Naruto awoke today feeling amazing. Today, it'd all be official. Naruto would register, then head to the academy to meet his Jonin sensei. After getting ready, Naruto trekked off to get his registration taken care of.

After the short walk and getting his 'ninja face' on for his photograph, Naruto headed in to give his papers to the Hokage.

"Hey Jiji!" said a happy Naruto after spotting Hiruzen decked out in his Hokage attire as usual.

Hiruzen smiled upon Naruto's arrival. Naruto seemed to always brighten people's days, or at least his. "Hello Naruto-kun, I see you have your ninja registration." he said as he held out his hand to grab Naruto's papers. "Hmmm. Well Konoha Genin, Naruto Senju, ninja registration number 012607, you are official and looking good there my boy." said Hiruzen with a warm smile.

Before Naruto could reply, he sensed someone coming toward the door. After a few seconds that person came flying through the door wielding a...paper shuriken?

The 'assailant' had short, spiky brown hair. He wore a yellow shirt with Konoha's symbol on it in red, gray shorts, and a long blue scarf. He was a kid, who couldn't be older than 8. "Today's the day old man!" shouted the kid as he charged at Hiruzen. However, two steps in, he tripped on his over sized scarf and fell flat on his face.

The Sandaime sighed as he stated, "Naruto, this is Konohamaru. He wants to defeat me in battle to earn the Hokage title."

"That was the most pathetic attempt at beating someone I have ever seen." said Kurama watching the scene in amusement. Naruto mentally nodded at Kurama's claim. And eventually, after that moment of shame, Konohamaru had gotten up and pointed an accusing finger at Naruto.

"You tripped me! I was this close to beating the old man but you had to ruin it!" said Konohamaru in a murderous tone.

"Eh? You tripped on your scarf. I had nothing to do with your failure just now." said Naruto confused about how he got into this predicament. Another person entered the room, cutting Naruto from his musings.

"Honorable Grandson!" came the voice from a man named Ebisu. Ebisu is a Tokubetsu Jonin (Special Jonin) of the leaf who wears the standard outfit of Konoha shinobi without the flak jacket. He also dons a pair of black sunglasses and wears his forehead protector bandana style. He is also known throughout the Konoha Shinobi populace as a 'suck up', and as such brown noses those above him or those with enough significance. Since he only heard Konohamaru yelling and didn't realize he was talking to the Senju boy, he said, "You scoundrel, what did you do to the Sandaime's grandson?"

Upon hearing that declaration, Naruto's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked back at Konohamaru. Konohamaru smirked when he saw Naruto's face and expected he'd kiss his feet like everybody else upon realizing who he was and how the Sandaime was his grandfather.

"I did nothing to Konohamaru here. He tripped on his own scarf. And I could careless if he's the Sandaime's grandson. That means nothing to me whatsoever. Titles like that are pointless and plus, even if we were going by that, he'd lose as I outrank him being related to two Hokages." said Naruto, who waved goodbye to the Hokage and disappeared via a shunshin.

This got varied reactions around the room. Hiruzen watched the scene pleased as he knew Konohamaru liked being called Konohamaru and not Honorable Grandson. He had a name. Konohamaru was staring in awe, not because who Naruto's ancestry was, but because he called him Konohamaru and not to mention how cool he looked vanishing like that. Ebisu became shocked. If he had known it was Senju-sama he was speaking to, he would have definitely changed what he said to him.

Naruto appeared at the Academy, where he trotted into his class and took his usual seat next to Sasuke. After an exchange of greeting and since he was so early, Naruto decided to take a nap. After about 20 minutes, Iruka walked in to give out the team assignments as Sasuke woke up Naruto.

"Beginning today, all of you are real shinobi. But you're still merely 'rookie' Genin, the hard part hasn't begun yet. Now you will soon be assigned duties by the village. Today, we will put you in your three man teams and assign each team, a Jonin sensei. You will follow their instructions from this point on." said Iruka with a proud smile as he gave out the team assignments.

Naruto could careless about any team that wasn't his or one of his friends. So he didn't care until he heard his name called and was happy with the team.

"Team 7 is Naruto Senju, Sasuke Uchiha..." Mentioning those two names, it seemed every girl in the room who hadn't been picked yet sat hoping for placement with the two hottest guys in their class. "Sakura Haruno. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake."

"Yes! Love prevails over all!" said Sakura as she fist pumped the air for being with Sasuke. There were also some incoherent mumbles of "bullshit", "not fair", and "Forehead's with my man".

Iruka continued after quieting down the class, "Team 8 is Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzaka, and Hinata Hyuga. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi. Team 9 is still in circulation so Team 10 is Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi." and with that said, Iruka bid them all good luck and farewell as their senseis would arrive shortly.

(Two Hours Later)

One at a time, each Jonin came to pick up their team right after Iruka finished speaking. However, it had been two hours and team 7's sensei hadn't arrived yet. Sakura was fuming at this point, wondering why he hadn't shown up. Naruto remained calm and even shut his eyes to sleep some more. Sasuke was in between each of them, he was calm like Naruto but his eyebrow twitched every few seconds to show his irritation.

"I don't care if this guy's a Jonin. Who the hell is two hours late?!" shrieked a practically seething Sakura as she ground her teeth together.

Naruto opened his eyes as he said, "Sakura-chan. You're loud again." Sakura blushed with embarrassment. Naruto had told her she shrieked at times and after everyone's agreement, she had begun to try to tone it down, though she still had outbursts occasionally.

Shortly afterward, Naruto perked up slightly and stared at the door. A few seconds later, a man with gravity defying, silver hair came through the door. He had on the standard outfit of Konoha Shinobi along with a face mask that covered his nose down. He also wore his headband around his forehead, though it slanted down to cover his left eye.

"Team 7?" After a nod, he said, "My first impression of you guys...you seem like a nice bunch. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes." as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura made their way to the roof to meet up with Kakashi. Once they arrived, they noticed their sensei was reading an orange book. He looked as if he was oblivious to his surroundings but Naruto could see the critical eye he had on them. After Kakashi noticed everyone was ready, he began.

"Glad you all made it. Now, how about we start by having you all introduce yourselves." said Kakashi as he put his book away.

"What should we say?" asked Sakura.

"Hmmm. How about your likes, dislikes, dream for the future, and your hobbies." answered Kakashi with a bored tone.

"Could you go first? As an example." said Sakura with a smile.

Kakashi let out a sigh, "Fine. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I do not want to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future..? I have many hobbies." said Kakashi as he pointed at Naruto to go.

Naruto grew disheartened as he only learned his Sensei's name but smiled at it being his turn to introduce himself, "My name is Naruto Senju. I like Ramen, forests, and gardens. I dislike the 3 minutes it takes to make ramen and traitors. My dream for the future is to surpass all the Hokages and protect this village, that way everyone has to acknowledge me...Hobbies? I have a bonsai tree and training." said Naruto still smiling.

"Hmm, he's grown up interesting." though Kakashi. "Next" said Kakashi looking at Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike and only a few things I do like. And I don't use the word "dream", for I have an ambition. To revive my clan and.. kill a certain man." said Sasuke.

"Hmm, Figured as much." thought Kakashi. "And lastly, the girl." said Kakashi to Sakura.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." said Sakura as she peeked at Sasuke, "I mean the person I like is...my dream for the future? Oh My! The thing I dislike is Ino-pig." finished Sakura.

"Typical girl her age, love over jutsu." thought Kakashi before saying, "Well tomorrow marks the start of Team 7. I'll see you all tomorrow for survival training." said Kakashi.

"Survival training? But didn't we do enough training in the Academy Kakashi-sensei?" asked a confused Sakura, who also had looks of confusion from Naruto and Sasuke.

"This training is different. I will be your opponent, but that is not all. This is an exam in which only 9 out of the 27 graduates will pass, it has a 66% failure rate." Said Kakashi with a chuckle at his Genins' faces of shock. "You will meet me at 8 tomorrow morning. Bring your shinobi gear, and I suggest not eating breakfast." said Kakashi and before anyone could ask him any more questions, he vanished in a poof.

Naruto pondered those words before he too told his teammates goodbye and left via a shunshin. Sasuke decided to do some more training for tomorrow and Sakura just headed home to also prepare for tomorrow as well. It would be a big day.

(The Next Day, 11 am)

The next morning, it had been a long three-hour wait as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura arrived at 8 awaiting their sensei's arrival. Sasuke stood leaning on a tree scowling slightly as he waited. Sakura was inwardly fuming again. Naruto mediated as he waited, still racking his brain over what Kakashi said yesterday. Naruto then opened his eyes as his sensei appeared several seconds later.

"You're late!" came the yell from Sakura as Sasuke and Naruto agreed, although less vocal then their pink haired teammate. Upon noticing the questioning looks from his Genin, Kakashi explained his tardiness.

"I was on my way here when I saw a black cat cross my path, I didn't want bad luck so I took the long way around." said Kakashi in a tone that seemed that he was completely honest. Sasuke and Sakura immediately recognized the horrible lie. However, Naruto immediately understood, he wouldn't want bad luck either and probably would have walked around as well.

"Okay, it's set to noon." said Kakashi as he pulled a clock out and sat it on one of the training posts. He then took out two bells and said, "Here are two bells. Your task is to take one of these bells before noon. Those who cannot get a bell...get no lunch. Not only will I tie you to a stump, I'll eat your lunch in front of you." continued Kakashi as his three students stomachs rumbled.

"That's why he said not to eat." thought Naruto as he was slowly coming to a conclusion about today's training.

"You only need one bell. And Since there are only two, I will tie whoever does not get a bell to this stump here. Also, that person fails and will go back to the Academy. Meaning at least one of you will be going back no matter what. You may use any ninja tools you have. I recommend coming at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you won't get a bell." said Kakashi as all of his Genin got ready.

After Kakashi said start, all three of them immediately scattered. After a few moments of nothing, he pulled out his book and proceeded to read. Several minutes passed by and Kakashi just shrugged as he continued to read his book, they'd have to come for him anyway.

Sasuke was hiding in some trees watching Kakashi with a scrutinizing eye, trying to find the best time to strike Kakashi. He then felt a presence behind him, "Naruto, what are you doing here?" whispered Sasuke.

"We need to find Sakura, I have something I need to tell you both." said a completely serious Naruto as he took off to find Sakura.

Sasuke would have argued had he not seen the seriousness from Naruto and promptly followed him. After a few minutes, Naruto and Sasuke landed near an underbrush where Sakura was hiding. After making her come over to them, Naruto started.

"This test is bullshit." said Naruto completely confusing Sakura and Sasuke.

"What do you mean Naruto? And hurry up. You're wasting my time. I need to get one of those bells." said Sasuke irritated that Naruto still hadn't got to the point yet.

"Sakura-chan, what is the standard genin team in Konoha." asked Naruto. After a prompt "3 Genin, 1 Jonin" answer from Sakura, Naruto continued, "thank you, with that in mind. That makes this test even more bull. We are never going to take on a Jonin in battle coming freshly out of the Academy, jiji wouldn't allow it in the real world. It just doesn't happen so why now? The only way our chances would rise is if we worked together and even then the chances are still near zero." said Naruto as Sasuke and Sakura listened intently to their friend speak. As it was rare when he did speak like this but usually his analyses were pin point.

"Kakashi said this test had a 66% failure rate. Meaning only nine of us will pass. From what Sakura says, you can only have three genin teams, full genin teams. That means this test is about teamwork, not actually getting the bells." said Naruto, completely confident in his deduction of this test. "So we need to work together. And in the case that I am wrong, you can both have the bells. I don't mind doing another year."

Sasuke and Sakura merely nodded their heads. They weren't completely convinced but figured, working together with Naruto, they had a better chance of getting the bells than working alone, especially since Naruto would willingly fail for them. So after a quick plan from Naruto, they set off to face Kakashi.

(Several Minutes Later)

Kakashi still stood in the same spot since the beginning of the test. He lowered his book slightly to see Naruto standing in front of him. "You know its basic shinobi knowledge to hide one's presence and strike from blind spots, right?" said Kakashi as he put his book away. He knew how good Naruto really was.

Naruto replied with, "It wouldn't have made any difference. One, you already knew where I was. Two, you have one of your eyes covered, so you likely have found a way to cover your blind spots as you create a huge one with only one eye. And three, I figured out your test, it's teamwork but there is a major flaw in it." said Naruto.

Kakashi grew impressed with Naruto's analysis. He was right on each point though he did wonder what the flaw in the test was, "and what would the flaw be?" asked Kakashi as he readied for Naruto's assault.

"You can't expect three fresh Genin to come in and show teamwork to that level. Teamwork happens over bonding with each other through missions, team meetings, and being with one another. Though it is a great test to find out if a team holds the 'Will of Fire', its still difficult to do all of that in the span of just one hour." said Naruto as he placed a hand in the half ram seal. Naruto performed a shunshin to begin his assault on Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded at Naruto's explanation. He then turned around and blocked the kick to his head from Naruto. "The speed behind his kick is immense, that's why it hits so hard due to the momentum built up." thought Kakashi as he continued to block each of Naruto's strikes. He then saw Naruto do a low sweep kick and jumped over it. He grew surprised when Naruto immediately stood up faster than before with a kunai in hand and went to cut the strings holding the bells to his waist. He cut the string slightly before Kakashi batted the kunai out of his hands and they jumped back from one another.

"To think he'd be able to get that close to the bells. Impressive." thought Kakashi before he saw Naruto hold the tiger hand seal.

"Nehan Shoja no Jutsu (Temple of Nirvana Technique)" thought Naruto as white feathers appeared around Kakashi. Kakashi immediately recognized the genjutsu and dispelled it with ease. However as soon as he dispelled it, several kunai struck him squarely in the back.

Sasuke had been mildly surprised when his kunai hit Kakashi. He did according to the plan, once Naruto activated his genjutsu, launch the kunai at Kakashi to catch him off guard. Though he wasn't disappointed as he saw the customary log take Kakashi's place signalling a replacement.

Shortly after that, Sasuke heard a scream. It seemed Kakashi had taken out Sakura. "damn, guess we go to plan B." thought Sasuke as he activated his sharingan when he noticed Kakashi behind him and engaged the Jonin in Taijutsu.

Kakashi wasn't surprised to see Sasuke's sharingan, he had read about it in Sasuke's file. However he was in for another shock as after a few blocked hits and Sasuke's impressive agility, Sasuke managed to touch one of the bells. Upon noticing it, Kakashi immediately disengaged and slid a few feet away from Sasuke. However he didn't notice the three lines of mud on the ground around him.

The lines were in a perfect square surrounding Kakashi with the only uncovered side being the one facing Sasuke, who was going through several hand seals as Naruto landed beside him with his palms placed on the ground.

"Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Style: Mud Wall)" thought Naruto as the mud around Kakashi rose on all three sides creating a sort of tunnel facing his two students. At roughly the same time, Sasuke finished his hand seals and placed a hand near his mouth.

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)" said Sasuke as he unleashed a huge fireball from his mouth that flew toward Kakashi. Kakashi was about to jump up to avoid the jutsu when he noticed an equally as big Waterball flying down towards him.

"Naruto must have created that before landing next to Sasuke to activate his mud wall. Damn that's a good combo." thought Kakashi as the area inside the mud walls exploded with steam from the Fireball and Waterball combination. Steam continued to rise from the impact area, obstructing Sasuke and Naruto's view. Once it cleared, they noticed there was no trace of Kakashi anywhere.

"Underground!" thought Naruto but it was too late as a hand grabbed him and Sasuke and proceeded to drag them both underground.

Kakashi soon popped up a few feet away and eye smiled at the two heads. "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique). That was nice teamwork from you two, great combination. You almost had me there, but you didn't. Too bad you didn't get a bell. As I'm sure you would have been great to have on my team." said Kakashi as he then noticed Sakura charging at him. "Seems Naruto must have woken her up while I was in that Taijutsu battle with Sasuke." thought Kakashi.

Sadly, Sakura was way too weak to face Kakashi. However, before she got to him, Kakashi found himself in a full nelson from Naruto. Due to the shock of Naruto's unexpected arrival, he didn't notice the Kunai from Sasuke cut off the bells. Sakura made a dive for the bells since Kakashi was still stuck in Naruto's grip.

It was all for not as the timer went off right as Sakura made it to the bells. "So close" thought Naruto as he let go of Kakashi and they all made their way to the stumps.

"They passed with flying colors...but why not find out to what extent" thought Kakashi as he tied Naruto to one of the stumps. Kakashi asked how Naruto got out of the ground so fast and with the answer of "Doton: Moruragakure no Jutsu (Earth Style: Hiding like a Mole Technique), he nodded at the statement. At which point, Kakashi told them that they failed the test since none of them could get a bell, but since they used teamwork, he'd give them another chance. Since Naruto attacked him first, then he wouldn't be allowed lunch. So after handing Sasuke and Sakura a bento and leaving instructions to not feed Naruto, he vanished in a poof of smoke.

"We were so close!" said Sakura as she opened her bento and began eating.

"Hn." said Sasuke as he agreed and couldn't wait for another shot at the Jonin.

"We'll get him next time." said Naruto as he was wondering if he was wrong in his judgment of the true meaning of the test. They should have passed right? Yet they didn't, was he wrong? Eventually his thoughts were cut short as his stomach quaked upon seeing Sasuke and Sakura eating their food. When that happened, he was in for a shock as Sasuke offered him his bento.

"We need you." said Sasuke begrudgingly. "Had it not been for you, we would have not been so close in the first place. So here, eat up. You will not be at full strength if you aret handicapped by hunger."

Naruto was even more surprised when Sakura also offered her bento, "Sasuke-kun is right. You need to eat something and you can eat from mine since I don't eat as much as Sasuke-kun." said Sakura as she placed a bit of food on her chopsticks and was inches away from feeding Naruto when..

BOOM!

A huge plume of smoke appeared and out stepped an irate looking Kakashi. "You dare defy my rules! I told you not to feed Naruto, yet you disobey my orders and do it anyway?! What do you have to say for yourselves before I give out divine punishment." said Kakashi as he held the ram seal and the sky darkened considerably and lightning danced around it.

Freaked out by the sudden appearance of Kakashi, Naruto shouted, "Because we're a team! And teammates look out for one another. That's what Konoha's built upon, teamwork!"

"Well if that's all you have to say, then you..." said Kakashi as all the Genin closed their eyes awaiting their punishment, "Pass." said Kakashi with an eye smile as the sky cleared back up.

"What?" came the intelligent response from Sakura.

Kakashi merely pointed to the memorial stone and stated, "Naruto was correct. This test was to find out your teamwork and willingness to work together. I gave you all a near impossible task with rules created to make you split up and work for yourselves. Had you forsaken your teammates and worked alone, you would have failed, even if you did get a bell. You all did the opposite and that is why we are now officially Team 7. Remember these words, "Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are even worst than scum."" finished Kakashi.

The three genin looked on with various expressions. Sakura fist pumped at officially being a team. Sasuke merely smirked in his cool way though you could see his excitement. Naruto, however, was crying tears of passion at the line that would forever be engraved in his heart. They were Team 7 and nothing would change that.

"Now tomorrow, we will begin missions and training to work more efficiently as a team. I expect to see you guys back here tomorrow at 9 am, until then." said Kakashi as he disappeared again in a puff of smoke.

When Kakashi left, Naruto escaped the ropes that bound him to the stump as he asked, "So you guys wanna train since we still have a whole day left. It's clear we all need more work, especially you Sakura. Me and Sasuke are more advanced than you and we need all the links of our team to be better if we want to be the best team possible." finished Naruto as Sasuke nodded and looked at Sakura expectantly.

After a moment, Sakura agreed. She would get to spend more time with her Sasuke-kun and become a better ninja in the process since her lack of help against Kakashi sensei was eye-opening.

(Timeskip- 6 weeks later)

D rank missions, chores if you asked Naruto, were absolutely horrible. Team 7 had done 48 D rank missions in the past 6 weeks from walking dogs and painting fences to catching the elusive Tora, pet cat of the Fire Daimyo's wife. In those six weeks though, Team 7 held many training sessions together. Usually 3, sometimes 4 times a week outside of missions and teamwork training with Kakashi.

Naruto stayed relatively the same, steadily trying to increase the speed of his shunshin and master his ninjutsu arsenal. Kakashi even showed Naruto another clone technique as he knew about Naruto's Mokuton and Moku Bunshins (Wood Clones) and that he still didn't want to show it. It was the simple Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu (Rock Clone Technique). Naruto also moved to level three of Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) involving exploding seals. He began to attach them to his Earth clones to add a deadly surprise to the simple clone technique.

Sasuke added a few more fire jutsus. One of them being, Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Technique), which emitted a volley of fist sized fireballs from the user's mouth in an unpredictable way. He also added the powerful Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique), which creates a powerful stream of fire from the user's mouth that takes on a dragon's appearance. Also during that time, he managed to learn several sharingan genjutsu from his clan's library. For some reason, Kakashi even gave him tips. How Kakashi knew so much about the sharingan was above him but he accepted it with no questions asked.

The person who progressed the most was Sakura. She began with physical exercises that at first, were brutal on her due to her not getting the correct nutrition into her body. However after hearing Naruto and Sasuke tell her to quit her diet since it'd make her body more capable of handling this type of training, it began to bear results. Her stamina, speed, and strength had improved greatly over the course of the past six weeks.

Naruto and Sasuke had also found out that Sakura had amazing chakra control since she was able to get tree walking and water walking relatively quickly. Since her chakra control was so good, Naruto suggested she become a medic-nin. Sakura was happy with the suggestion since she knew she wouldn't be able to catch Sasuke and Naruto in the other shinobi arts, but being a medic nin added value to her place on the team.

Sakura had learned the beginning medical ninjutsu, the Shosen no Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique). Though she could only heal small bruises and cuts, it was still better than nothing and she was proud of herself. She felt more important on the team now a days and her confidence skyrocketed as a result.

Kakashi, noticing the progress his team had made individually, eye-smiled because they took it upon themselves to get better. As such, he was more than happy to toss tips their way to help them. Due to them blossoming so well, he decided they had enough of D ranks and it was now time for their first C rank. It was a simple bodyguard duty, to escort Tazuna, a bridge builder who lived in wave country, back to Wave Country and guard him while he finished a bridge. It was more than easy enough for his team to handle and tomorrow they would set out on their first C rank.