Chapter 5

I wake up to the sound of an alarm clock going off somewhere in the distance.

"It looks like time is up. Let's go back?" I hear Kakashi say as he puts his book away and holds out his left hand to help me up. Has he been here the entire time? Shouldn't he have, I don't know, made life hell for the other three brats? Well, he's a powerful Shinobi so maybe he just let his clones do his work for him. None of my business, I guess. Either way, I place my hand into his much bigger one and he drags me back up onto my feet. Somehow, I really like that feeling. But does he plan on holding my hand all the way? Not that I'd mind or anything. I look at him and he, unfortunately, let's go all the while maintaining that one-eyed smile of his. It looks somewhat genuine this time.

"Are you coming?" He asks and I nod. We then, together, leisurely make our way over to the clearing with the memorial and the poles. There I see Naruto already bound to the post, with Sakura and Sasuke sitting near him. The three of them look at me as I walk up together with Kakashi, but I remain quiet. I can hear the growling of their empty stomachs from here and the silverette chuckles at my teammates' situation.

"Somebody seems hungry, I hear? Ma~ regarding this exercise... What can I say... You three won't need to go back to the academy." He declares. Huh? Did they pass? Did I miss something? I take a side-glance at him. Ah, now I understand. He intends to fail them. But it seems that, like me, the others misinterpreted his intentions.

"Yatta!" Naruto is the first to cheer.

"Are you sure? All I did was be unconscious though." Sakura says while Sasuke gives the classical Uchiha "Hn" as if he was expected to pass. If only he knew.

"So that means the three of us...!" Naruto starts but gets interrupted by Kakashi.

"Will be forced to drop out and quit becoming shinobi entirely."

The cheering instantly grows silent. Their faces drop in horror. I must say, I find it rather amusing. It takes me a lot of willpower not to start roaring in laughter. If only I could take a picture of this, I'd frame it and immortalize it on my wall.

"What do you mean 'quit being shinobi'?!" Naruto yells.

"I mean, sure, we didn't get the bells, but..." Sakura trails off.

"But why make us quit?!" Naruto ends.

"That's because none of you brats has the qualifications to become a true ninja." Our teacher deadpans. This enrages the Uchiha who instantly runs at the man in order to attack, but Kakashi easily puts him down on the ground and sits on top of him. "See? Nothing but brats." He comments. Oh god, the ease with which he dominates that Uchiha prick - that looks kinda hot, not gonna lie. If he were to put me down—stop! Bad thoughts! No!

"Get down from Sasuke immediately!" Sakura screeches but it falls on deaf ears.

"You kids think that being a ninja is easy? Huh?" Kakashi says threateningly. I swear, I just heard a growl in his voice that sent shivers down my spine. Imma not survive being on this team, that's for sure.

"Why do you think you were put into teams in the first place? Because we were bored and had nothing better to do?" Kakashi questions them coldly. There it is again, that slight rumble.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asks.

"You clearly have not understood the significance of this test."

"Significance...?" Naruto mumbles clearly confused. Are you asking because you don't know the meaning of the word or what? Should I give you a dictionary?

"Yes, the true intention which determines whether you fail or not."

"That's... what I've been meaning to ask from the beginning though," Sakura says hesitantly. Sure you did.

"Are you guys really this dumb? It wasn't that hard to get." Kakashi has clearly grown annoyed at this point. I wonder what he would be like if he were to go full-on rage mode. Meh, that ain't gonna happen any time soon. He's too unflappable for that.

"Well, none of us got it, so why not just tell us already?!" Naruto yells, his voice grating on my ears something terrible. Speak for yourselves, please, since I obviously got it. It wasn't even that hard, just simple commonsense. But what am I even thinking about, he wouldn't recognize commonsense even if it Detroit-smashed him in his face. The Hokage should rework the academy's curriculum – it clearly isn't working.

"That just shows how stupid you really are. Shizuya clearly understood what was going on." The man points at me. "If you'd please...?" He motions for me to do the honors. Thank you, Sir, I shall do you proud.

"Teamwork," I say in a voice drier than the Saharan Desert.

"Correct. Teamwork. But it's too late for you now. You might have been able to get your hands on those bells if you had worked together. Oh well, not that it matters now."

"Eh? But there are only three bells while there's four of us." Sakura points out. How did she get the title for smartest kunoichi? There must've been a huge mistake somewhere. Have they perhaps accidentally switched up the test papers? It wouldn't make sense otherwise.

"It's to play us against each other," I explain, earning myself a smile from Kakashi. I like it when he smiles. He should do that more often. It looks so much better on him than his usual "I don't want to live life" expression.

"Exactly. This was done with the intention to see whether you'd put your personal interests above those of the team and the mission. Sakura!" Sensei points at the banshee. "You refused the help Shizuya offered, in order to chase after Sasuke despite not knowing where he was, and later you also didn't help Naruto who was right in front of you. Naruto!" He turns towards the blonde. "A Hokage does not do everything by themselves! With Shizuya's assistance, you would've had a better chance, but no, you just had to go and run solo. And you, Sasuke!" The silverette puts his foot down a little firmer onto the ravenette's head. "You deemed the others as useless right from the get-go and decided to see them as nothing but hindrances, acting on your own!"

He then proceeds to glide his look over every one of them. "Missions are completed in squads! Yes, individual strength does also play an important role, but teamwork is much more important than that! Take this for example..." Kakashi suddenly pulls out a kunai and holds it to Sasuke's throat. "Sakura! Kill Naruto and Shizuya or else Sasuke dies!" He commands, startling Sakura and Naruto, but I know he doesn't actually mean it, so I don't do anything. Sensei then removes the weapon. "Something like this may happen. Be it a hostage situation or when faced with two impossible choices that may end in death." Our teacher gets up and walks towards the stone with names engraved on it.

"You see all those names written here? They belong to the heroes of this village." He says solemnly.

"That's it! I will get my name on that stone, too!" Naruto exclaims all fired up. This stupid little...!

"You better not," I warn him, anger lacing my voice.

"Huh?! You got a problem?!" Naruto glares at me.

"Yes, I have! Why do you think all of their names have been carved into this one, single stone, huh?! They're dead! This is their memorial, you brick-headed moron!" Hearing these words, Naruto quickly shuts up. With a huff, I then walk up and stand beside Kakashi. I then close my eyes and kneel onto the ground for a short moment in silent prayer. Paying my respect to them is the least I could do. When I get back up again and look at Kakashi, I see a sad, pained glint in that lone eye of his. A painful feeling wells up in my chest. It hurts to see him like that. I do not like this. Instinctively, I put a hand on his arm and give him a comforting squeeze. I hear a quiet "Thank you" from him. He then turns around to face my teammates.

"Although he could've probably phrased that a little less aggressively, Shizuya-kun is right, this is a memorial. And the names of my closest friends are among them." Kakashi says, turning the atmosphere somewhat depressed. He then adds, "I will give you three one more chance! However, this time it will be much more difficult. You may now eat your lunch, except for Naruto. You are not allowed to give him anything, this is an order! It's his punishment for breaking the rules, after all. If you disobey, you will be disqualified instantly. You got that?"

"Eh? But why only three of us? What about him?" Sakura complains, pointing her finger at me. Rude much? I have a name, use it. And don't point fingers at people.

"While he may not have gotten the bells, he has understood the meaning behind the exercise. Also, during our conversation, he not only revealed a rather decent plan but also provided me with a very good explanation as to why he refused to try his luck on his own. It was more than clear to me that, unlike certain other people, he used his brain to try and solve the situation," Kakashi explains, not without taking a jab at the rest of my team. Thumbs up for that. Unfortunately, instead of mulling over the core intention of this explanation, these three dunderheads decide to stare daggers at me. I'm at no fault here. How about you guys try to learn from your own mistakes instead of trying to find fault in me and my actions? I guess it's the same no matter which world you're in: People make mistakes and blame others for them. Lovely.

Meanwhile, Kakashi decided to disappear and leave us to ourselves with three bentos for lunch. Well, time to dig in! I take a bite out of the grilled salmon and, holy Toledo, this shit tastes amazing! Did he make those himself? If so, I'm so gonna marry him! A man who's sexy, deadly, and can cook? Sign me up, baby!

Then Naruto's stomach grumbles, like, really fucking loud, interrupting my wonderful meal.

"I'm fine with not eating any lunch! No biggie, hehe!" Naruto exclaims awkwardly, but his stomach is having none of it, amping up the volume and growling like a mad dog. Oh c'mon! I look down at my food. I really, really, really want to pretend as if nothing happened, but then I would seem like an a-hole. But I really like the food. But I don't wanna be a dick. But the food? But being nice isn't that bad either? Dagnabbit! Fine! Getting extra points for being a nice person wins...

"Here." I hold some of the rice in front of the blonde's mouth, startling the other two. You obnoxious brat better be grateful that I'm willing to sacrifice my meal!

"Shizuya! Sensei ordered us not to feed him!" Sakura chides me. Do I look like I give a rat's ass? Besides, I've already passed the test so I'm not risking anything anyway.

"First of all, Kakashi-sensei is not here, and second of all, he needs it more than I do since I've had breakfast before coming here. Besides, you guys are gonna need him at full power if you want to pass the next test," I explain.

"Tsk." Sasuke clicks his tongue and grabs a piece of fried shrimp, holding it close to Naruto's mouth. "He has a point. Eat, Usuratonkatchi." And with a sigh, Sakura also joins and offers her food to Naruto, who, with tears in his eyes, proceeds to thank us.

"YOU!" Out of nowhere, Kakashi appears right in front of us, his lone eye sharp with fury. "How dare you go against the rules?! You better be prepared for the consequences! Do you have any last words?!" Ah, that low growl again. He sounds so sexy when angry. Hold up! There's a right time and place for everything! Bad thoughts!

"We are a team, so we need all of us to be at our best otherwise we won't be able to complete the objective," Sasuke explains. Parroting my words from earlier - can't you come up with anything on your own?

"Sasuke is right! We are a team! We are one, so...!" Sakura adds. Doesn't sound forced at all, nope. Totally ain't the same thing, either.

"Eh? You are one, huh?" Kakashi mumbles as he stalks over menacingly. Imma die... The temptation... The torture... So bitter-sweet...

He stares at the four of us and then gives us a genuine one-eyed smile. "You pass!"

"What?" Naruto and Sakura ask confused. Are you guys both dumb AND deaf now? Sheesh, I wonder how our future missions will go at this rate. They don't happen to have life insurance here, do they? Just asking for a friend.

"You passed," Kakashi repeats. "You guys are the first. All those who came before you were nothing but dunces that meekly listened to my every word. But as a ninja you have to see through deception, look underneath the underneath... However, you must remember one important thing: In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum!"

"He... He's kinda cool." Naruto mumbles while tearing up. Unfortunately, I have to agree with you here. He's plain awesome!

"Alright, you have all passed! From now on the five of us shall be known as Team 7! Missions start tomorrow, so rest well. Until then!" And with that Kakashi was gone with the wind only leaving behind a pile of leaves.

I also decide not to stay for any longer than necessary, so I give the others a nod and proceed to run home. For the first time in a long while, I feel anticipation for what's to come.