Team Six

"Yo! I'm late. Oh, you're back, Asuma?" the silver-haired jōnin barged into Shinobi HQ.

"*Exhale*" Asuma stood with his back turned to other shinobi's, trying to hide the lit cigarette in his mouth, "... Yeah, I did my part, and I had enough of the nobles silliness. Good to see you, Kakashi."

"Still smoking? You smell like a smoke-stack. Did I miss something?"

"Heh, and you're still acting like a lazy brat." the late Daimyo's Guard shot back, puffing the smoke at his feet, "If you want to know, my old-man got his ass handed back to him."

"What? Did Kana-chan snap at him?" Kakashi's single visible eyebrow rose in question.

"No. It was her kid, the blondie, he transformed into dozens of beautiful women and hugged the shit out of my old man." Asuma shook the ash of his cigarette and put it back into his mouth, "Sucks to be you, Kakashi. Never before, I saw as many naked bombshells in one place. Several of them had Anko's like jugs others looked like Kurenai. There were also many lookalikes to Yugao and this green-haired woman from Suna, but most of the clones were very similar to Kana-chan herself. Those endless legs of her, damn... What?" Asuma questioned, looking at Kakashi's smiling eye, "Ah! Fuc-!"

"Hmm, did you say something, Asuma? I may have misheard you." Kurenai asked sweetly, boring holes with her eyes in the jōnin's back.

In front of Kakashi's eyes, Asuma promptly opened his mouth and flicked the still-lit butt with his tongue, making the cigarette land between his cheeks. With an audible *gulp*, the proof of Asuma's smoking quickly vanished deep inside his belly. "Just a banter between men, Kurenai-chan." He smiled at the kunoichi.

The red-eyed genjutsu user walked up to Asuma, her beautiful face winced, smelling a heavy whiff of cigarettes. "You smoked?! Again?!" she shouted out with accusation in her voice.

The man in a standard Konoha's shinobi uniform scratched the side of his short beard, "I know what you want, Kurenai-chan. I'm sorry, I will not give those three up - they're diamonds in the rough. I could work with them."

"*Tsk*" Kurenai clicked with her tongue and stomped her foot angrily on the ground, "Everyone could. I'm sure we can negotiate, Asuma-kun?"

"You lost me. What are you two talking about?" Kakashi joined in.

"If you weren't late, you would know, ... Silver Stallion." Kurenai taunted.

"Wait a moment! You two? Together?" Asuma stopped Kakashi's reply.

"No!" The woman blushed, "It's the nickname given by this dunce's lady."

"Wow, you got yourself laid? Not bad, Kakashi - I did not expect it out of you, but congrats."

"Thanks, Asuma. Now, what were you talking about?"

"Kana-chan's three pupils, Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto. They aced their genin exams. Those three would make a well-oiled team if put together. I will try to talk with Hokage-sama not to disperse them around the weaker ones." Kurenai explained.

"Heh, not so fast, Kurenai-chan. I may be persuaded, but other jōnins are salivating about taking these three as well."

"Those kids? I trained them myself. They were nothing out of the ordinary."

"You did what?" The woman questioned, astonished at Kakashi's statement.

"Kana-chan made me do it. Let's say she blackmailed me into protecting and training these kids." the silver-haired shinobi replied.

"Yeah, that's something she would do for sure." Kurenai nodded.

"Why did you say they're nothing out of the ordinary, Kakashi?"

"Because they are, Asuma. I gave them some easy training, and they got tired just after it started. Last week they were barely on genin level."

"Heh, or they played you into thinking they're that weak. Welp, in my opinion, Kana-chan will strike back soon for braking the deal about training the kids. Have a nice trip to hell and back, Kakashi." Asuma laughed out.

"Ugh..." Kakashi dropped his head and shoulders, "I just want to get a team of civilians that I could easily fail with the bell test... There are more interesting things to do than mothering a bunch of kids."

"If you've failed all those kids only because they would limit your reading time of this perverted book of yours, I will talk with Hokage-sama about-"

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" A shout came from the other side of the street, interrupting Kurenai's threat. Guy, walking on his hands, quickly joined the group.

"Not again..." Kakashi murmured.

"A perfect day for a youthful training, Kurenai-san! Hello to you too?" Guy looked at Asuma's face.

The said man caught his forehead and massaged his temples, "We were classmates, Guy... You should at least remember my name..."

"Yosh!" springing on his hands, Guy did a double air-flip and landed in front of the group, "It seems I lack skills at remembering faces. I will need to train myself on it! Thank you, classmate! Kakashi, my youthful, eternal rival, it's time for our daily spar!"

"Do you see Asuma? Konoha is not sane either,"

"My rival! We don't have enough time! Every second we lose here - delays the practice! Healthy body, healthy, and youthful mind! Come!"

"Ah. I'm sorry, Guy. You were talking to me?" Kakashi defiantly cleaned his earlobe.

"Damn your unyouthful hip-attitude!"

"Stop!" Kurenai jumped in, "*Sigh* Seeing what happened, I expect you have got a message for us, Guy-san?"

"Oh, I forgot! Thanks, Kurenai-san! Hokage-sama calls all jōnins to his office! I wish you luck. Keeping them alive and helping the next generation is the most youthful thing any ninja can do!" he gave a thumbs up to the black-haired woman.

"Next time, maybe, just maybe, start from that part, Guy." Asuma shot back.

-------

"Is something wrong, Hinata-chan?" Naruto put his hand on his bashful childhood friend's arm.

"Um," the raven-haired girl barely looked up with her pale blue eyes to Naruto's nose, and deeply blushed red, turning her head back down, "Eto-" she repeated the process.

"Okay, stop nagging her so much, Naruto. Hina-chan, can we talk privately?" Ino walked up to them, receiving a nod from Hinata. With a quick gesture to Sakura, three girls walked out of the classroom.

"Dobe, your pervertness scared Hinata-chan away."

"She was blushing like that from the morning. Maybe Hinata-chan is sick. And, you know what? Shut it, Teme."

"Hmph," Sasuke smirked, "Make me, Dobe."

Naruto jumped up on Sasuke's desk and squatted in front of Uchiha's face, staring into his eyes, "What was it, Teme? Do you want me to roast you like I always do ~dattebayo?"

"Heh, yeah, right... Let me mention that in the Official ranking, I roasted your arse two times more than you did, Dobe."

"You wish-"

"No, you won't pull the Ramen eating contest out again."

The sound of rapidly sliding doors pulled all the faces towards the three girls. One unfortunate to-be genin failed to notice Naruto squatting behind his back on the desk, standing up, he bumped the desk the blonde was on, making Naruto lose balance and fall towards Sasuke's direction.

Ino cleared her throat and loudly exclaimed, "Silence now! Hinata has some- mmh!" In a blink of an eye, she found herself in front of Sasuke, with her lips locked with his.

"*Phew* That was close ~ttebayo..." Naruto sweatdropped after promptly exchanging places with Ino using <Kawarimi no Jutsu> [Body Exchange Technique] just before he was forced to kiss Sasuke.

Sasuke, two seconds later, understood what's happening and why was he inhaling a relaxing smell of flowers. Snapping back to reality, he pushed Ino's arms away from him. And stared angrily at the toothy grin of his best friend.

Ino, still squatting on Sasuke's desk, slowly reached for her lips - girl's cheeks went beetroot red. After a moment and enlightenment of what has really happened, she smiled, giving a thumbs up to her fellow blonde, "Nice assist, Naruto!"

"Naruto, we need to talk privately." Sakura caught his shoulder in a bone-crushing hold, "I need to kill you a little bit." she continued in a malice-ridden voice.

"Oh, come on, Sakura-chan!" Ino complained, putting her hands on her hips, "It's not Naruto-kun's fault! He just lost his balance after someone knocked him over. Whatever he would do, you would rage at him. He had to act fast and knew that I'm a better match for Sasuke than you are..."

"Ugh, not again..."

Iruka entered the classroom pulling in Naruto's twin, "That's enough, silence now! Wait, Naruto? But?" teacher looked at his captive.

"Hehe, you got pranked, Iruka-sensei!" the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A bulging tick mark developed on Iruka's temple, "I was running around a freaking clone for the last thirty minutes?!" he sighed, holding his forehead. "Whatever, get a seat, everybody. Let me announce the team assignments..." After a few minutes off listing out teams consisting of civilian shinobis, Iruka voiced out: "Team Six: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki,..."

'Please, me...' Two girls thought, taking glances at Sasuke and Naruto.

'Uhh, I would want to join them...' Hinata dropped her head, not listening to the teacher's next words.

"... and Hinata Hyūga. Your jōnin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Iruka finished.

"All right!" Naruto jumped up from his chair, fist-pumping in the air, "A dream team!"

"Sit down, Naruto!" Iruka chastised the boy.

"Hehehe!" the blonde walked up to his new female teammate with a grin from ear to ear, completely disregarding the teacher's warning.

'What should I say? I'm sorry for not joining you two, or should I cheer Naruto-kun?' Hinata's brainstorm was interrupted by Naruto's hand on her shoulder. "Ah?!"

"Hehe, what's wrong, Hinata-chan?"

"I-I'm sorry..."

"What for? You, me, and Sasuke in a single team are what we aimed for, right ~ttebayo?"

Hinata's eyes instantly met with the blonde's, "... Ha? Can you repeat that, Naruto-kun?"

"Hehe, did you slept over your team assignment, Hinata-chan? The three of us are in a team."

'Me and Naruto together... me and him together...' Looking at his happiness radiating face, Hinata was overcome with a flood of emotions. Without thinking, she bolted up from her chair and gave Naruto a small peck on his lips.

Understanding what she has done, she pulled back and dropped her head, trying to hide her Hokage Mountain-sized blush. Naruto could swear he noticed steam coming from Hinata's ears.

"I-I'm sorry, I sh-shouldn't..." she stuttered.

"Hehe," Naruto scratched the back of his head - he was blushing as well, "Not a problem, I like you as- Guh! What the, eh, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka pulled Naruto by the scruff of his neck, "It's cute and all, but there are better places to do it. I asked you to sit down, Naruto. You can talk with your new girlfriend after I'm done."

"Hehe, a girlfriend?" Naruto grinned.

"*Sigh*..." He sat the boy down next to Sasuke and walked back to the blackboard.

"Lucky, SOB." the black-haired Uchiha whispered to Naruto.

"I can organize a date with Ino-chan if you want, Teme ~dattebayo. Geh~!" His forehead was struck by a flying white piece of chalk.

"... I hope everyone was entertained by this unannounced break. Let me continue. Team Seven is still on duty - next, we have Team Eight. Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Inuzuka Kiba, you will be under the command of jōnin Kurenai Yūhi..."

-----

"Why him, Hokage-sama? Kakashi is lazy." Kurenai pointed out, "You shouldn't waste those kids' talent on someone like him!"

"I'm 100% in agreement on that with Kurenai-san! Why me?!" Kakashi joined in, "I thought that now Kana-chan's team operates on their own, she would take those kids away. As Shikaku-san would say, they're troublesome, Naruto especially."

"Haaa..." the old man listened to their complaints, propping his head up with his right hand, "Kana-chan has some information I don't want to be ... published. She asked me very nicely to keep those kids together in a team under your command, Kakashi. She would take this team herself, but she will be indisposed for the imminent future - those reasons are strictly private and kept secret from everybody." he groaned out.

"Heh, I would say it's her punishment, Kakashi. Well, Kana-chan acts fast." Asuma commented.

...

"Good job, Jiji." Kaname entered the office once every left.

"*Sigh* Like you did give me a choice. The photos, please." he extended his wrinkled hand.

"Hehehe~ A pleasure doing business with you." she handed over an envelope.

"And the copies?" Hokage inquired.

Kaname's eyebrows rose in shock, "You're learning the trade, Jiji."

"*Groan*..." he hid three new envelopes into his cabinet, "How the hell did you find both of us hiding in the bushes?! Jiraya-kun once, just once, ten years ago convinced me to join on his 'research.' And, of course, you were somewhere gods' know out there doing pictures?!"

"Hehehe, how I do that is a secret, Jiji."

"Ugh... A topic for later. So how are your plans going? Are you sure you will be ready?"

"I'm never sure, Jiji. The reality tends to bite me and the plans I made in the ass. But I will make damn sure we will be as ready as possible."

"Hmm, I can't ask for more. Will you be alright, Kana-chan? I remember that once Biwako was pregnant with Asuma, she was barely above to move around."

"Well, it's almost the fourth month. I feel a little sluggish, but I would die of boredom if I did not train at least a little."

"Wait! You're still training your body, Kana-chan? I thought it's dangerous for the fetus?"

"Ah, I'm not doing anything that strains my body too much, Jiji."

"Hmm, most kunoichi stop their duty after giving birth."

"Heh, I'm not the most. Did you really think I would stop the development of my jutsu's repertoire only because of pregnancy? Let's hope our enemies think the same, one more trump card for me."

"Ha!" Hiruzen laughed out, "I knew it, you have something big you're hiding, right?!"

"Me? Excluding the belly, a thing or two, Jiji. Even better, do you want to watch tomorrow's spar? I believe Doofus-kun will try to fail Naruto-kun's team with Minato-san's bell test. I know you would love to see what those kids are truly capable of. I won't hide their training from your crystal ball anymore."

"Hohoho~! You got me very curious, Kana-chan."

---------

[An hour before noon of the next day]

'The kids are not here? Did they leave already? I may be a little late, but...'

"Hey, Scarecrow-sensei! We're late! Sorry, Sis kept us for the dinner ~ttebayo!" Naruto entered the training ground with Hinata's hand intertwined his with and Sasuke at his right side.

"Four hours?! You ate for four hours?"

"Hmph, like you're any better, we know you like being late. I guess you're not waiting here for long, say that I'm wrong, Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke deadpanned.

"Hmm, okay, I just got here myself. Let bygones be bygones." Kakashi gave up, disinterested in continuing the argument, sitting himself on a closeby fallen tree, he explained, "Now, about the test I mentioned yesterday. It's survival training, with me as your opponent."

"Meh, we did that enough in Academy ~ttebayo," Naruto complained.

"Hehehe..." Kakashi laughed darkly.

"What is it, Sensei?" Hinata asked.

"You will flip out when I tell you the truth, kids."

"Stop beating around the bush."

"As you wish, Sasuke." The jōnin bent forward, catching his masked face in a dark shadow, "Of twenty-seven graduates in your class, at most nine will become genin. A failure rate of the exam is at almost sixty-six percent, still, feel so sure about-"

"- to Ichiraku later, Hina-chan?" Naruto stopped listening to Kakashi for some time now.

"At least listen to me, kid," Kakashi growled out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Scarecrow-sensei. You were saying?" the blonde turned his head back to him, cleaning his ear.

"*tsk*... Damn your hip-attit..." His uncovered eyebrow scrunched in understanding, "Now I know how Guy feels like... Don't do that again, Naruto."

"Hehehe."

The silver-haired man took out jingling bells, "You have one hour to take those bells from me." he pulled the red string up and catching two small trinkets into his hand, "You need one bell, there are only two of them, so at least one of you will fail and be sent back to the Academy. Come at me with the intention to kill. Begin on my signal... Start!"

Three ninjas jumped away from the battlefield, trying to hide themselves from watchful eyes. Only a single blonde boy stood his ground - he grinned from ear to ear, "Fight me, Scarecrow-sensei!"

"The basics of a ninja is to attack from hiding. You're a weird one..." Kakashi commented, walking out of the bushes.

"Naruto Uzumaki, your future Hokage, remember that ~dattebayo!" he charged the jōnin.

"*Sigh*," the adult man knowing already what he can expect out of the boy, pulled out his favorite 'Icha Icha Paradise' book and started reading it, all the while easily dodging Naruto strikes, '*Yawn*... Where is this talent Asuma and Kurenai were talking about?'

"I will beat you into a pulp! YAAH!" Naruto aimed a punch at Kakashi's face. The Jōnin flickered behind his back with his hands put in distinct Fire Nature handseal - his pointing fingers and middle ones were pointing towards Naruto.

With a visible glint in his uncovered eye, he shouted out, "<Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi>! [Konohagakure Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death]." He used half of his muscle power to push his hands up Naruto's butt, shooting the boy upwards and making him disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"Hmm, a shadow clone?" Kakashi replied, disinterested, "You should have hidden, kid." he pointed out to the real Naruto watching him from the tree-line.

He rolled his eyes when the boy once again charged at him, "It won't work, kid, I'm just better tha- *Guh*!" a wide swing of the blonde boy struck Kakashi in the arm, making his left hand limp. "This fighting style..." Kakashi tried to fight back against a Jūken [Gentle Fist] user, but without his Sharingan active, he was only getting pushed around. With some dose of luck, he caught fake Naruto's hand and injected some of his chakra ending the transformation.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei." Hinata smiled, "<Hakkeshō Kaiten> [Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven]" Pulling her hand back free, Hinata released massive amounts of chakra while spinning.

"Fu-!" the jōnin tried to flicker away, but his back was caught by a large globe of chakra, sending him flying backward. Taking control of his body back, he noticed Sasuke smirking at him at the location of his landing zone. The moment Kakashi put his foot on the ground, the dark-haired boy punched at his face. Blocking the strike, Kakashi laughed out, "Pft, I'm sorry Sasuke, but you're not much better than Naruto, what makes you think- Wha?!"

Sasuke's eyes were red and contained two black tomoes.

The next kick slipped through Kakashi's guard, knocking some air out of his lungs. The man tried to lift his forehead protector to release his own Sharingan, but an ax kick stopped Kakashi's attempt. Before his guard rose, letting his eye watch Sasuke's next movement, the boy already finished the preparations for his jutsu.

"<Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu> [Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique]" the ball of fire exploded right beneath Kakashi's feet, sending the battered jōnin into the sky, "Heh... He is all yours, Dobe."

Kakashi quickly shook the damage off, looking for the blonde. He found him dropping back towards him. Nine yellow chakra chains were floating behind his back with spear-like tips.

'Oh, come on, Kana-chan, don't make your kids too OP. You alone are enough! I shouldn't have underestimated them.'

"Got you, Scarecrow-sensei!" Naruto landed on the ground. With a lot of clinging noises, the jōnin was tied in Uzumaki's bloodline adamantine chains like a roast and soon was put back on the cold ground. Making sure that they did not catch a clone, Naruto drew a drop of blood from Kakashi's fingertip. "Hehehe. We won. Yatta!"

'Hmm, there's a nice, quick rhythm to their combat. I can't say anything bad about their teamwork either. Kana-chan knew I would underestimate those kids. It was her plan all along... *Sigh* I have to pass them.' Lifting his eye, he noticed two bells dangling in front of him, one in Hinata's hand and the other in Sasuke's. "Good, so it seems that Naruto failed the exam."

"Heh," Naruto made nine-tips of his chakra chains prick at Kakashi's body, "Do you want to experience your Sennen Goroshi with one of those, Scarecrow-sensei? Whatever, we know it was all a fraud, there never was a team consisting of two genins and a jōnin, stop pretending."

Looking that Hinata and Sasuke nodded their heads in approval, he sighed out and said dejectedly "You... pass."