Naruto: Dream of Dragons

by MoonlightWolf16

Some people say that death is like falling asleep. I'm here to tell you that all of that is absolute nonsense. Death is painful, frightening, and lonely. I should know. I died. And for some absurd reason, I was given a second chance. This is the story of how I became Akina Morimoto, Kunoichi of Konoha. Naruto OC Reincarnation fic.

7. There's No I in Team 7

Chapter 6

I hate this, I hate this so much.

I'm practically marinating in my own frustration from waking up this early. Sasuke had even shown up at my house to wake me up. He didn't stay for long though, not since Sasuke woke me up with a bucket of ice water to the face, but I'll get back at him later. I was yawning like crazy as I made my way to the third training ground, where we had been designated to meet.

Naruto and Sasuke were both there since I was a few minutes late. Sue me! Kakashi wasn't even here yet either.

By the time the sun had finally risen, I was awake and annoyed with our sensei for being late AGAIN! Naruto was beside me, nodding off every once in a while. I would also nudge him so he could wake up if he was going too far into sleep.

It wasn't until just after 11 in the morning that Kakashi finally deemed it time to show up to HIS meeting!

"Morning, everyone. Ready for your first day?"

GRRR!

"Hey! You're late!" Naruto and I both yelled at our new sensei.

Smiling his cheeky eye-smile, he calmly told us his excuse. "Well, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way."

Naruto was practically growling like an angered creature, but I decided on using my ever-so-wonderful sarcasm. "A Chunin rank ninja can make it to Sunagakure in three days time and you couldn't manage to make it around the village in 6 hours? Some ninja…"

I could tell Kakashi wasn't fazed by either of our comments as he got out some contraption and set it on a log. He pushed down on the large button on top of what I could now see was a clock.

"It's set for noon."

Then when he reached into his pocket, I could hear a jingling sound. Kakashi brought them out to reveal two small bells with string attached at the top. Okay… what is this?

"Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it."

Sounds simple enough.

"If you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch."

WHA?!

"You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."

No good sensei! He told us not to have breakfast so that this would be harder… Sadist!

I put aside my frustration so that I could fully understand the test. "Since there are two bells, I'm assuming at least one person will be tied up at the end of this?"

Eye-smiling again at his masochistic ways, Kakashi replied, "That's right! This way at least one of you will end up being tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the Academy."

The boys tensed up, realizing how severe the consequences of failing would be for any of them. I looked to see determined expressions on each of their faces. I just hoped that we could work together on this.

"Then again, all three of you could flunk out too…"

I was determined that we would all pass this ridiculous test. I refuse to hold back Naruto or Sasuke in their lives. I remembered that this was the time for them to become Genin, I just can't remember how. All I knew was that with Sakura here, they passed. I was going to make sure that this happened again with me here.

"You can use any weapons, including shuriken." Kakashi gave us each a serious look as he continued. "If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."

Ha! And we have a shot at some payback!

Naruto was laughing beside me though. "Are you sure? I mean, you couldn't even dodge that eraser."

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links, you can safely ignore them, lowest scores, losers…"

I couldn't help it when I growled along with Naruto at our sensei. How dare he say something like that to Naruto!

I barely heard what Kakashi was saying after this though, my blood was boiling over with his masochistic ways and his insults to my friends. I didn't have much time to think of what I was going to do since I saw movement from my periphery vision. Naruto was charging at Kakashi with a kunai drawn.

With barely a moment passing, I felt Kakashi's chakra move from his previous location to just behind Naruto. Flashing over, I drew my own kunai and held it at Kakashi's back. The end result of this encounter was that Kakashi had Naruto's arm in a hold so that his kunai was facing the back of his head, and I was pressuring him from behind so that he wouldn't harm Naruto.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say 'start' yet."

After Kakashi let Naruto go, I removed my kunai from his back and went over towards Naruto's side, Sasuke quickly following. I could tell that Sasuke was taking this guy seriously as a Jonin now at his display of speed. I also could hardly believe it too. If it weren't for my Flash and Chakra sensing abilities, I would never have made it in time to protect Naruto.

"But… You came at me with the full intention of destroying me or protecting your comrade, so…" Kakashi chuckled slightly at his amusement of us. I have to admit, I smirked a little too.

"How can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys."

My smirk only grew at this slight compliment. I believe that I'm beginning to see just what kind of person Kakashi is. Who knew that this guy could grow on me too… but he's still annoying with his tardiness!

"Get ready. AAAAAnd… START!"

As soon as we were given the signal, all of us vanished. I quickly flashed to a secure location in the far distance, using my enhanced eyesight to keep track of Kakashi.

"Ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively!"

We know that already. Sighing to myself, I began planning on how to signal the boys to me so that we could come up with some sort of plan. First, I focused by closing my eyes, reaching in the distance with my chakra senses. I found Sasuke in a tree relatively close to the clearing. He was about halfway between my own location and Kakashi's. This could be good, if I were to signal him, Kakashi might not see it through the dense forest.

With this in mind, I focused on finding Naruto. Once I found him though, I almost face palmed myself. You knucklehead…

"You and me, right now, fair and square! Let's go!"

This time I really did face palm myself. Luckily, Kakashi didn't hear me smack my head, but this was ridiculous! I know I had helped calm Naruto's need to prove himself in front of me, so what was he trying to prove? This just made things that much harder.

"You know, compared to the others… you're a little bit… weird."

Naruto was not impressed. "Oh, yeah? Well, the only weird thing here is your haircut."

And with that, Naruto charged with a battle cry. Sighing to myself, I used his distraction as an opportunity to flash over to Sasuke. He was surprised to see me, but he relaxed when he noticed it was me and not Kakashi. We both nodded to each other and returned to watching Naruto try his hand at taking on Kakashi.

Naruto had at this time stopped his charge and looked at our sensei with caution as he reached for something in his pouch. "Shinobi Battle Techniques, part 1: Taijutsu, the physical part."

So, what was he reaching for in his pouch then? Watch out, Naruto…

When his hand finally emerged from his ninja pouch, he had in his hands… a book. What's worse is that this wasn't any ordinary book. I remembered now what Kakashi's vice was: his lecherous porn book. I had to control myself again from face palming myself (again), but I could feel the sweat drop happening. I could see Sasuke looking at me with a confused look at the reveal of the orange book. Without my enhanced eyesight, no one would be able to read the title of the book at this distance. At least, no one of Genin level could anyways. Doesn't mean I think I'm better than a Genin, I just have great genetics in terms of my senses.

"I'M GOING TO CRUSH YOU!"

Naruto's voice brought me back to the present. We needed to come up with a plan to get Naruto out of his situation with Kakashi so that we could come up with an effective strategy to grab the bells.

"Sasuke, we need to grab Naruto," I whispered to him.

Giving me an incredulous look, I could tell what he thought of this.

"Now you're mine!"

What?!

Kakashi had disappeared from Naruto's line of sight to behind him. He was forming the seal of the tiger, which is usually used to form a fire jutsu.

Forgetting that I should be figuring out a plan, I flashed away from Sasuke and came at Kakashi from another direction so that I wouldn't give away Sasuke's position. Kunai ready in my hand, I charged for Kakashi at an angle.

"Too late," Kakashi practically sang as I tried to reach Naruto in time. I had to conserve my chakra with all of the flashes that I had done already, but damn it!

Naruto turned to see Kakashi bring his hands up towards him.

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu!" Hunh?!

…

What the hell…?

"A Thousand Years of Death!"

Naruto was catapulted up and away from an unsavory poke in the butt by our sensei, which had to hurt considering the chakra that was put into his hands…

These two… are a whole new kind of crazy…

However, Naruto ended up in the stream next to us, so I followed after him. Kakashi was too preoccupied with his book to really be concerned with us. Once I was in the water, I quickly grabbed Naruto, who struggled at first, but then relaxed when he noticed that it was me. He did, however, look at me with a determined look in his eyes. He wanted to do more, to try to prove himself to Kakashi at least.

I knew that there would be no talking him out of this, even if we weren't underwater right now. So I let him go, and swam to the shore just beyond the edge of the forest so that I could resume watching Naruto have his fight with Kakashi. When I was hidden enough again, I glanced back to see Naruto had made some clones so that there were now seven Narutos running towards Kakashi. I didn't really think that a direct assault would work though. Naruto had to have something else in mind.

Smiling to myself, I was proven right when I saw another Naruto grab Kakashi from behind, giving the clones plenty of time to anchor down our sensei for the Naruto who leapt in the air to come in for the kill.

"Now this is for nailing me in the butt earlier!"

Naruto, you clever knucklehead! You never cease to amaze me.

My best friend goes in for the final blow, only to discover… himself…

Naruto was holding onto another clone. This means that Kakashi must have used some sort of substitution on a clone instead of the standard block of wood. I waited for Naruto to figure it out, but it was no good. He ended up fighting himself.

Come on, Naruto! Don't make it easier for Kakashi…

Sighing to myself, I waited for Naruto to inevitably dispel the jutsu and realize that Kakashi wasn't even there. When the smoke finally dissipated, Naruto was left there alone, looking like he had gotten into a fight that he lost badly.

I knew that I should probably be helping Naruto right now. I should have used the smoke from when he deactivated his jutsu as cover to escape. But I just knew that Naruto wouldn't appreciate it at all. He still feels that he needs to prove himself. I want him to feel secure in his self-esteem with my help, but I need him to see that doing things by himself will harm him more than asking for help ever will. This is why I'm hesitant to help him at this very moment.

On the flip side, Sasuke is the same. He wants to prove that he is strong, strong enough to protect and strong enough to beat an adversary like Kakashi. This means that he will be one step closer to facing him. But he's too impatient, and he doesn't realize that I want to be right there beside him to help him achieve his goals, just like I do with Naruto.

So I'll let both of them try their hands at single combat with Kakashi, and then I will be there to help them and be willing to use teamwork to succeed.

My mind was brought back though when I saw Naruto get strung up into the air by his ankles after having tried to reach for a bell decoy. Then in comes Kakashi, looking smug as he gives Naruto a lecture about going for the obvious bait. I realize though that while he is trying to make Naruto angry with him to cloud his judgment, he is also giving helpful hints that could save him in the future.

I was suddenly aware of Sasuke's chakra when it flared with determination, and I then noticed several kunai and shuriken sailing through the air towards the unsuspecting Jonin.

"Are you out of your mind, Sasuke?!"

I would have to agree with Naruto as I watched Kakashi's body fall to the ground, but then it changed. With a puff of smoke, I saw a large log in the place of where our sensei had once been with the kunai and shuriken imbedded in its bark.

Sasuke will have to move quickly to get to a new location that favored him. With that stunt that he just pulled, Kakashi will figure out where he was hiding. Meanwhile, I waited for the two of them to get a safe distance away before I went over to Naruto. It looked like he had tried to get out from the ropes around his ankles once and then landed himself in yet another trap. I had to restrain myself from chuckling as I approached him.

"How's it hanging, Naruto?"

I could see the pout on his face as he regarded me with a stubborn attitude. "I'll get out of this and then tell you all about it…"

I sighed for the umpteenth time today and tried again. "Naruto, we need to work together. There is no shame in accepting help from a friend. Do you ever feel like you need to prove yourself when I help you pull pranks?"

"Well, no—"

"And what about all the times that we would talk about you becoming Hokage? All of the Hokage have the help of their ANBU, Jonin, and other ninjas to help keep the peace throughout the village and land. Is it bad for him to ask for help?"

Grumbling, Naruto answered, "No…"

I smiled, knowing that I had won the argument. This loveable knucklehead…

"How about we go see Sasuke get his butt kicked before we pick him up?"

Naruto gave me his mischievous grin, agreeing wholeheartedly with the idea I had presented him with. So I quickly threw a kunai to free him from the ropes, and we both headed to where I detected both Kakashi and Sasuke's chakras.

We both hid in the trees not too far away from where the fight was taking place. I wasn't worried about Naruto making any noise as we hid considering both of us had learned to evade and hide from Chunin for most of our Academy days. Now, I was focusing in on the fight between Sasuke and our sensei.

"Well, you are different from the other two, I'll grant you that."

Sasuke was talking a big game again, wasn't he? He needs a good smack to the head for being so arrogant!

With a scoff, Sasuke began weaving hand signs for a jutsu, and this was one that I recognized. It seems that Kakashi did as well.

"What?!" Kakashi was surprised by Sasuke's performance. "Genin can't do Fire Jutsu, takes too much chakra! There's no way!"

Using the chakra from his gut, Sasuke launched a massive fireball out of his mouth towards Kakashi. He continued to stream this inferno at the spot our sensei had been standing in for a few moments and then ceased his assault. When the smoke began to clear, Sasuke noticed that no one was there, which meant that he missed and he had no idea where Kakashi was right now.

I had to smirk to myself, and I could see Naruto doing the same at the sight of Sasuke being flustered. I knew exactly where Kakashi was right now, and when a hand reached out to grab Sasuke's ankle from the earth, my thoughts were confirmed. After a comment from Kakashi, he began to drag Sasuke into the earth and continue to trap him in the hard soil.

"Right under your feet. Earth Style: Head Hunter Jutsu," Kakashi explained.

Sasuke tried to struggle out of his predicament, and I looked to see Naruto trying to contain his laughter at Sasuke losing for once to someone besides me (we were usually back and forth with our fights).

"Can't move, hunh? That was Ninjutsu, the third shinobi battle skill," Kakashi eye-smiled at Sasuke's attempts at struggling. "You have talent, and you were right. You are different from the others, but different isn't always better."

Turning away, Kakashi grabbed his book once again from his ninja pouch and proceeded to walk away. "They say that the nail sticks up is the one that gets hammered down." With that final piece of advice, Kakashi went away to probably try to find me since I was the only one to not fight him head on yet.

Once I was sure that Kakashi was far enough away to be out of range, I gave Naruto a signal and we pounced from our perch and landed in front of Sasuke's head. As all of us stared at each other, the sight of only Sasuke's head was getting to be too much for Naruto. So he let out an exuberant laugh as he pointed at Sasuke with tears in his eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei got you good! HAHAHAHA!"

"Dobe, just wait until I get out of here…"

With that thought, I grabbed both Naruto and Sasuke and flashed us to a location even further away from Kakashi. I didn't want him to disturb us, but when we got there I tried to catch my breath as I put my hands on my knees. Those two jerks were heavy!

"Akina," Sasuke exclaimed. "How do you keep doing that?"

"I want to know too, ya'know?!"

I had to smile at the two of them. They finally agree on something.

"The Morimoto clan just calls it the Flash Step. It is a technique that can only be achieved after mastering a manipulation jutsu of your first element, which in my case would be water. I can basically transport myself to any water that I find. This could include bodies of water, water vapor in the air, water in the soil, and even the water in the human body. The Second Hokage's Hiraishin technique was created to mimic the effects our skill has without the need to be limited to our chakra nature by using seals instead. The Fourth Hokage then had the idea to place the seals on kunai and make it an easy way to transport from one place to the other. The dragons naturally have this gift, and passed it on to the Morimoto clan, which means I have had the potential to use this gift since birth. Any questions?"

I think I stunned them. They were both looking at me with bug-eyed expressions, and Naruto's jaw was practically hanging to the floor.

"So that's it? That's the whole secret?" Sasuke looked slightly disappointed in me. He has been trying to figure it out since the day I had met him. It was honestly funny seeing him try to come up with a guess on how I could flash from one place to the other.

Smirking, I replied. "Yeah, the famous secret you have been dying to know is that simple. I do need to say though that I am not perfect at it. It takes a lot of chakra right now since I have not completely mastered my element. With more training, it will become second nature to flash from one location to another. I can only flash from places that I can see or know so well that I can imagine them in my mind's eye. Even then, I can flash no farther than a few hundred yards away."

Sasuke was suspicious though. "So how did you get us here then? We're nowhere in sight of where we just were."

"I scoped out this place last night, which is why it was so hard for me to wake up this morning…"

"Akina! You're awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke even seemed to concede on this point after my confession on how I planned ahead and on my "mad skills".

My heart was elated that both boys thought I was cool, even if for just a moment. But I knew that we needed to get down to business. "So how about we work together?"

Both boys looked at me like I was crazy, which is a drastic change from their admiring and respectful looks that I was getting before I suggested using teamwork. They both then started telling me reasons that they should not work together. Among them were insults, complements about themselves, among other things. Honestly, these two were so similar to each other, it was almost laughable. Their arguing was getting on my nerves though.

So I bonked them both on the head.

"OW!"

"Hn!"

"I'm tired of you both arguing! We have to be reasonable. Kakashi is a Jonin, we are Genin. There is no way to beat him in a one-on-one matchup. We have to work together to get those bells."

Naruto pouted to me, telling me he really didn't want to do this. "Do we have to?"

My stern look must have been answer enough for him.

"Hn, you have a plan."

It wasn't a question, but I went ahead and answered anyway.

"As a matter of fact, I do," I smirked devilishly.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

At this point, there were a couple of minutes left on the clock. So, I made sure that the three of us were in position before we executed our plan. Getting a signal from each of my teammates, I signaled for them to move in. Kakashi was in the center of the field that we had originally started in, and I wanted to make sure that we used all of this space to its fullest.

All three of us charged Kakashi from one side of the forest, ready for anything.

"Here we come, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out with a roar.

Naruto created a cross shape with his hands and created three clones, making them all go in multiple directions from their starting point. Sasuke and I were making wide sweeps from our positions beside Naruto so that we could all surround him. Out of the three of us, Sasuke and I were the fastest and having Naruto in the center gave Kakashi a distraction until we could get in place.

Once we were both there, I saw that Kakashi had engaged Naruto's clones in taijutsu combat, making the three of them poof out of existence in a hurry. Just before the last one disappeared, Sasuke and I each launched our own jutsus.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!"

Despite the name of my own jutsu, I used the torrent version of the technique which allowed me to create a stream of high pressured water coming from my mouth and aim it at Kakashi. Sasuke's attack was coming at him as well from the other side so that there was a three way attack coming at Kakashi from Naruto, Sasuke, and I. He had nowhere to go, and I doubt he didn't read my file, so he knows that I can track him under the ground if he escapes that way. He does evade though, but as soon as he does, he is caught inside of the mist that the collision of Fire and Water creates.

Taking this chance, I use a quick Substitution to replace myself with Naruto's clone that was waiting in the trees still for his signal. When I switched with him, I knew that he would immediately transform into my likeness so that Kakashi would be none the wiser.

Once that was done, I knew that the next part would be the most challenging for me. I had instructed Sasuke to bring with him a vial of water to make it easier, and it did. Sensing the water inside of Sasuke's pouch, I hurriedly transformed into a kunai and nestled myself into his pouch just enough that I wouldn't fly out, but stuck out enough that Sasuke would know which kunai I was. From inside the pouch, I could feel Sasuke and Naruto giving Kakashi a hard time with their taijutsu, and it was barely a moment more when I felt Sasuke leap back and reach into his pouch for multiple kunai, with me included.

Throwing the weapons with all of his might towards Kakashi, he aimed some up high and others down low with me aimed at Kakashi's midsection. He was so distracted with Naruto and his clone of me that he didn't have time to do anything but dodge the kunai.

Then…

POOF!

I became myself again as I sailed by Kakashi's waist, reaching my hand out for the bells at his hips. I was just about to grab them when…

BRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNGGG!

Damn! So close!

000000000000000000000000000000000000

The three of us were now sitting in front of the three posts with the lunch boxes in front of us. Naruto was tied to the post though. Kakashi told us that since Naruto did the worst out of the three of us, he would be the one tied to the post.

At this time, all of our stomachs decided to growl at the same time. The resounding growl resulted in a pathetic picture of us as we looked down in defeat at not getting the bells and at not having any lunch.

"Uh, oh. Stomachs growling, hunh? That's too bad," Kakashi didn't really sound like he was sorry at all. "Oh! By the way, about this exercise… Well, I've decided. I won't send any of you back to the Academy."

Naruto was hopeful that this was good news, and seemed like he could hardly believe his ears. Sasuke was basking in the glory of passing the first hurdle to get stronger, he was smirking with victory. I, on the other hand, was a little more suspicious of our new sensei's antics. I had a feeling he was up to something.

"Then, then that means all three of us, I mean all three of us—"

Kakashi eye-smiled, but it really didn't seem like the other times he had done this, something was wrong.

"Yes," he replied. "All three of you… are being dropped from the program… PERMENANTLY!"

It was like a train just ran over all of our moods. Naruto stopped cheering, Sasuke scowled, and my eyes got bigger in disbelief. I didn't think we did that bad! There was no way that he had that kind of authority… right?

Naruto vehemently protested. "Drop us from the program?! That means we can never become ninja! You said if we couldn't take the bells we'd be sent back to the Academy! You can't just change your mind and kick us out! Why would you do that?!"

"Because you don't think like ninja," he continued. "You think like little kids. Like brats!"

Sasuke seemed to not like the comment that Kakashi just made, or maybe he just didn't like that he was potentially going to be dropped from being a ninja and getting stronger. Either way, he charged at Kakashi. I was too drained on my chakra to flash over to him, so by the time I had gotten up to try to help, Kakashi had already pinned Sasuke to the ground.

"You think it's all about you."

"Let him go!" I protested.

"You don't know what it means to be a ninja!" Kakashi looked my way now. "You think it's a game, hunh?"

I practically growled at him. Naruto had a look in his eyes like it might be true that he didn't take being a ninja as seriously as he probably should. Kakashi didn't seem fazed by any of our reactions though as he continued his rant.

"Why do you think we put you on squads? Did you consider that question for one moment?"

Naruto looked lost. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you never realized what this exercise was all about!" Then he seemed to want to recant his statement. "Well, maybe one of you understood."

"What it's about?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, it's what determines whether you pass or fail."

I considered it for a moment now. We were put on squads with a Jonin instructor, we had a test with staggering odds that he told us about from the beginning, and there were only two bells that we had to get away from a Jonin… Wait… was it that simple?

Kakashi saw my look of realization after Naruto's outburst. The conversation must have continued on while I was thinking, but Kakashi gave me a look of understanding.

"Akina! Tell them what it is."

I was shocked that he would take a rain check from gloating at us and proving that we didn't have all of the answers. But him calling for me to answer just confirmed my belief that the answer to this test was truly that simple.

"It's teamwork."

After I said this, both Naruto and Sasuke had looks of disbelief at how simple the concept was. I also think that they may have been realizing that they really had no concept for it, and it wasn't until I practically threatened them that they would cooperate.

"If all three of you had come at me from the beginning instead of wasting time, you might have might have been able to take the bells."

Kakashi's words were sinking in a bit. If I had just pulled the two boys to work together from the start, we would have had more time to plan and have a backup plan if needed. We would have gotten the bells.

"So why were there only two bells then?" Naruto commented.

"I purposely pitted you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the squad ahead of yourselves. A Genin should have a natural feel for teamwork. But for some of you, it never even crossed your mind."

I'm really not liking this lecture…

"Akina!"

What?!

"You naturally understood the meaning of the test, but you failed to rally together your teammates until it was too late. Instead of worrying about their feelings, you should have stepped up and made the hard call."

I guess that would be an accurate statement.

"Naruto! You do everything on your own. Everything but your useless pranks!"

Beside me, Naruto looked down in shame. I wanted to protest that he didn't do everything alone, but I couldn't. Naruto did let me pull some pranks with him. Everything else, he wanted to prove to everyone that he could do things on his own, with his own strength.

"And you, Sasuke. You thought that at least one of your teammates was so far beneath you that they were worthless, while the other was so helpless that they needed your protection in everything they do. Arrogance!"

I couldn't help but think that Sasuke was trying to get one of the bells for me which would be why Kakashi made the comments he did.

"Ninja missions are carried out in squads. Of course, you need individual skills but teamwork is the most essential element. Every shinobi understands this! When individuals put themselves above the squad, this can lead to failure and death!"

Kakashi reached for something in his ninja pouch. "For example…" He pulled out a kunai knife and placed it at Sasuke's throat. "Akina! Kill Naruto now, or Sasuke dies!"

I hate to admit it, but I froze. I didn't know what to do. I had exhausted my chakra to where I couldn't flash over, and I couldn't choose between my two friends. I refused to!

"That's what happens on a mission," Kakashi said with a gentler tone. "The enemy takes a hostage, and you've got an impossible choice. And someone ends up dead. On every mission, your life is on the line."

Putting away his kunai, Kakashi got off of Sasuke and strolled over to the onyx stone in the background. He stopped just in front of it and seemed to have a forlorn attitude about it.

"Did you look at this stone? The names engraved on it? They are all ninja who are honored as heroes in our village."

That can't be all there is too it. More snippits of memories came to my mind as I stared at Kakashi as he gazed at the stone. I saw a younger Kakashi in front of the stone on a rainy day, and I also saw what appeared to be Iruka with tears in his eyes. This stone can't be a good thing to have your name on.

"That's it, that's it, that's it! Now I know! I've decided I'm going to have my name engraved on that stone! I'm not gonna live and die for nothing like a dog! I'm gonna be a hero!"

I'm not sure why, but I had the urge to cringe when Naruto said this.

Kakashi looked Naruto's way as he continued. "They are a special kind of hero."

By this time, Sasuke had made his way back over to us, and he looked curious as well, but I knew he was going to let Naruto do the talking. I again didn't like the tone of voice that Kakashi was using to refer to this stone and the names on it, but Naruto went on.

"Hunh? What kind of heroes are they? Come on, tell us!"

After a moment of silence, Kakashi answered. "They're all KIA."

A cold shiver went down my spine as I realized what kind of people were on this stone memorial. Before Naruto could respond to any of this, I jumped in front of him and gave him the most determined look that I could. He looked so confused on what my problem was. Even Sasuke and Kakashi had looked my way when Naruto didn't respond.

"What's wrong, Akina?"

"You will never have your name on that stone! Do you hear me?"

Naruto faltered. "W-why?"

I couldn't say it. I just didn't want to imagine Naruto's name on this stone, never!

"They were killed in action," Sasuke answered for me.

When Naruto heard this news, his smile disintegrated almost immediately. He looked at me with a sad expression, but also a reassuring small smile. I think he understood why I was so adamant that he would not ever have his name there.

"This is a memorial stone. The names of my closest friends are engraved here."

Beside Kakashi, I could see the ghosts of a few people. Two of them looked to be around our age, a boy and a girl. The girl had short brown hair and a beautiful smile which curled the purple marks on her face in an endearing way. The boy had spiky black hair with some goggles on his forehead, and a grin which reminded me of Naruto. The last person I recognized from history scrolls to be the Fourth Hokage. These must be the friends that Kakashi was talking about.

"Alright. I'm going to give you one more chance, but I'm going to make it much harder on you. You'll have three hours to get a bell." We all perked up at this. "Eat lunch now and build up your strength… but, Naruto doesn't get any."

Needless to say, Naruto did not like that idea. "It's your punishment for falling for the most obvious of traps earlier. And if anyone tries to feed him, that person will immediately fail."

All of us did not like these rules at all, and I especially didn't like that he would punish someone for feeding and helping our teammate.

"I make the rules, you follow them. Got it?"

Nodding at our sensei, he gave Sasuke and me the two boxed lunches that had been provided by Kakashi. With that, he left in a puff of smoke to another location. I wanted to wait to eat my meal until Kakashi was out of my range before I would sneak Naruto some food.

Before I could though, Naruto's stomach had growled.

"This is no big deal! I can go without eating for days, for weeks, ya'know! This is no big deal!" Cue another stomach growl. "No problem…"

I was just about to offer some of my own lunch when Sasuke beat me to it, offering Naruto a bit of his boxed lunch. I smiled at the maturity this showed. Sasuke was putting aside his distaste for Naruto's boisterous behavior, and was going to help him out.

"I'm so proud of you two," I smiled at the two of them as I then also raised my lunch up to Naruto. "You need your strength so that we can take down that crazy Kakashi."

Sasuke and I quickly decided that we would alternate bites so that all of us had an equal share of food between the three of us. I had just given Naruto his first bite when suddenly there was an explosion in front of us.

I put down the lunch and prepared myself for anything.

"YOU!"

Kakashi leapt out of the smoke with a fierce look in his one visible eye.

"You broke the rules. I hope you're ready for the punishment!"

With a few hand signs, Kakashi had summoned up dark angry looking clouds around the entire training ground. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed in the sky, as he prepared his wrath for us.

"Any last words?"

His teeth chattering in fear, Naruto replied. "But you said…"

"Yes?"

"You said that there were three of us! That's what you said, and that's why Akina and…"

Sasuke decided it was his turn to speak out for everyone. "We're all on this squad, and we're all in it together."

I smirked at Kakashi even though I didn't feel very confident at this moment with him looking so frightening. "We're all one team, and we stand together!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, ya'know! That's right!"

Kakashi made his way towards us as he gave all of us an intense stare. "The three of you are one, that's your excuse?!"

Pause for dramatic flair from Kakashi…

"You pass…"

We all were in shock. What just happened?

"You…pass…"

Naruto looked confused. "How did we pass?"

"You're the first squad that ever succeeded. The others did exactly what I said and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum. That's true, but… those who abandon their friends… are worse than scum."

I could hardly believe my ears. We had passed, and Kakashi just said the most inspirational thing I had ever heard in all of my life in this new world. I just might have to start calling him Kakashi-sensei…

In the corner of my eyesight, I could see Naruto close to tears as he responded to Kakashi's words of advice. "He's uh, ya'know… he's kinda cool."

"The exercise is over! Everyone passes!" Kakashi paused to give us all a well earned thumbs up. "Squad 7 starts its first mission tomorrow!"

"WOOHOOOO!" I couldn't help but cheer.

"I did it! I did it, ya'know! I'm a ninja, ninja, NINJA!"

"Let's go home," Kakashi led us away from the training ground to get some good rest after our ordeal here.

"You forgot to UNTIE MEEEEEE!"

I giggled at Naruto thinking I had forgotten all about him, I just wanted to tease him a little bit. Skillfully twirling a shuriken around my finger, I grabbed it quickly and threw it at Naruto's restraints so that he could join us in our victory march.

Konoha's Team 7 is ready for duty!

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Author's Note

Sorry for the big delay. There was a big ice storm that hit and put my power out for a few days, which meant that I couldn't finish writing this chapter for a while. Hopefully the longer chapter appeases some of you.

Remember, reviews = love! Let me know what you think!