Chapter 3: The Bell Test and Beginnings of Bonds

"There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others."

– George Shinn

Kakashi was before the Hokage once more, explaining his first impressions of his team. He had gone over a great many observations he had made - Naruto's need for attention, Sasuke's lack of interest in others, and Hinata's… Well…

"Kami above Hiashi is a terrible father." Sarutobi sighed, exhaling a large cloud of smoke from his pipe. "She really stuttered every time she spoke?"

"Except when I offered the smallest… I wouldn't even say encouragement, just prompting. It was that easy." Kakashi confirmed, seated in a chair across from his superior.

"I may need to make good on a threat regardless of how he proceeds then." The old man said, sighing out of exasperation again. "What of Sasuke and Naruto?"

"Naruto is a good kid, in spite of every single thing in his life driving him towards being a vengeful sociopath. I'm convinced if you let him wear the Hokage's hat and give him an all you can eat coupon to Ichiraku's, he could die happy… Who has been looking after him, sir?" The copy nin inquired, his visible eye narrowing. He tucked away that bit about a threat for later.

The old man sighed once more, and much like the prior evening he looked instantly even older than he was. "Nobody, Kakashi. Occasionally me. Iruka tries, but… Naruto, the lonely way he has grown up, that is truly my greatest failure, even moreso than Orochimaru still roaming this earth.``

"I find myself unable to disagree, sir." The jonin replied, a bit of venom creeping into his voice. Then he sighed himself, knowing he had not done anything for the boy since his last mission to guard the kid's apartment, and that had been half a decade ago. "But if we're going to have a roundtable of how people failed Naruto, we'll need Jiraiya and sake."

Hiruzen let out a bitter snort. "He'd have the most to acknowledge more than likely. He tells himself that he needs to manage our spy network instead of caring for the boy, but I told him the moment he came back to the village after the Kyuubi attack that I had plenty of others up to the task. He just can't look at the child without seeing the son and daughter he lost."

"... I suppose I can understand that." Kakashi replied with plenty of reservations. He did understand wanting to disregard painful things, but…

"Don't understand." The Hokage replied harshly, his eyes narrowing. "It's cowardice, plain and simple. The same thing that kept me from stopping Orochimaru when I could've, the same thing that has kept you staring at a rock for years."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He was surprised to hear such genuine anger from his superior towards a prize student…. Or anger like this from the Third in general, come to think of it. "I take it I'm not the only person who has not been reaching their potential in your eyes?"

The old man laughed, though it was a rough, jaded bark instead of a noise with any sense of mirth. "Accurate to say, though I'm casting stones from a glass house. And young Sasuke?"

"... The boy is just like me, sir." Kakashi replied, a touch of melancholy creeping into his voice. He tucked away the strange wording of Sarutobi's last statement into the back of his mind for later. "For me it was my father, for him his clan. For me it was being the perfect shinobi and always completing the mission, for him it's killing Itachi. He's running from the ghosts of his past, but they're right on his back and only one thing will truly free him from his burden."

The old man looked contemplative of his subordinate's words, seeming to get lost in his own thoughts. Kakashi could guess as to what he was thinking of - likely an erstwhile student of his own with a single-minded goal. One he was willing to burn the world for.

Finally after several long minutes, the Hokage spoke. "He has required monthly sessions with Inoichi to evaluate his mental state, ever since the massacre. Not one evaluation has come back positive. Inoichi actually specifically requested his daughter not be placed with the child out of precaution, even though he knew she would be placed with Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. His words specifically were, 'If that child has to choose between killing Itachi and saving the village, he will smile as Konoha burns.'"

There was another pregnant pause as Sarutobi looked Kakashi in the eyes, waiting for a reply. Kakashi pondered what that reply should be. The man knew that his leader was looking for something, though he wasn't sure what. But the copy ninja knew only one thing to say. "Then I'll have to make sure he learns the same lesson I did before it is too late."

The old man's searching gaze held for only a moment longer before he smiled and his disposition softened. "Yes, you will. I'm guessing you plan to use the bell test again tomorrow?"

"Yes." Kakashi replied, a small smile forming under his mask. "This time I told them to eat breakfast, though. Might as well keep the focus on the true purpose of the test."

"And will they see that true purpose, or will they fall short?"

"I'm eager to find that out for myself, Lord Hokage."

Hinata stared at the clock on her bedroom wall, her eyes red and puffy from hours of crying. But they were dry now, much like the tears on her cheeks. How many years had she been crying now?

'I can't remember.' She thought to herself, no spirit even in her own inner voice. 'Naruto never cries.' She thought to herself. That was why she looked up to him, smiled at his success… Even though he thought she was weird, he just kept smiling and talking to her. It had been one of the best days of her life.

'When was the last time I was smiled at in my own home?' She wondered to herself. The main house members looked at her with disdain, the branch house members with pity. Her sister did both depending on her mood, and her cousin Neji had a focused contempt for her. Her father barely looked at her at all.

Her father…

"Why?" She questioned softly aloud, the inquiry directed at the world itself. The world was silent in return. In the moment he had said what he said - that he did not want to see her in the branch house - she had wanted to believe him. But something in her had cracked. Where had her words come from?

She wanted to believe people could change. Her cousin Neji always said people were consigned to a path in life, that fate was immutable and immeasurable in its sway. Desperately she had tried over the years to deny his words, but in that moment when her father had tried to change, she had felt… Angry.

It was such a foreign feeling to the young girl. All her life she had gone without feeling a true burning anger, all the abuses from her family and the death of her mother simply met with despair. But in this moment, to have her father decide to suddenly turn heel and try to care about her, it wasn't right. It wasn't earned.

And perhaps worst of all, she couldn't accept that her father could suddenly change like this because that meant that it was entirely her fault if she couldn't become more than the weak girl she was.

The girl stood from her bed and walked around mechanically to the foot, kneeling down and reaching underneath to pull out a small box. She opened it up to reveal her most prized possessions.

Slowly and reverently she removed them in the same order she always did. The first pressed flower she had done with her mother, right before her third birthday. A comb that had belonged to her maternal grandmother, a silver piece patterned with onyx and sapphire stones. A pressed clover she and her sister had found and made shortly before her mother had died, when they were really sisters. And finally two pictures.

One was of her whole family - her father, Hanabi only two months old in his arms, actually smiling. She barely remembered what he had been like before her mother died, and even then her mother would say he had not been as happy since he had lost his twin brother and her uncle, Hizashi Hyuuga.

Her mother was on his side, seated and holding a six-year-old Hinata in her lap. She was beautiful, her hair a slightly brighter blue than Hinata's own and her distinct Hyuuga eyes as clear as any Hinata had seen. She had been so kind, the warmest light in the Hyuuga clan.

Many elders had not approved of her. She dirtied her robes gardening by hand with the branch house members, she sang lightly as she walked through the halls and laughed openly at meals. Despite being a stern man by nature, she had softened his demeanor and brought out a better side of her father

And then she had died, from an unknown illness. And he had become the cold man she had known, who had always made her feel worthless.

She placed the picture down slowly, pulling out the second one. This one was her mother around fifteen years of age, chunin in rank and in the standard village fatigues and vest. To her right was a dark-haired, somewhat feral-looking woman smiling and revealing obvious fangs, while to her left was a boy with short-spiky brown hair and a pair of sunglasses, his face covered by a mask. Behind the three stood a smiling tan man, a white bandana covering his head…

'Wait…' Hinata's eyes widened.

Naruto Uzumaki could not recall having ever been this excited ever! He had barely been able to sleep the night before, wondering about the test he would face with his new teammates the next day. He had also been wondering about his mysterious but nice new sensei. And despite himself, his brain kept returning to the weird but shy Hyuuga who was now on his team.

Now it was six in the morning, and he was finally able to get up and start getting ready. As he prepared his breakfast - eggs and toast, because even though he wanted ramen his new sensei had said something nutritious - he ran through the prior day in his head over and over again.

Hinata had been… Well, she was weird. He had a vague theory that she must have some kind of chronic illness, with how she was always stuttering and turning red. But at the same time she had listened and talked to him, treating him like a person.

Even those classmates he had been friendly with, like Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba, had never really wanted to just let him talk about the things he liked. But Hinata had let him talk about ramen all he wanted without yelling at him or hitting him like Sakura would. He wondered briefly why she had been so nice, but then shrugged it off, deciding not to question a good thing.

He ate his food quickly before throwing on his jacket and running out of his apartment, making a beeline straight for training ground three where he had been told to report. The blonde ended up arriving right before seven, and quickly regretted that decision, as now he was alone and bored.

Deciding to get himself warmed up, the boy formed the seals for his new favorite jutsu, and with a puff of smoke six other blondes poofed into existence.

"Alright guys, let's get ready for this test!" He shouted, holding up a fist. His dopplegangers answered with a resounding warcry and charged him all at once.

The blonde had never been able to really train taijutsu like most people. It just didn't make sense to him to slowly go through a bunch of kata and stances to get better at hitting people. During his academy days, he had only really been able to improve during days where he and his classmates would spar. Now that he had shadow clones, he could have training partners whenever he wanted. In just a few days since learning the jutsu, he felt like his understanding of melee combat was stronger than it had ever been.

The first clone came in and threw a high, heavy straight at the original's head. Naruto ducked under the blow and answered with an uppercut of his own, catching the clone full under the chin and dispelling it. The next one came right behind and jumped up to throw a spinning kick.

Deciding to absorb the blow rather than dodge, the young ninja threw up his arms in a cross guard, catching the kick on his forearms. With a grunt, he lifted his guard up and tossed the clone into the air just in time to catch a fist from another copy coming from his right side.

This clone he pulled towards his left, bringing up his knee to hit him hard in the gut, dispelling it. The clone he had tossed in the air was now coming back down, holding his fist aloft for a punch at the same time another one was charging him from the front.

Realizing there was no way to block both blows, Naruto jumped backwards and the clones met on the ground, the airborne copy slamming right down on top of his compatriot and dispelling them both. The original was given almost no time to enjoy his small victory however, as he had lost track of his surroundings and was clocked across the face by another clone that burst through the smoke created by those that had so far been dispelled.

Gritting his teeth, the Uzumaki kept his feet planted on the ground and absorbed the blow, bringing his copy's momentum to a stop. He then grabbed his opponent's forearm with both hands and with a yell threw him, slamming the clone onto his back and dispelling him too.

Now there was only one opponent on the field, but Naruto had lost track of where his last copy was. Looking around cautiously, the blonde felt the hairs on the back of neck stand on end and he jumped forward, barely avoiding an axe kick from the lack clone that would have hit the back of his hand.

Rolling and bringing himself to a crouch, the boy had to jump back again to avoid another kick that would have likely knocked him out. Grabbing a fistful of dirt, Naruto threw it in the clone's face as he continued his reckless charge forward. The copy flinched, and that was all Naruto needed to surge forward for a decisive cross that dispelled the last clone.

Breathing only a little heavier than normal, the blonde rotated his shoulder as he went over that fight in his head. He had started off well but had messed up when he had tried to throw that flying spinning kick… Wait, that had been one of his clones… He knew he had made some mistake, but what was it?

Scratching his head, the blonde didn't know why he was having so much trouble remembering which moves he had done in the fight, but he felt like he had done all of them, or at least he remembered doing all of them… It had happened every time he had used his clones this way, and it still didn't make any sense to him.

He shrugged off the strange feeling of memories that were not his own, chalking it up to confusion caused by fighting copies of himself, much as he had when it had happened before. Forming the cross seal again, six more enemies popped into existence. Now it was time to see if he could take them down without getting hit.

Little did he know, his independent training was being watched.

Hinata looked on from the treeline, observing Naruto train with his clones. This was one of the many reasons for her crush on the blonde knucklehead; despite everyone putting him down, he was always working to improve. She wished desperately that she knew how he managed to carry on through everything and always strive to get better.

Unable to sleep the rest of the evening and with a new suspicion in her head she couldn't forget, she had bathed and dressed before the sun even began to think of rising, arriving at the training grounds only half past five in the morning. She had expected to be alone until her sensei had told her new team to arrive, and had been surprised as could be when she heard the sound of someone else approaching.

Not sure who it could have been, she had abandoned the training grounds for the cover of the surrounding forest. She had been surprised to see Naruto arrive, as despite the boy's many good traits he had never been punctual, let alone early.

She had felt happy when she saw Naruto conjure six perfect copies of himself - that was how he passed, she had figured, somehow finally overcoming his inability to form the clone technique and meeting the minimum requirements to pass. Then her jaw nearly hit the floor when the clones charged Naruto and he landed solid hits on the mimics.

'Solid clones?!' She thought to herself, utterly shocked. She was familiar with the idea that there were techniques to make solid clones instead of the illusions, but how had Naruto learned such a technique? She was so wrapped up in her surprise that she didn't hear the person approaching from behind her.

"Do you have any idea how the idiot learned how to make solid clones?" A young but dark voice asked from behind her.

Spinning on her heel and slipping into the Jyuken stance, Hinata was surprised to see her other teammate, Sasuke Uchiha. Falling out of her battle posture as easily as she had slid into it, she instantly looked down and pressed her fingers together. "I-I don't k-know… B-but he's not an idiot."

The Uchiha scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Of course you think so."

Now Hinata was fairly certain she had never once spoken to the dark-haired young boy, but she was perceptive, and she instantly knew that meant he was aware of her feelings for the blonde. Still, even if she didn't keep her secret well, saying it out loud to anyone, let alone within earshot of Naruto, was not something she was willing to do.

"I-I d-don't know w-what you m-m-mean." She replied. In her head, before she had spoken, those words had sounded much less nervous.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, turning his attention to the blonde as he summoned six more clones. The melee began again, this time with the original blonde going on the offensive. He ducked and weaved past two quick strikes from the clone in front, getting inside his guard and grabbing the mimic by the front of his jacket. The original then spun, throwing the copy into two other charging clones and dispelling all three. "Sure you don't. I'll give him credit, he looks like a better fighter than he was in the academy. Not saying much, though."

Hinata felt her eyes narrow, and before she could think on her words they came out of her mouth, "Don't insult him, Sasuke."

The boy smiled, the expression almost… Mischievous might have been the right word, but there was a bitterness and cruelty to it that made that word too light. "And why do you have a problem with that?"

The girl blushed deeper, and she shrunk within her coat. "B-because… H-he's our t-teammate. I w-won't l-l-let him insult y-you either." Hinata knew the real reason, but her excuse also ran true. She hadn't wanted to encourage her crush yesterday when he insulted Sasuke, after all.

The boy looked at her, the mirth leaving his face as he pondered her words. "You know, both of you seem like you'll weigh me down as things stand. Naruto is an idiot, and you act weak. I only have one goal, and I don't need you to achieve it."

Normally Hinata would have shrunk at the criticism, but something about how casually the Uchiha derided both her and her crush stiffened her backbone. "Bold words, but you aren't as strong as you think, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes, already coal black, seemed to somehow get even darker. "What, you think you could beat me?"

"Not me." She replied, not even noticing her lack of stutter. "But Naruto could. Somehow, some way, eventually. He never gives up, and that is true strength. Does that mean anything to you, Sasuke? Or are you as foolish as everyone else?"

Hinata could not have known, but calling him foolish was perhaps the worst word she could have used. At her utterance, the boy recoiled as if he was slapped. Then he grit his teeth and grunted out, "I'm no fool, but anyone who thinks that the dead last could beat the best ninja in our class is."

The heiress almost felt her sudden surge of courage break at Sasuke's unexpected reaction to her words, but for whatever reason she managed to hold on to her strength. "Is that so, Sasuke?"

Her body moved, and she wasn't thinking. She slid smoothly into her Jyuken stance. "You'll remember in the academy boys and girls were separated for battles. We've never fought. How do you know you're the best ninja in our class if you haven't even fought me?" Hinata didn't even have time to contemplate that she was speaking without her stutter, or why Sasuke Uchiha seemed so able to anger her to the point where her usual demure nature went out the window. All she knew was that his attitude angered her more than anything she had encountered in her life… Except the prior night, maybe.

Sasuke was now looking at her as if she had just sprouted six heads and claimed to be the reincarnation of Sage of Six Paths' brother, taking a step back in his shock. "W-what the hell?" He said, now stuttering himself. "I don't need to fight you. I know you're weak."

"That's funny." Hinata replied, and she felt her lips twisting into a smile. "My father did too. And then last night he made me think differently. But was he wrong then? Wrong now? I'd like to know."

The Uchiha, seeming to finally realize he needed to reclaim control of this encounter, scoffed derisively. "Save your energy for the test and stop acting so tough. It doesn't suit you."

Hinata faltered a bit at that. He was right, she realized. What had gotten into her? First snapping at her father last night, now she was picking a fight with her new teammate a mere hour before they were tested for the right to be a team?

"I-I…" She replied, withdrawing herself back into a withdrawn posture. "Y-you're right, S-sasuke. I don't k-know what c-came over me. I-I didn't g-get much s-sleep."

The boy looked at her again like she had multiple heads, before rolling his eyes and sighing. "Maybe Naruto was right on one thing - you are weird." He turned abruptly. "Whatever. Let's stop that loudmouth from wearing himself out too."

She jumped as he walked past, wondering where her sudden burst of - was that even courage? She had never wanted to fight anyone in her life before, always viewing combat as simply something that was a part of her life from birth. But in that moment, she had not only wanted to fight Sasuke, but she had felt like she could have beaten him.

As she made way to follow her dark-haired teammate, the young Hyuuga heiress asked herself, 'What is wrong with me?'

Sasuke Uchiha was confused. Actually, forget confused, he was uncomfortable as he walked to the blond idiot he was now stuck with, currently beating identical blonde idiots, the source of his discomfort following quietly behind him.

'The Hyuuga girl is off… And that's something coming from me.' Sasuke thought bitterly to himself. Challenging him to a fight like that, right now? Where did the sudden spine come from? On one hand, maybe she actually had potential. On the other hand, he would need to go lighter on insulting Naruto around her in the future, if only to make sure he could avoid the hassle of random challenges as he went about training. Really, that was the only reason. It wasn't as if he was actually somewhat intimidated by her, which was something he would never admit to himself. Not that it needed admitting. Because he wasn't.

Really.

"Hey, Naruto!" He called out to the boy as he landed a hard straight on the last clone he was training with. The sun was starting to poke over the horizon - they had about an hour before Kakashi should arrive.

The blond turned towards him and smiled. "Ha, looks like I got here first!" He then noticed Hinata following behind Sasuke, and smiled bigger. "Whole team's here! Awesome!"

'How is he possibly shouting like this before the sun rises?' Sasuke thought to himself tiredly. He had not slept as well as he would have liked the previous night - how could he? After all, today would be the first big step towards becoming strong enough to face his brother that he had been able to take in some time. He had felt like he was wasting his time with the Academy for years.

"Yeah, awesome, sure." Sasuke replied disinterestedly. "Since when can you make solid clones?"

Naruto blinked in surprise, before crossing his arms and giving the Uchiha a prideful look. "Pretty cool, huh? I learned it as part of my special genin test. Jealous?"

"... Hm." The dark-haired grunted in reply, looking down at the ground. In truth he was jealous, but he would never admit that to his new teammate or he would never hear the end of it. Instead he said, "Can you do anything else we don't know about?"

Now Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Like I'd tell you all my tricks, Sasuke! I'm gonna beat you one day, and I ain't gonna make it easy and give you the playbook on what I can do!"

In reality Sasuke wanted to know merely because he didn't, and between the blonde's new technique and Hinata's earlier statements he was feeling unusually unsure of himself. But he wasn't about to admit that, so he came back fairly quickly with an excuse. "Don't be stupid. Kakashi said that the test today is about us being a good team. How are we supposed to work together to do whatever we need to do to pass if we don't know each other's abilities?"

The dark-haired boy could literally see the gears turning in his teammate's head, taking a minute to start up after going unused in most circumstances. "Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense. But how do I know you're not just pulling a trick?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I know two fire techniques, the Great Fireball, which does what it sounds like it does, and the Phoenix Flower technique, which shoots up to eight small projectiles depending on how much chakra I put into it. I'm also very good with ninja tools - shuriken, kunai, wire, things like that. Even if you know all that, you wouldn't beat me in a fight."

Naruto frowned deeply, rotating his arm at the shoulder. "I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you."

It took all of Sasuke's will to avoid shooting back a scathing reply. As loath as he was towards this reality, he needed his teammates. Well, not them specifically. But he needed to become a genin and get better training to achieve his goals, and he doubted there was a way today where he would be apprenticed to Kakashi Hatake in a two-man team. Ergo, he would need his teammates.

So he would use logic. "I can't exactly properly estimate you when I don't know what you can do. Besides, not even the academy instructors know I've been learning fire techniques at home. Now you two do, so fair is fair."

Naruto clearly didn't like the idea much, but he finally acquiesced. "Fine, bastard. I got my shadow clones, and I'm pretty good at the henge technique."

"Anything else?" The Uchiha probed.

The blonde child thought for a moment, his face screwed up in concentration, before snapping his fingers. "I'm also really good at traps! I've pranked ANBU without them even knowing who did it!"

That… was actually somewhat impressive, assuming it was true. "Alright. What about you?" He asked, turning to Hinata.

The girl jumped at his harsh look, and the boy rolled his eyes. How she flipped the switch from the confident girl who challenged him in the forest to the human embodiment of a mouse was beyond him. Finally she slowly stuttered out a reply. "W-well, I-I'm t-trained in m-m-my clan's t-taijutsu style, the Gentle Fist. M-my B-byakugan can also b-b-be used to t-track enemies and see through m-m-most illusions."

"What's a Byakugan?" The blonde asked cluelessly.

Not wanting to suffer through more stuttering, Sasuke chose to answer this question. "It's her clan's bloodline limit. The Hyuuga can see three-hundred and sixty degrees around themselves and see the chakra points in people's bodies. Did you listen to any part of the lesson on bloodlines in Konoha?"

Naruto's face reddened, and Sasuke smirked, about to hit him with another taunt, before he remembered Hinata's early reaction to his insults towards the Uzumaki. Peering out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Hyuuga girl's eyes darken, and a shiver went down his spine.

'She does not intimidate me. That would be ridiculous. It's just easier to keep the peace than deal with her.' Sasuke told himself. Right before his blonde teammate could start shouting indignant insults, the dark-haired boy said, "It doesn't matter. Sorry."

'Did I just apologize to the dead last?' Sasuke thought bewilderedly to himself. Even Naruto looked surprised, clearly not catching the momentarily darkened countenance of their female teammate.

"... S'okay." The boy replied, rubbing his nose with his thumb. Then he put that big dumb smile on his face. "So do we wanna make plans and stuff now?"

Sasuke shrugged. "That would be nice, but we still don't know what the test is going to be. Until we know what we're planning for, it'll be kind of hard to come up with anything solid."

The dark-haired boy heard a squeak from behind him and turned. Hinata was staring down at her feet, but he could have sworn she had started to say something. He was about to tell her to just spit it out when Naruto chimed in.

"Well, if the whole point of the test is seeing how well we work together, then why don't we just try and think about how we could use our techniques and stuff to make each other's techniques work better."

"I-I agree." Hinata said quietly. So she had an easier time agreeing with an idea if it was Naruto's than she did voicing the same idea as her own. Interesting.

"Well, what did you have in mind?" Sasuke asked. He'd never really thought about how to work with others before - he had never had to - so he was out of his element here.

A devious, almost fox-like smile slowly began to appear on Naruto's face. "I got a couple of fun tricks we could try with my shadow clones…"

As Naruto began launching into a detailed description of different ways they could combine their abilities, Sasuke felt a grin form on his own face. The blonde may have been loud and annoying, but to give credit where credit was due, he was certainly creative when it came to ways to confuse and trick people.

'Why do I have the same feeling in my gut I get when I'm walking into an ambush?' Kakashi thought to himself as he made his way to the training grounds to meet his team. His face wasn't in a book for once. It had been so long since he had wanted to pay attention to the world around him that he had forgotten how much he enjoyed the dawn of a new day in his village.

He wondered how this group would work together. Sasuke was undoubtedly standoffish at best, Naruto was not exactly a good listener, and Hinata probably wouldn't make her opinions heard. But at the same time, he had his orders, so even if he had to tie all three of them to logs, they would learn the point of the test by the end of this day.

As he came upon the training grounds - about fifteen minutes early, he noted with some pride - he was surprised to see his three-man team already assembled in front of the log posts in the center of the training ground.

Walking up to them quietly, he momentarily considered listening in on what was a clearly animated conversation before deciding to let them have their pre-battle secrets. "Well well, I hope you three actually slept last night."

In unison the three kids jumped out of their shoes and turned to face him, obviously hoping he hadn't overheard what they had been discussing. "Yeah, for sure sensei!" Naruto replied, holding his fist up. "We're all ready to show you we're the most badass group of genin in the village!"

Kakashi chuckled lightly - the blonde boy's enthusiasm and confidence was infectious, for sure. "Well then, how about we get started?"

He pulled out of his tool pouch a small timer and two bells. "These bells here are your objective today." He explained as he clipped them to his belt. "You will have one hour from when this timer starts to take the bells from me. Anyone who does not have a bell by the end of the test will be sent back to the academy."

The three children all tensed up as they did the math. "B-but s-sensei, there's o-only t-t-two bells." Hinata pointed out, clearly nervous as she thought about why that might be.

"An astute observation, Hinata." The cyclops replied jovially.

"Hey what's the big idea? How are we all supposed to pass if there's only two bells?" Naruto demanded angrily.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something. Well, that or one of you gets sent back to the academy." Kakashi said banally, as if he was speaking to the weather and not their futures as ninja. "Also, fair warning, if you want to have a chance of taking the bells, come at me with the intent to kill. You won't get close otherwise."

The gray-haired man turned the timer and set it for an hour, placing it on top of the middle log post in the center of the training grounds. "Time starts now, kids."

Three sets of eyes stared back at him - one determined, one intense, the last unsure - before all three disappeared into the lining of trees around the training area. Kakashi smiled wide under his mask, retrieving from one of his many pockets another book, not an instructional tome like from the day before but instead a light romance novel following a commoner girl who ended up impersonating a boy and working at her academy's infamous host club that he had grabbed at the bookstore the previous evening.

'How strange to read a romance novel without any sex. Even stranger is how much I'm enjoying it. Now let's see how Haruhi decides between the princely Tamaki and the cool and mysterious Kyoya…"

"Aw man, what the hell?" Naruto hissed, his hands grabbing fistfuls of his hair. "I thought he said this stupid test was about teamwork? Why are there only two bells?" The boy couldn't make sense of this - how the hell were they supposed to work together when only two of them could pass?

Sasuke glowered at his blonde teammate, his own mind seemingly racing. "It doesn't make any sense, you're right." Then he stood up and started walking away from his two teammates.

"Where ya going?" Naruto demanded, taking a step to follow. Sasuke stopped him by throwing a cold glare over his shoulder.

"To figure out how to get a bell. I know that if it comes down to the three of us, I'll get left out every time. I have no reason to work with you two anymore." The Uchiha said caustically.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Fine, be that way. Me and Hinata will get the bells and become awesome ninja while you listen to Iruka's lectures again." He looked over to Hinata, hoping to get some support, but was disconcerted when he saw that she was looking down, poking her fingers together.

Sasuke snorted derisively. "Good luck with that, moron." He then proceeded to walk away.

Naruto ground his teeth, feeling frustration welling up in his chest. He had actually thought for a minute earlier in the morning that Sasuke wasn't so bad - shows what he knew. He took a deep breath and turned to Hinata. "Don't worry Hinata, we'll show that bastard. We can still use some parts of the stuff we planned earlier."

The girl continued looking down, and the blonde boy faltered, unsure how to confront her not talking. "Hey, Hinata? Are you okay?"

The Hyuuga stayed silent for another couple of moments before she finally spoke up. "I-I think I s-should b-be the o-one who goes b-b-back."

That stopped both Naruto and Sasuke cold. He may not have been the brightest guy, but he was pretty sure he knew what she meant. "What are you saying, Hinata?"

"I-If I a-agree to g-g-go b-back, then w-we c-can all work t-t-together and you t-t-two can k-keep striving t-t-towards your d-dreams." She said quietly, pressing her fingers together.

At this point the blonde boy's jaw was about to hit the floor, and Sasuke had turned fully back to the group, giving Hinata a searching glare. "Why would you do that?" He demanded.

The girl looked at him, her expression difficult to read, before she said, "Y-you were right Sasuke. I'm w-weak. I'll likely never reach my goals. But Naruto can be H-hokage, and you reach your ambition too. You're both… Stronger than me."

Naruto noticed her lack of stutter. He guessed that meant that she was more sure of what she said. But that all just sounded… "You're wrong."

Both of his teammates shifted their attention to him as the words came out of his mouth. Even he didn't recognize his voice at this moment - he'd always sounded sure of himself, but in this moment he sounded certain.

"You can reach your dreams too, ya know?" Naruto continued. He didn't know where these words were coming from, but he felt the truth of them in his core. "Everybody can as long as they don't give up. I don't know how I'm gonna get to Hokage, but I know I'll always have a shot if I don't stop trying. And it's the same for you too!"

He looked her dead in the eyes, and she didn't look away. "If I need to, I'll be the first academy student to be named Hokage! So don't worry about going back, Hinata. You gotta chase your dreams too!"

He turned to Sasuke. "I don't know what you think you're gonna do on your own Sasuke, but why don't we use some of those awesome strategies we came up with earlier and worry about who gets a bell once we actually have the bells?"

Sasuke stared back at his blonde teammate, his expression dark and unreadable. Then his face broke into a smile. It was a small one, but it was there. "You're such an idiot. But so long as you're both willing to go back to the academy and I'm guaranteed to pass, I'll play along. But what do you have in mind?"

Naruto felt a smirk make its way onto his face. "If that's what gets us working together. I was thinking we could do the thing where I make as many clones as I can." He turned to Hinata. "You ready, Hinata?

The girl was wide-eyed, staring at both of them, and Naruto saw tears in the corners of her eyes. This realization almost made him falter, but then she broke out the biggest smile he had seen on her since they had become teammates. "Yes, Naruto. I'm ready."

"How are we gonna get to the bells?" Sasuke asked.

"I got an idea on that - can you throw one of those really big shuriken? A fuka?"

"Fuma, and yes." The dark-haired boy replied, trying to keep exasperation out of his tone.

"Awesome, when I give you one, throw it and leave the rest to me!" The blonde replied confidently. The Uchiha clearly wanted to know more, but surprisingly held his tongue.

The boy smiled and rotated his arms in big circles before forming his favorite seal while his two teammates held different but identical signs with their hands. "Let's do this!"

Kakashi had just been getting to the best part of his story - the beach chapter - when smoke filled the training grounds. He could only blink and slowly put away his book as the smoke cleared to reveal a sea of orange surrounding him.

'That… Is a lot of clones.' Kakashi thought to himself. The entire training ground, from treeline to treeline and even past those, was filled with shadow clones of the blonde knucklehead known as Naruto Uzumaki.

"Pretty impressive, huh sensei?" The army asked in unison.

"Somewhat, although I think I could live without the stereo." The gray haired man replied. How many clones were even here at the moment? Was it even in the hundreds anymore, or was it in the thousands now? "Must have been pretty taxing making this many clones."

All of the blonde children smiled wide at him. "Nah, not really. Are you ready to give up those bells, sensei?"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "It's cute that you think a thousand of you can beat me."

Cue over a thousand twitching eyes. "Alright, that tears it!" With a bellowing war cry that the cyclops was sure had been heard in the village, all the clones charged at him at once.

'A bit disappointing that the best strategy he could come up with this many clones at his disposal is bum rushing me, but at least the Third wasn't embellishing his chakra levels.' Kakashi thought to himself as all sides around him closed in.

He decided to fall back as they closed in, coming into a one-handed stand and spinning like a top while executing a perfect split. With his much greater speed and strength, the jonin almost immediately dispelled every single clone his legs came into contact with, wiping out a good dozen before effortlessly springing up above the group.

'This would be easier if I used the Sharingan, but I wouldn't be very proud of having to resort to that against my little genin before teaching them anything.' He thought as he lazily removed four shuriken from his pouch as he spun in mid-air. Channeling lightning chakra into the tools, he threw them straight ahead.

Enhanced as they were by his energy, they cut through the clones like they reached the edge of the blonde mob, they all looped back through for another pass, magnetized back to their user by the lightning element, an advanced elemental composition trick. Kakashi caught them all in his left hand as he landed in the now considerably more spacious center of the mob.

The clones were undaunted, with seven converging on him from all sides. The first one threw a sloppy cross while the next nearest approaching from his side reached out to grab the bells. Kakashi lazily raised his right hand, going to grab the first as it approached him with the intent to grab the first and spin him around into the next clone.

However right as the first was about to hit his palm, it unfolded into a flat palm strike. Unprepared for the change, the two hands met as if they were high-fiving and the copy ninja felt a jolt of chakra shoot up his arm, numbing the limb.

The jonin hissed in pain, his mind quickly putting the pieces together. He intertwined his fingers with those of the false clone, spinning it - her - around into the one behind him. The clone that had been going for the bells dispelled, but not the one Kakashi was holding - instead the illusion fell off, revealing Hinata Hyuuga.

The man couldn't help but smile, seeing some teamwork from the two. "Nice trick you two. That kind of maneuver would have certainly taken down an opponent on your level."

The girl had gotten back to her feet, and she gave her teacher a small smile. "W-we're not done yet!" She called, putting her henge back in place and jumping back into the crowd of Narutos.

Kakashi shook his arm, feeling the prickly numbness slowly go away. He was pleasantly surprised - while the girl had definitely just forced as much chakra as she could into the strike throughout his arm instead of directly into his chakra points, she had still managed to disable the limb to a debilitating degree. He doubted he would be able to safely use his signature Chidori with his right arm for at least a few minutes, a bad position for him if this were a real fight.

He spun, turning three clones attempting to flank him from behind into a large cloud of smoke with another spinning roundhouse. His instincts told him to duck, and he listened to them, dropping low and barely avoiding getting clotheslined by ninja wire stretch taut between two thrown kunai.

While this maneuver allowed him to avoid the tool-based sneak attack, it left him in an awkward spot when smoke burst out from under him. Jumping into the air without a second thought, the copy-nin glanced down and saw the Naruto clone that had appeared, glaring at him past its outstretched hand - almost had the bells.

'How did he get under me like that?' The jonin thought to himself. The crowd was thinning more and more, but there was still an ungodly amount of orange below him.

Now suspended in the air, the jonin saw a Naruto clone jump high above the throng to match his elevation. Kakashi had expected perhaps a thrown kunai, but instead the clown began racing through a sequence of seals the jonin recognized as one of Konoha's most signature jutsu.

Eye going wide, the scarecrow had only a moment to wonder where the hell Naruto had learned the fireball jutsu before he realized that he wasn't about to be roasted by his blonde student, but instead one Sasuke Uchiha, disguised as Hinata had been earlier.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, inhaling deeply before spitting out a fireball roughly the size of a small horse. His henge flickered as the discharge of chakra disrupted the simple genjutsu.

Kakashi, mid-air and unable to dodge as he was, formed a set of seals. He leaned his head back as his chest expanded, before throwing his head forward and calling out "Water Style: Water Gun!"

Out of his mouth came a jet of water roughly two feet in diameter at its end, barrelling directly into the ball of fire. The fire won out at first, pushing the jet back to only a few feet from the jonin, but the flame lost intensity fast enough and turned into a mist of steam.

Kakashi cursed his foolishness. His vision was now obscured, and he couldn't rely on his Sharingan here for the sake of both pride and giving the kids a fair shake at getting the bells - not to mention all the questions Sasuke would immediately ask. Using a water technique against a fire technique always risked this, but with his left eye he had not had to worry about that in quite some time.

Hitting the ground, Kakashi gathered his bearings. To his front was a thick cloud obscuring his vision, on all sides clones, with either of his other students able to emerge from either direction. The cloud of steam moved imperceptibly, and it was only through years of experience that he bent back at his waist parallel to the ground, a fuma shuriken flying towards him.

'Where the hell did they even get that from?!' Kakashi wondered. His brain was in full combat mode at this point, taking in as much information as he could. Bent entirely backwards as he was, he saw six clones converging on him from behind. To his left were three more, to his right another five, and who knew how many from his front.

Flashing through handseals, Kakashi began to prepare a lightning justu - Lightning Style: Static Chain, a C-rank that would send a shock strong enough to paralyze but not kill through all the enemies approaching. Then directly above him the shuriken burst into a cloud of smoke, revealing the smiling face of Naruto Uzumaki.

Actually stunned by the sudden appearance of his student, the copy-nin didn't have time to react before the boy disappeared over him in an orange blur. The converging group around him stopped, some looking cautiously at him while others looked towards Naruto, who had slid to a stop several yards away.

Kakashi straightened out, stopping his handseals, and turned to look at the boy as well, knowing what the absence of the sound of tinkling bells as he turned meant only one thing.

The boy stood and straightened, raising his head and his hand at the same time, smiling wide and shaking the two bells at the jonin. "Gotcha, sensei!"

'... What a strange mix of pride and shame.' Kakashi thought to himself bewilderedly. In his wildest expectations of how today could have gone, the group touching the bells, much less taking them, was at the bottom of his list. 'Maybe I should have used the Sharingan.'

Two of the clones around him burst into smoke, revealing a beaming Hinata and a smug Sasuke. The two walked over to their teammate as the group of clones let out cries of jubilation, high-fiving and jumping around as they celebrated.

"That… That you did." Kakashi replied, gathering himself. "I'm impressed. How did you all come up with that plan so quickly?"

Naruto crossed his arms, smiling wide. "We weren't doing nothing before you got here, ya know? We were talking about all the cool stuff we could do. When we all went into the woods and you were just standing around I came up with the last bit with me turning into a shuriken." The boy thumbed his nose. "All that steam was just lucky."

"I hate to give him credit, but Naruto thought of most of it." Sasuke chimed in. "He came up with the idea of us hiding in his clones the turning into a shuriken."

"I'm actually impressed." The scarecrow replied, tucking away the blonde's possible strategic acumen for later. They had passed, there was no question about that. But they still needed to see the point of the test. "But now that you have the bells, who gets them, Naruto? Will you give one to Hinata or Sasuke?" The scarecrow put his hands in his pockets. "Couldn't blame you either way. Sasuke did more to help you get the bells, but then, you don't like him very much, do you?"

Naruto scrunched up his face as if deep in thought, looking at both of his teammates. The heiress regarded him nervously, while Sasuke looked cautiously angry, ready to argue his case.

The blonde boy shrugged. "Honestly I think you should just pass us all, sensei."

"Really? But that's against the rules, now isn't it?" Kakashi replied, feeling a rush of excitement. 'Does he actually understand? Do they all?'

"Well yeah, but who cares about the rules, ya know? We kick so much ass!" The blonde replied, pumping his fist. "I mean you're a jonin and we beat you! Sasuke is kinda of a bastard and Hinata is kinda weird, but I wanna be on a team with them now!"

His two teammates' faces flashed through a series of emotion, most notably shock, though Sasuke was definitely angry when called a bastard and Hinata sad when called weird. Kakashi knew he would need to work on the blonde's ability to hold his tongue - it was a gift to be that unknowingly charismatic and insulting at the same time.

"You make a good point, but rules are rules." The jonin replied - one last push. "They exist for a reason."

Naruto set his features, glaring at his teacher. "Yeah well, like I said, I don't care about your stupid rules!" Grabbing a bell in each hand, Naruto held one out to each of his teammates to either side of him. "So you can just send me back and I'll pass the test again next year!"

"N-no!" Hinata cried out, pushing Naruto's hand back. "You c-can't, Naruto! I-I-I…" The girl trailed off, her voice quivering, before she set her jaw. "I won't pass without you, either!"

Naruto looked at her bewildered, then Sasuke spoke. The boy was looking down at the bell held before him, his bangs covering his eyes. "… I have things to do. I need to pass and get stronger." Then he looked back up, conviction foreign to his onyx eyes evident. "But I can actually work with these two. Naruto is right. You'd be stupid not to pass all of us."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, even more shocked, before a smile, one much softer and more powerful for it than his usual beaming grin. He looked back at the silver-haired man across from him. "Ya hear that?! All or nothing, sensei!"

Kakashi looked at them impassively for a few moments, testing their resolve. All three stared back at him defiantly, not budging slightly.

"Well then." He said, letting the weight of broken silence hang in the air. "You all… Pass."

One could hear a pin drop as the three genin gave him bewildered looks, clearly not certain that their big group stand would be effective. Then their faces slowly turned to joy. "Woohoo!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping up into the air. Sasuke stood to the side with a small, satisfied smirk, while Hinata looked on joyfully.

'Maybe these three would've passed with or without the Hokage telling me they'd have to.' Kakashi thought to himself as he watched on, a small smile underneath his mask.

—-

Hey everyone, thanks for being patient with me on this one! There's about two thousand words already typed that'll go in the next chapter instead - this one was getting too long and I figured this was a good spot to cut things off so I could get a proper length chapter out before the new year. Plus this winter has been brutal on my health. I hope everyone in the worst of this freakish cold front is doing as well as they can.

A couple things here - first, I know some of the characters are acting a bit different, but dynamics are very different with Hinata instead of Sakura, especially with there being almost nothing to go off of in canon for Hinata and Sasuke interacting, so I've decided to have fun with it and write their dynamic especially in a way I can't recall having seen done before.

Short version of how we got here: Kakashi being a little more open and encouraging led to the team being more aware of the true objective of the test, which led to them being more open and willing to work together, plus Hinata accidentally scaring Sasuke out of his worst traits. I also let a bit of that shonen protagonist charisma Naruto has shine through here. It's hard not to follow someone so certain, or at least it would be for me.

Anyone who gets the reference in this chapter to another anime gets ten bonus points. Those points are worthless outside of potentially providing self-satisfaction. Enjoy!

That's all I have for now though. Thank you to everyone following and favoriting and especially reviewing. I'll be back with you in a couple weeks with the next chapter. Don't expect Wave anytime soon, we're gonna have plenty of time before the chunin exams.