Super Genius Naruto: A Rewritten Tale
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Chapter 4: The Birth Of An Unique Team
A brand new day was about to begin in Konohagakure as the birds chirped between the building to wake up the villagers of Konoha. Some were already awake, due to their duty of the life of a shinobi. Right at this moment, a certain group of Jonin was holding a meeting, to prepare for today's event that could change their life for the next few years.
"So the teams are already decided, though, some of them were expected, like the Ino-Shika-Cho group, what do you think about this, Kurenai?" A tall man, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard, smiled. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up halfway.
"It's been a while that I took a team, but I'm actually looking forward to this one, Asuma," Kurenai, a fair-skinned woman of slender build, responded. She has long black untamed hair reaching her upper back and very unique eyes that are red in color, with an additional ring in them. Her regular outfit consists of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages.
"Hahaha, that's the spirit, I'm also looking forward to the new power of youth!", a tall and well-built man with high cheek-bones, thick eyebrows, and black hair cut in a bowl style, cheerfully laughed. He wore a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket, though it's unzipped. His forehead protector is on a red cloth and is worn around his waist, like a belt.
Asuma sweatdropped, "why are you here anyway, you still have your team from last year, Guy."
Kurenai sighed, "it's probably about him," she pointed to the sole man far away from them, leaning on a wall while reading a unique book. He has spiky silver hair, dark grey eyes, and a relaxed, heavy-lidded expression. He wore the Konoha's standard infantry clothing. Though he covered his left eye with his forehead protector, combined with a mask he has used to cover the lower half of his face.
Suddenly Guy's eyes burned with passion, pointing his finger to the man, "Kakashi! I really hope that this time, you will get your genin team! I want to compete with you, through our pupils!"
Kakashi closed his book and turned away from the three, "well, if they pass my test, that it," he simply said and disappeared from the room.
"Kakashi..!" Guy yelled in a frustrated voice, Kakashi is always the cool one, "as expected of my lifetime rival!"
"Typical, Kakashi," Kurenai sighed and chuckled, "I've heard, that he had never let a genin team pass his trial yet, I wonder if this will turn into a legend."
"Hmm, but looking at his team this year, may change this, he has two interesting individuals in this team," Asuma looked with an interesting expression through the list of the several genin teams, "the 'last' Uchiha and..."
-At the same time, Naruto residence-
Naruto woke up at this moment and looked outside of his window, "today looks great, I have a good feeling."
Kurama smiled, "so today is the day, hm?"
"Yes, I'm looking forward to this, I wonder what will happen and in which team I will be placed," Naruto grinned, "I actually can't wait anymore!"
Kurama was amused, how joyful Naruto was, but reminded him of something, "but don't show off too much, it's still too early."
Naruto shrugged it off, "it's fine, we won't take any hard mission, we will start with simple D-Rank missions, so there's nothing to show off anyway, you worry too much, Kurama."
"Just saying," Kurama sighed, maybe it was only in Kurama imagination, but Naruto may have too much confidence right now, Kurama only hoped that this won't backstab him for the future.
"Looking at the clock, I still have time, let make breakfast first, before I go."
"You've trained six years for this," Kurama whispered to itself, looking proud at Naruto, "you're more than ready, to go out, into the big world, and to experience your own adventure."
-Konoha Academy-
Naruto finally arrived at the academy after he finished his breakfast, but before he went inside, he took the Konoha-Forehead-Protector outside of his pocket, which he hasn't touched since he got it yesterday.
He looked intensely at the Konoha symbol, "this is it, finally...," he smiled, putting the forehead protector against his forehead and tightly tied it up, making sure it wouldn't get loose so easily.
Kurama smiled, talking in a low voice only itself could hear, "even though you've suffered so much in this village, you're still proud to be part of Konohagakure, maybe it's just natural, after all, it's your birthplace, or are the few people that have to acknowledge you, giving you hope? Iruka, Teuchi, Ayame, the Third..., then again, I think, only because it's YOU, can still love a village, that doesn't even consider you a normal person anymore, this much," Kurama made a small break as he watched Naruto enter the academy, "I hope they'll all see, how amazing you actually are, I will silently pray in the background for you, you deserve it so much, Naruto..."
After Naruto finally found the room, where the graduate's Genin's supposed to gather, he opened the door and stepped inside, making the people who were already inside, looking at him.
"Oi! Is the dead-last from my class! What are you doing here? I thought only those who have passed the exam are supposed to be here," one of his former classmates laughed as he recognized Naruto.
"He probably got lost, there is no way that this loser passed the exam," another boy joined in.
Naruto sighed, but he endured this, after all, he won't see them anymore, well, only if they're not paired in the same team with him, that it. It would be difficult, but he wanted to change their mind of him anyway, but for now, he didn't want to argue with them.
"Are you blind? Don't you see his forehead-protector? This shows that he passed the exam," a boy with messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, and pronounced canine teeth cut in. He also has distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks. His outfit consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood placed on his head. And interestingly, A small puppy with white fur was sitting on his head.
Naruto was surprised, that someone would defend him if he remembered correctly it was Kiba Inuzuka from another class, and this puppy on his head is his partner Akamaru. `I'm actually jealous of him, I wish Kurama could fight by my side, like Akamaru.´
"This would be really something," Kurama could only agree, fighting side by side with Naruto would be a dream.
"But, I came after him and he didn't wear the forehead protector as he came out of the Hokage office, yesterday," a girl exclaimed.
Suddenly a long sigh, was heard from the backline, "that doesn't mean that he failed, he probably just wanted to save it for today, don't make such a troublesome conclusion," it was yet another boy, he has shoulder-length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes. His attire was rather plain, consisting of a green-lined mesh T-shirt under a short-sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, his forehead protector worn around his left arm, brown pants, and blue sandals.
"Haha, I wonder how many times you already said 'troublesome' for today, even though the day only just began," a boy beside him laughed, eating some potato chips, he has spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and a more robust physique. He wore black shorts, a long white scarf, a short-sleeved, green haori, over a light-green shirt, with the kanji for "food" on it, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages. His forehead protector was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of hair to poke out at each side.
Naruto also recognized those two, the first one was, Shikamaru Nara, and the second, Choji Akimichi, they are long-term friends since their childhood, `but Shikamaru is really sharp, he pinpointed this pretty accurate. Choji seems to be a carefree person, looks like he doesn't care as long his food is by his side.´
"Tch, I bet he probably stole it from somewhere," the first boy snorted again, it was actually the first time, that someone defended the dead-last and he didn't like that.
"Don't you think you've talked enough? We will see, if he is supposed to be here or not," yet, another boy cut in, he is a fair-skinned ninja and the tallest member of his graduating class, he has dark, bushy, brown hair. His clothes consisting of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar.
This is Shino Aburame, Naruto could tell, he is always a mysterious and calm person, the mysterious thing was that nobody has ever seen his eyes behind the sunglasses, `I wonder, if he had helped me, or was just annoyed by the loudness in the room, then again, it's rare to hear him speak," even for Naruto, who could read a person personality, by observing them for a while, it was hard to grasp on Shino's character, he was someone who had never really shown his emotion, no matter what the circumstances were.
With this though, the room became silent as nobody wanted to speak against Shino, cause of a special ability he has from his clan, that could easily traumatize them. Naruto used this chance to search for an empty seat place and he quickly found one. He reached to the seat as he noticed that two rows away, sat the top stu-
"Hey, Naruto-baka! Move away! I want the seat next to you!" Suddenly a demanding female voice made Naruto turn his head, two new female genin's entered the room. It seems like they had a race against each other as they're catching their breath, the girl, who demanded him to move, was a girl with cherry blossoms hair color, fair skin, and green eyes. She wore a red qipao dress, that has a zipper and white circular designs. She also wears tight dark green bike shorts and sandals.
"No! This is my seat, Sakura!" The other kunoichi, who was right behind Sakura protested she is a fair-skinned girl of average height with blue eyes. The most noticeable trait in her appearance is her long, pale blonde hair, which is always seen in a high ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a short purple vest like a blouse with a raised collar and a purple apron skirt that is cut off on the sides. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this, and her forehead protector around her waist as a belt.
"What are you saying, Ino! We promise, that the one who came first, will take the seat beside Sasuke-kun! Are you breaking this promise? The one who loses has to accept this!" Sakura glared at Ino.
"Urgh, bu-!" Ino tried to say something but got cut off by Naruto.
"Sakura-san, you can take this seat then," Naruto closed his eyes and let Sakura through, which she replied with a "yay".
Ino was taken aback and about to yell at Naruto, but cut off by Naruto once again, "sorry Ino-san, but you shouldn't break a promise you made, but I'm sure, next time you can win," he winked at her and offered his seat instead, "you can take this seat then."
Ino was once again taken aback of this sudden turn of event as her heart made a beat from his wink, "I-I don't need your sympathy! Argh, I don't care anymore! Suit yourself, Sakura," she managed to reply as she walked off, which Sakura responded with a stretching tongue, but Ino couldn't care less about her anymore as she was conflicted with something, `w-what was that? Why did my heart skip a beat for the loser of our class?´
"I wonder what happened," Naruto frowned.
"Girls...," Kurama sighed in the background.
"Maybe it was unfair, but a promise is a promise," Naruto sighed, as he turned to Sakura only to see her fawning over the boy, who was sitting next to her. `Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, both are probably the smartest, and strongest females in this generation, their rivality aren't bad, they can push each other even higher, though... I feel a bit bad for Sasuke-san.´
Sasuke Uchiha, has black eyes and spiky black hair with a blue tint. Sasuke's hair has hung over his face as a bang. He is considered handsome by most girls his age, especially Sakura and Ino. He wore a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar, white shorts, and white arm warmers. Sasuke also proved to be the standout of his class, consistently getting top grades. However..., he threw himself into his studies at the Academy, making no efforts to form friendships and ignoring all of the girls' attempts to gain his affection.
"But there is a reason for his personality, after all, he had lost...," Naruto whispered that nobody could hear him, but got cut off as a familiar voice spoke with a loud tone to get the attention of all the Genins in the room.
"Everyone, we will shortly begin, please take your seat," it was Iruka, who entered the classroom, he represented the academy teachers of all the graduate's Genins. Shortly after Iruka entered the room, a total of 8 adults, excluding Iruka, came in, standing right next to each other.
"Well, from today on, all of you 27 graduates are real ninjas, but you are still merely rookie genin, the hard part has just started, you will soon be assigned duties by the village. So from today on, we will be creating the three-man teams and each team will have a Jonin as your sensei, which you can see here, right behind me," Iruka began the instruction.
"Where is Kakashi?" Kurenai wondered, she and Asuma were one of the Jonin's, who were about to take their own team.
Asuma sighed, "you know him, he won't be here anytime soon, I feel bad for his team."
"You'll follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties," Iruka continued, glancing around the room.
Everyone in the room had their own reaction to the announcement of forming a team, here are some that may interest you;
`Pft, a three-man teams? That just more people getting in my way,´ Sasuke snorted.
`I have to be with Sasuke-kun!´, Sakura prayed to god.
`Teams, huh? But I already know where I will be put,´ Shikamaru sighed.
`As long as I am on Shikamaru's team, everything is alright,´ Choji munched his food.
`Hehe, whoever is in my team, they will see how awesome I am!´ Kiba smirked while patting his partner Akamaru.
Shino only responded with a poker face.
`I want to be in a team with Sasuke-kun! And m-maybe...What the hell, INO? Don't think about him!´ Ino was lost in her thoughts, conflicting with herself.
Unknown to them all, a certain girl in the background putting her hands to her chest, "Naruto-kun...," she silently whispered.
`Teams, I wonder how they have divided the team, they've probably tried to balance this, hmm, as I am the dead last of all classes, maybe...,´ Naruto tried to figure it out, glancing to his side.
"W-What, Naruto-baka? Do you want to be on my team? There is no way that will happen!" Sakura shouted, noticing how Naruto glanced in her direction.
Naruto chuckled at how she'd overreact, `Sakura, is really interesting, but if I am right...´
"Let's begin, Team 1 will be...," Iruka started to divide the 27 genin's into 9 teams, Naruto didn't really pay attention, because team 1-6 mostly consists of his bullies.
"Team 7, will contain Naruto Uzumaki," finally he heard his name and his attention went fully back as Iruka was about to announce his teammates.
"Sakura Haruno," Iruka added.
`Sakura, hmm, if I remember correctly, she is the smartest in my class, even above Sasuke,´ Naruto tried to remember, coincidentally he sat right beside her as he looked over, he saw how unhappy Sakura became, `well, as I thought, she isn't happy, but if I'm right, then her mood will be quickly changing soon.´
`Noooo, he of all people!´ Sakura head went down, totally depressed about this outcome, her life is ov-.
"...and Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka finished, in this instant, Sakura's mood changed into a delightful expression, shouting many yes.
`God heard me! But I am still in the same team with Naruto-baka, ah, who cares, I'm with Sasuke-kun now!´, Sakura's inner voice celebrated.
`Figures,´ Naruto made a small smile, this time he looked over at Sasuke's expression, but it didn't change it all, `he probably didn't really care of this team selection.´
"Ehhh? Why is Sasuke-kun teamed up with the dead-last?", some of the girls protested and were jealous of Sakura, but they couldn't go against her, she is more or less the leader of the Sasuke-fan club.
"Well, Sasuke grades, were first among all of the 27 graduates, and Naruto, he is the dead-last... and we have to do this to balance the teams, understand?" Iruka explained, making the girls booed at him.
"As long as he doesn't get in my way," Sasuke didn't really care.
"Sasuke, so coool!" The girls began to swarms, including Sakura.
Naruto chose to not comment on this, as he didn't want to be hit by those fangirls.
".. your Jonin-sensei will be Kakashi Ha-, Kakashi-san?" Iruka looked around, not finding him by the Jonin's.
"Kakashi will be probably arriving later," Asuma answered with a sweatdrop, `much later.´
"I see, oh well, then we will continue with the next team," Iruka decided to continue, "team 8 consists of Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame, with your Jonin, Kurenai Yuhi."
"I'm looking forward to working with you," Kurenai smiled.
"Hehe, bring it! I'll become the best!" Kiba made a confidential grin.
"N-Nice to meet you!" Hinata nervously greeted. Hinata has dark blue short hair, fair skin, and gentle facial features. She wore a cream-colored hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants. She wore her Konoha forehead protector around her neck. You could see that she wasn't 100 % happy with the outcome of the team selection, `I'm not with Naruto-kun...B-but I'll do my best!´
Shino on the other hand just bowed and nodded.
`Hmm, this boy has a bit too much confidence, the girl is a little too shy and the last one doesn't have many words,´ Kurenai made notes to herself, she got an interesting team.
"Team 9 is still existing right now, so the last team will be Team 10, consists of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi, with your sensei Asuma Sarutobi."
"Nice to meet ya, kids," Asuma cheerfully grinned.
"I knew it, of course, our fathers have their hands of this formation, how troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.
Choji was delighted, a team with his best friend is just the best, "let's have a feast together!"
Ino was a bit down, but she actually knew that it will turn out to this, "the Ino-Shika-Cho, huh? Well, can't go against tradition."
`They are more and less similar to their parents, but only Shikamaru and Choji are close to each other, let see if Ino can really fit with them, I'm really looking forward to your future,´ Asuma smiled.
"Now, that everyone has their team announced, please follow your sensei into a separate room," Iruka smiled, finally their official route of a shinobi will start now, "to my class and of course to all the others, I and my fellow colleagues are proud of you, it was nice to work with you in those past years, I hope you will grow strong, I wish you all good luck!"
"Uhm, Iruka-sensei, what about us?", Sakura asked, as their team instructor wasn't here yet.
"Hm, just wait for a bit, your sensei should be here shortly," Iruka suggested, as he left the room with the others and glanced a last time to the room and smiled, "good luck to you, Naruto."
"I guess, we just to have lean back and wait," Naruto stretched himself and turned to the two, "how about we,-" he stopped himself as he saw that the other two didn't really listen to him as they both were in their own world, Naruto didn't want to bother them and looked up to the ceiling, `Oh well, we have enough time to learn about each other.´
-3 hours later-
"Wow, I wonder if this Sensei, had actually forgotten about us?" Naruto sweatdropped as they already waited for almost exactly three hours for their instructor, "and the mood here won't make it better."
What Naruto meant was, that they haven't really had any conversation in those past 3 hours, unbelievable, but it's true, probably because of their character, Naruto did try to make some conversation with them, but both Sakura and Sasuke are mostly ignoring him, they do answer sometimes, but it was still awkward between them.
Sakura tried to make Sasuke acknowledge her existence, but she was also ignored by Sasuke. Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't want to interact with the two at all. Which made Sakura depressed and through the long waiting, Sasuke also almost lost his patience. Even Kurama is taking a nap.
`Maybe if I can bring them to laugh, the mood will change,´ Naruto thought about this as he took the blackboard eraser from the desk, catching the attention of those two.
"What are you doing Naruto-baka?", Sakura asked, curious what Naruto wanted to do.
`I hope I can change, how she will address me in the future,´ Naruto weakly laughed inside.
"I want to test our Sensei and maybe punishing him for being late," Naruto grinned, sticking the eraser between the door, if someone opened the door, the eraser will fall on them.
"Geez, Naruto-baka, you still act like a child," Sakura scowled, but her inner self thought a bit different, "Yesh! He made us wait for three hours! I kinda like the idea!"
"Pfft, as if he would fall for that, he is a Jonin...," Sasuke sighed, of this stupid prank, he could see why Naruto is the dead-last.
"Haha, I guess you are right, Sasuke-san, and we don't even know when the teacher will come anyway," Naruto smiled, at least he did distract them for a while. Suddenly at that moment, the door opened and a man entered the room, and as Naruto had planned the eraser DID fell and hit him. They could guess that it was their Jonin instructor, Kakashi.
"..."
The three of them were speechless, as each of them has a different thought of this, let see if you can sort them to which belong to who.
`What the hell? Is that our Jonin? How can he fell to such a trick? He doesn't look reliable at all.´
`Haha, deserve him right, it was better than I imagined!´
`He did it on purpose, right? Or did he really fell for this? I can't tell at all."
"Well my first impression," Kakashi started to speak as he looked at the three while putting the eraser away from his head, "I don't like you guys," he said with a scary eye smile, cause most of his face was covered. This statement made the room in awkward silence until Naruto couldn't help it anymore and began to laugh.
"Way to go, to kill the mood again! But somehow this is kind of funny!"
Sakura couldn't help but also laughed along, "this isn't funny, whose fault was this anyway? Now our sensei don't like us!" `But it's actually really funny!´
"Hmpf," Sasuke smirked, he must admit, this was a bit amusing.
Kakashi, who was confused about their reaction decided to progress, "well, you probably figured it already out, I'm your Jonin sensei, but before we continue, let us move the location, to the roof," he said as he disappeared, leaving a smokescreen behind, `seems like they're slowly open up to each other, maybe...´
"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go," Naruto took the lead as the two willingly followed, they already have waited enough.
"This guy.. He feels familiar," Kurama observed the whole situation as it woke up of all the noises.
-On the roof-
The three genin sat oppose to Kakashi as they are facing him face to face, the weather also looked good, as the sun shines down on them, giving them a warm feeling.
"Ok, let us begin with some introductions," Kakashi started.
"What do you want to know?", Sakura asked, not sure how to start.
"Well how about your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that," the Jonin tried to give them an example.
"Well, then how about you start to introduce yourself first, sensei?", Naruto suggested, "we can use it as an example."
"Oh good idea, Naruto-baka," Sakura agreed.
"Oh me? Hmm, my name is Kakashi Hatake, I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future...? Hmmm, well, I have lots of hobbies, though," he finished his introduction just like that.
"All we learned is his full name?" Sakura whispered to the group with a sweatdrop.
"Now, it's your turn, mister dark, in the middle, you can go on first," Kakashi pointed to Sasuke.
Sasuke ignored Kakashi's comment as he began, "my name is Sasuke Uchiha, there are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything and.. I don't want to use the word 'dream', it's more like an ambition, the resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man!", he lastly said, giving an aura, that he was dead serious.
`As I thought,´ Kakashi narrowed his eye.
"Cool," Sakura couldn't help but admire him even more.
`Kill a certain man, it's certainly him,´ Naruto made a sad expression, `but revenge like that isn't a good choice.´
"Well, ms. pinkie, please," Kakashi let it go for now, as he pointed for the next one.
"I'm Sakura Haruno! Not Pinkie! 'cough', well the thing I like..., the person I like is..., should I say my dream for the future? OH MY Gosh!", Sakura blushed and squeaked, every time glancing at Sasuke, but turned off her girly side as she goes on to the things she dislikes, " I dislike Naruto-baka! He is so annoying!"
Sasuke mostly ignored her content, getting more tired of her.
`Girls of this age are more interest in love than ninjutsu,´ Kakashi sighed of this fangirl.
´She is... really something, I wonder if we can really work together in the future,´ Naruto sweatdropped.
"Well, lastly mister 'I want to die' clothes," Kakashi turned to the last one, Naruto.
Naruto chuckled, "your naming skill, reminded me of someone I met yesterday, oh well, Uzumaki Naruto is my name, I like Ramen, especially the ramen from Ichiraku, uncle Teuchi and Ayame-nee have the best ramen in the world, I know! Someday I will take you all there, I also like Iruka-sensei and grandpa Sarutobi, oh, and Konohamaru, (Of course, Kurama too). What I dislike, when somebody, including myself, breaks a promise... but what I absolute despite," Naruto suddenly stopped as his expression completely changes, "is someone trash-talking a friend of mine!"
Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi were surprised by this sudden change, especially the first two as they have never seen Naruto like this.
"My dream. Well, I did say that I will compete with Konohamaru for the title of the Hokage, but... I still don't really have a dream that I truly want to reach. For now, my goal is to make everyone acknowledge me as Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto finished with a big smile.
`Somehow he feels different, then again I didn't really pay attention for the dead-last,´ Sasuke for once didn't ignore someone as he carefully listened to Naruto.
Sakura was really surprised, this smile of his made her feel warm, `U-uhg! What's wrong with you, Sakura? Just ignore him like always and go back to your Sasuke-kun!´
Kakashi smiled under his mask, `he's grown up, since the last time I saw him, though, I did hear that he made lots of pranks in the village lately, I'm actually a bit worried about this. Oh well.´
As they've all finished their introduction, Kakashi began to determine the future of this team, "we will start our duties tomorrow, with a Survival Training."
"What? But we did enough training at the Ninja Academy, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura wondered, why Kakashi decided to put a survival training.
"I'll be your opponent for tomorrow's survival, but this isn't normal training," Kakashi continued, ignoring Sakura's question, "if I'm right, there are 27 graduates this year?"
The trio nodded, not sure what his point was.
Suddenly Kakashi began to laugh, only to calm it down as he continued, "you probably thought, after you passed the exam, you can start your ninja life? Then let me tell you one thing, of these 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen as a Genin, the rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66%!", he finished with a serious look, not a hint of a joke was in.
"W-What? Then what was the point of graduating?" Sakura wasn't happy with this statement.
"Oh, that? That's just to select those that have the chance to become a genin," Kakashi simply replied.
Sakura and even Sasuke, became a bit nervous after hearing this, what Kakashi had said, did make sense, but their tension vanished after Naruto said something aloud, "then, I've just to make sure, to be one of the 9, after all the chances are about 34% right?"
"Naruto...," Sakura mumbled, not even adding the -baka, he was right, after all, she needs to make sure to be the one who'll pass.
Sasuke smirked, he will be definitely one of the 9, why was he worried in the first place?
Kakashi didn't expect an answer like this, this was the first time, that someone didn't crumble, `though, did he purposely said it aloud? Could it be that he wanted to give Sasuke and Sakura their confidence back..? Interesting.´
"Anyway, tomorrow, you will be graded on the training field 3, so bring all of your shinobi tools, oh... and skip your breakfast or you'll throw up tomorrow, here are the details, see you tomorrow," Kakashi handed them some formulas over and disappeared after that.
"Seems like today is over, what are you going to do now?", Naruto asked the two, Sasuke, of course, didn't reply and walked away, "well, see you tomorrow, I guess? What about you, Saku-", he turned to Sakura but was left in the dust as she quickly followed Sasuke behind.
"Sasuke-kun, wait for me~," Sakura shouted after him.
Naruto sighed and turned to the opposite, "I hope this will work better in the future."
"I really hope so, too...," Kurama sighed.
-Sasuke and Sakura-
Sasuke just wanted to go home, to prepare for tomorrow, but a loud voice stopped his track as he turned around.
"Sasuke-kun," it was Sakura, who shouted after him, normally he would ignore her, but she was so damn annoying loud right now.
"Hmpf, what do you want?" Sasuke asked in an impatient voice.
Taken aback by Sasuke's attitude, she nervously tried to make small talk, maybe targeting Naruto would bring him to laugh and would get her closer to him,"Hehe, don't you think Naruto-baka was acting tough today? All he does is just barked even though he is the dead-last in our class, well... he hasn't had a normal childhood. He doesn't have parents either..."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Sakura, as she continued.
"...he can do whatever he wants! If I had acted like him, my parents would get so mad with me. He's so lucky, all alone, parents never getting on his case. He's so annoying!"
"That's why he misbehaves so much, all alone...," Sasuke mumbled, hair covered his eyes, somehow he now understands Naruto's character.
"Huh, S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura didn't understand what Sasuke was trying to say.
"The sadness of having a parent yell at you is nowhere near what he feels," Sasuke clenched his fist.
" W-What do you mean, Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura was not sure why Sasuke suddenly turned so serious, as he didn't laugh as she wanted to.
"You're the annoying one...!" Sasuke gave her an intense glare then turned around and left her in a frozen state behind.
" S-sasuke-kun," Sakura was shocked, this wasn't the outcome that she wanted, "d-did I messed up? A-all I wanted it-." suddenly she became a flashback:
"I dislike Naruto! He is so annoying!"
"...", Sakura was lost in her thoughts, working out this uncomfortable feeling she felt right now, "did Naruto always feel like this? This feeling being called...! Why do I dislike Naruto in the first place anyway..?"
-The next day-
"Good morning," Kakashi greeted, arriving on the training field. The training ground is a portion of land located inside of Konoha. There is a view of mountains in the landscape and a large and deep river with forests on both of its sides. There is a glade and in its center, there are three stumps lined side by side.
"You're late, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto sighed, his Sensei was exactly 3 hours late from their appointment, normally he didn't mind that, there could be any reason why he was late, he is a Jonin after all.
Kakashi laughed it off, "ah, sorry, but a man in a blue costume, red cape, and stylized red-and-yellow "S" shield on his chest, called for my help, it took me a while, though, it was weird that he wore his red underpants over his pants..."
Or maybe not, but Naruto was actually glad that he was finally here, the mood between his teammates were even worse than yesterday, it was literally killing him. Even Sakura was unusually quiet.
"W-What? That is an obvious lie!" Sakura suddenly yelled, seems like she is somewhat back from her depressed state, cause of these bad excuses from Kakashi.
Kakashi shrugged it off and put an alarm bell on one of the stumps, "well, forgot it, more importantly, you guys have till this clock will ring! It's set for noon."
"Huh?" The three looked questionable at Kakashi.
Kakashi then pulls two small bells from his pocket, showing it to the three, "look at those two bells, your task is to take one of these from me before this clock rings, those who cannot get a bell by noon, gets no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll eat right in front of you," Kakashi explained in a tone, there is again, no joke in it.
"So this is why you told us not to eat!" Sakura shouted in a frustrated voice. Sasuke played the cool one, but it was obvious that he also didn't eat anything.
Naruto sighed, `I knew it was something like that, but going so far to tie up a hungry person and eat right in front of him? Oh well, there is always a time, where we'll be on a mission with a lot of handicaps, a hungry stomach is a good beginning. Not bad, sensei´
"...I don't think he had this in his mind, he probably just wanted to tease them," Kurama sweatdropped.
"You only need to get one bell, there are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump and obviously the person who doesn't take a bell will fail, so at least one of you will be sent back to the academy," Kakashi said and continued, "you can use your shuriken's, so come at me with the intending to kill or you will not succeed."
"But you will be in danger," Sakura said and began to protest, "and you didn't tell us that someone will definitely fail! That is unfair!"
Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't care about this, he will take a bell in any case.
"He is a Jonin, if he died by our hands, then he is better off dead," Naruto tried to joke, to ease the tension and walked a bit farther away from Sakura and Sasuke, stretching his body, "I guess there is always a drawback, but if we kill him, they probably make us all pass?"
"In the real world those with no talent often bark the loudest," Kakashi chuckled, "well... ignore the dead-last and start when I say-," but without any warning, Naruto pulled a kunai from his pocket ready to throw, but in an instant Kakashi was right behind Naruto, holding his hand, which he held the kunai, down, making Naruto unable to move, "slow down I haven't said start yet," Kakashi sighed of his impatience.
"N-No way, I couldn't even react," Sakura was baffled, how fast Kakashi moved.
"So this is a Jonin," Sasuke began to smile, now they are talking in his language.
"Well, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto began to chuckle, "if we were talking about 'in the real world', then I don't think the enemy will wait for a 'start' in the real world."
Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura were both surprised by this counter, he was actually right.
"I see, you are very sm-, Wh-!?", Kakashi couldn't continue to praise the boy's wisdom as he noticed that the kunai, Naruto's holding, had an Explosive Tags on it, shortly after, the area, where Kakashi and Naruto stayed, exploded.
Explosive Tags are scraps of paper inscribed with special writing, centering around the kanji for "explode". Infused with chakra, they will explode after a set amount of time, remotely, or after being ignited by flame. The tags can be attached to a surface or wrapped around a weapon to be thrown at an enemy. They are very versatile and one of the basic ninja tools.
Sasuke and Sakura were both bewildered, "what just happened?" Sakura managed to ask, totally confused about this situation, "did Naruto blew himself up?"
"Nah, I used the Body Replacement no Jutsu in the last moment," the voice belonged to Naruto, this time he stands behind the two, "or more like, WE used the technique to escape," he corrected himself as he pointed at Kakashi, who is standing in the exact same place, where he was from the beginning.
Body Replacement No Jutsu, with this technique, users replace their own body with some other object, generally with a block of wood, the moment an attack lands. This creates an optical illusion, making the enemy think the attack was successful. From this, the user can use the lapse in the enemy's attention to attack or flee from the battlefield. It is basic ninjutsu taught at the Academy.
"Impressive," Kakashi said, "but did you really just risk your life?"
"Of course not, I just wanted to throw the kunai and let it explodes in front of you, and in this moment of surprise I would've aimed for the bell, I didn't think you would come and stopped me throwing the kunai," Naruto laughed sheepily, "at that moment, everything was just improvised, though it would have been bad if you hadn't let go of my hand, the explosion wasn't that strong anyway."
Sasuke was really impressed, he has to admit, the dead-last made a good move there, though risking injuries was still stupid.
Sakura, on the other hand, didn't get the situation at all, was Naruto action amazing or not?
Kakashi closed his eyes, this was quite an interesting situation, "well, you are not wrong, the enemy won't wait for a start, I actually begin to like you, but for now, you'll listen to me," he took a deep breath, "the survival exam, STARTS now!"
For the time Sasuke and Sakura let this go, and all of the three quickly vanished in the forest, after the start signal was given.
"Hm, I may have really underestimate Naruto," Kakashi quietly talk to himself, as he looked around, "good, the basics of a ninja are to hide well. Sasuke and Sakura did a good job, I don't feel their presence, if I don't specifically search for them and Naruto..."
"Kakashi-sensei, you won't mind a direct 1on1 fight?" Naruto asked, obviously didn't bother to hide.
"Maybe I wasn't wrong about you Naruto," Kakashi sighed, "why not, kids are always eager to fight, this will be a good first lesson."
"Are you sure, that is a good idea, Naruto?" Kurama asked, wondering why Naruto wanted a 1on1 fight against a Jonin. Naruto is not weak, but he is still young and inexperienced, Kurama doesn't think that Naruto would have a chance if they fight fairly.
"This is the first time that I would go against a Jonin, when do you think I would get another chance like this? I didn't think we would have this survival exam, right after they graduate exam, but it did make sense to sort the group out."
"Yes, but you just need one of the bells, you can make traps in the forest, you don't need to fight him directly," Kurama said.
"I will think about the bells later, after all, I still have 3 hours. For now, I just want to test my ability."
"I see, alright I will let you do what you want, after all, I promise not to help you," Kurama was satisfied with his reason, `but giving you some advice here and there won't harm you, right?´
"Thanks, Kurama-sensei," Naruto was really thankful for Kurama, of course, he could always ask Kurama for help, but he really wanted to do all the tests with his own power.
Sasuke and Sakura, who were hiding well, observing from afar, were speechless of Naruto's challenge against Kakashi, he doesn't have a chance at all.
"Naruto! What is he thinking?" Sakura sighed, a bit worried about him, but in the end, only two can pass and of course, she wanted it to be her and Sasuke.
"Still a dead-last, but maybe I can get some information, of the Jonin," Sasuke mumbled.
Kakashi began to pull out something from his pocket, making Naruto cautious, "a kunai? a shuriken? or something different as a weapon?", but what he truly pulled out was something, Naruto could have never expected in a situation like this, it was a book..., "Icha, Icha?" Naruto sweatdropped.
"Oh, that? I just want to read what will happen next," Kakashi replied as he opened the book, "don't worry about this, it won't make a difference against you guys."
"This is too much, even if it's against Naruto," Sakura sighed.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, he heard that Kakashi was including him.
"I'm sorry, sensei," Naruto calmly began, though you still saw that he was a bit perplexed by this attitude, "I won't let you have the time to read your book!"
With that Naruto threw a few shurikens at Kakashi, but Kakashi himself easily dodged them by sidestepping, however, Naruto already predicted this as he runs up to Kakashi and threw a few punches and kicks, but Kakashi could easily block all of the attacks with his free arm, as the other held his book, letting him read at the same time. Naruto realized that this won't work at all and decided to put some distance between them.
"I knew that a Jonin is strong," Naruto began to sweat, "but to think, that he still blocking all of my attacks, even though he's reading this book, gets me truly frustrate..."
`Actually, I tried to read, but it was impossible,´ Kakashi looked up from his book, `as he had said, he didn't let me, all of his attacks were fabulous. if I hadn't been careful, he may have taken a bell. Hmm, maybe I should use this...´
Sasuke was stunned, Naruto did have a good plan, he didn't saw any mistakes in his attack pattern, it was just that Kakashi was too strong, "I can't fight him directly, I need a plan! But what's up with Naruto? A dead-last shouldn't be able to move like this."
"Naruto doesn't have a chance at all!" Sakura panicked, she knew that he didn't have a chance in the first place, however, she wasn't stupid it was obviously that Naruto is stronger than her in combat, but even with that, he couldn't touch Kakashi-sensei once, "than how am I suppose to take a bell?"
"Second round," Naruto was about to do some hand signs, but to his surprise, Kakashi just disappeared and reappeared behind him, "W-what?!"
"Never let your guard down, a ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind," Kakashi said, noticing how big of an opening Naruto has let from his back, forming the tiger hand seals.
Hand Seals are used to perform many ninjutsu, genjutsu, and other secret arts other than taijutsu. The exact amount of chakra necessary to perform a technique is manipulated through hand seals. There are different sequences of hand seals for every technique, requiring memorization. There are twelve basic seals, each one named after the zodiac; monkey, dragon, rat, bird, snake, ox, dog, horse, tiger, boar, ram, and hare. Besides the twelve basic hand seals, there are also unique hand seals used for certain techniques.
`What? He is using ninjutsu against Naruto?!´ Sakura screamed mentally, Naruto could get seriously hurt!
"The tiger seal, is he doing fire ninjutsu?" Sasuke gulped, their sensei isn't playing around the bush.
"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi proudly shouted, while putting his two fingers into the opponent's bottom, sending Naruto ridiculous high, up to the sky. A very simple technique with an overly dramatic name is little more than inserting one's index and middle fingers (similar to the Tiger hand seal) into the opponent's bottom, causing constipation, pain, and/or embarrassment.
"..."
Both Sasuke and Sakura had literally no comments on this.
"It's true to never let your opponent take your back unless you let him, to see what he's planning to do, but," Naruto frowned, this time he was standing behind Kakashi as a block of wood fell from the sky, "not cool, even faking a hand seal, Kakashi-sensei."
"W-what? When did he dodge that?" Sakura was sure surprised.
"Is he really the dead-last?" Sasuke began to doubt, Naruto's true power.
"So you used Body Replacement No Jutsu here as well," Kakashi looked a bit disappointed and sighed, "even though I showed you my awesome technique."
"Please, don't teach us a Jutsu like that," Naruto sighed.
"I don't know if this is worse than your Sexy no Jutsu," Kurama sighed in the background.
"Where was I? Ah, right, Shadow Clone no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as four Naruto's appeared, surrounding Kakashi.
"Ah, yes, this technique that beat Mizuki," Kakashi looked around.
"What is this technique? They are all solid!" Sasuke still observed the fight, for some reason he couldn't take his eyes away, there was always something unpredictable that came from both of them, though he needed to watch out for this one technique there.
"They aren't illusions, but real ones?" Sakura was surprised since when did Naruto had a technique like that?
"Let see if you can still read your book, against quantity," the Naruto's smirked, each of them ready to charge.
Kakashi closed his book and putting it back to his pocket, knowing he won't have the time to read, "well then, first lesson, taijutsu," he began as he charged at the Naruto's, "taijutsu is a basic form and refers to any techniques involving the martial arts, taijutsu is executed by directly accessing by your physical and mental energies, relying on the stamina and strength gained through all your training, or simply put: hand-to-hand combat." he explained while at the same time, destroying all four clones.
"Seems like this technique didn't help you," Kakashi said to the sole Naruto standing there.
"No, it did help me, first, I need to rethink my plan, second, it helped me too distracted you for a while, and last, you've thought that I was the original?" Naruto smirked as he puffed into a smokescreen.
"W-what? When did he replace himself with a clone?" Sakura stuttered, is that really the Naruto she has known?
"He isn't half bad," Sasuke smirked as he left, to think about his own plan to take the bell.
"All five of them were clones?" Kakashi was surprised, even for a Jonin like him, it's still hard to tell the original apart from the clones, "he got me there, well, then it's time to give the others a bit attention."
Hearing what he had said, Sakura panicked and quickly moved away.
-At the real Naruto-
Naruto was about to think about how he can confront Kakashi again as suddenly some image gone through his head. It was the image, his clones had experienced, while he, himself wasn't there at all.
"I see, this means the clones are giving me the information what they'll see, hear and feel? Interesting, this could be really useful, no wonder this technique is forbidden," Naruto thought about this, it's really good to know, he could use this to gather information, without putting himself in danger.
-Sakura Haruno-
Sakura panted, while running through the forest, "I wonder where Sasuke-kun is? I hope he is alright, and what is up with Naruto? He is a lot stronger than I had thought."
Suddenly she heard a familiar voice calling her name, "S-s-sakura!"
"Sasuke-kun?", she could recognize this voice anywhere, and turned happily around, "I was searching for y-", she trailed off, her eyes widened and her body trembled, it was indeed Sasuke, but to her horror, he was covered with several kunai's sticking all over his body, blood flowing nonstop from all the wounds. Sasuke was about to die!
"S-sakura, help me...," he pleaded and fell to the ground.
Sakura screamed, she couldn't handle this sight of her beloved and immediately passed out.
"Hmmm, maybe I overdid that with the Genjutsu, then again she should have kept her cool and see through this illusion," Kakashi sighed, "lesson two, Genjutsu, though she won't hear me, oh well."
Genjutsu (Illusionary Techniques), is one of the main Jutsu categories. Genjutsu requires chakra and hand seals to be performed. Unlike ninjutsu, the effects of Genjutsu are not real, being only illusions experienced by those who fall victim to it.
-Sasuke Uchiha-
"That scream," Sasuke mumbled, "it was Sakura."
"A simple Genjutsu, she felt easily to that," Kakashi confirmed Sasuke thought as he was standing behind him, leaning on the tree while reading his book again.
"I see, Genjutsu, a form of hallucinatory hypnotism, of course, she'd fall for that," Sasuke smirked, but quickly changed to a serious expression, "I'm different to these two."
"Say that after you got a bell, though I'm not too sure about Naruto, he's already surpassed all of my expectations," Kakashi said, "I wonder if you can do this too. Sakura didn't, though."
"I have to admit, I am surprise of Naruto, he was better than I thought, but," Sasuke began as he took some shurikens from his pocket and threw it against Kakashi, "I'm still better than him..!"
"The same tactic as Naruto?" Kakashi dodged this easily as he jumped up, only to noticed that the shuriken wasn't meant for him, as they cut some wire, that Sasuke set beforehand, "a trap?!", as the wire was cut, hundred of kunai's were flying from the right direction aiming the area, where Kakashi stand, he had no choice but to escape to the left side as it was the only area that wasn't covered as a target. Only to be greeted by Sasuke, preparing a kick.
"Unlike Naruto, I'll force you where to move!" Kakashi who had no choice to put his book away, managed to block Sasuke attack by holding his feet, Sasuke didn't give up as he continued with an upper punch only to be blocked again, realizing he was not in a good position, Sasuke tried to stomp Kakashi away with his other leg. Kakashi quickly acted and pushed Sasuke away from him.
"Not bad, I acknowledge, you are really something, but... I still have the bells," Kakashi taunted him.
"Damn it, if this was still not enough," Sasuke clenched his fist, but still managed to smirk, "then I will try this here..!"
Kakashi wondered what he meant as Sasuke suddenly performed some hand seals, he quickly recognized this Jutsu, "w-what? A genin shouldn't have the chakra to perform this Jutsu!"
"That's because I'm an Uchiha!", Sasuke replied, finishing his hand seals with the tiger seal while shouting, " Fire Release: Great Fireball No Jutsu! ", breathing a large fireball, flying in the direction to Kakashi. As his Jutsu connected, the area burned and a thick smoke remained.
Fire Release: Great Fireball No Jutsu, a technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth either as a massive orb of roaring flame or as a continuous flame-thrower. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that is mustered. This technique apparently requires more than average chakra reserves and most genin should not be able to do this technique.
"Did I hit him?," Sasuke wondered as the thick smoke of the Jutsu slowly disappeared only to notice that his target isn't there anymore, "no, he is gone! Where? Above? or from the sides?"
"Neither," suddenly a voice came from the ground below Sasuke as something seized his legs.
"W-What?", Sasuke tried to free himself, but no luck.
"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation No Jutsu," Kakashi announced his ninjutsu, dragging Sasuke down into the earth till his neck, robbing him of his freedom, leaving him completely unable to move his body.
"Third lesson, Ninjutsu," Kakashi said, "well, you already head above the others in this area."
Ninjutsu (Ninja Techniques), is a term referring to almost any technique that allows the user to do something that they otherwise would be incapable of doing. Unlike Genjutsu, which makes the opponent see illusions, the effects of Ninjutsu are real. They vary greatly in purpose, with the simpler ninjutsu serving such tasks as transforming the user (Henge No Jutsu) or allowing them to evade attacks (Kawarimi No Jutsu). Ninjutsu, most of the time, relies on chakra and hand seals to be effective. The hands are put in sequential positions that mold and manipulate chakra in a necessary manner to perform a technique.
"Times almost up," Kakashi took his book out again and walked away, "and you guy's are not even in the near of figuring this survival training out.."
-Naruto Uzumaki-
"So, Sakura-san and Sasuke-san also couldn't do a thing against him, it was a good idea to let my clones observes them," Naruto went through the new image he got from his clones as he already used the new ability, he learned about the Kagebunshin, in it's fullest.
"Sasuke-san had a good fight, he made a good trap, even have such an amazing Jutsu. Sakura-san on the other hadn't a chance to act, but truthfully I doubt that she can do something about Kakashi-sensei," Naruto thought about it, "I wonder if he wants us to fail, he didn't let his guard down once, even the top student Sasuke-san couldn't touch the bell."
"Of course, he is holding back, but...he still make sure, that we'll never touch the bell, maybe he's someone who doesn't want a team and purposely makes us fail?" Naruto concluded and sighed, "maybe we just have bad luck for having him as our instructor?"
"Are you sure? You should think more about this," Kurama decided to cut in, its actually already saw the true purpose of this survival training, of course, it could tell Naruto about this, but Naruto need to figure this out on his own, but there is no harm for a small advise, right? "There's more than an eye can see, sometimes you need to read what's underneath the underneath, this was something you learned in the academy, right?
"Okay, let me think about this once more," Naruto sat down and took a breath, "my objective is to get the bell, if I get a bell I'll pass this survival training and then become a true genin, if I don't, I fail and will be sent back to the academy. Kakashi-sensei is a Jonin, he is obviously stronger than us, even if my target is only the bell, he doesn't go easy on us and the time limit is also almost up... this is truly a dire situation, he even provokes us with his action."
Kurama smirked, `you already see the problem but you still don't get the answer.´
"Maybe he just wanted to test our limits? Or wait...," Naruto suddenly got some flashbacks;
"So from today on, we will be creating the three-man teams and each team will have a Jonin as your sensei."
"Team 7 consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha!"
"Ehhh? Why is Sasuke-kun teamed up with the dead-last?"
"Well, Sasuke grades, were first among all of the 27 graduates, and Naruto, he is the dead-last... and we have to do this to balance the teams, understand?"
"Why did they bother to balance the teams, only to dissolved them anyway, as one is sure to fail," Naruto finally got the picture, "unless...! I need to find Sasuke-san and Sakura-san!"
"So he finally gets it," Kurama smiled, "though it was no wonder that it took him for a while, after all, he had never a situation like this."
-Kakashi Hatake-
"Their time is almost up, what are they doing?", Kakashi wondered, as nobody tried to take the bells.
"Kakashi-sensei!", Sasuke appeared and narrowed his eyes at him, "how dare you to put me into the ground!"
"So there he is," Kakashi closed his book, seems like Sasuke finally got out of the Doton Jutsu, "second round, huh?"
"Wait, Sasuke!" Suddenly Naruto appeared right beside Sasuke and held his right shoulder to stop him to rush against Kakashi, "you have to listen to me!"
"Oh? Maybe..?" Kakashi was surprised by this turn of events, "did he figure it out?"
"Shut up, " Sasuke glared at Naruto, grabbing the arm that holds his shoulder and threw Naruto against Kakashi, showing his back, "a dead-last like you, shouldn't get in my way!"
Kakashi sighed, they didn't figure it out, "hey boys, you shouldn't-," he stopped himself as he saw something unthinkable, the flying Naruto turned around in the air facing Kakashi, with a tiger hand seal.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball No Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, firing the same fireball Sasuke had shown before out of his mouth.
"What the-," Kakashi managed to dodge the attack in the last moment, but not unscratched, as his clothes burned on the sides.
"Tch, figures," Naruto clicked his tongue and turned to Sasuke, "It's your turn!"
"I know!" Sasuke rushed to Kakashi, forming the clone seal, that made Kakashi widened his eye a second time, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
But instead of a shadow clone of Sasuke, it was a Naruto clone that appeared, and now Kakashi got the connection, "I see, you used the 'Transforming No Jutsu' to turn yourself into each other to fool me..!" He calmed himself down, as 'Naruto' and 'Sasuke' turned back to themselves at the same time, "...not bad, but not good enough!"
Kakashi prepared for the counterattack, as the two Naruto's are closing their distance to him, but suddenly one of the Naruto's jumped up, and pulled some shuriken's from his pocket, while the other was going straight to Kakashi, `throwing the shurikens from this distant!? The one on the ground probably wanted to buy some time and putting me in the position as a target,´ Kakashi immediately reacted, jumping up to Naruto while destroying the clone on the ground, "not a good idea! If you want to throw your weapons against me, you shouldn't do this within my reach."
But something unexpectable happened at the moment as Kakashi was about to attack Naruto legs and throw him down, suddenly Sasuke was in his place, he made a salto preparing a kick, aiming Kakashi's head, with the back of his feet, "B-Body Replacement No Jutsu! in this situation!?", Kakashi couldn't move too much in the midair, but somehow he managed to block the kick with both of his arms, protecting his head, however, the force of the kick was strong enough to send Kakashi flying to the ground, but he somehow kept his balance and landed on his feet.
"This wasn't ba-," Kakashi didn't have the time to praise them, as he sensed several of shuriken's flying at him, it was from the position, where Sasuke was standing before Naruto and he exchanged their position. Kakashi had no other choice, as he couldn't dodge all of the shuriken's, to taking out his book from his pocket to block the unavoidable shuriken's with the result that he himself came out unharmed, however, his book was totally destroyed in the progress, "my Icha, Icha, seems like I need to buy a new edition", Kakashi sighed.
"Still not enough," Naruto sighed, "I thought this was perfect, we did catch him a lot off guard."
"Well, he is worth to be called a Jonin," Sasuke said, now standing beside Naruto.
*Ring!**Ring!**Ring!*
"It seems like the test is over now," Kakashi smiled, "it was a good fight, but you still didn't manage to..." Kakashi was about to show off the bells, but he couldn't feel them and looked down, where the bells were supposed to be, only to discover that they've disappeared, "how..? I made sure you wouldn't get near the bells...", he was baffled.
"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! I got the bells!" Sakura suddenly appeared out of nowhere right by the side of Naruto and giving a V sign, holding the two bells on her hands.
`She cloaked herself into a Genjutsu, while these two were distracting me and managed to take the bells,´ Kakashi widened his eyes, but he has to admit, this was brilliant, "now for the final push."
-Training ground-
"Well, you got your bells, but only two can pass, now decided who's left behind," Kakashi said in a serious expression.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura glanced at each other and immediately nodded as Sakura threw the bells back to Kakashi.
"What?" Kakashi was surprised as he caught the bells.
"We worked together to get the bells, and you want us to dropped someone? If that is your way to eliminate someone, then do this without us," Naruto said in a serious voice.
"..you two think the same as him?", Kakashi wondered.
"I will not take something, that I didn't earn on my own," Sasuke nodded, "and I actually hate it, to stay in a debt," but deep inside him, he must admit, the team-up was actually quite fun.
"I don't have the right, to take a bell anyway...," Sakura said in a low voice, "Naruto and Sasuke-kun did an amazing job to distract you, Kakashi-sensei, actually... It would be better if you let those two passes."
"What are you saying, Sakura-san?", Naruto holding on both of her shoulders, looking straight into her eyes, making her even blush a bit, "without you excellent Genjutsu we wouldn't have taken the bells anyway, you've done an amazing job there!"
"Hmpf, you aren't that annoying as I've thought," Sasuke smirked.
"Naruto..., Sasuke-kun...," Sakura's eyes became teary, "thank you..!"
"Well, then.. you know what that means right?" Kakashi turned into a serious expression, glaring at the trio, "you've all pass!", he changed to a big grin, at least if you could tell if that was a grin.
Sakura began to smile and turned to Naruto, "so it did come out as you had predicted, Naruto."
Sasuke just made his signature smirk, "the dead-last made us pass the exam."
Kakashi sighed, with the last action, it was obvious that they understood the reason of this survival training, "yes, teamwork was the key of this trial, may I ask, how you guys figured it out?"
"Of course, well it began...,"
-Flashback 45 minutes ago-
Some times later as Naruto freed Sasuke out of the ground and woke up the unconscious Sakura, they gathered in a hidden place as Naruto know that Kakashi won't go looking for them as he had no reason for that.
"What do you want, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, he was thankful that Naruto freed him, but he actually wants to move on quickly, as their time is almost up.
Sakura sighs relieved, the 'dead' Sasuke was only an illusion, "I'm so glad..." "If I see Kakashi, I will beat him to death!"
"First, I want to ask, what do you think of this survival training?" Naruto wanted to know if they'll come to the same conclusion as him.
"What about this? It just a simple test, all I need is to take the bell from him," Sasuke crossed his arms, "then again, it is harder than I thought."
"Y-yeah, Sasuke-kun is right," Sakura agreed.
"Don't you think that this whole trial is strange...?" Naruto asked.
"What do you mean, Naruto?" Sakura didn't get, what Naruto is trying to say.
"Just get to the point, I don't want to waste the time," Sasuke said in an impatient voice.
"Well, okay listen to me, don't you think this is weird that they first put us in a team, only to separate us anyway?" Naruto started, "what's was the point for balancing the team if this wasn't even the final selection?"
"But Kakashi-said, the graduates are only there to determine to-," Sakura reminded him the reason.
"Yes, he said 'That the graduates were just there to select those that have the chance to become a genin', but don't you think this trial is contrasting what he had said? I mean he said, we 'have the chance' to become a genin, but one will fail no matter what, this is just illogically."
"You have a point, there is no reason for not putting the third bell," Sasuke thought about this longer, "maybe they just wanted to pressure us? Wait..! Now I understand what you mean!"
Naruto smiled, it seems like Sasuke is coming to the same conclusion as him.
"W-what did you understand Sasuke-kun?", Sakura felt left out of this conversation.
Naruto sighed, wasn't she the smartest in the class? Then again this isn't something a 'smart' person can see so easily, after all, it also took for him awhile to get it, "think about this, Sakura-san, they made us a team, but instead of letting us work as a team, they separate us, making us believe that only two can pass."
"...!"
Sakura finally began to understand, what Naruto is trying to say.
"Not eating breakfast, a time limit, a Jonin way out of our league, and knowing that only two could pass, he pressures us to work against each other, the test is probably purposely set up to make us fight each other."
"This is cruel, putting us in a team and the next day we've to fight against each other for the spot of a genin?" Sakura now fully grasped the situation.
"Of course, there is still the option for only two to team up, but I think that if us three teams up, we will pass the exam together," Naruto finished, "what do you think about this, Sasuke-san, Sakura-san?"
"This is all just speculation, but it actually makes more sense," Sasuke thought about it, "... and you helped me out of this Jutsu, for now, you can count me in."
"M-me too, Naruto!" Sakura quickly agreed, she didn't know why, but something about Naruto made her believes in him, and she actually wanted to know more about Naruto, after yesterday event with Sasuke, during the night, she had thought about why she has hated Naruto, but no matter how long she thought, she hadn't an answer to that, it also made her realize that she had known nothing about him. She felt really bad, all the years she was so mean to Naruto, without having a proper reason. In that night, she promised at least not to call him baka anymore.
"Great, I actually have a plan already, first...!"
-Flashback end-
"And the rest... you have witnessed it yourself, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto smiled.
Kakashi smiled, `it's actually hard to believe that he convinced these two, but in Sasuke's case, he probably could convince him, cause of the fight between us, he could tell that Naruto was reliable, Sakura, on the other hand, she somehow seems different? She still, is infatuated in Sasuke, but she's more open to Naruto now, she's not even called him 'baka' once today, did something happen?´
Kakashi shrugged the thought off as this doesn't matter anymore, "well, you got it, this trial was indeed to test you, if you could work in a team, no matter what the circumstance is, and you've passed this with flying colors, congratulation!"
"I didn't think you would go this deep with the trial, even setting the rule so evilly," Naruto sighed.
Kakashi chuckled, then he went to a stone monument, located near the training ground, there are a lot of names engraved there, "look at this, the numerous names carved in this stone, these are Ninjas who were recognized as heroes of the village."
Naruto continued, "but they aren't normal heroes, right?"
"Huh?" Sakura wondered what he meant, while Sasuke silently watching the scene.
Kakashi nodded, "they are all heroes who had died while on duty."
"W-what?". Sakura's heart sank, of course, being a ninja, death will play a big role now, but she didn't really realize this yet.
"That why... the purpose of this test was to see if you can forget about your own interests and successfully work together under these designed circumstances," Kakashi continued to explain, "the missions are done by the team, of course, superior individual ability is important to a ninja, but what's even more important is 'teamwork'! Individuals play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger and even get yourself killed."
The trio silently continued to listen to Kakashi, "it's all good to follow the rules," he said as he looked up to the sky, "however, I want you to remember something: 'Those who break a rule are called a trash, but those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than a trash!'", he gave them a final smile.
Sakura realized how cool their sensei was. Naruto could only agree on this metaphor. While Sasuke was a bit conflicted with this.
"Well, from now on, we are Team 7, I'm really beginning to like you all, I'm looking forward to this," Kakashi announced with a smiling eye, "how about we celebrate together? Naruto, yesterday you've said you know the best Ramen restaurant in the world?"
Kurama chuckled in the background, "this team doesn't look bad at all, congratulation, Naruto!"
The first step is taken, Team 7 is born, ready to show the world... of the Super Genius Naruto!
-To Be Continued-