27

""Kurama!!!!!"" Naruto and Hiroki yelled in sync, confusing the girl in front.

"Yes?" Nervously, the girl replied.

"Oi, Kurama, what the hell is this. Why is there a clan with your name in it? Did you secretly sire some human children?" Hiroki asked the caged fox, who just looked at the human confused.

"Did I? I don't think so. I cant sire human children after all. But you are right. She feels familiar like I know her. Think, Kurama, Think." Kurama rubbed his head as he tried to recall his past.

"Ah-ha. I remember now. That's right. A hundred or so years ago, there was this group of humans that lived near my house.

I kept them as pets so that they could repel those pesky humans away. In return, I blessed them with my genjutsu abilities, so that they could repel anyone that came too close, without having to fight. Yes, that girl looks like those people, I remember now."

"Wow, so that's why this girl has your name as her clan's name. Interesting." Hiroki nodded, as naruto awkwardly tried to diffuse the situation he created.

"Sorry, I just remembered someone with the same name as you, that's all. I was just surprised." Naruto made up an excuse as the girl chuckled lightly at his behavior.

"So, Yakumo, how come we didn't see you in the academy," Naruto asked, trying to divert the topic.

"About that, since my body is too weak to become a ninja, my parents asked the Hokage to arrange for me a private tutor. I was under her tutelage till yesterday, when I was told that I can become a genin on a team under Kakashi-san." Yakumo replied.

"Ano, what's your name?" Yakumo suddenly asked.

"Oh right, I didn't introduce myself, how rude of me. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like a lot of things, and I hate people that try to control me. My strengths are focused towards close combat, as well as trap setting and scouting." Naruto replied.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm a close rang fighter as well, but I also focus on ranged attacks with throwing weapons and my fire-style jutsus. Hn." Sasuke curtly replied.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm a genjutsu-focused kunoichi, and I have my clan's kekkei Genkai as well, which allows me to cast ultra-realistic genjutsu, which can affect the target even in real life. But my weakness is that my body is too weak to do any close combat or use high-level jutsu, so I'm more of a backline fighter." Yakumo responded with another bow.

"Wow, that's so cool. Genjutsu that can affect the physical body. Wow. And Yakumo, you don't have to keep bowing every time you speak." Naruto exclaimed. It was such a cool power to have. For someone like him, who couldn't even try to cast genjutsu, Naruto appreciated the ability even more.

"hn, is it on par with my clan's Sharingan." Sasuke snubbed, to which Naruto just nervously chuckled while apologizing to Yakumo for Sasuke's rudeness.

"Now that all of you have met and introduced each other, I believe it's time for us to get on with the survival exercise.

Here I have two bells. Your job is to get these bells from me by noon. If you don't, you will be sent back to the academy. You are free to use any means necessary." Kakashi explained as he held up two bells on strings.

"Um, but there are only two bells here and three of us," Yakumo asked, noticing the trap.

"Yes. One of you will be sent back if. Whoever gets the bells gets to stay as a genin." Kakashi said with a sadistic smile on his face.

"Damn. That's brutal." Naruto hissed, while Sasuke turned serious.

"It is. Time starts now!!" As soon as the alarm clock started ticking, Naruto, Sasuke, and Yakumo split off in different directions and hid in the bushes, each keeping an eye on the prize.

"Hiding from the start, separately. Tsk." Kakashi clicked his teeth as he pulled out his book and started reading without a care in the world.

"Sasuke, did you realize the purpose of this mission?" suddenly, as Sasuke was stalking the target, a sound came from his side.

"WHAT The hell?" Sasuke whispered with a start, as he came face to face with a doll-sized naruto waving at him.

"What happened to you naruto?" Sasuke asked with worry at the tiny guy.

"Don't worry about it. This is just a clone. Now tell me, did you realize the purpose of this training exercise?"

"Seeing as you are here asking me about it, I'm guessing it's something to do with teamwork." Sasuke thought for a while before replying.

"Exactly. Did you find out information about our sensei as well?" naruto's clone asked in surprise.

"What do you think I was doing yesterday?" Sasuke replied smugly.

"Well done. Now, here's the plan…"

A similar situation was taking place on the other side of the training grounds as Naruto's clone talked with Yakumo.

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"Kakashi Sensei, here I come!!!" running out of the bushes, naruto rushed towards the masked pervert with a bunch of kunai in his grasp, throwing them at the target.

"A frontal attack, while announcing your presence. Has that ever worked for you Naruto?" Kakashi casually dodged the kunai thrown as he blocked the high kick coming towards his face.

"It has never." Naruto smiled as he poofed out of existence, surprising Kakashi, who quickly turned around to block the kick to his nards from another naruto transformed into the kunai he threw previously.

"Shadow clone jutsu. Impressive, but you are going to have to do much better than that if you want to beat me." Kakashi jumped up to dodge the fatal kick to his family jewels when suddenly, he felt someone's gaze on him.

"Kurama Clan Genjutsu: World Paralysis Jutsu" filling up the view from his single open eye, Kakashi feels a dreaded feeling of the world slowing to a halt, as everything in existence freezes in time, causing the man to stop every function in his body for a brief moment.

But this small opening was all that Sasuke needed as he ran in from the bushes, his hands weaving the fire style: Fireball Jutsu, which blew towards the airborne man, falling to the ground like a statue.

"Gotcha" under the cover of the fireball, naruto jumped up, just as the genjutsu wore off, and Kakashi hurriedly dodged the oncoming fireball with a substitution technique.

"Huff, huff. What a terrifying genjutsu. If my chakra had been slightly lower in amount, I would be hit by that huge fireball. Terrifying timing as well." Kakashi panted as he looked at the three students, trying to find traces of their sensei.

"That was a good effort, guys. Yakumo, your timing was impeccable, getting Kakashi right when he was airborne, and so was your effort, Sasuke. Though that fireball could have had more speed rather than size. We just needed it to hit the target to stun him, not kill him." Naruto looked at his teammates and appreciated their efforts.

"Yeah, yeah. But did you get it?" Sasuke asked, trying to hide his proud face.

"Of course, I did. Who do you think you are talking to?" Naruto replied with two bells dangling from his fingers.

"Awesome work, Naruto-san. Awesome work Sasuke-san. But, who will have to go back to the academy?" Yakumo first congratulated the two boys, before asking the important question.

"No one. The whole point of this exercise was to see you guys work together even when put against each other." Shunshined Kakashi as he explained with a surprised face.

"Really? That's great, cause I didn't want to go back to having a tutor without the chance to become a ninja." Yakumo jumped in joy as did Naruto, while Sasuke just had a small smile on his face.

"Congratulations on officially becoming a genin. Actual missions start tomorrow. Meet me at the mission center at 7 in the morning. Off you go now." Kakashi said as he tried to shoo off the kids.

"Shouldn't you give us a party, to celebrate our success? After all, we are the first batch of students who passed under you." Sasuke chimed in, salty at the prospect of not getting a party.

"How do you know that?" it was Kakashi's turn to be surprised.

"We did our research beforehand." That was all naruto said as he dragged the masked pervert while chanting "Party, Party, Party." As Sasuke followed with a proud look, and Yakumo just shrugged at the playfulness of the teammates.

'This is going to be a fun group.' Everyone thought so.

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Yakumo's personality will be quite reserved, and she will be a bit shy at first. I did this because i don't really remember her from the fillers. But from the little research, i did into her, she seems to me that will could be shy and reserved until she is comfortable with the people around her. Anyways, enjoy.