Hello once again people! I hope you are all doing well. I know I am. I am back with an update for Living Up to the Name. I hope you are liking the story so far. I'm excited to put updates for it out.
Anyway let's handle some reviews, shall we?
A review from 94blake said: Little bit ridiculous that with the changes you established already you left the cannon team. If anything Naruto and kiba should have been swapped out to have the dead last still on team 7.
My response: Actually I think the canon teams were ridiculous. Actually that's not true they made sense in a way. Team 8 is a tracking team with each of them having some trait that allows them to track enemies more easily without sacrificing combat ability, Team 10 is the most balanced with their abilities all supporting one another and then there is Team 7. It was literally the last team available so Naruto was dumped onto it. In my fic Team 8 and 10 remain as they were for obvious reasons but now Team 7 is an actually real combat focused team. Sakura may be more of a support role but the two heaviest hitters in their age range form a formidable combat front. The whole pairing the rookie and kunoichi of the year with the deadliest is never actually said in the show though team 7 seems to have a recurring theme. Instead that's fanfiction for you and it really makes no sense, why drag down the rookie of the year with the dead last when a better rival would be someone that could actually keep up or surpass them if they don't train hard to maintain their position as the top.
A review from zxLupa said: Well done. The only question that remains though...Update when?
My response: I really appreciate that and…Update now. Lel.
Now, for those of you that are interested come join a couple of discord servers centered around fanfiction readers and writers. The first is hosted by myself, Kiege, and Madlad also known here on Fanfiction as TheChamp123. A link for it can be found here→ /auc4PQjVtz The second is hosted by AizenTheGoat and can be found with this link→ /7x4YFstKcz
Enough of the author's note. Let's get into the meat of the story, shall we?
Chapter Two
The Best Laid Plans
As Sakura sat alongside her teammates, stewing over the fact that they had all been sitting there in the training ground since before sunrise just like they had been told, she pondered about the basic plan she and Naruto had come up with.
Sadly once they had reached the restaurant that Naruto wanted to eat and plan at, they both realized they had practically no information about what test it would be. Naruto had been a bit embarrassed and insisted he pay for the meal for both of them.
They had managed to come up with a couple of basic ideas. They suspected that their team would be given some kind of objective and their, not quite sensei, would act as the opposition for the mission.
Naruto suggested that they make an effort to draw Sasuke in when they started on the test. If they were up against a jonin, one of Konoha's best at that, then they had no chance of passing alone. Even working together their chances felt pretty slim, but slim beat out none every time.
With that decided and a short discussion on how best to help one another, Naruto easily realized Sakura was best used in a support role while he and Sasuke remained the main focus of Kakashi's attention. So much so that Naruto suggested Sakura actually be the one to try and achieve whatever the objective for the team was. Not that they had any idea what it would be.
Sakura has blushed a bit at that idea. He had made it clear she would have what he considered the key role and made it obvious that they all had to work together. It was quite nice to be praised and built up a bit. It reminded her so much of how Ino treated her, that Sakura was all but kicking herself for not befriending the blond boy more closely in the past
Then the realization that it was almost like she was on a date with him settled in and she had been more than a little embarrassed at the interested looks people sent their way. Naruto was after all the son of the Fourth Hokage.
There would no doubt be all sorts of gossip springing up. She needed to talk with Ino about it before it became an issue and the blonde heard it from somewhere else.
Though she definitely could see the reasons why Ino was interested in Naruto. He was kind and attentive, even if it wasn't a date.
As he walked her home and made sure she got into her house, she couldn't help but wish for a date just like that, though with the boy of her dreams rather than the boy of her best friend's dreams.
Her mind drifted to Ino, and what the girl would say about Naruto essentially taking Sakura on a date without either realizing until it was over. She really hoped that Ino would laugh about it rather than get angry.
Naruto was also thinking, though he was thinking about the fact that this team situation had already begun to give him time alone with his crush. He wasn't very vocal about his feelings toward her but he did hope that the more he took her out on these, not dates the more she would realize how much of a dick Sasuke was to her and come around to maybe liking him.
That set of thoughts brushed against his mind lightly but he tried to stay focused on the test they would be getting from their sensei. It was kind of hard to stay focused on that after they had all been sitting there waiting for over two hours.
"Do you think this is part of the test?" He asked his teammates.
Sasuke ignored him, as Naruto expected. Being made to wait was not doing anything good for their moods but Sasuke was already the prickly one in their midst. It was just making it worse.
"Probably. Wait, it could be he intends to make us wait so we are all in bad moods and less likely to work together. Just like you said last night, Naruto. He wants to try and turn us against one another to make it easier for himself." Sakura said.
"That's stupid. He is a jonin. He has no reason to worry against three genin." Sasuke argued.
"Thank you for joining us, but I think Sakura is right. It could easily be part of the test to turn us against one another, or maybe the entire test is designed for that." Naruto replied.
Sasuke hummed slightly as he eyed Naruto. "Fine, but if you two get in the way of me becoming a genin and advancing I'll abandon you."
Sakura smiled, though she had to make herself ignore the comment about him possibly abandoning them. Naruto simply nodded.
All three began to settle back into silence to wait for Kakashi to finally arrive. This time they didn't have to wait long as he suddenly appeared in a swirling of leaves and wind, right in front of them. He had his lazy slouch once more and was already clearly reading his dirty novel.
Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes at him but bit their tongues while Sakura made it a point to huff at him in annoyance.
"Good morning." He said in a far too chipper voice while casually flicking the page in his book.
He internally chuckled at the rebellious silence he got from the three, especially as he noticed Sakura glance toward the boys before hardening her expression and refusing to acknowledge him either.
"I do so love it when it's quiet. Well, since you all have nothing to say and you know why you are here let's get started." Kakashi said as he snapped his book closed and slid it into his vest.
When his hand reemerged it instead had a small scroll in it which poofed in a cloud of smoke and released a stack of four bento boxes with the curious addition of two little bells tied to string resting on top.
At the sight of the boxes all three kids felt their stomachs lurch slightly and a loud grumble as they realized just how hungry they were.
"That's way more in depth than I expected." Naruto said quietly as he realized Kakashi had planned for all of them to be hungry and therefore even more irritable and less likely to cooperate with each other.
"Hmm, did you say something?" Kakashi asked, causing the blond to glare up at him.
Once more mentally, Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle. He was going to have a blast pulling some of his old sensei's tricks on the man's own son.
'Too bad it's just for today.' Kakashi thought as he fully expected the team to fail.
"You probably figured out why I told you not to eat by now. Just a bit of a ploy to add a little extra incentive for you to try your hardest. That's just the reward for passing the test though. The little bells on top are the objective for this test. You have to take them from me to pass." Kakashi drawled as the bentos disappeared back into the seal on the scroll and only left the two bells present.
"Sensei…there are only two." Sakura said with dread.
"Ah, observant, well done." Kakashi mocked, getting the worried expression on her face to morph into a hateful one.
"There are two bells and if you need to get a bell to pass the test…" Kakashi trailed off. Behind his mask he grinned as the mix of outrage and determination settled onto their faces.
"One last thing. If you want to take one of these bells from me, you had best come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi said before tying the bells to his belt.
"Ready? Go!" He said, watching as the three kids moved quickly, at least for genin, into the tree line.
He was a Jonin and easily picked them out though. Sasuke had chosen a typical Konaha strategy and put himself up in the canopy of the trees. He was pretty well hidden, but the boy's outline was just a bit too easy to pick out here as the trees weren't thick enough to fully conceal him.
Sakura has chosen a place bearer to the ground. About as near as one could get without getting in the ground. She flattened herself down within a thick area of bushes. Sadly bright red and pink didn't really conceal her that well, though even with her bright colors a genin might have missed her.
Not Naruto though. He was the one that caught Kakashi's attention the most as he made a straight line for Sakura's hiding place. Not because he also wanted to hide, Kakashi had watched him train in the past and knew the boy could travel much quieter.
It was clear Naruto was doing something exciting and trying to unite his team. The Jonin felt a spark of something in his chest at that…pride maybe? Naruto was a lot like his father, both of his parents really without having met them.
Maybe Team Seven would pass after all.
Naruto had an idea that the boy about two bells might be another trick to try and split them up and put them against one another, but sadly he couldn't be certain. So he could only go with his gut instinct.
That instinct was to seek out allies and try to slip the objective free while Kakashi was focused on the rest of the team. If they all worked together they could possibly grab the bells and if push came to shove they could figure who passed and who failed between them after that.
Knowing Sasuke would give him trouble if he tried to partner with him from the jump he instead went to recruit Sakura first. She was pretty easy to find. He needed to talk to her about getting a different uniform for missions and maybe even some kind of hood or bandana. It was a bit of a shame because he personally thought she looked pretty with her hair and red outfit but he didn't imagine she would still look all that cute if she was dead.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked as he landed beside her.
"Yeah, remember what we said. Stick together. We need to get Sasuke to join us and we can make an attempt for the bells." He said.
"But there are only two…do you think it's a truck?" She asked him.
"Probably, but if it's not we can worry about that after we take them from Kakashi." Naruto insisted.
Sakura slowly nodded. "Okay but I don't know if Sasuke will work with us. He was Rookie of the Year and I don't really think he likes you very much. Or me either."
Naruto shrugged at that particular point. "We have to try. Come on."
The pair of them moved as quickly as they could over to Sasuke, which pissed him off quite a bit.
"You idiots are giving my position away. I have to move now." He grumbled before turning to leave.
"Wait, don't you think it's odd to put us against one another like this. What if it's just a part of the test Sasuke?" Naruto tried.
"The objective is clear. You better figure out how to get a bell yourself Naruto. It would be a let down if someone like us failed." Sasuke said before moving out deeper into the trees.
Naruto frowned while Sakura let the hurt from Sasuke completely writing her off roll over her. She shrugged it off with practiced ease but was still disappointed in how he acted toward her.
"We tried. Now we need to try and get those bells." Naruto told his female teammate.
"Right. How though? This was going to be bad enough with all three of us. Just you and me though, that's going to be a real problem." Sakura replied.
"We'll modify what we would have done with all three of us. It's the best we have right now so it's all we can do." Naruto said getting a nod from her.
'So Sasuke wants to be a loner. Yeah that surprises no one. Naruto and Sakura working together is a pleasant surprise though. Maybe there is some hope. Now what exactly are you two going to do?' Kakashi thought as he watched Naruto and Sakura set up for an attack.
He allowed them to make their attempt. Naruto rushed him. He was fast for a genin, but he wasn't even to chunin level yet so Kakashi swayed back and forth out of his reach.
The dance took on a new level as Kakashi realized Sakura was beginning to let loose some well aimed shuriken and kunai. He nearly chuckled at the dumbfounded looks on the genin's faces as he spun the projectiles around his fingers.
Naruto fell back toward Sakura but Kakashi decided to follow after him.
"Lesson number one, Taijutsu." He announced as he lashed out with a sweep of his leg that took Naruto's out from under him.
The blond went sprawling across the grass. Just as Kakashi reared back a hand to knock the boy unconscious though, and teach him a rather hard lesson about just fleeing mid combat, he spun on the ground, twisting up like a miniature cyclone and kicked Kakashi's hand away.
The Jonin was so surprised that Naruto had chambered a heavy punch before he realized the move was not finished yet. Kakashi reacted more than quickly enough to catch the punch aimed for his groin, Naruto seemed fond of fighting dirty, still the fact that he had to actually worry about the blow for a moment was enough to take Naruto a bit more seriously than before.
"Impressive Naruto, but not enough." Kakashi said as he grabbed both of Naruto's wrists with one hand and primed a punch for the boy's now undefended abdomen.
"What about now?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth as he twisted his back in a painful looking fashion and swung a kick for Kakashi's chin.
Kakashi had to drop Naruto to avoid the blow and then hop back as another set of Kunai shot past his face courtesy of Sakura. The Jonin passed at the show of teamwork as Naruto regrouped with Sakura and both fled from him.
"That's better." Kakashi murmured, answering Naruto even though the boy was out of earshot now.
'Sasuke still won't make a move. He must be hoping to swoop in right after I have handled the others. Let's see if I can lure him out.' Kakashi said as he began his next move.
Sasuke glared at the brief fight between Naruto and Kakashi. It really couldn't be called that. Kakashi was toying with all of them and they stood no chance against someone like him. However, Naruto was doing far better against the Jonin than Sasuke had expected, even Sakura was helping in her own way. Naruto wouldn't have gotten away from their 'proposed' sensei if it wasn't for her.
At least he thought that they had escaped. Almost as soon as he lost sight of the two of his fellow genin and Kakashi, the trio caming bursting through the tree line into the clearing directly in front of him. Sasuke was stunned by their appearance.
Sakura was sobbing as she held onto a kunai that was embedded deeply into her shoulder. Naruto barely stayed on his feet beside her as blood ran over his face from a deep gash on his forehead. Their clothes were tattered and they had all manner of tiny wounds on their body, but they shocked him as they launched a desperate attack toward Kakashi.
It was a doomed attempt but they did seem to catch Kakashi off guard. However it soon became clear that they never intended to grab the bells in their rough state.
"Sasuke! Grab the bells!" Naruto shouted as he wrapped his arms around Kakashi's waist and pinned one of his arms down. Sakura like wise wrapped her body around the other and held it down.
Sasuke didn't attack though. At first it was only because he was surprised, but then he recalled there only being two bells. If the others tired themselves out he could make an attempt for the bells while Kakashi was busy dealing with them.
Things went exactly as he planned. The Jonin picked Sakura up entirely with one arm and used her to bludgeon Naruto until both were laying on the ground in unconscious messes. As he bent down to make sure they were still breathing though, Sasuke launched his own attack.
Kakashi appeared to be shocked by his sudden appearance as he poured every bit of his speed into the charge, but just as Sasuke wrapped his hand around the bells…Kakashi and the unconscious forms of Naruto and Sakura evaporated into the air like they had neve been there at all.
"Lesson Number Two. Genjutsu." Kakashi said from behind the Uchiha.
"A bit of advice too, never let an enemy get behind you." Kakashi announced as he cracked the boy across the back of the neck, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.
Kakashi stared down at Sasuke in disappointment. 'I really did expect him to try and counter that. He is going to be pretty mad about not getting to show his real strength. I can use that though.'
He created a clone that snatched up Sasuke and headed off with him while Kakashi himself set out to find Naruto and Sakura once again. It wouldn't be hard. They had just seen what happened and were booking it toward the stream on the far side of the training ground. He would beat them there. He always did like showing off a little bit. A guilty pleasure of his really.
With a body flicker Kakashi was standing on the stream by the time Naruto and Sakura managed to break through the tree line. They stumbled over one another like the adorable clumsy kids they were as they slammed on the brakes at the sight of their sensei before them.
"Water walking? We can't do that yet." Sakura mumbled.
Naruto opened his mouth to try and warn Sakura to head back for the tree line, he knew enough about Kakashi to know that one of his aliases was the Copy Ninja, and that he supposedly had copied over a thousand jutsu.
He never got the words out before Kakashi's voice cut him off.
"Lesson three! Ninjutsu!" With that he ran through a series of fast hand signs and a suddenly massive wave of water kicked up from the little stream and swept over the grassy bank to slam into Naruto and Sakura as they tried to flee.
He casually walked over the water as it flooded the edge of the woods. He found the two kids half glaring at him while sputtering up the water that had nearly drowned them. With ease he snatched both of them up by the collar of their clothes and body flickered back to the center of the training ground where his shadow clone had tied an unconscious Sasuke to a training post and set out the lunches.
With little trouble, Kakashi tossed Naruto and Sakura to the ground on either side of the Uchiha. Their grunts of displeasure from benign manhandled brought him back around to consciousness as well.
Kakashi watched as Sasuke took in his own situation as well as the drenched state of his teammates. The angry look in his eyes upon realizing that Naruto and Sakura had gotten more of a chance to prove themselves to the jonin than he had was heartwarming for him. With any look it would help him to realize just what it was he was missing here.
Knowing he was a hard headed little shit though, Kakashi decided it was best to spell it out for all three of them.
"Well, needless to say you all fail." Kakashi said with a bored tone as his one eye peered down at the three children before him. He took in their reactions with little outward interest but even that was a test to gauge more about them as individuals.
Naruto looked stricken but he soon stared back up at Kakashi defiantly as if biting back a slew of insults. That was most definitely all his mother, Minato would have handled it much better. Kakashi had to force that train of thought out of his head. Comparing the boy to his parents was definitely going to be difficult to avoid.
Sakura looked ready to cry. He was displeased by that but understanding. After all she'd pretty much only trained for this all this time and was worried about being relegated to some sort of fodder. That and she clearly wanted to prove herself to her teammates and her family and friends. He could definitely work with that even if he would feel ridiculous dealing with her whenever she cried.
Sasuke was unsurprising. He already hated how much the boy reminded him of his young self. Worse than that he was pretty sure Sasuke was far worse than he was at that age and he really needed the support of a team and more to try and get through the intense trauma he had experienced. The Uchiha was going to be his problem child, that is if they managed to pass this portion of the test.
"What do we do now?" Naruto bit out through clenched teeth.
"Now? Well what happens when you don't pass a test? You fail a test. Like I told you yesterday, that means you will be cycled into the standard units of shinobi." Kakashi said with a shrug.
"There has to be a way we can prove ourselves still sensei!" Sakura said, fighting back her tears.
"Mah, don't call me sensei when you failed. It suggests that you passed and became my students." Kakashi said as he withdrew his little orange book and began flicking through pages to get back to where he had left off.
Sakura's tears began to truly run at that as her expression crumbled into near hopelessness.
"Please, just give us a chance. There has to be something we can do, right?" Naruto tried still determined and hopeful in the face of being told that it was all over. It almost brought a smile to Kakashi's face.
"Why should I when none of you even get the point of the test. Right Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.
"What? What the hell is the point then?" Sasuke hissed out with a heated glare directed toward the silver haired man.
Kakashi snapped his book closed again, loud enough that the sound carried despite being a paperback book. He leaned forward so that his shadow loomed over and covered the three genin who all leaned away from him at the sudden intensity he was showing.
"The point is teamwork! What arrogant brat thinks that they can take on a veteran jonin straight out of the academy?" Kakashi didn't need to admit that he had once been in that mindset.
"Wait, but-" Naruto began.
"Nope, not done speaking yet." Kakashi cut him off as she stood to his full height. How he could still have the slacker slouch going on but retain an imposing image was beyond the kids but they listened with rapt attention as he spoke now.
"Naruto you and Sakura did try to work together, you even tried to recruit Sasuke, but you only tried once and when he came at me by himself you just sat back and watched despite saying you wanted to work together. Your own teamwork with Sakura was decent but you essentially pushed her to the side to just use thrown weapons while you did everything else yourself. That's nothing but arrogance, you didn't even try to learn all of her capabilities before you decided on this strategy." Kakashi lectured. Naruto looked at the ground as he ran the morning over through his mind and realized that was true. He hadn't really worked with Sakura, just used her to support himself like she was a ninja tool. A bit of guilt began to filter into his mind until Sakura spoke up.
"That's not fair sens- Kakashi. I don't have as much training as Naruto and while we don't know each other really well, we know some of each other's abilities. Ranged support was really all I had to offer." Sakura tried to argue.
"So you get lectured next then." Kakashi said as he rounded on the pink haired girl causing her to hunch in on herself at his full attention coming to bear on her.
"Lie to them and to me, but not to yourself Sakura. I have seen all three of you train. I have seen your traps and genjutsu, they are more advanced than Naruto's are, but you didn't even suggest them to be used or give any real input on a plan. You don't have the confidence in yourself to properly work with your team. You are part of your team and if you can't hack it the whole team is at risk." Kakashi scathingly said, causing Sakura to blush in embarrassment as he picked out glaring mistakes.
"Now it's your turn, my special little snowflake." Kakashi said as he turned to face Sasuke.
The boy looked like he might burst a blood vessel at the level of glare he was sending Kakashi. It almost made Kakashi break character and laugh a bit.
"You are easily the biggest problem for this group. You never once tried to work with the others. I even made it easy for you with a genjutsu that had multiple moments where you could have come to their aid. When you saw they were hurt. When they managed to restrain the illusion version of myself. When they were being beaten down you could have come in to help them and had me at a three against one set. Instead you waited until the illusion versions of them were defeated and came straight for the bells. That's not even mentioning when Naruto and Sakura attempted to recruit you to work together earlier on." Kakashi leaned closer and closer to Sasuke as he spoke, causing the boy to drop his glare and lean away from the adult getting in his face.
"You all fail. Really I almost feel bad for the two of you. Had you had a different teammate that worked with you, you might have passed even if you couldn't get the bells. After all, I decide what passes and fails you." Kakashi said mostly to Naruto and Sakura.
The three kids were silent as they clearly mulled over his words in their heads. Kakashi gave them a couple moments before playing up a sigh.
"I really had some high hopes for the three of you." He said, sounding almost sad to be failing them.
"Wait, you said you can decide what passes and fails, right?" Naruto asked, hopping to his feet and once more nearly making Kakashi break character to grin.
"Yeah, so?" Kakashi played dumb.
"So give us one more chance. We can prove ourselves. Just give us one more chance." Naruto pleaded.
Kakashi stared at him but it didn't have much effect as the boy stared right back.
"Fine. If all three of you feel like you can manage to pass my second test, then I will give you the chance. Fair warning though it is going to be much harder and more painful than the first one was. In fact, here." Kakashi said as he pulled out the scroll from earlier and released two of the boxed meals and handed them to Sakura and Naruto.
"You are going to need all the strength you have for this test. Sasuke though is getting nothing. Consider it a punishment for not working with the others in the first test. If either of you feed him, then you all fail again. I'll be back in an hour. I need to have my lunch away from whiny kids." Kakashi said before poofing into a cloud of smoke as he went into hiding to watch the three of them either pass or fail his teamwork test.
Naruto and Sakura shared a look before cracking open their meals and digging in. Sakura sent the Uchiha an apologetic look but otherwise she was starving and focused on eating. Slowly Naruto paused though as he heard Sasuke's stomach growl. With a slight frown he turned to face Sasuke who simply raised his eyebrow at what Naruto was doing.
"You need to eat too. If the next test is even worse you'll need the energy so that we can all win." Naruto said as he held up some food for Sasuke to eat.
"We'll fail if Kakashi catches us you idiot." Sasuke growled.
"Then hurry up so we don't get caught." Naruto snapped back.
"He's right, Sasuke. Please eat something, here." Sakura said while offering up some of her lunch.
Slowly Sasuke gave in. He was starving and the food smelled delicious. It tasted delicious as well. Just as he had eaten his fifth bite from Naruto and Sakura a massive explosion of smoke burst in front of them and Kakashi emerged appearing enraged with their actions.
"You three dare defy my rules and orders?" He snarled even more intensely than the earlier lectures they had gotten.
Naruto and Sakura looked at one another in shock for a second before Naruto hopped to his feet. "It was my fault, I convinced them both to do it, don't punish them for it."
"What? No! I was just as much a part of it!" Sakura shouted as she too got to her feet.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment before he realized something. It made Kakashi a bit disappointed but it was a start.
"Neither of them should be punished. I made them do it, besides we're one team right? This was just teamwork." Sasuke shouted.
Naruto and Sakura both glanced at him in surprise. Sakura quickly smiled at Sasuke's words believing immediately that Sasuke was willing to be failed for the team, like she and Naruto had been. Naruto on the other hand saw through it just like Kakashi had. Sasuke had figured out the meals were the second test. He had figured out that backing each other up here was the real test.
Kakashi accepted that Sasuke had seen through the trick, but still he felt he could open the boy's eyes. Taking the team to the monument stone after this would hopefully start that change in him.
"So you are all willing to take the blame for one another then? You're really accepting the consequences in place of one another?" Kakashi asked.
The three children nodded.
"Alright then…You all pass." He said with a laugh as he quickly cut the rope restraining Sasuke allowing the Uchiha free.
The kids began celebrating. Naruto was swept up in Sakura's excitement as she cheered and joined her. Sasuke even smiled faintly though the quick lock of eyes between Sasuke and Kakashi told the younger boy that he knew exactly why Sasuke had suddenly changed his tune.
Kakashi let them celebrate for a little while before he calmed them all down and led them off to the monument stone engraved with all the names of Konoha's killed in action. Naruto knew the stone well as his parents were both inscribed on the stone and he had often come by to see their names.
"Listen to me seriously right now you three. This stone is covered in the names of those that died to protect either their comrades or Konoha as a whole. Many of my friends are remembered here. Three of our four Hokages are inscribed here, and hundreds of other shinobi that have sacrificed everything for our people. Us included. Let that sink in. Chances are none of them knew any of you but they were content to fight and die for you all the same." Kakashi said as he lightly laid his hand on the top of the stone and let it rest there as if it was resting on a loved one's shoulder.
"Remember these words." Kakashi began again after letting a moment of silence to pass for the kids to digest what he had said about the fallen shinobi. "Those who break the rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are lower than trash. It's a simple set of words, but it's my credo. My shinobi way I guess you could say. One that I fully intend to ingrain in your little heads before you are finished learning from me."
His three students were silent once again. They mulled over his words in their head while they stared at the names carved in stone. Sasuke could pick out many Uchihas on it. Sakura simply ran her eyes over the multitude of names. Too many to memorize naturally. Still she tried with a few here and there. Mostly kunoichi that she could look into later and try and get a bit of inspiration from. Naruto simply stared at his father's name. A name everyone knew. One that many people knew better than he ever would, the man's only son.
"Alright, we'll meet back up here in the morning for some training at eight." Kakashi said before disappearing.
"I wonder if he actually means eight or something like noon." Naruto pondered aloud. The others just shrugged before they all began to depart.
"Uh, Sasuke, would you like to go out to eat since you didn't really get to eat much?" Sakura asked.
"No." Sasuke responded simply before walking off leaving a disappointed Sakura behind. Naruto frowned before deciding he could show her some friendliness. Maybe she could open her eyes a bit better.
"Sakura, why don't I walk you home? It's along the same route. Or if you want, Ino might be done with her team's session so you two could go out to eat." Naruto suggested.
If Ino was busy and he had to take her to dinner to make up for the wasted trip, oh well. That was life.
"Sure, that sounds pretty good." Sakura said with a soft smile. Clearly still disappointed about Sasuke's rejection.
Naruto soon went to work taking her mind off of the Uchiha, doing a pretty stellar job of keeping her mind only on himself as they walked back toward the village proper.
A week later and Naruto and his fellow teammates were pretty sick and tired of the reality of their lives as genin. The missions that they received were nothing but chores and all three of them were happy to put their all into training so that they at least felt like real ninja again.
In the week since their test and becoming Team Seven, Naruto and Sasuke had effectively reignited their rivalry that they had once had in school. Much to Naruto's chagrin.
Sasuke had realized that Naruto was growing incredibly quickly and effectively dogging his heels despite all of the Uchiha's spare time being given over to training while Naruto spent time either with Sakura or Ino, or his other friends. Sometimes he even just caught sight of the blond sitting around doing nothing in a field or at the cemetery.
Today, they had to once again catch Tora, the runaway cat. It had become a very easy mission for their team despite not being trackers, if only because they had taken the mission so often the cat no longer had any hiding spots that they didn't know about.
The mix of the annoying mission and Naruto nearly beating him in a spar had Sasuke a little beyond his normal breaking point today and a sight that none of them had seen made it's appearance as the Uchiha lost his cool.
"You sicken me, Uzumaki." Sasuke growled as he climbed off of Naruto after pinning him to the ground.
Sakura and Naruto both blinked in surprise before Naruto leapt up to his feet pissed at the way the Uchiha was talking to him.
"What the hell is your problem with me, Uchiha?" He demanded.
"Your attitude. You're lazy. Taking all of this as if it's some kind of big joke! I mean you can keep up with me this well when you half ass your training, imagine what you could do if you really worked at it instead! You could push me to actually get stronger then!" Sasuke snapped back.
"Half ass? Shut the hell up! I bust my ass in training!" Naruto shouted.
"Hardly! You spend more time walking her home than you do working on your techniques and taijutsu." Sasuke said as he jabbed a finger in Sakura's direction.
"Oh, I'm sorry Uchiha, did you want me to walk you home instead? Feeling jealous?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke looked ready to jump the blond but the snapping sound of Kakashi closing his book prevented it. In the past week Sasuke had developed a pretty healthy respect for the Jonin, despite feeling like he wasn't giving them his all.
"We're done for the day, I'm going home." Sasuke said as he stormed out of the training ground.
Kakashi simply sighed before shrugging in the direction of his other two students. He then disappeared in a little bit of smoke. His typical form of goodbye for Team Seven.
"Come on Sakura, I'll walk you home." Naruto said as he began to move toward the edge of the training ground not far behind Sasuke.
The pinkette narrowed her eyes as she saw Sasuke scoff and shoot a look toward Naruto before continuing his stormy march out of the training ground. She continued to watch him go as the events replayed in her mind. And a strange notion and misunderstanding of Sasuke melded into an idea that she would come to regret as much as she would come to love.
"Okay, I need to talk with Ino about some things anyway." Sakura said, trying to calm Naruto down with a chipper voice. She smiled a bit more naturally when it seemed to work a bit.
With that, Naruto and Sakura headed out for the Yamanaka flower shop to catch Ino on her way home from her own training.
Alright folks that is that. We got over the genin test. It ended up taking more than I wanted it to so a little bit of what I planned for the second half of this chapter is moved to the next chapter.
The question remains what exactly it is that Sakura wants to talk about with Ino. I wonder if you can guess, because I kind of doubt you will get it spot on for what her plan is.
Anyway
Till Next Time