AN: I win again Angellwriter. Give me some time and I'll think of a really good challenge for chapter seven/eight. This chapter is entirely your challenge.
Naruto had been over the moon at the changes to the third exam. If there was one thing Team Seven was good at; it was teamwork. Their motto was never leave a teammate behind. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.
Kakashi had instilled that belief in Naruto during the bell test and he lived by it. This time Team Seven would remain whole. He would not let Sasuke leave them.
So the finals being set up as team matches favored Team Seven. Kakashi must have known about the upcoming change because he had been developing their teamwork further from the second they exited the forest.
Their bonds had grown so much stronger in just two weeks. With Naruto and Sakura showing more of what they were truly capable of Sasuke no longer viewed them as the dead last and the pathetic fangirl. Whenever Kakashi had them fight two on one, Sasuke fully expected to win.
The first time he lost to them he scoffed. The second time he stiffened with rage. After the third consecutive loss he realized they had become so much stronger in a short period of time. He recalled their Acadmey days when Naruto couldn't Henge or make a single clone and when using chakra exhausted Sakura.
Sasuke had never cared where his two teammates ran off to when Kakashi called an end to their training. They were only dragging him down. He should be training one on one with Kakashi. If he didn't train harder and longer and more often he would never kill that man.
And that was all that mattered. He needed to improve quicker. He needed to become stronger.
Sasuke had been so angry to learn that his Curse Seal of Heaven had been completely sealed. With that power he would closer to his goal. He could feel its power thrumming beneath his skin, pushing against the seal that restrained it.
But then they started overpowering him. They moved like they were one mind in two bodies, communicating without talking or even looking at the other.
After the seventh straight loss Sasuke started thinking. He had never seen this level of skill from his teammates before. Did they continue training when Kakashi dismissed them? If so, just what were they doing to give such a marked improvement?
Sasuke had always viewed the Uchiha clan as superior. His clan was descended from the Sage of the Six Paths. He wore the red and white uchiwa proudly on his back.
And due to his clan relation he had looked down on his teammates, seeing them as weak and inferior. But that wasn't true. If Naruto and Sakura could be this strong with their own power, Sasuke would too. He would not look to others to hand him power.
He would kill Itachi with his own strength and avenge his clan with the power only an Uchiha possessed.
Sakura almost thought that Kakashi could see the future with the way he had emphasized team training before the Hokage had even announced the change to the final exam. And she loved him for it because Sasuke was finally seeing how strong the three of them could be as a team.
Sakura had noticed Sasuke watching her and Naruto closely during training. He studied them almost like he thought they were a puzzle or a riddle that would be solved if he spent enough time working on it.
The complete flip in attitude with regards to them thrilled the pinkette.
They were making headway with him. Maybe, if they won the chuunin exams, Sasuke would see that he could rely on his teammates and depend on them to help him accomplish his goal. He would see that he didn't need to leave Konoha to get stronger.
After all, if the dead last from no clan and a civilian girl could become as strong as they did, Sasuke would see that the power, the support, and the teachers he needed were in Konoha.
Kakashi had a twisted sense of training.
Sakura could see the logic in it. Somewhat. If they observed someone's daily routine they learned more about him.
He cheerfully informed his team that morning that for the next three days they would be walking in their teammate's shoes. To Kakashi that meant two members following the third around for an entire day.
Sasuke was up first, and surprisingly their broody teammate did not complain about their sensei's latest team building exercise. He just told them to be outside his apartment at four in the morning.
To Sakura, the lack of comments and acceptance and willingness to go along with Kakashi's interesting methods was proof that he was changing. And for the better. If he came to value teamwork and the bonds they shared, he would never lose himself to the darkness he harbored.
Sasuke silently invited them inside the next morning, telling them to help themselves to the food laid out on the table.
Sakura's first instinct was to scold him. Onigiri with tomatoes was not a healthy or balanced meal. But Kakashi said that they were to remain silent, just observe and partake in his activities. On the fourth day they would share observations, tips, and criticisms.
So the rosette bit her tongue and grabbed a rice ball.
Their dark haired teammate started training immediately. His mornings were devoted to learning his clan's fire jutsus. As far as using fire jutsus went, Naruto could stand toe to toe with Sasuke, his lack of affinity for the nature pushed aside by the sheer amount of chakra he put into the technique.
An affinity for a chakra nature didn't automatically make one more skilled at certain jutsus, it only made it so it required less chakra to use that style than someone who didn't have the affinity. It was even more difficult if your inherent nature was weak against the element you were using.
Not that Naruto ever let the laws of nature stop him from doing anything he set his mind to.
Sasuke trained four hours straight until it was time for Team Seven to meet with Kakashi. The silver haired jounin made them wait the typical three hours before arriving to tell them that they would not meet during their shadowing exercise, but he fully expected them to wait at the Team Seven's training ground for three hours because they did that every day.
The Uchiha boy then trekked a ways into the forest until he reached a clearing with eight targets that splitting from overuse and weathered with age. Sasuke jumped into the air, twisting and launching ten kunai. In quick succession eight of them thudded into the targets' center.
Sakura was curious over the two extra kunai until Sasuke walked around the back of a tree to a hidden target. The tenth kunai was supposed to change the projector of the ninth kunai so it could hit the target in his blind spot. Given the worn state of the wooden targets, Sasuke spent many hours attempting to hit the center of every target and was clearly irritated with his failure to do so with the ninth hidden target.
Watching Sasuke train his Sharingan was the most interesting thing Sakura had seen all day.
He started by loading pressure traps and purposefully triggering them. His red eyes blazed and spun, tracking the trajectory of a hundred shuriken and kunai at once. As with his other regimens, Sasuke repeated and repeated and repeated his training, refusing to leave the training grounds until the sky was black.
It really was no wonder in the original timeline that Sasuke was always prepared with the amount of time he spent training.
The next day was Naruto's turn.
Sasuke walked silently besides Sakura. He had known that Naruto was also an orphan, but he hadn't known about the blonde's living conditions. The village provided all orphans a monthly allowance if they promised to enter the shinobi tract.
His apartment building was rundown. The paint was peeling off the walls. Naruto was quick to usher them out of the district amidst the glares and angry mutterings of the few villagers that were awake, but not so quick that he didn't lock all three locks on his door and activate several traps around his door and window.
When Sasuke asked about it, Naruto brushed it off as his apartment building got broken into every other day and it was better to be prepared and to protect his home.
But it didn't make sense to the Uchiha. Given the money he was given each month, Naruto should be able to rent an apartment in the same building as him. He couldn't understand the reasoning behind the villagers' treatment of him. Sasuke observed Naruto closely, noting how he reacted to the people that spat insults at him or cursed him or denied him service. They acted like Naruto was evil reincarnated there to kill them all and he ignored them with practice ease.
He joined Naruto on his morning run around the village, stretching afterwards as he did, and then watched as Naruto took advantage of his ability to make a hundred copies of himself. The blonde separated his clones into groups. It was split pretty evenly between those learning and practicing a few wind style jutsus and those that walked on top of the Naka River.
Without any warning the Shadow Clones turned on their creator, beginning the most one sided fight Sasuke had ever witness. Although the clones had all the abilities of the original Naruto was dispelling them left and right.
When there was only one blonde wearing an orange jumpsuit Team Seven went to Ichiraku's for lunch. Sasuke and Sakura ate one bowl a piece while Naruto consumed twenty-seven.
Then Naruto did something completely unexpected, which was actually normal for him. He had been nicknamed the number one most unpredictable ninja in the Academy.
He gave them a foxy grin, enhanced by the whiskers on his cheeks, and Henged into a nondescript shinobi in ANBU garb.
Sasuke and Sakura followed Naruto on the rooftops as he silently appeared beside a jounin and informed him that the Sandaime had summoned him. Then he snuck up on another and gave him the same story.
Three. Seven. Eleven. Sixteen. Twenty-two.
Experienced jounin of many years of service never thought to question the dog masked ANBU informing them that the Hokage needed them. And Naruto kept his ruse up until another ANBU relayed the Sandaime's orders that Naruto come to his office.
Cackling, Naruto dropped the Henge and resumed his bright appearance and led several ANBU and jounin on a merry chase through the village. And ultimately, when Naruto allowed them to drag him before the Third Hokage, and he most definitely let them catch him, the Hokage sighed and gave him a speech about a ninja's responsibility and let him go without any serious reprimands.
Naruto's district was rowdier as he walked home. When he sunnily told them he see them bright and early the next morning for Sakura's day and bounced into his apartment, Sasuke had an epiphany.
Naruto could Henge into anyone, make a new identity for himself, but didn't. He didn't have to be the demon boy. He lived in the worst district in Konoha and the villagers hated him. Why did he choose to suffer their treatment?
Because he found friendship in Team Seven.
Having bonds gave him a reason to live as Naruto. Having precious people to fight for and protect made him stronger and gave him the drive to become even stronger for them.
Naruto thought he would be bored walking in Sakura's shoes for a day.
They had previously warned Shikamaru of their sensei's intentions so he didn't join them on their morning run the past two days. He had said it was a drag and that he'd run in the afternoon.
But, given their unique situation, Naruto and Sakura had to make up a daily routine, because there was no way they could bring Sasuke to the Nara forest and include him in their plots and debates on how to proceed with their future knowledge or in their spars to keep their future abilities honed.
He could see Sasuke connecting the dots when Sakura started her day, after sneaking out her bedroom window, with a job around the village's wall. He was seeing the correlation between his and Sakura's vast improvement since Team Seven's formation and their nearly identical training regimens.
After her run, Sakura continued with physical training, practicing basic taijutsu styles until her body flowed from one kata to the next and she looked like she was dancing.
Naruto hid a yawn when Sakura spent her afternoon in the library researching various water style and medical ninjutsus. He half thought she was trying to bore them to death.
In the end, the pinkette's day was the least eventful but most rounded out practice. She took to heart the idea that being good in all areas was better than being phenomenal in one and lackluster in the others.
"Alright. Now let's share your experiences, starting with Sakura."
Sakura gave Kakashi the evil eye for making her go first and assigning her to be the one to criticize Sasuke. The Uchiha wasn't going to take one word she said seriously.
Nevertheless. "You clearly have amazing stamina. You train all hours of the day, rarely stopping to eat or rest. You would have better results if you took care of your body. You needed a more balanced diet, one with more carbs and meats. And your training would benefit if you found someone else to train with."
She sighed when he raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You've learned all you can on your own at this point. All you're doing now is perfecting techniques you already know. You have years to make those techniques second nature. You really should focus on branching out.
"Also, your Sharingan needs more training. Your kekkei genkai grants you an incredible clarity of perception, allowing you to track fast moving objects." Sakura referenced his dodging simultaneously sprung traps. "But you've done nothing to train its ability to see chakra or perceive or cast genjutsu.
"At this level, you need someone else to train with." She concluded.
Kakashi didn't give Sasuke the opportunity to fight Sakura's analysis and told him to get on with his own of Naruto's day.
"You're more skilled than I thought you were." Sasuke admitted. "But you stretch yourself too thin. I know that Shadow Clones transfer memory and experience to the caster, but you use so many at a time that when all of it floods your brain, you only actually get a portion of what they learned. And with your chakra distributed evenly amongst them, you didn't make much headway with your chakra control or jutsus.
"You would also benefit from training with another person. Fighting yourself is a pointless endeavor. Your Henge is flawless."
Kakashi took his momentary pause as his cue for Naruto to start, but Sasuke kept going.
"Most importantly, you need to do something about the village's treatment of you."
Silence followed Sasuke's proclamation. He was the only member of Team Seven that was not aware of the burden Naruto carried; therefore he couldn't understand that Naruto couldn't do anything about how the villagers treated him. He couldn't force them to see him and not the Bijuu he jailed.
"I suppose there's something you should know." Sasuke leaned forward at Naruto's admission. "That night, twelve years ago. The Yondaime didn't kill the Kyuubi. It's impossible to kill a Bijuu. There a manifestation of pure chakra. Instead he sealed it in a newborn baby."
"You."
Naruto swallowed. "Me. I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."
Sasuke fell silent, and for a moment Naruto feared that he would curse him, blame him for the deaths of those that died that night. "You're like me."
Naruto smiled wanly. He supposed that was true. Both orphans of tragic circumstances. Both forced to carry an unwanted burden. Both had access to a terrible, corrupt power. Both branded with seals to prevent them from accessing a second source of power.
Only Naruto's seal was different, designed to allow Kurama's chakra to absorb into his coils so he could use it safely but not let the fox out. Sasuke's Curse Seal was one hundred percent sealed off. He couldn't access it at all.
Naruto quickly rattled off Sakura's pros and cons. "You have great chakra control, though small reserves. You know that physical strength and stamina are your weakest point and you took the effort to work on that. You spend too much time in the library looking up new jutsus to try. You should just pick one at a time and focus on that one.
"Ultimately, you're skills are well rounded and you have a knack for medical jutsus." He finished.
Kakashi clapped his hands. "Good job, team. We'll meet back here in the morning. We'll start on anticipating your teammate's move and reacting to either defend or press an advantage."
Sakura felt like she had been smacked in the face when she saw both Yamato and Sai at their training grounds.
Not once had she thought about the wood user since coming to the past, and she had all but forgotten about Sai after he hadn't made it through the first exam. Both males were just as much a part of Team Seven as she, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi were.
"This here is Yamato, who's going to help me demonstrate today's training," the masked man pointed to the brunette who held a flashlight under his face. "And Sai, who has a unique jutsu that will suit today's training."
Sasuke glowered at the boy who could almost be his twin. The same dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin, not to mention a fondness for dark clothing. If it wasn't for the obviously fake smile on Sai's face, some might have mistaken them to be related.
Kakashi then proceeded to show them what they would be doing.
Sai's brush raced across his scroll and a myriad of ink creatures leapt of the page. Snarling lions, writhing snakes, charging bears, and flying birds. Even at the age of twelve, Sai's mastery of his ink techniques was amazing.
But not enough to phase the two ex-ANBUs.
Kakashi thanked Sai and Yamato after he and the wood user thoroughly proved their point. Sai smiled politely and said it was his pleasure. When their sensei said it would be their turn to fight off both him and Yamato, Naruto jumped to include Sai.
"Do you want to help us Sai? Your ink jutsu is pretty cool. And we'd have even numbers." Naruto raised his arms behind his head, like he could care less if Sai chose to join them or not, but there was no mistaking his tone that said 'come here.'
Sai responded to the blonde's authoritive tone. "I'd like that, leader."
Five people stared at him. Naruto and Sakura shared a secret smile. It seemed that Sai's Root training wasn't ingrained yet and he still had some semblance of social ability. Or Naruto radiated power.
Team Seven was finally altogether. There had never been a point in the future when all six members were present. Sasuke was gone, Naruto was training, Kakashi was in the hospital, Yamato was kidnapped.
They worked together much better at the age of twelve than at fifteen. Naruto and Sakura each paired with Sasuke and Sai, hoping to tone down their natural tendency to do exactly what Kakashi was trying to teach them.
Naruto and Sasuke, past or future, always worked well together when they weren't antagonizing the other or trying to outdo him. And Sai, with his slightly more open personality, was much easier to work with seeing as he wasn't insulting her every time he took a breath.
Still, training went down exactly like it had in the future, only with one more gennin locked inside the wooden prison.
For Naruto, it was the sixth most amazing day of his life, the first five being when his met his father, his mother, marrying Hinata, being named Hokage, and using the time travel scroll. Team Seven was whole for the first time in years.
And now not only did he have the chance to save Sasuke, but they could save Sai too.