AN: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.

Training Ground 3 0500 hours

At first glance, Training Ground 3 did not seem like a place for ninja training, but a picturesque snapshot straight out of the calendars her father's company always supplied.

And with good reason too. Two imposing mountains stood like silent sentinels, as a gigantic river meandered its way through them - akin to a toddler streaking their way through to their mother. And on either bank were forests filled with lush trees, and the morning smell of sakura flowers blooming wafted its away across to her.

And at this time of the day when the Sun was waking up, it painted a very ochre colour over the entire area. Sakura found it very pretty.

There was only blemish on the landscape - or rather a collection of objects. Three of them appeared to be wooden stumps roughly her size, and the fourth was a giant kunai-shaped structure, that shined so bright she could not bare to look at for more than a few moments.

She heard the 'twitch' of a branch breaking, and believing it to be a squirrel or rabbit, disregarded it.

Just then her teammates walked out of the forest, carrying scrolls of paper with strange markings and symbols etched onto them.

She almost had to do a double-take when she examined her blonde teammate. Gone was the hideous orange monstrosity, replaced by black trousers and a simple black shirt. It made him look very mature, and as he explained something to Sasuke-kun he looked almost...happy. She didn't know why, but Sakura liked that look on him.

"Morning Sasuke-kun, Naruto" she greeted politely.

The Uchiha grunted in response while Naruto waved to her.

"What were you doing in the forest? And what are these scrolls in your hands?"

Naruto collected the scrolls from Sasuke "Oh these. We were setting some traps and trackers in the forest. If Kakashi sensei is going to do what I feel then we need every advantage we can get."

"And what's that?" Sakura questioned him.

"We'll have to fight him" Sasuke informed her, "and maybe even each other."

All of a sudden, Sakura didn't feel too good about her chances, and she felt queasy from all the breakfast she'd had this morning. There was no way she could even last a minute against a jonin, and Sasuke-kun was the Rookie of the Year. Naruto was... a blank page. Ever since yesterday, she'd had a difficult time reconciling the Naruto from her memories to this stranger standing in front of her.

Then, something struck her. The two of them had arrived here, presumably long before her to scout the area, and neither of them had bothered to ask her to come along.

"Well, why wasn't I invited? I would have liked to come as well."

"You're not ready yet" Naruto shrugged, as if it answered every question she'd ever had.

Sakura frowned "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Tell me, what was your reaction when you heard Sasuke walking over a fallen branch?"

"I thought it was a rabbit or squirrel. Why?"

"And how do you know that it wasn't a wild animal? Or someone spying on you? Or an enemy from another village?"

"Well we're inside the village. The chances of that are minimal at best."

"And that's why you didn't think twice about venturing into a part of the village you've never seen before, that too without any protection?"

"What protection?" Sakura asked him.

"He means weapons" Sasuke explained.

Naruto nodded his head "Exactly. Even though there was no need to carry weapons inside the village, as a kunoichi and more importantly a young female it is always best to be on your guard. We intentionally made that noise to see your reaction. Instead of being alert and moving for a weapon, you relaxed and ignored the possible risk. So do you understand what we mean when we say you're not ready?"

Sakura nodded dumbly, her brain still stuck processing the fact that Naruto could speak in complex and coherent sentences.

"Now it's already 5, and we're done setting everything up. It's best to relax and wait for Kakashi-sensei to arrive."

After all the walking Sakura had done to find this place, she certainly wasn't opposed to that.

'There was no way this guy is a genin' Sasuke scowled to himself. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to question his visual prowess. He had probably seen Naruto 5 days a week for 7 years, and none of those experiences had prepared him for the past hour of his life.

It had also made it absolutely clear to Sasuke that Naruto was much stronger than he let others believe, and indeed stronger than Sasuke. And by how much?

If Sasuke couldn't surpass a no-name orphan like that, how the hell could he catch up to that monster.

His Uchiha pride may not want to admit it, but he was a long way from catching up to Naruto.

When he had arrived at this ground at 4 AM sharp, Naruto was already waiting for him, dressed in all-black wear.

While it was a surprise, Sasuke made no comment about it.

He was handed a sack full of equipment by Naruto.

"These are some traps to lay in the forest. It's best if we split up, we can cover more ground faster that way."

Finding nothing wrong with the idea, Sasuke nodded and entered one side of the forest.

The trees were teeming with life. Once upon a time, Sasuke would have climbed the trees to greet the birds, or petted one of the rabbits and fed it some carrots.

That was all a long time ago. Sometimes, it felt like another lifetime.

As Sasuke ventured deeper into the woods, he saw tiny pockets and spaces. Remembering the reason he was here, he thought they'd make excellent cover to set traps, and set about doing just that.

20 minutes later, he stepped out to the forest to see once again, Naruto waiting for him. "We still have some time, I'd like to go over your traps to make sure there's nothing wrong with them."

Sasuke did not like the insinuation that he didn't know how to set traps, and that Naruto would be able to correct him. But he decided not to give him a reaction. He merely grunted in response, and wordlessly went to Naruto's side of the forest to check on his traps.

Half an hour later he walked out of the trees, baffled not to have found a single trap.

He saw Naruto sitting atop a branch, silently gazing at the village. The sight of the blonde prankster in that state unsettled him. He was never like this at the academy.

"Well, are you just going to sit there or actually plant any traps?"

His teammate looked down at him strangely, "What do you mean, I placed at least a dozen. And speaking of traps, I found yours. I must say, they're not half bad."

"Where are these traps you're speaking of?"

"You're standing right next to one".

"What?" Sasuke turned stiff at that moment, apprehensive of accidently activating the trap.

Naruto jumped down from the branch "Right in that bush of trees. A human-sized mouse trap."

He looked for the trap, and came up empty-handed "I can't see it."

"Of course you can't, it's camouflaged."

Sasuke had a perplexed expression on his face in response, and Naruto's eyes twinkled "I know someone. Anyways, come with me. I'll show you all the rest."

The next five minutes were the most inexplicable five minutes of Sasuke's life. Naruto proceeded to point out the hiding place of each and every trap he had set, along with the rational of that particular trap. This included its design, mechanism and function. Forget Naruto, Sasuke had never heard so many high-end words out of the mouth of any person, and if he were a normal person his eyes would have popped out their sockets and his teeth fallen off his gums. Alas, as he had a reputation to maintain all he could muster up was an alarmed appearance.

"Hey look over there" Naruto nodded to Sasuke's back, where a pink-haired speck was becoming more and more visible.

'Speaking of an alarm' he sighed to himself. He had nothing against the girl, truly nothing. And had his life not turned out the way it had he could have been more receptive to her advances. But that was not the reality. He hoped she pulled herself up, if not for herself then for the sake of this team, which Sasuke already did not see a viable future for. A sensei who seemed to have major smut addiction, an orphan with more unknowns than the Great Sage himself and a book-smart know-it-all with little use in the field. And he was expected to get along with these people, let alone form a successful unit.

How in the word was he supposed to get stronger?

He was disturbed from his brooding again, by his stranger of a teammate, "Play along with me. When she gets close enough, break one of these branches. I want to see her reaction." And with that he disappeared into the branches, as if he were never her in the first place.

Why Naruto wanted to see her reaction he did not know; and why he chose to follow him, that too he did not know.

And now it was 4:55, and Naruto was reading the same book yesterday. Sitting right in front of him with the book almost touching his nose, Sasuke read 'The Tale Of The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' written in bold on the cover.

Sakura voiced out his question "What book are you reading Naruto?"

"Oh, it's about a shinobi who travels across the world and never gives up on his hope of achieving peace."

It was at that point that Sasuke tuned out their drabble, scoffing to himself at the very notion of a thing as 'peace'. Clearly whatever fool had written that was a mundane civilian with no knowledge of the horrors of the shinobi world. Sasuke's father had once told him, that the word 'shinobi' actually meant 'to kill'. (I just made that up, so please don't come at me any Japanese-speakers)

Their very title was that of a murderer, and for Naruto to read that, well Sasuke was oddly disappointed in him. He had thought that from his display of skill earlier today, he would know better than to believe nonsense like that.

Sasuke's head shot up when Naruto informed Sakura the writer of the book "The author is actually my godfather."

Sakura too, was clearly at a loss of words, having believed along with everyone else that Naruto had no one to provide for him.

"Who?" Sasuke asked almost as an interrogation.

"Oh, he's an old man. Mostly retired now, just goes around from place to place writing books."

"What kind of books?" Sakura chimed in.

"Oh you probably haven't read them. Anyway, its 5 AM. I wonder where Kakashi-sensei is?"

As if on cue, their sensei emerged out of thin air and greeted them, "Yo."

"There he is" Naruto clapped them both on the back, and both of them felt a sting which they brushed aside as a firm hand.

"You're early today" Sakura pointed out.

"Really" their instructor scratched his head, "I thought I was right on time?"

"Considering that you were over 5 hours late the last time, I'd say arriving on time is early for you" she berated him.

He sheepishly shrugged his neck for a minute before straightening up. "Alright, now that we're all here we can begin. First thing's first, did any of you have some breakfast?"

"Yes" the three of them chorused.

Kakashi seemed cross with them. "I thought I told you not to eat anything beforehand. Then why did you disobey me?"

Sasuke looked up at him, "We didn't disobey you. You had never ordered us not to eat anything beforehand. It was a suggestion."

"And you chose to ignore it?"

"Yes" Sakura admitted.

"And what makes you think you know more about being a shinobi than I do?".

"Our education" Naruto supplied. Sakura looked at him incredulously, no doubt remembering all the times Naruto spent out of the class rather than inside.

Kakashi seemed to loom over them threateningly, as if he were considering punishment before leaning back and giving them an eye-smile. "You're all correct. As a shinobi, you should be able to sort out what is necessary for the success of your mission, and what isn't. In this case, if you were to show up with empty stomachs for a survival mission well, let's just say there wouldn't be much survival."

"What exactly is our survival Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, evidently disheartened by their sensei's ominous words.

"These" Kakashi removed a pair of bells from his utility belt. "Your aim is to take these bells from me and evade me until noon within the confines of this training ground. Failure to do so will result in your demotion to the reserves."

"But there's three of us" Naruto pointed out.

"Correct, and only the two people to take these bells from me will pass. The one who fails to do so will not only be sent to the reserves, but also tied to one of those stumps" he pointed in their direction.. "and have their nails removed."

"WHAT!" all three of them yelled.

Sakura pointed at him, "I refuse to take the test then."

"Suit yourself" Kakashi shrugged, "and know that doing so would invalidate your from pursuing any shinobi qualifications, in every shinobi village."

Seeing the look of apprehension on his charges, Kakashi whipped out his orange book of love and began perusing it. Peeking up to see they were still all in the same place, he called out "And your time starts...".

Before he could say no, all three vanished into the surroundings. 'At least they know how to hide' Kakashi chuckled internally.

What the hell was Kakashi thinking?

Konoha shinobi are never supposed to hurt, maim or torture their fellow nin. Not unless they had turned rogue, which certainly was not the case here. As many faults as Naruto could point out in his teammates, that did not mean in any way he was willing to torture them.

And what was this nonsense about one of them being failed and shipped to the reserve squads? There's never been a two-man genin unit, so what was he playing at? Unless it was all a trick. Since he had known him, Kakashi had always drilled one thing into Naruto's mind: look underneath the underneath. Naruto stopped panicking for a moment, and cleared his head.

Closing his eyes, and using his gift of chakra perception, he determined where his teammates and sensei were. Not that he needed to. Kakashi's head stood out like a cow in a slaughterhouse, and he had bugged the other two when he had touched them on the shoulder. It was just good not to let his abilities rust.

Through his chakra perception, he could see his new sensei gushing and fawning at the contents of that 'book', an ingenious ruse that masked his actual vigilance and monitoring of the situation. His teammates were on either side of him, Sakura lying flat on a tree branch that obscured as it was, only made her pink hair stand out even more. Sasuke too, was in un unfavourable position - lurking in the bushes right behind Kakashi. Seriously, did neither of the realise how strong a jounin was?

Having made a mental note of the environment, Naruto shifted his focus to their supposed task. It was obvious to both him and Kakashi, and he suspected Sasuke as well after this morning, that Sakura had no chance of getting anywhere near those bells.

Which meant Sakura would have to join the reserves. Meaning that there would be no Team 7. Wait a minute! As Naruto's mental gears turned and he realised the true purpose of this test.

Oh Kakashi, you sly fox'

'Where is he? I thought he was there a moment ago?'

Deciding that it was safe to come down, Sakura ventured her way down the relatively low branch. Dusting herself as she touched the floor, she looked around her, remembering this morning's advice from her teammates.

That still seemed untrue to her. She had not gotten much sleep last night, pondering just what had transpired after she was pretty much told to get lost. She had never seen her two teammates say a word to each other, much less make decent conversation. And although she couldn't describe why, she could feel some tension between them, which usually would not have surprised her considering the difference in their status, but this somehow felt more personal.

Seeing no signs of the silver-haired man, she cautiously moved forwards, attempting to maintain her anonymity for as long as possible. All efforts at remaining unforeseen were shattered however, when she turned around and saw...

"SASUKE-KUN!" she screamed, moving as quick as her small feminine legs could propel her to his downed and bloodied form.

'Great. She probably got hit by a genjutsu. What a pathetic waste.'

But what that with Kakashi was projecting a genjutsu, it was the opportune time to strike and get one of those bells.

Perhaps she had some use after all...

To his chagrin though, someone else seemed to have come to the same realisation. And before he had. He shrunk back into the bushes, watching with keen eyes as his sensei and other teammate faced each other off.

Naruto raced out just as Sakura's scream echoed across the training ground, sending any wildlife in the area fleeing for their lives.

He had already sent a clone to Sasuke to try an convince him, not that he was too optimistic of his chances.

"I'm disappointed in you" Kakashi frowned, still flipping pages.

"Don't be" Naruto stated. "I've sent a clone over to him, hopefully he'll be agreeable."

"And if he won't?" Kakashi questioned.

"Then we all go head to the reserves."

"I didn't know you'd be willing to do that for them."

"Of course I wouldn't. That's why I'm going to make sure it doesn't get to that stage."

"Very well". Kakashi closed his book and stored it away. "What shall we do until then to pass the time?"

"Oh I can think of a few things" Naruto grinned, before charging at his sensei.

All he could see were two blurs zooming past each other, and occasionally coming into contact before zooming away.

With each passing second, Sasuke grew more and more enraged, at himself, at Naruto, at that monster.

And then all of a sudden, as if out of nowhere they slowed down. Not to slow motion, but to a perceptible pace. They were still just fighting with their bare hands, not using any weapons or jutsus. Naruto kept on attacking the elder man from all sorts of angles, with each and every part of his anatomy. Kakashi on his part, was barely evading his attacks, but it was quite evident that he was making no attempt to attack, or that he was under any sort of strain, content with dodging at the last second.

What Sasuke did not realise was that, for the second time in his life, his eyes had turned red - blood red.

Unfortunately for Sasuke though, the crimson red sphere in his eye disappeared just as abruptly as it had appeared.

His scrutiny of their tussle was terminated by a whisper behind him.

"Hey Sasuke."

"Who" he breathed before a hand clamped over his mouth.

"Sssh."

A boy's face came into view, and his eyes narrowed in disbelief.

He pushed their arm off his mouth and turned fully to face them.

"How are you here? Who's that fighting with Kakashi?"

"Relax. I'm just a clone; that's the original Naruto."

"What? But you're not an illusion."

"Of course I'm not. I'm a shadow clone."

"Since when did the dobe make shadow clones?!" Sasuke hissed.

"You'd be surprised at our abilities."

He looked at the duplicate expectantly, hoping that there was a good reason he had bothered him and potentially exposed his location to Kakashi. The clone seemed to suddenly realise it was here for a purpose, and shook its head before looking at him seriously.

"I know how we can pass this test."

"Of course you do. Kakashi told us: we have to get the bells from him."

"No we don't. There's only two bells. If one person fails, we all fail."

"What are you talking about idiot?"

The clone held his hands up to placate him. "Just hear me out. Genin are always in three-man units with a jounin. So how, if one of us fails, can the other two for a three-man unit? It makes no sense."

"Then why would Kakashi give us this test?"

"Think about it yourself. When you first saw him, you probably thought he was a good-for-nothing pervert. Not two minutes later, he almost took your head off with a door-key of all things."

"What door-key?"

"That's not the point. I'm trying to say, the man is full of tricks. I told you this yesterday, and I'm telling you again - he's tricking us."

Sasuke deliberated on his words. It did seem true, he had never seen a two-genin squad. And from yesterday it was quite clear that their sensei was nothing like he seemed at first glance.

Being an Uchiha though, and a prideful one at that his ego just could not let go of what he had just seen. He too wanted to be tested against the very best, and do better than the blonde had. Looking back at the clone, he asked one last question to him, something he had realised at that very moment.

"How did you find me?"

"Easy" the clone shrugged, "I bugged you when I clapped you on the shoulder. Here" the clone picked it off his left shoulder, and indeed a miniscule, barely visible black spot was in his hands. This only served to further provoke the boy's rage, and he swiped at the clone, letting the device fall to the ground. Against his better judgement, he stomped his foot on to it, smashing it into pieces, before pouncing out of his hiding spot.

Naruto fell back a considerable distance, the early signs of fatigue starting to develop. It had been a while since he'd sparred with Kakashi, and he was glad for it; the spars served not just as physical exercise but as a psychological notice - 'don't get too cocky, you still have a long way to go.'

Besides, they'd just given Sasuke a show, and Naruto was eager to see how the black-haired boy would respond.

He wordlessly fell back, and lo behold: within seconds Sasuke took his place, a mask of rage etched onto his face.

If only he had some popcorn.

Sasuke dashed at Kakashi without preamble preamble, his usual tactical awareness shoved aside by his pride and fury as he lunged wildly at the man. Kakashi did not even have to look up, simply ducking underneath the boy's flying foot as he sailed past him and wildly landed behind.

Sasuke hurled a series of shuriken in response, getting more riled up by the man's comments. This forced Kakashi to bring up a kunai of his own, blocking all the weapons with expert ease.

"Whatever happened to the Rookie of the Year?" Kakashi questioned, almost innocently.

"Stop talking" he snarled as he performed a series of handseals which almost caused Kakashi to panic.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" a giant ball of fire escaped from his mouth and struck Kakashi, giving Sasuke an eerie chill in his chest.

When the smoke cleared, it was Sasuke's turn to panic. Instead of a burnt sensei, he saw nothing.

His eyes scanned the direction Kakashi could have gone. 'North, East, South, West, Up'

"Under!" a voice shot out from underneath him, accompanied by an arm that latched onto his left foot and dragged him through the topsoil until only his head was left above ground.

Kakashi ducked down to Sasuke's eye level. "Seems like the mighty Uchiha clan isn't so mighty after all" he mumbled not quite to himself.

Sasuke tried his best to free his arms and free himself, so as to get back at his tormentor. Seeing his struggle, Kakashi produced some duct tape and applied it over his charge's mouth and disappeared into the forest, affording himself some quality reading time.

Out of the bushes, Naruto struggled to contain a snigger at watching Sasuke's plight.

Sakura wanted to die. No, not as a metaphorical statement, but as a fact. At least hell would be less horrifying than this.

After stumbling upon Sasuke-kun's desecrated body, she tried her very best to resuscitate him, going so far as to repeatedly bang her fists on his chest. After that had failed she tried to run to the hospital, or the Hokage's office, or even the academy, just so she could get out of this godforsaken forest. To her dread, she kept reaching the same place, the final resting site of her Sasuke-kun, and each time more bodies piled up. First her parents, then her family, her friends, Iruka-sensei, the Hokage, Kakashi-sensei and finally Naruto.

After the final corpse showed up, she had resorted to unevenly walking around, hoping that Kakashi sensei broke her out of the genjutsu.

Her wish was granted, though in the most inopportune manner - she felt a sharp gust of wind graze her back, and she instinctually jerked forwards and looked behind.

In front of her was the head of one Uchiha Sasuke, his mouth covered by duct tape as he toiled to come out.

The sight was a sensory overload for her, and she promptly passed out from the stress on her brain.

When she woke up, she was aching all over her body.

She tried to move, only to experience a painful pressure around her arms and sternum. Blinking out the dark spots from her eyes, she see Sasuke-kun and Naruto in front of her with kunais in their hands, and an unreadable expression on their faces.

30 minutes earlier

He found that the comic nature of the scene had given way to a sense of languor.

Watching the last reminder of a once proud and mighty clan reduced to clawing and scratching his way out of some soil whilst mute had soon lost its joy. And there was still the pressing issue of passing the test. He didn't have any interest in teaming up with those two, but he'd be damned if he let the old man down. That had been one of the Sandaime's rare requests to him: to try and get along with people.

He knew he could be a shinobi working on his own, but he wanted to honour his grandfather's wish and try to succeed this way. Not to mention, it would be pretty cool to have Kakashi as his sensei.

With that in mind, he approached the boy again, this time by himself.

"Another clone?" Sasuke asked him.

Naruto shook his head, "It's the real deal this time."

Sasuke turned his head away in dismissal, apparently content with being stuck in the ground.

"Suit yourself then" Naruto shrugged, walking away.

"Wait" a voice halted him.

"Naruto turned around, cocking his eyebrow in interest.

"He-help me" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto maintained the same facial expression, and Sasuke grunted in frustration as he realised what Naruto was waiting for.

"Please."

"Attaboy."

Naruto helped him burrow his way out of the hole, and helped him over to rest against a tree.

"We can't beat him" Sasuke admitted.

"Of course we can't. But we're not supposed to."

"Then how can we pass?"

Naruto looked Sasuke directly in the eye this time, "By showing him that we can work together. That's the whole point of a team - teamwork. We don't have to get the bells - we probably won't. We just have to prove that we can work together."

"And how did you figure that out?" Sasuke asked, not breaking eye contact.

"When you were busy brooding at the windows Uchiha-sama, I was actually paying attention in school."

Sasuke snorted "I didn't know you made jokes".

"I didn't know you could recognise a joke."

"Well, are you just going to stand there or give me a hand?".

Naruto brought his hand forward, "I thought you'd never ask."

Kakashi was at the climax - of both the book and the characters (I hope you get the joke). He practically lived for this part of the book. All the heroes efforts culminating in the award of a life - a passionate act of love which brought out every positive emotion in the human mind.

He giggled as he flipped through the pages, blood slowly dripping out of his nostrils.

Of course, the joy didn't last long. He heard a slight rustling in the leaves and followed the sound with his eyes. From behind, a black-clad figure rushed at him. He met his attacker this time, dodging his outstretched fist and striking him in the solar plexus. Sasuke gasped before bursting into smoke. 'Since when could he make Shadow Clones.'

In his confusion, he forgot to keep track of the noise. He returned his book to his satchel, and picked out a kunai. After a moment's silence, a dozen Sasuke's charged him, encircling him. He was forced to evade all of them, and as he moved around a particular set of trees, he failed to notice the trap in-between. As he landed on the ground, a metallic clasp locked over his foot, stopping him from going anywhere. One of the clones, possibly the original went through a series of handseals which he recognised.

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

A gust of wind shot at him, and he desperately sought to extricate himself. After the smoke from the attack had cleared, all that was visible was a log of wood.

Kakashi was looking down at the scene, as all the clones dispersed one by one. It took him a moment to realise the trickery at hand, and he couldn't help but smiling at his student's handiwork.

"Don't move" a voice came from behind him. A kunai came to his throat.

Kakashi sighed, disappointed that he had to stop playing games. He dispersed himself, almost causing his assailant to fall off in surprise.

"That bastard" Naruto grinded his teeth, "he knew the entire time."

"That was fun."

Naruto's head shot up, and he saw Kakashi in the branch above him, lazily reading that trash.

"Is this the actual you?"

"I could ask you the same" his tutor parried back.

"How did you know that was me?"

"There's a handful of wind-users in the entire village, and Sasuke certainly isn't one of them."

"And how did you escape my trap?"

"Well, you'll just have to catch me to find out." And with that, he too burst into smoke, revealing himself as another clone.

Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration at being bamboozled repeatedly. Resigning to their failure, he decided to regroup with Sasuke.

He moved down using the branches, taking care not to reveal his tree-walking ability to Sasuke. They may have shared a joke, but it was a long way before he could trust Sasuke with something like that. He had already laid some hints, trying to see how Sasuke would react, and his hostile response was not at all encouraging.

"What happened up there" Sasuke asked, noticing the displeased look on his face.

"It didn't work, as we had expected,"

"Then why are you so pissed off?"

"I had hoped to leave with some dignity."

"Forget it, we'll have to find some other way of getting him."

"At the very least, I want to burn that book of his."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at that statement, "How much would you say he likes those books?"

"Whenever I've seen him, he's always carried that around with him" Naruto revealed.

Sasuke's eyes shined for a moment, and Naruto felt a tingle across his spine as he revealed his plan.

The original Kakashi was back to where they had started. He thought about reviving Sakura, but decided to wait and see what the boys would do about her.

Seeing no one around, he whipped out Icha Icha again, and became engrossed in it. Once again, his male students attempted to surprise him, and he merely shifted his hips to the left to avoid contact.

To his surprise, just as he moved left, Naruto's hand shot upwards, away from his hips and toward his hand. Kakashi watched in horror as his beloved was snatched from him.

"Give it back!" he wailed.

"Don't come forward!" Naruto warned, as Sasuke took out a shuriken and moved it towards the book.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Kakashi looked on in terror as Sasuke bent closer and closer to his target.

"St-stop!" Kakashi begged.

"The bells for the book" Naruto offered him, and he sweetened the deal by holding the book by its ends and applying some force.

Kakashi threw the bells at them, and rushed to collect his book. Naruto moved it out of grip just as he was about to rescue them. "Not yet" he reprimanded Kakashi.

Sasuke checked to make sure they really were the bells, and when he nodded in confirmation, Naruto let go of the book. Just as it was about to come into contact with the ground, Kakashi leaped and fell atop it, clutching it akin to a mother her babe.

If that wasn't creepy enough, Kakashi's mask was slightly moist, indicating tears. 'How pathetic' Naruto thought to himself.

"So do we pass then?" Sasuke asked, twirling the bells around in his hand.

"In a manner of speaking yes."

"But?" Naruto probed.

"But not as a team. Having tested Sakura, I could see why you did include her in this plan. But, I would have liked to have seen her involved."

"Well, she was whammied by you now, wasn't she?" Naruto countered.

"And both of you knew how to break her out of it. Yet you chose not to. That's not good teamwork/"

"So you're actually saying that we fail" Sasuke guessed.

"Under ordinary circumstances, yes. However, I was impressed by your unorthodox approach. So I'll give you another chance. Here's what you have to do..."

Now

Sakura didn't like the look on their faces. And where was Kakashi-sensei?

Naruto moved closer to her, still grasping his weapon.

A pair of hands gripped her by the shoulders. "Sakura, you have failed your mission."

She recognised the voice. "Ka-Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing?"

His voice boomed at her "You failed. You know the consequence of that. But since I'm merciful, I'll give you one more chance to pass."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. To pass, you must let your teammates cut off your hair."

"What!" Sakura screamed.

"Let me finish. If you refuse, not only you, but you teammates will also fail. And they won't be allowed to take this test again."

Both boys looked at her pointedly, and she could see from the look in their eyes just what they thought of that.

On cue, they both moved towards her. The world seemed to move in slow motion. Their outstretched hands edged towards her, and in her mind she was begging and screaming at them to stop. Externally, she couldn't make a sound. It was as if her throat had closed up denying her the chance to object.

As Naruto gripped her locks firmly in his hand, Sakura closed her eyes and accepted her fate. She whispered almost imperceptibly to herself "for the team" and awaited the inevitable.

Instead, she felt the force on her arms being loosened, and when she opened her eyes, she was able to move her limbs. Looking at her hands, she could see bands of red bruising where the rope had been applied, and she slowly felt the sensation of blood travelling into her arms and stomach.

Sakura looked up at Kakashi-sensei in confusion, "I thought.."

He shook his head, "You didn't think I would actually do that did you? Or that your teammates would?"

She blushed in response, feeling embarrassed in herself. "But why did you threaten to?"

"That was the true motive of this test. Teamwork."

"I don't understand."

"When I told you your hair had to be cut off or all of you would fail, you initially resisted. But you eventually came to terms with it and accepted that it was in the best interests of your team. In other words, you sacrificed - for your team. That's what being a team is all about."

"So you weren't really going to?"

"Or course not. As a member of the long-hair corps, I would never mess with anyone's hair. But you were willing to, showing to me that you have what it takes to be a productive member of our team"

Sakura then shifted her attention to her new teammates; "And what about Sasuke-kun and Naruto, how do they pass? I mean, I was the one about to give up my hair."

"We already passed" Naruto informed her, "while you were knocked out."

"How?" Sakura probed.

"Tell you what. Since it's our first day as a team, I'll take you all out today. You can tell each other everything you want to" Kakashi proposed.

"Cool" she jumped up, happy to spend the entire day with Sasuke-kun, and Naruto seemed pretty interesting to her as well now. The boys nodded, and soon they headed off for the first of their numerous team-bonding exercises.

How are you liking it? Let me know in the comments. If anyone is interested in BETA-ing, please let me know. I have some ideas for the Chunin Exams portion I'd like to flesh out before incorporating them in the story. Stay Safe!