Chapter 6: Team 7

Another two years passed, and it was time for us to graduate.

I easily passed the graduation exams, and so did Sasuke, but Naruto didn't. I thought about helping him train the next day when a commotion started in the village. Sneaking out of the house, I overheard a ninja telling another one that "Naruto Uzumaki stole the scroll of forbidden seals…" After hearing this, I knew Naruto would probably head to the forest, so I went there.

I spotted Iruka-sensei and another ninja with white hair. I looked around for Naruto and found him behind a tree. I listened to their conversation, and suddenly, the ninja attacked Iruka-sensei. Just as I was about to intervene, Naruto attacked the ninja before I could. He then said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" and summoned about a thousand shadow clones. I was amazed and smiled, heading back home, knowing Naruto would be alright.

The next day, we were all at the academy, where they were going to assign us new teams. I ended up on the same team as Naruto and Sasuke, which made me pretty happy. However, our team ended up being a 4-man team instead of a three-man team, and the last person was Sakura, Sasuke's biggest fangirl. I wasn't thrilled, but I didn't really care either.

As all the other teams' Senseis arrived and took them away, we waited and waited until ours finally showed up. Looking at us, he said, "My first impression of you guys? Well, I hate you," leaving us all shocked because he was the one that was late. We found out his name was Kakashi Hatake, and he told us that we would continue talking on the roof.

"I want you to introduce yourself. Your likes, dislikes, your future dreams, hobbies, things like that," Kakashi sensei explained.

Naruto was the first one to talk saying, "I'll start! I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like the ramen from Ichiraku that Iruka-sensei treats me to. And my future dream is to surpass the Hokage!"

"I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like… I mean, who I like is. And my hobby is I mean."

Kakashi sensei then interrupted asking, "And? What about your dislikes?"

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto turned to Sakura as tears started flowing down his eyes.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't feel like summing up my goal as just a dream, but I do have an ambition. The ambition to restore my clan and without fail… to kill a certain man."

As I looked at Naruto, I already knew what he was thinking ('He doesn't mean me, does he?') and couldn't help but chuckle.

Kakashi Sensei then turned to me as he said, "Well, you're the only one left."

I stopped laughing as I said, "I'm Hinoka. I like my friends and family. I dislike anyone who tries to harm them, and I also dislike Sakura." I turned to Sakura with a grin on my face as she looked like she wanted to punch me. But I just ignored her as I continued, "I guess you could say that my dream is more like a goal; it's to help my friends reach their dreams..."

"Ok, that's everyone. For now, we'll do what we can with four people. A survival exercise. Of 30 graduates, only nine will be recognized as junior ninjas." Kakashi sensei explained.

Naruto looked at Kakashi sensei and asked, "Wait, then what was the use of the graduation test?!"

"That's all, you're dismissed. Oh… And you'd best skip breakfast." Kakashi sensei said before leaving.

The next day, I was still contemplating whether I should have breakfast or not. I decided to just eat. After finishing, I went to the spot we were meant to meet up. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were already there. Upon arriving, Sakura started screaming at me, "Hinoka! We were meant to meet up here 5 hours ago, so why are you late! And where is Sensei..."

As Sakura kept screaming, I ignored her and started talking to Sasuke. A few minutes later, Kakashi Sensei arrived.

Upon seeing him both Sakura and Naruto said, "You're late!"

"A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." I couldn't help but chuckle at Kakashi sensei's response before he said, "Let's get started. Your assignment is pretty simple; all you need to do is take these bells from me." He showed us two bells. "If you can't get them by noon, you'll go without lunch. And you'll be tied to those posts, and you'll watch as I eat my lunch in front of you."

"But there are 4 of us, so how come there are only 2 bells?" Sakura asked.

"So that at least two of you will be tied to the post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. Those two people go back to the academy. But then again, all 4 of you could end up failing. You can use any weapons, including shurikens. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells." Kakashi sensei explained.

"But Sensei, those weapons are too dangerous!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Especially since you couldn't dodge that eraser," Naruto said.

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links; you can safely ignore them, lowest scores, losers. When I say start, you can begin." Kakashi sensei said.

Naruto suddenly charged at Kakashi Sensei with a kunai, but in less than a second, Kakashi Sensei was behind Naruto, grabbing the hand with the kunai pointed at Naruto's head.

Kakashi sensei asked Naruto, "Why are you in such a hurry? I didn't say start yet."

We all stood there surprised, and I thought, "Well, this is going to be fun."

"Get ready and start!" Kakashi sensei exclaimed.

As we all went in different directions and hid, Naruto walked up to Kakashi Sensei and challenged him, "You and me right now, fair and square! Let's go!" I couldn't help but smile, thinking, 'Well, this should be interesting.'

As Naruto charged towards Kakashi Sensei, he reached for something. Naruto jumped back as Kakashi brought out a book. I almost started laughing but managed to stop myself. Naruto then charged at Kakashi Sensei, trying to attack, but Kakashi Sensei blocked all of his attacks and suddenly appeared behind Naruto, forming the tiger sign with his fingers.

"Naruto, get out of there quick! He's going to destroy you!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Too late! Leaf village secret finger jutsu! Thousand years of death!" Kakashi sensei exclaimed as he poked Naruto in the butt, sending him flying into the water.

I was using all my strength not to laugh out loud when Naruto attacked Kakashi Sensei with two shurikens, which he easily caught.

 A few shadow clones of Naruto appeared and attacked Kakashi Sensei. Just when it looked like Naruto had won, Kakashi Sensei disappeared and one of Naruto's shadow clones was there instead.

After fighting with his shadow clones, he finally released the jutsu to find Kakashi Sensei nowhere to be found. Naruto then saw a bell on the floor, and as he was about to pick it up, he ended up trapped by a rope, dangling from a tree.

Just as Kakashi Sensei was talking to Naruto, a bunch of kunai's and shuriken's hit him from the side, only to reveal that it was a tree trunk.

I then heard Sakura scream as I spotted her faint. But I just decided to ignore her. I spotted Sasuke and Kakashi Sensei fighting, and he was doing better than Naruto did even managing to touch one of the bells but ended up losing when Kakashi Sensei used Earth Style Head-hunter Jutsu.

Sakura then appeared, and I thought, 'Huh, she woke up.' But she ended up fainting again after seeing Sasuke. As the alarm rang, we all met up at the posts.

Kakashi sensei then said, "Since none of you managed to get a bell, I've decided I won't send any of you back to the academy. Instead, all 4 of you are being dropped from the program permanently!"

As both Sakura and Naruto looked shocked, I said, "But Sensei, we did get the bells." Waving the bells in front of Kakashi sensei, he looked at me in shock. His confusion deepened as I said, "Release," revealing that the two bells on his waist were gone, and I then smiled at Kakashi Sensei.

"You managed to take the bells without me noticing, then used a genjutsu to make it seem like I still had the bells. Clever." Kakashi sensei said.

"Yep! But I did it with the help of my team. We had a plan where they would keep attacking you to get the bells. While they distracted you, I snuck up and took the bells without you noticing, then used a genjutsu so you wouldn't notice that they were gone. I'm guessing the real aim of this test was about our teamwork because there's no way we could have been expected to beat a jonin at our current level. That means all of us passed and not just two, right?" I said with a grin on my face.

Kakashi Sensei scratched his head, seemingly impressed.

"Well, it seems I underestimated you. You all pass. But how did you manage to get it without me noticing, and also use genjutsu without me noticing?" Kakashi sensei asked.

"I can't exactly tell you, sensei. It's the only advantage I have against you, and it wouldn't be much of an advantage if you knew all the details, would it now?" I replied.

Kakashi-sensei laughed as he said, "True, and from now on, you're Team 7."

As me, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura left together, Sakura turned to me and asked, "How did you manage to take the bell without Sensei noticing, and who taught you genjutsu? Oh, and why did you lie about us helping you?"

"You ask too many questions, and I wasn't trying to help you, Sakura. I was trying to help Sasuke and Naruto. You just ended up being on the same team, so if I didn't say you were involved, he might not have passed all of us." I explained.

I could feel Sakura getting angry when Naruto hugged me, saying, "Thanks for helping me, Hinoka. You're the best!" I flicked his forehead as I said, "Of course, I would help you; we're friends." I said with a smile on my face. I turned to see Sasuke, who seemed angry but just ignored it. Sakura and Naruto eventually left, leaving just me and Sasuke.

"Your plan worked. It's not like I expected anything less of you, but it still annoys me that you're stronger and smarter than me. But did you have to lie to Sensei like that? It's not like any word you said was true, other than you used teamwork to get the bells and I guess the part about genjutsu could be considered true." Sasuke said.

"It's because I don't want anyone to know or even have a hint of how I did it." I explained.

Sasuke then asked, "Oh, then how come you let me know?"

"Because in a way, you're my first and best friend, and you're one of the people in this village that I know won't ever turn against me." I said as I leaned in closer to him with a smile. "Hey, Sasuke, are you alright? Your face is all red."

Sasuke then turned to face the other direction as he said, "I'm fine."

"Okay, if you say so. Plus, I did show you my power when we were little, you know, because I wanted to show someone how cool I was so it's no use hiding it from you, but I did get stronger since then."