25 Chapter 20: Testing the Teams

Wow, a lot of you really liked my arguments regarding the teams. Thanks, I'm glad that they made sense to you all. *nods*

A lot of you had questions about Yakumo over the past couple chapters, so I guess maybe I should clarify: Yakumo never was in the Academy. She never met the physical requirements to enter, and instead was being privately tutored by Kurenai. She still is being tutored at this point, so that's why she didn't graduate with them. Perhaps alter in the fanfic, you'll see her finally become a genin after taking an assessment exam, but currently she's still being privately tutored by Kurenai.

Also, lovinaelita has seven more challenges they'd like me to advertise. They are:

1. NarutoxFreezing crossover

2. NArutoxDmc crossover

3. NarutoxTo Love-Ru crossover

4. NarutoxResident Evil crossover

5. NarutoxDragonball Z crossover

6. NarutoxStar Wars crossover

7. NarutoxSword Art Online crossover.

If any of these strike your fancy, contact lovinaelita for more details please.

That being said, time to move on to my new chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Ubisoft respectively.

Chapter 20

Testing the Teams

Anko grinned, grabbing the last of her equipment and securing her supply pouches to her belt. Grabbing her twin curved blades, she sheathed them into their special scabbards secured on either side of her belt. In about ten minutes time, she'd be giving her team their test, and she had a feeling that it would be perfect for assessing not only her team's teamwork, but their potential to fulfill the role the team was geared for.

She turned towards the door, ready to go. Hinata had already left to go meet up with Naruto and Ino at the Academy, so it was time for her to join them. She opened the door, only to scowl, her good mood ruined by the person on the other side. "Hatake? What do you want?" She snapped.

Kakashi was leaning against the rail of the walkway, reading his Icha Icha book as he did so. He glanced up with one lazy eye, before closing his book. "Mitarashi, I need to talk to you," he said calmly.

Anko just groaned, closing and locking her door. "Another time. Unlike you, I actually intend to be on time meeting my team," she said.

"No, now," Kakashi said firmly, moving in between her and the stairs down. "I need to you convince Hokage-sama to trade Naruto for Kiba. You know he's better suited for my team."

"Oh get your masked head out of your asshole already Kakashi. Are you saying you know better than Hokage-sama?" Anko asked, arms crossed in annoyance. "Hokage-sama listened to our arguments, he studied their files, and he made his choice. End of discussion."

"Anko, see reason," Kakashi said. "Naruto is an important asset to the village. He needs to be trained by an experienced shinobi who can rein him in, and who can bring out his true potential. That is something I can do far better then you. I was the student of the Yondaime Hokage," Kakashi said, only for Anko to scoff.

"And that automatically makes you qualified? Get it through your scarecrow brain Kakashi, you lost. Hokage-sama chose me, because I don't view him as an asset, I view him as a fellow human and shinobi. And while I may not know as many ninjutsu as you do, I can still teach him ninjutsu that will be useful to him, as well as teach him how to be a skilled assassin and infiltration expert. And lastly, where in the hell do you get off saying he needs to be reined in? He's a lot more mature then that dog boy you have on your team. Now get out of my way, I have a genin test to administer," Anko said, pushing past Kakashi.

The Cyclops jounin glared at Anko's back. "Mark my words Anko, this is not over," he said, before disappearing in a shunshin.

Anko just growled, her mood dampened but not entirely ruined. Kakashi had been rather upset the previous morning, when Sarutobi had informed them of their team assignments. He had asked Sarutobi to reconsider, but the Hokage had remained firm, stating that the teams were put together in a way that best benefited the village. Apparently Kakashi had decided that wasn't good enough.

She shook her head, driving the arrogant shinobi from her thoughts. She had genin to test, and she was looking forward to it.

At the Academy, Naruto sighed softly, leaning against the wooden wall surrounding the front courtyard of the Academy. He smiled at Tomo, who was sitting next to him, tail wagging as he sniffed the air, and enjoyed wearing his hood and cape. Anko had mentioned that they could possibly train Tomo to help them track enemies and maybe slip into guarded areas to steal things. So she had asked Naruto to start bringing him along to training sessions and such.

He glanced up at he saw Ino approaching from one direction and Hinata from the other. "Hey teammates," he said with a grin, waving at them.

"Morning Naruto-kun," Hinata said, smiling as she saw Tomo wearing the cape and Naruto having the scarf around his neck.

"Morning," Ino said to them, as she joined them. As she did, her mind wandered back to yesterday.

They had found Sakura still in the Academy with Kiba and Sasuke, the only students left. Apparently all the other jounin had picked up their genin already. Kiba, who had been bored out of his mind, had immediately started mocking Naruto, saying he was so weak they had to put him on a team of kunoichi so that real shinobi could get proper training from skilled jounin. Naruto had merely ignored him, while Hinata, Ino, and even Sakura glared at Kiba for his sexist remark. Sasuke, meanwhile, had simply stared out the window, not paying any attention to them.

They had talked with Sakura quietly, with Ino offering her some encouragement. They had mentioned Anko giving them a test, so she should probably expect that from her sensei as well. Afterwards, they had left to begin planning for their own test.

Now, the trio waited quietly for their sensei. Ino sighed, glancing worriedly in the direction of Training Ground Three. Sakura had visited her last night, after meeting with Kakashi, and had mentioned how her sensei had seemed so disinterested in them all, as well as his 'advice' to not eat breakfast. Ino had told her to eat something anyways, and to just give her all in the test.

Now, she bit her lip, worried about her best friend. "I hope Sakura will be okay. I asked my dad about Kakashi Hatake, and he said the man has failed five genin team assigned to him," she said.

"I'm sure she'll do fine, provided Sasuke and Kiba don't screw things up for her," Naruto said quietly, petting Tomo.

"You all should be more worried about your own test," said a cheerful voice from behind them. They all yelped and whirled as Anko was squatting on the top of the fence, grinning at them. "So, are my adorable gaki genin ready for their test?"

"Jeez sensei, wanna give us a heart attack?" Naruto asked, as Tomo was barking and yipping at her. Anko just smirked as she hopped down.

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you all should have been paying more attention to your surroundings," she said. "But anyways, on to the test! Here's how it will work. I'm going to hide myself somewhere in this village. And since you all are supposed to be an information gathering and assassination team, it'll be your job to find me and 'assassinate' me," she said, using her fingers to make air quotations when she said assassinate. "I've drafted a few people to help out with this test by giving them information, and it'll be your job to get that information, whether it's from eavesdropping, pick pocketing, or in Ino's case, infiltrating their mind. When you've discovered where I am, you'll have to track me down, and successfully 'kill' me to pass. You've got until four in the afternoon to complete the test."

"Sensei, will we have any information to start, or do we need to start from scratch?" Hinata asked her.

Anko nodded approvingly. "Good question. Normally you'll start off with some information to go on, but to really test your abilities, you'll have to find a place to start off on your own. Besides, two of you know me, so that gives you an edge," she said. "So I'm going to go hide now. You all begin in ten minutes. And…start," she said, before disappearing with a smoke bomb to cover her escape.

Naruto sighed, waving the smoke away. "Well this should be interesting," he said, as Tomo sneezed due to the smoke tickling his nose.

"So what do we do now?" Ino asked. "I've got no idea where to look."

"I think I know where to go," Hinata said, rolling her eyes at Ino's statement. "Anko-sensei is obsessed with dango. So we should search around any place that sells dango first. Or we could stop at our apartment first, there might be a clue there," she said.

Naruto nodded quietly. "Sounds like a plan. Ino?" He asked.

The blonde Yamanaka girl nodded as well. "You guys know her best. So let's get going!" She said. "Where to?"

"This way," Hinata said, turning and heading off. Tomo hopped up into Naruto's arms as he and Ino followed Hinata.

Meanwhile, at Training Ground Three, Sakura was quietly reading a scroll on genjutsu, since that would most likely be her best option in combat. Nearby, Sasuke was grunting softly, throwing his weapons at a tree, practicing as they waited for their sensei. Kiba was growling in annoyance, watching Akamaru run around chasing a butterfly.

Sakura glanced up at their surroundings, and not seeing anything, sighed as she glanced back down at her scroll. They had been told by their sensei to arrive here at five in the morning. That had been three hours ago and he still hadn't arrived.

It had been the same yesterday. Their sensei had finally arrived roughly two hours after the other three teams had all been picked up. He had seemed almost indifferent to them, asking them to meet him on the roof. There he had them all introduce themselves, asking them to talk about dreams, hobbies, likes and dislikes, yet not revealing any of that himself. And after telling them to be at the training ground at five, and not eat any breakfast, he had left them.

Sakura was worried that their sensei honestly didn't seem that interested in them. What if he didn't want them for a team? What if he failed them? Quietly, she wished Ino had been there to support her. Ino had been her best friend for years, ever since she defended her from some bullies when they were little. Sakura wasn't that confident in herself, both appearance wise and ability wise, which was why she pushed herself so hard in the Academy, to try and be the best she could be. But Ino had always made her feel more confident in herself. She was glad Ino lost her crush on Sasuke, because Sakura was afraid that might have torn their friendship apart. (1)

Sakura was drawn from her thoughts when Kiba finally growled out angrily. "Where in the hell is he?! He's over three hours late now!" He snapped, as Akamaru stopped and whined at his partners outburst.

"Now now, genin shouldn't use language like that," came a calm voice form the tree Sasuke was using as target practice. All three genin shot up, looking up to see Kakashi crouched on a branch, reading his book. He calmly raised one hand, waving it. "Yo," he said, still reading.

"You're late!" Kiba shouted, as Kakashi hopped down near a nearby stump.

"Sorry, but a little old lady needed my help crossing the street, and then a black cat crossed my path, so I had to backtrack and I ended up getting lost on the road to life," Kakashi said, before putting his book away and producing a clock, a pair of bells, and three bento boxes. "Now, on to the test. You all need to get bell from me before noon today," he said, setting the alarm on the clock, and tying the bells to his belt.

"But sensei…there are only two bells," Sakura said. "How are we each supposed to get one?"

"Aah, that's just it. You're not," Kakashi said, smiling at them with his one visible eye closing. "In truth, only two of you will be able to get bells, with the third being tied up to one of those training posts over there," he said, pointing to the training posts. "Whoever gets the bells will also get lunch, while the third person doesn't get anything. And, whoever gets the bells passes, while the failing genin goes back to the Academy."

All three of the genin's eyes widened, before Sasuke and Kiba narrowed, looking ready to go. But Sakura looked confused at this. "But sensei, that doesn't make sense. Why would they assign us to three genin cells if only two of us can pass this? And the Academy emphasized teamwork. Wouldn't that mean-" she was saying, only to be interrupted.

"That was the Academy, Sakura. This is the real world," Kakashi said curtly, cutting her off. Mentally though, he felt a small measure of respect for Sakura, since she was on the right track. Now to see if she could hold onto that thought, or would she toss it aside. "You'll need to come at me with the intent to kill if you want these bells. Is everyone ready?" He asked.

When they all nodded, he smirked. "Then go," he said, as they disappeared. He pulled out his book again, and quietly began to read, waiting for them to start their plans.

Across town, the trio of Team 8 stepped out of Anko and Hinata's apartment, having gone there when the nearby dango stands had proven to be a bust. Hinata was reading a small note they had found on the table in the kitchen. "This is a note about her getting Raphael-san, Yugito-san, and Kiseki-san in on her test," she said. "So obviously if we run into them, we might get more information on where Anko-sensei is."

"Why would she leave that out though? And who are Raphael-san and Kiseki-san?" Ino asked. She didn't know them, but had seen Yugito occasionally with Iruka, so she knew about her.

Naruto answered for Hinata, who was scanning the area with her Byakugan. "Likely it's part of the test. She's simply imitating a target leaving out information that we can use against them. In this case, a list of associates which we can use to gather information concerning her whereabouts. As for who Raphael-san and Kiseki-san are, they're friends, and people who helped train me and Hinata."

"I don't see any of them nearby," Hinata said, turning off her Byakugan. "So, I guess we'll need to track them down first."

"This does seem awfully complicated for a test," Ino said. "How are we supposed to find them?"

"Well think of it as practice for when we have to do it in real life," Hinata said. "After all, this is exactly what we'll need to do if we're ever assigned these kinds of missions. The difference will be that we won't know the people or the location as well as we do here."

Ino just blinked at that. "You know, you two sound awfully experienced at this," she said a bit suspiciously.

Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other worriedly. "Well…we do have some practice, but…we can't talk about it," Naruto said before changing the subject. "I think we should maybe look for Yugito-san first. She'll probably be hanging out with Iruka, since he won't be as busy now that classes are over."

The two girls nodded and they headed back towards the Academy. Once there, Hinata activated her Byakugan, before grinning softly. "Good call Naruto. She's in our old classroom, talking with Iruka-sensei," she said.

The trio slowly snuck to the window of the classroom and crouched down below one of the windows which were open. They could hear the murmur of voices inside, so they listened quietly.

"So Anko roped you into being part of her team's graduation test?" Iruka asked, as Yugito nodded while sitting on his desk while he worked on a few post-graduation reports.

"Yep. I'm supposed to just wander around the village, doing my normal routine, and they have to try and get information from me on where she is. Or where they can get more information," she said with a wink and a nod towards the window, where she sensed their presence thanks to Matatabi heightening her senses. Iruka just grinned and nodded in response.

"Well I hope it doesn't interfere with our date later," he said, playing along.

Yugito just grinned, deciding to play it easy for the kids so she could get back to being with her boyfriend. "Oh it won't, trust me. The test will almost be over by then. Besides, the only real information I have is that Raphael-san knows where Anko is, and Kiseki-san knows where Raphael is," she said.

"And where's Kiseki-san, if I may ask?" Iruka said.

Yugito almost giggled, imagining the kids straining to hear. "I think she mentioned visiting Ganzo the blacksmith to get her swords sharpened. After that, she said she'd probably go to Training Ground 10 for practice."

The genin hopefuls quickly nodded to each other and snuck away, leaving behind a grinning Yugito and Iruka, who soon burst out laughing. Yugito wiped a few tears from her eyes, giggling softly, only to stop and blush a bit when Iruka said "I love your laugh."

She looked at him, grinning as she got off his desk and sat on his lap. "Is that so? What else do you love?" She asked, almost purring as Iruka gently wrapped his arms around her. He just grinned at her.

Ino meanwhile blinked as she followed Naruto and Hinata. "Okay, who is this Ganzo guy? And how do you two know about him?" She asked.

The two sheepishly grinned. "Well he's a blacksmith. Likes to invent weapons and stuff. Like Hinata's bow and her sword?" Naruto said, pointing to Hinata's sheathed weapons. "Ganzo-san made them. He makes really good quality work, so you should maybe check him out too."

Ino just stopped at that moment, causing Naruto and Hinata to stop too. "Okay, this is too much of a coincidence. We're going to a blacksmith you two know about that Yugito-san and Anko-sensei also know about, to try and find someone you two know as well, to find out where a THIRD person you two already know is. What is going on here? How do you two know all these people?" She asked crossly, her arms folded.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other quietly. "Ino…we…we don't know if we can really talk about it," Hinata finally said. "It's not that we want to keep secrets from you. It's that…we just don't know if we can tell you. If we pass the test, you can ask Anko-sensei, and maybe she'll be able to tell you more. But please…don't ask us about this. For both our safety and your own," she said, almost pleading.

Ino watched them, before sighing. "Fine. I'll ask Anko-sensei," she said, pouting slightly. She didn't like not knowing things.

Naruto and Hianta let out a sigh of relief as they made their way to Ganzo's blacksmith shop. Once there, Hinata activated her Byakugan again. "She's in there," she reported. "So how should we approach this?"

"Well…I could use my Shintenshi no jutsu (Mind Transfer) to get the info," Ino said. "Though I need a clear line of sight to do so, and if I miss, well…I'll be unconscious for several minutes."

"Hmmm," Naruto thought quietly, glancing at the blacksmith shop. "Sneaking into the building will be hard. Ganzo has one of those annoying bells above the door that rings whenever the door is opened. But…Kiseki might not recognize you," Naruto said. "Why don't you head in there, and try your luck. We'll stay out here to make sure she doesn't run off," Naruto said.

Ino glanced at the blacksmith, before nodding and taking a deep breath. She entered the shop, trying to act nonchalantly as she did so.

Kiseki glanced up at the door as she heard the door chime, before her eyes narrowed as she saw Ino. Ino tried not to panic, as she feared the Uchiha figured out why she was in there. She quietly began to look around, trying to maintain her cover of simply browsing the wares.

Kiseki turned back to Ganzo, who was setting her blades on the desk. "Here we are, all nice and sharpened. I also noticed they were started to weaken a bit, so I reinforced the blades."

"Thanks. How much?" she asked, reaching for her wallet. It was then Ino made her move. She quietly crouched down, connecting her fingers together to frame Kiseki within them, aiming at her. "Shintenshi no jutsu," she murmured, before her body slumped over, and Kiseki stiffened.

Ino blinked as she looked around what looked like a yard with a tree, suddenly realizing she had successfully gotten inside Kiseki's mindscape. "Yes! Success!" she said. "Now where is that information?"

"You know, I really hoped you three wouldn't go this route," said a voice behind her as Ino yelped and whirled, finding Kiseki standing there with her arms crossed, looking a bit angry. "When Anko mentioned a Yamanaka was on her team, I was worried you might come in here."

"I-I'm sorry for doing this, but it is part of our test," Ino said.

Kiseki just sighed. "I know, and I can't fault you for that. I guess Anko would be disappointed if you didn't use all your assets. Which is why I'm here, to make sure you get only what you need," she said, as she held up a scroll. "This is the information you want. Take it," she said, tossing it to Ino. "And next time…try to look less like you're trying to look nonchalant? It gave you away," she said with a smirk.

Ino just grabbed the scroll, smiling sheepishly as she read it. With a nod, she bowed to Kiseki before disappearing. Kiseki sighed, glancing sadly at the tree, before turning way, stifling a few tears as she disappeared from her mindscape.

In the physical world, Ino blinked awake as her mental energy returned to her body. She quickly got up and left, as Kiseki relaxed, sighing and handing Ganzo the money for her swords. Outside, Ino grinned at her teammates. "Raphael-san is in the market district, shopping for groceries. And he has a piece of paper with Anko-sensei's location on it," she said.

"Perfect. We can use the market district to try and pickpocket him. And if that fails, Ino can try her jutsu on him too," Hinata said. With that, the trio again headed out.

At Training Ground Three, Sakura quietly watched Kakashi standing in the middle of the training ground, reading his book. The test was not going well for her team. Not too long after they had started, Kiba had brashly rushed Kakashi, intent on taking one of the bells. He had tried to double team Kakashi with his partner Akamaru, who had somehow transformed into a clone of Kiba, with the pair attacking together. Kakashi had easily dodged them, and then suddenly, too fast for Sakura to see, Kakashi was gone and the two Kiba's had smashed into each other, slumping to the ground. As one woozily rose to his feet, Kakashi had appeared crouched behind him, and jammed his fingers into Kiba's rear, using chakra to send the young Inuzuka flying into a nearby lake. The other Kiba poofed into Akamaru, who rushed to the lake, barking in worry.

Afterwards, Sasuke had tried his hand at getting the bells. He had launched an attack on Kakashi, utilizing taijutsu at first. Kakashi had held him off easily, until he realized Sasuke had been maneuvering him when Sasuke had launched a shuriken at a trap he had set up. When that happened, numerous kunai and shuriken had been launched at Kakashi, slamming into the jounin.

Sakura had been horrified at first, only to be relieved when Kakashi turned into a log, a sign of his using the Kawarimi no jutsu. Sasuke though had let out a grunt of annoyance and quickly dashed back into the trees.

After seeing what had happened, Sakura had started thinking. It just didn't make any sense to her. They were three newly graduated genin. There was no way they could hope to take on a seasoned jounin, especially one on one. Their best hope was to work together, but Kakashi had set them apart. Why? For what purpose?

Now, Sakura bit her lower lip, trying to think of a plan. Time was running out, and her teammates were nowhere to be seen. All she could think of was a low rank ninjutsu she had found in the Shinobi library known as the Tōton no jutsu (Transparency Jutsu), developed by the famed Jiraiya of the Sannin. It would allow her to move undetected, and hopefully get close enough to Kakashi to get a bell.

Quietly running through the hand signs, she performed the jutsu, and glanced down to see her body become transparent. She would need to move carefully, but quickly. Even though it was a low ranked jutsu, she did not have the reserves to maintain it long. Slowly and stealthily, she began to move towards Kakashi.

Kakashi hummed quietly, reading his book while mentally assessing his team. Kiba and Sasuke had both performed as expected. Kiba was brash, prone to attacking head first in a ferocious assault. He was typical of most Inuzuka, especially male ones. Sasuke meanwhile had proven he was highly skilled, especially for a genin. But he also had shown a disregard for his teammates, being interested more in doing things on his own, growing stronger for a purpose Kakashi didn't quite know yet. The only one he had not properly assessed yet was Sakura, who had so far not done anything to attack him yet.

His mind focused on the pink haired kunoichi. She was the one who had questioned the test from the start. Perhaps she was still trying to figure things out? Maybe she was looking for her teammates, to convince them to work with her?

He mentally tensed as he sensed a presence behind him, and smirked under his mask. It seemed he had underestimated his kunoichi student. Kakashi waited a few moments as the girl got closer, before speaking. "Just because you've made yourself hard to see doesn't mean you're hard to hear," he said.

Sakura gasped, losing her focus on the jutsu and causing it to fail. Kakashi gave her a bored look over his shoulder. "I applaud your attempt at stealthily retrieving a bell. Much better than the approach your teammates made. But I am a jounin for a reason," he said.

Sakura slowly drew a kunai. "E-Even still…I'm not going to back down," she said bravely, gripping the kunai as she slowly started to circle him.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he turned to follow her. "Is that so? You're not known for your combat skills. In the Academy they were high enough to pass, but average in comparison to others. Your teammates are the better fighters, and they both failed to even touch me."

"You're right sensei…my skill wasn't in fighting," Sakura said, before flinging the kunai at him. Kakashi leisurely tilted his head, the kunai missing, only for his eye to widen as he heard it cut through a rope and a barrage of kunai and shuriken rained down upon him. He quickly moved forward, dodging them, only to find himself facing three Sakura's who charged at him. Sighing he quickly did a round house kick, only to find himself surprised yet again as his foot passed through all three, revealing all of them to be normal bunshin that dispelled. That's when he noticed the cloaked presence closing rapidly on his left side, where the bells were, and he jumped back to avoid Sakura's transparent grasping hand.

Sakura panted, dropping the jutsu again, as she knew her reserves were almost gone. Kakashi gave her his eye smile. "Well I'll admit, you surprised me there," he said.

"Who said I was done?" Sakura asked, panting. Kakashi blinked, only to look down as something exploded at his feet, releasing a large cloud of smoke. He quickly leapt clear, expecting Sakura to rush into the smoke, only to be surprised as she was in the air, already reaching out to grab the bells. Kakashi actually was forced to put some effort into stopping her grab for the bells, grabbing her outstretched arm and throwing her towards the ground.

Sakura barely landed on her feet, only to drop to one knee, exhausted, as Kakashi landed. She looked up at him, disappointment but resolve in her eyes, as Kakashi watched her. Before he could speak, he was forced to dodge to one side as a whirlwind of claws shredded the air he had once occupied. Kiba landed in front of Sakura, with Akamaru running to join him, as Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Trying to take advantage of me being distracted?" He asked.

Kiba just growled softly, preparing for another strike, when a large fireball shot over Kiba's head, heading for Kakashi. Kakashi quickly dodged as Sasuke landed next to Kiba, two kunai drawn, ready to fight, as Kakashi looked at his team. "my my…are you about to try and fight me together?" He asked.

Before any of them could answer, the alarm went off and Kakashi just gave them an eye smile. "Whoops, too late it seems," he said. The three genin slumped in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Raphael was quietly browsing the stalls of the marketplace, waiting to see if Anko's genin team could find him and pickpocket the note Anko had given him. He grinned, eager to see what her team came up with.

He turned, walking away from the stall, only to let out a grunt as he walked right into someone. He quickly caught the person, preventing them from falling, but he wasn't able to stop the bag they were carrying from falling and spilling.

"Oh no, my groceries!" Exclaimed the young woman he bumped into. Raphael quickly stooped to help her pick up the groceries.

As that was going on, a figure stealthily moved through the crowd, nearing Raphael. They seemed to pause near Raphael, before heading on their way.

Raphael soon stood up, smiling at the young woman as he handed her the bag. "Here you are. I hope nothing was damaged," he said.

The woman just smiled at him. "Thank you," she said, bowing. As she turned to go, Raphael spoke up again.

"And tell Hinata she needs more practice with her pick pocketing. I still felt her grabbing the note," he said with a grin, as the woman stumbled, then quickly left.

Nearby, Hinata sighed as she heard Raphael. "I should have figured," she said, as the young woman joined her and Ino, dispelling into Naruto. Ino just blinked at Naruto.

"You know, it's disturbing how well you portrayed being a woman," she said, as Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Well it was a prank version of the henge I started working on, but then Anko-sensei and Hinata-chan convinced me not to use it. So instead, I worked on making it more practical," he said, as Hinata opened the note up.

"So according to this…Anko-sensei is at the abandoned warehouses on the northern edge of the urban part of the village," Hinata said quietly. "So we should get going and scout it out."

Naruto and Ino nodded, as the trio headed out, followed by an excited young fox.

Back at Training Ground Three, Kiba found himself tied to a training log situated between two other logs, while Sasuke and Sakura were sitting in front of the other two logs. In front of them was their sensei, who was standing in front of a large rock monument with many names carved into it.

Kakashi was watching them all, before finally speaking. "So here we are. It looks like you all failed my test. I suppose you know what this means, correct?"

"You're going to send us back to the academy," Sakura said quietly, as Kakashi eye smiled.

"Correct! While this is so far the best team I've tested so far, you still fell woefully short of passing my test," he said. "However…since you have impressed me, I'm willing to give you another shot," he said. "Sasuke, Sakura. You two will eat your lunches. I'll be back in a half hour, at which point we will resume the test. However, you are not to feed Kiba at all while I'm gone. If you do, you all fail. Is that understood?" He asked.

The two genin nodded, as Kakashi eye smiled at them. "Later!" he said, disappearing.

Sasuke and Sakura quietly picked up their bento boxes and began to eat, while Kiba just sighed, watching them. After a few moments, he spoke up. "So do you two have any ideas on how to beat him and get those bells?"

Sasuke set his chopsticks down for a moment. "…no, I don't," he said. "I keep thinking back to my fight against him, and thinking what I could do different. And everything I think of ends up the same way. With him escaping or defeating me."

"Then maybe we should try and work together," Sakura offered, making the two boys look at her. "I know what Kakashi-sensei said, but it still makes no sense to me. Why would the Academy put so much focus on teamwork, if it wasn't so important? I think Kakashi-sensei is maybe trying to deceive us," she said.

"You know…she's got a point," Kiba said. "I didn't honestly think of it at first, but…what hope do any of us have by ourselves against a jounin. I feel pretty stupid now, for just rushing in and fighting him like that."

Sasuke quietly contemplated the pair of them. In truth, he had been a bit surprised watching Sakura go after Kakashi. She had shown more skill then he had expected. Perhaps she at least wouldn't be a burden like he originally thought. "If that's the case, do you suggest we work together as a team? If we do so, one of us will still fail if we get the bells," he said.

"We should worry about that when the time comes. I think at the moment, we should worry more about getting the bells," Sakura said, blushing lightly at the fact that Sasuke was actually talking with her.

"…very well then. But if we're going to work as a team, we'll all need to be at full strength," he said, glancing around, before moving closer to Kiba. "I don't think sensei is here, so we should share some of our food with Kiba, to ensure he has energy for our second attempt."

Kiba's eyes widened. "You sure about that man? Kakashi-sensei said we'd all fail if you fed me."

"It won't do us any good if you're too tired and hungry to fight," Sasuke said. Sakura nodded quietly, seeing wisdom in his words. Kiba finally nodded as well, his stomach grumbling in hunger.

Sakura quietly grabbed a ball of rice with her chopsticks, and fed it to Kiba. Yet as he was chewing, there was an explosion of smoke in front of them, from which an angry Kakashi emerged.

"What did I tell you?!" Kakashi roared at them, making them cower a bit. "I told you not to feed him, yet you disobeyed my orders! Why?!"

Sasuke finally gathered the courage to speak. "If we didn't feed him, he wouldn't have the energy necessary to face you. He'd be a liability rather than an asset. And if we're going to pass your test…then we need to work together," he said.

Sakura nodded in agreement, finding her own courage. "The Academy taught us to work together as a team and to never abandon our comrades. So that's what we're doing."

"Yeah! No one in the pack gets left behind!" Kiba added, as Akamaru barked.

"So, is that your answer then? You disobeyed my orders for your teammate?" He said.

When they nodded, he suddenly eye smiled. "Congratulations. You pass," he said.

There was silence, before Kiba yelled. "WHAT?!"

Kakashi just kept eye smiling. "You passed," he said, throwing two kunai to cut the ropes holding Kiba up. "This whole time, I've been testing you to see if you could set aside your differences and work as a team to complete your objective. And you passed, being willing to fail to support your teammate."

Sakura just stared at him, before it all clicked. "So you intentionally set us against each other to see if we'd be selfish, or if we'd sacrifice for the good of the team?"

"Indeed. Do you see this monument behind me?" he asked, pointing to the rock monument. "This is the Konoha Memorial Monument. Here, it lists the names of brave Konoha shinobi who have sacrifice their lives for this village, going above and beyond the call of duty. These people lived by a code, a code that a friend taught me: Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are WORSE than trash."

The trio of students nodded, before Kiba spoke up. "But sensei, why the deception then? If you wanted to test our teamwork, why set us against each other?"

"For two reasons Kiba. The first is you do not get the true measure of what people are willing to do for each other until you see what they are willing to sacrifice. Sure, you all can work together well enough under normal circumstances but…would any of you be willing to die for another of your teammates here? To take a fatal blow meant for them?" Kakashi asked.

Kiba looked down a bit, not sure, as Kakashi continued. "That is why I set you against each other, to see if you truly could sacrifice your future careers for each other. Besides, it was also to teach you a lesson about deception as well. A shinobi must be able to see underneath the underneath. You must be able to see through deception. And I must say Sakura, you almost did so right from the beginning."

Sakura beamed a bit at his praise, as Kakashi smiled at them. "So now, team Seven is an official genin squad! Congratulations!" He said.

Kiba cheered happily, as Sakura smiled and Sasuke smirked. Kakashi just continued to eye smile, even as he mentally sighed. He had been half hoping the team would fail, so he could attempt to convince the Hokage to reorganize the teams, and thus give him another shot at getting Naruto onto his team. But they had passed. For now, he'd accept this, but with the Chuunin Exams coming soon, he had another opportunity to get Naruto onto his team, if things went how he hoped they did.

Across town, near the northern edge of the urban part of the village, Team Eight stopped on the rooftop of a building near the abandoned warehouses, with Hinata scanning the area with her Byakugan. "There…she's in the warehouse in the middle," she said, pointing to it. "She's on the ground floor."

Naruto looked at the warehouses. "There are a few different ways we could approach. Through the roof, onto the rafters or second floor. Some of the holes in the walls could be used to slip through. And of course, there's always the frontal approach."

"Then maybe we should approach from different points?" Ino suggest tentatively, as Naruto and Hinata grinned.

"Excellent idea," Naruto said. "Hinata, you're quieter and your bow gives you range. Head up to the roof and try to get a position in the rafters. Ino, hide near the front door. I'll head up to the second floor. When the time is right, Hinata will attack first, followed by me. And when she's distracted, you land the final blow. Got it?" He asked the two girls.

They both nodded, before the trio dispersed, heading to their intended destinations. For Ino, it was a simple matter to stealthily approach the main entrance of the warehouse, which lay open, its doors torn from their hinges due to neglect, time, and the weather. She quietly crouched down, not even daring to peek around the corner. She would wait for noise of her teammate's attacks and make her move then.

Naruto grunted softly as he used a few handholds in the damaged wall to climb up the side of the building, using the tree walking exercise learned in the Academy to keep purchase of his feet. This method reduced the amount of chakra needed, since his body's weight was supported both by his hand and footholds, rather than solely on his feet. However, this method was also slow, and prevented the user from engaging in combat, which made it excellent for stealth operations, but left the user vulnerable for a brief period of time should they be spotted.

Naruto slowly pulled himself up to a sizeable hole in the wall, and quietly slipped in, cursing a bit when he bumped the edge of the hole and shook a small piece of debris lose. However it landed on some discarded cloth, dulling its sound. Naruto quietly supported himself on the second floor, stealthily moving forward to glance through a hole in the floor. There, he spotted Anko leaning against a pillar, reading a scroll. He quietly crouched down, waiting patiently for the signal.

Hinata had climbed up the other side of the warehouse, and now was on the roof, very slowly but stealthily moving across the wooden roof, trying to avoid patches of unsafe or creaky wood. She eventually came to a hole in the roof big enough for her to slip in, and glanced down. Not seeing Anko, she slowly slipped down through the hole, neatly landing on rafters below. She turned, and saw Anko, her head buried in her scroll. Quietly, she began to maneuver through the rafters, withdrawing her bow from its rear sling and extending the arms with careful practice. Finding a spot that gave her enough room to make a shot, she settled in, unsealing an arrow with a padded tip. Slowly she drew back, sighting down the shaft at Anko, and correcting for the padded tip, before firing.

Anko tilted her head to one side, as the padded arrow smacked into the pillar where her head had previously been. She drew a kunai, flinging it up at the rafters even as Hinata swung around a beam and grabbed onto another, getting into a new position. Before she could throw a second kunai at the girl, she had to dodge a padded crossbow bolt fired by Naruto, who hopped over the edge of the second floor, drawing his ninjato. Anko grinned as she drew her two ulaks, readying herself (2).

Naruto took a quick step forward, slashing at her, as Anko ducked and tried to get close. Naruto backed up, knowing he wouldn't be able to use his ninjato if she got too close, and slashed again, trying to keep her at bay. Anko parried this time, sliding his sword to one side as she got in close and slashed at him. Naruto ducked to one side, dodging the slash and rolling to the side, coming up with a two handed slash that made Anko step back. She was forced to jump back again as a second arrow from Hinata slammed into the ground where she had been standing. Unwittingly, she had put her back to the main door, where Ino now watched the fight as Naruto stepped forward, sword held at the ready.

Anko just grinned, still gripping her blades. "Not bad you two. But you're not really doing so good on the 'assassination' are you?" She asked, parrying one of Naruto's attacks with her right ulak and stepping close with a rising slash with her left one. Naruto leaned back, swinging his sword around his head and slashing at her on the left side, forcing her to duck. She spun away, readying herself to fight him again, only to be forced back as Hinata dropped down, her bow sheathed back onto her back, and her short sword extended into its naginata form. She landed, quickly stabbing at Anko who was forced to back away.

Ino quietly gripped a kunai tightly, waiting. She could see what Naruto and Hinata were doing. They were maneuvering their sensei closer to her. So she waited, waited for the right moment to strike.

Naruto ducked under a slash from Anko, rolling past her as Hinata slash at Anko with her naginata, forcing the woman to go defensive rather than follow up an attack on Naruto. Anko grunted in annoyance as she spun, her left arm shooting out at Hinata. "Sen'eijashu! (Striking Shadow Snakes)"

Snakes shot out from around her arm, striking at Hinata who spun her naginata to deflect them. One snake grabbed the shaft of her weapon, ripping it from her grasp and throwing it to one side as Anko grinned, moving to engage Hinata. The ex-Hyuuga girl quickly unsheathed her hidden blades, adopting her modified Jyuuken stance.

There was a flurry of slashes, as the two kunoichi slashed and countered each other's blows, using speed and agility. Ino's eyes widened as she saw the two fight; she had never seen Hinata fight this fast or well before. She bit her lip, hoping she would be able to get Anko when the time was right.

Hinata barely managed to use one of her hidden blades to deflect Anko's left ulak, spinning and bringing her other hidden blade into a spinning slash that Anko leaned back to avoid. Naruto at that moment came back into the fray, slashing low at Anko's feet, forcing her into a back handstand as she kicked Hinata away. Ino's eyes widened as she saw Anko come closer, and chose this moment to seize the opportunity.

As Anko came out of her handstand, her eyes widened as she felt a blade prick her back slightly. "Dead, sensei," Ino said quietly, as her blade was right where Anko's kidneys were at. While not an instantly fatal blow, a blow to such an area would more than likely cause death within an hour, unless treated quickly.

Anko smirked, as she lowered her blades. "Not bad," she said, only to poof away, revealing she was a shadow clone. The real Anko appeared in the entrance of the warehouse, where Ino had been. "Well well, my gaki's managed to get my clone. Impressive," she said with a grin.

"So do we pass?" Naruto asked, as the three of them gathered together in front of her. Anko studied them for a few moments.

"Well…you all could have done a better job taking my clone out. I'm surprised you didn't use smoke bombs to mask your attacks. And Yugito-san, Kiseki-san, and Raphael-san all did know you were there, getting the information. Not exactly stealthily, was that?" she asked them, as they all looked down. She watched them, before grinning. "But considering you're newly graduated genin trying to get information from jounin level targets and stealthily assassinating a jounin level enemy, I think you all did good enough. Congratulations Team Eight! You pass!"

The three genin grinned, and cheered, as Anko's grin widened. "And now we celebrate! TO THE DANGO STAND!" She said energetically. The three genin just laughed as they followed her, happy that they passed their test, and were now officially genin of Konoha.

Wow. Well this took forever. And I'm not entirely happy with the results. *Sighs* I had intended more for this chapter, such as Team 8's first mission, but sadly, I feel like it took too long to write. So next chapter will feature Team 8's first mission.

I hope this chapter is okay. Guess we'll see what you all think, won't we?

Big thanks again to my beta's Bill Alian and Kyuubi123, for their awesome work. Much appreciated guys.

Thank you for reading this chapter. Till next time!

1. I really believe a lot of Sakura's 'confidence' came from her rivalry with Ino. I mean from the snippets of their past that we've seen, she still seemed to be a shy girl even after Ino became her friend. However, the moment she learned Ino likes Sasuke too, she suddenly grows confident while declaring Ino is her rival. My belief is that she put on a confident persona so as not to lose to Ino. Without that rivalry against Ino, I do think Sakura would have remained somewhat more shy and under confident girl. Not Hinata level shy and under confident, but less so then her canon self did. That being said, don't worry readers. Sakura isn't about to become Hinata's replacement here.

2. Okay, I can't find anything else to call these things, so yes. Unless someone can come up with their real name, Anko's blades will be named the same thing that Riddick's blades are named. Which are ulaks.