AN: Yes I'm aware I'm a generally slow updater, but I always make sure to put my all into these chapters, plus I have been in university for a year now. Also, as a side note, the genin test seems obvious from the start, but don't automatically assume that it is what you think it is.

This chapter is two parts long and therefore, part two will be posted after this and by the end of this month since I am leaving the country tomorrow and won't be returning until the 23rd.

Happy reading!

Chapter Six:
Blue Moon Rising

"One of the greatest and most fantastic challenges in life is not whether we deign to achieve our goals, but whether or not we have the desire and the outstanding drive to do so. And in the end we wait until the moment our true talents show."

Part I: To be a Ninja

Minato rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

He was staring at yet another complaint from the Raikage concerning his "compensation" for the events that happened four years previously when Kumo had attempted to steal Konoha's bloodline limits. At first, the letters were frequent and Minato actually thought that he should listen to them completely for political reasons as to avoid starting a war. After all, A's move on bringing out Yugito Nii, the jinchuuriki for the Two Tails, could easily be considered a declaration of war. But the Hokage wanted to avoid that, even with the anger and frustration it caused him.

Kumo had been utterly stupid. They thought they could take advantage of their resources and their secret weapon to try and take what was precious to their adversary. Of course they could not win. Konoha was too strong, but apparently that did not stop them from trying.

The Raikage was stubborn and reckless indeed.

"Is that another one from A?" asked a deep voice from behind the blond. It was Jiraya.

"Unfortunately," Minato groaned.

"That guy doesn't stop, does he? He needs to cut his losses and accept defeat. It's been a handful of years already. He should be grateful that you're not the kind of person who likes starting wars."

The Hokage found himself sighing out loud. "That's true, but sometimes I think that he wants one; it isn't as if we are allies with Kumo. If anything, they have personally made me their enemy…We got out of the Third War just over a decade ago. How could he really expect the villages to be prepared for another one so soon? Besides," the leader said as his eyes scanned another paper document, "if I were to start a war first then I would appear as less than a benevolent leader and the Third did not appoint me as Hokage with the thought of war on his mind. If I were to declare war first and if the Raikage didn't declare war first himself, then I would not be the man Sarutobi-sama was hoping for. And why would I plunge Konoha into a conflict so willingly anyway? It is not our place."

Jiraya sighed, scratching the back of his head in resigned embarrassment. "You're right again, of course."

A knocking sound on the wood of the door to the Hokage's office resounded and the musical voice of Kushina requested to be let in. When Minato affirmed that she was welcome inside, the door opened up a crack and the two men could see the searching eye of the Uzumaki woman.

"Naruto and I knew that you were busy with a Council meeting while the Academy testing was going on and I knew you just got back from it recently and, ya know, I knew that maybe you were disappointed that you missed it and all so…" She rambled on, making a small smile appear on her husband's face.

Seconds later, a blond head with messy spikes of hair popped out from behind his mother and the twelve-year-old bolted towards the desk of his father who had abruptly stood up in surprise. The Fourth was soundly rammed into by his only son and he made a shocked noise as he felt the excited arms of Naruto wrap around his middle and soon his body was forced to jump up and down in tandem with his son's.

"Dad dad dad dad dad!" the boy excitedly yelled, earning a wince from Jiraya. "Guess what? Guess what?!" And Minato found himself blinking down at Naruto while he laughed, albeit slightly exasperatedly.

The father caught a glimpse of shining metal that wasn't present before on his son's forehead, and the man's face split into a proud expression until he and his wife were beaming together with their kid.

Minato chuckled and patted the yellow spikes atop Naruto's head. "I take it you passed the examinations?"

"That's right!" the preteen bellowed and jumped a bit back from his father in order to smugly show off the glinting and brand new forehead protector that now adorned his forehead; an engraving of a stylized leaf in the middle of it was there to symbolize his home village. "I'm a ninja now!" he added with a flourish and a puff of his chest.

"In no time, I'm gonna be a stronger ninja than you, dad!" And to that statement of his godson, Jiraya laughed out loud, effectively gaining the attention of the Namikaze family.

"No way in hell, runt," the Sannin snickered out. "You won't be going down that road in a long, long, time." Then he pointed to Minato who had quirked a blond eyebrow at his teacher, "This brat has been the best student I have ever taught—a genius born only once a generation—do you think a little guy like you can surpass him so easily?"

Kushina fumed near her husband, long locks of red hair flaring up like fire and she raised a fist in anger, intent on punishing the Toad Sage into submission, but then Minato stuck out an arm and held her back, shaking his head 'no' while he decidedly made a point to stare resolutely at their son. She gave him a questioning frown, but did nothing and glanced at Naruto as well.

The boy in question had his eyes fixed on his godfather and his fists were clenched by his sides, clenching tightly.

So in the tense silence, Jiraya waited for something. A spark was fine, a burst of anything. As a teacher, he waited for the right moment and added, "Don't you know that right now you're at the bottom of the barrel…a weak genin?"

Light flashed in Naruto's gaze and finally, there was the emotional response Jiraya was waiting patiently for, and the boy smirked while he lifted his head.

"Ya know, I never said it'd be easy, Pervy Sage!" The new genin agreed loudly. "There are no shortcuts to becoming strong! That's what I was taught, so I'm just going to live up to it!"

The parents grinned and the godfather nodded in approval. It was made apparent that Jiraya of the Sannin was waiting for the light of determination to fill up Naruto. He was testing his will to be a ninja after all.

Resolution was the key.

ooo

The reign of the Fourth Hokage was meant to be one without a war looming on the horizon and so, therefore, there were changes made to the curriculum. That was not to say that the education in Konoha's Ninja Academy was less efficient, in fact it was just the opposite. Training was made into something more streamline than it was previously. But the tradition of placing a weak member on each team in overall test scores along with two members with higher scores was overdone and in a wartime period, that would be enough because then teams weren't made necessarily to survive, but to survive long enough to work.

So now genin cells were created based on skills in certain shinobi departments and were made to mesh together in order to complement one another. If one member of a team had strong skills in genjutsu but was alternately weak in taijutsu, there would surely be a member on the team that was strong enough in taijutsu fighting to balance out that weakness.

The academy graduation exam was no longer based on overall scoring, but on who would score the best in certain parts and who still need to work on other aspects so that weaknesses would be clearly displayed so that any individual may easily notice where they need to improve. Of course a certain amount of points added up from each category was needed to pass the exam so that a potential genin candidate would be shown to be adequate enough in mindset and skill set to pass into the ninja world.

The Rookie of the Year award was a tradition that was kept, but as a mere formality to see who collected the highest amount of points. However, it did not mean that that particular rookie was the best in all categories.

"Awesome, Sasuke! You got Rookie of the Year!"

Sasuke Uchiha laughed alongside his best friend, Naruto, who was bouncing up and down excitably in his seat. It was the day after the examinations and the Academy teachers had just announced the awards and placements before telling the graduates their team numbers and assigned jounin teachers. "Yeah but that just means I got the most points out of our graduating class," his lips twitched and he was smirking as he pointed a new fact out, "You got Best in Ninjutsu plus third in taijutsu…"

"…you got first in taijutsu!"

"…Plus you were pretty high up there in fuuinjutsu and not to mention that you got Best Trapper," continued the Uchiha.

Naruto groaned in exasperation. "Yeah but I got dead last in chakra control and pretty low on the written test. You got Best in Genjutsu and high marks in shuriken throwing too, ya know."

"…Yeah but I was the worst at fuuinjutsu…"

An aggravated moan sounded from the blond. "But both of us know you don't really like painting seals. It's not your thing anyway."

Two crumpled up paper balls—one made for each chattering friend—individually hit the boys upside the head. Their shoulders slumped in defeat and they bowed in acceptance that they had been caught talking too loud.

"Oy! If you two idiots are going to socialize that much, you might as well join the gossip circles in the marketplace! Now be quiet and pay attention!" bellowed an irate chuunin instructor who had his brown hair pulled into a ponytail and had a straight scar marring his nose bridge.

The friends sighed in unison, "Yes Iruka-sensei."

The brunette inclined his head in approval and went on to say the team assignments to the class and soon, an hour later, only Naruto, Sasuke, and a pink-haired girl named Sakura were sitting in the classroom and in the quiet. Of course they were the last remaining students there. Something like that didn't make the slightest sense, considering who their jounin-sensei was.

The Uchiha groaned. "I can't believe we got that guy to be our sensei." He banged his head on top of the desk in front of him and tilted his vision so that he was looking at his friend beside him. "And your dad didn't say anything?"

Naruto only grunted in affirmation.

"Geez. Hokage-sama is secretive even with his own family members," continued the raven.

"You know he's always been that way," responded Naruto, "He only tells me what's necessary. And," then he took a swift sideways glance over to the girl sitting behind them and squealing, "I think he had a feeling neither of us would exactly be happy to have a fan girl on our team…" he added in a whisper.

Both boys rolled their eyes at her antics and the blond joined his companion with his face planted onto the desktop in a show of frustration.

At least they weren't the only ones that pulled the short end of the stick. The duo shuddered in fright when they thought back to the announcements of the teams. Apparently Shikamaru and Chouji got a fan girl too, and her name was Ino Yamanaka.

It was a known fact of the Academy that Sakura and Ino were bitter rivals when it came to boys that were in any way associated with Naruto Namikaze or Sasuke Uchiha. They were the greatest of friends for a while until it was discovered that they had their sights set on the same boys. The two even came up with a horrible nickname for the four of them: the Fearsome Foursome. Sometimes they were even dubbed as the Four Hot Sons, an odd play on words with "suns." Either way, it was not like any of the preteens really enjoyed it.

Kiba and some of the other males in their class poked fun at them from time to time, sometimes referring to them instead as the Four Hot Buns, but mostly the four friends were strangely pitied. As great as it sounded to have hordes of females chasing after you, the results were seen firsthand by the rest of the "normal" classmates. Sadly enough, the fallout was quite awful.

Even if it was for a little consolation, it was good to note that there were some positive points to their predicament. Naruto and Sasuke had each other and so did Chouji and Shikamaru. Naruto briefly wondered if that was done of purpose not only to balance out their strengths and weaknesses, but also to separate the two most prominent fan girls on campus plus balance out the amount of "fan-girliness" each of them could handle.

The blonde's head snapped up when he finally heard the entrance to the classroom creak open.

"Meet me on the roof, Team Seven," a familiar black-haired jounin stated in a serious tone and the genin blinked as soon as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three of them looked around to each other until Sasuke simply shrugged and they headed out the door and up the stairs as a unit.

When they reached the outside of the school and alighted atop the oval-shaped rooftop, the three of them sat themselves uncomfortably on a set of concrete stairs.

The team members exchanged pleasantries and their dubbed teacher, Itachi Uchiha, asked the others to introduce themselves as well, to which Naruto and especially Sasuke did so grudgingly. ("But how could you not already know your own brother?!") They even said some of their dreams for the future in which Naruto respectively replied that he would one day surpass his "old man" and maybe even take his kage seat from him.

"That would be considered treason," Itachi joked good-naturedly.

Sasuke unwaveringly remarked that he would become a strong ninja of the Uchiha Clan and join the Police Force while Sakura bit her lip and continued to squeal, further exasperating her colleagues.

After the introductions, the older Uchiha brother stood up from his perch on the edge of the railings that prevented people from falling off the roof and nodded. "Alright, team. Now that that's over, you will follow me to the training grounds for our first mission: a survival test."

Sakura especially appeared confused. To clarify, the teacher added, "That's right. You will be tested to see if you're ready to become genin." At the baffled looks that now included his brother and his friend, Itachi smirked. "Those exams at the Academy were simply administered to pick out those with the potential to become shinobi, but this test—the real genin test—will pick out who is strong enough.

"As you probably have already guessed, this extra exam is kept hidden from you until the day it is given out, and for good reason. The Hokage and the jounin-senei need to test your nerve," he supplied seriously, "And if we were to also inform you that out of the twenty-seven graduates per year, only about nine ever actually become genin above the others that are sent back to the Academy, you probably wouldn't have enough drive to go through the process."

Itachi merely raised his eyebrows at the dumbfounded looks of horror.

"Now, shall we?" And the teacher gestured an arm in front of them, signaling the trio to follow him to their true final examination.

ooo

They only had two hours left until the survival test was over. The first hour was completely and utterly wasted on failed attempts to attack Itachi head on, a grave mistake that Naruto only realized too late. The blond was sure that the others had noticed those fruitless trials as well. Neither of them would try something so pointless again, that was for sure. At least from Naruto's perspective, things could be going a lot worse. The three of them each had their own separate bells attached to their belts.

…it was probably a really horrible idea to try and knock out a jounin anyway. He didn't know what they were thinking.

See, the objective of the test was to make sure that their bells weren't stolen by Itachi, who also had a set of bells attached to his belt loop, or from being stolen from each other. Basically, all of them were against the others. Whoever didn't have a bell by the time the test was over would fail and whoever failed to take at least one bell failed. Itachi would decide whether or not they would be sent back to the Academy id either task was not accomplished. However, though Itachi himself had a bell, it was difficult to count him. After all, what kind of green horn genin would be able to best a jounin?

That was what Naruto was trying to find out. It was bad enough that he was forced to fend for himself, but he was also against his best friend…

"Why would someone like you understand?!" a furious twelve-year-old boy bellowed to him, standing stiffly atop a rock below the splashing of a mighty waterfall, "You never had a family before, so you couldn't possibly know what it feels like to suddenly lose them all in one night! You may have been alone, but you were never alone after losing everything like I was!

"You will never understand me, Naruto!"

Then the other ninja launched forward like a rocket gone mad, electricity crackling in sparks in his palm, running forward for a killing blow because he saw Naruto as an adversary now…a measly wall that he had to destroy so that he may reach his ultimate goal of revenge. Naruto had just become an obstacle now and he knew that, but did he want to accept that he had truly lost his first true friend to the darkness in his heart?

But the Uzumaki just stood firm, trembling in fear, not for his life, but for his friend. He inherently knew that he did not want to lose like this; he knew that he wanted to live, but how could he become Hokage if he couldn't even save one friend? He might as well die.

And he saw the lightning blade reaching for him…

Coming closer…

And closer…

Naruto Namikaze shook his head furiously. He had a weird daydream again. Most of the time, like at that moment, he didn't even understand what they meant or who the people were. The others in his dreams always seemed too vague, a flickering aura of doubt surrounding them so that their faces were somehow obscure. The dreams sometimes came in odd situations and he didn't know what to make of them. He had only ever told Sasuke about them, and his friend only suggested that it was probably a strange side effect from having the Kyuubi sealed into his gut. He was deeply inclined to agree.

But the jinchuuriki didn't have time to think about that now. He had a bell to steal from Sakura. If he was going to defeat anyone, it was going to be her and not Sasuke.

Naruto noticed the ruffling of the bushes in front of him as he crawled carefully on his elbows below the brush. He saw a flash of pink and knew immediately that it was Sakura who was attempting to hide. He was lucky that he was a quiet mover; otherwise the bells on his person would have made such a tremendous amount of sound that would give his position away immediately.

From what he could see, the girl was quiet reaching into her weapons pouch as a move to reach for a kunai, but then he found that it wasn't just a kunai, but one that had an explosive note wrapped around its handle. The Hokage's son tensed.

Then he saw her crouch over and turn her head to look at something. He spotted a head of black hair. Sasuke had arrived at the scene.

"We just have to find Naruto," he witnessed the kunoichi whisper to his friend. Sasuke didn't seem like he was surprised and Naruto thought that they would outright attack each other, but what she said immediately put him on edge. What exactly did she mean by that? Was Sakura planning on turning against him? "Then we can take the bells for just the two of us. With that guy's chakra control, he would just hold us back."

His azure eyes widened when he saw that his best friend looked like he was about to say something. He was horrified to note that Sasuke actually agreed.

"No," he murmured to himself as he saw the two leap out into the trees before them. He hoped that this wasn't actually happening to him. Sasuke wouldn't betray him, would he?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard and saw the smoke from an explosion and when he picked up the shout of, "Get over here, Naruto!" from a voice that was clearly Sasuke's, he assumed that the ruckus was the from kunai that Sakura had most likely thrown in order to weed him out. Sasuke was on her side and so the blond clenched his eyes shut.

He had no choice but to attack them back.

The blond reached into his pouch and retrieved a handful of shuriken. In a second he was gone with barely a rustle and the sound of a slight tinkling of a bell could be heard in his wake. However, he did not notice that the scene he had just abandoned rippled away like a faded memory.

And when Naruto hopped from tree branch to tree branch, picking up speed as he went, the billowing gray smoke only appeared to grow ominously taller as he got closer.

Bursting through the gases and leaves, he saw Sasuke with a kunai held firmly in his fists and a battered appearance, growling in annoyance as he stood in a horse stance in the middle of a circular clearing in the forest. There were dirt and char marks flecked all over his clothing.

"Where did you go?" the raven snarled out.

Naruto noticed the bell that tingled precariously on his belt loop and decided that it was his chance. He pulled a cloth ball from his pockets and hurled it towards the ground near the Uchiha's sandals and the smoke bomb released, white clouds rupturing forth from it like thick mist snaking in all directions.

Naruto jumped from his tree branch and waded his way through the blur as stealthily as possible, all the while hearing Sasuke cough from the shock. He cautiously crouched down and his hand almost fingered the bells on the waistband of his friend…so close…and then—

Another pale hand grabbed his wrist.

An onyx gaze that could only belong to Sasuke stared at his own blue one directly and with suspicion. "What do you think you're doing, loser?" scowled the Uchiha. "I didn't want to believe it but now I see! You were teaming up with Sakura to steal my bells!"

Naruto recoiled, his mouth agape. "What? No way!" he retorted. "I'm only trying to take your bells because I heard you team up with Sakura to take mine!"

"Don't lie! I threw that paper bomb because I saw you coming from there," and Sasuke signaled to the path behind him. "I heard you talking up in the trees!"

The Namikaze hissed, "That's crap! I came from the opposite direction!" And he pointed to the forest that he just came from. "I clearly saw you and her talking behind the bushes and Sakura had the kunai!"

"That's—"

A gigantic crack formed beneath their feet and the boys were forced to split apart; they jumped in order to avoid the new attack. Sakura Haruno emerged from the dust, twirling the handle of a kunai knife. Apparently she had laid a trap for the two. There was a determined and oddly hurt look in her eyes as she walked forward and the blond and the raven glared at her with undefined distrust.

"I knew it," the girl spoke with a resigned voice, "I heard you two plotting to take my bells, and now I found you here together." Her pupils darted to the side. It was clear that she was conflicted about the prospect of the situation.

At the same time, both Naruto and Sasuke moved to correct her statement by respectively shouting that she had been planning against them.

Subsequently, a heated argument ensued. Naruto and Sasuke were howling obscenities at each other, each dumbfounded that each boy would actually betray the other, the glint of sadness and offense marring their expressions. Sakura was equally as hurt and he was shouting with raised fists and her shoulder length pink hair was flying all over the place and even into her face and mouth, but she didn't seem to care at that moment.

Eventually it got to the point where the three of them lifted their weapons at each other, each intent on snatching a bell, completely forgetting that Itachi was also a possible candidate. As soon as the first shuriken was thrown, Naruto was in a locked and fierce taijutsu battle with his friend and the girl was leaping around them, trying to find an opening.

The Hoake's son was pushed backwards, sliding on the ground with brute force and his backside was suddenly patted down with heaping amounts of soil. He made a desperate grunting noise and he flayed his arms about him in an attempt to slow down the momentum…

For a brief few seconds he was on another empty clearing, the face of an undead man standing before him. The man, whose hair was black, had a set of red eyes with dark tomoe swirling within them. The sclera, however, were also pure black to signify the use of a forbidden jutsu that revived him.

"Listen and remember," the man in the strange dark robes said to Naruto,"the reason the people of the village who used to hate you started to admire you and consider you their comrade, is that you've always worked hard because you wanted to be acknowledged by them.

"You said, 'It's thanks to everybody that I've come this far,'" continued he. "No matter how powerful you become, never try to shoulder everything alone, otherwise you will undoubtedly fail." And Naruto only stared in wonder because indeed, he had almost forgotten. "Your father, Minato, could become Hokage because he had your mother, Kushina and all the others."

The shinobi gave the blond another look and he pressed on.

"Your dream is the same as your father's isn't it? Then remember…"And he gave Naruto an intense look that he would never overlook even if he tried, "It's not that if you become Hokage you will be acknowledged, it is the ones who are acknowledged that can become Hokage.

"Do not forget your friends."

…And Naruto's gaze snapped back up. He narrowly missed a punch to the face as he rolled out of the way, retaking his surroundings with a keen eye. Of all the times to have a weird daydream, now certainly wasn't the best time, but he thought that maybe for once, this one could be useful. He had his sense knocked back into him.

He huffed, bouncing back onto his feet with a spring and saw Sasuke and Sakura now facing off at each other. He patted his belt and was relieved to find that his set of bells was still dangling there. Whoever attacked him must have given up as soon as he dodged in favor of another enemy that was still willing to strike.

Just as Sasuke was about to hurl a shuriken at the girl, Naruto bellowed, "Stop!"

In response, the Uchiha skidded to a halt, a stunned look on his features. Sakura too glanced over at his direction, a feeling of confusion overtaking the previous amounts of fight swelling in her body.

"Don't you see what's going on here?" asked the twelve-year-old. "We're blaming each other but all of us are saying that we're not guilty!"

Sasuke dropped his throwing arm, curiosity also taking a hold of him. "What do you mean? I know what I saw." And the girl heartily agreed with him.

"Or do you know what you saw?" inquired the other friend forcibly. "I thought I saw you planning against me with Sakura, but you and her totally deny it. You thought you saw me with Sakura, but I know I didn't, and she thinks she saw me and you trying to think of a way to take her bell, but both of us know we didn't do that either."

Realization dawned on both Sasuke and Sakura.

"Genjutsu!" the younger Uchiha brother exclaimed. "It would be just like my brother to do that!"

Sakura nodded. "He pitted us against each other!"

"Right!" Naruto marveled out loud. "I think he wants to see what we'll do! We have to trust each other, no matter what! Look," he went on, "We could probably try and take bells from each other, but then we would be forgetting that sensei is around, right?" The others nodded in acceptance. That had happened. "But if we went against each other, what's the point of Itachi-sensei having bells?"

Sasuke smirked and he placed his leftover weapons back into his pouch. The other two followed suit.

"So," the clan member remarked, eying his teammates, "what's the plan?"

"We work together to take our sensei's bells."

And so the three of them set off minutes later, a plan clear-cut in their minds. Well, as clear as it could ever be. No one really knew how well things would go, especially against an elite ninja. They hid separately from each other, staring intently at the jounin who was currently standing with a bored expression on his face just on the outskirts of the forest.

Itachi peered upwards and said, "I know you three are there. You only have a few minutes left. Did any of you lose a bell yet?"

"Yeah, I did, sensei," said someone and it was revealed that the three teammates walked out together and Naruto looked resigned as Sasuke dangled his friend's bell at his fingertips, a proud smile on his lips.

"Oh, that's really a shame, Naruto," replied Itachi with a seemingly sad façade.

A second passed and suddenly the teenager launched at the three of them, surprising them and he calmly stated, "It's too bad that none of you are real," and he swiftly swept a kick under their legs until the three shadow close disappeared in a puff of dust and smoke. Green leaves flew upwards in response, twirling in circles in midair.

The air rustled and out of nowhere came a thick weaved rope that tied itself around Itachi's leg just as he was about to straighten himself from the martial arts he had performed. The man grunted and he was lifted up into a tree speedily, the wind zipping around his eardrums. Atop the tree that had captured him was Sakura. She had a knife in her hand and the other was holding the other half of the cut rope. It was made apparent that she was the one to trigger the trap that he knew Naruto had helped set up.

Rapidly, her fingers made to snatch the bells from his waist, but the teacher was too quick for her. He somehow flipped in the air, even with his ankle tied in a knot, and he used a mild fire jutsu to burn the rope away before she could do anything more.

The jounin fell to the ground and rolled on impact until there was a gigantic ball of flames headed in his direction. Blinking, and trying to hide that he was impressed, Itachi countered it with a fireball technique of his own.

An erratic and grating sound enveloped the clearing and Itachi realized almost too late that the girl had activated another trap made out of ninja wires that was heading his way. He skillfully avoided them. Then, a smoke bomb activated and out of the midst came out about twenty different clones; all made to look like Sasuke and Sakura. He was surrounded.

"Where's the other one, little brother?" questioned Itachi, "I know that out of the three of you, Naruto is the best at making shadow clones, so that leads me to deduce that he's the one making these."

"Not telling," all the copies of Sasuke said at once, including the real one who was hiding among them.

Itachi quickly made hand signs and stated, "Water Release: Dispersing Waves!" As a consequence, gushing water exploded from his palms and surrounded him in a circle, like a ring. The popping noises of defeated clones resounded, but then directly behind him, he heard his brother release another grand fireball, but water always beats fire in a battle.

The two elements clashed and blew outward into steam and huge droplets of liquid fell from the sky as if it was raining on that sunny day. The flames were easily doused away.

Shuriken flew and he couldn't tell from whom they came from exactly, but it forced him to back up and the mist was obscuring his vision as well. He was tempted to let out Water Release: Water Bullet Technique, but he knew that was an S-rank technique. He already knew that even if the genin went all out, he himself could not afford to do the same.

Itachi felt a palm press against his back and the telltale sounds of tingling bells could be heard. He dodged just as Sasuke was about to touch his precious cargo, but as soon as he was about to leap far away, an arm clad in an orange and black jacket erupted from the earth beneath them and grabbed his ankle. Sasuke made further attempts to push Itachi backwards and the hand clenched so tightly that it was difficult for him to move anymore, and Naruto came bursting along with his hand, a resolute gleam in his eyes, Sasuke punching as swiftly as possible, Sakura in a battle ready stance with steam encircling her legs, and Naruto made a grab for the bells…

Brrrrring!

Everything seemed to be brought at a standstill, and then, calmly, Itachi spoke, "Well, it looks like the test is over."

The remaining smoke had finally dispersed and the three students looked downward, dejected. Though all three of them managed to keep their bells, none of them had succeeded in obtaining another. It looked like they had all failed.

"I see," supplemented the teenager, "It looks like none of you achieved the objective…" He watched as the shoulders of each member of the trio sagged. "At least the three of you can leave this field with the knowledge that you have understood the purpose of this examination."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all glanced up swiftly in astonishment.

"See, your test wasn't just about trusting in your comrades, but about being able to look underneath the underneath in order to do so," Itachi informed Team Seven. He allowed a few seconds of silence to pass in hopes that the message would sink in. Then, the teenager did something peculiar and grinned widely, bewildering his younger brother.

He leaned over and whispered loudly enough so that only the three of them could hear, "You pass."

But just as the students were about to start rejoicing, the jounin placed his hands on each of their heads and ruffled their hair, effectively making each team member look like they had just woken up and gotten out of bed. Then, he smiled slightly, a strange sinister expression on his face, and declared in an all too jovial tone, "And now for the final lesson for today!" The teacher put his hands together in the symbol of the ram. Smoke exploded into existence. "Never trust your enemies!"

And there, standing before the three man squad, was Kakashi Hatake.

The mouths of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all dropped open in shock. "HUH?!"

"Ah, my cute genin team," chuckled the man, "That was what we call a Transformation Technique. If I were the real enemy, my trick to make you believe that I was actually Itachi Uchiha would have been a fatal one. Looks like we'll have to work on that.

"Anyway, first mission is tomorrow. Come to Training Ground Seven at eight o'clock sharp! Don't be late because—"

Naruto's eyelid twitched viciously. "You're going to be at least two hours late," the boy interjected and Kakashi put his hands up to placate him, laughing nervously at the venomous expression he was bestowing. The poor man was practically being backed up into a corner as Sakura shrank into the background, never having seen her new teammate as furious as he was, and Sasuke had an annoyed scowl on his face, his arms firmly crossed.

The blond stalked his newly revealed teacher until Kakashi had his back pressed up against a tree trunk. He jabbed a finger onto the man's chest and the nervous laughter only grew more pronounced. It was no secret to Naruto's closest comrades that the preteen had inherited some of his mother's attitude so that if he was provoked enough, the turnout could be scary.

"Dad was in on this, wasn't he?" he queried with narrowed eyes.

The jounin only closed his eyes as if smiling and hastily stuttered out, "Ha ha, well looks like my work is done here! See you!" And the ninja disappeared with a poof.

Annoyed, Naruto turned to glower at his teammates, earning him an amused but equally just as irked look from Sasuke.

"When I see that guy tomorrow after he's hours late," the blond vehemently snarled, "I'm gonna ask my dad if that's considered treason if I kill him."

"Who was that guy then?" Sakura requested from the two boys confusedly. She only received angry glowers.

ooo

"Ugh! There is no way I can do this right! This is impossible!"

Minato emitted a soft and extraordinarily patient sigh. "You just started working on this when you graduated, so it's only been about a month and a half. I did say that learning the Hiraishin would be difficult and would likely take up a lot of time. That and you're lucky to even be in the process of learning an S-rank technique. You need to be tolerant, son."

Father and son were outside in the private training grounds that sat behind the Hokage's Mansion. The sun was just peeking out from behind the horizon and its rays sprayed across the field like streaks of light yellow paint. Behind the sliding wood and rice paper doors, both could hear the clashing of pots and pans and other cookware as Kushina struggled to create a hearty breakfast. Not that they doubted her, of course. She was a fantastic cook, just a clumsy one.

Kushina had this way about her that both males knew. She could practically make anything from scratch including, of course, the most tasty ramen (in both their opinions), that could easily rival Ichiraku's. She could accidentally knock over too much cinnamon into homemade applesauce, but yet somehow make it work still by improving on the other aspects of the taste so that everything would balance out instead of turning out to be a disaster.

The best cook in all of Konoha and perhaps in all of the elemental nations, according to her husband and son, was Kushina. So far, no one could dispute the fact nor would they dare especially after Jiraya had teasingly and jokingly did so. That incident did not fare well for the man. He ended up with a nasty purpling bruise on his head and a concussion that resulted in a trip to the hospital.

"Yeah but I can't even teleport somewhere yet without your help," grumbled Naruto.

The father smiled and placed an encouraging hand on his son's shoulder. "Look, it even took me a long time before I could master the technique and I was the one who created it." He nodded over to the three pronged kunai that was lodged in the grass meters away. "One day you'll reach that kunai and you'll have succeeded."

The younger Namikaze tried to intervene. "But—" He was cut off when his dad started to ruffle the hair on top of Naruto's head.

"There's no rush," Minato went on to explain, "As long as you work hard, you will get there eventually. There isn't a war going on either, so just concentrate on improving at a steady pace rather than a fast one."

At the dejected emotion his son was emitting, the Hokage only chuckled and suggested that he try going towards the target again. He told the preteen to concentrate on the destination rather than the seal inked onto the handle of the kunai.

In a second, there was indeed a yellow flash in the clearing, but it stopped too soon. Naruto had apparently managed to teleport towards the stuck weapon, but only moved about half a foot forward. He continued to grumble when he marked the ground by etching a line into it with the sharp edge of one of his kunai knives.

Minato grinned at the scene and chimed, "See? You're already doing better! You got further than last time…"

"Yeah by an inch," Naruto frowned.

"Don't be like that. You can do it. I know you can."

The conversation was interrupted by the shout of, "Boys! Breakfast is ready! Get your lazy butts to the table!" One that didn't know would say that Kushina was in another interesting mood that morning, but to the pair, they already knew that that was the norm.

But that didn't mean that Naruto had to appreciate it. "Lazy? What was that—" The father took his son by the back of his jacket and shook his head.

"I know you're still upset, but you know better than to provoke her," the older blond mildly informed.

Effectively deflated, both Namikazes made their way inside and into the dining area near the kitchen where square porcelain plates were set for the three of them and pairs of black chopsticks were laid out beside them on their respective holders. Bowls of steamed rice big enough for an individual person were also set next to each place setting. In the center of the round table was a plateful of tamagoyaki (1) wrapped in strips of seaweed, another plate of three small crunchy looking broiled fish, and a large pot of steaming miso soup with a stack of empty bowls by it.

Dumbfounded, Naruto pulled out a chair and sat down excitedly. "Wow, mom! You really outdid yourself this time!"

Kushina beamed, sitting down as well next to her husband and replied, "Well I just had to, ya know! I heard that today a certain someone was gonna get their first—"

"Shh!" Minato hushed his wife. "I haven't told them yet! Only the sensei knows because he requested it. I want to keep it a surprise." And he winked over to her and she giggled out an agreement, to which Naruto only sank into confusion.

"What are you guys talking about?" the boy asked.

"Ha ha," the mother laughed, "Nothing, nothing." She picked up her chopsticks, gesturing for the other two to follow her lead, "Let's just eat."

After exclaiming that they were thankful for the food, the family dug into the meal with enthusiasm. The fish and eggs were gone in minutes and while he gathered up his plate and utensils, Naruto shot his father an odd look.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the Tower already, dad?"

Kushina threw him a suspicious glare as well. "You've been stalling, haven't you? Let me guess…you have a meeting with the Elders again!"

Minato chocked and scratched the back of his head in a nervous gesture while he chuckled under his breath. "Uh…well," his gaze flickered over to his son, avoiding the Uzumaki woman's stare, "Anyway, isn't it time for you to be heading out to the training grounds?"

"Dad!" the kid whined, "You know Kakashi-nii will be late anyways!"

"That doesn't mean you should be late," Minato tut-tutted as he shooed his son out the front door. "Now get going."

When the entrance panels slid shut, Naruto clearly heard the loud reprimands that his mother was bellowing to his father and the panicked chortling that followed. Naruto knew that his dad's attempts to placate his fuming parent would do next to nothing productive. At least it was hilarious that the strongest ninja in the village could be scared witless by a single woman with anger management issues.

So maybe he shouldn't say that out loud. His mother would probably kill him too.

Serves him right for stalling like that, thought the boy. He patted his sides and was grateful to note that he already had his weapons pouches attached to his pants. He didn't feel like it was such a great idea to come marching back into his house especially when his mom was in one of her moods.

He made his way to Training Ground Seven which was a field that was somewhat near to his old school and when he arrived, he was not surprised to see that his teammates minus Kakashi were there. It was almost two hours past the time they were scheduled to meet, but their teacher was never on time anyway.

Sitting below a tree, Sakura had a blue book open on her lap with a title written in silver that read as Sky Myths. At least she was intelligent and brought something to entertain and preoccupy herself with until their less than punctual instructor arrived. Sasuke appeared to be slumped over and sleeping with his arms crossed.

"Did you know that some people think that Ursa Major really used to be a bear and was sent up to the sky by some higher being? Some other people think that the seven stars represent the seven celestial palaces of the Star God of Longevity or something," the only girl on the team reported to the other two members sitting resignedly beside her, not perceiving that one of her crushes was not conscious enough to understand. She aimed to please, or rather, attempt to impress them.

"You really like reading that stuff?" Naruto supplied tiredly.

The kunoichi only smiled and further educated, "And did you know that some people think that the full moon makes you crazy? They even have this weird saying that if there's a second full moon in a month, it wouldn't only make you go crazy, but it could be a sign of betrayal!" Her green eyes lit up with fascination.

Sasuke finally lifted his head from his chest and blearily asked, "Isn't a second full moon in a month called a blue moon?"

"Yeah, yeah," the girl agreed happily, "Something like that."

Naruto looked around the empty training field and groaned. He realized at that moment that he really should have not expected to see any other kind of turn up. Kakashi was always late, no matter what, unless it was something particularly urgent like an A-rank mission or an angry summons from the Hokage. (Not that it really made much a difference. Minato had made it a point to lie about the time the jounin was needed for gatherings so that he would end up coming earlier than expected.)

So when the teacher in question popped up in front of the trio sooner than expected, he actually jumped in his seat.

"What are you doing here?" blinked the blond.

"I'm supposed to be here of course," Kakashi mildly responded, waving a gloved hand.

"No I mean what are you doing here so early?"

The inquiry was promptly ignored and the Hatake went on to explain that they would be receiving a mission that day and the three students complained because none of them wanted a D-rank that involved them babysitting the annoying triplets of the Councilman's again. That had ended up in an explosion of multiple pillows in the home that unfortunately contained the kinds of feathers that you didn't want up your nose.

Naruto groaned about the possibility of having to chase down that stupid cat owned by the Fire Daimyo's wife again. Poor Tora was being squished to death and awfully abused by suffocation and that was why she was running away. But the fact was Naruto hated cats, especially when they turned out scratching up his face and leaving a very sullen Yondaime's son in their wake.

However, Kakashi simply laughed it off and told the team that they would be getting their mission statements after they did a bit of light training—the preteens moaned at this—if one could call it light. The man's training was awfully brutal, often involving fifty laps around the village…with someone called Konoha's Green Beast, Might Guy. (But in Naruto's mind the green spandex wearing guy should probably have his name written in all capital letters to fit his "youthful" personality.)

It was torture they didn't necessarily enjoy.

Fortunately for them, they knew deep down that the training was highly effective. Each of them noticed their improvements in various aspects within the timespan that they had begun work under Kakashi.

With his training, it became apparent why the members of Team Seven were put together. With the new system in the Academy set in place for years, the traditional ranking of "dead last" and "Rookie of the Year" was almost totally gone. So instead the teams were set up according to pure skill set.

Naruto's taijutsu was steadily improving and his chakra control, while still regrettably abysmal, was being worked on. Sakura was gaining strength and endurance, but could easily use her smarts to help out with strategies. She often helped the other two with chakra control as well. Sasuke went to Naruto for help with ninjutsu and he would supply assistance in genjutsu, though Naruto doubted he would ever master it on his own.

But in the meantime, their strengths and weaknesses in various aspects of the shinobi arts balanced each other out.

"You already mastered tree climbing," Kakashi stated in a seemingly uninterested tenor, "So we're going to start with water walking today." He received an especially unhappy groan from Naruto who pointed out that he was probably going to be horrible at it. "And that's why we're working on it. Everyone on this team, particularly you, needs to improve their chakra control. Your jutsu will develop strongly if you master it. You know that.

"Anyway," the man persisted, "After about two hours of training on that, we'll be going to the Tower for today's mission."

A couple of hours later, the trio of students was soaking wet with freezing lake water. The jounin instructor giddily informed them that they would be working on the "scalding hot springs water that will most likely leave a multitude of second degree burns" next. Those were his words, not theirs.

The team members sighed together, not bothering to completely dry off, and followed their sadistic teacher towards the entry of the Hokage's base of operations at a sedate pace. They felt the villagers' amused gawks as they walked by dripping. Their sandals made funny sloop-plop sounds as they stepped on the streets. A small group of Academy students who were on lunch break could be heard snorting with mirth in the background.

How embarrassing.

And after that experience, a brooding group of genin entered the office of their Fourth Hokage, expecting some horrible D-rank that would involve all three of them doing an insanely impossible household chore that they all silently agreed should be done by the clients themselves, not that they would really say anything aloud.

"Team Seven reporting for a mission, Hokage-sensei," Kakashi cheerily sang. Minato shook his head at the nickname his only surviving pupil had cooked up for him.

The three seemingly wilted in their places and Naruto looked up to his father saying, "Please give us a decent D-rank this time, Hokage-sama." The father appeared amused at his son's chosen way of addressing him. It seemed like he was subtly trying to beg for this one. "I don't think any of us can handle a potato picking operation, especially after the torture your pervert of a student calls training had us do."

Sasuke and Sakura silently agreed and Kakashi giggled to himself, his masked face buried in an orange covered pornographic novel.

The leader beamed and picked up a tightly wound scroll while the assistant who just so happened to be Iruka-sensei, wrote down the ranking and the number of the team that would take it on a separate sheet of official looking paper.

"Looks like you're in luck," Minato sounded entertained, earning a narrowed stare from his son. "Your sensei has fortunately requested that you take your first C-rank mission, effective in an hour when you leave the village."

Naruto's mouth was open.

The father pointedly glared at his son. "Naruto, shut your mouth when someone is talking to you. You look like a drooling Jiraya-sensei." The boy immediately followed orders bashfully, but the rest of the occupants in the room laughed at the scolding.

"Alright, Team Seven," said Minato sternly. He was suddenly serious and his son detected the change in mood quickly. The Fourth shifted his gaze earnestly from one member of the cell to another, "Your mission is to act as bodyguards from a group of bandits that have been recently swarming the area. You will be serving a group of merchants that are transporting new cargo from their home village of Mie to another village in the same region called Saga. When they have safely delivered their goods, you will report back to me.

"In an hour you will journey to the Land of Rice Paddies and to Mie where you will meet your clients."

Coming up next…

Chapter Six: Blue Moon Rising Part II (Snake Eyes)

Team Seven finally embarks on their first C-rank mission.

Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…

(1) Tamagoyaki is a Japanese dish that is made of eggs, usually referred to as a sweet egg omelet and it is served typically in a similar fashion to sushi in which the main contents are wrapped in seaweed.

- A traditional Japanese breakfast is obviously not like a Western one. Typical of any Asian country, breakfast usually includes rice which is a huge staple. And yes I would know this considering that I am Asian myself. Where my family is from, we usually eat garlic rice with sausage or fried chicken in the morning. In a more Westernized version, I sometimes eat bacon or scrambled eggs with white rice. It doesn't mean we do it all the time, just often. And yes, in a traditional Japanese breakfast there is rice also, the usual miso soup, fish, natto beans, and dried seaweed.