The day has come for the Trio Prodigies to spar with Kakashi. Fortunately for Sakura, she slept at 7 o'clock in the evening, so she was able to be wide awake at 2 o'clock in the morning before the spar. It was suspicious for Kakashi to start the day unreasonably early as he is known to be late most of the time—she had her relatives to ask about him. It was quite obvious that he has something up in his sleeves, so she took precaution and took a good 7 hours sleep.

Her theory about his unsaid plans was that he would think they will sleep at their usual time, making it impossible for them to have enough rest if they were to be punctual—which was crucial for a ninja, especially inexperienced ones; they needed enough rest to have enough energy. He will of course, be late and make all of them drowsy while waiting for his arrival. No student would dare take a nap while waiting for their teacher, and he used that to his advantage.

A cousin of Sakura's have told her about the real Genin test. Upon hearing this from her cousin, she suspected the sparring is the said test and she vowed to pass. She has been training the moment she learned how to walk, she would not let this untold test to stop her from becoming a Genin—the lowest level of ninjas. It would be a title too humiliating to bear as a noble and as the infamous Sakura Haruno. Furthermore, she was told about Kakashi's traumatic past. As though learning about his father's suicide was not enough, he had to watch his teammate risk his life to save him. On top of that, his teammate—Obito Uchiha presented him his left eye which yields the Sharingan as a gift upon becoming a Jounin. Scar after scar, Kakashi was once again trapped to leave his heart open and let fate stab the life out of him. He was forced to kill his remaining teammate, Rin Nohara, because she unwillingly became the jinchuriki of Isobu.

Rumours say that the Genin team under Kakashi have never passed, not a single one and all of them were to never enter the Ninja Academy ever again. Hearing this did not make Sakura feel good, but fear was not evident in any place of her heart and mind at all; instead, she took it as a challenge and she vowed to be the first to pass. After all, her team is the Trio Prodigy. Learning about his past, she came with a conclusion that the key to pass his test is teamwork.

Before taking off, she prepared all necessary things such as her weapon pouch, a medical pouch and an optional book to read. It was almost certain that Kakashi will be late as always. On the way to the training ground, she met Sasuke.

"Good morning, Uchiha-san."

He nodded in acknowledgment, "Haruno-san."

They walked quietly to the training ground, letting a thick layer of discomfort settle upon the couple. Once they reached the training field, Neji was found to be the first to reach.

"Haruno-san, Uchiha-san, a good morning to you."

"Hyuga-san." They both replied in unison.

During their wait for Kakashi, Sakura rested her back on a tree and opened her book to start reading. She ignored the stares from the two boys; they exchanged glances before walking towards the pinkette. Right before they could open their mouth, she shushed them with a warning.

"Anybody who disturbs me reading will get a punch from me." She then continued after realising a tip. "Oh, before that, sleep while you can because he will be late. I assume you both did not get enough sleep?"

The way both of them looked at her was similar; in some ways, they are similar but at the same time, they are very different. Their gazes may be identical, but the emotions in their eyes can be complete opposites. In this situation, Neji's eyes showed amazement and curiosity; whereas in Sasuke's eyes there were respect and acknowledgement.

Neji flirtatiously said,"Very smart of you, my dear." In which Sakura mentally facepalmed to.

"Hn."

'They are very different.'

A little past 7 o'clock in the morning is when Kakashi finally showed up which meant the trio waited for roughly 4 hours. Just an hour or two before his arrival, the couple of boys woke up from their nap.

"Yo." He nonchalantly greeted.

"Hn." His three students replied. At this, Sasuke glared at the other two for taking his signature reply.

Before beginning his test, Kakashi pointed out something he believe is very important. "From this moment on, please act like yourselves, relax. We are a team and nobody is here to watch you." He watched as all three of the fresh graduates stood still in front of him, of course they were hesitant after being in their best behaviour for as long as they have lived; it is not an easy task to strip off the facade they spent years to build. Kakashi continued, "As I said, today all of you will spar with me. I'll compare all of you and pick only two persons. I suppose you all know that you are not officially Genin yet, so this test will determine your ninja status. However, only two will be chosen. I don't care about you being Trio Prodigies, if you're not fit, you're not fit. It's better for them to not exist anyway.." The last sentence was unheard, it went by like a whisper in the wind.

Sakura, Neji and Sasuke gave each other looks, seemingly communicating with only their eyes. There were not a single hint of worry, all three pairs were filled with determination and pre-triumph. They knew they will pass Kakashi's test, all together without a single one left behind.

"Alright. Ready?" Kakashi asked, all three of them nodded in reply.

"Start!"

==

Dedicated to KhadijahQuek for following me and your votes on this story! Also, hello fellow Malaysian!

~Joelle

Published: November 2014
Rewritten: 12 April 2017