Two opaque silver eyes strayed genuinely to the right, boredom surfacing in the midst of them. The sweet scent of flowers was about their holder, but he took no notice; crouched in the middle of a rather large patch of daisies. He was short enough to be able to stand in the tall weeds and not be seen, but he took no chances.
His objective was clear; obtain a bell, don't let anyone take it.
Kakashi sighed beneath his onyx mask. Above anything he hated, waiting had to take number one on that list. He knew his sensei was approaching…slowly. Definitely slowly. It made the boy rather irritable, seeing as Minato didn't seem to be taking this seriously. There he was, just strolling through the field humming idly to himself. The Hatake twitched, withholding a scoff. Not being taken seriously had to take place number two on his list of most hated things.
As soon as the boy could see each strand of glittering blonde clearly, he knew his sensei was close enough. Without hesitation, the boy crouched into a stance prior to leaping onto a prey. Though, hesitating for that instant lost him his chance.
"GOTCHA!" A loud yell echoed through the field as a flash of orange and black sprung into the air from a tree top. Kakashi froze, a mild curse grazing his lips. That damn Obito had stolen his spotlight once more.
So, the test had begun. I was kinda expecting to get attacked right off the bat, but, surprisingly, it wasn't until right now I got attacked…and he even announced it? I thought Uchiha were supposed to be more tactful than this. Though, maybe he was being tactful. I wasn't exactly paying attention, nor did I have any guard up or any sort of defenses for that matter. Maybe I should take this a little more seriously…Nah, they're just genin. Only one I really needed to worry about is Kakashi, right?…Right?
Two sharp kunai flew aimlessly towards Minato.
"Is this really all?" The blonde asked, smile perking his lips as he deflected them rather easily. "C'mon, Obito. This is your chance. Give it your all!" Encouragement is key. That's always what he had believed.
"Tch! You think I'ma hold back, sensei?" Obito laughed, landing swiftly on his right foot. The second he felt contact with the earth, the boy lunged towards his sensei, flinging four shuriken in his direction. Minato shook his head, disappointed in a rather joking manner as he deflected them as well, only to feel a slight rush of air as the Uchiha dove at his feet, doing a summersault under him and springing up into the air behind him.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The blonde only had time to feel the heat and jump out of the way, jumping backwards into a back flip above the roaring flames, as the genin released his jutsu.
"Well, well, well~" Minato sang, landing in a low tree-branch. "Gotta admit, kiddo, that was pretty sneaky. But I'm afraid scaring me away won't win you a bell." As the blonde released his palm, the pair of shiny silver bells fell; dangling from his fingers. The fox-like grin widened into a malicious smile. "And neither will hiding."
Kakashi felt a shiver run the length of him as a clone of their sensei tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to leap out of hiding and into the clearing near Obito. He had been so focused and surprised at seeing Obito use a jutsu that he had unconsciously let his guard down completely. Not soon after, the two heard a small yelp from above them as the kunoichi of the team jumped in beside them, clearly having shared the same experience as Kakashi.
Minato laughed, twirling the bells on his finger.
"C'mon guys, come and get 'em! They're right here!" The jounin called, cerulean orbs glimmering with a playful aura. Kakashi twitched as Obito went to make a move.
The Hatake growled as the other leapt into the air towards Minato, but didn't stay to watch what unfolded. Grabbing Rin around the waist and the mouth, the boy sprung back into the field.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Rin spluttered when released. Kakashi didn't respond, pushing her against a tree roughly. "Kakashi-kun!" The kunoichi exclaimed as the Hatake took a step back, focusing his chakra into a thin, yet durable string around the other.
"I'll be back for you," He whispered, finishing tying her to the tree. "…if I remember."
"What!?" Rin gasped, struggling slightly. She knew if she struggled enough, she could break free. The strings weren't pulled too tightly. Yet, she didn't, knowing the other had to have a purpose. "…I really hope I'm right about him having a purpose." She sighed as the small figure that was Kakashi faded off back towards the clearing.
"Henge no Jutsu." The words carried gently on the subtle breeze as the transformation took place. The boy's lips perked in a smirk, now ablaze with a hint of gloss. "Perfect." Kakashi whispered, voice picking up a pitch similar to Rin's.
Meanwhile…
The Uchiha swung his fist with as much power behind it as he could muster in the blondes direction. Though, as Minato had been doing for what seemed like the past half hour, he dodged swiftly, dangling the bells temptingly in front of the young nin.
"Haaraaaagh!" Obito yelled, finally getting fed up, and tired, with this hit and miss tactic he had been enduring. "That's it!" Finding some source of energy, the boy leapt at Minato, hoping to pin him and steal a bell. Unexpectedly, the boy landed on his sensei, causing the two to fall over, only to find a mere clone evaporating into dust as it hit the ground. The Uchiha sat there for a moment, taking in the effect. Then, the boy twitched. "I've been fighting with a clone this whole time!?!"
Kakashi, now in the form of Rin (thanks to the Henge), dashed silently through the treetops, attempting with all his might to sense the elder nin's chakra. Catching a hint of it, the boy sped up, leaping from tree branch to tree branch till he caught a glimmer of gold in the distance, slowing himself to a halt and lowering everything he could as to not be sensed.
A slue of hand seals graced the boy's nimble fingers. He had never tried this technique before nor had he seen it, but he knew the hand signs, knew the chakra required, and knew, ultimately, that it was a rather difficult technique to learn. Yet, his specialty was genjutsu- so, he figured, why not try it.
"Kokuangyou no Jutsu…" Kakashi whispered, praying this would work to some extent as his seals landed in the form of the tiger.
"Hm?" Minato blinked, looking up towards where he felt the large source of chakra emitting from. "Rin…?" Both brows furrowed as he looked through a veil of an oncoming mist of shadow. The man stopped suddenly, swallowing. "Wait a minute…this is A-level jutsu…"
Kakashi winced, feeling a drain from the black darkness technique. He couldn't even believe he was actually doing it…somewhat. A veil of shadow was better than nothing, he figured. Using the element of surprise to his advantage, the nin leapt throughout the dark mist, flinging kunai and shuriken as fast as possible from all directions. Minato's eyes narrowed, a sharp stinging sensation grazing his cheek and alerting him to the attack, allowing him to deflect or dodge as many as he could.
"Kakashi?" The man asked, taken aback as the mist began to fade.
'Damnit…' Kakashi growled to himself, still in Rin's form. He knew it wouldn't have lasted long. Actually producing anything the first time using it was still one hell of a surprise to him. Especially seeing as he had only heard about it before. As the blackness vanished nearly entirely, Kakashi leapt from the shadows, littering the ground with makibishi before hurling himself from the now spike-ridden floor at his sensei, reaching out to grab for a bell.
I barely had a moment to blink before the kid was practically on top of me. How he was able to pull off and maintain a Henge, then an A-level genjutsu, and still manage to be laying out a trap of makibishi, however simple it was, whilst flinging kunai and shuriken left and right at me, nevertheless jumping in to get a bell, I'll never know. I had to admit, he was good. Much better than I thought. Though, from the looks of his Kokuangyou, he was still just a novice. Thank god for that. I didn't want to know what would have happened if he hadn't have been…
Sensing him at only the very last moment, I just barely had enough time to take a step to the side, being wary to not step on a makibishi, and grab him around the waist mid-jump, pulling him to my front in a stop and draping his slender form over one arm.
"Care to release the Henge? I look like a child molester holding Rin like this." Minato laughed. Kakashi growled in his arms, blush grazing his cheeks as he did as he was told, transforming back to the small, silver-haired male he was. The boy was out of breath, a good sixty to eighty percent of his energy gone from so much quick movement, tactful thinking, and high-level jutsu. He had never used so much chakra in one sitting. It was most definitely draining.
The boy reached weakly to Minato's side, attempting to grab at a bell like a lazy cat. The blonde chuckled, holding out his hand to put the bells at arms length away from Kakashi. "Uh uh uh, that's cheating, kiddo." Minato smiled at the panting genin in his arm. "You gotta work for this."
"…gimme…" Kakashi growled in a whimper of a tone, reaching once more; slowly, weakly; causing Minato to laugh even more.
"No, no, no~" The blonde sang, clearly amused. "Though, I really should give you one. That was pretty impressive," The elder nin admitted, wiping his free hand across the cut on his cheek. "You actually landed a hit... Ne, where'd you learn that Kokuangyou? You're not supposed to know jutsus like that at your level." Though he attempted to keep a cheery tone, each syllable dropped a level in pitch till one could tell it was more concern than anything by the end of Minato's inquiry. Kakashi stiffened in the other's arms, giving up on his plight to grab a bell.
"I didn't." He breathed solidly, glancing at all the makibishi on the ground. He felt the urge to smile. He had, indeed, done a pretty badass job. He couldn't help but feel proud to be the first one to land a hit on their sensei. "I winged it." The bluntness in each syllable caused the amusement to fall back into place on Minato's face.
"Did you, really?" He asked in a low tone, eyes held steadfast and unblinking on the other.
"Put me down." Kakashi demanded, fists tightening with what little strength he had left.
Minato blinked. "Oh? And let you fall helplessly onto all these spikes? I think not." The man readjusted the smaller nin in his arm, looking for a wide, low tree branch to jump safely to. He felt Kakashi twitch at the word 'helpless' and realized what a negative effect it had on him. Yet, truth was truth. "You're completely out of chakra kiddo, don't push yourself. Doing something like that must have drained you, I'm sure… Hmm, aha!" Spotting a stubby low-lying branch, the jounin tucked both bells into his pocket and leapt up, setting the silver haired nin down on the wood. Minato kneeled to match the boy's height and placed both hands around the other's waist, completely engulfing his small frame, to keep him balanced. Kakashi made a small noise as he steadied himself, chest heaving. He felt like giving in and just falling back entirely, but with his sensei present, he couldn't allow himself to conform to such humiliating thoughts. "Happy now?" Minato asked, smiling as he allowed both friendly cerulean orbs to pierce a pair of stern, piqued silver.
A small huff from the boy was enough to tell the other he was not anywhere near satisfied.
Small yellowish rays of light beamed in through the emerald leaves, causing a glint of silver from the blonde's pocket to catch Kakashi's eyes. Silently, he held out a hand and stared at the other, locking eyes. Minato blinked.
"You obviously haven't figured out the point of this exercise yet, have you?" The elder nin sighed, shaking his head. The Hatake's brow furrowed upwards in confusion.
"The point…" Kakashi started, voice low and husky with exhaustion. "…is to complete the mission. And completing the mission means getting a bell. Therefore, the point is to obtain a bell."
Minato smiled. "Hmm, well…how 'bout you lay here and rest a bit before trying again. I'm not going to just hand it over, ya'know." Laying the boy down gently, the blonde took a moment to run his eyes over the breathless nin.
With that, Kakashi watched as Minato removed a strangely marked kunai from his holster, throwing it off into the distance at a near untraceable speed. "Oh, and by the way… Try thinking on that 'point' again, while you're at it, because you're about as far opposite as anything, kiddo." With a small wink, Minato disappeared the minute the word 'Hiraishin' had grazed his lips.
"Damn clones…Damn flowers…Damn being shorter than tall flowers…damn sun being bright…damn it…in general…" Obito muttered angrily, trudging through the seemingly endless field of flowers. Jumping up, he could see only slightly over the top, only to catch a glimpse of more flowers along with a seemingly endless path of, indeed, flowers. "Ahhh, where am I!? Todo, I don't think we're in Konoha anymore…"
"Sooo, this's where you were, eh?"
Rin blinked, awakening from her daze and glancing up to the voice. "Huh? Umm, yes?" She hesitated, giving her sensei a friendly smile. Minato warmly returned it, freeing her from Kakashi's chakra strings.
"He even used some chakra for string and withheld it…Amazing."
"What?" Rin asked, cocking her head in confusion as she took a step down. The blonde shook his head.
"Ah, nothing, nothing…oh~" Poking his tongue into his cheek, Minato grabbed a bell, holding it out to Rin. "You want it?"
The kunoichi stiffened, eyes widening. "…ye…yes?" She questioned, hesitantly taking it from him. When nothing happened, she looked to the other. "Why? I thought-"
"I know what I said," Minato started, smile still aptly positioned on his face. "However, I'm wanting to experiment a bit." Twirling the Hiraishin kunai on his finger, he knelt and tapped it to the ground, checking to see if Obito or Kakashi were anywhere around them. He couldn't feel a trace of chakra. "So…" He started, shoving the kunai into it's designated holster. "Figured it out yet?"
Rin blinked, startled out of her trance of confusion at what the blonde was doing. "Figured out what yet?"
"The point of this exercise."
Rin paused, putting a finger to her lip in thought. "Ermm," She shifted slightly before both auburn eyes lit up with enlightenment. "Wait a minute…is this exercise…this is for teamwork, isn't it?"
The infamous fox-like grin plastered the blonde's mouth into a teeth-revealing smile. "Righto! And for getting that right, you receive that bell as your prize!"
Rin's lips parted slightly. "So…this experiment…you're trying to get Kakashi and Obito to work together to get the last bell, right?"
Minato smiled, looking out through the trees. "Hmm, I wonder."
I only realized then that I was picking up sensei's habit of calling everyone younger than me 'kiddo'. It made me shudder a bit at the thought. Though I still thought this was way, way, way over my head, there was no turning back now. I had a strong feeling Kakashi and Obito were both too polar of opposites, or maybe even too blinded by greed and selfishness, to even think about working together. Both of them were the type that always wanted to come out on top, I could tell that very easily. Yet, a small voice in me told me there was a little hope that this might work.
And it sure wasn't long till the two found out there was only one bell left…
A/N: Review if yew want an update. And thanks [a lot lot lot lot loooot!] to everyone who already has! Yur reviews are my inspiration.