Team 7

So, sitting down and writing 2000 words fucking sucks, at times. If you've ever had to do an essay for school in about two hours, you know that you make mistakes. I'm not perfect, I make plot holes, I'm not a novelist who has weeks of time to make revisions on a chapter(and even they will make giant plot holes, so I feel I'm doing pretty well). I will forget plot strings I've made. Above all else, I do not have the time or energy to source knowledge about Naruto for every fucking chapter.

Please, *god*, remember that I'm trying my best here.

Now that that's over, here's a chapter. I'm also going to start the process for a second fic, as school lightens up, because this community can be rough at times, and I need breaks while writing this.

-----

Naruto walked into the classroom, moving towards the back to sit by the rest of the rookie nine. After he sat down, Iruka entered.

"Hello everyone. Today you will be assigned to the teams you will stay with for your tenure as Genin. Just remember that I'm proud of every one of you, today you become Shinobi after 5 years of training.

"Team one will be…"

"Team 2…"

"Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sasuke Uchiha, under Kakashi Hatake."

"Team 8 will be Hinata Hyuga, Shina Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, under Kurenai Yuhi."

"Team 9 is still in circulation, Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, under Asuma Sarutobi."

"Your Jonin Sensei will be here after a short lunch to retrieve you."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood up and looked at each other.

"River?", Naruto mouthed towards his new teammates.

The other two nodded and they all shunshined out.

-----

"What do we know about Hatake-san?", Sakura asked first.

"He's the youngest Shinobi to ever make Chunin or Jonin. He also is notoriously late to everything.", Naruto knew more than that but it wasn't relevant.

"How late?", asked the ever time-conscious Sasuke.

"Three hours, usually."

"Hn"

"He... wouldn't be late to his team assignment, would he?"

"Oh most certainly."

The talking stopped then, as Sasuke and Sakura absorbed that geninhood would be hell.

"Well...huh. We're just going to have to wait a bit longer to be Genin, I guess."

Naruto and Sasuke winced then. Sakura noticed.

"What did you guys do?"

"*Mumble* field promo-*mumble*"

"You guys got FIELD PROMOTED!"

"..."

"..."

"Without me?"

"Well, you see-"

"Extenuating circumstances.", Sasuke interjected, seeing Sakura's trap.

"Was that the whole 'we can't talk about last night but Mizuki won't be around for awhile' talk about?"

""Yes""

"Well...fine. I'm getting the story at some point."

-----

Kakashi Hatake was nervous. When he had first learned that he was going to be training Sasuke Uchiha, he had panicked, nearly to the point of blackmailing Izumi into taking his place. He had genuinely considered leading the military police to not have to train a prodigy.

Then, because Hiruzen was Hiruzen, Kakashi had learned that he wouldn't be training just one prodigy, but three.

Sasuke, the boy with the Mangekyo, and apparently a tried and true prodigy to boot. Naruto, sealing genius and general Chakra monster. Sakura, girl with an eidetic and Chakra reinforced memory.

At that point, he *had* tried to blackmail Izumi. It didn't work.

He was now staring at those geniuses and they were clearly not happy.

"Really Hatake, three hours?", Naruto spoke first.

The other two just silently stared at him.

He was going to go for a standard excuse but he figured it might not be the right atmosphere for that.

"My first impressions of you...I don't like you. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes."

-----

Naruto decided to wall walk up, since the Shunshin and Hiraishin were something he wanted to keep to himself until tomorrow if Kakashi didn't already know of them. He hadn't hidden the fact he knew the Hiraishin but he certainly hadn't used it enough for the knowledge to be wide spread.

The team walked together up the wall and made it to where Kakashi was sitting.

"Well, why don't you all introduce yourselves."

"Care to give us an example?"

"Name, likes, dislikes, and ambitions."

"Can you go first?"

"...sure. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I don't really want to tell you my likes or dislikes and my ambitions are irrelevant."

'oh you poor, socially inept man'

"Well, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, gardening, seals and my friends. I dislike seals, *youth*, no matter how much it helps me, abuse of authority, and...a guy. I want to be the strongest Hokage because this village needs some serious reform and I owe it to...another guy."

"That was unusually cryptic Naruto. I'm Sakura Haruno, I like my parents...oh. uh-"

"Just continue, Sakura."

She winced a bit and continued,"-Iryoninjutsu, my friends, and reading. I dislike willful ignorance, people who hold power over others for their own amusement, and, like Naruto, *youth*. I want to become an Iryonin capable of keeping up with these dumbasses."

"...fair enough Sakura. I'm Sasuke Uchiha, I like knowing the truth in all things, tomatoes, my remaining clan members, and my friends. I dislike people who lie for the wrong reasons, Naruto around seals, and...a guy. My ambition is to reforge my clan."

Kakashi showed zero emotion on his face.

"Tomorrow you will take a true test to become my Genin. Meet at training ground 7 at 5 tomorrow. I suggest you don't eat."

He then Shunshined away.

"Welp. Get ready guys."

-----

Naruto had some issues with the bell test. It wasn't an all together bad concept but there were crucial flaws in the make-up.

The test would definitely be better off if the Academy didn't specifically stress that the mission was of utmost importance. The test in the form Kakashi used it felt more like a way for Kakashi to avoid having a Genin team than anything else. Passing the test went against a child's tendency to listen to adults, went against the conditioning to follow orders, severely went against the principle of 'the mission comes first', and above all, made kids combat each other. The only way to pass without outsider information was for one person to accept that they wouldn't pass and sacrifice themselves. Even if that happened though, Kakashi could say that the other two didn't pass because they didn't offer to be sacrificed instead.

One could say that the test was a Kobayashi Maru but that still didn't hold up, it still required kids to go against their nature and teachings.

In the end it didn't matter though. They didn't have a choice but to take the test.

The three Genin walked into the training ground 7 at 7 because why wait three hours. The team had agreed to prepare the training ground to the best of their ability, if only to give Kakashi a headache.

After setting up tides of wire traps, sealing tags were placed on most trees, set to do something similar to what Naruto did to Mizuki. Whenever Kakashi would go near a tree, it would shock him. Naruto only needed to get the trigger seal on Kakashi.

After prepping the field, the Genin met in the middle again.

"War?"

"Sure."

"Hn"

Naruto pulled out a deck of cards and sat down, gesturing for the other two to follow.

"Goddamnit Naruto, why are you like this!?", Sakura shouted.

"It's not my fault! I'm just lucky."

"Naruto, the odds of you getting four subsequent aces in a deck with four aces is little to none."

"Shut up Sasuke."

"Really Naruto?"

That's when Kakashi deigned to appear.

"Oh look, it's the white haired POS."

Kakashi stares at Naruto for a second.

"What does that mean?"

"...Person of Status. Anyway, you're late. Catch!", Naruto threw a card at Kakashi. He caught the card and sent it back.

"There was a bla-"

"No there wasn't, let's get this done.", Sasuke actually sounded exasperated.

Kakashi observed the three.

"Your mission...is to get these bells from me."

Sakura, being Sakura, blurted out that there were only two bells.

"Yes. Only two of you will pass this test. Anyone within my line of sight gets attacked first. Test starts now!"

The Genin shot off.

'So that's his game, he knows we have enough cohesion that he's trying to stop us from conversing and deconstructing the test.'

Naruto made it to the tree line and climbed, staring back at their white-haired Sensei. The card Naruto threw had a contact seal on it that Kakashi probably wasn't expecting from a Genin. He knew Kakashi would never make the mistake again, so he'd make the most out of this one.

"Hey Sensei! We're staying in the trees. We're Konoha-nin, we're not stupid."

There was no response but Kakashi did disappear.

Naruto heard a strained yelp when Kakashi got too close to a tree.

'Gotcha fucker.'

-----

'Kakashi did not take the tree thing well.', Naruto thought to himself as he sat tied to a post.

Naruto hadn't even had time to make a jutsu, he was almost flattered Kakashi went through the effort.

Sasuke just stared at Naruto like he was a dumbass.

"I told you it was a bad idea."

"Shut up Sasuke. Where's Sakura?"

"Hell-if-I-know."

"You fight him yet?"

"No, I can only use truth-seeking once on someone like him."

"Ah."

Kakashi appeared near them again.

Sasuke looked at him with swirling red eyes, "What is the true meaning of this test?"

Kakashi went wide-eyed before the two locked eyes and held some sort of mental battle.

Eventually, Sasuke dropped and Kakashi looked a little sick on his feet.

"You three are not Genin."

"Didya fight Sakura yet?"

"What-"

The ground exploded beneath Kakashi, an angry pink Kunoichi with red-rimmed eyes and Chakra coated arms having launched herself into the ground.

Naruto made a bunch of clones, despite being unable to move himself, knowing what was coming.

Sakura, looking like she had been crying, began a relentless Taijutsu on their Sensei.

Kakashi was far beyond her ability to even land a hit...but he was definitely taken aback.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME YOU CRUEL BASTARD!"

'ah, hell viewing, right.'

Kakashi didn't respond, he just knocked her backwards onto her ass.

"I revealed an obvious weakness."

"Bastard!", She was crying now...she definitely saw something worse this time.

-----

The three Genin sat tied to their respective poles, Sasuke having regained consciousness.

"The test is about teamwork. What a fucking way to get that point across, Kakashi."

"So you did get that from my head. Anyway, you all pass, I knew I should've done a different test with you. Kinda ruined the point when you used abilities that could kill unsuspecting Jonin."

"No shit. Also, an unsuspecting Jonin is a dead Jonin.", Naruto responded, being the only one not far too pissed to do so.

"By the way Sakura, what did you see?"

Sakura, with still red-rimmed eyes, turned to him.

"I don't want to talk about it. I couldn't break it.."

Kakashi looked at the three and realized he fucked up.