Sasuke's fingernails dug into the bark of the tree he hunched down on. Kakashi wasn't visible which meant he had probably taken off in search of them. All Sasuke had going for him was his concealment. He needed to think up a plan to counter Kakashi. The goal wasn't snatching the armband. That would be too difficult when he considered minimizing the attacks landing on him too. The point was to simply land enough hits - ideally from a distance - until Kakashi's armband fell off on its own then make a grab for it. He would definitely need to create a diversion and use the element of surprise to its fullest.

Dammit, Sasuke thought. I'm such an idiot! The bark chipped under the crooks of his nails. How could he be stupid enough to let Kakashi get a hit in the first place? Kakashi had been right. He couldn't control himself. That lead to an unpredictability that could be exploited in missions. He didn't know why his brain shut off at the name of his brother. Actually, he did know, but he didn't know how to stop it.

Damn Itachi. He was sabotaging his life even if he wasn't in it.

A shout from behind nearly had him losing his balance on the branch. "Hey, Sasuke-kun!"

"What the..." He spun to see Sakura standing in a small, enclosed space between trees, her hands cupped around her mouth.

"I need to tell you something, Sasuke-kun!"

"Shut up," he hissed. "Stop shouting my name! Are you trying to call Kakashi over? Why are you even here? You want to lose or something?"

"Uhh... about that," she said sheepishly, tapping her foot against the ground behind her. "I think what Kakashi-sensei said is true. I'm really pathetic. There's no way I'm gonna win this thing. Who am I kidding? So, I thought I'd just give up. You can take my armband."

"Hah," he thrust a finger at her. "You think I'm falling for that? I'm not that dumb."

"But, but, Sasuke-"

This was pointless. Sakura wasn't desperate enough to try this. Besides, she didn't know how to lie. He wasn't going to fall for any more of Kakashi's tricks. He pulled his hands together in the ram sign and whispered, "Release!"

Nothing happened.

"I'm being serious. Please stop ignoring me," she whined.

It wasn't a genjutsu… Sasuke tried it again.

This was... really supposed to be Sakura?

She grabbed the pouch tied to her ankle and shook it out. It was empty. Then she raised her arms above her head. "I'm totally open. If you want to land a hit, you can. You can even try ripping it off. I tried, but it doesn't work that way. I'm seriously out of my depth. I give up. Better to give one of you a chance then try to fight a battle I have no chance of winning."

Sasuke considered this. Could she be telling the truth?

"Even if that's true... Why would you help me?"

"Why, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was staring intensely at the ground. She bit her lip as her face turned redder. "Um... I, uh... "

He narrowed his eyes, "What?"

She closed her eyes, her hands balled into fists, and then let out, "I, I li-"

The branch he was standing on ripped down the middle. Sasuke stumbled forward towards Sakura and realized what was happening too late. The moment he landed on the ground, he caught a flash of Sakura's face - a face he'd never seen before, a face he didn't think could belong to Sakura - and then a ball dropping to the ground.

Ashy clouds overtook his vision.

A smoke bomb!

Sasuke pulled his forearm up to his mouth so he wouldn't cough and give away his position from sucking in the dense air. She must have been delaying him with conversation to get him to lower his guard while working on taking down the branch. He had no idea how she'd pulled off the feat, but he was done underestimating her.

Sakura had been near him when the smoke bomb went off, almost right in front. Now, not even a shadow of her presence lingered. The best course of action was proactively charging forward. If she was there, he'd most likely get a hit on her. If she wasn't, he'd escape the vicinity of the smoke bomb.

Sasuke took one step and felt a rush of air go past his ear. Warmth suffused the side of his head as blood trickled down.

Oh no.

Sasuke tried to dodge as shuriken and kunai attacked him from a multitude of directions. Funny, she did tell him that she had no weapons on her; this trap was where they'd been stashed. He was an idiot for not thinking that was strange. Four he struck down with his own kunai, which was more luck and the fact that the smoke was letting up enough to see their silhouettes. It was a well planned attack, leaving a flurry of cuts on him. Ear, shoulder, knee, thigh. Those were ones he was aware had been sliced.

Just as the barrage staggered to a stop and the smoke had cleared to a mild haze, Sasuke sensed an assailant from behind. The moment he turned his head to snatch a glimpse, he was punched cleanly back across his cheek.

"Take that," Sakura finished, a tremor in her voice, an electric rise to her hair and a shallowness to her breath.

Sasuke slowly straightened himself as his body had bent askew from the force of the punch. Actually, it was both a weak and a slow punch. He'd anticipated that this would culminate into a physical attack and had warped his body towards the direction of the punch to fend off most of the damage. The cover of smoke had also been lifted, which was her main advantage now that his shock had worn off.

Sasuke and Sakura simultaneously brought their eyes down to his armband and saw that it was almost the exact same. If anything, it seemed to have turned a deeper shade of red. The grip even felt stronger than it had before.

"H-How?" Sakura said, her jaw dropping.

"Tch." Sasuke realized he was really, really pissed off. He would probably go down as the only person in history to be done so badly by Sakura-freaking-Haruno.

She curled her adjacent hand into a fist and lunged for him. He caught the fist and pulled her forward easily with it, his free hand ready to deliver a punch-

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, hesitantly cracking an eye open from her scrunched up face.

His fist hovered mere inches above.

Ahhh... What was wrong with him now? When he'd seen that face she made, right before the smoke bomb went off, he thought he'd erased the image of the sniveling, naive girl who barely ever dared to speak to him. But suddenly going all out on her seemed like a cruel thing to do.

This was still Sakura. Sakura, whose worst attack had no shuriken or kunai aimed directly at him, but slightly off so he was left with only cuts and nothing deeper.

"Just get lost," he said, letting go of her.

"I... I don't understand."

"You didn't hear me? I don't want to fight someone so weak. Your hits aren't even enough to affect the armband. Besides, I don't want yours - Like hell if I'm going back to the academy."

"That was too weak? How could that be too weak?" she said in blatant denial. "That was my absolute... "

"Best?" Sasuke gave her a sympathetic look. "Maybe that means Kakashi was right."

She charged at him with full force.

"What the-" He evaded her kick and swerved aside from a punch. "I told you I'm not going to fight you."

"There's... no... way. This has... to be rigged," she said not slowing down for a moment. "Why won't my hits work-"

She cut off as she finally landed an elbow on his neck - only because he was forcing himself to stay on the defensive - which had Sasuke drop into a hacking fit. Like before, the grip on his armband actually got tighter.

Sakura realized it too as a surge of exasperation manifested on her face. "My hits are making your armband more red."

He shot her a smirk from where he was crouched. "Thanks for noticing it so late."

"Argh! This isn't fair! These things are broken," she grasped the sides of her hair.

Sasuke took the opportunity to bounce back well out of reach. "Anyway, I'm going to find Kakashi-sens-"

"Wait," Sakura called out. "Before you go, at least hit me once."

Sasuke opened his mouth but then closed it and gave her a sidelong look.

"What if mine is broken the same way as yours?"

"So you're essentially asking me to help you recover time," he said. If what she said was true, then Sasuke's hits would make her armband redder.

"Well... yeah. But I want to test something else too. Your armband has the kanji for-"

"That's too bad, Sakura," he said. Then he turned in the opposite direction. "I can't afford to waste any more time."

She called out again but Sasuke had already set off.

.

Naruto skimmed through the trees, doing his best to stealthily follow Kakashi. He'd been thinking of a plan for some time now, but felt stunted from what was the clear difference in strengths. Whether it was possible or not, it didn't matter. Naruto couldn't be held back - he'd become the laughingstock of Konoha.

A soft dhoom in the distance distracted him. Birds took flight from the area. …Was that smoke?

Now, Naruto thought, realizing that the disruption had also piqued Kakashi's interest, who had stopped briefly to observe it. He pulled back, throwing a slew of shuriken his way.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

It was a front. He caught the shuriken nonchalantly with his fingers and then turned to look exactly where Naruto hid amongst the trees.

Naruto cursed silently at having his cover blown so fast, but he forced himself to calm down. Slowly, he drew in a breath. Then he threw three kunai in quick succession, all of which he half-heartedly evaded with them landing on the trees behind. "Really Naruto?" Kakashi said on the third one.

"Yes," Naruto whispered, and drew out of the cover of the trees, pulling on the ninja wires he'd attached to the kunai. Kakashi realized too late - "What?" - as Naruto instantaneously completed an arc around him and the tree, binding them together.

When he came up on Kakashi at the end of that arc, he angled his feet forward, landing a kick with full-force on his side.

The force of the kick flung him forward, and upon landing, he turned triumphantly - only to see a cloud of smoke and a log pegged where Kakashi had been.

Substitution! Damn, where was he now?

He flipped around, kunai readied as he searched the clearing. There! He flung a shuriken at a shadow of movement amongst trees. Naruto frowned as the shuriken neared its target - why wouldn't it move.

"Gotcha," Kakashi's voice came next to his ear.

Naruto froze, holding his breath, moving nothing but his eyes to glimpse the figure standing right behind him, his arm raised sideward above Naruto's head. He opened his mouth and let out a weak, "But… how?"

"Oh. That was a clone," he said and then rammed his elbow across his head, propelling him to the ground.

Naruto clenched his teeth against the blinding pain and vertigo as he rolled over. He couldn't feel the side of his head. The armband loosened. Despite the numbness, he was still hyper-aware of the skin under the band.

"You know something, Naruto?" Kakashi began as he approached him. "Everyone says your problem is arrogance, but that's not the truth, is it?"

Naruto had forced himself onto his feet, deadening the aftereffects of the blow.

Kakashi was expecting a response, but Naruto didn't enlighten him with anything but a scowl. "It's really insecurity," he said and then sprang forward.

Naruto dodged to the side only to have Kakashi, once again, come up behind him like a bolt of lightning. This speed was impossible to believe. Naruto couldn't see him move let alone counter his attacks. All he could do was wait for another blow to reach him then decrease the amount of time it took for him to recover in the hopes of catching Kakashi unaware.

"The Fourth's son? The Namikaze heir? The younger Yellow Flash? Tch. You're can't even come close to the image. You're pretending, hoping no one notices you're just a brat with some resemblance to your father."

"Shut up." Naruto tightened his fist around his kunai and - not caring about the consequences - spun, driving it behind. In a flat second, the hand with the kunai was seized and positioned so that it was pointed at Naruto's own neck.

"Does it hurt to hear the truth?" Ridicule scorched his words.

"You don't know anything," he spat, trying unsuccessfully to wrest his arm away. "Stop talking… your words are a waste of breath."

"I'm doing you a favour, really," he kept an iron grasp on Naruto's kunai-weiling hand. "That image of yours will probably shatter when you're thrown out of the academy and forfeit your chance of becoming a ninja."

His wrist burned with the pressure. "As if I would ever let that happen."

Kakashi let go of him, but as he staggered forward, he was kicked dead in the back. His knees buckled. He faintly recalled the armband loosening before Kakashi slammed into him again from the side - that same unimaginable speed working against him. "You sure talk big. Seems like the only thing you can do."

Naruto was panting hard, kneeling on the ground, as he tried to make sense of him being tossed around like ragdoll. Every time he tried to think up of a way to counter his attacks, Kakashi said something that broke his line of thought. As if it weren't already impossible to match a jonin's fighting prowess. Even his armband had loosened enough to begin sliding downward from the sweat. Of course, he was talking big. He had to keep faith in himself.

He stared at the packed dirt ground, broken by scarce stalks of grass. Vaguely, he could sense that Kakashi wasn't coming closer. He bore into this dirt with his hands, it blurred in and out of his vision. "You don't know anything. You don't know anything about what its like to be me. I'm never going to lose. I can't. I don't have that choice."

"First, you won't garner any sympathies by sniffling," Kakashi said. "Second, maybe you're right. You can't always choose the way you're perceived by others, but you can choose what you do about it. And Naruto, all you've ever done is bask in the glory of being born as the Fourth's son. You've heaped on all that praise and favour and you sure want to keep it that way. You're just riding the coattails of your father."

The floodgates of a bitter, familiar rage ripped open. Naruto didn't have enough control to comprehend the particulars of his actions. He may have been holding a weapon or he may not have. He may have had a trajectory for his attack or he may not have.

The only thought that reverbrated in his mind was ending Kakashi. The only words that exploded from his throat were: "You're wrong!"

That was all.

.

Kakashi knocked on the boy's head. No response as expected. Naruto was sitting on his knees, head bent down and eyes shut. His mind drowning in a genjutsu.

He scanned his surroundings for the other two, but doubted they'd be watching. A smoke bomb went off not long ago, possibly indicating Sakura had decided to make a move. The two might very well be engaged at the moment.

Time to join the party- Kakashi caught sight of a strange pile of leaves on the ground in front of him. Strange because fresh green leaves didn't just pile up in the middle of summer.

He tossed a pebble onto it, and the leaves disappeared into a hole along with a barrage of shurikens from above.

Oh? he thought, glancing at Naruto. When did he have the time to set this one up? He might actually have been caught off-guard if he'd landed on it in the midst of battle. Too bad it was wasted due to Naruto's hotheadedness. His armband was nearly pink now.

Kakashi understood it wasn't fair. He usually didn't let it get so... personal. The kids he'd fail were hardly a challenge. The test usually ended as soon as it started without him having to do much. For Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, he raised the stakes. True, he'd observed them enough to narrow on their weaknesses ahead of time. He specifically entertained these insecurities during this test. Kakashi wondered if this proved he was scared they actually had a chance of winning.

Huh. Maybe Rin was right after all.

A twig snapped from his four o' clock. "Ouch," he said in mock regret, not turning to the noise, "Your cover's blown. C'mon out."

Sasuke landed on the ground, a few paces away from where Kakashi stood by Naruto. Predictably, he eyed Naruto's stillness with a mix of confusion and distrust.

"Oh, he's under a genjutsu. He isn't going to break out of it soon, mind you. It was a short battle, Sasuke. I think I had him down in under a few minutes. What do you say, wanna go?"

The intimidation was working. A bead of sweat ran down his temple. His gaze wavered between the two, but it didn't look like he was trying to devise a plan.

He knows he can't beat me, Kakashi thought, pleasantly surprised.

"You're a lot more level-headed than you let on, huh? You're aware of the limits of your strength. Unlike your friend here, you don't delude yourself. Right now, you've lost, Sasuke. Maybe, if you two or you three had charged at me, maybe with your combined effort and intellec-"

"What kind... what kind of stupid things are you saying now?" Sasuke said. "From the very beginning, it was every man for himself." He slapped his armband, "Or is this supposed to be a joke?"

Kakashi tapped his chin with a finger. "Ah, you're right. I did shut down that option in the beginning. Say... you know how this works pretty well. It's every man for himself as you said. Since you can't beat me one-on-one, why don't I give you another chance?"

"... Another chance?" His voice betrayed his desperation. The trees behind him shivered from the wind, or perhaps…

Kakashi gave him a dark grin as he pointed to Naruto's unmoving body, "Take his armband while he's knocked out. If you can do that, I'll let you become a genin."

Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think in a review. I love reading them. I'm thinking of starting a trivia section here (the issue is I always forget the pieces of trivia by the time I reach the end of the chapter).

The next chapter will be out soon...