Chapter 7: Genin
It wasn't long until the classroom began emptying itself out when an almost...familiar person walked in.
She was a slender woman whose age one couldn't really tell. She looked to be around eighteen to twenty two years old, though she definitely could have been younger or older than that. She had beautiful, vibrant purple hair and wore red lipstick.
But again, her presence felt eerily similar to someone who had protected him and Naruto when they were younger...
"C-cat?" stammered the Saiyan, as nostalgia found itself flashing through the boy's mind, making him crack a smile.
"Smart boy, yes, indeed I am," spoke the part-time jonin, a smile on her face as well. "You've grown so much taller, I can barely recognize you."
It had been the truth, the Saiyan was slowly but surely gaining on her in height, which was a testament to how much he sprouted up from being a tiny squirt.
"So...what are you doing here Cat-san?"
"While I am known professionally as Cat, my name is Uzuki Yugao and I was selected to be your sensei...assuming you pass the test I have set up for you," she reintroduced herself, unveiling a few more details about herself.
"Right, right."
"Yup. After we get to know each other a bit more, I'll administer your test," spoke Yugao in a neutral but pleasant tone. "Follow me, I'll treat you to lunch."
-With Team Seven-
"Let's see, my first impression of you is…I really hate you."
Sasuke and Naruto's eyes twitched, and Sakura face planted.
"Meet me on the roof of the academy ASAP, and by that I mean in no more than five minutes, also known as two minutes. Get moving."
The Hatake then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Same old bastard," Naruto muttered under his breath as he stood and walked out the room, followed by Sasuke and Sakura. As per Kakashi's promise, he was actually at the academy rooftop in two minutes, which surprised the entire shinobi world. It was rare.
As Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto sat down on the steps in front of Kakashi, he began to speak.
"Oi, my name is Hatake Kakashi as you all know. Now, let's get straight to the point shall we. Introduce yourselves, hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, etcetera."
"Can you go first, as an example?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi looked at her strangely, too mature to visibly react but otherwise complaining about her lack of common sense in his mind. He gave a direct, simple order...
"Okay, I guess I'll go. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… my dreams for the future… hmm… as for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"
Kakashi then sighed and pointed towards Sakura.
"You first, pinkie."
"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." she giggled and looked at Sasuke, blushing at him. "I mean who I like..." she giggled again. "And my dreams are..." she blushed absurdly and looked at the Uchiha once again.
"As for your dislikes-" Kakashi trailed off, the answer being extremely loud.
"INO-PIG AND NARUTO-BAKA!"
"I see," Kakashi said slowly, looking at her strangely, before pointing towards Sasuke. "You're next, broody."
This received a low scowl from the Uchiha, but he answered anyways. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream...because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan... and kill a certain... someone."
'So cool,' Sakura thought in her fantasies, gushing.
"Teme," Naruto mumbled.
Sakura was about to berate him until Sasuke replied with a mutter, "Dobe."
The two butted heads, lightning shooting between their eyes as a sign of an intense rivalry.
"Say it again, and I'll kick your ass!" They both said in unison, a hair length from resorting to attacks.
Kakashi just sighed and pushed them apart with one-hand for each genin.
"Break it up. Now, you're last, Naruto."
Naruto laughed it off. "Fine. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and my precious people. I hate the three minutes it takes to get ramen ready and arrogant pricks that think everyone else is beneath them. Finally, my dream is to become the Greatest Hokage of all time, that way people will look at me like I'm somebody, somebody important..." Naruto trailed off at that, reminded of the fact that he was still the most hated person in the village.
Kakashi frowned. If it wasn't an S-rank secret he would have told Naruto who his parents were, and also told him about the Kyubi.
"Well then, meet me at Training Ground 7 tomorrow morning at ten. Also, don't eat breakfast; it'll just make it worse."
The Hatake then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto smiled. Tomorrow was the day, the day he would see if he was truly worthy of becoming a genin.
-Elsewhere-
Uzuki Yugao lead her fresh genin "squad" of one person to Yakiniqu Q, the highest rated Korean, Gyū-Kaku-style restaurant located in Konohagakure. Its salted beef tongue with Welsh onion is a very popular dish in the village, and it's probably safe to assume that Goku never tried it. The two then walked into the restaurant, and a waiter escorted them to a table in the corner of the place.
After he took the immense quantity of orders of Yugao and her underling, the two were left alone to mingle however they pleased.
"So, let's start with skipping the basics and talking about ourselves to each other," Yugao stated with a calm tone.
"What do you wanna know about sensei?" Goku inquired, already enjoying his new sensei's attitude.
She chuckled. "How about this: tell me things you like and dislike, hobbies, dreams...that kind of thing."
Goku grinned, cracking his knuckles while speaking. "I like spending time with my friends, training, and training some more. I also like to eat plenty of food! I hate people who harm innocent lives and hurt those that can't defend themselves. My hobbies are fighting, training even more, having fun, and again hanging out with my friends. My dream is to push my limits, become the greatest martial artist that I can possibly be, and help those in need. And my current goal is to take down a certain mercenary and then destroy the infamous Red Ribbon Army once and for all! And then bring back all those who were killed for no reason."
The last part generated a sense of wrath within the Saiyan that was manifested on the unconscious burst of his metallic blue aura, creating an abrupt wave of seismic energy that instantly shook the foundation of the restaurant.
'What was that? And why would he plan to target that army? Eh...' Yugao frowned as she remained in pensive thought. '...The Goku that I saw years ago would never make something as diabolical as that wind up a goal of his. And then bringing people back? What else is there to find out...'
"...Thanks." Yugao replied after shaking herself from her thoughts, before coughing a bit.
"Listen well, because I won't repeat anything," she began. "I'm a member of the Anbu black ops that is currently on hiatus for an unknown amount of time due to me being assigned your sensei. My likes are tea, traveling, and training/sparring with my significant other Hayate-kun. I dislike the cruel ways of the shinobi world. My hobbies include fuinjutsu, reading, spending rare time with my boyfriend, and once again training to improve my craft. And my dream is to contribute as much as possible to the idea of making the world a better place."
The Saiyan simply stared at his sensei, finding numerous commonalities between the two.
"Well, now that we know each other, let's get straight to the business part." The purple-haired woman broke him out of his thoughts. "in case you haven't paid attention to what I've been saying then know this...you aren't a genin yet."
"Why not?" Goku responded. "I passed the test, wasn't that the point?"
"That test is a scam," She smiled in response. "It's a qualifier to make sure students are competent enough to attempt to join the ranks. Tomorrow you have to take another test that leaves little room for error. Fail, and you get sent back to the academy."
Despite this revelation, Goku was confident he'd be able to rise up to the challenge. There is no way he's about to start losing, not in the Naruto-verse.
The waiter then arrived with a ten-course meal in front of her, taking trips back and forth between the table and the plates themselves.
"Food!" Goku stated aloud as the plates were being placed onto the table. Yugao couldn't help but smile at the preteen's pervading innocence, but then she sobered up for one more statement.
"After we finish lunch, go home and prepare yourself to meet me at 6 o'clock sharp."
"Hai!"
-The Next Morning At The Training Ground-
"Good job, Goku. You're on time," Yugao noted. "First order of being a shinobi, never be late to an assignment."
Goku cracked his neck and then began stretching his entire body, as per his usual routine. "Not really a shinobi, more like a Kame school martial artist!"
"Right right. Okay...so basically it's a survival test. We are going to fight, you against me," Yugao told him.
The Saiyan nodded, blood boiling for a fulfilling match. He hadn't been close to losing a fight since Tao Pai Pai.
"Basically, I'm going to evaluate your skills and ability. The test will only end when I make a decision on whether you should pass or not," she told him, cutting off any questions. "To pass, there's only one thing you have to do. Show competency, or else you'll be repeating the academy."
Son Goku grinned.
And then his senses sparked at the feeling of her killing intent. It reminded him of Mercenary Tao, only the underlying "intent to kill" did not exist. He could intrinsically feel it. Having experienced the might of Mercenary Tao, it didn't make him falter in the slightest.
Yugao noticed his reaction and tensed. Maybe she couldn't hold back here.
Then Goku, to Yugao's surprise, threw off his orange hoodie and wore his skin tight navy blue T-shirt, showing his still childish body-build. And yet, his muscular density was super apparent, even if he wasn't physically mature enough to convey his overwhelming strength.
"Let's do this Yugao-sensei. I'm ready."
"Good," Yugao curtly stated in response. She then started doing hand signs, and stopped at the cross seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Yugao immediately created a shadow clone, the smoke revealing two Yugao's instead of one. The second the clone saw Son Goku, it went into attack mode.
The clone unleashed a wave of shuriken with the intent of forcing Goku away from his comfort zone as a "martial artist" and into dense foliage. The Saiyan reacted as such, playing along by hopping up onto the tree where he was then forced to move further into the surrounding forest in order to create distance between him and bunshin Yugao.
Ducking under another slew of shuriken, the preteen punched the closest tree near him in half and swung the log at the clone. The clone, in a move that surprised the Saiyan, summoned her infamous sword and cut the tree in half.
Seeing this as a diversionary opportunity, Goku front-flipped over the scene and prepared to physically punish the Yugao doppelganger.
The clone didn't waste a second to try to blitz the Saiyan in response. It moved forward, sword drawn.
Too bad Goku's reactionary speed was S-class. Despite the increasing number of the swings, the Saiyan swiftly evaded each and every strike. And then-
SLASSSHH!
The other Yugao appeared, nearly decapitating the Saiyan and ending the story. It was only due to his six senses that he ducked under what could have been the end of his life, losing only a few strands of hair. Seeing that his typically polite sensei had entered an entirely different frame of mind, he knew he had to step it up a notch.
The warm-up was over.
Channeling his ki throughout his body, Goku grabbed the real Yugao's ankle while she was still airborne and swung her to his right. Using a relatively weak Kiai, the Saiyan managed to halt the clones assault and deliver a well-placed boot to the face.
CRACKOOOM!
Upon receiving such a harsh, concussive kick to the face, the clone was bloodied and relapsed into the air, still not being dispelled yet. 'That's different.'
Goku, seeing a prime opportunity to end one of his assaulters, decided to show off by shooting an unstable, destructive ki sphere at the clone that was reeling. The doppelganger screamed in agony as the unruly attack made direct contact with its body, exploded on impact, and effectively killed a chakra-focused version of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
"Is that it?!" Goku said with a confident smirk. "I know that wasn't your full power."
"Indeed," she responded from her standing position perpendicular to a tree, laser focused on her opponent. She could appreciate this. "That was only act one."
The Saiyan then launched another orb of yellow ki at the woman. The attack detonated directly in her head and Yugao was killed... before disappearing in smoke and being replaced with a log.
"Kawarimi!" Goku analyzed as he started to scan the nearby area.
Suddenly, he could detect her presence via the sound of a kunai coming from the southwest direction. He caught the first one, and then used the shinobi tool to block incoming projectiles. While his eyes could not see her vantage points, he swore he could feel it with his ki.
He knew energy sensing was within his grasp, but this type of battle confirmed it. It allowed him to officially learn how to sense life force. Chakra or otherwise.
The shadows of the forest setting left him with little choice. Being an Anbu member meant being a master in the art of stealth, something that Son Goku the martial artist was unaccustomed to combating.
Suddenly, she started to appear into his line of sight. She was charging...straight for him, making hand signs. When she finished, he anticipated a ninjutsu, possibly the fireball technique that Sasuke utilized.
However, she slammed her palms smack dab onto the ground. "Fuubaku Houjin!"
Explosions that came from underneath the ground were sent forward toward the academy graduate, startling him. Before he had time to react, all of the explosions impacted Goku and his figure was consumed by the fires of said attack.
Yugao on the other hand utilized the Shunshin to make it out of harms way just in time. Hopefully her future student survived that...
Implementing her own sensory abilities, she could deduce that he was still alive. Good. Now to assess the damage-
She turned around as quick as she could to block a ferocious kick with the blunt side of her blade, the force rocketing her from her canopy position to ground zero. Expecting the Saiyan to predictably rush to her trajectory in order to deliver another strike, she cocked her neck back and breathed a stream of Katon, which took Goku off-guard...
And then that burning Goku vanished out of existence. What?
"Zanzoken!"
Another Goku appeared immediately, slamming her body down hard to the ground and then delivering a punch to her face before he held up his open palm, charging cerulean ki into it in a manner not dissimilar to his late father's last attempt to kill Lord Frieza.
"Ready to pass me yet?" Goku asked her while on top. If he wasn't who he was, his innate masculinity might have been set off.
"Rule number 2: never ask the enemy if they're dead," She replied before disappearing in a poof of smoke, replaced by a log in her place.
"Never a doubt," Goku said with a smile. And then he smirked. "Brace yourself!"
Goku then unleashed his ki in a swift burst, surprising the assassin in her wake. He burst toward her at a speed no one had yet seen from him, and then he vanished right in front of her face.
"He's getting faster?"
Yugao could not fathom how he was really an academy student with that speed. She then heard his steps just seconds from contact. Turning swiftly and launching her foot as swiftly as possible, she hit him, or so she thought. That person turned out to be a slew of transparent afterimages, shocking the Anbu even more.
Yet it brought a smile to her face.
'There's no way around it, he's special beyond special.' Yugao thought, tensing up in preparation for a surprise attack. What startled her next was the Saiyan coming up right behind her, ready to assault her once more.
Using her instincts, she lashed out, striking the Saiyan and actually connecting with her sword...and the sword only cut a millimeter deep. What?
As soon as her swipe hit the Saiyan, Goku immediately shrugged off the attack and blitzed his sensei, catching her off guard with his smooth recovery. Unable to keep up with his speedy opponent, Yugao resorted to her discipline in training.
"Peekaboo!" Goku shouted from above her, double kicking her straight in the breasts, knocking the wind out of her successfully. He then rolled multiple times in midair until he landed on the ground gracefully, turning to look at his sensei.
"You okay?" He asked, wanting to know if she wanted to continue.
"Hai, I've been through worse," said the smiling jonin, shrugging off the soreness and the shock that literally littered her face. "I was surprised by your capabilities, that's all. I won't make the same mistake twice."
"We'll see about that!" The Saiyan responded by cupping his hands to the right side of his body, charging the infamous Turtle Destruction Wave quickly.
"KamehameHAAAA!"
He launched both of his arms forward, the plume of cerulean ki heading towards his sensei, who had expressed surprise written on her face.
He was probably, really definitively, the most powerful academy student to ever exist.
His strength and speed were off the charts, his taijutsu skills were ridiculous, his senses were incredible, and his intangibles — his most powerful attribute — only enhanced his fighting ability that much more.
There were numerous prodigies throughout history. None of them could touch this kid as far as she was concerned. Not at the same stage of their lives.
The fact that she didn't have a conceivable way to defeat him in a one-on-one battle either spoke volumes about him or said a lot about her own weakness. Either way...
The blast that was coming at her happened to be much too fast for her to do anything other than try to escape. Knowing this, she weaved through hand-signs in an attempt to evade it. Seeing this, the Saiyan added a huge influx of energy into his attack, detonating it right before she had moved, creating a resounding shockwave. This also caught the woman off-guard, the explosion not only catching her feet but also sending her reeling for a few dozen feet, tumbling along the ground.
The blast area was left as a solid two meter-deep crater, with nothing left in the area for quite a few dozen feet in diameter.
Smirking whilst breathing out a bit at his effort, the Saiyan stood up with his hands on the back of his head, somewhat tired due to the control aspect of his latest move. When the smoke dissolved, he could see her down for the count. Running to check on her in concern, he shook her dead body, only for it to pop into smoke.
Barely able to react in time, he was pressed down upon by his sensei.
'So his weakness...is his pure heart.'
Seeing her with a kunai in hand, he tried to evade each strike but the pressure and tenacity of the woman halted him. He then grabbed her hand holding the kunai, but once she was charged with fuinjutsu chakra, he released in a heartbeat from the voltage and backed away.
Shrieking in pain, he tried to shake off the electricity coursing through him, but it only hurt worse, even cauterizing the blood on his left shoulder from the sword strike she had landed earlier. However, Goku didn't give into the circumstances. Ever.
Charging ki from the inside, he unleashed it in one explosive Kiai, blowing everything back a good thirty feet away from him and ridding himself of the electricity.
And then more fire came.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Yugao shouted after weaving through hand-signs, sucking in air before exhaling a large flame going straight for the Saiyan. The heat didn't even bother his body due to his anatomy and genetic structure, so he managed to push against the flame with a sustained Kiai, clashing against the very commonly know jutsu with pure force. He knew he didn't want to waste energy completely snuffing out the jutsu, so he made the flame roar more wildly by spreading out, giving him enough time to escape the premises.
However, as soon as Goku ran away from the scene, he found himself bombarded with deadly projectiles. Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
His instincts were heavily relied upon and he kept on plucking them out of midair, flinging them away rapidly like a juggling exercise. He then threw one back at her with lightning speed, but she used the Kawarimi to not only escape but get a better position.
He turned to his left and saw two Yugao's coming towards her in a two-man weave pattern. Ultimately confusing Goku, he sent a quick ki blast at one of them. Though he initially hit the real one, she used Kawarimi on the other one so fast that Goku didn't even notice it. Then the Kage Bunshin exploded in smoke, blinding the Saiyan temporarily.
Then came Yugao's fist crashing into his face, making him finally stagger back legitimately.
Finally, the woman pressed Goku onto a boulder and held a kunai to his throat, ready to slice. "Looks like victory is mine Goku, despite your latent power and ability. What would you do in this situation?"
The Saiyan then smirked, confusing his sensei. "Nothing...except this!" He added, elbowing the boulder behind him and turning it into millions of fragments, flipping out of the predicament unscathed.
This also caused his sensei to smile and release her killing intent, noting that the Saiyan had a firm resolve and it wouldn't work.
She had to go all in and pull out rabbit tricks that he never witnessed before just to get him in a vulnerable position. If Goku was ruthless or evil...
Yugao mentally shuddered at the thought of a Black Goku, knowing the world would be in major trouble. "Very impressive, Goku. Much more than I initially expected, you and I are officially Team Four."
"Hai!" Goku shouted. He seemed to momentarily forget any slight fatigue or nick knacks from his fight. "Thank you for the fight, Yugao-sensei."
"I should be thanking you," The purple-haired ninja replied kindly. "By seeing your weaknesses, you've shown me my own. Iron sharpens iron, and today we both improved. You yourself, have the potential to possibly be the strongest shinobi to ever come from this village."
Yugao's words only made Goku even more excited. One problem though.
"Martial Artist!"
She couldn't help but chuckle as she looked at the now genin. "Yes of course. You're dismissed for the day. We'll meet up here at 8:00 sharp tomorrow morning and we will do that everyday until I say otherwise. Be prepared to fulfill that potential, Son Goku."
"Same to you, sensei. Same to you."
-With Team Seven-
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screeched.
"Sorry, but a black cat crossed my path so I decided to take the long way around. Anyways, you are all here, meaning we don't have to wait on anyone-" Kakashi paused, expecting an outburst. None came, surprisingly. "-So, we will begin your survival test now."
"Survival test?" The girl repeated. "We took those in the academy."
"Not to the same degree I will be giving you," Kakashi said, an edge in his voice. "You see, the academy was just to figure out which students had the potential to be ninja. However, this is the test to see those who actually deserve it. Each jonin has their own right to choose how they desire to test their potential genin and I have chosen the survival test. Basically all you have to do is get these two bells from me."
Kakashi pointed to the bells attached to his waist.
"Doesn't seem too hard," Sakura muttered, earning a dumbfounded glance from both Naruto and Sasuke.
Kakashi sighed. "The point is, I will be defending these bells, and your objective is to get them. You have my permission to do anything necessary to get the bells, including lethal force. You have six hours. I hope you make use of those hours. You must have a bell to pass this test. If you do not you will be tied to those wooden stumps and will have failed the test. Oh, and you won't succeed if you don't come with intent to kill. Now, before we begin, any questions?"
"Wait, sensei, there are only two bells, which means at least one of us will fail," Sakura said.
Kakashi nodded. "Correct Sakura, anything else?"
Sakura looked surprised. "Did you forget one while leaving your house?"
"No."
"But-"
"Sakura, he means we're also enemies in this test," Sasuke said, quite annoyed with the entire explanation. He just wanted to start, to test his power against a shinobi of his calibre, to test himself and see how far he is from Itachi's level.
He knew that Kakashi was another ticket to power, and he would be damned if he didn't take advantage of it.
'The odds are that highly stacked against our favor?' Sakura thought, worried about being separated from her 'Sasuke-kun'.
'Just like I thought,' Naruto thought. 'It won't stop me though, I'm gonna become Hokage one day, and it starts here!'
"Last question. Why did you tell us not to eat?" Sakura asked. Kakashi eye-smiled, one that made Naruto proud. After all, it was the prankster type gleam in his pupil.
"So it would be more difficult for you, you won't always be in top condition during missions."
Everyone was then silent for a moment, officially ending the questioning session and letting wind pass over there heads, swaying their hair into the wind.
"Well then, if there are no more questions, hajime!"
The three students disappeared.
"Well, at least they've got the hiding part of a ninja down," Kakashi said as he walked around the training ground, a nonchalant emotion expressed through his eyes.
While he knew where they were hiding, to your average genin they would be invisible. Kakashi sighed. He had to draw them out somehow. The question was how. He could just reveal that he knew where they were, but that would be no fun. After all it would basically be rubbing the fact that he was better than them in every way, shape, and form in their face. While he was unmerciful in the world outside of Konoha, he did not like to crush people's spirits if they were from his village.
His thoughts were interrupted as three shuriken sprang from Naruto's location.
Kakashi dodged the kunai while digging into his supply pouch. From it he drew…a book.
It was one of his smut novels, the Icha-Icha series written by Jiraiya The Gallant.
Naruto's eye twitched as he saw the book. 'Is he mocking me!? If so I'll kick his ass!'
The Uzumaki growled as he formed the familiar cross hand-sign of the jutsu he had learned recently due to a Mizuki scandal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Fifteen clones sprang to life around him. Naruto then pointed to three locations and told his clones to spread out in groups of five to those specific locations. The boss himself however, went to a different location. He went right at Kakashi.
"Foolish Naruto," Kakashi said as the kid charged him, kunai in hand.
The blonde just smiled and drew smoke pellets from his kunai pouch. He threw them at Kakashi who jumped away, although now there was a large purple cloud of smoke concealing the other from view. The blonde used this to wrap an explosive tag around his kunai. He then drew yet another kunai, without an explosive tag wrapped around it, and flicked them both at the silver-haired man.
Kakashi was indeed in the same place, and when he saw the two kunai come flying through the smoke cloud he frowned. He would have expected something stealthier from the number one prankster in the village.
Then again, he still remembered Naruto's clones were around, plotting his assassination.
Hatake dodged the kunai, noticing the explosive tag on the first one almost too late. He barely finished the hand-seals for the Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu before the explosive tag lit and exploded.
As the smoke created by the explosion cleared Naruto saw no trace of Kakashi, just a small crater and rocks blown everywhere.
"Where is he," Naruto pondered as he looked around. However, his question was soon answered as his ankle was grabbed. Naruto looked down at the hand, to see part of Kakashi's arm and his hand sticking out of the ground, wrapped around said ankle.
"Damnit," Naruto mumbled.
"Language Naruto," he barely heard Kakashi say before he was dragged underground. As the jonin popped out from underground he looked at Naruto, whose head was the only thing visible, the rest of his body trapped underground.
"One down," Kakashi said and walked away.
As Kakashi slipped into nearby bushes, Naruto smirked in a prankster like-manner and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
-With Sakura-
'Look at Naruto, thinking he's so cool. He got defeated by Kakashi-sensei like he was nothing. Sasuke-kun would obviously destroy Naruto in a real fight.' Sakura thought. She stood and began to search around for Sasuke, determined to find the so-called love of her life and partner up with him to take down Kakashi. However, what she found was not what she was expecting.
"S-Sakura, help m-me," said a wounded Sasuke. There were senbon, kunai, and shuriken sticking out of him at all angles, and he was bleeding profusely with one black eye that was swollen shut. Needless to say, it was a brutal sight to perceive.
"S-S-Sasuke-kun," Sakura stuttered out, horrified at the sight.
"S-S-Sakura."
Sakura screamed and fainted.
Kakashi canceled the genjutsu and walked over to Sakura, disappointment written all over his face.
As Kakashi took off into the trees to look for Sasuke he thought on what was currently happening.
'These guys were called the ideal team, but they don't work together at all. They're horrid at it. The only two I think could work together are Sasuke and Naruto, and that's if they put aside their intense rivalry. They're exactly like me and Obito were. This is gonna be troublesome indeed. I don't wanna have to fail sensei's kid, but I will if necessary.'
Kakashi landed on the ground as five shuriken flew by and into him, causing him to tip over. As he hit the ground he transformed into a wooden log, revealing he had used the Kawarimi.
Sasuke cursed, sprinting away at full speed, sending chakra blasts into his feet to go faster. His attack had failed, Kakashi had avoided it and now knew where he was, and was no doubt chasing after him. Sasuke cursed as once he appeared through a clearing he was hit with a punch to his side, sending him sprawling away and into an even more visible area.
The Uchiha stood to see Kakashi trotting towards him, boredom in his eyes.
"I see you don't think I'll be a challenge. Don't you underestimate me!" Sasuke roared as he charged. He drew a kunai attempting to slash Kakashi, however the man jumped over the strike and lashed out with a dual kick to the head, slamming the Uchiha's head onto the ground.
'Maybe that was a bit to rough.'
Then the Uchiha rolled next to him and jumped away from his prospective sensei, his Sharingan now being activated.
"That's it," The Uchiha stated, creating the cross hand-sign that he copied from his direct rival in an act of strategy...or trolling. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
This caught the Hatake off-guard a bit, not expecting Sasuke to be able to pull that off with what his chakra reserves should currently be. Two Sasuke's were standing next to the original after the smoke cleared, and the Uchiha realized that the technique ate up a huge amount of chakra.
How the hell was the dobe able to spam the technique like nothing?
The three Sasuke's then charged their sensei, one of the clones unleashing a Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu, a flurry of fire balls flying into the area surrounding Kakashi. He evaded them all of course, but this worked in the Uchiha's favor.
The clone used the Kawarimi to transition to the area left of Kakashi by ten meters behind two trees. The other two Uchiha launched a few shuriken, with the real one launching a kunai that had an explosive tag on it in the mix. The sensei, noticing it within the mix, used the Kawarimi again to the same spot of Sasuke's third clone.
This made Sasuke smirk, as his clone slapped the rest of his explosive tags onto himself. He also used the Kawarimi to get to where Kakashi and the other clone happened to be, while the real one made a back-flip, his Sharingan alert. He made one simple hand sign, and a large explosion took place in the area of the two clones.
Creating a large cloud of smoke in the process, he hoped to see his instructor at least somewhat hurt afterwards.
However, he caught from the corner of his eye his Sensei blazing towards his left side. Quickly raising a Kunai, he hardly parried Kakashi's head-on attack, the brute force making him stagger. Sparks flew as the two clashed, a halfway complete pair of Sharingan meeting one eye of an experienced shinobi.
Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere, he ducked, letting his sensei's momentum go over top of him. He quickly made one more Kage Bunshin and ran at his densei, pouncing on him in less than two seconds. The Hatake parried the clones side-kick and then tossed him hard onto the ground, creating smoke.
Distracting him for a split-second, the Uchiha tried to nail Kakashi in the face with a vicious kick, but instead he was pile drove into the ground without mercy.
As Sasuke shakily stood Naruto appeared, flying through hand-seals and racing towards Kakashi. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
Yet another army of clones appeared to jump the adult in the room.
Kakashi smirked and dodged each and every attack, dismantling the armada of fishcakes, finishing the job by slamming his knee into the real Naruto's gut. As the blonde held his stomach, Kakashi slammed his elbow into Naruto's head before kicking him in the chest.
Naruto was sent sprawling as Sasuke had recovered enough to charge at Kakashi. The man in question jogged backwards, fending off the avengers attacks before the blonde quickly joined Sasuke in his barrage. Despite the tandem, the copy-ninja still blocked both of their strikes with ease.
Naruto jumped in midair, holding out two kunai with explosive tags on them. "Take this!"
The blonde launched them both into the ground in front of and behind Kakashi with the flick of the wrist, however the bombs impacted Sasuke instead as Kakashi swung him into the attack.
The Uchiha growled at Naruto who waved his hands in apology.
"Crap I'm sorry."
"...Dobe-"
"You guys are pathetic," Kakashi said to himself, somewhat disappointed.
Sasuke forgot all about Naruto at that moment, continuing his assault on Kakashi.
However Naruto didn't join Sasuke at that point, preferring to make a plan that included out the box thinking.
'He's stronger, faster, and more experienced than we are, not to mention smarter. There's no way we can win this fight. But we have to.'
Naruto threw some shuriken before making the cross hand-seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Four clones appeared next to Naruto, and they proceeded to charge. The original charged behind them in a zigzag pattern. Kakashi groaned as he was grabbed by a Naruto clone from behind. Sasuke smirked at that, and launched a swift punch at Kakashi; however Kakashi switched places with a clone that was charging, causing that clone to disappear. Kakashi than launched three shuriken at the other three clones that had changed trajectory, easily killing them before kicking Naruto in the chin, launching him back.
Kakashi then jumped over a sweeping kick from Sasuke and landed behind him, kicking him from behind into a tree. The two remaining clones charged Kakashi. However, he took them down quickly before turning around. As he did so he noticed Naruto had disappeared and Sasuke was charging him. Kakashi was about to charge back but decided to wait on Sasuke.
Kakashi sweat-dropped as Sasuke came in with a direct punch in hand. Just like Naruto.
However, as soon as Kakashi caught the punch Sasuke twisted, trying to flip over to get the bells.
It would have worked, had Kakashi not had as much experience as he did. As the Uchiha flipped, he grabbed his other arm and threw him, turning himself upright in midair, stopping him from completely grasping the bells.
As Kakashi landed on his feet, Sasuke landed on his head, spinning around on the ground.
The Uchiha growled and stood preparing to reengage Kakashi. However, as fifteen shadow clones of Naruto, five from each location Naruto had sent them to earlier, appeared boxing Kakashi in a triangle shape, the blonde came swooped in and dragged Sasuke, sprinting away before the Uchiha did anything reckless.
"Let go of me dobe," Sasuke hissed.
Naruto complied, dropping the Uchiha roughly. However, Sasuke noticed that an unconscious Sakura was also here.
They were at a large tree in the center of the training grounds.
"Why did you do that?" Sasuke asked, his three-two tomoed Sharingan's spinning.
Naruto looked at Sasuke with an incredulous look. "You really thought you could take him?"
"No, but I had to try. I still did better than you."
Naruto just groaned and rubbed his forehead, a frown on his face. "Look teme, Kakashi-sensei is a top-ranked jonin; he won't be defeated by three genin, no matter how skilled they may be. Face it, Kakashi is waaaay to good for us to beat."
"What are you getting at then?" Sasuke asked, now a bit intrigued.
"While it may be true that we can't beat him, even if you, Sakura, and I worked together, we have a better chance of beating him if we do work together. Therefore, I request a truce, at least until we get the bells."
"Hmph. I see no point in this, Sakura can't do anything."
Naruto growled. "Sasuke, are you an idiot!? All teammates are a factor, even Sakura-chan!"
It was then that Sakura, who had awakened from her stupor not too long ago, decided to speak logic into the world.
"As much as I hate to say it, Naruto's right Sasuke-kun. Our best bet is to team up."
Sasuke growled and looked away, grumbling a begrudged, "Fine."
"Well that was entertaining."
The three candidates looked upwards to see Kakashi standing on a nearby tree. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
Naruto then threw three shuriken at Kakashi, which were seamlessly evaded.
However Sasuke jumped up towards him, engaging in a midair spar. Obviously Kakashi won, even with the Uchiha using his dojutsu, throwing Sasuke into the dirt. It was then that Naruto quickly made a clone that cushioned his fall, opting to throw even more projectiles at Kakashi in order to set up a finishing move.
The Hatake weaved through the hail of weapons, before he heard something whistling. He turned to see even more weapons coming at him, courtesy of Sakura. He eye-smiled at her finally contributing, and jumped over them, avoiding the attack.
Kakashi landed nearby.
"Now teme!"
"Right!"
Sasuke weaved through hand-seals, preparing to unleash fury onto Kakashi.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"
The Katon jutsu raged toward the jonin at a relatively high level of speed.
Sakura smiled at Sasuke's and Naruto's collaborative work before throwing more weapons at Kakashi. She wouldn't let him get away.
As the jutsu ended and Kakashi was nowhere to be seen, Team Seven began to think that they had disintegrated him, only to be pinned to the ground a moment later with a kunai at each of their necks.
"Sakura, give me all the information you know about your parents or I will kill Sasuke and Naruto."
Sakura stood their frozen. She had no idea what to do. How could she? She had the choice of either betraying her family or letting two people die. It was an impossible choice in her honest opinion.
Kakashi got off of Naruto and Sasuke soon after seeing her facial expression, allowing them to stretch and prepare to attack again.
"Calm down, the test is over."
The blonde stood up, and looked at the sun, realizing that according to the sun the test was indeed over.
"We failed."
"No you didn't."
Naruto looked at Kakashi curiously. "But we didn't get the bells."
"You didn't have to get the bells to pass. Allow me to explain. This test is not meant to see if you can get the bells, in fact, none of you have the ability to get the bells as you are now. This test was meant to see if you had the potential to work together."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, confused.
"This test was to see if you three could work together to defeat an adversary. It was about teamwork. The core to any ninja squad is teamwork, meaning if you don't have that you will die, early on in your mission. However, if you do, an A-rank mission can be as easy as a B-rank or even C-rank mission. Teamwork is key to any shinobi squad. I wouldn't go as far to say as it's more important than your own individual skills, but it is very important. You all have individual skills. If you combined them you would be a fearsome team, the best out of your genin class. However, if you have no teamwork, any quality shinobi could easily dispatch you."
"Okay, but what about the thing you just did to Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi smiled. "That was my final test. In the ninja world you may run into situations like that, when you either must betray your village or leave your allies to die. I realize that it's a tough decision and there is no right answer, but remember this: In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Naruto nodded, fully accepting the words. Sasuke just gave his usual, "Hn," and Sakura nodded.
"Good. Now that you understand, let's get going. Our first training session and mission is tomorrow, be here at 8 o'clock sharp."