Chapter 7
I close my eyes once more, sending out a silent pulse of chakra. Naruto glances around each time I do it, but luckily he can't pinpoint the chakra wave's source. I feel as my chakra pushes out wards in a smooth sphere around me. I concentrate as hard as I can as I search for Sakura's chakra.
Then suddenly, an intrusion appears in the sphere. It is much larger than the other systems of chakra, and it also feels relatively weak. I am sure it is Sakura.
Snapping my gaze open, I look in Sakura's direction and say "This way Naruto. I think I found her." I turn mid air and begin bounding off towards Sakura after I land, Naruto close behind.
It takes only a few seconds for us to reach Sakura's location. And I have to rethink something. I guess we did know tree hopping this early. Must've forgotten. Wonder, are there any other important details that I forgot? That could dangerous if I did.
Naruto and I jump down from the trees, landing quietly next to Sakura. She jumps back in surprise and caution, but luckily she doesn't yell out. I look at her and say "Sakura, we need your help. We can't take Kakashi on by ourselves. We need to work together."
Sakura processes what I have to say, then nods. I smile back in reply. She beams, but she also says something. "I can help build traps. It was my best area other than knowledge!" I nod and say "Alright, let's go." We jump off, ready to develop a plan to beat Kakashi.
-3rd Person View-
Kakashi looks around once more as he watches for his new students. He still sees no sign of them, and silently gives them praise. "Always good for a ninja to wait for the right opportunity. No use in simply rushing in when you have the time."
Kakashi glances at the sun's position once more. "Close to 11. They have about an hour left. Wonder what they'll do." Kakashi would get his answer sooner than he likes.
Suddenly, a foreign presence hits Kakashi's senses. Ducking down without thinking, he easily dodges the stray kunai that was launched at him. "Attacking me while I am thinking. Clever, but it doesn't work on me."
Kakashi's eyes then widen as he feels 2 more kunai coming from the opposite direction. He jumps upwards on all fours to avoid the kunai. But, this left him in a prime position for a trap.
Now in midair with no way of avoiding anything easily, Kakashi realizes his mistake. His lone eye opens wide as he hears four poofs of smoke, and suddenly four Narutos appear above him. The each are holding a corner of a net, and are heading straight for Kakashi!
Thinking quickly, Kakashi maneuvers his body so he is facing upwards. Doing a few quick hand signs, Kakashi then lets loose a large fireball. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The fireball quickly overtakes the four Naruto, incinerating them and the net.
But nothing seems to let Kakashi have a break, as each of his students jump out of the bushes and rush at him. While falling will be hard enough to maneuver, him facing upwards was the key to completely denying his escape.
Each of his students jump at him and reach for a bell. Kakashi's eye grows wide in horror as he sees each of his students about to get the bells. And then, Kakashi disappears in a puff of smoke.
Without anything to halt their rush, each of the ninja-wannabes are on a course of destruction. Each of them only have time to widen their eyes before they slam into each other. All three of them land in a comical lump on the ground, stars in their eyes.
Sasuke is the first to recover, rubbing his head in pain. "Man, Naruto's head is harder than the Rashomon." Sasuke looks around, trying to find where his teacher went. His gaze moves back to the other two though when he hears a loud groan of pain.
Sakura is next to recover, and she also rubs her head in pain. She then looks up and notices that Naruto is on top of her. Screaming in embarrassment, she quickly squirms out from underneath Naruto and hops on her feet. Sasuke simply sweatdrops.
Suddenly a loud bell is heard. Sakura looks around in curiosity while Sasuke curses. "Damn. That's the alarm going off. We ran out of time." Kakashi then appears in a puff of smoke, his eye smile in place.
"Well done you three. That was the best performance I have ever seen from new genin. In fact, you three were the closest to getting a bell out of any team." Despite not really having any reason to, Sasuke still feels a sense of pride at Kakashi's words. Sakura is also beaming like she usually does.
That's also when Kakashi notices Naruto. He looks at Naruto as he stumbles back up, swaying like a drunk. He looks at Kakashi and says "H-Hey you! W-Where did m-my sensei run off t-to?" Kakashi blinks a few time, very confused. Then he gets a devious idea.
Putting his eye into a smile, he says "Oh he went that way." Kakashi then crosses his arms, both of his hands pointing in opposite directions. Naruto looks at the directions for a bit, looks both ways, then grins. "T-Thanks man!" He takes a step forwards, then falls flat on his face.
Silence echoes around the area as Naruto falls to the ground. Kakashi is blinking rapidly, extremely confused, while Sakura is simply staring. Then, a noise breaks the silence. Laughter.
Sakura and Kakashi look over to Sasuke as he doubles over laughing, his face streaming with tears. The laugh is contagious, and soon Kakashi and Sakura are laughing as well.
After a few minutes of laughing, it dies down. Each of them are chuckling to themselves while Naruto finally recovers completely. He rubs his head and says "Ugh…. what happened?" Everyone just chuckles at him.
He looks around confused, then throws out his arms in a bewildered manner. "What?! What are you laughing at?!" Each person is straining to keep in their laughter, Naruto's behavior reigniting the humor.
Naruto then just throws his arms in the air with an exaggerated noise of anger. Kakashi begins reeling himself back in and says "A-Alright everyone. You all did really well, as I said. So well in fact, the I'll treat you all to lunch."
Naruto instantly does a 180 and begins jumping for joy, screaming "ICHIRAKU'S! ICHIRAKU'S!"
Sakura looks happy, and Sasuke is just smirking to himself.
Kakashi then eye smiles and says "No no no, Naruto, Ichiraku's. We are going to the "Golden Leaf", the finest restaurant in the village. I'd say it is a worthy celebration of our team's formation, right." But to himself, Kakashi thinks, "Sensei did this for us when we formed a team. I'll keep the tradition going."
Sasuke smiles in delight, and Sakura is going crazy over going to such a fancy restaurant. Naruto, however, looks less than pleased. In fact, he even looked nervous. Kakashi notices the look and says "Something wrong, Naruto?" Naruto just shakes his head, closing his eyes and smiling. "Nope, nothing is wrong sensei."
Kakashi eye smiles back, then says "Alright, to the Golden Leaf it is." Sakura cheers and Sasuke follows with a small smile. Naruto's grin falters, then drops completely when no one is looking. "G-Great…"