Chapter 6

Sadism was an art, not for those faint of the heart or those with a weak resolve.

Malice, manipulation, and a small dash of madness were necessary to truly enjoy the misery of others. Naruto never considered himself to be a sadist, but he had his moments. He would mock enemy shinobi, talk shit about their village and their comrades and their Kage –the last one garnered him their ire the most. Watching them falter, lose their shit before reeking of the same substance, made him nod his head with appreciation. It was probably why Anko had a thing for him.

As he thought about Orochimaru's abandoned student he ducked a punch coming from his blindside. Grabbing the arm he yanked the person forward before delivering a kick, a gentle one, as the assailant skidded back, rolled on the dirt before slowly getting up. He looked at the attacker. This one was bit the dust like the other two. Based on what he read on the files, they'd seen better days. Still he had to give credit. Those three hadn't given up yet, they had spunk and guts. Sadly, he couldn't pass them on those terms alone.

After crushing the bells, Naruto calmly explained his plan. A test of teamwork between the three graduates, something that all three of them had caught on to as he pointed out. The blond clarified that he knew they would work together for the sake of graduation. Under no circumstances was he going to let that happen. Such a thing would only hamper their actual growth later, and he knew how important teammates could be on the battlefield and real life. Moving on from their stupefied expressions, he drew a small ring around the ground standing in it, he gave his team one objective.

Knock him out of the circle and graduate.

They'd been trying for the last two and a half hours. With each new attempt they failed, though he was glad to see that the attacks were coming in coordination now. Of course, then Ino and Sakura would argue, get into a tussle, Hinata would try to break it up before going back to square one. Naruto would've been annoyed if hadn't paid attention half the time. The sun reached the middle of the sky, the overbearing heat hit its peak, the birds flew away ominously the alarm clock blared to life.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the three, shook his head in disappointment and coughed. "Congratulations, you failed."

Sheer horror was what he saw in their eyes, none more so than Hinata –for he knew what would become of her. The way her puppy lavender eyes seemed so hopeless, it almost made him go 'Aww'. I'm getting soft.

"We can't fail," Sakura spoke first, jaded eyes now dreary. "I-I can't just-"

"Calm down, Haruno," Naruto raised his hand. "You're not the only genin who'll fail this year. Lots of them do every year. Look at it this way. You won't get raped outside the village." He didn't bother to note how all three paled. Kunoichi getting raped and sold was nothing new. Weaklings had no place in the shinobi world. They were about as useful as honor.

He walked forward and opened the lunch boxes again, the seal inside them kept the food warm. The sweet aroma spread wildly in the air, attracting every famished person to it. In this case three. Naruto sat down and he could hear the kunoichi mumbling something, tears were forming at the corner of their eyes. Naruto wasn't made for this sentimental candy floss, though he did feel a bit bad for them. Innocent young flowers they were. Without hesitation, he dug into his lunch and ate heartily with a smile on his face. The pork was deliciously cooked. It was too good to be true.

"You know," he spoke after swallowing. "I could do a little something." The way their eyes shined was so precious.

"S-Sensei," Hinata finally muttered. "What do you mean?" Desperation clear in her voice.

"You're going to give us a second chance?" Ino asked, her voice laden with shame and exhilaration. Naruto realized he liked teasing out the dearest emotions of others more than he thought.

"In a manner of speaking." Naruto quietly kept finished his lunch, the kunoichi were teetering. He stood straight and stretched a bit, taking as much time as he could. "Like I said before, you all failed. But there is one thing I can do."

All three Academy graduates looked at him with hopes in their eyes, affection in their hearts and respect in their minds. Yeah, he did not want that unless he earned. Until then being a sarcastic jerk was fine.

"How do I put this?" he stroked his chin in thought, rubbing the growing stubble. He needed to shave. "Only one of you gets to pass."

He heard two loud shouts on cue, one short gasp and a groan –the last one came from him. "You heard me. Oh and one last thing, I'm not the one making the decision."

Before the three girls knew what was happening, Ino and Sakura felt strong and calloused hands touch them. They shivered a bit from the foreign contact. It was rough yet warm, they felt ropes being wrapped around them. Tightly they dug in. Around their arms, their waists and chests. They gasped in shock as they found themselves tied to the posts and Hinata standing along flabbergasted.

The Hyuga felt a hand on her shoulder and slowly turned around. Naruto-kun's face was inches away from her. He smelled of leaves, cologne, and something else she didn't know. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she felt her entire body quivering.

"You get to make that choice," he said, the warm breath from his lips caressed her nose and she shivered. She felt something solid touch her stomach, it was a box her sensei handed to her. "The reason I'm giving you lunch is because you're the only one who didn't get into a useless bicker every five to ten minutes. Thus, you get to make the choice. Word of advice, if I were you I'd pick myself."

With those words he disappeared. His back landed comfortably on a thick, wide wooden branch. He'd always loved Training Ground Six. It was, in a sense, home. He trained here, bled here, and even got beaten into the ground by so many teacher and friends –Shisui wrecked him the most. Birds chirped, the wind blew and he sighed. It was so peaceful here.

Hinata felt as if her heart was going to burst out of her chest. She stood in front of the two posts, watching her teammates glaring at each other cursing all the same. Even now they were both bickering about a boy –who wasn't even here.

"All of this happened because of you!" Sakura bellowed. It resounded throughout the Ground Six. "If you just listened to my plan and did what I told you to-"

"Your plan?" Ino gawked. "Yeah, I remember your plan working very fine. Sensei cut through all our shuriken and kunai like it was nothing. And now you have the gall to tell me I ruined it? You bit-"

"Stop it!" Hinata yelled, frustrated at the thoughts going through her head and more importantly the burden on her shoulders. "Don't you two realize what's happening?"

"Yeah, we're going to fail." Sakura pointed out. "Let's be honest. We could never work as a team to begin with. As long as she's here that is."

"As much as it sickens me to say it, you're right," Ino agreed with her former friend's words. "We can never work together."

Hinata clenched her fists and gathered her wits; their bickering words were ignored as she pondered what to do. Naruto-kun had left her the decision. Naturally, she wanted to nominate herself. Being away from the one who inspired her to do better, then developing a crush on him was gut-wrenching. Especially after such a long time. Naruto had changed too. He wasn't bold, outspoken and brazen as he used to be. A distant aloof air surrounded him, always on guard, not caring about anything in general.

Is this what being a shinobi means? She'd heard tales of how the most human of people became brutal murder machines, devoid of mercy. Dogs of war, she'd heard her father once say regarding all shinobi –including him too. Naruto was a jōnin now, perhaps the youngest ever to her knowledge at least. That worried her more. To become so strong at such an age, it made her fear and flinch for what he went through.

What happened to you, Naruto-kun?

"Shut up!" Ino's yell - filled with fury and despise - brought her back. It was too loud to ignore. "You're the reason why I was held back. "Kunoichi of the Year" my foot. You couldn't even last a full twenty minutes without taking a break."

"Oh don't you dare!" Sakura snarled. She continued, "Don't go around blaming me for your shortcomings. You've always been this way. Ever since that day I told you about Sasuke-kun. You are nothing but a traitor of a friend."

"Friend," Hinata flinched at the poison in that word. Ino's glare could've murdered a person in that moment. "You made it very clear we weren't friends, Sakura."

...

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