---8---

I watched as Naruto began beating his clones up. One of them was the Perverted Copy Ninja, but which one? I watched curiously, with the occasional face palm or sweat drop.

‘YOU’RE KAKASHI SENSEI, AREN’T YOU?!’ Naruto’s clones were all accusing each other of being the enemy. I sighed. Maybe I should help him a bit...

‘Naruto, drop the illusion!’ I called in a whisper. Naruto looked puzzled but then he understood. He got rid of all the shadow clones, expecting to see the one Kakashi had possessed. But old Pervy Copy Cat was already one step ahead. I gasped. A substitution jutsu! Naruto stood still, and then began franticly searching for our Sensei. Suddenly I caught a glimpse of silver in the sunlight. Naruto must’ve seen it too because he ran towards it snickering to himself.

‘Hehe, trust him to drop one, hehehe,’ my eyes widened as Naruto headed straight towards the bell. You BAKA!

Naruto reached down to grab the bell, but the next thing he knew was that he was swinging upside down.

‘WHAAA!?’ Naruto exclaimed. I watched as Kakashi Sensei appeared from nowhere and picked up the bell on the ground.

‘You used your technique well, but I used mine better. Oh and if the trick is obviously, don’t be stupid and go for it,’ Kakashi said bluntly. Naruto scolded as he began getting lectured by Sensei. You know who needs to be lectured? Kakashi Sensei, yup he needs to put that damn porn away and train us. We’re all gonna become pretty creepy ninja if it carries on this way...

THAK!! THAK! THAK!!

I gasped as Kakashi Sensei’s limp body fell to the ground. My head shot up and I saw my Sasuke balancing on the limb of a tree. Wait, did I just say, my Sasuke? This pervy stuff is going to my head, I swear...

‘That was taking it too far!’ Sakura yelled. I was surprised at her. I mean Sakura, yelling at Sasuke? I thought she was madly in love with him.

Kakashi Sensei’s body turned into a log. Another substitution jutsu? Sasuke’s eyes widened and he darted off. He’d given away his hiding spot. I heard some more rustling and realised Sakura had darted off too, probably to stalk Sasuke. *Sigh*.

I bit the bullet and came out of my hiding place. I crept up to Naruto who was cursing.

‘Naruto-kun? Do you want some help?’ I offered. Again, like earlier yesterday, he looked surprised that I was being so nice to him. He blinked and then smiled while blushing.

‘Arigato Kasumi-chan,’ he said blushing as I cut the rope. ((hehe cut the rope...)) Before he could bump his head on the ground, he flipped in mid air and landed smoothly. Well that was pretty cool, especially for Naruto!

He glanced at me and then stared at the ground.

‘So, um, Kasumi-chan, do you think that I fought well?’ he asked nervously. I nodded and gave him a closed eyed smile.

‘Hai! Of course Naruto-kun, you were amazing!’ I grinned, Naruto smiled too.

‘Now it’s my turn to face Kaka-Sensei, I’ll get him back for what he did to you,’ Naruto blinked at me and I nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

‘Oh, by the way, how is your butt now?’ I asked. He sweat dropped and rubbed it, flinching a bit.

‘It really hurts!’ he groaned. I rolled my eyes.

‘That pervert,’ I muttered. Naruto laughed. Then I heard a blood curling scream. Sakura!

I gave Naruto a quick nod and darted off. I headed into the direction of Sakura’s scream. I heard another scream and found Sakura passed out on the floor in front of me. I gasped and saw Kakashi perched on a tree branch, reading porn... ugh, did this guy have any idea how old we were? Obviously not...

 I drew my kunai and shiruken and smirked to myself.

‘Okay Kasumi, it’s go time,’ I whispered to myself as I flung the weapons up to where the Pervert was hiding. He glanced up from his porn and jumped, easily missing them. I cursed under my breath and performed some hand signs. I grinned and placed one palm onto the ground.

‘Earth Style! Ripple Effect Jutsu!’ I yelled. Kakashi started to wobble a bit and eventually lost his balance, but he quickly regained it and landed smoothly, a couple feet away from me. I used my other hand to draw a kunai and charged at him. I quickly made a hand sign, hopefully it was too quick for Kakashi Sensei to see, after all, I was the only daughter of Konoha’s Yellow Flash, it would be nice to inherited some of that talent. Shadow clones appeared at my side and surrounded Kakashi. Each one was making a different hand sign each. I leapt at Kakashi while my clones all placed two palms onto the ground.

‘EARTH STYLE! MINOR EARTHQUAKE JUTSU!’ they all chorused. I flung my kunai down at his feet and the second the point of the blade stuck itself into the ground, it crumbled and created rings of cracked earth. Kakashi Sensei stumbled a bit, caught off guard. I took my chance. I ordered all my clones to attack him while I landed behind him. I stomped my left leg hard onto the ground and created a deep hole. I jumped in and began tunnelling under the chaos. I smashed my fist up through the thick layers of earth and came out, just under Kakashi’s chin. I reached out for one of the bells but missed. I sighed, so close yet so far. I brought both fists up to smash Kakashi’s face in but that also flopped. I ended up doing exactly the same as Naruto had done before me!

Talk about déjà vu. Now, all I needed was the Pervy Copy Cat to stick his fingers up my butt! *shivers* I’m being sarcastic, if you’re reading Sensei!

I sighed and got rid of all my clones, it was worth a shot. Darn it, I thought I’d nailed that jutsu! I heard talking going on and I turned my head to see Sasuke taking on Kakashi. Wow, what had I missed?

Sasuke drew his weapons first, as I had done. Kakashi was very fast and dodged them all, but this time, Sasuke was the one who was a step ahead. Booby traps flung knives at Kakashi Sensei who just about dodged them. Sasuke leapt up again and swung his leg around to kick Sensei’s face in, but it was again, easily blocked. Kakashi grabbed Sasuke’s calf, still blocking the kick, putting Sasuke in a pretty awkward position. But Sasuke put up a good fight. He turned the upper half of his body smoothly, the bottom half of his body followed naturally, avoiding a bad injury and threw his fist towards Kakashi’s face. Kakashi blocked it and swung Sasuke upside down. Sasuke saw his chance and took it, reaching for one of the three bells. My mouth dropped open when the tip of Sasuke’s fingers brushed across the smooth surface of one of the bells.

Kakashi reacted and pushed Sasuke away who flipped around in mid air.

‘I’ll admit one thing, you’re definitely not like the others,’ Kakashi said. I pouted, I thought I’d put up a pretty good fight, for the short time I’d had, awwww... But he was right, Sasuke wasn’t like us three, we weren’t strong enough, compared to him, and I was beginning to realise that Sasuke had a darker side...

Sasuke huffed and performed hand signs.

‘FIRE STYLE, FIREBALL JUTSU!’ he yelled at the top of his voice. He blew out a huge fireball, I was shocked. Even Kakashi Sensei was surprised. I leapt out of the way, and landed heavily on my injured foot. I’d totally forgotten about that... I yelped in pain, luckily, I don’t think that Sasuke or Sensei heard because of the roar of the fireball. I clutched my right ankle and wriggled at the splint, it had caught on fire from Sasuke’s jutsu. I threw it onto a patch of mud and quickly performed a hand sign for a water jutsu. I put it out quickly and left it where it was. Best not to put it back on because A, you’re not sure how to and B, in case Sasuke breathes fire again. That wouldn’t end well.

I crawled slowly into the bushes, glancing back at the fireball which began to disappear. My eyes widened as the smoke cleared and Kakashi Sensei had vanished. Sasuke blinked as a fingerless gloved hand grabbed his left ankle, from underground. I sighed with relief, glad that wasn’t me, imagine if it had been and Sensei had grabbed my right ankle, I would’ve probably collapsed on him, not very attractive or pleasant. The next thing I knew, Sasuke’s head was sticking out from the ground and Kakashi Sensei was bending over him.

He was lecturing Sasuke too, I wonder why I hadn’t been lectured yet, maybe I’d done something right! Or maybe he didn’t care, that’s what it looked like to me, he’d barley fought me for two minutes before he walked off and fought Sasuke. I pouted, a little offended that Sensei didn’t acknowledge my efforts. I glanced down at my ankle and noticed that it had swollen up again. I groaned and caught Sasuke’s attention. Kakashi Sensei had walked off already so it was just me, unable to move because of my stupid ankle, and Sasuke buried alive.

‘Kasumi-chan! Are you alright?’ Sasuke asked worriedly. I shook my head.

‘It’s my ankle again, I think it’s gotten worse,’ I put my head in my hands. I heard Sasuke cursing. I looked up to see him desperately trying to get out. He glanced at me.

‘Where’s the splint I fitted?’ he asked anxiously. I scratched the back of my head.

‘It kinda caught on fire...’ I mumbled. He blinked.

‘I’m such a BAKA!’ he growled struggling again. I held my hands up and waved them about.

‘No Sasuke-kun! It’s not your fault! I-I just wasn’t quick enough! T-That’s all! Please don’t blame yourself!’ I said quickly. Sasuke let a small smile creep onto his face as he looked at me. I felt my face going tomato red again.

‘AHHHH!’ Sakura spotted Sasuke’s head as she ran past. She’d stopped dead in her tracks and was staring at Sasuke’s head, her eye twitching.

‘AHHH! Sasuke’s heads been severed!’ she screamed fainting. Sasuke glared at her and she sat up. She helped him out and gave him a massive hug.

‘You’re alive!’ she exclaimed happily, crying. My eye twitched. What was this awkward and strange feeling that had suddenly sparked?

‘Yeah, alright, okay, get off me. Let go, I said you can let go now!’ Sasuke pushed her away. She looked hurt. Sasuke ran over to where I was laying and picked me up in his arms. Sakura shot me an evil look and I blushed furiously. Jeez! It’s not my fault I can’t walk! Well...it kinda is...ANYWAY!

‘It’s almost noon, and we still haven’t got a damn bell,’ Sasuke muttered, glancing down at me. I sighed and looked down, fiddling with a strand of my long red hair.

‘I got close enough to touch one...I’ll get one this time...’ Sasuke said to no one in particular. Sakura giggled.

‘Oh wow Sasuke! You’re so amazing! I know we’re running out of time but still, the next time, we’ll give it our all and...’ Sakura was cut off by a deep growl from Sasuke. She shut up and looked at her feet, while Sasuke carried me back to where Kakashi Sensei had placed the timer. Sakura followed.

---------

When we got there, we found Naruto tied to a post, struggling. Sasuke placed me down and took a quick look at my ankle. Kakashi Sensei watched us and wandered over to see what Sasuke was fussing about.

‘Hmmm, I’m no expert but I’d say that’s broken,’ he pointed to my deformed looking foot, I sweat dropped and cursed under my breath as he walked away. Sasuke sat beside me, three lunches sat before us. One for me, one for Sasuke and one for Sakura, unfortunately, none for Naruto.

‘Well, I’d like to talk about this exercise...none of you need to worry about going back to the Academy!’ Kakashi said. My face lit up. Naruto cheered.

‘WOOHOOO! YAHH! This is awesome! That meants all four of us...’

‘Are totally hopeless and more schooling would be pointless. Neither any of you will ever be Shinobi!’ Kakashi finished. My heart fell, what did that guy just say?

‘Just give it up, none of you four will ever be ninja,’ he growled. Naruto began struggling again.

‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN GIVE UP!? So what if we didn’t get one of your stupid bells! Why would we quit because of that?’ Naruto demanded.

‘Because...not one of you has what it takes!’ Kakashi Sensei argued. I saw Sasuke tense from the corner of my eye, in a second, he was running at Kakashi, but it under a millisecond, Sasuke was a very strange cushion for Kakashi Sensei’s butt. *Shivers* Eww.

‘You’re just a bunch of spoilt brats...are you trying to mock the Shinobi with your behaviour. For even a second, did you ever think about why you were split into teams? Well?’ Kakashi glared.

We all sat in silence. Of course, I knew exactly what we’d done wrong, now all that was left was for the others to work it out.

‘It had a point?’ Naruto asked. My eye twitched. Naruto...

‘But you never explained what it was!’ Sakura cried. I glared at her, was she serious?

Kakashi Sensei was losing it, I was losing it.

‘Argh! Teamwork!’ I mumbled, annoyed at the others. Kakashi Sensei nodded.

‘Hai, arigato... Well that was the point of the exercise teamwork! If you four had worked together, you would’ve gotten these bells,’ my eye twitched and I nearly exploded. Come on Sensei, at least learn my name! Sakura stood up angrily.

‘Even if we’d worked together, one of us would’ve still had to have gone without lunch, there were only three bells!’ she exclaimed. Well done, Captain Obvious!

‘It was a task designed to cause dissension in your ranks. Set up to see which of you would give up your own needs for the good of the others in your squad. Instead of which, you Sakura, ignored Naruto who was right in front of you. You just chased after Sasuke the whole time. Naruto did what all four of you should’ve done in the first place and Sasuke decided that everyone else would just get in his way so he went solo! How are you lot supposed to survive without teamwork?’ Kakashi asked.

I pouted; he’d totally ignored me again. This was a tad unfair.

‘If you don’t make the right choices now, in the future, you could put your whole team in unnecessary risks. For example... SAKURA KILL NARUTO OR SASUKE DIES!’ Kakashi put his kunai at Sasuke’s neck. Everyone froze, shocked.

‘What?!’ Naruto yelled.

‘Well,’ Kakashi got off of Sasuke. ‘The day could come when one of you is taken hostage and you’re forced to make a similar choice...When you’re on a mission, all of your lives are constantly on the line.’

Kakashi walked over to a stone with a long list of name across it. I bowed my head, the K.I.A stone.

‘Look here, at this stone, all the names engraved on it, these are the heroes of our village,’ Kakashi began.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, I glanced up at him, he didn’t know...

‘That’s it! I’ve made up my mind, that’s where my name’s gonna go! I’m not gonna throw away my life! I’m gonna be a hero, just like them!’ Naruto yelled.

‘These are different kind of heroes...’ Kakashi said sadly.

‘Really? What kind!?’ Naruto asked all excited again. Kakashi paused and looked at the stone. ‘Come on tell me!’ Naruto demanded. I sighed sadly.

‘They’re the dead kind. They died in the line of duty and honour of their village, Naruto,’ I whispered looking down at my feet. Naruto’s grin quickly disappeared.

‘Hai, this is a memorial, it includes the name of my best friend...’ Kakashi mumbled. We all bowed our heads. Kakashi turned to face again.

‘I’m going to give you all one last chance. If you want to continue, you h=must follow my orders. Each of you may eat your lunch except Naruto, he goes without. If either of you feed him, you all fail, right here, right now...got it?’ Kakashi ordered.  We all nodded, Naruto gulped.

‘My word is law, do you understand?’ Kakashi asked again. We all answered yes. Naruto’s stomach rumbled.

‘Hehehe! This’ll be no sweat! Believe it!’ he yelled, and with that Sensei disappeared and we were left alone.

I listened to Naruto’s stomach, feeling awful. I sighed to myself and held out my lunch to Naruto.

‘Here you go Naruto-kun, I’m not hungry and it’s not fair that you should go without, we all messed up, not just you. So here, please take it,’ I smiled. Naruto looked shocked. Sasuke grunted, and offered his lunch too.

‘Here, have some,’ Sasuke forced himself. Sakura glared at us.

‘ARE YOU ALL COMPLETELY MAD!? Kakashi Sensei told us not to or we fail!’ she yelled. I rolled my eyes at her.

‘Loosen up a bit Sakura, he’s probably miles away by now, he won’t know,’ I said. She thought for a second, hesitating when she finally looked away and offered Naruto her lunch too. I smiled. So she had a heart after all.

Suddenly leaves and smoke appeared and the wind picked up. My eyes widened as Kakashi Sensei appeared in front of us, his eye glowing angrily.

‘YOU...’

We all shielded ourselves. Naruto cried out and Sakura screamed.

‘PASS!’

We all stopped and looked at him, blinking.

‘Say what?’ I asked.

‘You passed!’ Kakashi grinned giving us an awkward one eyed, closed eyed smile. We all sweat dropped.

‘But how?’ Sakura asked.

‘Well, up until now, each of you has only ever thought of yourselves and did everything I told you to, like mindless drones. A true Shinobi seeks for the hidden meaning in hidden meanings. So in the ninja world, you must follow the rules and those who don’t pay the consequences. Those who don’t follow the rules are scum, however, those who abandon and don’t care for their team are even worse than scum!’ Kakashi spat. We all took it in.

‘So, as of today you passed because you put you comrades first! Team Seven will have their first duties as true Shinobi tomorrow!’ Kakashi gave us a thumbs up.

‘Woooohooo! I’ve done it! I’m a ninja! I’m finally a ninja!’ Naruto cheered. I waved at him as I was carried away by Sasuke who was following Kakashi Sensei and Sakura.

‘Hey! What about me? You can’t just leave me here!’ he exclaimed kicking about. I giggled and pulled out a shiruken. I aimed it at the centre of the rope and flung it with perfect accuracy. Naruto grinned as the rope split and loosened. I smiled as he ran after us, calling our names. Take note Sensei, Naruto, Sasuke and even Sakura knows my name!

‘Let’s go get that ankle sorted then, shall we?’ Sasuke whispered. I nodded, remembering my injury.

‘Arigato Sasuke-kun,’ I smiled. He gave me a quick smile and I began blushing again. Oh well, it didn’t matter that my ankle was broken, I was a Shinobi now and that meant, after a little more training, I could finally hunt down the Nine Tails and bring it to the mysterious masked man. There was hope for my village yet...

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So here it is, the next chapter. It’s Naruto’s birthday tomorrow! 10.10.12 hehe arigato for all the support and please check out animelover2800 ‘s stories. I know her in real life and she’s one of my best friends. She’s got a lot of potential and has just joined. So please check out her work. Arigato! ^^

A/N - pic of the bell test on the side. i know theres only two bells but lets pretend that there are three ^^