(I'm answering review this time, guys!

Exxcaliburr: Thanks for the review. I'd glad you're loving it. :D Yes, it's going to be a long fic. We're in our ninth chapter and just now getting through the Bell Test so it's gonna be huge! And you guessed right. Sasuke will be a huge antagonist here for the entire Team Seven, but most importantly for Naruto.

dayfox96: Thanks for all the reviews, dude. They motivated me to get this chapter out a lot faster. You actually guessed who that cloaked person meeting with Itachi and Shisui was. I was so happy when you got it right. It made my day. There are no Uzumaki clan symbols because neither Naruto nor Sakura know there was an actual Uzumaki clan. Most of the symbols are on the vest or standard uniform of the Chunin and Jonin. Naruto and Sakura wear basic attires that suit their likings. Sakura will be drop dead gorgeous by the time she gets older, I promise you that. Cheers for a smexy, heartbreaker Uzumaki Sakura! :D I know you were referring to the scar on her arm when you said that, though. Maybe I'll let her keep it, maybe I won't. Kyuubi can heal it, you know. We'll see. As to who has the Yin and Yang parts of Kyuubi, you'll have to wait to find out. However I'm not basing Yin and Yang and mental and physical energies. I'm basing them on light and darkness. Who will be light and who will be darkness is a total mystery, even to me actually.

Guest: A little NaruSaku will be added to the mix soon, along with a little KibaSaku just to make little Naru-chan jealous. Panic not, however, this is strictly NaruSaku business.

To everyone else, I want to thank you for all the reviews/alerts/favorites. I also want to thank all of those who gave me support when I needed it the most. You guys fucking rock! I love you guys. Thank you so much. Now, without further ado, the next installment to Awake:Create!)

Hatake Household

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he laid down on the couch in their living room. Kakashi went into the kitchen to start fixing their dinner. The blonde heard his guardian answer, proving he had heard. Naruto looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "Are Sakura and I related?" Naruto heard all the noises that Kakashi had been making in the kitchen cease and out of the corner of his eye, saw the Jonin popping his head out from the kitchen. The blonde has been meaning to ask Kakashi this all week; ever since he met Sakura. However, between the Bell Test and all these (stupid) D-ranked missions, he never really had the time.

Naruto smiled a little at the thought of the test Kakashi had put them through a week ago.

Flashback- Training Ground Three

Naruto yawned as he walked into the training grounds. He spotted his teammates leaning against two of the three tree stumps in the middle of the clearing. "Hey, guys." He greeted them, receiving informal grunts and greetings in return. He reached inside his back pouch and pulled put a dog treat for Akamaru then threw it, the Inuzuka familiar catching it in midair and landing happily. The dog walked over and laid down on Sakura's crossed legs. She started scratching the back of his ear while he chewed on his treat. Kiba ignored the fact that Akamaru was getting comfortable on his female teammate's lap in favor of trying to catch a light nap while their sensei decided to show up. It was quiet in the clearing – save for Akamaru's chewing – until Sakura heard metal slicing through the air. Multiple metal objects flying through the air headed their way, to be exact.

"Duck!"

The male members of Team Seven didn't think twice when their pink haired teammate yelled that. They both ducked while Sakura jumped up and landed on top of the stump she had been leaning against – seeing as she couldn't duck due to Akamaru being on her lap – with said dog clutched in her arms. Three kunai embedded themselves in the stumps, exactly where their heads used to be. The boys quickly jumped up, going onto defensive stances while Sakura crouched down in an offense stance with Akamaru growling in her arms.

"Very good, guys. That was excellent." Came the amused voice of their new sensei as he came out of the shadows, wearing a smile under his mask. The three Genin visibly relaxed at the sight of him but Kiba and Naruto immediately started glaring at him.

"What the hell, Kakashi-sensei?! You could've killed us!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the Jonin.

"Yeah! What if we wouldn't have dodged, huh?! You'd have the death of thee Genin in your hands, you ass!" Kiba retorted almost immediately after his blonde companion.

Kakashi chuckled nervously as he put up his hands in defense as the two best friends rounded up on him. "Now, now, calm down, my children. I know one of you was going to sense that attack, so there's no worries."

"What if we hadn't?! Huh?! Then, what would you have done?!"

Kakashi looked at his adoptive brother and chuckled. "I could've easily deflected them." He went over to get his kunai, both of his male students glaring daggers at his back.

"My ass," Naruto and Kiba muttered at the same time. Sakura heard them and snickered while Akamaru barked from his place in her arms.

If Kakashi had heard the two wild boys, he ignored it and decided not to comment on it. Instead he waited for Sakura to stand by her teammates before placing an alarm on the stump she had been standing on. "Now that our adrenaline has been triggered, it's time for some real action." Kakashi tuned the alarm so it would go off at noon then turned to his waiting team. "Today's exercise is simple. All you gotta do is take these two bells from me. You each need to have a bell in order to pass onto being a Genin." He patted the two bells tied to his left hip bone.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "But, there's only two…" She trailed off, then her eyes widened. "That means only two of us pass. What happens to the other one?"

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "They get sent back to the Academy." The three Genin frowned at this. "You have until noon. You must come at me with the intent to kill, or you'll fail." The three got into their respective stances as Kakashi raised his arm. "Now, start!" They disappeared from his sight, making him smile again. 'Hopefully, they'll pass.'

Up in the trees, Sakura tried to listen close to where her teammates' footsteps and breathing patterns where located. It was obvious none of them could defeat Kakashi in a one-on-one battle. He was a Jonin while they were only Genin – and fresh out of the Academy, might she add. Maybe with the help of her teammates, they could defeat him then work out the deal with the bells later. With that in mind, Sakura listened intently on the sounds around her, trying to locate footsteps that weren't the ones standing in the clearing in front of her.

Sakura located two sets of footsteps – one way bigger than the other, judging by the weight of them – and darted towards that direction as silently as possible. In no time at all, she landed by Kiba and Akamaru, who were hiding behind a pair of trees, and concealed herself by them. Kiba turned to her, having smelled her heading his way earlier, and silently asked what she needed with his eyes. "We need to find Naruto." She whispered over to him, her eyes darting over to the place where she heard Kakashi's steady breathing and the occasional flip of pages of the apparent porn book he seemed to always be reading. Kiba raised his brow in question but nodded and he sniffed the air a few times, having quite the trouble locating the blonde due to Sakura's apparent similar scent as Naruto.

Kiba frowned slightly at this. 'Hmm, that's weird. Maybe they use the same soap or shampoo.' He shrugged then finally located the blonde Jinchuuriki and set off to find him, Akamaru and Sakura right on his tail. Sakura never lost Kakashi's steady breathing, knowing that Kiba needed his nose to find Naruto, and he could get distracted in finding the blonde and might not smell the Jonin coming in case Kakashi decided to take offense instead of waiting patiently.

The two soon reunited with the blonde, who seemed to have been planning to attack at that exact moment. Kiba held him back from going out to fight Kakashi. Naruto was about to snap at him for interrupting his concentration when the brunette shook his head and pointed to their female teammate. Both boys turned to her, and listened intently to what she had to say. "Look, guys, I know there are only two bells and that one of us is going to fail in the end anyway, but we're mere Genin. We can't beat a Jonin like Kakashi on our own." Sakura whispered over to them. The two best friends looked at each other, silently agreeing with her. At this shared conclusion, she continued, "But maybe we could at least get the bells from him if we work together. Let's fight together against him, and if we're able to get the bells, we'll settle that problem then."

Sakura looked at the three of them for confirmation. Naruto and Kiba shared another look before looking down at Akamaru simultaneously then at Sakura. They gave feral grins then nodded. Sakura let a smirk of her own grace her lips just as Akamaru started wagging his tail rapidly. The four huddled closer to each other in order to plan an attack.

"Okay, so this is what we'll do…."

Back over with Kakashi, the Jonin hummed while he flipped another page in his book. He gave a quick but wary glance over to where his students were located at. 'Hmm, they've been huddled there for almost fifteen minutes.' A small smile broke across his masked face at his next thought. 'At least they're working together.'

His attention was drawn over to the rustling of a bush, where soon enough Naruto emerged, grinning over at him. "Say, Sensei, I'm waiting. Are ya' gonna' attack or nat'?" The blonde had cupped his mouth to yell at his teacher, the grin still on his face.

"The point of this exercise, Naruto, is for you to attack me, not the other way around." Kakashi sighed as he explained, never taking his eye off the blonde. Naruto grinned even more and Kakashi narrowed his eye at this. A splash of water told him something was coming at him from the small lake behind him. He back-flipped just in time to dodge the Naruto clone speeding towards him. Kakashi landed on the clone's head and kicked off, landing on the ground with the lake to his right side just as the clone poofed off.

"Gatsūga!" Kakashi looked up and saw a drill-like attack descending down on him. He jumped to the left, only to have to front-flip out of the way because another drill-like attack was heading his way. He straightened up, only to find that there were flower petals surrounding him. He narrowed his eye and threw a shuriken towards a few of the petals. As soon as the shuriken connected, the petals started to explode.

'Shit!' Kakashi jumped high into the air. He looked down, only to see Kiba launching Naruto into the air towards him. Naruto aimed at his right hip bone to grasp the bells. Kakashi dodged by sticking his left hip out but the barrage of exploding petals heading his way quickly caught his attention. Kakashi kicked off the still airborne blonde by him and launched himself upwards.

Sakura, who was perched up in a tree, cancelled the exploding jutsu before it could reach Naruto and grinned. She jumped down from her safe haven and walked over to the rest of her team, Naruto landing in between her and Kiba. Akamaru landed on the blonde's head. Sakura formed a handsign and a few of the exploding petals surrounded the four, exploding once they made contact with other petals. This made smoke surround the quartet, and Kakashi watched curiously as the smoke flew around them.

As the smoke finally cleared, Kakashi's lone eye widened at the sight that greeted him. Each of the members of Team Seven – including Akamaru – was holding a piece of the bells he had tied around his waist. Kakashi looked down to see that the bells weren't at his waist. He looked back to analyze what had happened when Naruto's chuckle caught his attention.

"You really need to watch where you put your stuff, Pops, you're starting to get old if you're forgetting which side is right and which side is left." Naruto taunted, confusing Kakashi.

Sakura smiled and shook her head, deciding to explain in a more detailed way. "When Kiba launched Naruto into the air, Naruto was aiming at you right hip as if grasping for the bells. However, the bells were at your left hip. We had Naruto aim for your right hip to hopefully trick you into thinking they were there. Seeing as it worked, Naruto had opened his back weapon pouch to let Akamaru, who had used that second Gatsūga then jumped into Naruto pouch when you had been avoiding my Ninpou: Kyoukasui, jump out and get the bells from your left hip before you used Naruto to go higher in the air in order to avoid my attack-"

"And that means we totally whooped your ass!" Kiba cheered but then blinked at his choice of words and grinned sheepishly. "Well, not literally, anyway."

Sakura rolled her eyes and continued to explain. "It was Naruto's idea to conceal ourselves in smoke and cut up the two bells in four equal pieces, and Kiba's plan to use Akamaru as the one to get the bells, seeing as he's smaller and faster. Naruto and I came up with the distractions and diversions so you wouldn't notice Akamaru."

Kakashi blinked at all this information. 'Geez, they're all damned geniuses. To come up with a plan so simple, with each using only one jutsu, and execute it perfectly just to trick a Jonin. It's amazing.' He smiled at the behind his ask. "Well, then. Looks like Konoha is lucky to have Team Seven protect them."

The Genin blinked back at him. Kiba spoke first, "Does this mean we pass?"

When Kakashi nodded, the three Genin cheered loudly while Akamaru gave the occasional bark and growl. Naruto turned to his guardian. "You mean my plan of cutting up the bells into four pieces worked?"

Kakashi blinked several times at this. "What do you mean? You guys used teamwork. That was the real test, not to get the bells." The Genin stopped celebrating at that. Silence surrounded the clearing immediately after Kakashi uttered those words. Above them, a bird passed over them, making a sound that deliberately sounded like it was saying, "Bakas, bakas," repeatedly to the.

End flashback

Naruto chuckled softly as he remembered Kakashi explaining to them the real reason for the test, which was to work as a team, no matter if the odds weren't in their favor. The Genin had been shocked, having been completely oblivious to the fact. They had figured that they couldn't beat Kakashi alone so they had to try to do it together. But they seriously thought that getting the bells was the objective. Then Kakashi had gone to explain to them that ninja must 'see underneath the underneath.' It turned out to be a day full of pleasant surprises and outcomes. In the end, since they worked to well in a team – despite not figuring out the real test – and seemed to have such an amazing chemistry with each other, Kakashi decided to officially pass them.

"What brought that on?" Kakashi's question brought the blonde out of his musings. Naruto blinked up at him in confusion before remembering his earlier question and sitting up.

"Well, it's just that, I never really found out if I do have any other relatives. I know I don't have parents, or else I wouldn't be an orphan. But I don't know if I have uncles or aunts or grandparents. For all I know, Sakura-chan could be my cousin or something." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. Kakashi hummed then walked over to the blonde, siting by him on the couch.

"Well, you have your godfather Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi thought aloud, smiling a little when he thought back to Jiraiya's first encounter with the male Jinchuuriki.

When Jiraiya was making one of those semiyearly trips to check on Sakura's seal, the blonde and the Sanin had run into one another when Naruto found the man peeking into the women's hot springs. Naruto played a prank on him ad Jiraiya was chased around town when the women in the hot spring found out he was peeking – thanks to Naruto's prank. Because of this, the Sanin had chased Naruto around the village, the two eventually coming to an equal standing. Jiraiya had told him he was his godfather and Naruto accepted this – and the reasons as to why Jiraiya couldn't be constantly in the village – with open arms.

Naruto shook his head slightly. "I meant, blood relatives. Ero-Senin is awesome and although he's my godfather, he's not really in the family. You know what I mean?" The blonde looked up at Kakashi through his bangs.

Kakashi smiled and ruffled the kid's head. "I know." Kakashi stood up and went back into the kitchen, chuckling when Naruto whined to him about not answering his first question. The blonde followed him into the kitchen then froze when he saw Kakashi's sudden serious expression. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I'm afraid Sakura's just like you."

Naruto furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Sakura's an orphan, just like you. We don't know where she came from or what happened to her parents or family. When we found her during the Kyuubi's attack (Naruto tensed here, now starting to regret ever asking his question as he had an idea of what was going to be said, and he really didn't want to hear it), she was all alone. There was no record of her or her family. No one knew of her or her family. She was only seven months old at that time. She honestly just appeared out of nowhere." Kakashi sighed, remembering how hard the pink haired girl took the news when Yugao had told her when she had turned ten.

Naruto frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. He gritted his teeth, his bangs covering his eyes. A hand went to grip his stomach. "Sensei….Do you think I did something to her family?"

Kakashi snapped his head to look at the boy so fast that there was an audible crack sounding throughout the kitchen. He knelt down in front of the boy and grasped his shoulders and a firm but reassuring way. "Naruto, listen to me. You have done nothing wrong. If anything, you have saved us all. If it weren't for you, we'd all be gone right now."

"If it weren't for me, Sakura's family probably would've been with her right now."

"Now, you don't know that. Like I said, Sakura was all alone when we found her. There were no records of her in the hospital. She was probably from another village and her parents were dropping her off in Konoha or something. Whatever it is, it's not your fault. And if the Kyuubi did have anything to do with this, it was the Kyuubi. Not you. Do you understand?" Kakashi spoke in a firm manner and didn't let go of the boy until the blonde nodded. Kakashi stood up and started heading for the door. "C'mon, let's go get some Ichiraku's."

The blonde immediately cheered up at this and followed his master. "But, wait, Sensei. If the hospital didn't have any record of her, how did you know her name?"

"It was written on her blanket."

"Oh, alright….Wait! That means she might really be family, right?"

"I highly doubt it."

"Aw, man. Well, at least it wouldn't be weird between us, then."

"Why? Do you like her?"

"What? No! Of course not! Heheh."

"Naruto,"

"Yeah?"

"You're really bad at lying."

"….Fuck you, Pops."

Konohagakure East Veterinarian- The Next Day

"Alright, guys. You can see them but be careful when you touch and pick them up. They're newborns." Hana instructed as Team Seven followed her to the back of the vet to see the foxes. She led them to the back room, where a small platform full of newly born kits was situated in the corner. Sakura squealed and ran over to them, a grinning Naruto right on her trail. At the door of the backroom stood Kakashi, Yugao, Tsume and Hana watching as Kiba and Akamaru joined their teammates. Kakashi looked outside of the window and saw Tenzou at the tree line, ready to spring into action if something were to happen.

"Hey, Kitten." Sakura flinched at the gruff voice in her head and glanced at her male teammates to see if they had noticed. Fortunately, they were preoccupied with the kits to notice. Sakura moved to be by the corner, trying to go unnoticed by the other two. She gritted her teeth and she looked over the kids but was solely focused on the voice inside her head.

"What do you want?" Sakura hissed mentally at the demon fox. She hadn't told anyone so far but the fox was able to talk to her mentally sometimes. It was easily getting under her skin – no pun intended.

"May I have a say in the choice?"

Sakura blinked rapidly, a shocked look passing over her facial features. She failed to notice the fact that Yugao was watching her reactions intently. "Did…you just ask for something nicely?"

A growl resounded in the back of her head. "I was just thinking it'd be nice to help you seeing as you have no idea what you're doing!"

"Or is it that you just want to escape?"

"Do you want help in choosing a partner, Kitten, or not?"

"….What's the price?"

"That's something we could discuss later, Kitten. Now pay attention. Uzuki is watching you." Sakura blinked several times before looking over to her guardian. She saw Yugao narrowing her eyes at her. Sakura smiled in the most innocent way she could before turning back to watching the kits try to walk around.

'Damn fox talking to me in the middle of important stuff.' Sakura, thought, slightly thankful the fox couldn't hear her most inner thoughts. Sakura shook her head and went back to watching the foxes.

Across the room, Yugao was frowning. She had seen Sakura's slightly spaced off look in her eye and then the girl had turned to her and tried to smile innocently when she saw she was watching her. 'Something's wrong, and I don't like the feeling.'

(A/N: That's where it ends today, guys. It's four thirty in the morning and I'm beat. Next time, we see them off on their first REAL mission. F.Y.I: I know the battle in the Bell Test is kind of, "blegh." I wanted to show the prankster yet playful and insightful side of the team rather than have an actual brawl. The guys knew they weren't going to win against a Jonin with just raw strength. They needed a little trick here and there. Oh, and sorry if I misspelled a few words. My "M", "G" and "R" keys are constantly getting stuck. Need to check that out. Anyway, until next time,

7th Creature.)