The hardest part when preparing yourself in the early murky morning was the hygiene. Sakura had taken one whiff at herself and gagged, Though the poor unclean girl couldn't afford to be picky as she set down her breakfast which had been meat from the mother rabbit she had killed and skinned. 

The four little ones were still alive, surprisingly. Sakura had run multiple tests on the critters, tearing a small wound into their flesh before quickly trying her jutsu and repairing it. A few times she had only made it worse, bringing the rabbit close to the eyesight of death but luckily the pinkette pulled her head in and concentrated, thinking about the situation as a situation in the time of war. If Sasuke or Naruto had been hurt she'd try anything to help them recover which is how she came by her motivation and courage in healing the rabbit before it succumbed to a deep sleep. 

Sakura practiced hard throughout the day with minimal food, she'd have to go hunting soon again, something the girl did not look forward to one bit. 

Naruto hadn't received much rest the night before as he decided he was strong enough to train throughout the night, a substantial mistake on his part as he was extremely worn out by the morning. fortunately, a few hours of rest helped the boy replenish his unending chakra system as the Kyuubi helped a significant amount. 

Although the boy had the roughest start of the trio, Sasuke was in the clear for the moment as he licked his fingers clean of the bear he had skinned and cut. Surprisingly amazing taste. 

The Uchiha was fully replenished and fed, the meat granting him a few juices as well, acting as water for now.

The raven-haired genin stood from his campfire and walked over to a clear area, going over the hand signs he needed to perform Magen: Kizu (Demonic illusion: Wounds). He spotted a small snake slithering along a sturdy branch and accepted his target. 

Sasuke focused his chakra and zeroed in on the snake who had noticed the boy coming closer to catch its attention. It hissed at him as Sasuke performed the hand signs and whispered Magen: Kizu to add to his concentration. There really was no need to say the jutsu aloud but it helped the user focus more. 

The snake ridged in response to the jutsu, seemingly in pain. Sasuke smirked as he made the illusion of a kunai cutting off its tail. The snake unexpectedly recovered swiftly and dashed after the boy. Sasuke jumped back away from the enraged serpent. 

"Hn. Forgot snakes can't feel pain" He muttered to himself, cursing himself for being such an idiot, the boy was just relieved his teammates weren't here to see his act of stupidity. 

He promptly executed the vermin and set out to find a warm-blooded creature, preferably something small.

Over the next week, the genin had near perfected their jutsu's and had too many near-death experiences to count for someone so young.

Kakashi had closely watched their progress, having had to restrain himself numerous times as one of his genin came too close to death. 

He examined their skills throughout the week, witnessing their fast progress and decided he'd give them another. This jutsu was going to wait until after the month had ended so they could learn it together and give each other a few pointers, building their teamwork but they seemed to have easily passed their own level and kept climbing, eager for more so he'd go fish and hopefully they'd bite. 

Kakashi glanced down at the three pieces of paper he had tied to three shurikens and created two clones, passing them each one note-tied-shuriken and sending them off to Sakura and Sasuke, meanwhile he'd give one to Naruto. 

The trio was training hard out on their Jutsu's still, all they could do in the forest was survive and train even if they had it down to perfection, there was always room for improvement, their Sensei had always told them.

Suddenly the three had to dodge for their lives as a lethal blow came at them out of nowhere. they all searched for the attackers, finding no one but keeping their guards up and staring down at the odd out of place shuriken, a note attached to it. 

The kids had picked up the note 'Ki Nobori no Shugyo (Tree climbing Jutsu)' was scribbled in cursive handwriting with minimal to no instructions underneath the title. The note taught to focus chakra at the bottom of their feet and mark how far they reached as they ran up a tree.

The task seemed simple enough, the genin had thought, clearly underestimating the assignment.

Sakura had immediately tried the jutsu and succeeded first try, running up to a large branch, high above the ground. She smirked in victory and climbed down using the jutsu before continuing her hunt for dinner. She'd train more after dinner as she hadn't eaten that day yet.

Sasuke had shot forward toward a large intimidating timber and ran up the bulky barks, squaring up to a side branch but unfortunately, too much of the boy's chakra seeped through his feet, into the bark and crushing it before he lost his form and jumped down branch to branch, roughly landing on the ground. The Uchiha stared up at the laughing tree and grunted, narrowing his eyes at the monstrous form and pushed on again. 

Naruto was having next to no luck climbing his average sized tree. The blonde had run up and applied the chakra but he had either pushed too much through his feet or not enough, thus measuring up the boy's chakra control to near none as he kept falling on his behind, ungracefully.

The genin were determined to master their tree walking jutsu as the next two weeks drew to a close, their month surviving the forest in complete reticence had been a life-changing experience, the trio would never forget. 

Kakashi had set the date to fetch his genin and prepared a towering feast for the kids when they re-entered their clan home. 

On his way to pick up the trio, Asuma and his team decided to join the ex-Anbu, eager to see his method of training the genin compared to the Hokage's son's training.

Asuma Sarutobi's team consisted of Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. The second generation of Ino-Shika-Cho, if they perfected their teamwork that is. 

"Mah - Kakashi, you still haven't told me what kind of training they're undergoing?" Asuma expressed, a cigarette in his bearded mouth.  

"Hmm? haven't I?" The man in question responded vaguely, raising his chin to stare at the sky. 

Asuma inwardly groaned at the mysterious shinobi. 

"Hai, you haven't" He hinted on again.

Kakashi simply ignored the ex-guardian and continued to lead team 10 to his team 7.

Asuma glowered but swiftly turned and beamed at his own team, who had been suspicious to where their old academy friends were as they hadn't seen or heard from them in over a month.

Shikamaru breathed out "What a drag" he muttered, lifting his arms behind his head and staring up at the sky as his childhood friend, Choji munched away on BBQ flavored chips. Ino acted uninterested toward the whole situation, the only reason she was coming along was because of Sasuke. Even if she was still slightly ticked about his neglect toward her, Ino couldn't and wouldn't lose to Sakura who had been with Sasuke this whole month.

"Here we are" Kakashi announced cheerfully, breaking the thoughts of team 10 as they focused in on their surroundings. 

The group gasped in shock at the sight before them. Dark misty trees covered the area, a fence reaching high, way above themselves surrounded the murky woodland. 

Asuma scowled deathly at Kakashi, who was quietly reviewing his genin as their skin shaded to a pale color, their bodies shivering in fear as they caught sight of the sign, Titling the forest's name. 'Forest of Death'. 

Ino quickly recovered from her shock and turned her fear and anger toward the man who had sent her beloved in there. 

She was quick to throw a punch to Kakashi's abdomen with all her might. The silver-haired man raised an eyebrow at the youngling, easily catching her fist and throwing it back. He watched with amusement as she flew back to her teammates who had luckily caught her. Asuma glared at his 'friend' who had nearly hurt his student. 

"What do you think you're doing? You can't just attack my students!" He bellowed, the cigarette forgotten and burned to ashes on the ground. 

  "Calm yourself. She attacked me and I was merely defending myself." Kakashi gracefully smiled as he waved his hands in a sign of surrender. 

Asuma calmed down slightly before moving to make sure Ino was alright. Kakashi sighed at the lack of discipline and the abundance use of babying Asuma was displaying. 

"Anyway, just wait here while I go find them" He said, leaving no room for argument.

He sped off, leaving team 10 behind and focused in on his charges' locations. 

Sakura was the closest so he'd set off to fetch her first.

Said girl, had been training past exhaustion and had finally given herself a break by bathing in a nearby river she had found only days ago. 

She took the chance to gulp down as much water as possible, still in a survival mindset, the pink haired girl thought she may never have this chance again. 

Kakashi had just jumped down from a high tree as Sakura strapped on her last piece of clothing, just missing the window of inappropriateness, luckily. 

"Sakura, been well?" Kakashi casually asked. 

The kunoichi glared at her sensei and swiftly threw a kunai at his head to which he graciously dodged. 

"No, then?" He guessed. 

Naruto was in a state of wheezing out his lungs and collapsing into nothingness as he just finished a session of his own hardcore training, though the hawk didn't help. The animal kept pestering him and biting him any chance it got, then again Naruto realized he had been bashing into a tree with the bird's eggs nestled inside. 

Naruto cursed his stupidity and the bird as he crawled to a stand, only his sensei blocked his eyesight from the trees.

"Well done, Naruto. You've progressed exceptionally" He stated, throwing a smile for the kid.

The blonde seemed to recover from anything he was doing and neatly launched himself at the silver-haired man. Kakashi, again, dodged and swiped the kid's feet from under him. Naruto caught himself but kept to himself as he chose to glare at the man instead.

"Naruto?" a voice called from behind Kakashi. Naruto shifted to look at the man and saw his much-missed teammate "Sakura!" He yelled and ran to hug her. She embraced the boy before receiving a whiff of his clothes and hair. "Bah! Baka! you've been by a lake this whole time and didn't think to wash up once?" She shouted, shoving the boy off and waving her hand in the hair, trying to rid her nose of the smell. 

"Huh? I have been taking baths, Sakura, honest!" He defended.

"I meant your clothes!" She screeched, causing the boy to sheepishly smile at her.

Kakashi breathed out and hung his head before leaping off to find Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura behind him.

The Uchiha had certainly lived up to his clan name. He had progressed far beyond what he thought possible in a month. The boy currently stared up at the sky, deep in thought when his sensei dropped down next to him, his teammates behind. 

"Sasuke, ready to go home?" Kakashi asked. hoping to receive at least one good answer from his team. 

Sasuke stared at the man and his teammates, feelings he had forgotten over the month rushing back through his veins. The boy had learned what solitude was from a young age when his clan was massacred and in this forest. He had thought himself go mad multiple times as he had hallucinations of his team, talking to him. Now that they were really here, he questioned himself. Were they really here?

The boy had always tried fighting his emotions against his team, refusing to form bonds yet it happened, no matter what he did, they kept coming back and helping him through whatever trouble he had. Perhaps, his teammates could help him avenge his clan... He would be the one to kill Itachi but to defeat the older Uchiha would be another task on its own. 

"Hai. Let's go home" The raven-haired boy finally said, his teammates smiled at him as he gave a small one in return. 

Team 7 had been reunited and could finally settle into their clan home and continue their training together. 

Content happiness coursed throughout the team as they walked out the forest together.

"Oh, by the way. Team 10 is waiting for you when you come out of the forest" Kakashi announced casually, keeping his pace as his students fell back slightly. 

One thought crossed their minds as they thought about what would be waiting for them once they immerged from the treeline. 

'I'd rather stay in the forest'