Kakashi's Test (2)

The Nara thought that what they were facing was simply an impossible situation. Three genins against a jounin? What a joke. If Kakashi had been serious, they wouldn't last a minute. Therein lies the catch, however. Kakashi wasn't being serious – that indicated to Shikamaru that the jounin was indeed sincere in wanting to test his team. If so, it was likely that the man was limiting his strength to chuunin level to give them even the slightest possibility of succeeding.

Three genins against a chuunin sounded like much better odds, especially if one of them was an Uchiha genius while the other could spam solid clones as easily as others could use the regular bunshin. But, Shikamaru also realized, it would be up to him to coordinate the assault of these two forces. Sasuke was a loner, plain and simple. While not quite arrogant, the Uchiha held utmost confidence in his own skills so he might not take kindly to any offer to team up.

Whereas Naruto was impulsive, reckless, and lacked the ability or desire to think before he acted. However, that didn't mean the boy would stubbornly cling to a 'fair and square' match against a jounin after being thoroughly trounced and humiliated by said man. That was something Shikamaru could work with if he so desired.

The Nara scratched the back of his head in frustration. Why was he thinking so hard about this? To pass the 'real' graduation exam and thus be selected for preferential grooming by the village under the wing of an elite jounin whose standards would likely be set higher than average? That was the opposite of the laidback, unremarkable and carefree life he wanted.

'Should I just fail on purpose…?' Shikamaru pondered while laying down on the cool grass. Being assigned to the unofficial genin corp and sent for guard duty where he could just nap as much as he wanted, when and as he liked, sounded much more enticing than a life full of hardships, training and being sent to risk his life in dangerous missions. Although his dad might be slightly disappointed by his failure, the old man would understand where he was coming from. At most, the mantle of the Nara Clan head could be passed to one of his more overachieving and ambitious cousins. That wouldn't bother Shikamaru even the slightest bit.

He watched the clouds drift by slowly and felt the refreshing breeze sweep past his motionless body. This… this was the life. No mom screaming at him, nor any blonde Yamanakas too. The lull of the soothing and comfortable wind as well as the rays of sun partially blocked by the clouds was slowly but surely luring him to sleep.

That was until his view of the clouds were blocked by a familiar raven-haired genin looking annoyed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sasuke asked, forehead scrunched up in displeasure.

"Watching the clouds." Shikamaru sleepily responded before yawning and his eyelids slowly flickered as if he was barely trying to stay awake.

The Uchiha's eye brow twitched. These were his teammates? One dumb as rocks blonde and another lazy as hell pineapple head? Sasuke cursed in his head. If only Shinji had been on his team, then this test would have already been over and done with. Instead, he was stuck with these two morons who were continuously trying his patience.

"Get up. We have bells to take." Sasuke demanded, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.

Shikamaru opened one eye lazily, glancing at his teammate, "What's the point?" Although inwardly he was slightly surprised that his analysis had been wrong. Sasuke had taken the initiative to propose a collaboration instead of going lone wolf like he had expected. Odd.

Said Uchiha gritted his teeth, his fist trembling as he held back socking the lazy Nara in the kisser. "The point is to pass the damn test!"

"Pass." Shikamaru waved away what he thought of as an annoyance and turned to his side to sink deeper into his attempt at falling asleep.

Sasuke reached down and grabbed the Nara's collar, his eyes flared and black turned to red, "Look, I don't give a damn what you want. You might be content with mediocrity, but I'm not! So if you're not going to bother trying, then I'm taking charge!"

Shikamaru widened his eyes at sight of the Uchiha Clan's famed Sharingan. He never knew that Sasuke had successfully awakened the doujutsu. That changed things. Rather than the intimidation factor Sasuke had been going for, the Sharingan instead sparked hundreds of possibilities that ran through the Nara's mind. It was an involuntary habit for Shikamaru to think and overthink when encountering a new element he never considered before.

The Uchiha was not at all pleased with the shocked silence. To him, every second wasted was one less he could spend training. And wasting time was not part of the 'Weasel Hunt' plan he and Shinji had concocted. "Bastard, are you even listening to me!?"

"Tsk, I got it. Let go." Shikamaru pulled himself away from Sasuke's grip on his collar and picked himself up. He massaged his neck and stretched away the drowsiness that had begun to sink in his bones from when he was falling asleep. "It would be more troublesome to sleep than to help you."

"Good. Now we need to think of a plan and lay a trap in order to grab those bells. From what I've observed, there is no way we can take on sensei just by charging in head on. The man is confident of his skills, as he rightfully should be, but because of that he looks down on us. With just the two of us, we should be able to exploit that confidence." Sasuke stated, turning off his Sharingan before continuing.

"If you can catch him with your Nara clan's shadow jutsu, I should be able to run in fast enough to take the two bells. One for you, and one for me."

The Nara was slightly surprised, "Then what about Naruto? You know, our third member?"

"Hmph, that idiot is useless. He would only hold us back. Besides, there are only two bells, why should we include that idiot in our plan?"

Shikamaru shrugged at Sasuke's answer, "I don't think that is the best course of action."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow curiously, "Hoh? Why do you say that?"

"I am suspicious of the rules of the test. I have never heard of three man teams with two genins and one jounin. Have you? It's either an apprenticeship between one genin and one jounin or a full squad between three genins and one jounin, but never two. So why would Kakashi-sensei threaten to send one of us back to the academy if they fail?"

The Uchiha rubbed his chin contemplatively, "Hmm, there is some logic in what you say."

"Furthermore, there is no way three genins can reasonably challenge a jounin, let alone any one of us individually. I suspect what he said in the beginning was only meant to drive a wedge between us, make us fight between ourselves. I think what he is truly testing is whether we can work together as a team even in the face of a difficult choice. Ergo, we need Naruto." Shikamaru concluded.

"I see… but what if you're wrong?" Sasuke rebutted.

"Three heads are better than two. And didn't you notice? Naruto's clones were solid. We are going to need that manpower only he can provide for my plan. Besides, say we're wrong and only two of us gets to keep the bell. In that case, I will voluntarily withdraw. I was going to give up on the test either way, so it wouldn't really matter to me." Shikamaru countered.

The Uchiha paled, "And leave me stuck in a team with that moron? No thanks. We'll see what happens if push comes to shove… You mentioned a plan?"

The Nara nodded, "Yeah, but first, we have to find Naruto. Then I'll explain my plan."

---------

Kakashi remained where he had been standing and waiting for his students the whole time, indifferently reading his book and waiting for his new genins to make a move. He looked up at the sky, noting the setting sun, 'They have roughly an hour left… Should I go find them now?'

Just as he was about to put away his copy of Icha Icha Violence, a loud rumble came from the forest. More accurately, it came from the forest all around him. 'Hoh, what are they up to now?'

Out of the thickets, a flood of Naruto clones came running out, charging and yelling loudly.

"Charge!!!" They all chorused at once.

Kakashi eyed the clones with some surprise, there had to be a couple hundred of them that Naruto had created. Such a chakra capacity left even a jounin like him astounded. Without a doubt, the Kyuubi's influence on the boy's chakra reserves were strong.

But… it was going to take more than mere numbers to deal with a jounin as Naruto would soon find out, Kakashi figured. Perhaps he should demonstrate just how far the distance between himself and the boy was with an overwhelming show of force? '…nah, not worth the effort.'

Kakashi waited for the clones to approach before once more launching into a combo of kicks and punches, a hand still holding on to the book. The Naruto clones who tried desperately to land a hit were easily dispersed. Every kick would pop two or even three of them while occasionally Kakashi would throw one of them into a group of even more clones, destroying them all.

'What a waste of chakra… If they pass, I will have to teach him how to use his clones more efficiently.' The jounin mentally noted, when suddenly his movements froze.

Kakashi looked down, only his irises moving as his head couldn't, and found a shadow extended from somewhere that connected to his own. Tracing where that shadow had come from, he found that it had merged with a dozen Naruto shadow clones in order to extend its range and successfully reach Kakashi's.

Tracing the shadow further back, he quickly found one similarly blonde and orange boy down on one knee with his hands together in a rat seal amidst a sea of Naruto clones. The 'Naruto clone' smirked with an uncharacteristic intelligence in his eyes, "Shadow Possession Jutsu, success. Now, Naruto!"

'Hoh, a henge?' Kakashi mused, while a dozen Naruto shadow clones moved towards the man upon receiving the signal.

"Heh, the bell is mine!" One of them yelled, hands reaching towards bells hanging on the jounin's waist.

"Clever, but when there is an overwhelming difference in chakra…" Kakashi began.

The 'Naruto clone' now revealed as Shikamaru began sweating heavily; the thin layer of illusion that transformed his appearance was released, lacking the concentration needed to maintain the disguise. "Kkh, I can't… hold him…"

"…your Shadow Possession won't have an effect." The jounin finished as a stream of thick, potent chakra saturated his muscles and another wave of chakra blasted outwards, breaking the connection of the Shadow Possession jutsu.

Now freed from the hold, Kakashi was able to handily dispatch one of the clones who had ran in to snatch his bells.

At that moment, however, Kakashi sensed another surge of chakra from the opposite direction.

"Katon: Grand Fireball!" Another 'Naruto clone', exhaled out a massive sphere of flames, rocketing towards Kakashi and the bunch of clones that had gathered around him.

The jounin was about to jump away to avoid the deadly fire technique when a panicked yell sounded out from behind him.

"Sasuke-teme! Are you crazy? I'm the original!" One of the Naruto clones Kakashi had assumed to be a just another Kage Bunshin called out.

'A clone or the original? I can't tell. If I avoid the fireball I might be putting the real Naruto into danger… Better safe than sorry.'

Kakashi flashed through his own set of handseals and slammed them on the ground, "Doton: Earth-Style Wall!" A wall of rock and dirt rose up in front of him, wide enough to sufficiently block the incoming fireball that threatened to burn Naruto into a crisp.

The fireball splashed harmlessly against the rock wall and dissipated into embers.

The Naruto clones, seeing that Kakashi was distracted, yelled out "Chance!" and ran towards the jounin, seeing an opportunity that could be seized.

Kakashi, however, was now furious. He didn't care if Naruto had consented, this team putting any of their members in danger just for a stupid test was grounds for an immediate failure in his eyes.

The rage in his one eye brewing, the jounin turned around and flashed forward. In an impressive display of speed and skill, he eliminated all of the clones in a single moment.

'Wait… they were all clones?' Kakashi realized before once more, his movements froze.

Again, a shadow had merged with his own, this time utilizing the shadow of the dirt wall he had created to both extend its reach and approach from the jounin's blindspot.

The tapping sounds of footsteps drew his attention from behind him and Kakashi forced his neck back, resisting against the constraint of the Shadow Possession, to see Sasuke, now with his Henge released, launching off the dirt wall towards him.

The genin held on to an unsheathed wakizashi, the red eyes of his Sharingan spinning wildly and a victorious smirk donning his face, as the boy flew towards him, poised to cut him down.

'Heh, I underestimated these brats…' Kakashi mused.

-----Flashback End------

"…and that's about it. End report." Kakashi concluded after the lengthy story he had just narrated.

The rest of the jounins as well as the Hokage perked up, "And then what happened? You can't just say end report before you finish the story!"

"Huh? Oh, I broke out of the Shadow Possession, so they didn't get the bells in the end. But since they worked so well together, I passed them."

The Sandaime leaned back, exhaling the cloud of tobacco smoke and contemplated on the story Kakashi had just recounted. "So Sasuke had unlocked his clan's eyes… Interesting. And Shikaku's son is definitely living up to his father's reputation hmm?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Shikamaru utilized my confidence and lack of caution against Naruto to formulate a plan where he and Sasuke were hiding amongst the clones under their own transformation jutsus. Seeing that I let my guard down against who I thought was reckless and impulsive, they laid a trap that forced me to turn my attention away from the clones. I was initially furious that they would let Naruto be in danger but turns out it was all just part of a plan to trap me again." Kakashi summarized before stepping back into line and carried on reading from where he had left off.

Hiruzen nodded with satisfaction, although he eyed Kakashi with mirth, "You didn't really let down your guard, did you?"

The jounin eye-smiled, "Well, I knew most of what they were doing, but I was curious what they were up to, so I let it happen. But I really was surprised at the end when that Naruto clone faked being the original. That was something unexpected."

The Sandaime chuckled appreciatively at the plan of Team Seven's genin that could even catch Kakashi by surprise. "Are there any other teams that passed?" He asked the gathered jounin, who all indicated in the negative.

"Very well then, aside from Team Seven, Eight and Ten, all others will be relegated to the genin corp. Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, I have high hopes for your teams. Do not let me down."

""Hai, Hokage-sama!""