[Author-Notes: This chapter is more fast-paced than the others.]

[Instead of the land of waves arc, I've decided for team seven to take on the land of snow mission from the Naruto-Movie: Clash-In-The-Land-Of-Snow. So I hope that won't be an issue for readers.]


January 17th 2002:

Moonlight brightened the village.

Ryomen Sukuna was hidden in his usual spot in one of the more isolated woods in the village. Sitting cross-legged on the grass-covered surface around him, Sukuna closed his four eyes.

It was 3: 20—AM at the moment. Kakashi Hatake had told Sukuna and his teammates to meet him at training ground three at 5: 00—AM. Sukuna was, of course, expecting his brand new teacher to be late.

Next to him on each side were his two wolf-themed Shikigami. Sukuna had decided to keep the existence of the Ten-Shadows a secret from everyone in Konoha, confident this technique would be a trump-card.

Shadows slithered across the area he was in at every corner. Scratching his pink hair in a small burst of fatigue, Sukuna dispelled his two wolves once they had calmed themselves down after a while.

Having returned to standing on his feet, Sukuna slipped his calloused hands into his pockets, disappeared into the bushes, emerged from the other side, and decided to return to his home for the time being.

(-)

Sukuna had reached the location Kakashi Hatake had designated to him and his teammates yesterday. Since Kakashi had the tendency to be somewhat late to meetings, Sukuna had arrived at 6: 30—AM.

Upon the entrance of Sukuna to the area, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha saw Kakashi appear in front of them in a plume of smoke. In his gloved hand was some kind of romance-based novel.

Index finger raised at Kakashi, Naruto shouted. "Why the hell did you tell us to come here at five if you were gonna be here at six, huh?!"

Entertained by how aggrieved and maddened Naruto had become, Sukuna leaned himself against the trunk of the tree and listened. Sasuke stood close to Naruto, face unimpressed and bored.

"How rude of you, Naruto." Kakashi pressed a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "I'm late because I helped an old lady cross the street."

Frustrated beyond belief, Naruto growled at the man. "I doubt anyone would trust you to help them cross the street!"

"Sorry, did you say something?" Kakashi tapped his ear, eye curved up at a nonchalant angle. "I think my hearing left me for a moment."

"Can you please explain this extra test?" Sasuke had grown irritated, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You two keep prattling on and on."

Returning to his much more laidback demeanour, Kakashi said. "The test is more simple than you think! Take the two bells I have from me."

Blinking at his teacher in suspicion and surprise, Naruto spoke. "All the three of us have to do is take those two stupid bells from you?"

"Not that simple, my new friend." Kakashi wagged his finger at the blond-haired boy. "Only two bells, so only two of you are able to pass."

Somewhat outraged and shocked, Naruto yelled. "That's bullshit! What happens if one of us fails?"

"Isn't it obvious, you moron?" Sasuke taunted his annoyed friend a little. "The one who fails this extra test will return to the academy."

"Bingo!" Kakashi slouched his shoulders, then glanced at Sukuna and said. "Of course, the other two who get the bells will pass this test."

Pocketing his book for a brief minute, Kakashi announced. "You'll have thirty minutes to take the bells from me. We begin right now."

(-)

Sukuna had taken Naruto and Sasuke away from Kakashi to create a plan to retrieve the two bells the man kept on his person. Chin held in his pale hand, Sasuke angled his head upwards and contemplated.

Naruto was less interested in the plan, legs crossed in frustration at the situation and blue eyes overtaken by an aggravated glint. Sukuna remained insouciant of their circumstances. "You two got any ideas?"

Sasuke lowered his hand from his chin. "I think you and Naruto should attack him at the same time to distract him. I'll try and get the bells."

"I know it sounds like a simple and idiotic plan." Sasuke waved his hand around. "But I have a good idea on how I can get those bells."

Palm placed beneath his right cheek, Naruto grunted. "Then what? That masked moron told us only two of us would pass this stupid test!"

"Don't worry about those later details." Sukuna smirked. "I think it's just a bluff to see whether or not the three of us can work together."

"Fine, I'll trust you two bastards on this." Naruto rolled his blue eyes, rose to his feet, and smacked his knuckles together. "Let's do this!"

(-)

Kakashi maintained his languid posture, eye reading over the illustrious pages of his limited edition of the Icha-Icha-Paradise series. Bushes rustled ahead from where he stood, wind ruffling their leaves.

Pivoting on the heel of his left foot, Kakashi parried an insane number of well-aimed punches from Naruto. Keeping his attention on his novel, Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and threw him back.

Distancing himself away from Kakashi for the time being, Naruto performed a multitude of hand-signs and opened his mouth. Kakashi found himself somewhat impressed. "He can use wind-style Ninjutsu."

An endless torrent of wind bubbled out from Naruto's mouth. Kakashi tossed his book up into the air, created an Earth-Style: Mud-Wall to block it, caught his book, and returned to looking over its vast pages.

All of a sudden, Kakashi's Mud-Wall was scattered into chunks of destroyed rock and stone. Intrigued by this development in the battle, Kakashi directed his gaze to where Sukuna had emerged from.

Dismantle was launched towards Kakashi—who was incapable of perceiving the slash-based attack like everyone else. However, long mastered instincts alerted Kakashi of something approaching him.

A second Earth-Style: Mud-Wall was then conjured in front of Kakashi. Dismantle dug itself into the rock-constructed wall, obliterating it in a split second. Sukuna squinted his four crimson eyes, contemplative.

Noticing the small pause in the battle, Kakashi thought. "Some kind of invisible pulsation? I wasn't able to sense it or even perceive it…"

Using his cursed-energy to enhance the natural power of his body, Sukuna flexed his clawed fingers and disappeared in a crimson blur. Naruto followed his friend's example, vanishing in a burst of agility.

"Good." Kakashi's hand blurred around the air to fend off their punches and kicks. "These two are capable of working well together."

Fore-arm raised to deflect a head-butt to the chest from Naruto, Kakashi hummed. "I assume Sasuke is waiting to take the bells, then."

Having taken advantage of the intensity of their clash, Sukuna applied the second impact of Divergent-Fist to propel Kakashi away from him. Kakashi recovered from this in an instant, upper-cutting Sukuna's jaw.

Hands mixed together into a hand-sign, Naruto summoned an abundance of Wind-Style: Wind-Clones to surround Kakashi. A moment later, they were dispersed to make a hurricane of wind.

Each time a Wind-Clone was dispelled—it would leave behind a tiny burst of concentrated wind in the atmosphere. Naruto had taken this onto a much more wider scale, generating this vortex in the area.

Recovering from the flash of pain Kakashi's upper-cut had given him, Sukuna launched a Dismantle into the small hurricane of wind. Kakashi dispelled the tornado engulfing him—but was hit by the slash.

The damage from the Dismantle that Kakashi had received was minimal. From the bushes behind Kakashi, a pale hand slithered out for the bells. Kakashi swatted the hand downwards, pleased and bored.

"So they were working together to get the bells." Kakashi's assumption about Sasuke's role in the plan had been correct. "Good on them."

After batting Sasuke's hand down, Kakashi dropped his elbow onto the Uchiha's head and buried it into the soil. Sasuke's face sunk into the dirt—but then he twitched and disappeared in a cloud of fumes.

Turning around, Kakashi reached his gloved hand out, grabbed the original Sasuke by the collar of his shirt, spun in a circle, and hurtled Sasuke into Naruto as the two of them crashed into the trunk of a tree.

Sukuna leaped over his friends, glancing at them in amusement and concentrating on Kakashi to predict the man's next movements. Kakashi remained immobile, once again reading his acclaimed book.

"He's fast enough to retaliate against Dismantle." Sukuna rolled one of his stiffened shoulders. "But the only goal here is to take those bells."

Positioning themselves back onto their feet, Naruto and Sasuke stood behind the reincarnated child. One finger was raised by Sukuna at Sasuke—Kakashi then realized that this was some type of signal.

A storage-scroll was pulled out of nowhere by the Uchiha. Kunai fell into Sasuke's hands before he threw a barrage of them at his foe. Kakashi raised an eye-brow, body-flickering away from the weapons.

However, upon the moment Kakashi had touched his feet down on the surface, the ground around everyone cracked. Sukuna had used Spiderweb on the terrain to disorient Kakashi for a few seconds.

Although, it was enough time for Naruto to swoop in and snatch the bells from Kakashi instead of Sasuke. Tongue stuck out at the Hatake, Naruto waved the two bells around. "Take that, you masked asshole!"

Having reoriented himself, Kakashi curved an eye up. "Good job, Naruto! Now, you have to decide who passes and fails this test!"

"Screw this shit." Naruto tossed the two bells back to Kakashi—who caught them and arched an eye-brow up. "I say we all fail together!"

Kakashi gauged Sasuke's expression of agreement and the disinterest strewn across Sukuna's tattooed features. Even more pleased by this outcome, Kakashi said. "Good job! You three pass!"

Pocketing the bells, Kakashi explained to them. "The main purpose of this extra test was for me to see whether you three could be a team."

"So!" Kakashi stashed his book away, then clapped his palms. "I'm happy to announce the official induction of team seven from today!"

"We'll meet here tomorrow at the same time." Kakashi spoke. "The three of you will be given your first assignment to complete."

(-)

February 15th 2002:

It had been a short month since the official formation of squad seven under Kakashi's debatable mentorship. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sukuna had left a garden—having finished the mission to cut down its weeds.

A groan bubbled out from Naruto's throat. "This sucks! We've been doing the same crap for the last month! Where's all of the action?!"

Since they were a new squad, team seven had been assigned mundane tasks alongside those who graduated at the same time as them. Sukuna was indifferent to these missions. "I don't really care."

"Huh?" Naruto rounded on Sukuna in the blink of an eye, baffled. "Come on, Sukuna! Aren't you bored of these lame missions?"

"Kind of." Sukuna shrugged at the blond-haired boy. "Give it a few more weeks or months and I'm sure we'll get a mission out of the village."

Interrupting their conversation, Sasuke then said. "I can't believe I'm saying this—but Naruto's right. I'm also getting bored of these tasks."

"Like I said." Sukuna remained indifferent. "Give it a few weeks or another few months and we'll be given a mission outside of Konoha."

Kakashi flickered behind his students, book in hand. "I see you've completed your mission. Time for your third mission of the day!"

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto raised his hand up, scowling. "Can't we get a more exciting mission?! All of these ones have sucked!"

Blinking his lone eye down at the blue-eyed boy, Kakashi hummed. "You'll just have to rack up more experience for higher-tiered tasks."

The third assignment team seven had been given was to capture Tora—the cat belonging to Madam-Shijimi, the wife of the lord of the land of fire. Naruto just groaned, frustrated by everything in general.

(-)

It was later in the day and team seven had left for their homes. Kakashi stood in front of the desk in the Hokage's office. Hiruzen Sarutobi held a pipe in his hand, blowing out three rings of smoke.

"What do you think of those three?" Hiruzen lifted an eye-brow in curiosity. "They've been completing missions at an impressive speed."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head in response. "They have good team-work, though I do believe their skills are being underused."

Puffing out two rings of smoke this time, Hiruzen said. "It's standard practice for all Genin teams to do more simple missions for a while."

"Although, Sasuke did defeat a Chunin." Hiruzen scratched his chin. "And I saw how skilled Sukuna was against Yamato in a battle."

Shaking his head, Hiruzen lowered his pipe onto his table. "I'll give your team a higher-ranked mission in the next two months, alright?"

"Of course." Kakashi inclined his head, waved at the Hokage, and left through the entrance of his quaint office. "I have some reading to do."

(-)

Sukuna had returned to his residence at last after completing all of the missions his team had been assigned by the task department of the village. Shoulders slumped, Sukuna sank deeper into his sofa.

Rock-Lee and his team had been busy because of an influx of missions—so Sukuna had no-one to fight against to improve and test out how much he had developed his skill in hand-to-hand combat.

Despite being indifferent to the missions he and his team were given, Sukuna found himself becoming bored of them much like Naruto. Tora had been a nuisance to chase around the entirety of the huge village.

Arms stretched across the top of the sofa, Sukuna directed his four crimson eyes to the clock on the wall. The time was 9: 20—PM. Sukuna sighed, wondering if he should head to bed for an early nap.

Throughout their tasks, Naruto had grown more and more impatient about the chances of them being given a mission outside of the village. Sasuke shared the same sentiments as the blue-eyed boy.

From what Sukuna had seen from their training sessions together, Might-Gai had started to teach Lee about the utilisation of the Eight-Inner-Gates to increase the pure power of his physical prowess.

During the month he had been a Shinobi, Sukuna had been successful in taming Orochi—the snake-themed Shikigami of the Ten-Shadows Cursed-Technique. Sukuna grunted at that thought.

Orochi would be a useful Shikigami in combat. Its striking speed, agility, natural strength, and dexterity were all useful attributes. However, Sukuna would only bring out the snake in an emergency.

Sukuna slinked off of his sofa, changed into a less professional outfit, exited his apartment-complex, and descended upon the streets of Konoha to shave away at the boredom he felt at the moment.

Entering a more isolated section of the grand village, Sukuna stepped into the numerous alleyways in the area. Shadows danced around him until they were illuminated by the low crimson glow of his four eyes.

From one of the divided walls of the alleyway he was in, a knife snaked out for the temple of his head. Dismantle shattered the weapon into scraps of metal. Though, Sukuna felt some impassivity.

Knocking the man out cold onto the concrete underneath them, Sukuna slipped his calloused hands into his pockets and yawned. It wasn't too late into the night—so many people were out on the streets.

Sighing to himself, Sukuna returned to the local streets of the enormous village and strolled onwards. Streetlights winked on, illuminating a path for him in one of the more empty parts of the area.

On this mundane walk, Sukuna caught himself wondering about how much his teammates had grown in the last month. Sasuke's physical prowess had developed much more than Sukuna had anticipated.

Not one to be left behind by his rival and friend, Naruto had mastered more and more wind-natured Ninjutsu. Unlike his Canon counterpart, this version of Naruto hadn't learned the Shadow-Clone Jutsu yet.

Sukuna had forgotten about how Mizuki had tricked Naruto into stealing the forbidden scroll in the official story. Shrugging the thought off, Sukuna resumed his walk and saw the streetlights flicker on.

(-)

April 10th 2002:

Sasuke and Sukuna were seated against the trunks of an old tree in an isolated section of training ground three in the Hidden-Leaf village. At the moment, Naruto and Kakashi were engaged in a light battle.

Blue eyes squinted in intense concentration, Naruto performed a number of hand-signs, opened his mouth wide, and unleashed three orbs of condensed air at his teacher.

Kakashi channelled his chakra into the soil underneath his feet, summoning an Earth-Style: Mud-Wall to repel the wind-based attack. Bursting into instant action, Naruto sprinted forward and then blurred.

Hands raised in Naruto's direction, Kakashi moved his arms around the air to fend off a large amount of strikes and hits. Leaning away from his blond-haired student, Kakashi hummed in vague approval.

Naruto created some distance from Kakashi to complete a number of different hand-signs. Particles of wind gathered at the tips of Naruto's fingers as he grinned at his teacher. "Wind-Style: Wind-Bullet!"

Eye-brow raised in mild astonishment, Kakashi said. "Oh? You've mastered a good amount of wind-natured techniques, Naruto."

Having lifted his arm at the wind-constructed bullets, Kakashi applied a weakened layer of fire-natured chakra over his palm to slap away the assault of projectiles. Naruto grunted, disappearing once again.

"He's gotten pretty good." Sasuke had activated his Sharingan to observe this entire battle. "He knows more Jutsu than I expected."

Palm placed underneath his left cheek, Sukuna snorted. "I'm more surprised Kakashi isn't reading that damn book of his this time."

"Naruto's also still pissed about the lack of 'exciting' missions." Sasuke was somewhat amused. "I thought you said to give it some time."

"I was speculating about how long it would take." Sukuna rolled all four of his vermillion eyes. "Why do you have Sharingan activated?"

Blinking his Sharingan-accentuated eyes, Sasuke said. "I'd like to memorise every form of Taijutsu Kakashi uses whenever he fights."

"Also, if we're talking about eyes." Sasuke refocused on the battle between his friend and teacher. "How do you have those four eyes?"

Shrugging at the Uchiha, Sukuna then responded. "No clue. The extra vision is kind of useful when I'm fighting someone."

"Can I ask about the tattoos?" Sasuke asked the reincarnated child. "You did tell Kakashi those marks were on you when you were born."

"Once again, I have no clue." Sukuna shrugged a second time. "I don't really care about the extra eyes or tattoos. They don't bother me."

There was a lull in the casual conversation. Naruto had managed to land a punch onto Kakashi's stomach—but a knee drilled itself into his whiskered face, hurtled him back, and crashed him into a tree trunk.

"Good job, Naruto!" Kakashi raised a thumb at the semi-conscious blue-eyed boy. "You had me building up some sweat in that fight."

Having turned towards his two other students, Kakashi spoke. "I fought Sasuke earlier. So, Sukuna, come on up and fight me."

"Time for some fun." Sukuna suppressed the avid urge to grin in excitement. "I could use some more practice in my general Taijutsu."

Not in the mood to waste any more time whatsoever, Sukuna vanished in a vicious flash of impressive speed. Kakashi maintained his nonchalant demeanour, parrying a right hook straight to the face.

Sukuna retracted his tattoo-covered arm, flexed his clawed fingers, and unleashed a Dismantle at the rock-constructed dome Kakashi had erected around him. Chunks of stone sank into the soil of the sector.

Appearing behind Sukuna in an untraceable distortion of movement, Kakashi knocked his elbow downwards onto his student's head. Sukuna's head lowered from the impact—but he then turned around.

Kakashi hummed a little from his wounded torso after Sukuna had applied Cleave onto his solar-plexus. Tolerating the dull sense of pain like nothing, Kakashi upper-cut Sukuna in the chin without any fanfare.

Teeth clicked together from the collision to the chin, Sukuna snapped his head backwards, lashed his leg out at Kakashi, and kicked him in the abdomen. Kakashi stepped back as Sukuna stumbled away.

From what Kakashi had witnessed from this individual in particular, Sukuna's physical ability was unnatural even without the reliance of the mutated chakra his official medical files had named cursed-energy.

Kakashi had grown impressed by the skill his three students had. When he had taught them about the basics of chakra-control, Naruto and Sasuke had somewhat struggled—but had mastered it in the end.

However, Kakashi was unable to teach Sukuna about chakra-control because of his subsequent lack of chakra in general. Although, Sukuna could also use cursed-energy to stick to any type of surface.

Deciding to end the training session between himself and his students, Kakashi pulled out a normal edition of Icha-Icha-Paradise, waved his hand at team seven, and vanished in a hurricane of numerous leaves.

Sukuna approached Sasuke and Naruto—who had recovered from being propelled into the trunk of a tree. Whiskered face somewhat bruised, Naruto grinned. "Did you see my new Jutsu, you two?!"

"Yep." Sukuna rubbed his chin—the section where Kakashi had hit it. "I'm shocked you have the patience to even learn these techniques."

"Your Taijutsu has also gotten better." Sasuke told Naruto, chin cupped in one hand. "But your reflexes could use some work."

Legs crossed, Naruto said. "I guess they could. And I'm still waiting for Kakashi-Sensei to give us a more exciting mission!"

"Are you still on about that saving a princess mission?" Sukuna raised his eye-brow, unimpressed. "The chances of that happening are zero."

Index finger jabbed in Sukuna's direction, Naruto replied. "Didn't you tell us we'd be given a mission out of the village in a few weeks?!"

"Like I told Sasuke, that was speculation." Sukuna scratched his head, annoyed and even more unimpressed. "It was just an estimate."

Cutting into the discussion, Sasuke pitched in. "At this point, I think we should expect a less mundane mission soon from Kakashi, I hope."

"Kakashi-Sensei is taking too long!" Naruto threw his arms up. "I betcha that masked bastard is making us wait on purpose for fun!"

(-)

An hour had passed since then. Sukuna was occupying his usual spot in the secluded woods in the Hidden-Leaf village. The bushes behind him rustled for a few moments before Lee stepped out from them.

"Sukuna!" Lee waved at the vermillion-eyed boy. "I knew that the youthful aura I sensed here would be you! Of course it was!"

Amused by his friend's youth-obsessed attitude, Sukuna said. "Yeah. I'm sure this my youthful aura of mine will scare away my opponents."

"You truly are a splendid individual!" Lee was being somewhat overdramatic—like usual. "How have your missions been, Sukuna?"

"Same old shit." Sukuna shrugged. "The missions I had yesterday were just helping cut out weeds and painting some old fences."

"That reminds me of my own old missions!" Lee chuckled. "Oh! I have to get going! Gai-Sensei invited my team out for dinner today!"

"See you later, then." Sukuna watched Lee disappear in a hurricane of leaves, sighed to himself, and groused. "I should head back home."

(-)

Hiruzen had a scroll held in one of his wrinkled hands. Kakashi had his shoulders slouched, stood in front of Hiruzen's wooden desk. Laying the scroll down onto this desk, Hiruzen coughed into his fist.

"I think it's about time I assigned your team a higher-ranked task." Hiruzen spoke. "I think those three have earned something new."

Kakashi curved his eye up into its usual crescent-based shape. "That's good! Naruto's been getting a little mad at me about this."

Mouth twisted into a thin smile, Hiruzen said. "Another reason why I'm giving you this mission is because you're connected to it in a way."

"I do think Naruto, Sukuna, and Sasuke are enough for this mission." Hiruzen scratched his bearded chin. "Though, it could be intense."

Kakashi caught the scroll thrown towards him and read its details.

He sighed.


A/N: Thanks for reading.