I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

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"...Team 7: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruko Uzumaki, under Jonin Sensei Kakashi Hatake."

"Kill myself~" the Uchiha heir sang under his breath, cursing fate that he had what he perceived to be a weak kunoichi.

Naruko elbowed him sharply, her blue eyes flaring when she caught his implication, and Sasuke immediately mumbled a half-hearted apology, already familiar with the little bright flame called a "temper". Naruko huffed quietly and crossed her arms, looking away from the pouting Uchiha, still a little annoyed at his comment.

Her blue eyes caught a movement, and they flickered to the pink-haired, green-eyed girl who was looking down and sunk further down her chair, almost as if she was trying to hide under the desk. The Yamanaka heiress beside her smiled a little sympathetically at the girl and patted her pink head.

The whiskered girl frowned at the blatant show of timidity and... the protective girl beside her, for lack of better terminology. She mentally made a note to talk to the pinkette and work on her confidence and interactions.

"Team 8: Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga and Kiba Inuzuka, under Jonin Sensei Kurenai Yuhi."

Naruko patted Hinata's shoulder sympathetically as the girl shrank back into her chair, aware of the Hyuuga heiress' intimidation by the loud, rowdy Inuzuka heir. Naruko sighed internally, but knew why the Old Man had put them together — they would make a very effective tracking team.

"Team 9 is still in circulation. Team 10: Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka, under Jonin Sensei Asuma Sarutobi."

Ah, the InoShikaCho formation.

"You are all free to talk while you wait here for your senseis," Iruka smiled as he folded away his papers. "Get to know each other while you wait — they'll be here in a while. I'm very proud of all of you." His brown eyes lingered on Naruko, who gave him a small smile.

Then Iruka left the room, and it instantly erupted into chatter.

"Why why why why why," Naruko groaned as she banged her head on her desk repeatedly. "Why must we have the incredibly late, irresponsible and, out of all things, perverted Jonin sensei?"

Sasuke raised a eyebrow and slipped his hand between the desk and the blonde's forehead, not wanting her to get a giant bruise or lose any more brain cells than she had probably lost already. "Stop banging your head, dobe."

"What did you say?" Naruko narrowed her eyes at the Uchiha.

"Dobe," Sasuke repeated with a slight smirk.

"Teme," Naruko bit back, but amusement was dancing in both their eyes.

Hinata sighed, drawing their attention towards their new friend. "At least you two have each other... I'm stuck with a silent boy and a very intimidating and loud boy."

Naruko rolled her eyes and slung an arm around her. "You'll be fine, Hina."

Hinata sighed again as Sasuke "hn"ed.

"At least you will have a strong team," the Uchiha offered.

Naruko's head snapped to him. "Are you calling me weak, Uchiha?"

Sasuke flinched. "No..."

"You better not be talking about Sakura either," Naruko growled threateningly as Sasuke gulped subtly and made a mental note to never anger Naruko ever again.

"N-No, Naruko," Sasuke mumbled.

Naruko huffed. "Good. Now don't let me catch you saying such things again."

"Yes ma'am."

Hinata giggled at the interaction. She could already see the two of them becoming really good friends... or maybe more than that.

The chatter decreased slightly as a man and a woman stood in the doorway, scanning the crowd of graduates. "Team 8," the woman called.

Hinata wriggled closer to Naruko, who smiled and patted her head before shooing her off. The Hyuuga heir reluctantly left them, and the Uchiha lifted his head enough to send a small quirk of his lips her way. The interaction between the three did not go unnoticed by the woman.

"Team 10," the man called, and Ino sighed as she stood up and dragged Shikamaru with her to the doorway as Choji followed her, munching on his bag of BBQ chips.

"Great, now it's just Team 7," Sasuke griped as he dropped his head onto his desk.

Naruko had her cheek propped up on her palm, and she was looking at Sasuke with amused eyes. "Oh, come on Sasuke, it's not that bad," she said absent-mindedly as she drew circles on her desk mindlessly with her finger.

From three rows behind the Uzumaki and Uchiha, Sakura Haruno gulped as she watched them interact. The Uzumaki said something that made the Uchiha's head snap up and they argued for a bit before they started to laugh. Well, the girl did; Sasuke was just smirking. They were already so comfortable with each other, and she didn't want to intrude. They hadn't invited her over, so she was just going to stay here comfortably—

"Team 7?"

"Aw, buzz off, we're having a nice lil' bonding session here without you," Naruko's annoyed voice cut in through the pinkette's train of thought.

"Maa maa, that's quite rude, Naru-chan," the amused, monotone voice of her Jonin sensei came from the doorway. Naruko deadpanned at the man, lifting her middle finger at him and causing Sasuke to choke on air at the blatant disrespect.

"My first impression of you? Quiet," he pointed to Sakura, "moody," he pointed to Sasuke, "and... I'm not even going to bother," the silver-haired man sighed at Naruko's raised eyebrow.

"Love you too," Naruko said flatly as she hopped out of her seat and walked over to the window, swinging her legs over the sill.

"Meet you at the roof in five," he eye-smiled at his students before disappearing with a poof.

"Stupid, dramatic copycat," Naruko muttered under her breath as she placed a foot on the wall and started walking up, leaving her two teammates to take to the stairs.

"Maa maa, you should've walked up with them," the gravity-defying-haired Jonin eye-smiled.

Naruko huffed and sat down on the steps. "It's slower that way, Kaka-nii."

Over the two years that Naruko had lived in the Leaf, she had become accustomed to the ANBU that were tailing her, and even became friends with a few of them. Her most beloved guard was the ANBU Dog, who had eventually revealed himself to her after she surprised him by recounting Kakashi's history with her father to him. After that, Kakashi started to help her with early training and Naruko had taken to calling him "Kaka-nii", which he didn't object to in the slightest. He was one of the select few who knew about her "mask".

Kakashi eye-smiled at his blonde sister-figure before footsteps grew louder, and the remaining members of Team 7 came to the roof.

Sasuke frowned at Naruko and promptly sat beside her and immediately started to complain that she had left him in his own scowl-grunting way while Sakura sat down quietly on the other side of the whiskered girl.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the interaction between Uzumaki and Uchiha, and he caught the pinkette's eye and rolled his one eye amusedly. She merely gave him a small smile in return.

"Alright, if you two are done bantering, let's start getting to know each other," he said with an eye-smile. Naruko rolled her eyes and Sasuke lowered  his head, covering his mouth and nose with his interlocked fingers.

"For example: My name is Kakashi Hatake and I have likes and dislikes. My hobbies are the same as my likes and I haven't yet thought of a dream for the future."

Naruko sighed loudly. "His name is Kakashi Hatake, he likes reading porn, going to the K.I.A Memorial and being late. He dislikes it when someone takes away his pervy books and when people don't work together, or when he loses a comrade. His hobbies are his likes as he said before, and his dream," the blonde's voice softened, "although unrealistic, is to see his Genin team one more time, even if it's to to say goodbye."

Kakashi blinked.

Sasuke blinked.

Sakura blinked.

"You have great memory," Kakashi said at last.

"How do you know that?" Sasuke asked at the same time.

Naruko blinked at her new friend. "He's my brother," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "You still have your brother?"

"I'm not her biological brother," Kakashi immediately inputted. "Just... a brother-figure of sorts."

"You're like my brother and you act like one, don't you?" Naruko asked bluntly. "So you're my brother. There's nothing to it."

Kakashi sighed, giving up on the impassive blonde. "We will talk about these differences later, Naruko."

The blonde raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Just introduce yourself."

"I'm Naruko Uzumaki. I like dango, ramen, my family, Hina-chan and Sasuke—"

Kakashi and Sasuke nearly choked at her innocence.

"—and I dislike bullies and people who can't tell the difference between the scroll and the kunai sealed within it. My hobbies are training and hanging out with my family or with my new friends. Occasionally I like to draw or sing, but you won't be seeing me doing either anytime soon, so you can stop looking at me like that Sasuke. And my dream for the future is to... become Hokage."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her "dream", but said nothing about it. Obviously Naruko's family was supposed to be kept a secret, if Naruko hadn't said anything about them until her "mask" came off the day they had the graduation exam.

"Pinkie."

Sakura flinched. "U-Um... my name is Sakura Haruno. I like reading, gardening and my best friend Ino. I dislike bullies, and my hobby is gardening and practicing my Medical Ninjutsu. My dream is to become as great of a medic as Tsunade Senju was," she said quietly.

Naruko looked at her female teammate. "You're never going to achieve that dream if you don't start getting more confidence," she said bluntly. "Shoulders straight, chin up, look someone in the eye and speak with certainty."

Sakura flinched again at the blunt, impassive tone but nodded quickly.

"Oh, and stop caving in to everything people say. You can't be a ninja if you don't have some sort of opinion."

"Alright Naruko, that's enough from you. Your turn, Moody."

Sasuke twitched and Naruko rolled her eyes again. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, and my dream — no, my ambition — is to revive my clan and kill a certain someone. There is nothing more to it."

For the second time in that hour, Naruko took it upon herself to reintroduce someone in her team with greater detail.

"His name is Sasuke Uchiha, he likes tomatoes and training. He dislikes socializing, sweet things, loud noises and fangirls. His hobby is training and gardening, and his dream for the future is to revive his clan and to track down his brother and ask him what the hell he was thinking when he massacred the Uchiha."

Sasuke glared at Naruko for "ruining his avenger image". The latter shrugged at him. "Thanks for spilling all my secrets, dobe."

"No problem."

'For all her sarcastic comments, she seems to have trouble actually detecting it,' Sasuke thought with a slight sweatdrop.

Kakashi lifted an amused eyebrow. "And how do you know this, Naru-chan?"

"I got to know him yesterday."

"Ah; when you dropped you mask?"

"Mm-hm."

"Now you're acting like an Uchiha," Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruko's eyes twinkled. "Who knows — maybe I have Uchiha blood in me. Or," her whiskered face instantly shifted into the classic Uchiha Brooding Face, "I've just been hanging around you for too long."

At Sasuke's raised eyebrow, Naruko grinned and elaborated, "You're a bad influence on me."

"Hey!"

Kakashi sighed despite his amusement. He was glad that his team was better than he originally thought it would be, especially with his sensei's daughter on the team. And he noticed that she was acting more... emotional rather than her normal blankness around the Uchiha, which he was grateful for. He also noticed that the Uchiha was opening up to Naruko, which made his job that much easier to keep a possible defect loyal to the village. Kakashi then caught the slightly miserable look on the third, almost-forgotten member. He narrowed his eye slightly and made a mental note to talk to Naruko about making friends with the other excluded girl.

"Alright, nice to know you're all getting along well already. Tomorrow we meet at Training Ground 7 at 5:00 am sharp. We're having a final test to see if you are worthy of becoming Genin. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll puke," Kakashi winked at them before he disappeared.

Naruko rolled her eyes and stood up. "Don't bother coming until 8:00. Kaka-nii's at least three hours late to everything unless he's been summoned by the Hokage himself. He's normally two hours late if he is. And eat breakfast, because shinobi can't function without a full stomach."

Sasuke stood up as well. "I was planning on it anyway."

Naruko's lip quirked in a slight smirk. "Nice to know you're good enough to see through him."

Sasuke smirked. "Of course I am."

Naruko then shifted her head to the pinkette. "Sakura, would you like to join us on a walk?"

"U-Us?" Sakura hesitated.

"Me and the teme," Naruko said impassively. "Unless you have plans."

"N-No..."

"Great," Naruko slid her eyes to Sasuke, who didn't look the least bit happy at being dragged into something without earlier warning or his consent. "Let's go."

"Should I even ask where we're going?" Sasuke sighed as he fell in step beside Naruko who was walking towards the village.

"You'll see when we get there," was the vague answer.

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"Tadaima, Kaka-nii," Naruko called softly as she stopped by the doorway to take off her shoes.

"Okaeri, imouto," Kakashi said as he came into view, giving her his eye-smile. "Go wash your hands. Dinner's waiting for you."

A small smile flitted across Naruko's lips as she came into the apartment. Six months ago, this godsend of a human had managed to convince the Hokage to let her stay with him instead of the horrible apartment she had previously been living in. She had already been acquainted with him back then, and she still thanked her lucky stars that she had such a caring older brother here, even though she hadn't even met him until now.

"So, what did you do today after the little team introduction?" Kakashi asked as he set down a steaming bowl of ramen in front of his sister before taking a seat opposite her with his own bowl of ramen.

"Mm," Naruko hummed as she picked up some noodles with her chopsticks. "I invited Sakura for a walk... and more or less forced Sasuke to come."

"Oh? Where to?"

Naruko hummed again as she swallowed her mouthful. "The Hokage Monument."

Kakashi paused in his eating and set down his chopsticks to stare at his little sister who was eating away at her dinner, oblivious to his stare. Naruko never took anyone to her special place unless they were truly special to her. If Naruko wasn't at the apartment, a training ground or Ichiraku's, Kakashi could almost always find her there.

His one eye softened as he realized that with or without her knowledge, Naruko had already decided to trust her teammates. Within a day or two of knowing them.

Naruko finally looked up, a noodle hanging from her mouth. "What?"

Kakashi shook his head and chuckled. "Nothing, imouto. Nothing."

The two continued eating, and when they finally finished, Naruko slipped out of her seat to take both hers and her brother's bowl to the sink to clean up.

"You finally ready to look like yourself?" Kakashi asked as he came into the kitchen to ruffle her hair and take out some desserts for them.

Naruko swatted his hand away, her blue eyes never leaving the dishes she was cleaning. "I guess so."

Kakashi helped her dry and put away the dishes before the two sat down on the couch to enjoy some daifuku — Kakashi reading his little orange book and Naruko reading some manga titled "Clannad".

"Alright, that's enough daifuku for you," Kakashi sat at last as he closed his little orange book and stood up.

Naruko looked up at her brother, her hand already outstretched to get another small ball of sweetness. "What's the time?"

"1:13 AM."

Naruko flinched and immediately closed her manga, swiping one last daifuku from the box and hurrying off to brush her teeth and get into bed.

Kakashi rubbed his forehead and sighed. "The things I let this girl get away with... geez, how will we ever get up in time for tomorrow?"

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"S-So Sasuke-kun... what do you think about our final test?" Sakura Haruno said shyly as she faced her long-time crush.

She and Sasuke had come to Training Ground 7 three hours later than the arranged time as Naruko had told them to, and for now, it looked like neither Naruko nor Kakashi had arrived yet.

"Hn," was the one-syllable reply.

Sakura sighed. She had never liked the fangirls that had gone and chased Sasuke Uchiha around the village like some obsessed demon-spawns. She, herself, once thought of joining in but then decided not to as 1., it didn't suit her personality and she was not comfortable with some of the stalkerish/disturbing things they did and 2., Sasuke had plenty of crazy fangirls and probably did not desire any more.

Sakura blinked and she suddenly yelped quietly, causing Sasuke's head to lift as he followed her gaze.

"If every word I said, could make you laugh,

I'd talk forever."

His onyx eyes widened as he saw a girl he had never seen before — a girl with long, flowing bright blonde hair wearing a short orange kimono. (Refer to media)

"I asked the sky just what we had.

Mm, it shone forever."

She was staring up at the bright blue sky through the leafy foliage of the tree she was sitting on. One leg was hanging down and she was hugging the other, and Sasuke could just make out what seemed like whisker marks on each cheek.

"If the song I sing to you, could fill your heart with joy

I'd sing forever."

"Naruko...?" Sasuke murmured under his breath as he realized who the girl was. But she was so different — her hair was longer than he had previously thought it to be, and it was out. She was also wearing a dress. It looked good on her, though, and it seemed quite practical to both fight and train in. It was also less orange and even had black on it, unlike her old jumpsuit.

"Forever... forever...

I've been so happy loving you.

Let the love I have for you,

Live in your heart and beat forever.

Mm, forever... forever.

I've been so happy loving you..."

The training ground was silent for a while after that, until light footsteps crunching on leaves came to their hearing.

"I thought you said we wouldn't be hearing you sing any time soon," drawled the amused voice of Kakashi Hatake.

"And you, mister, wouldn't wake up even when I dumped a bucket of cold water on you," Naruko drawled in the exact same tone. "I had to give my poor fellow shinobi some entertainment. You were keeping us waiting for more than your allotted time."

Kakashi reached up a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "Eheh... gomen, imouto."

Naruko sighed. "It's fine; I was feeling kind of nostalgic today anyway."

Kakashi smiled slightly and then produced two small, silver bells from his pouch. "Okay, now today we are going to have a special test to see if you are all worthy of becoming Genin. It's called the "Bell Test". The aim of this test is to get one of these bells off me by noon, and if you even want the slightest chance of passing, you have to come at me with the intent to kill."

At the glint in Naruko's eyes, Kakashi immediately amended, "Not you, foxy. You might actually maim me if you did."

Sasuke and Sakura whipped their heads to Naruko, who was staring back at their sensei with impassive eyes. "Wait, if Naruko's strong enough to be able to potentially kill a Jonin, shouldn't she be Genin or higher already?" Sakura asked quietly, confusion etched on her face.

Kakashi shook his head. "Not necessarily... it's quite complex and we'll explain it to you after the test. Now," he set down a clock on the wooden pole beside him, "begin!"

All three immediately shot off into the foliage to hide.

'Something's a little too fishy about this,' Naruko frowned as she watched her sensei through a cluster of leaves. 'They way he worded it, it sounded almost like he wants us to get the bells for our own gain.'

Then Naruko remembered something her brother had once taught her; "Those that break the rules are scum, yes, but I believe that those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Naruko's eyes widened as something struck her. 'This test is designed to trick us so we try to get the bell for our own gain, but the true purpose of it is the see if we can initiate teamwork! Now, to see if Sakura and Sasuke can be convinced to help me out...'

And the blonde fox closed her eyes to stretch her senses. Once she managed to locate Sasuke, she shot off to catch him before he decided to do something stupid.

"Sasuke!"

The Uchiha flinched and whirled around to find Naruko crouched behind him. "What the hell, Naruko?" he hissed.

"The purpose of this test is teamwork," Naruko explained quietly. "We don't stand a chance against a Jonin by ourselves, so we have to work together to get a bell!"

Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah right, you can easily take him on. He said so himself!"

Naruko rolled her eyes. "Do you want to pass or not?" she demanded, "Because if you do, then we have to work together as a team!"

Sasuke looked at her contemplatively. "...please tell me this doesn't involve Sakura."

Naruko hit him upside down the head. "Idiot! Of course we have to include her!"

Sasuke grumbled as Naruko closed her eyes and stretched her senses once again. She passed over Kakashi's chakra signature until finally finding the average-sized chakra signature that was on the other side of the training ground.

'Wow, we were in a perfect triangle formation,' Naruko noted with surprise. Shaking her head to clear out distractions, Naruko grabbed Sasuke's hand and shunshined them to Sakura's hiding place, accidentally letting a little bit of her skill set show.

"Sakura."

The pinkette flinched and turned around. "Naruko? Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here?"

"In a nutshell, the test is about teamwork and we have to work together to get a bell otherwise we don't get to pass," Sasuke said bluntly.

Naruko lifted an eyebrow but shrugged at the pinkette's questioning look. "As he said: in a nutshell."

"Okay, so we have to work together. Do we have a plan?" Sakura asked, inching closer so they could talk properly without straining their voices.

Naruko nodded. "I noticed that when we were hiding, we were in a perfect triangle formation. What I propose is..."

= • = • = • =

Kakashi hummed as he turned another page. The munchkins sure were taking a long time deciding their move. He would've thought, that with Naruko on their side, they would be on the move by now. Especially that Uchiha.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Looks like he spoke too soon.

Kakashi didn't even put his book away as he prepared to dodge it. But then, something else happened.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

'They're using Wind and Fire to enhance the jutsu?' Kakashi thought as he immediately tucked his book away safely into his pouch and jumped back onto a bough to avoid the blistering heat of the enhanced fireball.

Kakashi squinted at the smoke and his eye widened when he realized Naruko was coming at him under the shield of the smoke. By the stance she was preparing herself for, it was going to be a taijutsu battle.

Kakashi's eye widened as he felt a kick on his back forcing him off the tree and to the ground. He turned around mid-air and found Sasuke standing where he was previously perched, smirking down on him. The Jonin once again turned around to find Naruko boosting herself up, her left leg stretched out as her body turned to the right.

Kakashi brought his arms up to block the impact as Naruko's leg connected with his arms, sending a jolting pain flashing through his body. 'Sh-t that girl can kick hard,' Kakashi winced, rubbing his arms. He immediately put his guard back up when he saw Sasuke coming down on him, and smoothly dodged out of the way, resulting in Sasuke punching the ground.

Kakashi slipped to the left and the right, dodging their impressive taijutsu skills and the fluidity in which they worked together. They managed to force him back, which was an impressive feat in itself, and just as Kakashi felt something pressing against his heel, Naruko and Sasuke jumped away, leaving him alone in the training ground.

The Copycat Ninja was confused until there was an explosion above him, and the next thing he knew, he was completely covered in bright orange, yellow, pink, green, blue and other hideous, fluorescent colours.

Kakashi stared down at himself in dismay, mentally promising himself to make his sister pay for this tonight.

His senses then pricked, and he looked up to find a barrage of kunai heading his way. He barely managed to dodge most of them, and they hit the trunk behind him. Kakashi started to sweat when he saw how deeply they were embedded, but then he paled drastically when he realized that each and every kunai had an explosive seal tag on it.

BOOM!

Kakashi barely had time to Shunshin himself away from the tree before it exploded.

= • = • = • =

Kakashi shunshined to the wooden poles the minute the alarm clock rang, breathing a sigh of relief. He was covered in paint and his hair was slightly singed. He glared with his one eye at the innocent-looking Genin and then sighed.

"Well, none of you got the bell... and Sakura, looks like you're going to be tied up because you didn't do anything."

"On the contrary," Naruko smiled, stepping forward, "she did a vital thing."

Grinning, Sakura produced two bells that were dangling from her fingertips. "We pass, Kakashi-sensei. We got the bells and we demonstrated teamwork. That's what the test was about, right? Teamwork."

Kakashi's head snapped towards Naruko who, in response, merely recited quietly, "Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Kakashi's eye softened. "It's good to know you remember what I taught you."

"I could never forget that one."

"Because of it's importance and serious life-moral?"

"More like, because of how many times its been drilled into me," Naruko said bluntly. Kakashi's face twisted strangely but then the blonde added in a soft voice, "But mainly because it was one of the first things you ever taught me."

"Ahem," Sasuke coughed, interrupting the little sibling moment. "We're waiting."

"Oh, right," Kakashi blinked. "Well, even if you figured out the test with a little outside help, I guess I can still pass you because you showed compatible teamwork and involved everyone in your team. Congratulations, you are now officially Team 7. Tomorrow at 8:00, we head to the Hokage Office to get our first mission. You can all go home now."

"Oh no they can't," Naruko cut in, stalking forward and grabbing their wrists. "We are going to celebrate as a team at Ichiraku's and then get to know the rest of the teams. And no, you're not going to be escaping this one, Sasuke-teme. See you later, Kaka-nii."

Kakashi smiled fondly as Naruko practically dragged her teammates towards her favourite ramen stand to "celebrate". This would be a fun team indeed — he had never been more glad to be selected to guide for a Genin team, despite his initial reluctance.

And despite the fact that bright, hideous colours of dried paint covered every part of his clothing and his beautiful, gravity-defying hair would need a trim due to it singeing thanks to another trap that his devious imouto had planted after the paint bombs.

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The song is "Forever" by the Beach Boys, however the version I used was in Fuller House's pilot episode (Netflix).

Hope you enjoyed~