Welcome to chapter three, it's time for team 7 to be formed. Please feel free to leave any feedback or even suggestions in the comments. Thank you for all the reads and kudos.
As always I own nothing
The roof of the academy building
Kakashi Hatake leaned against the railing as he looked at his three students, two girls and one boy, a civilian girl, the last member of the infamous Uchiha clan and the Jinchuiriki of the Kyuubi No Kitsune, he had definitely taken on less interesting trainees, but they would need to be impressive too, as he failed all the other team he had ever taken.
"Alright you lot, start by telling me about yourselves, your name, likes, dislikes and your dreams for the future." The Jonin said looking at the three young ninja in front of him.
"Well why don't you go first sensei as we know nothing about you?" Sakura replied, as the three already had some surface knowledge about one another.
"Very well." Kakashi sighed. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I have some likes and I dislike a few things. My dream for the future? Never really thought about it." he answered, halfheartedly mocking the Genin with his answer.
"All he said was his name!" the three thought, gaining more ire from them, the lateness already left them with a bad impression.
"You go first pinky." Kakashi said pointing at Sakura.
"My names Sakura Haruno, not pinky, I like, I mean who I like is *blush*, and I dream to one day, *swoon*. I hate stupid loudmouths!" Sakura said. The other three sweatdropped at her words and each had their own thoughts about it.
"Is she sure she wants to be a ninja?" were Kakashi's thoughts.
"Ok was that last part aimed at me?! And Kiba is a loudmouth too ya know!" were Naruto's
"I've never been more embarrassed to be a Kunoichi." were Satsuki's.
"Ok blondie you next." Kakashi said moving on from the unimpressive ninja in training.
"Sure! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like Ramen, especially the stuff from Ichiraku. It's the best, I also enjoy training and the forests surrounding the hidden leaf. I dislike the judgment from people and how they blow me off when I try my best. My dream, my dream is to be the Hokage, and gain the respect of everyone in the village! To make them all acknowledge me!" Naruto finished with force determination, wearing his heart and goal on his sleeve.
"Well he's a bit brash it seems but he has a strong spirit. He reminds me of you, with all that Hokage talk, Obito." Kakashi thought, the reminder of his fallen comrade making his covered eye pulse in phantom pain for a second.
"And finally miss raven." Kakashi said again, turning his single eyed gaze to Satsuki.
She huffed and started to speak.
"My name is Satsuki Uchiha. I don't really like anything and I hate a lot of things. What I have is an ambition, not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I am going to restore my clan, and kill and curtain someone." she finished darkly.
"Well that was expected, Itachi left scars on her that may never heal or fade." Kakashi thought, remembering the anbu that was once under his command.
"What's with her?" Sakura thought, not understanding Satsuki's words exactly.
"I hope that isn't me she's talking about. If it isn't, I hope she's ok" Naruto thought, seeing the deep look of hatred on her face, he thought over her words, 'restore my clan' something must have happened to them, is that the reason for that look she sometimes has on her face?
He knew your mind sometimes went to bad places when you were alone, it's why he did his best to stay out of his own head. While he's not Satsuki's biggest fan, he hoped she wasn't stuck in her own head.
"Well I think I got a good feeling for you three. Now comes the bad news. You're not exactly Genin yet." Kakashi said, 'smiling' with his lone eye.
"WHAT!?" Sakura and Naruto yelled at him. Satsuki chose to remain silent, only her gaze hardening at the man.
"Its true, you have forehead protectors, but that academy test is simply to see who even has the potential to make it as Genin, tomorrow you will undergo a survival test, the failure rate for this test, is sixty-six percent, of the twenty-seven members of your class who passed, only nine will pass and become proper shinobi under our Hokage." Kakashi then said to them.
"But we worked our butts off to earn these!" Naruto shouted, standing up in frustration and raising his protector off his forehead slightly to punctuate his words.
"Please, compared to real shinobi skills, the academy requirements are kids ticks, I decide whether you are really fit to be leaf ninja. You will meet me tomorrow at five A.M at training ground three, bring your gear. I'd advise not eating breakfast, you'll throw up." Kakashi answered before he left in another puff of smoke.
"You know I'm really starting to dislike him." Naruto deadpanned as their new sensei left.
"Well I need to have my nails done, Sastuki do you want-." Sakura started, turning towards the other girl to ask her to join, only to see a glimpse of her vaulting over the railing and heading off on her own without a word.
"Well, fine then. And don't bother asking me to join you for something stupid Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she too left via the stairs.
"I wasn't going to?!" Naruto thought as he was left on the roof by himself.
The next day five A.M
"*yawn* man I can't believe we had to get up so early for this, and I couldn't eat breakfast." Naruto said as he rubbed some sleep out of his eyes. As he entered the clearing of the training ground he saw three wooden posts and on the edge of said clearing he saw a perfectly awake Satsuki doing laps probably to warm up for the test. It seemed Sakura still wasn't here.
"I should probably try and talk with her, I am on the same team with her after all, won't do any good to have her dislike me while we are on a ninja mission." Naruto thought, as he walked over to Satsuki who had paused for a moment in her run to take a clear water flask out of her pouch and quench her thirst.
"What do you want?" she said in a grumpy tone, taking another swig of water.
"Well I just wanted to talk, I mean we get sent back to the academy if we fail this test right? So maybe we could come up with some sort of plan?" Naruto asked, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"Yea, stay out of my way, I don't need you or the fake kunoichi slowing me down." she said coldly as she took off running again.
"Well, at least I tried." Naruto thought as he walked over to the post and took out a small pouch he kept in his jacket, out of it he took a whetstone, as few days ago in the week long gap when he was training with his new swords he noticed the edges getting dull, so he went back to Nagashi and asked him about what to do, the shopkeep offered him this kit (luckily it was fairly cheap) and it came with a scroll about maintaining his equipment with the whetstone. He took a few kunai and shuriken and gave them a quick once over and started to methodically sharpen both swords to the best of his ability (he was still fairly new to the practice).
After about fifteen minutes he saw Satsuki stop and sit down against a tree as she got her breath back, she then systematically unloaded her pouch and gave all her ninja gear a once over, well while she was definitely hard to work with, at least he could bet on her skills. Sakura who had apparently gotten her nails done yesterday instead of prepping for the test, he could bet on her less. What kunoichi gets her nails done?! He didn't one hundred percent disagree with Satsuki saying 'fake kunoichi' but she was still a teammate's, and they were in the same class for three years, that counted for something.
After about five more minutes at which point Satsuki had packed away her gear and was doing some stretches, Sakura arrived looking as sleep deprived as Naruto was, she simply sat down in the clearing and Naruto decided, what the hell, get a few winks while he could, so he packed away his sharpening kit and leaned back against the post and shut his eyes and managed to does off slightly.
One much needed power nap later
"Loser, get up." a familiar cold grumpy voice said as a foot slightly kicked his leg. Naruto jolted up to see Kakashi, the shock of seeing his sensei jolted up, his tiredness fading.
"SENSEI YOUR LATE AGAIN!" Sakura shouted at him.
"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way round." Kakashi said with an 'eye smile'
"How long was I out?" Naruto whispered to Satsuki who was standing next to him.
"About three hours, he was just as late as yesterday." she answered with an annoyed look on her face, she secretly wished she followed Naruto's example and caught a few winks herself.
"Right, since we are all here I will now explain the test. Here I have some bells, you have three hours to acquire them from me, use any means you want, jutsu, kunai, shuriken. Everything is permitted." Kakashi said. Holding out a pair of bells.
"But we could seriously hurt you with those sensei?" Sakura said in shock.
"Please, as a jonin, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill you have no chance of getting the bells." he answered, shooting down her concern.
"But there are only two bells, there are three of us?" Naruto asked, not understanding how they were meant to pass.
"That's right, meaning no matter what, at least one of you will fail. Plus that person will be tied to the post and watch as me and the two proper graduates eat." Kakasi said, pointing over to some sort of dark stone, which had three bento boxes next to it, the sight of food, caused all three of their stomachs to growl.
"That tricksy bastard, that's why he said to skip breakfast?!" they all collectively thought.
The jonin took out a clock and placed it on a wooden post.
"Annnnnnddddd GO!" Kakashi said, immediately all three genin jumped away from him. Both Sakura and Satsuki retreated into the forest and hid themselves, Naruto had a different plan.
"You know those two had the right idea. You, not so much." Kakashi commented as he saw both Sakura and Satsuki had hidden themselves well, not well enough to hide from him but well enough. Naruto had decided to face off against him in the open.
"Well you were quite confident in your skills as a jonin, don't think I could have hidden well enough for you. So let's go!" Naruto yelled as he ran at Kakashi, took his blades out and tried to slash him in a double downwards stroke. Kakashi, sidestepped this with no issue, he reached into his pouch, making Naruto back off slightly, as not to be caught out with whatever tools the older ninja had at his disposal.
Instead, he took out a small orange book and started to read.
"Why are you reading?!" Naruto shouted at him, quite insulted at the act.
"Well to find out what happens at the end of course." Kakashi answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, never looking up from the book.
"He's not even taking Naruto seriously. Makes sense, that losers' kenjutsu is all over the place." Satsuki thought from her hiding place, looking at the display.
Naruto growled in anger as he rushed Kakashi again, mostly trying to hit him more then getting a bell.
It was all for nought, as even without depth perception and with his lone eye on the book, Kakashi dodged everything Naruto did with perfect ease.
"He's got no form, definitely didn't get them because he favors them, rule of cool winning over young shinobi yet again." Kakashi ideally thought as he kept dodging.
Deciding enough failure was enough, Kakashi did nothing as Naruto slashed his right side, the young ninja was shocked to see the swords slightly implant themselves in the older shinobi's side. He saw the older man cough up blood, damping his face mask. Naruto looked shocked at his actions, he may have just killed a man.
Only for the body to poof into smoke and to see his swords cutting into a log.
Naruto only snapped out of it as he heard the rapid *pat pat pat* of footsteps towards him, he turned and saw Kakashi running at him from the back making what looked like a tiger seal with his hands.
From the outlying foliage Sakura but mostly Satsuki look on in worry, as an Uchiha she was already proficient in some intermediate fire style jutsu and nature manipulation, as an affinity towards the element was commonplace among her clan, and knew that tiger seals normally spelled the use of these jutsu, and that was something Naruto may not be able to survive, she didn't like the blonde much but she didn't want to see him get barbecued.
"HIDDEN FINGER JUTSU:ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!" Kakashi shouted as instead of firing some kind of flame jutsu he tried to ram his chakra enhanced fingers up Naruto's rear, which sent him flying in pain into a stream.
"Is this guy really an elite ninja?" Satsuki deadpanned as she watched the 'jutsu' be performed.
"Ok that does it! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto thought while he was in the water, deciding that swords weren't working, also he dropped them when he was launched into the water, so he'll have to go with old reliable, his fists, and lots of them. Many puffs of smoke appeared and in an instant around twenty Naruto's were under the water with the original.
Seconds later they all jumped out of the water and quickly surrounded Kakashi.
"It seems that mission report was correct, he can use a shadow clone jutsu, and well, nobody his age should be able to make this many clones and not collapse out of chakra exhaustion, and he's not even winded. Is it just because he's a jinchuuriki or is it also him that's special?" Kakashi thought, putting his book away and ideally looking at the copies.
"Wait, that idiot couldn't make even one clone a few days ago, now he can make multiple?" Satsuki questioned as she looked at the clones, then when she saw the ground become wet from their feet she caught on.
"Those are solid clones?! That's way more advanced then what that moron should be capable of doing, where did he learn that?" Satsuki thought in shock at Naruto performing a physical clone jutsu.
"Real clones, that numbskull can't even make one fake clone, what's going on here?" Sakura thought similarly.
"Shinobi battle tactics number one:Taijutsu." Kakashi said, putting his hands in his pockets as the clones rushed him, this time Kakashi had to actually try, if only slightly, to dodge the attacks. He would often jump over a clone and deliver a swift kick to the head to dispel the clone.
Naruto tried to mix it up and had a clone sneak around and latch onto his back, stopping him.
"Where did you come from?" Kakashi started to ask only for the clones to giggle at him.
"You didn't think I had all my clones out of the water, did ya, boss had me in reserve waiting for my chance." The clone said smugly as the rest of the clone's dog piled him, restricting his movements.
"I got you." The original said jumping at the man and readied a haymaker. Only for Naruto to hit…Naruto. Somehow a Naruto had been switched with Kakashi.
"You really think I'll fall for that! I know that's a transformation." The original yelled as the clone defended himself eventually ending up with all the clones fighting one another.
"Just when I think he's not utterly useless he does something like this, you're still such an idiot Naruto, but now I know he enjoys using the substitution jutsu a lot, that'll help me fight him." Satsuki thought, looking at Naruto beating himself up.
"I regret thinking you were ever cool." Sakura thought, thinking it was kinda cool with that immobilization maneuver and then getting it thrown back in her face with his subsequent action.
Naruto looked around after dispelling all his clones and seeing only himself with some cuts and bruises from fighting himself.
"Dammit he used a substitution not a transformation. I really hope the others didn't see that, especially Satsuki." Naruto said to himself, the last part under his breath.
Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw something glinting in the morning sunlight. "A BELL!" Naruto screamed in his mind.
Naruto ran up to the bell by the lone tree, only for a snare to spring and for Naruto to be lifted into the air by his foot. "GODDAMMIT KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto shouted as he swung from side to side. Kakashi then casually walked up to the dangling Naruto who was trying to reach for his kunai holster or tool pouch.
"If you fell for such an obvious trap you will never make it as a ninja, while your clones are good, a very advanced technique for someone of your level, all your other skills have gaping holes in them, your ninjutsu is alright, taijutsu is subpar, kenjutsu needs to be ripped out at the roots and replaced and I don't think you could cast genjutsu if you tried due to your chakra control being so poor." Kakashi explained, picking apart the boy's skills piece by piece, angering Naruto even further.
"Always remember, think before you use a jutsu, lest it be turned against you, wasting your chakra at best and getting you captured or killed at worst." Kakashi then said.
"Also a ninja must see through deception, look underneath the underneath, you don't have a clue what's underneath anything right now." he once again childed.
"I GET IT ALRIGHT!" Naruto shouted, really getting sick of this guy, he worked his butt off to get where he is now, poured his whole heart into it, like Iruka sensei said, but now he was having his shortcoming beaten into him, he never even got close to a bell, hell he was more focused on beating Kakashi then getting one off him.
"no you think you get it but that's not the same as actually getting it. Get it?" the silver haired man answered. While he was childing Naruto just for a second, his guard dropped.
"There!" Satsuki screamed in her mind, taking her chance while his guard was down, she threw a storm of shuriken at him. All the stars connected as Kakashi's body was thrown from the attack.
"Satsuki?! have you lost it, you may have killed him!" Naruto yelled, assuming the expertly curved shuriken attack was her.
However while Kakashi's body was falling a *poof* of smoke was seen and in its place was a log filled with shuriken instead.
"Gotta move, gave away my location." She thought as she dashed off into the trees. Sakura followed suit as she had placed herself near Satsuki.
With Sakura
"Damn he's coming after us now, well now that the deadweight is tied up I can go find Satsuki and leave Naruto behind." Sakura said to herself as she ran through the trees, quickly repositioning herself as she saw Kakashi walk in her direction and then disappear from view.
Little did she know that Kakashi was silently watching her, his highly advanced stealth and assassination experience making hiding from a one-hundred percent certified green genin as easy as breathing.
"Another failed crop, willing to abandon a teammate at the drop of a hat, and she's supposed to be some book smart wiz-kid according to Iruka, well the classrooms and tests are way different from the field, you've been off active duty so long you may have forgotten that Iruka." Kakashi thought as he looked down on her from a tree, Sakura paused for a moment and muttered something about remembering where she saw Satsuki hide, he then made his move. He made a few hand seals and jumped down in front of her. Sakura couldn't even react as a swirl of leaves enveloped her, causing her to feel woozy.
Sakura snapped to attention as she looked around for the jonin she could have sworn she saw, only to find nobody. She then heard a pained groan behind her, she looked over and saw a horrifying sight, Kiba Inuzuka, beaten,bloodied and a pincushion for shuriken and kunai his large coat was soaked in red and she saw Akamaru quivering next to him with a large gash in his side.
"S-Sakura..help…me." The boy said, reaching his blood soaked arm out to her.
Sakura screamed, then fainted, so much for book smarts.
"I shouldn't have been so hard on Naruto now that I've seen this. Why would he even be here, such an obvious genjutsu. Well, onto the 'rookie of the year'." Kakashi thought,
"Shinobi battle tactics number two: Genjutsu, you fail. He said to the girl, shaking his head at her before disappearing to track down Satsuki.
Back with Naruto in the tree
"A ninja must see through deception~." Naruto repeated mockingly.
"He already got to Sakura, Satsuki will probably be able to hold her own at least for a while, I should get out of this and try and ambush him while he fights her like Satsuki did when I was fighting." Naruto thought, he had finally managed to get a kunai and slashed the rope, setting himself free.
He spun during his fall and landed on his feat. only for a second snare to grab him. Luckily he held onto his kunai and cut himself free again. He dropped yet again and looked around for any witnesses.
"Ok good, nobody saw that." Naruto said to himself as he ran off to find the silver haired man.
With Satsuki
"Gotta move to some favorable terrain, from that scream to looks like Sakura is down too, at least Naruto bought me more time and information." Satsuki thought as she ran through the trees,she had been trying to come up with some sort of plan but couldn't think of much, every move she knew, Kakashi would know and has fought against one hundred times over, she barely dodged out of the way of a storm of shuriken. She found herself in another clearing.
"Alright come on out Kakashi, I know you're there, you will find that I'm not like those other two." Satsuki said as she got into the interceptor fist style stance, the original style of her clan (however it reaches it's full potency once one can use their sharingan).
"Well we'll see about that." Kakashi stated as he appeared across from her.
Satsuki started by throwing two handfuls of shuriken at the jonin and followed the steel stars to engage the silver haired man in taijutsu.
In response Kashaki takes out his book, sidesteps and throws his own handful to intercept all thrown shuriken that he didn't dodge with his slight movement. Satsuki then came at Kakashi with cool and effective ferocity, doing assault after assault, obviously trying to break his guard. Kakashi decided to gain some breathing room by grabbing her ankle, spinning and throwing the girl away.
"Hmm, not half bad, definitely better then Obito was in clan taijutsu when he was her age. Sorry my old friend but I need to beat the real world into the last of your clan. Shame, I wanted to at least get through a whole chapter while I was doing this." Kakashi thought as he fished out his limited edition Icha Icha bookmark (one of his most treasured possessions) from his pouch, stuck it in his book and stuffed that back into his pouch. He entered a lax stance as Satsuki came at him again. They fought for a few minutes, with Kakashi being genuinely impressed by her taijutsu (for a green genin that is) he was even more impressed when she employed a clever use of attacks to make him block and for her to use the opening where his hands were occupied to just graze a bell with her fingers, not about to let the close call stand Kakashi went on the offensive. (as from experience he knew this fighting style was better offensively then defensively)
Satsuki struggled to keep up, just giving everything she could to avoid getting hit. Kakashi then pushed chakra into his leg and launched Satsuki into the air with a powerful kick, she managed to block it with her arm but was still sent flying and felt a bruise forming there later. Acting quickly she formed some quick hand seals and prepared her clans 'signature' fire jutsu.
"She can use fire style?! wouldn't think she had the chakra for it!" Kakashi thought, surprised by the jutsu's use, preparing a counter.
"Fire Style:Fireball Jutsu!" Satsuki yelled as she let out her breath as a potent fireball was fired at the jonin. She kept up the fuel, breathing a firestorm across the clearing, when she eventually let up the jutsu lest she exhaust her chakra from the demanding technique all she saw was a scorched log where Kakashi was.
She cursed under her breath at her reserves of chakra being depleted for nothing.
"Shinobi battle tactics number three:Ninjutsu and the most important of all." Kakashi said walking back in from the treeline.
"Gotta admit, you're a lot better then the usual batch I get, you throwing out a fireball jutsu and Naruto knowing an A-rank kinjutsu. Sakura left a lot to be desired. But even still, none of you had a chance." Kakashi said, walking towards her slowly.
"Is he talking about those clones? Question for later, right now, just a bit closer." Satsuki thought as she closely looked at his movements.
"Now!" She thought as she flared her chakra.
Kakashi heard a hissing sound beneath his feet and he knew what it was the second he heard it.
"Paper bombs!" He thought, barely having time to get away from the blast, sadly for Kakashi it wasn't a simple blast. It was a shinobi landmine.
Kakashi bit down as the shrapnel caught his right leg slightly, causing a cut that would definitely heal, but would impede his movements for the test.
"Got him." Satsuki thought with a smirk. It was a well know fact most training grounds had log piles placed in spots around it for use of substitution jutsu. So in the three hours she had, she moved the closest one to the clearing and set up a shinobi landmine in case he ever used substitution to that spot, hoping to catch him in it, she knew it was a long shot but during those three hours she could either do this, talk to Sakura or be alone with her thoughts, and the last one never ended up anywhere good.
"Bet you regret giving me those three hours now!" Satsuki yelled as she rushed him. She made special care to attack in a way that would make him utilize his right leg as much as possible, causing his taijutsu ability to be sloppy and make his unbandaged wound bleed more.
"Your honestly really something special I'll give you that. But, there's a gap in our abilities one flesh wound would never allow you to overcome." Kakashi said as he punched right through her defense at a speed she couldn't even track sending her flying.
"Earth style:headhunter jutsu!" Kakashi yelled as she was barely on her feet, her legs were grabbed from underground and she was pulled into the earth, the ground forming a prison around all but her head, no ability to move or even form a hand sign for a substitution.
"Damn it!" She yelled in frustration.
"Gotta admit, you're probably the best genin in every team I've ever failed, but you still fail, no bell, no pass, shame, he did offer you a chance to get one." Kakashi said cripticly, he bit his finger and placed it on the ground.
"Summoning jutsu." He said calmly as in a puff of smoke a white dog wearing a doggy jacket with what looked to be medical bags appeared wagging its tail, a leaf forehead protector covering its right eye. It painted, tongue hanging out as it looked up to him.
"Hey Tanba, mind getting my leg?" Kakashi asked nicely, eye smile and all as he bent down and ruffled the dog's head.
*bark* Tanba then licked the cut clean and fished a roll of bandages out of his pack and circled around his leg to apply it.
"Thanks bud. Kakashi said, throwing the dog a little cube of meat which he happily ate.
Satsuki just looked bewildered at the doggy medical treatment.
"Oh, Satsuki, Tanba, Tanba, Satsuki." Kakashi said, gesturing with his hands.
*bork* Tanba 'said'
"OK thanks buddy, I'll call you if there's any wounds I inflict you need to heal." Kakshi said, throwing another meat cube in the air. Tanba caught it and disappeared in smoke.
"Dammit, let me out Kakashi!" Satsuki yelled in rage, trying to struggle against her confinement.
"No can do, I'll leave you there till the timer runs out I think. I'll go check on the others, Naruto may need another lesson beaten into him. Bye bye." Kakashi said mockingly, waving at her trapped form.
And to make matters worse Sakura then walked into the clearing, she looked woozy, like she had woken up after falling off the bed.
She blinked as she saw the classmate she idolized head and just her head on the ground, Satsuki was hoping to get out of this with her help and go ambush Kakashi while he played around with Naruto. Sakura screamed, then fainted.
.
.
.
"You are an embarrassment to kunoichi." Satsuki said to her unconscious form.
With Naruto
Naruto was trying to track down Kakashi by going towards that explosion he heard, hopefully Satsuki hadn't taken both bells with her smug prodigyness powers. Naruto's stomach grumbled yet again. Gods he needed food, he couldn't focus on anything else aside from the emptiness in his gut, his body begging his brain for fuel.
Naruto then saw some sort of strange cut stone and most importantly, bento sitting next to it, three, the lunch Kakashi had promised them.
"It's against the rules but…I really need that food, I'll definitely get those bells so it's only having it a bit early." Naruto rationalized.
Just as he was lifting the lid off one Kakashi found him. And he wasn't happy.
"You!" He yelled at him.
"Ahhh! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled out in fright. He didn't even get to take a bite yet.
"Seems you want two-thousand years of death!" Kakashi yelled at him.
Naruto held his butt and shook his head no, very very adamant no.
"Then how about a dirt nap!" Kakashi said, disappearing in a body flicker, Naruto looked around for him only to feel a hand on the back of his head as he was implanted into the dirt as promised.
*riiiiiiiing* a bell rang out, showing that the timer Kakashi had set was up.
"And that's lunch. Hungry Naruto?" Kakashi asked teasingly.
*pained groan from inside his hole*
With the girls
"Oi, wake up!" Satsuki said firmly to Sakura as she was waking up.
"AH! Satsuki you have your body back!" Sakura yelled in joy.
"I was just stuck underground you idiot, he got me with some type of earth style jutsu." Satsuki said, turning away from her as Sakura stood up.
"There's just no way we can beat him. Maybe we'll get lucky next year." Sakura said to her, already giving up on surpassing this ninja that was way beyond the scope of her abilities.
"No, I can't quit. I am an avenger, I need to reach this next level, I have no time to sit around for another year learning how to do useless jutsu. I'm getting those bells." Satsuki said, her mind made up, she needed more power, power to surpasser him and avenge her clan.
Only it seems, fate didn't agree. *riiiiiiiing* her time was up.
Later
Kakashi looked at the three of his genin, Satsuki and Sakura sitting there with sour looks on their faces and Satsuki covered in dirt, bento boxes in front of them both, Naruto however, was tied to a post and would have no food.
"I had such high hopes for you three, first let's start with the best of the worst, Satsuki you came at me with great skills for an out of the academy genin and a solid plan, I was quite impressed. However you were missing a critical element the others were, not only that your overconfidence in your skills lead you to think fighting me could work, I'm a jonin, no matter what stratagem you use, you cannot overcome my greater experience and skills." Kakashi said.
He turned to the blonde
"Naruto you were very similar to Satsuki in approach only you had no plan aside from beat me and take the bells, you may have proved yourself recently but with just your shadow clones your still just a genin level ninja with poor taijutsu and even poorer kenjutsu, tell me did you pick those blades because you favored them in combat or because they looked cool? And after all that you break the rules by trying to eat early." He finished
Naruto looked down in shame, guessing his head had gotten a bit big since he beat Mizuku, but it seems a true elite ninja is a very different beast then some instructor who mostly marks tests.
He was right on all counts, he did pick up the swords because he thought they looked cool and he did think he had some big secret weapon with his shadow clones, it seems if you multiply sub-par it doesn't become great, it's just a lot of the same. He had broken the rules too and was punished for it, he was gonna be Hokage, the one who made and enforced the rules, how could he be that if he broke them.
"And finally Sakura, you got the best test scores next to Satsuki but that doesn't mean anything in the field. I looked closely at your scores, you did so well based on your great written score, your physical abilities however, are among the worst in your class. Your battle sense is also lacking. You may be good on paper but not only did you fail to see through my elementary genjutsu you also thought I had decapitated Satsuki and fainted again instead of helping dig her out." Kakashi finished, Sakura looked down in shame, shame that she had failed so tragically.
"But don't worry, you're not being sent back to the academy." Kakashi said with an eye smile.
All of them seemed to perk up at that, Satsuki with a happy smirk and Sakura and Naruto with smiles.
"You three are being dropped from the program completely!" Kakashi yelled, his demeanor switching instantly.
All three of their eyes widened in shock, dropped? From the shinobi program, never to be honest and true ninja?
"Y-you can't do that!" Naruto yelled at him.
"Oh and why not?" Kakashi said smugly to him.
At that moment Satsuki tried to rush Kakashi only to be subdued easily, he Kakashi sitting on her back on his foot keeping her face down in the dirt.
"You all understand nothing. A shinobi must see through deception, not one of you figured out the true meaning of this test." Kakashi said to the genin hopefuls.
"What do you mean 'true purpose' you said, get a bell and you pass what's there to get?" Naruto asked, the jonins words going over his head.
"Think about it, why do we put you in squads in the first place, why do that?" Kakashi broke down for them.
"Well I wanted to ask about that sensei, it didn't seem to make sense." Sakura said, putting it together slowly.
"It's so basic, teamwork! That's the true measure of this test, teamwork." He carried on.
"But you only have two bells." Satsuki said via gritted teeth, still entrapped by the jonin.
"That's the point, the true pass or fail condition is if you three can work together while having the belief that only two will pass. The mission comes first and is absolute. The point is to see past your differences and work as a unit despite your individual wants. For example, Sakura Naruto was right within your reach but you didn't list a finger to help him, only caring about yourself and Satsuki. Naruto when you showed up you offered to form a plan with Satsuki which has merit but once the two bells came in you rushed at me on your own, that's the way you tackle everything. And you Satsuki, you believed that both Naruto and Satsuki were dead weight and didn't even try to form a plan with Naruto when he offered and that was before I disclosed the two bells. Your Teamwork is utterly nonexistent." Kakashi broke down again, showing each one of them what they did wrong, and how blind they had been.
"You need to be a solid unit as a team, always watching each other's back, because on an op, hard choices may need to be made, for example." Kakashi continued. He took out a kunai and held it to Satsuki's throat. "Sakura, kill Naruto or Satsuki dies!" Kakashi spoke coldly, shocking all of them.
He then got off the girl and placed the kunai in his pouch after spinning it.
"That's what happens if you are not one cohesive entity on a squad, one of you gets captured and you're left with an impossible choice." Kakashi said soberly as he walked over to the stone Naruto saw earlier.
"On this stone, are the names of heroes of the leaf village. Some of my closest friends' names are written here." Kakashi explained, his tone relaying his sadness.
"That's it, I want my name there one day, a hero the whole leaf village looks out to." Naruto said with no tact whatsoever.
"Are you sure, everyone here is KIA." Kakashi said, shocking all of them.
"KIA but doesn't that mean?" Naruto said in shock, eighty percent sure of what it meant.
"KIA means killed in action. I'm so sorry, sensei." Sakura confirmed for the blonde, thinking about how he had said some of his closest friends' names were on that stone.
Satsuki stayed silent, thinking about her once a week visit to the Uchiha monument, a stone slab with all the names of the people she had lost.
"I'm going to give you one more shot. Another three hours to get a bell, understand. But first, Sakura, Satsuki, eat, you need your strength, however, Naruto doesn't get any, it's his punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat early, feeding him will mean failure." Kakashi explained before he disappeared in smoke.
"Crap, I really said something insensitive about Kakashi-sensei's friends." Naruto thought, he did a small, handless prayer to the stone. "Sorry everyone." Naruto thought.
*stomach growl*
"D-dont worry I'm fine. First we need a plan to fight Kakashi-sensei and get those bells." Naruto lied blatantly, he knew it too, he could hardly focus on anything but his empty stomach not to mention his strength was low due to his lack of food.
"Here." Satsuki said offering half of her meal to him.
"Satsuki?" Naruto said softly, looking at the normaly icy cold Satsuki Uchiha offering her food to him.
"If your hungry you won't be able to fight properly, we need all of our strength if we are to get those bells." She said cooly.
"But Satsuki what about what Sensei said, he could fail us!" Sakura whispered shouted at her.
"And he's not here, now eat, quickly, and quietly, I'm thinking up a plan." She said.
"Fine have some of mine too." Sakura offered. "I'm on a diet anyway." She thought.
"You guys. Thanks, so much, but urr can you feed me, kinda stuck her until Kakashi-senei cuts he loose for round two." Naruto said, only to have a lump of rice thrust into his face forcefully by Satsuki's chopsticks. "Loser." She muttered. Naruto took one bite and then.
"YOU!" Kakashi shouted as he appeared in a *poof* of smoke.
"You three want to explain yourselves?!" He yelled at them. He weaved some signs and the sky grew cloudy, static in the air.
"We fed him because we're a unit. One enitiy towards one goal, beating you and becoming ninja!" Satsuki yelled standing up and pulling a kunai ready to attack and/or cut Naruto free at a moments notice.
"Yea that's right, Me, Satsuki and Sakura are a team! Belive it!" Naruto yelled back.
"What they said, we are all on the same squad it's only natural to help each other whenever we can." Sakura said too.
"Well then." Kakashi muttered. Suddenly it was sunny again and he had a full eye smile.
"You all pass." He said happily.
"Huh?" All three thought.
"I've failed every other team, know why? All of them followed my orders and didn't share. Remember, those who break the rules are scum, but those who would turn their backs on their friends, are worse then scum. Congratulations, you pass, we will begin missions tomorrow as team 7." Kakashi said, giving them the wisest words a friend has ever spoken to him.
"We…we really did it!" Naruto said in shock, his face soon blooming into a gigawatt smile. He had done it, he was a real proper ninja at last.
"Yes!" Sakura cheered
Satsuki just smirked happily at her, no, their success.
"I have a feeling you three will go far, especially you two." Kakashi said as he looked at Satsuki and Naruto.
Naruto and Satsuki's explanation corner!
Chibi Naruto and Satsuki appear in front of a blank scroll as a background.
"What's a shinobi landmine?" Naruto asked only for Satsuki to shake her head to him.
"It was in class you moron." Satsuki then took out a brush and used to scroll to draw an example.
It depicted a ring of paper bombs surrounding a dug out hole filled with damaged kunai and shuriken.
"A shinobi landmine is a trap that explodes sending shrapnel everywhere. I used a makeshift one, you dig a hole surround it with paper bombs and dump a bunch of damaged ninja tools in it then cover it up, makes use of normally useless equipment and performs almost as well as a professional one, some terrorist from the hidden stone thought it up when he was a genin I think" She explained in a dull tone, not used to talking so much to other people.
"That sounds kinda dangerous, he is our sensei, ya know." Naruto answered kinda scared by the thought of being near one.
"He's a jonin, he was fine." Satsuki said, not one-hundred percent sure of her words.
"Wanna go get some ramen?" Naruto asked her.
"...only because I'm hungry…and you're paying."
"Awesome." Naruto said walking off with her.
"If you even say to anyone or even think for a second this is some kind of date, I'll hurt you." She said coldly, her glare sharp enough to cut steel.
"Y-yes ma'am." Naruto said terrified of her threat.
End explanation corner (N&S hanging out:canon)
Well well well we are back after almost a year. Sadly I have no excuse. I have ADHD so my drive to do things like write come and go as they please. Nevertheless I hope you all enjoyed.
Please tell me what you thought of explanation corner, this will come up at the end of chapters where I may have written in an oc thing or jutsu or concept. Just note the 4th wall breaking explanations are not canon but Satsuki and Naruto hanging out like getting Ramen in this instance is, which will be stated at the end of explanation corner in brackets. If everyone hates it, I will remove it. And with that. Thank you all for reading.
