AN: Uploading this a day early because I'm going to be on the road all day tomorrow. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any related content. c:

Chapter 5: Morning

Naruto: Original Soundtrack, Track No. 3

Morning

"Today's the day!" Naruto exclaimed as he hopped out of bed. It was still dark out, but the newly-made genin was too excited to stay asleep. Despite knowing exactly who his teammates would be, he was looking forward to finally being able to do missions. He was about to slip into his normal orange jumpsuit when he noticed another set of clothing next to it. That's right! Hinata helped me pick out new clothes a couple days ago! While the blond was reluctant to give up his old jumpsuit, his two friends convinced him that going on a mission as a "walking blob of orange," as Sasuke so eloquently put it, wasn't a good idea.

He quickly put on his navy blue pants, mesh armor, and headband before taking a good look at his last piece of clothing. It was a dark orange high-collar jacket with three navy blue stripes running down each sleeve (genin Minato's jacket with Naruto's colors), topped off by a white Uzumaki spiral stitched onto the jacket's left shoulder by his best friend. Hinata had offered to do the red spiral on the back of the jacket as well, but Naruto insisted that she teach him so he wouldn't be dependent on her in the future. The blond happily slipped into it as he made his way out of his home, remembering how jubilant Hinata looked when he first tried it on.

Naruto had grown to like early peaceful mornings. The majority of the village was still asleep, meaning he received next to no glares from the populace. He enjoyed the crisp, chilly air that was unique to the morning hours, and while he wasn't always up to see it, he loved watching the sunrise. The morning atmosphere had a calming effect on him, as his normally over-the-top attitude was nowhere to be seen.

He made his way to the top of the Hokage Rock, sitting on top of the Fourth's head to watch the sunrise. He didn't know why, but he was always attracted to this spot. Even learning about the Fourth sealing the Nine-Tails into him and Hinata didn't change his perspective on the man. He knew that the Fourth had a duty to the village as its Hokage, and that sealing the Nine-Tails away was the only way to prevent more casualties. He was also grateful to the man for saving Hinata's life. Naruto didn't want to think about where he would be without her.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the rustling of a bush behind him. He was instantly on guard, not expecting anyone else to be here at this time, or at all.

"Naruto-kun, it's me," the figure called out.

"Hinata!" Naruto called out happily as his best friend made her way towards him.

"You skipped breakfast, Naruto-kun," Hinata chided lightly. His stomach seemed to agree with her as it grumbled needily. Giggling at his embarrassed expression, she pulled out two bento boxes from behind her back. "I made us some breakfast."

"You did?" Naruto asked with a hopeful expression on his face. He didn't think it was possible to like anything more than ramen, but Hinata's cooking proved him wrong on several occasions. The former heiress just smiled as she sat down next to him and handed him a bento.

"I left Kakashi-sensei a bento as well," she added. "What's on your mind, Naruto-kun? You're usually not up this early."

"I couldn't sleep. Thinking about missions got me too excited." Naruto grinned as his wild imagination began to take over. "I wonder what our first mission is going to be! Maybe we'll rescue a princess or something! Hopefully it's not something boring."

Hinata giggled at his enthusiasm. "I'm sure it'll be fun, Naruto-kun."

The pair fell into a comfortable silence as they ate their meals in peace, watching a sliver of light rise above the horizon. Noting that it was still very early in the morning, Hinata asked, "We still have a couple of hours before the team selection starts. What do we do now?"

"Wanna watch the sunrise with me?" Naruto offered. "It's gonna happen anytime now."

"That sounds perfect," Hinata replied with a slight blush on her cheeks. She scooted closer to the blond and rested her head on his shoulder. "Mmm… comfy."

Naruto's cheeks brightened at her words and actions, but he remained quiet, afraid his impulsive behavior might ruin the moment. He instead rested his cheek on top of her head, causing her to giggle slightly. It was at that moment the sun began to climb above the horizon, illuminating the Hokage Rock. Along with it came cascading purples and vibrant oranges that erupted across the early morning sky.

"It's beautiful," Hinata whispered. Naruto could feel her smiling brightly into his shoulder.

"The sunrise reminds me of us, ttebayo," Naruto replied softly. At Hinata's inquisitive look, he added, "It takes our favorite colors and combines them into something even more beautiful."

"It really does." Feeling emboldened by Naruto's positive responses to her advances, Hinata brushed her hand over his. The blond pulled back slightly on instinct, but once he realized his mistake, he quickly clasped her hand in his. He gave her a wide grin, causing her to smile slightly and turn her head away to hide her growing blush.

Best morning ever! The pair thought in unison. They sat comfortably next to each other, watching the colors of the early morning sky shift from gradient to gradient until the sun fully rose above the horizon, the purples and oranges ebbing away to reveal the clear blue sky.

Sasuke waited patiently for his teammates to show up in the classroom. A couple of other students have already arrived before them, one being the stuck-up Hyuuga he met last week, who had just entered the room. The other was a girl with brown hair put up into two circular buns. He couldn't see her face, but he could tell just by her posture that she wasn't a fangirl. Thank kami for that. I could live the rest of my life without fangirls.

He was surprised when Neji approached the row in front of him and sat down. The boy turned around and asked, "Aren't you Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Sasuke replied flatly. He could tell that Neji was surprised with his response.

"Do you have any pride for the clan you hail from?" he asked curiously.

Sasuke answered, "My name and lineage isn't important if I can't back it up with my own skill. A lesson I learned the first time Hinata beat me down." Sasuke shivered at that thought. Training against Hinata's modified Gentle Fist hurt enough in practice. He couldn't imagine the pain if she was going all out.

Neji smirked cruelly. "If Lady Hinata can defeat you, that means you can't be that much of a challenge. She was destined to be a failure. To think that the last Uchiha would be bested by the failure."

Now Sasuke was livid. Not only did the Hyuuga boy insult him, he also insulted one of his best friends. He could see why Naruto disliked this guy so much. However, just as he was about to retort, the aforementioned blond came bounding into the room with Hinata at his side. "Yo, Sasuke!" The two quickly made their way up to his row, but not before Naruto shot Neji a quick glare. "What's up?"

Sasuke's eyes never left the older Hyuuga's. "Mr. Stick-in-Ass decided to say a few too many words. I was just about to show thi-" he was cut off by Naruto, who fell off his chair and began rolling around on the ground while holding onto his stomach.

"HAHAHAHA! That's a great nickname, Sasuke! HAHAHA!"

A tick mark formed on Neji's forehead. "What are you laughing about? You're just a clanless loser hanging around my failure of a cousin."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto's mood took a sharp turn as he jumped onto Neji's desk and glared daggers into the older boy. "You can insult me all you want, bastard, but you insult my friends one more time and I'll make that mark on your forehead feel like mercy."

Neji fumed silently while Hinata was stunned. She couldn't believe Naruto would say something like that. Even Sasuke was slightly taken aback by Naruto's ruthless comment, though he couldn't blame the blond, as after only talking to Neji for a minute, he could barely control his own anger. However, before any of them could react, a boy sitting in the row in front of Neji stood up, bumping into Naruto and causing him to fall forward. Both boys looked at each other with panic in their eyes as their faces rapidly approached each other's. Neji attempted a substitution out of desperation, but he put too much chakra into it, causing him to switch places with a person instead of an inanimate object. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on perspective, the closest person to him that wasn't Naruto was Hinata. He watched with a large amount of shock the scene he had accidentally created. The blond idiot was currently lip-locked with his failure of a cousin.

The two preteens held atomic blushes on their faces as they stared into each other's wide eyes. Naruto's forward momentum caused the two to tumble to the ground, where the blond was now on top of his best friend, their lips still connected to each other's. He was about to push himself off of Hinata when she subconsciously wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him back down.

Pure, unadulterated, shocked silence reigned over the classroom as thirty-one pairs of eyes stared disbelievingly at the scene, only to be broken by the sound of hysterical laughter. Sasuke was not one to openly laugh very often, but right now he could barely hold it together, seeing his two best friends in such an embarrassing position. He only wished that he had a camera with him so he could capture the moment.

The class's attention turned to the door when Shikaku walked in with Iruka at his side. Since the school year had just finished, the scarred chunin decided to tag along to see how his former students were doing. To his surprise, the most stoic of the three was laughing his ass off while the other two were nowhere to be seen. He took a closer look at the two preteens on the ground and noticed the red spiral on the back of the boy's new jacket. "N-Naruto? What the hell is going on?" he asked.

Naruto shot up immediately. "Iruka-sensei! It's not what you think! It was an accident, I swear!"

Shikaku face-palmed. "Troublesome."

Naruto looked back down at Hinata, who's whole face was flushed red. She had fainted from the overwhelming sensation of her crush's lips, as well as the embarrassment of it happening in front of a class full of students. However, Naruto, in his frazzled state of mind, thought of the worst possible scenario. "Gah! I killed her! Hinata, are you okay? Talk to me, please!" The blond knelt down next to her and shook her rapidly in an attempt to wake her up. Sasuke began laughing harder with tears falling from his eyes, causing the rest of the class to join in. Even Neji, who despised the two with all of his being, couldn't help but smirk slightly.

Shikaku sighed. "Even more troublesome."

Once the class settled down, Shikaku began announcing the team assignments. Naruto and Hinata couldn't look at each other without their faces turning red. Sasuke didn't help one bit, as every time they blushed, he began snickering, causing them to turn away from each other in embarrassment.

"Team 7: Hinata Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. Team 9: Tenten, Neji Hyuuga, and Rock Lee," Shikaku finished announcing. "Your jonin-sensei will show up shortly to pick you up. What a drag. I'm glad I don't have to take on a team."

The entire class glared at the Jonin Commander for that statement, but he was already strolling out of the room. "Troublesome brats."

"SIX HOURS!" Naruto yelled in frustration. "It's been six hours! Where the hell is he?"

While the other two didn't express their annoyance as freely as he did, they were both irritated by Kakashi's tardiness as well. Iruka and the rest of the teams had already left, leaving just the trio in the classroom. Luckily for them, the scarred chunin had given them lunch from the faculty lounge before attending to his own business. Naruto was about to start another tirade when the door finally opened.

"Team 7?" Kakashi called as if there weren't only three genin in the room.

"You!" Naruto yelled while pointing a finger at him.

"Me?" the Copy Ninja responded cheekily, gesturing at himself with his book.

"Grr… What took you so long?" the impatient blond questioned.

"Well, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile.

"You can kiss my ass with that excuse!" Naruto retorted.

"I'll have to pass, though you seem to be very interested in kissing lately," Kakashi fired back with a hidden smirk. Gotcha.

Naruto and Hinata immediately went red while Sasuke tried and failed to hold in his laughter. "H-how do you know about that?" Naruto asked weakly.

"I have my ways," the Copy Ninja replied mysteriously. "Now, that six hour wait was payback for making me wake up early for four years straight. I had a reputation for being late, and you ruined it. Meet me at the Third Training Ground for your… punishment." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the genin to catch up to him.

"Stupid Kakashi-sensei, didn't even teach us the Shunshin yet," Naruto complained.

"So what are we gonna do, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, having calmed down on the trek over to the training ground.

"Well, technically, you three aren't genin yet," Kakashi replied lazily while reading from his book.

"Yeah, right," Naruto countered. "Hinata and I got field promotions."

"Good observation," the Copy Ninja praised. "And that leads me to lesson number one. Always remember to look underneath the underneath. Never take anything at face value. You're right, both you and Hinata are full genin due to the field promotion. However, Sasuke isn't."

"What's your point?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi replied, "The three of you will take a test to see if Sasuke is worthy to become a genin. It was supposed to be for all of you, but since Naruto saw through my deception, instead of being sent back to the academy, the penalty of failure for the other two is the team being split apart. I know how badly the two of you wanted Sasuke on your team, so the stakes are just as high for you as for him. Got it?"

The three genin, putting aside their fear of failure, nodded. Hinata asked, "What's the test?"

"Simple," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile. He pulled out two bells from his pocket and tossed them to the side. "I was going to use those and make you fight over them for your spots on the team, but since that won't work anymore, I'll fight you all at once, three on one. If you can knock me onto my back, you pass. If not… Well, Sasuke's getting fed to the sharks."

The last Uchiha knew what Kakashi implied and shivered at the thought of going back to his fangirls. That image in his head increased his determination to pass tenfold.

The Copy Ninja set a clock for midnight. "It's about four in the afternoon right now. Knock me onto my back before the day is over, and you pass. Ready?"

The three nodded again.

"Oh right," Kakashi added. "In order to defeat me, you'll need to come at me with the intent to kill. Begin!"

Immediately, Naruto created five clones to distract Kakashi while the trio made their escape. "What's the plan?" he asked.

Sasuke replied, "Hinata is our best chance at taking Kakashi-sensei down. Naruto, you and I will distract him with our ninjutsu and clones to try and get Hinata close enough to land a blow."

Hinata added, "Every hit I land will lower his stamina, since I can disrupt his chakra flow. After two or three clean hits, he should be hurt enough for the two of you to fight him head on. I'll keep my Byakugan activated the whole time so we don't get surprised."

"Sounds good to me," Naruto replied. "If something goes wrong, we'll just improvise like we always do. Let's go!"

Kakashi realized immediately that the clones were stalling him, but they made sure to avoid as much physical contact as possible. He eventually dispelled them all, but they bought the genin a good amount of time to plan. The Copy Ninja decided to pull out his book again as he waited for them to make their move.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Kakashi's single eye widened as the wind-enhanced flames sped towards him. No dodging that. Gotta go down.

Naruto and Sasuke waited for the dust to settle, wanting to see the results of their combined jutsu. However, before they had their chance, Hinata yelled, "Below you!"

The two jumped out of instinct just as Kakashi's hands emerged from the ground. "That was close. Thanks, Hinata!" Naruto shouted.

Hinata smiled at his response, but quickly refocused on the battle as Kakashi climbed out of the hole. "Lightning Style: Lightning Balls!" she called, sending a flurry of electrified orbs at the Copy Ninja.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Kakashi returned fire with a volley of small fireballs, canceling out Hinata's jutsu. He was about to blitz the lavender-eyed girl when another obstacle blocked his path.

"Sasuke, go!" Naruto yelled. The Uchiha nodded and threw a Fuma Shuriken at Kakashi.

"Wind Style: Gale Palm!" Releasing the compressed air between his hands, Naruto directed it at the shuriken, causing it to fly towards Kakashi at an even higher velocity.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" The Copy Ninja's signature dog-faced wall was erected from the ground just in time to stop the shuriken in its tracks. Just as he thought he was safe, he felt a presence behind him.

"Gentle Fist!" Hinata struck Kakashi's abdomen with a chakra-laced palm heel strike, causing him to groan in pain. However, just as the Copy Ninja's back was about to touch the ground, he vanished in a puff of smoke, a shattered log in his place. "Substitution! But where…" Hinata spotted the jonin on a tree behind the two boys, who quickly turned around and pulled out kunai in defense.

Kakashi sighed internally. Why did I have to teach them elemental releases? It's come back to bite me in the ass. Fine, they've earned it. "You three have impressed me," Kakashi declared from above the genin as he pulled up his headband. "Not many people in the world can force me to reveal my Sharingan this early, let alone a team of academy graduates."

The three genin gulped, knowing that the battle just got much harder. Sasuke activated his own Sharingan in an attempt to balance out the scales, but he knew that Kakashi's was much more advanced than his own.

"Get ready!" Kakashi announced before blitzing Sasuke. The Uchiha, even with his Sharingan active, could barely keep up with the Copy Ninja's movements as he was punched directly in the gut.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto's clones covered for Sasuke's retreat as the other two made their way to his side.

"We have to fight him together," Hinata surmised. "His Sharingan will be able to read our movements easily if we don't stick together."

Sasuke nodded as he recovered from the hit. "We have to push and pull. One person distracts him while the other two go in. Exploit every gap."

"He told us before that his Sharingan drains his chakra faster than it would to a normal Uchiha," Naruto mentioned. "We should try playing to our advantage. Hinata and I should be able to outlast him in a stamina battle, so we need to make sure we don't take any serious blows."

"Right," the other two chorused.

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto shouted.

The three burst into action just as Kakashi took care of the last clone. Naruto charged in with a flying side kick, one that the Copy Ninja easily ducked under. Just as the scarecrow nin stepped back into a fighting stance, Sasuke slid under him, trying to throw off his balance. Kakashi jumped up into the air, avoiding the tactic altogether, but he also jumped right into Sasuke's crosshair.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" the Uchiha fired the large flaming projectile from underneath Kakashi, forcing the scarecrow nin to counter it, as he had no way of dodging it midair.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" The elemental clash left a smokescreen of mist behind, impairing Kakashi's vision as he landed back on the ground. Hinata, being able to see through the mist, silently maneuvered herself into striking position.

"Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!" she cried out from behind the Copy Ninja. With the mist obstructing his Sharingan, Kakashi couldn't react in time as her chakra-laced fingers began striking his chakra points.

"Two Palms!"

"Four Palms!"

"Eight P-" Hinata gasped in surprise as her attack was interrupted by the Copy Ninja. Kakashi grabbed onto her striking arm and tossed her into an incoming Naruto, who was attempting to support her. The two were thrown across the training field into a tree, groaning in pain from the hard impact.

Sasuke took advantage of the distraction to try and land a kick to Kakashi's back. However, to his horror, his leg was caught mid-air by the Copy Ninja. "Nice try, but I'm not a jonin for nothing." Kakashi spun around and tossed Sasuke into another tree, next to where Naruto and Hinata were slowly recovering from their collision with their own. Damn. We don't stand a chance against him.

The sun had set hours ago, causing Kakashi's Sharingan to glow eerily in the increasing darkness. The trio of genin were splayed out on the ground, panting from exhaustion. While Naruto and Hinata still had enough chakra to keep going, they were quickly reaching their physical limits. Kakashi taunted, "Giving up already? I could have sworn the three of you were the best of your class. It seems that all of it was just hot air."

At first, it seemed that they had given up. Not one of them made a move to get back onto their feet. Kakashi was about to call the test when Naruto weakly propped himself up on his elbows, glaring determinedly at his sensei.

"N-never," the blond whispered out as he slowly willed himself up onto one knee. "I'll never give up, you hear me?" he declared, now shakily standing on his own two feet, but standing nonetheless. "And I won't go back on my word, no matter what happens! Because that's my nindo, my ninja way!"

Inspired by their teammate's words, Hinata and Sasuke gradually forced themselves back onto their feet, fighting through all the pain and exhaustion they felt in every fiber of their bodies. Their eyes shone brightly with determination as they took defensive positions next to their blond friend.

"So you do have some fight left in you," Kakashi replied, genuinely impressed by the trio's resilience. "Come! Show me your resolve!"

Naruto grit his teeth, knowing that rushing Kakashi head on would be suicide in his state. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He noticed that his teammates were looking at him for directions and asked, "Remember what we tried to do a couple years back? Uzumaki Tactic #2?"

Flashback

In their usual forest clearing, the three academy students were panting, but smiling brightly. "That was an amazing strategy, Naruto-kun," Hinata praised.

The blond rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Thanks. It had to be good, or you guys would have stopped listening to me after the last one."

"Yeah, Uzumaki Tactic #1," Sasuke recalled. "It was just your stupid Sexy Jutsu. I can't believe you made me copy that perverted garbage."

"HEY! You take that back!" Naruto shouted. "It worked on Iruka-sensei, didn't it?"

"How did you even know what they look like?" Sasuke asked, ignoring Naruto's complaints.

Hinata's ears perked up at this, leveling a warning glare at Naruto.

"Uh…"

"Naruto-kun…"

"Blame Pervy-Sage! He's the one who made me! You can't get that stuff out of your memory, ttebayo!" Naruto was full on panicking now, not wanting to face the wrath of his best friend.

Hinata just sighed at the mention of Jiraiya. It was a reasonable excuse, and she could tell he wasn't lying. Though she would go after the perverted hermit when he returned for introducing Naruto to that kind of material at such a young age. She also knew that the jutsu, as explicit as it was in nature, had its uses. After all, it did get Iruka-sensei off their backs when they ditched class for training that one time.

"Well, at least this strategy is a real one. I didn't think you had it in you, Naruto," Sasuke teased. "What are you going to call it, Uzumaki Tactic #2?"

"Oh, shut up!"

End Flashback

Sasuke and Hinata nodded in recognition. It was hard to forget that day, as it was one of their best memories as friends. "Remind me why we named our strategies after you," Sasuke complained, though he couldn't keep a smirk off of his face. He took out a few shuriken and prepared to throw them as Hinata stepped behind the two boys.

"You know what to do, Sasuke!" Naruto called out.

"Right!"

Naruto put two fingers from each hand into a cross as Sasuke launched the shuriken at Kakashi. "Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

With the help of his Sharingan, Kakashi deflected all the star-shaped projectiles coming at him with ease. However, one of the shuriken speeding towards him transformed into Naruto just as he was about to deflect it. "Gotcha!" the blond genin exclaimed as he cocked back his fist in preparation to strike down the Copy Ninja. That wasn't a Shuriken Shadow Clone, but a transformed Naruto clone! Very clever.

Kakashi jumped backwards to avoid the blow, but one of the shuriken that landed in the ground behind him transformed into another Naruto. Kakashi decided to tank a glancing blow from this clone so he could wipe them both out at once. However, the moment the clone made contact, Kakashi could feel his chakra points getting blocked. What?

The grinning clone canceled the double transformation, revealing itself to be Hinata. "Fell for it, Sensei!" She pulled her arm back at the elbow and launched a compress vacuum shell at the Copy Ninja. "Eight Trigrams Air Palm!"

Kakashi was blown off of his feet, but he managed to flip himself around before his back touched the ground. His mind briefly flashed back to when Hinata hid herself behind the two boys. That's when she transformed herself to hide herself among Naruto's clones. Amazing. Though I'm really paying the price. "Now I really regret teaching them so much," he grumbled half-heartedly as his front side made contact with the ground. He was forced to quickly get up and backflip out of the way as Naruto came flying at him with another kick.

"Now, Sasuke!" the blond yelled.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" the Uchiha called, using the last of his usable chakra reserves to send the large ball of fire towards both Naruto and Kakashi. The jonin's eyes widened as he thought Naruto would get caught in the jutsu. However, the blond just grinned and threw him a peace sign before poofing out of existence.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" So this is Uzumaki Tactic #2. What a creative bunch. I knew they had great teamwork from training them, but that combination could have been deadly if they were at full strength. Kakashi was really starting to feel the drain on his chakra now. Hinata had managed to hit him a few times, and Naruto and Sasuke had forced him to use defensive ninjutsu over and over again. Combined with the drain coming from his Sharingan, he knew that he only had one more chance to end the fight. First, Naruto. Once he goes down, the other two will fall.

He turned to look at the blond genin, who immediately tried avoiding eye contact. But it was too late, as he was caught in the Sharingan's genjutsu.

Hinata quickly made her way over to Naruto and released the blond from the genjutsu. However, that gave Kakashi an opening. The Copy Ninja blitzed Sasuke as the Uchiha was distracted by his friend's plight, this time making sure to knock the boy out with a quick chop to the neck. Sasuke was too exhausted to react and swiftly crumpled to the ground. "One down, two to go."

Just as the other two got back into fighting stances, the alarm clock began to blare, signaling that the day had come to an end. Sasuke awoke to the sharp screeching sound of the clock and immediately hung his head in shame, knowing what that noise indicated. "You were close… but you failed to put me on my back," Kakashi stated as everyone caught their breath. "And that means…"

The three genin looked down in sadness, knowing that their dream team was about to be split up.

"You pass!"

"Huh?"

Kakashi chuckled lightly at their confused reaction. "To be honest, from the start, I had no intention of failing you. The most important trait I look for in a team is teamwork, and you three have that in spades, exceeding even my expectations. I did this to test both your individual skill and the lengths you would go to to help your comrades. I knew that you worked well together from all the training we did in the past, but the display you put up today was truly on another level. I'm proud to call the three of you my students."

Naruto and Hinata smiled brightly at their sensei's words. Even Sasuke let out a relieved chuckle, thanking kami for not sending him back to the fangirls. Kakashi cleared his throat, regaining the trio's attention. "My best friend once told me that 'those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.' It's a nindo that has stuck with me, one I've been living by ever since his death." The Copy Ninja paused as he focused on a couple names on the Memorial Stone. "I want you three to remember to always treasure your comrades. You never know when life will throw a curveball at you."

"Yes, sensei!" the trio chorused.

Kakashi eye-smiled at his cute little genin. "Alright, I need to go report to the Hokage. I'm already late as is. You three look like you need some rest. Later!"

Kakashi arrived at the Hokage's office three hours after the meeting was supposed to take place. Everyone glared at him sleepily as he opened the door.

"What's your excuse this time, Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked wearily, noting the Copy Ninja's disheveled appearance.

Kakashi chuckled tiredly. "I'll tell you when it's my turn to make my report."

That response intrigued his colleagues, as Kakashi would always make up a lame excuse at the start.

The Hokage made his way down the list of teams. Teams one through six all failed miserably. "Alright Kakashi," the Hokage began. "What happened with your team?"

"They blew all of my expectations out of the water," Kakashi stated. "Their teamwork is better than some of the most seasoned teams we have around. With enough practice, they could even outclass the Ino-Shika-Cho formation in a few years, and I don't mean the ones in the academy."

That statement got many reactions from his colleagues, the loudest coming from his best friend. "My eternal rival! Your students' flames of youth burn brighter than ever!" Guy exclaimed.

"Huh? You say something Guy?" Kakashi yawned as he pulled out his book.

"Curse you and your hip attitude!" Guy cried out.

"Enough!" Hiruzen commanded, silencing both their banter and the small talk around the room. "Kakashi, please continue."

"Right," Kakashi acknowledged. "I started the test a little over eight hours ago, and they fought me all the way until midnight, when the timer finally ran out. They forced me to use my Sharingan early and still pushed me, even afterwards. While I was holding back offensively, I did no such thing on defense. They have some of the most creative combination attacks I've ever seen. Naruto and Sasuke have even learned how to combine wind and fire to create a more destructive attack."

The other jonin looked at him in pure shock. Kakashi was one of the strongest jonin in the Leaf. It was an incredible feat for a team of genin to fight him to a stalemate, even if he wasn't using any lethal jutsu. And these were genin who not only knew how to use elemental releases, but also combine them. Hiruzen smiled brightly, knowing for sure now that he made the right choice in letting them graduate early. "Thank you for your report, Kakashi. I can tell just by your state of dress that you need rest more than the rest of us. You're dismissed. Team Nine?"

Kakashi nodded to Guy, who gave him a thumbs up before making his report. The Copy Ninja headed out of the tower, looking forward to a good night's rest. Aside from Guy, he hadn't been pushed that hard in years. It looks like I'll need to up my training. I can't let my cute little genin catch up to me that quickly, can I?

A/N: Kakashi can last six-ish hours with the Sharingan because he never got complacent in his training. He began training Naruto and Hinata right after he left the ANBU(they were 7, 8 in a few months), and while they were at the academy, he would train by himself or with Guy. I alluded to this in chapter three, but this is a concrete explanation for those who want it.

If you're wondering about power scaling, this fight is essentially like the Sannin versus Hanzo on a much smaller scale. The Sannin were getting the shit kicked out of them, but they managed to survive (Hanzo spared them). It's similar to that here, except Kakashi wasn't using lethal jutsu. Regardless, it's impressive.

I'll try to keep my AN's shorter in the future, but this comment is one I had to respond to, as I feel like more than one person will end up asking the same thing.

RareDust76: Their closeness is a result of living and doing nearly everything together for about six and a half years at this point in the timeline. Hinata knows exactly what(who) she wants, but Naruto is still confused by his emerging feelings. But instead of trying to figure it out on his own, he's just going with the flow, since he trusts Hinata implicitly. Hinata's confidence is also much, much higher than it was in canon at this point. Six and a half years of no tear-down from Neji and the rest of her family and positive affirmation from Naruto will do that, so she's a lot more forward than her canon counterpart. Granted, parts of her natural shy persona will surface occasionally, as it did in this chapter, but Naruto has done wonders for her mentality.

Not to mention that both of them being the container to half of the same tailed beast literally makes them two halves of a whole. There's an extra level of subconscious closeness that they reached after learning about their tenant.

Obviously, they won't get together until Naruto fully understands his feelings, but that doesn't change the fact that they're closer than most friends would be. Oh, and the teasing from others will be relentless. Hehe.

Indra and Asura are very far in the future from where I am at the moment. I mentioned before that I had plans for Sasuke, but if I say anything, I'd be revealing too much. Just know that I have plans for everyone on Team 7.

Thanks for the extensive feedback, I appreciate it. c:

Edited 06/28/2024. No content changes, just fixing minor mistakes.