The doors to the academy gates swung open, and out came the excited students.
"Look dad! I passed, I passed!"
"That's my boy!" The father replied proudly.
"Oh man, I failed..." Another muttered to his friend, who just smiled sheepishly and gave him a pat on the back.
"Don't worry man, you'll get it next time."
This was the scene playing out for many of the bright-eyed youths as they chattered amongst themselves. Amidst the mass, a certain student smiled and threw their hands up to the sky, also wearing a shiny new headband.
"Woohoo, I did it!"
The beast inside nodded in agreement.
"Mh, I see. Congratulations."
"Did you see me in there!? I was like 'haah!' And 'woosh!' That exam was so easy!"
The bijū simply nodded again, though they appeared to give off a perplexed feeling.
"It did look a little too easy..."
"Bah, who cares." The Jinchūriki waved the bijū off. "I passed, that's all that matters." They placed a finger on their chin as they seemed to think hard about something.
"Do you think Naruto would have graduated by now as well?"
The question made Chomei pause. "Fuu...He was wearing a headband when you met him. He told you he was here on business."
"…Is she talking to herself?" One student whispered to his friend, making him shrug in response.
"Oh, I guess you're right." She grinned as the seven tails sweat dropped. Fuu interlocked her fingers behind her head and stared up at the sky. "I wonder what he's doing right now…"
"Target acquired, please advise…" A hooded figure whispered into his earpiece. He was standing in the shadows, on a rooftop away from prying eyes, watching as the seemingly unaware target in question walked along the streets.
"Copy, you have your instructions. Proceed with the objective."
The man nodded, ever so slowly retrieving a single kunai from his pouch as not to alert his mark. He brought the glinting object up, taking aim, and threw it with pinpoint accuracy as it sailed for the back of the target's head.
Just as it was about to hit, the man tilted his head to the side, just enough for the knife to cut off a few strands of hair and harmlessly bury itself into the ground.
'Shit!' The hooded man cursed, his cover having been blown and immediately pulled out a smoke bomb before throwing it down at the target's feet. A big noxious cloud surrounded him as the assassin jumped down and ran into the smoke. He pulled out his short blade and swiped at the man's head, only for his sword to meet no resistance.
'What!?' He thought frantically as he looked around for his target. This is bad, if he lost sight of him and the target escaped, he'll be onto him and the mission might get-
A chill ran down his spine as he sensed something behind him. Slowly turning around, he felt himself froze. He saw a white mask watching him, inches away from his own face within the smoke waiting for the assassin to make a move, the blank porcelain glinting in the moonlight.
The smoke dissipated, and his target was gone again, allowing him to catch his breath. Looking around, he saw him dash up a rooftop and quickly make his escape.
'What just happened? Am I seeing things?' He shook his head. 'No, it doesn't matter. I can't let him escape.' The man chased after him following him onto the rooftops. He saw him drop down into the street below and into an alley, which he quickly took pursuit as he himself landed back onto the ground.
Suddenly, all the wind was knocked out of him as a man in a bird mask drove his fist into his stomach. He was sent flying back towards a man in a bear mask, who slammed him into the ground, and another man in a tiger mask pinned his arm behind his back and pressed his heel on the back of his head. The last thing he saw before his vision turned dark was all three men surrounding him.
"Good job, Naruto. You did well to lead him towards us." Bird said, placing his hands on his hips as tiger removed the hood from the slumped assassin, revealing an Iwa headband.
"…"
"Iwa again." Bear said in disdain as he crossed his arms. Naruto turned around and began to take his leave, making bird look back towards him.
"Hey if you're interested, we could use somebody like you in ANBU!" He called out. Naruto paused and turned towards them.
"Huh? Why would I ever join ANBU?" The blond replied.
Bird blinked as Naruto jumped away, and raised his hands up defensively when he saw Bear stare down at him. "What? It was just a suggestion." He countered. Bear gave a sigh and shook his head.
—
'This isn't the first time Iwa's tried something funny like this…' Naruto thought as he let his feet direct him towards an aimless direction.
Over the years, Iwa has been caught five times inside of Konoha, two of those times had been an attempt at his life; and while he had no definitive proof as to why, he could make an educated guess.
His father, the yellow flash. The man that had made a mockery out of the stone army. It was no secret that Iwa still held deep-seated hatred towards the fourth Hokage. But that begged the question, how had Iwa managed to continuously infiltrate the leaf? Was there a hole in their security system? Or was it an inside job? Was somebody from the leaf handing out information to Iwa?
He blinked and came to a stop when the sound of somebody panting reached his ears. 'Is that…Mizuki-sensei?' He thought in surprise. The man was hunched over and leaning against a tree, blood staining the side of his green flak jacket. On the ground besides him laid a big white scroll with green ends, something he recognised as the Forbidden scroll. He'd seen it a few times in the Hokage's office when he was younger.
'What's he doing with that?' He thought as he watched him from a distance. He looked like he'd been running non-stop and looked to be heavily injured. It wasn't too difficult to figure out what had happened.
Mizuki's legs shook in effort before collapsing to the ground. 'I-I might have bitten off more than I can chew…' He thought as he rested his back against the tree he was previously leaning on. 'I'll just…Take a quick little nap…No one will find me here…'
Naruto continued watching him for a few seconds before slowly making his way over to the downed form of one of his academy teachers. He tapped him several times with his foot and, after noticing no reaction from him, looked over towards the Forbidden scroll.
—
Thud.
A figure quietly landed nearby and fixed its eyes on the seated boy before slowly approaching the child from behind. The person encased in shadows loomed behind the resident Jinchuriki, a single red eye shining from the darkness. He slowly raised a hand, clenched it into a fist…
Bonk.
"Oow." Naruto complained as he rubbed the top of his head and looked up at the masked man behind him.
"Na-ru-to." Kakashi drawled out in a threatening tone. "Would you be so kind as to tell me why you took the Forbidden scroll?"
"I didn't take it." He replied, annoyed. "Mizuki had it. I just happened to open it."
Kakashi stared at Naruto, then looked over at the unconscious form of the Chunin a few meters away, then back to Naruto. He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index fingers.
"Alright. Hand it over."
"But I'm not finished."
"I said give it." The copy ninja grabbed one end of the scroll causing Naruto to grab the other end and pull against him, resulting in the two starting a tug-of-war. Kakashi planted his foot on Naruto's mask and used it as leverage to pull the scroll out of his grasp.
"Now, we're going to go back to the Hokage's office and we're gonna explain the whole situation to him." Kakashi said as he rolled the scroll back up.
"What? Why? I didn't do anything."
"Maybe so, but Mizuki has been going around all night claiming that he saw you escaping with the scroll, so people are calling for your head. Now pick him up."
Naruto frowned. "Why do I have to carry him?"
"Because I'm carrying the scroll."
"Then I'll carry the scroll."
"Just pick him up Naruto." Kakashi replied in exasperation.
"Fine…"
—
"-And those are the events that transpired, Hokage-sama." Kakashi finished his brief.
"I see…" Hiruzen replied. "Thank you, Kakashi. Mizuki will be taken under custody and be interrogated." He turned his attention towards the newly-minted Genin. "And Naruto, I see that you've graduated once more. Congratulations."
Naruto just tilted his head and looked elsewhere in the room.
Hiruzen cleared his throat. "It goes without saying that you did not look at the content of the scroll, am I right?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Good, you two may go." Hiruzen said with a nod, making Naruto turn and leave the room. Hiruzen was about to return to his duties but stopped once he realized that Kakashi was still here.
"Something else I can do for you, Kakashi?"
"I have a request."
"…" Hiruzen sighed and rubbed his forehead, before putting down the paperwork in his hands. "What can I help you with?"
"I would like Naruto on my team."
Hiruzen frowned. "I was planning on giving you Sasuke-kun, considering you are the only one that can train him with his dōjutsu. He is quite the promising student."
"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say that. And I already know about Sasuke." Kakashi countered. "But you know just as well as I do that I know Naruto better than anyone. I've overseen his training since he was six years old. I know what his strengths are and what his weaknesses are, I can bring out his full potential." Kakashi paused before continuing. "Besides, I'm sure you're aware that Naruto probably will not be willing to cooperate with any other Jōnin."
The Hokage heaved a small sigh. "Were I to do that, then I would have to give Sasuke to somebody else, and you're the most suited for him. Naruto will just have to make-do."
"Then give me both of them."
"Kakashi." Hiruzen interrupted in a stern tone. "That would disrupt the balance of the teams. Naruto and Sasuke are both prodigies in their own rights."
"So…What?" The masked man replied with a shrug. "Naruto and Sasuke have trained together in the past. They would work better together, and nobody else but me would be better suited to train them. Yet you're willing to throw away that potential just to follow rules put in place dozens of years ago?"
"That is enough, Kakashi!" The old monkey stood up from his seat and fixed him with a frown. "I will not speak on this matter again, so…"
Hiruzen trailed off, making Kakashi look at him weird.
"…No. Actually, I take it back. I will allow this Kakashi."
Kakashi blinked. "You will?"
"Yes." He said as he sat back down. "But in return, you will do me a small favor."
"…Which is…?" Kakashi said slowly, now on edge.
Hiruzen didn't reply, and merely hid his smile behind his interlaced fingers.
"Why don't you give it up?" A man wearing a hat said with a taunting smile. "This game of tag is getting boring."
A blond man hiding behind the trunk of a tree stared at the smoke bombs in his hand, before throwing them at the man with the hat. The man shielded his face as the bombs exploded and blocked his vision.
Brief sparks flashed within the smoke before all went quiet. Once the smoke cleared, the blond man could be seen on his hands and knees, panting as his enemy pointed a kunai down at him.
"Give it up" He repeated once more.
The blond man tiredly pushed himself up to one knee, his head down with his hair shadowing his eyes. "Can I say one thing?"
"I don't care to listen!" His opponent shouted as he ran into him point first with his sharp blade. The blond was pushed back as he painfully impacted against the trunk of the tree they were standing on. "Die already!"
"…Give up…" The blond man said, surprising his enemy. He erupted into a cloud of smoke, indicating that he was only a clone. "On making me give up!"
Before the enemy ninja could process what had happened, he was struck in the back of his head, making his hat fly off as he bounced against the tree and collapsed on his stomach.
"Ung…!" The man groaned. "Even if you take me down…Another assassin will attack the village…" He chuckled and turned his head so he could stare up at the blond man. "As long as we are cursed to live in a ninja world, there will be no peace."
The blond however, remained unfazed. "Then…I'll break that curse!" He said with conviction. "If there is such a thing as peace, I'll seize it! I'll never give up!"
The enemy Shinobi looked up at him in surprise. "Wh-Who are you…?"
The blond man slowly raised his hand. "My name is…"
—
"Naruto."
Naruto blinked behind his mask and looked up from his book, making Sasuke raise an eyebrow in return.
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Uh…No." Naruto replied. "Did you say something?"
"I said what is this book you've been reading? I've seen you with it for the past few days."
"Oh…It's nothing. Just a story I like." He replied as he shut the book. Sasuke shrugged and took a seat next to him.
The both of them were now sporting a headband with the leaf insignia on it, as was everybody else in the classroom. Now, they were just waiting for the arrival of their teacher, so the two sat in silence as they usually did.
"Yo, guys!" A voice said behind them, making Naruto turn his head towards it. Choji, the son of the Akimichi clan head gave them a big smile. "Wow, so we all made it huh?" He said happily.
"Yahoo, looks like it!" The voice of Kiba replied loudly. "Who are you all hoping to get paired with?"
"Hmm…" Choji hummed as he ate a handful of potato chips. "Shikamaru and…I don't really know." The Nara sleeping besides him snored in response.
"I don't care as long as they're not annoying." Sasuke said without turning, making Choji nod.
"Yeah, that! Uh, minus the rude bit." He turned towards his whiskered friend. "What about you Naruto?"
Naruto shrugged. "It's all the same to me."
"Bah, it's graduation day and you two are still brooding! Liven up a little!" Kiba said. A blush appeared on his face as he began to daydream. "Me, I hope I'm paired up with some fine babes…Oh man, that would be the best!"
"Hm…" A monotone voice interrupted. "Actually Kiba, since you are an Inuzuka, it's more likely that you would be put on a tracking team. I predict that you will compliment a formation comprised of Hinata and myself to excel in reconnaissance."
"Eh…" Kiba said as he sent an annoyed side eye at Shino Aburame. "Hinata…? Well, at least it's not an annoying girl like-"
BANG!
"Goaaal!"
Kiba winced as the girls in question loudly barged into the room. They turned to each other and exchanged heated glares.
"I won again, Sakura!"
"What're you saying?" Sakura replied with an annoyed twitch. "The tip of my foot got in one centimetre faster!"
"Hah, you must be blind."
The two girls continued to squabble, before they both turned to the rows and looked for their object of interest.
"Shanaro! I'll be the one to sit next to Sasuke then!" Sakura exclaimed. Though her friend surprisingly seemed less enthusiastic.
"Wait, he's sitting next to…"
As if feeling their stare, the white mask turned in their direction, making them go rigid as a chill travelled through their spine.
"H-Hey, Sakura. You should go tell Naruto to move."
"N-No way! You do it!"
—
"Starting today, all of you are real Shinobi. But you are still only just Genins, so the hard part of your journey that lies ahead has just started. Now, you will soon be getting missions to help the village. So today, we will create the 3 man teams and each team will have a Jōnin sensei. You will follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions."
"Um, sensei? Where is Mizuki-sensei?" a boy asked.
The students all looked around the classroom as if just noticing the absence of their second teacher, making Iruka nervously rub the back of his neck.
"Ah…Mizuki will be on absent leave for a little while." He replied before clearing his throat in an attempt to change the subject. "But you shouldn't worry about that right now. Moving on, the groups have been determined so that the strength of the teams will be balanced."
"Team one will be…"
Iruka began listing out names and their associated teachers, some of which the blond recognised, but held no interest for. Before long though, his name finally came up.
"Now then, next is Team seven…Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto perked up slightly at that. "Sakura Haruno…" The girl went pale and slowly turned to look at her would-be teammate, who didn't seem to have any kind of reaction. "and…Sasuke Uchiha. Your teacher will be Kakashi Hatake."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. So Kakashi was finally going to be teaching a Genin team? And coincidentally, he was gonna be teaching him?
'Why do I feel like this isn't a coincidence…' He gave an anxious side look towards his teammates. Kakashi was gonna take it easy on them, right?
…Right?
Sakura didn't seem to know whether she should be sad or happy. 'Well…At least I'm with Sasuke…'
Sasuke for his part looked happy with the team, or as happy as Sasuke could look anyway. 'I could do without Sakura…But I guess this could be worse.'
"Weren't the teams supposed to be 'balanced'…?" Shikamaru muttered to himself as he rested his cheek on his palm in boredom.
"In the afternoon, I'll introduce you to your Jōnin teachers. You're dismissed until then!"
—
Sakura anxiously fiddled with her hands as she looked around the now empty classroom. All the other teams had gone with their sensei, and Iruka-sensei had also left. So now, it was just the three of them…And tension was high.
She looked over towards Sasuke. His fingers were interlaced in front of his face, and his eyes were closed. He was the epitome of cool and collected, as usual.
She bit her lip when she recalled the events that had taken place during their recess…
"Oh! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out with a smile and a wave. The Uchiha was walking in her direction with his hands in his pockets. He stopped in front of her and looked around, as if searching for something.
"Hey hey Sasuke-kun! I'm glad I found you! Maybe we can spend some time together and get to know each other a little better? You know, since we're going to be teammates now and all…"
Sasuke stopped looking around and finally locked his eyes onto her. "Where's Naruto?" He said, ignoring her request.
The pinkette seemed taken aback by her question, but she quickly wiped it off her face and attempted to give him another smile. "A-Ah haha, who cares about Naruto? That guy is really weird anyway, he gives me the creeps." She crossed her arms and frowned. "He never ever talks and he hides his face behind a weird mask, clearly there's something wrong with him. It's like he doesn't even have any manners!"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he listened to her speak. "Now that I think about it, he doesn't have any parents, right? So that's probably why he's so weird. He can do whatever he wants." She said as she raised her hands into a shrug. "If I acted like that I'd be grounded for months. He's so lucky, all alone, no parents to ever tell him what to do and what not to do."
"…" Sasuke balled his hands into fists and began walking away.
"Huh, w-wait Sasuke-kun where are you going?"
"Don't talk about things you don't know about…" He said in a cold tone, surprising her. The Uchiha turned a corner and was gone from sight.
Ever since then, Sasuke had been giving her the cold shoulder, even more so than before. Had she offended him with the comment she said about Naruto? She wasn't aware about any friendship between the two. As far as she knew, the two held some sort of rivalry…At least, Sasuke did and Naruto just seemed to endure it.
Her eyes drifted to the second teammate. It was always impossible to tell what that guy was thinking because of that blank mask. She wasn't too sure when he'd started wearing that thing, because she knew for a fact that he didn't have it during his first year at the academy.
He was eerily quiet, only spoke when spoken to. His voice and tone was pretty soft spoken. He never raised his voice or spoke long sentences, and he always looked like he wanted to blend in with the background. It was almost as if he was socially awkward. But then whenever it came to sparring, it was like he was a whole different person. It was almost like he was emanating some kind of aura that put people on edge. He always left himself wide open, but at the same time nobody could ever capitalize on it when they fought him. He was like a walking contradiction.
Even now he sat a few seats away from Sasuke, arms resting on his desk, head and body a bit slouched forward. She almost thought that he was sleeping if it wasn't for the fact that she couldn't see him breathing.
"Ah man, what's our sensei doing!?" She exclaimed after a few more minutes of silence. "It's been nearly two whole hours already!"
She didn't expect a reply, but she had to break the silence somehow. That's why she was so surprised when she did receive one.
"…Kakashi-sensei is like that. You should get used to it."
She blinked and looked towards her masked teammate and quickly attempted to compose herself. "A-Ah, do you know him, Naruto?"
He twitched slightly, the first movement he made in two hours she wondered? "Something like that…"
The door suddenly opened, gaining the attention of Sasuke and Sakura. A man with a black facemask and lopsided silver hair poked his head in.
'Come on! What's with everybody and their masks!?' Sakura complained in her mind.
"Hmm…How can I say this…" he said while rubbing his chin. "My first impression is…I don't like you guys."
—
The three grouchy looking students sat in a semi-circle on the rooftop of the academy while Kakashi leaned against the railing in front of them. "Well then let's begin, I guess. Start with introducing yourself."
He was met with three blank stares. "Uh…What do you wanna know?" Sakura replied, making Kakashi shrug.
"How about your likes and dislikes, or your dreams for the future?"
"Then why don't you go first? You look kinda suspicious!"
'This is kind of nostalgic.' Naruto thought. He and Yuna had had nearly the same reaction with Tomoda-sensei.
"Oh, me?" Kakashi said in a bored tone. "Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like telling you guys what my likes and dislikes are. Dreams for the future? Hmm. And hobbies, I have some."
'All he told us was his name…' Sakura thought.
'…Is that guy for real?' Sasuke thought with wide eyes.
Naruto had to resist the urge to smile behind his mask. This was classic Kakashi behaviour.
"Alright, now it's your turn." He said with an eye-smile while pointing at Naruto. All eyes turned towards him, both of his teammates being curious about the blond enigma.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen. I don't like mirrors. I don't have a dream and I train and read sometimes."
"…"
'Huh…Guess he doesn't really trust them yet.' Kakashi thought. "I see. Well then, your turn next."
Sasuke tore his eyes away from the Jinchūriki and directed them at his teacher. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And…I can't really call it a dream…" He paused. "But I have an ambition. I need to find a certain man."
'Hm…'find', eh?' Kakashi thought in interest.
'So cool…' Sakura thought dreamily.
"Alright, your turn." Kakashi said motioning towards Sakura.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. The thing I like is…Well the person I like is…" Her cheeks turned red as she glanced at the boy next to her. "And uhm…My dream for the future…Um…" She glanced over at the Uchiha again and giggled dreamily. "Oh yeah! I dislike Ino-pig!"
'Hm, I definitely have my work cut out for me…' Lamented Kakashi as he listened to Sakura ramble on. 'If I let her out of the village as she is now, she'd get killed on the first mission.'
"Alright, that's enough with the introductions. Tomorrow, your time as a Shinobi will begin." He closed his eyes as all three children stared up at him with intent. "But first, we are going to do a little bit of what I call…Survival training."
Naruto tensed up at those words as a shiver ran through his spine, garnering strange looks from his teammates.
"Eh? Kakashi-sensei, we've had enough training at the academy already."
Kakashi shot her one of his eye smiles. "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now, I might as well tell you. Out of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen to become a Genin. Which means…"
Sakura grew pale at those words. "W-Wait what? T-That means that…We have a 66% chance of going back to the academy?"
"Seriously…?" Sasuke thought as a nervous bead of sweat trailed down his forehead.
"Ah, but I guess you already knew this Naruto, huh?" Kakashi though in disappointment. Damn, he wanted to see the Uzumaki get nervous. Guess he'd have to try harder. "Anyway, tomorrow you will have to prove to me that you have what it takes to become a Shinobi. Bring all the tools you have available to you. The details are on this piece of paper."
The Genins watched as Kakashi pulled out three pieces of paper and placed them in front of them. He turned around to leave and gave them one final piece of advice. "Oh yeah, and don't eat breakfast. You'll just throw it up."
"…"
Sakura brought the piece of paper to eye level with shaky hands. 'If I fail this…I'll be sent back to the academy…' She thought as she gulped. "All of this will be for nothing…And I'll also be separated from Sasuke…!'
Naruto stood up and walked over the edge of the building. "You should probably ignore that last bit…He just said that to throw you off."
Sasuke looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "You sure seem to know a lot about that guy, Naruto."
"Hm." Naruto hummed in response before jumping off the building.
After taking a moment to compose herself, Sakura turned towards her only remaining teammates only to notice that he was leaving as well. "W-Wait, Sasuke-kun! If you have time after this, maybe you and I could-"
"Sorry, busy."
The girl deflated at the instant rejection.
"Naruto! You're late!"
Sasuke looked up from his position to see his blond teammate walking over towards them. The blond in question stopped next to them and looked around the training field.
"Looks like I got here before Kakashi-sensei, though."
"Yeah, real coincidence." Sasuke muttered, sarcasm dripping from his words. "You could have warned us."
"And spoil the fun?" Naruto replied as he hopped up on a tree branch and sat down. Sasuke scoffed and closed his eyes again.
"…" Sakura looked between both teammates anxiously. She felt incredibly out of place. Both boys knew each other already and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to fit in. What to do…Should she try making conversation?
She was about to speak when she was cut off by another voice.
"Hey guys, good morning!"
"You're late!" Sakura yelled once more. Kakashi waved her off and placed a clock down on a training stump nearby.
"Alright, this clock is set for noon." He spoke. His two unmasked students looked at him, confusion evident on their faces. "Here are two bells. All you have to do is take them from me before the time is up. Those who don't have a bell by noon gets no lunch! Not only that, I'll also tie you up those stumps and eat in front of you."
Now was the time he was expecting them to complain about being hungry. However, he was surprised when all he saw was Naruto and Sasuke looking unbothered, and Sakura crossing her arms defiantly.
He sent an annoyed look towards the blond, who tried his best to appear innocent. 'Damn you Naruto, I'll get you for this…'
"Oh, one more thing. In addition to not eating lunch, whoever fails to get a bell will be sent back to the academy.
The three Genin looked at each other. No matter what happened today, someone was going to be sent back. It was hard to tell what Naruto was thinking, but Sakura seemed to look visibly distressed.
"As I said yesterday you can use any tools you want. The only way you'll succeed is if you come at me with the intent to kill."
A gust of wind blew across the field after these ominous words, making Sasuke and Sakura tense up in anticipation.
'Good, they're taking this seriously.' The Jōnin thought.
"Alright then, begin!"
Sasuke and Sakura immediately bounded off into the trees. He normally would have spared a second to mentally praise them about that fact, but…
'The most important thing about a shinobi is to be able to hide yourself…' He thought as he carefully watched the only member that hadn't fled to the trees. 'You know this…So why are you still here?'
His eye narrowed. Naruto hadn't moved from his position and was standing a few meters away from him. Hidden away in the surrounding foliage, his teammates watched the blond in surprise.
'What's that guy doing? He can't seriously think he can take a Jōnin on all by himself, right?' Sakura thought.
Both Shinobi remained motionless, almost as if sizing the other one up. Suddenly, Naruto raised his hand up, putting the Copy-nin on edge. He threw an object on the ground, and he was immediately engulfed in a dark cloud of smoke, obstructing him from view.
'A smoke bomb?' Kakashi thought. The smoke was disrupted as five clones shot out from within it, all flying towards him at impressive speed.
'Shadow clones…' Kakashi thought as he looked upon the five blank faces approaching him.
Naruto seemed to have developed a strange phobia over the years. Mirrors. Though to be precise, it wasn't the mirror itself that he feared, but what they reflected.
The blond could not seem to be able to look at himself without having a volatile reaction. He had no idea where those emotions stemmed from however, Naruto was always tight-lipped when it came to it. Over the years, his phobia had only gotten worse to the point that he'd removed or broken any mirrors within his apartment.
Unfortunately for him, this translated to his clones as well. The technique that Naruto once loved, he'd grown to hate it so much that he would avoid using it. Until one day two years ago, he showed up wearing this.
It was hard to describe what that mask was supposed to be. It wasn't really anything at all. Most ANBU masks in Konoha were based off animals and such, but his was just…Blank. Just a white shape covering his face with two small eye holes cut out. When Kakashi questioned him about it, all Naruto did was shrug and say 'It's doing its job.'
Kakashi changed his position and ducked under a clone's swing, striking it in the stomach and dispelling it. He twirled a kunai into his hand and used it to dispatch two more clones with two clean slashes.
"…!" Kakashi quickly crossed his arms in front of his face as a paper bomb detonated near him, having been ignited by the third clone right before he was dispelled. He backflipped away, only being singed thanks to his quick reaction time, but barely had time to breath when one attempted to attack him from behind. He grabbed the clone by the wrist before spinning and throwing it at the last remaining clone, making the both of them dispel.
He took a small breath when the last clone disappeared, but was caught by surprise when his masked student burst from beneath the ground underneath him. He didn't have time to turn around and defend as the blond pulled his tanto out from its sheath and cut a diagonal slash across his back.
"Ah…!" Both Genin stared with wide eyes and open mouth as they watched their Jōnin Sensei fall to his knees, blood erupting from his back. He collapsed with a small thump, only to erupt into a puff of smoke and be replaced by a broken wooden log.
Kakashi dropped from above and delivered a double kick to his student's back. The blond dispelled in a cloud of smoke, showing that he was nothing but a clone as well.
'Another clone…?' Kakashi carefully looked around the empty training ground. '…Where's the original?'
—
"That wasn't a regular clone jutsu…" Sasuke muttered to himself after watching the back and forth between Kakashi and Naruto. He was surprised at the level of skill having been displayed, but he couldn't get distracted. From this position, Kakashi had his back turned to him, and his focus wasn't directed on the bells at his waist. Now was the perfect time to sneak in and snatch them without his knowledge.
After taking another quick glance around, he was about to push off, but was stopped when somebody grabbed the back of his collar.
He gasped and whipped around, forcing Naruto to let go of him. "What are you doing, idiot? Don't sneak up on me!"
Naruto ignored him. "I think I know what we're supposed to do."
Sasuke frowned and crouched back down on the tree branch he'd been hiding in. "Well, yeah. So do I. We need to take those bells."
Naruto shook his head. "No, that's not it…"
"Then what?"
"Just listen." The voice of his former teammate echoed in his mind. "When's the last time you've seen a Genin team with only one Genin? It's never happened before. Konoha is all about teamwork, right? Why would he be the one to make the only one-man team?"
"I'll tell you in a second but…We need Sakura."
"…"
"What the hell for!?"
—
"Aah!" Sakura yelped in surprise when she awoke from her sleep-induced Genjutsu. Blinking, she looked up at the blank face of her teammate who removed his hand from her shoulder. "Naruto? What are you-" She stopped when Sasuke landed next to the blond. The Uchiha looked at her with a small frown before stuffing his hands in his pockets and closing his eyes. "Sasuke-kun! You're okay!"
"We need to come up with a plan together if we want to pass this test." Naruto said, not one to beat around the bush.
"Wait…You want to team up?" She looked at Sasuke with wide eyes. "You too, Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn." Sasuke grunted in reply.
That seemed to be enough for the girl, much to Naruto's surprise. "Alright! What do you need me to do?"
—
Kakashi watched a small clump of grass roll in the wind with boredom. There's been nothing but quiet for the past 10 minutes, and he was growing restless.
Now in this situation, he would usually pull out his favourite book and partake in his favourite guilty pleasure…But with these kids in the mix, he knew that that little trickster would somehow manage to catch him off guard. Hey, he did want them to pass his exam, but that didn't mean that he would make it easy. He took in a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
Rustle.
His eyes snapped back down to where the noise had come from and put his guard up again, though he relaxed slightly when he saw who had landed in front of him.
'Oh, it's just Sasuke.'
"Hmm, so it's the lone avenger's turn now huh?" He drawled out. "Let's see how you fair compared to the two others."
Sasuke only gave him a smirk in return, before closing his eyes. He snapped them open again, revealing red irises with a single tomoe in each eye before he rushed towards the copy-ninja.
'Sharingan huh? Wonder when he awakened it.' Kakashi thought, blocking a high kick from the Uchiha prodigy. Sasuke used Kakashi's arm to jump behind him and attempt to kick him in his back, but Kakashi merely crouched down low and let the foot harmlessly sail above his head. He threw a low sweep at his teacher which he effortlessly avoided, making Sasuke stumble forward.
Sasuke cursed and quickly regained his footing. He dug his hand in his kunai pouch and threw a handful of shuriken at Kakashi, but frowned when the Jonin was replaced by a wooden log making his Sharingan dart all over the place. His eyes widened and he backflipped out of the way of a hand popping out from under the ground that attempted to grab him by the ankle.
'Fire-style, great fireball justu!'
Sasuke flew through hand signs as he sailed through the air and fired off a great ball of fire towards the exposed hand, setting the immediate area ablaze. Sasuke landed as he cautiously watched for any signs of his teacher.
Sure enough, Kakashi popped back up a few ways away from the burnt grass. He looked at the patch with his usual bored look and waved his smoking arm to cool it down. "Phew, that was a close one."
He turned his attention back towards his student. However, Sasuke just gave him a smirk before suddenly ducking down. Out of nowhere, Naruto shot forward above Sasuke like a bullet and drove his foot in Kakashi's stomach. The Jōnin slid back and coughed in surprise, and quickly had to pull a kunai to deflect a Tanto slash from the Uzumaki, then a second, and a third.
"Sasuke!" Naruto called out. The Uchiha weaved through more hand signs and blew out a volley of smaller fireballs. 'Fire-style: Phoenix Flower jutsu!'
Kakashi was forced to dodge to the side away from the barrage, and was immediately put on the defensive again. He threw a wide slash forward which Naruto was forced to deflect. The blond jumped, delivering a two-hit sword combo. Kakashi blocked both, and had to re-adjust his stance when Naruto came in with a sudden diagonal slash, before jumping up and delivering another two-hit combo and finishing with a final cross.
"Now, Sakura!"
Naruto threw one final kick at Kakashi, which he blocked. However, with his attention pre-occupied, he didn't notice the log behind him get substituted with the female member of team 7. Before Kakashi had time to react, Sakura jumped forward arm out-stretched, grabbed a hold of the bells from Kakashi's belt and yanked them off.
"Ow ow ow!" Sakura slid across the ground and bounced onto her back, before stopping with a thud. All was quiet for a while as the rest of the team stared at the panting girl. Finally, the pinkette victoriously thrust her fist that was holding the bells in the air. "I got them!"
"Hn." Sasuke smiled as he and Naruto walked over to the female member and stood next to her, all three now looking over at Kakashi. "Well sensei, looks like we win."
Kakashi closed his eye and dusted himself off. "Looks like you do…" He repeated. He opened his eye and levelled them with a serious stare. "But who will be sent back now, I wonder?"
"…"
Sasuke frowned, Sakura bit her lip and looked down at the ground and Naruto silently looked at his two teammates. He already knew what Kakashi was doing, so he decided to remain quiet and see what they would come up with for now.
Sasuke opened his mouth to speak. "I-"
"It should be me…"
Everybody turned to Sakura in surprise, who was still staring at the ground and clutching the bells with shaking hands.
"I…" She hesitated. "Compared to you two…I didn't really contribute much…" She said with a trembling voice. "You two are so strong…and you Naruto," She looked up at her blond teammate. "You came up with this whole plan. All I did was…Grab those bells while you two distracted him. If…If anybody here should go back to the academy, then…It should be me."
"Are you sure Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
Sakura slowly nodded, having already accepted her fate.
"No, I don't think that's right." Sasuke suddenly said out of nowhere. Sakura's eyes widened as her head shot up to look at the Uchiha. "Everybody contributed. Besides, I've never seen two-man teams before. It's always been squads of three. So, whatever it is you're trying to do, it's not working." He finished while sending a small frown to the copy-ninja.
'Sasuke-kun is…Defending me…?' Sakura thought in shock.
"So that's how it is, huh?" Kakashi muttered with a frown. He slowly walked forward, a threatening aura surrounding him. Sakura took a step back in fright and Sasuke shifted uneasily, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face.
"If that's the case then…You all…"
The frown and aura disappeared and was replaced by a cheerful eye-smile "…Pass."
"…Huh?" Sakura said, stunned.
"Congratulations everyone, you are henceforth all officially members of team 7." He finished in a happy tone. He closed his eye before staring up at the sky as if reminiscing on some long-forgotten memory. "A ninja must always look underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are trash…But you know what? Those who don't care about their comrades and abandon them are lower than trash. An old teammate of mine once told me this."
'An old teammate…' Naruto thought with a frown. Kakashi's old team. He wondered what kind of people they all were.
Sakura's mouth hung open, still processing what had just happened, making Kakashi chuckle and give them all a thumbs up. "Starting tomorrow, team 7 will begin its duties! So, eat well, sleep well and look forward to it!"
And with those final words, Kakashi was gone in a cloud of smoke. Sakura blinked at that, and looked to her two teammates. "We…We really…did it?"
Sasuke crossed his arms and gave his team a small smirk. "Nice work, Naruto. And even you Sakura. Maybe there's still hope for you."
"A-Ah thanks Sasuke-kun…I think…" She deflated slightly, but quickly regained her energy. "Time to go celebrate!"
She was met with a distinct groan coming from Sasuke, but was surprised when nobody objected. She smiled at that. They may have had a rocky start, but this might not be so bad after all.
AN: Sorry this one took a while to come out, got a bit busy in the real world. But hey, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it.
I made a discord server with TheOrangeSpark. Would be cool if you joined, you can talk to us there and get updates on uncoming chapter and such.
disc ord.g g/j7cr uwQ Q9E (Copy and paste this and remove the spaces.)
Please make sure to review! Who knows, it might motivate me to write the next one faster. See you next time!