwork? I guessed that they expected the children to at least try.

Now, to see of Naruto understood the point. I turned to look at him. No…he did not. Not yet.

I had not been paying attention while I had been thinking, so the next thing I knew, Naruto had pulled out a kunai…and Kakashi human was behind him, holding Naruto's hand.

Naruto had tried to attack first, I deduced. Then Kakashi human said something…and then we finally started.

"Naruto…for now, hide." Naruto complied. I looked at the jounin in the training ground. "Naruto…do you think that you, as a genin…could really take on Kakashi, a jounin? Use your head, not your confidence." Now…to see if he would get my drift.

He hesitated…then shook his head. "But then, what are we supposed to do?"

"We? Why…how else to get the bell from a jounin? There are only two of us, right?" Naruto…I gave enough hints. Figure it out already.

"Wait! There's Sakura-chan and the bastard!" He got it.

"Well? Then do something about the fact that we are all split up."

Naruto ran further away from the clearing. I soon spotted Sakura human. After I pointed her out to Naruto, he ran over to her.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto! Be quieter! Kakashi-sensei's going to hear you!" That was true. Naruto did need to be quieter. He was too loud sometimes.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. But I think I have an idea about how to pass this test!"

"…You…have an idea? Yeah right! Well, I'm going to find Sasuke-kun!" Off she went…

"Well…maybe this teamwork thing is not going to work. I do not think that Sasuke human will want to work with you, either." I said that to Naruto, while wondering what else we were supposed to do. "I guess that we will just have to ask."

We went to look for Sasuke human. Then we heard a scream in the distance. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto must have been worried.

He started to run toward the direction of the scream. Until we passed by a clearing that had the Sasuke human's head in it. We stopped. "Hey, Sasuke, what happened?"

"It doesn't matter," he said, getting himself out. "I'm going after the bell again."

"Wait! I have an idea about that!"

"I don't need your help." With that, the Sasuke human left.

"Fine, that is it," I said to Naruto, "we get it ourselves."

We headed to where we believed Kakashi human to be. He was there. Naruto decided to go for a surprise attack. All of my years trying to drill logic into his head had not been a waste after all.

Once he thought he saw an opening, he attacked. I was no longer on his shoulder. I was ready to back up Naruto, which would certainly be necessary.

Naruto had a kunai, and he was trying to use it. But the Kakashi human was quite good. He dodged all of Naruto's attacks, jumping up and moving sideways. He then got behind Naruto.

My turn, before poor Naruto ends up halfway across the clearing. I flew at the Kakashi human, then opened my mouth and spat a large fireball at the human, then I flew across him to the other side. He was surprised. I do not think he knew about my fire affinity. Ha, I had more than an affinity with fire.

While Kakashi human used the Body Replacement Jutsu, Naruto prepared his own jutsu. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" We could do with more Narutos.

I soon spotted Kakashi human again. It was hard to hide from my eyesight. After pointing it out to Naruto, his clones attacked Kakashi human, who was on the tree. Kakashi had no problem dispelling the Naruto clones. Well, he was a jounin.

But…before Naruto could do anything else, the bell rang. It was noon.

Author's note: Finished. Enjoy! Thanks to all my reviewers of course. And if you are reading this...please review. So I replaced the chapter I put up yesterday, since the uploader is working again. So this one should be as mistake-free as much as it can be. Thanks for reading. Please review if you have just read this.