Author's Note: Welcome back, everyone! As this is my first story I welcome constructive criticisms, flaming and trolling will be ignored.

Disclaimer: Naruto and Inuyasha belong to their respective owners.

Dialogue Legend:

"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue

'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon

"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name

'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon speaking

Review Corner:

God of Wind 200: I see where you're coming from. Kakashi or Iruka seem to be the most popular pairings with Anko in fanfics if she's not paired/in a harem with Naruto. At the moment I don't really have any plans for Iruka, I may have to change that now. As for why Anko didn't end up with Kakashi, that would be telling.

Serpensreality: I can somewhat forgive Sakura's bitchiness towards Naruto because 1) she comes from a civilian family and we all know how 99% of Konoha's civilians feel about Naruto, so Sakura was likely indoctrinated from a young age to at least dislike Naruto if not outright hate him, and 2) having someone constantly trying to flirt with you when you're attracted to someone else would piss off almost anyone. Add to that Naruto's canon stupidity and I can't entirely blame Sakura for resorting to beating her point into Naruto since she presumably tried to shut Naruto down with words at least a few times before the events of the series.

From what I can remember, Ino was only really bitchy towards Sakura and that was due to their rivalry over Sasuke. It's been years since I've watched the anime. I am re-reading the manga for this fanfic but I haven't gotten to parts that show Ino yet.

Either way, their personalities are going to be overhauled for this fanfic, especially Sakura's. Like Naruto said in Chapter 4, Team 8 will not tolerate Sakura's shit.

Can't comment on Neji without giving away spoilers. As for Danzo, his reckoning is coming. Soon.

cryo threshold: Glad you're enjoying the story! Yes, Kiba is a girl in this fanfic. Naruto addressing Kiba with the "-chan" suffix was my main clue for that. While "-chan" has many uses and can be considered a gender-neutral honorific, it is frequently used, especially in anime, when the speaker is addressing young or adolescent girls.

Chapter 5 – The Bell Test

Training Field 7

"Good morning, everyone. I will now explain the rules of Konoha's true Academy Graduation Exam" Kakashi said in greeting to his charges. Naruto had a mixture of delight and concentration on his face, as if he were coming down from a high.

'Understandable, given the punishments he doled out last night; hopefully he got enough sleep.' The Jonin turned his gaze towards his other two charges.

Sasuke's brooding was on full display, making it hard to tell what he was really thinking, while Hinata was trying not to stare at Naruto, getting increasingly flustered as she failed miserably.

'Young love, is it? A distraction at best, a major hindrance at worst and, for this test, both are deadly.' Kakashi coughed loudly, attracting the trio's full attention, and placed an alarm clock atop a tree stump, the center point of three such stumps, and pulled tiny bells out of his pocket.

"This alarm is set for noon; it is now 8:03 AM. These bells are the goal of this exam; your task is to take them from me within the time limit. Those who don't have a bell by noon will not be permitted to eat lunch. You'll be tied to those stumps and forced to watch as I eat lunch in front of you."

The trio collectively gulped as they realized this was why Kakashi told them not to eat breakfast.

"As there are only two bells, one of you will definitely be tied to the stump, and any who don't get a bell fail the exam. Therefore, at least one of you will be going back to the Academy for sure, if not dropped from the Shinobi program outright." Kakashi said as he tied the bells to a loop on his pants.

Hinata suppressed a gasp; a test that ensured only two of them – at best – could pass was being administered by a Jonin? 'There's no way I can let Naruto fail; he deserves this far more than I do!'

Sasuke cleared his mind, not letting the possibility of failure or the ramifications of success hinder his thoughts. Doubt and hesitation are poison, the enemies of ambition and progress. At times, discretion demands their consumption in small doses, but outwitting a Jonin in a battle of logic and mind games was a feat beyond his current abilities. He knew there was something else at play here beneath the rules Kakashi had described, but he left discerning the true nature of this exam to the teammate who had deceived nearly all of Konoha for years.

Naruto placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder and gave her a carefree grin. Outwardly it seemed to have the desired effect of calming her down; it would have to be enough.

'Damn, I knew Hinata had confidence issues. Hell, it took her seven years to admit that she loves me and that only happened because I forced the issue, but to think it was this bad? Hopefully, knowing that I love her back will put some backbone into her, that and maybe some training. No, that won't be enough, not to completely shatter her doubts. Looks like I'll need to accelerate my plans.'

Naruto turned to Sasuke and received a blank look that spoke volumes to him.

'Leaving the lion's share of the job to me, are you teme? Well, you did want to see more of my fighting style.'

"You can use any and all Jutsu, weapons, and other tools in your possession to pass this exam; you stand no chance of succeeding unless you come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi stated.

Naruto and Sasuke retained their earlier expressions while Hinata blanched in terror.

"But it's three against one; you'll be in danger!" She yelled.

"As I said already, Hinata-chan, the only way you might pass is by trying to kill me." Kakashi repeated.

Hinata did her best to steel herself, her fear mostly disappearing from her face.

"Now, BEGIN!"

Hinata and Sasuke fled into the forest, the former staying somewhat close to her original position while the latter ventured deeper in. Naruto remained in his original position.

"Not even trying to hide, Naruto-kun? Reckless, even in light of everything that's happened recently. You think just because you made a fool of Mizuki – a Chunnin – that you're a match for me, a Jonin?" Kakashi somehow managed to make his glare look intimidating while raising the eyebrow of his good eye.

"A Shinobi must be able to see beneath the underneath." Naruto quoted. "The truth of this exam cannot be realized by hiding in the shadows. Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

A thick blanket of smoke flooded the clearing, soon dispersing to reveal 400 Kage Bushin surrounding Kakashi in a massive circle.

"Attack!" Naruto ordered as he leaped out of the "arena".

'Using numbers to wear me down? Making himself a target to distract me from Sasuke and Hinata? If Naruto knows what this exam is really testing, then there must be more to his strategy than this.' Kakashi mused as he started tearing Naruto's Kage Bushin apart, albeit with more effort than he originally thought he'd need.

Hinata had activated her Byakugan immediately after the smoke from Naruto's Jutsu manifested, not wanting to be caught off guard. She saw Sasuke racing back towards the clearing but, before she could contemplate his motives, the realization of what Naruto had done nearly caused her to fall from the tree branch she was currently standing on.

'Kage Bushin? Hundreds of them?! That Jutsu divides the user's Chakra evenly between the original and all copies created. They all must have barely any Chakra, Kakashi-sensei is swatting them around like bugs! Naruto, what are you doing?'

"It's a stage," Sasuke said as he climbed up to Hinata's position. "The dobe has a script that includes both of us, and he's buying us time to figure out what the show-stopper will be."

"But the bells, only two of us can pass!"

"Bullshit, there's more to this test than Kakashi let on earlier." Sasuke refuted. "I don't know what the real deal here is, but I'd bet any chance I have of awakening my Sharingan in the future that Naruto does. He's entrusting us with the endgame, and I trust him to get us there. Do you?"

"Of course I trust Na – "

"No! You love him, would do almost anything for his benefit, but I don't think you really trust him. Trust is different from love. Earlier, you were thinking of throwing this exam to allow him to pass, weren't you? Think, Hinata-hime! Naruto loves you, too; do you really think he'd accept becoming a Genin if it meant you were either kicked back to the Academy or dropped from the program altogether? Love is at least partially derived from lust, and lust is ultimately selfish. Loving Naruto necessitates loving yourself enough to want this at least as much as he does, but, on the surface, that means you're working against him now. What do you say to that?"

Hinata was crying, not from sadness, but rage. She'd always been like this, too meek to get what she really wanted. She always hesitated; if she trusted that Naruto would return her feelings, she would have asked to be his friend years ago. If she had the spine to confess her love to Naruto after a few years of being his friend, who knows where their relationship would be now? But it wasn't too late! She was here, on Naruto's team, and he said yesterday that he loved her! If he trusted her to determine the final steps of a winning strategy, then she had to do it. Not for Naruto, for herself!

"Good eyes, looks like you got some backbone in you after all." Sasuke gave a half-smile in approval. "We'd better hurry, half of Naruto's Kage Bushin are already gone."

"Yes! To begin with, Sasuke-kun, what Jutsu do you know and how often do you think you can use them before running out of Chakra?"

Roughly 30 minutes later:

With a lazy "poof," the last of Naruto's Kage Bushin vanished. "Thanks for the light morning exercise, Naruto-kun." Kakashi's smile did not reach his eye. "Would you like to try again, or is it my turn to make a move?"

"Oh, there's more." Naruto smirked. "Remember our race to the tower the other night? You won, beat me by about twenty seconds, but even for you – a former Anbu commander – it wasn't effortless, was it? Sure, if you used your full speed from the start, I'd never have stood a chance but there was no reason to go all out then since there were no stakes. Now, you can't go all out because doing so would risk ending the exam before any of us could realize its true purpose, let alone attempt to achieve it.

Those Kage Bushin didn't have that much Chakra in them, but they were still copies of my body; with you being forced to hold back, killing 400 hundred of them must have demanded considerable effort. You said it yourself: my team doesn't have to hold back at all, so why don't we see together what my inheritance can really do?"

Naruto reached deep within himself, past his Chakra Network and pulled. The dormant Youki core flared to life, flooding Sesshomaru's descendant with five times the demonic power he had wielded during his encounter with Mizuki. The fledgling Daiyokai's azure eyes blazed gold, purple stripes adorned his face, his short blond hair transmuted to silver and reached halfway down his back, and his fingernails evolved into claws. Unlike before, however, the transformation induced hazy memories: vague images and distant echoes of battles waged eons ago were seared into Naruto's mind, granting minimal – but very welcome – insight into the fighting style he'd subconsciously been cultivating for years.

It took all of Hinata's willpower not to shriek in surprise or fall from her tree in shock. She looked to Sasuke, knowing the Uchiha to be Naruto's near-constant sparring partner and his only true friend, aside from her.

"Don't ask me," Sasuke said softly. "Must be a Kekkei Genkai since he mentioned an inheritance, but I've never heard of one like this. Even from here I can feel the power rolling off of him, can't imagine what Kakashi's going through being right next to him. This has to be Naruto's trump card; unless you have any last-minute suggestions for our plan, we'd best get into our positions.

"No, I think our plan is as good as it can be given how little time we had to work on it; it should work just fine!" Hinata replied.

"Well, now, there's the trust for Naruto I didn't see before this test started. Let's make our final preparations and enjoy the show until we're needed!"

Kakashi's good eye widened as he took in the sight before him. 'He can control the Yokai transformations!? Minato-sensei's message implied that they occurred randomly. And this pressure – I haven't felt anything like it since Kurama's attack twelve years ago. Even from a great distance, its killing intent was overwhelming. Just how powerful was Sesshomaru-sama, that a descendent barely scratching the surface of his essence could exert a pressure comparable to the Kyuubi no Kitsune? Curses!'

Naruto's earlier observations were right on the money. The use of any of Kakashi's most powerful Jutsu would defeat the purpose of this exam and was, consequently, forbidden. That meant no Sharingan, no Raikiri, and no A-Rank Jutsu. Typically, using B-Rank Jutsu was forbidden as well, with C-rank Jutsu only being permitted as a last resort. However, with a demonized Naruto as his opponent, Kakashi would have to break that last rule. He'd be using C and B-Rank Jutsu exclusively until Naruto was out of commission; hopefully, he could get by with mostly C-Rank. The last thing he needed was to be low on Chakra with Sasuke and Hinata waiting in the wings.

"Here I come, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto broke the sound barrier as he rushed towards his target.

'So fast!' Kakashi mentally hissed as he also accelerated to supersonic speeds. As Naruto's clawed fingers grasped only air where the bells had been just milliseconds before, Kakashi moved to gut-punch him, only immediately reverse course as a roundhouse kick aimed to remove his head from his neck! His impromptu block of Naruto's counter met only air as Naruto retreated several yards away.

"Kage Bushin are incredible, aren't they, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto gloated. "Not only do they flawlessly replicate the original's form and skills, but any knowledge or experience they gain during their existence is transferred to the original when they're dispelled or 'die'. I've reaped the benefit of 400 sparring sessions with you in the span of one hour instead of several months. I lack the arrogance to claim your counters won't work at all anymore, but I can confidently say you'll have a much harder time landing them now!"

'So he knew about that aspect of the Kage Bushin no Jutsu before today, did he? Wonderful, today just keeps getting better and better!' Kakashi was now mentally kicking himself for displaying such a substantial portion of his Taijutsu arsenal during the bout with Naruto's Kage Bushin. He assumed that since Naruto had only learned the Kage Bushin no Jutsu two nights ago, had only used it for combat once since learning it, and was enraged in that moment that the most useful trait of the B-Rank Jutsu had gone unnoticed.

It had not occurred to the Copy-Ninja that Naruto just might have used his exclusive access to a Clan Jutsu archive to complete his knowledge of the Jutsu that earned him his tentative graduation. Worse, Kakashi had no way of knowing how long Naruto could maintain his transformation, or what – if any – drawbacks he would experience once it expired. Therefore, the ex-Anbu Commander was torn between trying to overpower Naruto with the limited arsenal permitted to him and attempting to outlast him. Deciding to favor the more conservative option for now, Kakashi adopted a stance that stressed defense and evasion.

Naruto's jade-green Youki flared around him like a wildfire before condensing into a cylindrical shape with one end exposed. Kakashi flashed beyond what he hoped was the effective range of whatever Naruto's technique was, moving several hundred feet to the right. As he began his evasive maneuver, Naruto broke the sound barrier again but did not try to follow Kakashi, deigning to move in a straight line instead. Naruto's Youki cylinder prevented the sonic boom from expanding omni-directionally, as nature intended, and was too dense to be dispersed by it. Left no other avenue of escape, the shockwave rebounded towards its point of origin, all its vectors focused in one direction. Naruto's body crackled with static electricity as the condensed shockwave exponentially increased his speed.

'By the Sage, an artificial jet stream?! Futon-users fond of close combat would kill for something like that!' Kakashi had precious little time to marvel at the boy's creativity, as Naruto made a palm strike against the air to his left, putting a great deal of his demonically enhanced strength behind the blow. The resulting distortion of linear momentum catapulted Naruto towards Kakashi's position, as the forces applied to his body and his surroundings obeyed the Third Law of Motion.

Kakashi leaped away; Naruto tracked his position but didn't bother trying to alter his trajectory again. Instead, he formed a Youki barrier mere inches from his skin that was an order of magnitude thicker than his earlier cylinder. Milliseconds before he struck the ground, he punched the air in the direction of Kakashi's current position – about 500 feet above him and slightly to his right – with as much strength as he could muster in that instant. As before, the energy of his momentum was unnaturally channeled towards the singular hole in his technique and manifested as a hurricane-force blast of wind.

"Futon: Kouka Kuuki no Jutsu!" (Wind Release: Hardened Air Technique) Kakashi weaved the hand-seals for his defensive Jutsu as soon as he saw Naruto's Youki manifest again and stretched his hands out in front of him as if he were trying to stop a truck. Normally, this Jutsu increased the density of the air in front of him for several seconds to slow the movement of incoming or outgoing objects but, by drastically increasing the Chakra used and shortening its duration to a mere instant, the effect elevated the affected airspace's density to the same potency as a diamond's hardness, providing near absolute protection for the briefest of moments. It was enough to save Kakashi from the initial blast, but several secondary gusts buffeted him as he fell; only his lifetime of combat experience enabled him to reach the ground without breaking any bones or losing the bells.

"That's an ex-Anbu Commander for you; you're amazing, Kakashi-sensei! I must have been going 15-20 times the speed of sound after being shot out of my Youki cylinder, and the only thing I have to show for it is you being a little out of breath?"

"Are you sure you should be chatting away like you have all the time in the world? From what I can see, you're just about at your limit." Kakashi's assessment was correct; Naruto's silver locks were receding, now barely shoulder length, and his right eye had faded from gold to aquamarine. His claws had also shortened, now barely half their original length.

"I'll have to make my remaining time count then!" Naruto channeled some Youki into his fists and started to rapidly punch the air in front of him, creating a barrage of wind blasts of similar strength to the secondary gusts that had nearly doomed Kakashi moments before. Kakashi leaped to the left, but Naruto anticipated the evasion and swept his left hand in a slashing motion, pouring substantially more Youki into his latest attack. The subsequent blade of wind sought Kakashi's upper half like the Grim Reaper's scythe, and he quickly summoned a Kage Bushin to throw him upwards.

Naruto grinned wildly and dispelled the paper-thin layer of Youki he'd maintained millimeters above the skin of his right arm since he'd first shot himself through the air and thrust said arm – fully outstretched and fingers closed, fingers perpendicular to the ground – a few feet below Kakashi's position. Freed of its demonic restraint, the static charge clinging to the arm immediately exceeded its saturation limit and produced a bolt of natural lightning that streaked towards Kakashi like an arrow from Orion's Bow!

"Raiton: Inazuma no Kabe!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Wall) Naruto's smirk half a second ago was Kakashi's only warning that he'd played into his adversary's hands. Knowing his earlier defense would not be enough, the Jonin's current Jutsu conjured a mobile wall of lightning that fell towards Naruto. He suspected Naruto might try to weaponize the static electricity he observed earlier, but didn't think he'd be able to retain the necessary charge after being on the ground for this long.

Youki was clearly as versatile as Chakra when it came to combat applications, perhaps even more so. Kakashi poured as much Chakra as he dared into his electric barrier, and his extra effort paid dividends when it collided with Naruto's lightning strike, absorbing both the bolt and the accompanying thunderclap before dissipating. That was the best result Kakashi could hope for. Natural phenomena were substantially more powerful than their Chakra-produced counterparts; this truth is why Sage Chakra and Senjutsu – which utilize the planet's natural energy – are vastly more potent than normal Chakra and Ninjutsu respectively.

"And that's it for the demon show today folks! Feeling tired yet, Sensei?" Naruto's voice echoed through the shattered training ground, the boy himself nowhere to be seen as Kakashi landed.

"Perfect, now he starts hiding." Kakashi grumbled. The vision in his good eye was getting blurry. Since his Sharingan was off-limits, he'd been forced to channel Chakra into his other eye to ensure he didn't get tunnel vision while moving at supersonic speeds. As he had plenty of experience doing that with his Sharingan, he was able to avoid any permanent damage, but the eye was now severely strained. Worse still, secondary gusts from Naruto's impromptu hurricane had pulverized his muscles in several places. He'd applied some basic Medical Ninjutsu to stop the bleeding and reduce the pain but estimated that his current movement speed and range of motion were, at best, half their normal parameters.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) Sasuke gave Kakashi no chance to recover as he invested nearly a third of his Chakra into an enormous stream of fire!

"Futon: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) Naruto exhaled a miniature tempest directly into his teammate's flames, fanning the already massive conflagration into an all-consuming inferno!

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" (Water Release: Water Formation Wall) A wall of water 100 feet high encircled Kakashi, shielding him from the blaze, but the heat in the air stung his already abused eye, forcing him to blink as his defense subsided.

That singular instant of total blindness was all Hinata needed to strike! She emerged from the trees in a blur of motion, pouring as much Chakra into her legs as she could without damaging them. In half a second, she closed the distance and tore the bells away from Kakashi; mere milliseconds before the Jonin could grab them back, she hurled them toward Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke caught the twin treasures and immediately handed one to Naruto while Hinata entered the stance of the Juuken.

"My apologies, Kakashi-sensei, but, to retrieve the bells, you must first defeat me."

"Are you certain you've made the correct decision? Only two of you can pass this exam, after all."

"If I had kept one of the bells, it would currently be hanging from your belt loop again. Naruto's Kekkei Genkai is exhausted, and neither Sasuke-san nor I can best you, even if we fight as one. Two Genin against a Jonin is a fool's bet. Far better that two of us pass than only one of us."

"And if any of your roles had been reversed, do you honestly believe your replacement would be as magnanimous as you just were?"

"I believe that beyond all doubt; Naruto and Sasuke-san would never abandon me, nor they each other, nor I them!"

"If that's your answer, then I have just one thing left to say: you all pass!"

"Fuck, yeah!" Naruto yelled.

"Hmph." Sasuke grunted

"Thank goodness!" Hinata sighed.

"As Naruto-kun correctly surmised from the start, the true Graduation Exam evaluates teamwork." Kakashi smiled brightly. "Sometimes, you're lucky enough to get paired with exactly who you wanted but, other times, the opposite occurs. Sometimes your teammates are people you barely know and have little reason to trust. As Shinobi, you must be able to set aside any grievances between you and your teammates and always work towards a common goal. Naruto knew he couldn't beat me alone, so he utilized his Kage Bushin and Kekkei Genkai to exhaust me and trusted his team to formulate a finishing act.

Sasuke-kun hid rather far away initially, placing himself in an ideal position to monitor his teammates and provide assistance to whoever needed it. Hinata-chan observed from a closer position with her Byakugan activated, granting herself near-360-degree vision in a large radius and ensuring that I could not catch any of you off guard. As Naruto-kun and I clashed, Sasuke-kun and Hinata-chan devised what seemed a two-pronged attack but was, in truth, a three-pronged attack. The two of you trusted that Naruto would not devote so much effort as to render himself unable to contribute to your plan, and Naruto trusted that whatever plan you conceived would have room for him, despite his diminished capacity.

Your complete trust in each other, playing to each other's strengths and planning around each other's weaknesses, allowed three students fresh from the Academy to defeat an ex-Anbu Commander. This bell test was first conceived by Lord Hokage while he was training the Sannin; since then, very few teams have passed it on their first try. Most teams are either removed from the Shinobi program completely or only pass it after being given a second chance. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuuga: your names will be added to the list of Genin who have shown exemplary teamwork from the very start!

I've nothing else for you today, and, given the extent of my injuries, I'll be out of commission for the next three days, at least. Until you receive a message indicating that I've fully recovered, you are excused from all Shinobi duties save emergency missions. Think of it as my graduation present. I'll inform Lord Hokage personally before seeking medical attention. Dismissed!"

Chapter End

And that was the first fight scene I've ever written (chapter 1 doesn't count since even in canon that "fight" was over the instant Naruto whipped out 1000 Kage Bushin). I hope I did okay!

This is a perfect time to go over how Naruto's Youki and Chakra interact with each other. In Chapter 2, Minato said that Naruto's Youki is isolated from his Chakra Network. Kakashi confirmed this by looking at Naruto with his Sharingan and seeing that Naruto's Youki was beginning to wrap around his Chakra Network but wasn't invading it.

Naruto's Youki and his Chakra Network are like oil and water; they can get very close to each other but never truly mix. As a result, Naruto cannot use Chakra while in his Daiyoukai form and he cannot use Youki to enhance the potency of his Jutsu. He did use Chakra while transformed in Chapter 1, but that was only possible because his Youki had just awakened within him and was running rampant throughout his body; it had not yet stabilized into a Youki core. This limitation will be overcome eventually, as I don't want Naruto to be too OP too quickly. Right now, while Naruto is very OP for a Genin, he's nowhere near Jonin-level. Kakashi could have thrashed him easily if he were fighting seriously.

Two of the Jutsu used in this chapter were ones I invented for this fight. They will likely see some use in later chapters as well. I used Google Translate to come up with their Japanese names.

Yes, I KNOW, but I do not speak Japanese and I don't know anyone who does. If anyone can recommend a more accurate translation site or is willing to correct these translations as well as other future Jutsu that will be made from scratch, please let me know either in a PM or a review. The English names below are my intended names for these Jutsu. As I promised in Chapter 1, they are described here as well.

Futon: Kouka Kuuki no Jutsu: Wind Release: Hardened Air Technique (B-Rank) – As described in the chapter, it increases the density of the surrounding air to slow down all objects or forces within the affected airspace; only the user is immune. The density increase is proportional to the Chakra used for the Jutsu and with enough Chakra, the affected air can be made dense enough to mimic the properties of solid matter, becoming as dense as a diamond is hard (pretty damn dense!), but doing so shortens the length the Jutsu to a maximum of 1 second.

Raiton: Inazuma no Kabe: Lightning Release: Lightning Wall (B-Rank) – A large mass of electricity is generated in front of the user; after being created it can be moved to any position of the user's choosing. Due to being composed of lightning, the wall moves extremely fast, making it ideal for blocking surprise attacks or trapping fast-moving opponents.

Thank you for reading!