Welcome back True Believers! Sorry it took so long, but after many edits and a lot of research, our young heroes are ready to face the infamous Bell Test. How will they fare with our resident X-Man Naruto on their side? Read on to find out.
Chapter 4: For Whom the Bells Toll.
The morning following their meeting with Kakashi, Naruto awoke early that morning and set out without his usual breakfast, according to Kakashi's explicit instruction. Though it went against his better judgment, he figured that it was better to follow the Jounin's advice. He arrived at the appointed spot on time, dressed in his usual orange civilian attire. However, this time he including his steel-toed combat boots, fingerless gloves, and cyber visor as he had yesterday. As soon as he got there, he saw Sasuke and Sakura sprawled out beneath a shady tree, both their stomach's growling loud enough for him to hear from just a few yards away. Although they appeared to have gotten plenty of sleep, they were wide awake from hunger.
After greeting each other wearily, Naruto produced a sketchpad and pencil from one of the inner pockets of his jacket and began to sketch out the landscape, to help take his mind off his intense hunger. Naruto had picked up an interest in art from his 'uncle' Piotr (Colossus). He often sketched when he felt a sense of calm, like he wanted to preserve that feeling of peace. Being associated with the X-Men, he'd seen more than his fair share of prejudice against mutants, so he took what little peace of mind he could find. Now, as he sketched, he paid particular attention to the detail of an onyx, diamond-shaped monument parallel to a trio of stumps that looked as though they'd seen a lot of shurikenjutsu practice.
As the hours seemed to crawl by, neither of the trio muttered a word synonymous with hunger, though their stomachs spoke for them. After a while, Naruto finished his artwork and began cycling through his iPod's music library to pass the time. More than once Sakura became interested in his music and he politely gave her an earphone. Naruto did like Sakura a lot, but he knew she was completely obsessed about Sasuke, and though he was annoying; still, she was a nice person. Finally, their sensei came strolling up after nearly three hours. Sakura immediately leapt to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at Kakashi, uprooting Naruto by the ear at the same time, as they were both listening to Candy Dulfer's Finsbury Park Cafe 67. "YOU'RE LATE!!" she yelled in frustration.
"Sorry, I... got lost on the road of life," Kakashi replied with an amused grin beneath his mask. The sight of Sakura nearly ripping off Naruto's ear was a bit comical. "Anyhow, now that you're all here, the test can begin. I can assume that you all followed my instructions and skipped breakfast?" As if to answer for him, all three of the Genin's stomachs growled loudly.
'Well, that stint of deception was a success,' Kakashi thought as he removed his backpack and removed an alarm clock. "Okay, this clock is set for noon. Your assignment is simple: you just have to steal these bells from me." He reached behind his back and produced a pair of silver jingle-bells, both joined by a length of string. "That's all there is to it. If you can't get 'em within the allotted time, you go without lunch. You'll also be tied to those posts and watch me eat the bells themselves in front of you."
'So that's why he didn't want us to eat,' Sasuke realized.
'Ugh! That's... really gross!' Sakura thought, shivers of disgust running along the length of her spine.
"Feel free to use any weapons you like, including shuriken. If you aren't prepared to kill me, then you won't be able to get the bells. And the test begins... Now." Kakashi immediately teleported away and reappeared in the clearing. He immediately began thumbing through his 'Icha-Icha Paradise' novel and started reading as soon as he found his spot.
'Okay,' Naruto thought when the Jounin reappeared. 'Dad threw something almost like this at us at the last Field Day. We can do this as long as we stick-' It was then thathe looked over his shoulder to see his 'teammates' splinter off in two directions. '... Together. Man, so much for teamwork.' Still, Naruto flickered away and reappeared behind a thicket of shrubs; he knew beforehand that he'd have a better chance at catching Kakashi off-guard if he had some cover. After he'd hidden, he shut his eyes in concentration and slammed his fist against his opposing palm. Like all of his clothes, the ones he wore had been treated with Reed Richards' Unstable Molocules, and were programmed to change his civilian attire into his X.S.E uniform upon mental command. Once his suit had changed, he made his move.
Claws at the ready, Naruto ran silently along the length of the thicket low to the ground, firing off his claws at Kakashi as he went. He personally favored hand-to-hand combat, but he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere against the silver-haired Jounin. He watched as the plasma claws shot towards Kakashi with near blinding speed, and was a bit surprised when the Jounin began to bob and weave around them, never once taking his eyes off his novel. 'Damn,' Naruto mentally cursed in aggravation. 'Oh well, I always did favor the 'direct approach.' Time for a little martial arts action.' He performed a quick Kage Bushinn no Jutsu, then leapt from the brush with his clones, claws out and sprinting towards Kakashi low to the ground.
'Hmm, looks like the rumors were true after all,' Kakashi thought, looking coolly over the pages of his book at the incoming clones. 'He might actually prove to be bit of a challenge, just like Sasuke should.' He nimbly sidestepped a slash from the first clone that attacked, and then dropped into a low stance to sweep-kick its legs out from under it. The clone slammed face first into the dirt and dispelled in a puff of smoke. Not wasting a single movement, the Copy-nin rose from his low crouch and nailed another clone that had aimed a kick at his head with a punishing uppercut. That clone was sent flying backwards.
"Your skills are quite impressive, Naruto; but you won't pass at this rate," the Jounin goaded as the clone dispelled several feet away from him, "leading with your chin like that."
"Don't count me out yet," Naruto rebutted, vaulting off one of the clones' backs as they charged Kakashi. "I'm just gettin' started!" He leveled his hands at Kakashi in midair and fired off two sets of claws at him, one after the other. At the same time, the three remaining clones closed in on the Copy-nin in a 'pincer-formation', slashing at him from the front, the left, and the right almost simultaneously. Kakashi quickly leapt back to dodge the energy claws, then grabbed the clone to his right with an arm lock. He then heaved the clone over his shoulder with all his might and sent it hurtling into the other two, which in turn caused all three to dispel.
Kakashi had expected Naruto to be unsettled by the quick destruction of his clones. However, Naruto ran at him full force as soon as he hit the ground, swiping at the Jounin's face with his claws. Kakashi barely managed to move out of the way, the blades raking the air inches from his mask. Recovering quickly, he ducked under one of Naruto's kicks and caught him by his unbalanced leg, flipping the blonde to the ground. However, as he hit, Naruto switched his fighting style to Brazilian capoeria and whipped his legs in a pinwheel motion over his body, pushing off with his hands at the same time. He then brought his feet together to kick at Kakashi with twice the force of a normal blow. But, instead of Kakashi, he connected only with empty space. Naruto landed in a crouch and quickly scanned the area for the Copy-nin.
'Where is he?!' Naruto wondered. 'That kick should've flattened him. How did he dodge it?!' Just then he felt a strong rush of chakra behind him. "Oh, crap."
"Too slow," Kakashi remarked from his position behind the blonde. From her hiding spot in the brushes, Sakura had a clear view of their sensei and saw him bring his hands together to create what looked like... 'Is that the tiger seal?' she thought frantically. 'He's not kidding around, he's going to destroy Naruto!' Panicking, she rose from her hiding spot and screamed a warning at her teammate. "Naruto! Get out of there, he's gonna demolish you!"
Kakashi, ignoring her cries, continued his lecture. "Never let your enemy get behind you," he criticized. He then shifted in his crouch and rose up to attack. "Konohagakure's Ultimate Secret Taijutsu!" Suddenly, Naruto felt an extremely unpleasant sensation centered on his ass, and then was forcefully catapulted into the air. "Sennen Goroshi (One Thousand Years of Pain)!" Kakashi finished as Naruto splashed down into a nearby stream. When the blonde didn't resurface, he went over to the stream and scanned the waters for his young charge.
'Hmm. He must've let the current carry him downstream into the forest so he could regroup and come up with a new plan,' the Jounin thought as his eyes flowed the stream. He then turned his attention back to his book. 'Oh well. Now, where was I?'
A few yards away from where Kakashi was reading and Sakura was frantically looking for a new place to hide, seeing as her warning had tipped off her location, Naruto hauled himself out of stream and slumped against a nearby tree. "Okay, he anticipated every one of my moves; I can respect that. But that was really uncalled for," he thought aloud as he rummaged around in his jacket. "Ah hell, it was worth it. He never noticed what I was really aiming for with that last swipe." As he spoke, Naruto produced one of the bells from his pocket; he'd managed to slice it free from Kakashi's jacket on his last attack. It jingled as he shook with glee. Reorienting his thoughts, he looked around the trunk of the tree to ensure he wasn't being watched.
'Okay, now I just need to find Sakura or Sasuke and convince them that we should take 'em together. Hmmp. Let's see how high-and mighty Sasuke-teme is when I show up with a bell and he's got jack.' Suddenly, Naruto saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking down at his hand, he saw that the bell he'd stolen had been replaced by a walnut haloed by smoke. "What?!" he yelled in surprise, sending a flock of nearby birds airborne. "He used kawarimi on the bell I swiped!" He then noticed a piece of notebook paper had been stuck to the nut. It read:
Naruto,
Nice try, but no dice. A ninja must learn to see what's underneath the underneath. You're talented, that I'll admit, but you still need practice. Oh, and watch your footing.
- Hatake Kakashi.
"What does he mean, 'watch my foo-WAAAH!" Naruto managed to say before getting swept up off his feet and yanked high into the air. In all his excitement, he'd gotten his foot caught in a snare that had obviously been pre-set by Kakashi. 'He must've come here last night and rigged this entire forest with booby traps, knowing one of us would trip one,' he realized as he swung back and forth by his ankle, staring at the ground. "Why the hell couldn't I see this thing?" he muttered in annoyance. "I'm so stupid."
Elsewhere in the forest, while Naruto was busy disentangling his ankle from Kakashi's snare, Sakura was frantically searching for Sasuke, whom she'd lost track of at the start of the test. She ran as fast and as silent as she could, keeping her guard up in case she was ambushed by Kakashi. 'Sasuke, where'd you go?' she wondered as she sprinted along the forest floor. 'Don't tell me Kakashi-sensei found you… No! He can't capture my Sasuke-kun, I won't let him!!'
No sooner had that thought entered her mind that she stopped abruptly in her tracks and ducked behind a tree. Quietly peering around its trunk, she glimpsed Kakashi a few feet away from her, eyes glued to his copy of 'Icha-Icha Paradise'. 'Whew, that was too close. He almost heard me that time.'
"Pssst! Sakura, behind you."
Rightly surprised, Sakura whirled around to come face-to-face with Kakashi. Somehow, he'd managed to sneak up behind her while leaving an after-image on the other side of the tree. Just as she was about to scream, the Copy-nin formed a dual handed ram seal and was instantly covered over by a thicket of bushes that seemed to move around him of their own accord; Sakura herself was surrounded by a whirlwind of leaves. Suddenly, as quickly as it appeared, the cyclone of leaves vanished, as did Kakashi, leaving Sakura alone in a spacious clearing. "Oh my!" Sakura squeaked in shock. Expecting an attack, she whipped her head around in every direction, checking all around her for the elusive, silver-haired Jounin. Just then, something to her right moved. "S-S-Sakura…" a familiar voice said weakly.
"Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed with joy, turning to face her crush. However, her excitement was short-lived as she saw the Uchiha was literally skewered by a number of kunai, shuriken, senbon, and what looked to be a spear embedded between his shoulder blades. "Sakura, h-h-help me. Please, help me!" he pleaded, sinking to his knees as he leaned against a nearby tree.
However, Sakura could barely do anything at the moment. The shock of seeing Sasuke in such a state was too much of her to bear. "Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs before fainting comically on the forest floor. Over on a nearby tree branch, Kakashi watched her reaction to the genjutsu he'd placed on her. "I think I may have over done it a bit," he thought aloud as he leapt to the ground. "But then again, she's got to learn these things."
Nearby, Sasuke had watched the entire ordeal unfold as well, though he couldn't see what Sakura had seen. "Hmp, a genjutsu," he said under his breath to avoid detection by the Jounin. "I'm not surprised he caught her with it. But, I'm not like her and the dobe."
"Say that after you've gotten one of these bells," said Kakashi, flickering into view behind him, "Sasuke-kun," he added in a sing-song voice to toy with the Uchiha. The two stared each other down for a moment, the eyes of each locked on the others, waiting for any sign of movement from the other. Finally, Sasuke went on the attack, hurling a volley of kunai and shuriken at the Jounin. Kakashi simply leapt to the side to avoid the flying blades. "There's no point in normal attacks," he said calmly. Sasuke smirked at his remark and chucked a kunai off into the bushes to his right. All of a sudden, a huge log, suspended by a length of rope swung towards Kakashi with surprising speed! 'He set me up with one of my own traps,' the Copy-nin thought as he leapt over the log. 'He may be on the same level as Naruto. Damn, I won't be able to read 'Icha-Icha Paradise' anymore.'
The second Kakashi's feet hit the ground, Sasuke was on him. He leapt up to deliver a powerful kick to the Jounin's head, only to have it blocked and his ankle caught in his opponent's grasp. He then swung at Kakashi with a mean left-hook, which the Copy-nin caught in his palm. Not wasting a second, he whipped his free leg around to attempt an axe-kick at the crown of his opponent's head; it was easily blocked. Sasuke smirked visibly. 'Gotcha.' His axe-kick had flipped him upside-down into a position to where he was close enough to make a grab for the bells. Just as his index finger tapped one of the bells, Kakashi hastily released him and skidded backwards out of reach. The second after he'd righted himself midair, Sasuke began to weave hand seals at blinding speeds. He finished on the tiger seal as he landed, then brought his right index finger and thumb to his mouth, mimicking a blow-torch. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!"
"What?!" Kakashi exclaimed in honest surprise. "Genin can't use Fire Jutsu! There's no way!"
'Wrong answer,' Sasuke thought as he exhaled a jet of intense flame. The where Kakashi had stood only seconds ago was quickly engulfed in flames. As the last lick of fire leapt from his lips, Sasuke took a moment to observe his work. However, upon closer inspection, he saw that there was no trace of the silver-haired Jounin. He instinctively looked around the immediate area for his opponent, knowing that he could strike from any direction. "Now, where will you come at me from?" he thought aloud. Just then, he felt something grab his ankle. Surprised, he glanced down to see a hand sticking out of the ground and latched onto his ankle with surprising strength.
"From where you least expect me," said Kakashi's voice, answering his question. Before he even had time to register what happened, Sasuke found himself buried up to his neck in the ground. "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Headhunter Technique)," Kakashi stated as Sasuke began to strain his now trapped muscles to break free. "Stuck are you? Now that's a damn shame. And only a short window of opportunity remaining for you to try and pass." Leaving Sasuke with that thought, Kakashi flickered away to see what Naruto was up to, leaving the disgruntled Uchiha to try and dig himself out of his earthen prison.
'Damn! I almost had one of the bells!' Sasuke thought as he began to scrape away the earth that held his arms in place. All of a sudden, he felt something strange come over him; it felt as thought his brain was trying to frantically tear its way out of his skull. In front of him, the world began to become blurred and fuzzy. 'Ugh, what the hell's happening to me?' he thought as he frantically shook his head in attempt to correct his vision and block out the pain. When he opened his eyes again, the world was back in focus and he could feel the pain him his mind fading.
Just then Sakura, who had apparently come to from the genjutsu, sprinted past him. She noticed him out of the corner of her eye and spun to face him. When she first saw him fully, the look on her face gave Sasuke the impression that she was going to faint again. "Whoa, whoa! Hold it Sakura," he said, attempting to calm her. However, that only made things worse. "Aaaaaahhhhh! Sasuke-kun's just a head without a body and he's talking!" she shrieked before fainting to the ground with a loud Thud!!
"That's my partner?" Sasuke thought aloud as he managed to burst one of his hands free of the earth. A few moments later, he had finally escaped and was attempting to wake Sakura with some smelling-salts from his ningu (ninja tool) holster. 'What fresh, new hell is THIS?'
Meanwhile, Naruto was dashing silently through the trees, leaping from branch to branch, nostrils flaring as he used his heightened sense of smell to track down his 'teammates'. Anytime he'd come close to something that had an extremely faint scent of Kakashi, he skirted around it, knowing that it was most likely a trap. Suddenly, a new scent wafted towards him through the air: ramen. "That stench, that heavenly stench," he said softly in disbelief, drawing nearer to the smell. As he landed on another tree branch, he saw that he was back at the onyx monument from earlier. Resting at its base was the source of the intoxicating aroma, a pair of bento that had steam wafting from the folds on the sides.
"Man, that's low, even for Kakashi-sensei," he said clutching his growling stomach. "'A ninja must learn to see underneath the underneath'. Well, I'm not fallin' for that trick twice in one day!" Naruto turned to take off, then stopped for a second. The smell of the ramen in that bento was so tempting! Finally, after a second of contemplation, hunger won out over all else. He leapt from the tree and swiped both boxes in one fell swoop before bounding back behind a nearby tree. "Okay, maybe just a little bite wouldn't hurt," he decided as he cracked open one of the boxes, the sweet aroma of ramen flooding his senses.
"Hey there," came Kakashi's voice from above him. Naruto winced and turned his head upwards to see Kakashi staring down at him from a tree branch. "Um, yeah," said Naruto sheepishly, "I was just kidding sensei. Honestly!"
"Of course you were Naruto," said the Copy-nin. In a flash, Kakashi had Naruto tied to one of the stumps and was dangling the bento just out of reach of the blonde. "You really should've stuck to the rules Naruto. These would've been waiting for you after the test was over."
Naruto grinned slyly, hinting to Kakashi that something was up. "Yeah, but then again... I'm not Naruto," said the clone before it dispelled in a puff of smoke. Just then Kakashi sensed a source of charka behind him and leapt to one side as the real Naruto crashed into the spot where he had been only a second ago. "I know a trap when I smell one, and those bento had your scent all over them," Naruto said as he ran at Kakashi, claws out at either side. He was inches from nailing the Copy-nin when suddenly, the alarm clock went off. The test was over, and he'd failed.
"Time's up," Kakashi remarked as he removed a length of tetsugen wire from his ningu holster. He quickly become a blur as he ran circles around both Naruto and one of the stumps. Skidding to a stop, he tugged once on wire and Naruto found himself slammed into the stump, unable to break the wire that held him, even with his plasma claws. "A little momento from the last Great Shinobi War," the Jounin told him as he struggled against his bonds. "Tetsugen made of a special heat-resistant alloy for just such an occasion. That was a good try, but you still get tied to the stump."
Naruto glared at Kakashi for a moment, then composed himself as his 'teammates' strode out of trees and sat down in front the stumps on either side of him. They took one look at the bento on top of the stumps and groaned. "Your stomachs are growling, eh?" Kakashi asked sarcastically. "That's too bad. Oh, by the way, the results of this exercise… none of you need to return to the Academy." Now that surprised the trio, especially Sakura and Naruto. "What?" Sakura questioned. "All I did was faint and fall over. Does that count for something?" At the sametime, Inner Sakura was simply elated by what she'd heard. 'Love prevails once again! Cha!!'
"So that means all three of us..?" Naruto began, a hint of confusion in his voice.
"Yes," Kakashi said, "all three of you… are going to be dropped from the program!"
"What?! What do you mean, 'dropped from the program'? Why?" Sakura yelled in surprise. Next to her, Naruto simply shook his head and smirked. 'Here we go,' he thought. 'Now we get to the heart of the matter.'
"Because you're just a bunch of kids who don't even deserve to be shinobi," reasoned Kakashi nonchalantly. To Naruto's right, Sasuke gritted his teeth in rage and ran at Kakashi full force, reaching for his ningu holster. Kakashi had him pinned to the ground in seconds, his foot resting on Sasuke's head. "See, you still think like little kids instead of shinobi. In other words, you three don't understand the nature of this test. That's what determines whether you pass or fail, like you did so miserably. Why do you think we were training you all in groups of three?"
"But," Sakura began. "We've been asking why that is…"
"Geez, are you all that empty-headed? Why do you think you all are in a group?" After a moment of silent contemplation, Kakashi decided they'd had enough. "Teamwork!" he said in aggrevation. Naruto knew were he was going with all of this, but he decided it would be better for his 'teammates' if he kept his mouth shut and listened as Kakashi continued his lecture. "It makes more sense for you to try and take me as a group. You would've been able to at least secure the bells. But you guys went off on your own."
"Wait," Sakura interjected, attempting to make sense of what Kakashi was saying. "Why use teamwork when there're only two bells? Sure two of us would succeed, but one of us would fail. That would lead to group conflict, instead of teamwork."
"Of course the test pits you against one another," Kakashi said. "In a situation like this, we'd select those who prioritize teamwork before themselves. That was the purpose, but you all were pathetic. Sakura! You cared more about Sasuke than Naruto, even though he was right in front of you and you had no idea where Sasuke was."
Kakashi turned to Naruto and addressed him next. "Naruto, granted you took a great gamble for your teammates' sake by fighting me head-on, but all you did was work on your own. I'm sure that the X-Men taught you that there's no such thing as a one-man-army."
"And you," he said pressing down slightly on Sasuke's head, "assumed that the other two were only going to be a burden and did everything yourself. Missions are done as a team. It's important that shinobi have unique and well-developed skills, but teamwork is much more vital. An individual action that disrupts such teamwork results in danger, and even death for the teammates. For example…" He reached into his ningu holster and produced a wickedly sharp kunai, pressing it against Sasuke's throat. "Sakura! Kill Naruto now or Sasuke dies!"
Seeing Sasuke's life in danger for what she figured was the third time today, Sakura immediately panicked and frantically looked at Naruto and then back at Sasuke, trying to decide which to save. Naruto simply sighed and looked up at the sky, completely unphased. As the son of Wolverine, he'd been the subject of many a hostage situation in the past; plus he had complete confidence that if Sakura did try to kill him, his healing factor would compensate for any injuries he sustained. "That's what'll happen," Kakashi said as he pocketed the kunai, prompting a sigh of relief from Sakura. "In a hostage situation, you'll have a difficult decision to make, and someone will end up dead."
Kakashi stood up and walked away from Sasuke, towards the onyx monument. He stopped a few feet from it, memories of his past flooding into his mind. Faces he wouldn't soon forget. "In every mission," he began, a slight breeze rustling throught the trees, "you'll be putting your life on the line. This monument is a cenotaph, the names engraved here… include those of some of my closest friends; heroes of the village. All of them are dead, K.I.A." He let that sink in for a moment, letting them consider his words, while silently honoring those friends he'd lost in combat. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, he spoke up again. "I'll give you one last chance. However, it'll be a lot harder than before. You'll have three hours to complete the test, eat now to gather strength. But don't give Naruto any, as punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat early. The person that feeds him will immediately fail." He leaned in close to the trio, a seemingly malicious gleam in his eyes. "I make the rules here, got that?"
With that, he flickered away, leaving them to their lunch. As they began to eat, both Sakura and Sasuke noticed that Naruto's stomach began to growl even louder with each passing moment. Sensing their gaze, Naruto beamed his foxy grin at them and tried to relax a bit. "It's no big deal guys," he reassured them. "I'll be fine." No sooner had he spoken that his stomach roared again, the scent of the ramen in the bento quickly becoming too great to bear. 'Oh, man! Why'd he have to put miso ramen in those things?!'
"Here," Sasuke said, handing him his bento. This immediately surprised Naruto and Sakura. Sakura practically choked on the bite of onigiri she'd been eating. This was so unlike him!
"Okay, which Skrull world are you from and what'd you do with Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked jokingly. 'Now he gets it,' he thought silently.
"Just shut up and eat, dobe."
"What?! No Sasuke-kun," Sakura began, looking left and right. "Kakashi-sensei just said-"
"Its alright, I don't sense his chakra nearby," Sasuke reasoned. "Look, if we want any chance at getting those bells, then we'll need to do this together. Naruto will just be a liability in his current state."
"Gee, thanks for your overwhelming confidence Sasuke," Naruto said sarcastically.
'Sasuke-kun,' thought Sakura. The dark-haired Uchiha's determined and grim attitude seemed to reflect their earlier conversation when she'd awoke. "Only I can kill that man," He'd said to her. "I am an avenger. My sole purpose to to become stronger than him. I can't afford to screw up here." Sakura looked at her own bento for a moment, and then offered it to Naruto. Her sudden act of kindness really struck a chord with Naruto, even though he tried his best not to show it. She really did care about him after all. From his position behind a tree a few yards away, Kakashi smiled to himself beneath his mask.
'Hm,' he mused, 'looks like they're finally beginning to understand.'
"S-Sakura-chan, arigatou," Naruto said sincerely.
"You don't need to thank me, really," Sakura replied with a smile. "Just hurry and eat." He started to protest, but she cut him off before he could say anything. "Look, I'm on a diet... I mean, I don't eat as much as Sasuke-kun. So don't worry about it."
"It's not that, it's just... I kind of can't move my hands to my mouth, see?" Naruto reasoned, demonstrating for her by straining against the tetsugen wire. It was true; Kakashi had wrapped him up tight. Sakura's eyebrow twitched slightly at this, vein forming on her forehead. 'You gotta be kidding me!!' Inner Sakura raged.
"Hurry it up," Sasuke rushed them, checking from right to left. "We don't know when he'll be back. Just feed 'em and get it over with."
"Ugh," Sakura groaned as she served up a length of ramen noodles. "I'm only doing this once, got it Naruto?!"
"Got it Sakura-chan," the blonde replied. "I won't breathe a word of this to anyone, especially Ino." Somewhat satisfied, Sakura fed him his miso ramen as he made a mental note to Kyuubi to keep this memory on file for later. It was then that the ramen hit his taste-buds. 'Oh God!!' he thought in pure ecstasy. 'This has got to be the best miso ramen I've ever tasted!!'
No sooner had he swallowed that bite of ramen that a huge explosion erupted in front of them, creating a massive shockwave that threatened to knock them back into the stumps. Suddenly, Kakashi appeared from the cloud of dust that resulted from the blast, what could be seen of his face was contorted in rage. "You three!" he roared. Sakura immediately panicked and threw her hands up to protect herself. To her right, Naruto and Sasuke braced for an attack, Naruto flicking out his plasmaclaws. He knew they wouldn't be any good, tied down as he was, but he planned on going out fighting with his teammates regardless.
"You three have broken the rules," Kakashi said menacingly. "Are you ready to face the consequences?" He formed a dual handed ram seal and suddenly an incredible thunderstorm manifested in the sky. The clouds blotted out the sun; lightning scorched the earth around them, a massive cyclone touched down over them, cutting them off from escape. "Any last words?" the Copy-nin questioned.
Sasuke and Naruto glanced at one another for a moment, then glared back at Kakashi. "We're a team right?" Sasuke asked, eyeing Naruto.
"All for one, and one for all," Naruto replied, grinning at Kakashi. "The three of us are one." By this time, Sakura had cued into what the boys were talking about and decided it was time she backed them up. "That's right!" she shouted, her voiced filled with renewed confidence. "The three of us are one. We're all a team!"
"So the three of you are one, eh?" Kakashi asked darkly. "That's your excuse?" Naruto and Sasuke steeled themselves for what they knew would be coming next: total annihilation. Sakura winced as the lightning flashed ominously overhead. Then, everything was quiet. The wind and lightning ceased, the clouds rolled away, and the sun shone as brightly as it had a few minutes ago. "You pass," said a grinning Kakashi.
"Wha...?!" said the trio in surprise.
"You. Pass."
"Pass, but why?" asked a rightly befuddled Sakura.
"You guys are the first," the Copy-nin explained as he began to untie Naruto. Once the bonds were off, Naruto began to rub his sore arms where the wire had bit into them. "The others I tested were idiots who just did as I instructed them. You guys were the first to think for yourselves. "A ninja must learn to see underneath the underneath." True, in the shinobi world those who break the rules are branded scum. But... those who abandon their comrades, their friends, are worse than scum."
'Hmp, same creed, same mysterious aire, same teaching styles,' Naruto thought as he smiled and shook his head. 'No wonder he's your friend dad. You guys are so much alike.'
"Alright! The training is over," continued Kakashi. "You all pass! Team 7 starts their first official mission tomorrow! Now, how about we celebrate over at Ichiraku Ramen? My treat, this time."
"An offer you may soon regret Kakashi-sensei," joked Naruto as he and Team 7 headed back to the village. The rest of the day was filled with celebration and excitement for all of the Rookie 9 as they rejoiced in the fact that they'd survived their team's first grueling test as shinobi. As far as Naruto and Team 7 were concerned, tomorrow couldn't have sounded more like a brighter day.
Alright gang! Looks like our heroes are now official shinobi, and its about time too. Sorry Naruto didn't beat Kakashi outright, but he is still getting the hang of the shinobi world. Don't tune out just yet, 'cause the next chapter takes Team 7 to the Land of Waves on their first major mission. How will they fare? What enemies await them? And will Sasuke and Sakura discover their mutations? All these questions and more will be answered, so stay tuned and remember to R&R! Also, those of you I haven't heard from who've added this to their Alerts/Faves, feel free to review too; I'd like to hear from you guys.