Eventually, well  past the three hour mark, Kakashi showed up. The silver-headed jonin  wasn't all that surprised when he didn't see anyone. He was about to go  check the village, when his four students leapt down from a tree.

"Yo, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto greeted, both of his hands behind his head.

"I told you guys he'd be late by at least three hours." Hitoshi smiled, nudging Sasuke with his shoulder.

Sasuke turned his head away from the ginger. "Hn."

Sakura laughed sheepishly. "I guess you were right." She admitted to Hitoshi.

"Are you four ready for  your test?" Kakashi inquired, ready to get it over with. There wasn't any way the four of them were going to pass.

"A test?! What test, dattebayo?!" Naruto shouted.

"You didn't mention anything about a test!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Hn." uttered the Uchiha.

"Geez, what a drag."  Hitoshi sighed, putting his hands into his pockets and shifting around lazily. "So, what is this 'test' about, Kaka-sensei?"

Kakashi went on to explain the bell test, and if you need an explanation go back to the last chapter.  The four teammates listened disinterestedly through the entire explanation, and Kakashi couldn't help but notice. "You do realize that if you fail, you'll be sent back to the Academy, correct?" The jonin inquired, and the four nodded.

"But we aren't going to fail," Naruto told him, "so there isn't any need to worry."

Kakashi held up the three bells. "Only three of you are going to pass." He reminded.

"Are we going to start yet?" Sakura asked, and Kakashi sighed.

"Yes. Three, two, one, begin." The jonin counted. Once he said 'begin', all four of his  students puffed into smoke. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. 'Shadow Clones? An odd thing to set up with, especially if they had no prior knowledge of the test...'

The jonin was pulled out of his thoughts as a heavy mist started to creep out from the tree line, quickly covering the entirety of the training area. Kakashi was planning on just staying in the  same spot and waiting for his genin to attack him, but the jonin heard some ominous clunking in the fog and decided it might be a bad idea.

::

Gai's Team was planning on using a different training ground than normal to practice with, so  Gai had picked out Ground Three. Unfortunately, when they got there, it seemed to be preoccupied. A heavy fog had encapsulated the training area, ringing the forest surrounding perfectly.

"What the hell are these things?!" A very frantic Kakashi shouted out through the mist. The members of the team was confused, until a loud, piercing, high-pitched screech echoed through the forest. The  three males of the team shuddered and started to back away from the training ground.

Ten Ten looked between her teammates and sensei in confusion. "Are... you three okay?" She  questioned, making them shake their heads. Another screech echoed out of the mist, and a loud clanking of metal was heard.

"N-no... never again..."  Lee trembled as he sank into the fetal position. Neji was having a hard time standing as well, his knees trembling in terror, and Gae's eyes were clouded with fear.

Ten Ten was aghast, horrified by her teammates reactions. Gai and Lee she could understand, as they were a bit overdramatic at times, but Neji?! "Is Kakashi-san going to be okay?!" She inquired nervously, and the three shook their heads.

"It will haunt him for years."  Neji insisted. Ten Ten was about to question what they were talking  about, when an orange pirate fox that was walking on two legs strolled out of the mist. Both Lee and Gai flinched, and Neji's instincts kicked in. The Hyuga kicked the fox into nonexistence, before realizing what was going on. Neji dropped to his hands and knees horrified, silently praying that what he did wouldn't attract more of them.

"You guys are scaring me! What was that  thing?!" Ten Ten shouted in fright, glancing frantically between her three teammates. A loud splatter was heard from within the mist, and Kakashi started swearing like a sailor.

"Foxy." Lee uttered quietly, like it was a cursed name. A crackle of thunder could be heard, most likely from a jutsu Kakashi used.

Team Gai flinched as they heard more clanking footsteps approaching the edge of the mist. A giant brown bear that was walking on two legs carried its golden-eyed master out of the mist. Hitoshi looked down at the four of them, before smiling. "I thought I heard you guys." The ginger's golden eyes flashing in amusement, as the Freddy clone carrying him poofed into mist.

"Hitoshi-san." Ten Ten greeted stiffly, as the three males shivered uncontrollably. "Why are my teammates scared of this mist and those weird animal machines?"

Hitoshi grinned innocently. "No reason."

"Lies." Lee spat, still curled into a ball.

Hitoshi laughed a bit. "Relax you guys. We're just trying to take the bells away from  Kaka-sensei. They aren't going to hurt you. Besides, like with your  training, they're just clones."

The three let out relieved sighs. Ten Ten was still confused, but decided to let it go. A blonde haired boy peeked his head out of the mist.

"C'mon Hitoshi! We still have to scare the shit outta- oh." Naruto noticed that the ginger was having a conversation. "Uh, sorry, I didn't-"

"No, it's fine Naruto. I'll be right there." Hitoshi smiled, and Naruto nodded, retreating into the mist. Hitoshi turned back to the four. "Well, duty calls." The ginger laughed, winking at them. "See ya later!" He called, before launching into the mist.

Team Gai stared into the fog for a few more seconds, before deciding to just do a mission instead.

::

Kakashi was actually considering it. He was actually considering using the Sharingan. He couldn't see in the mist, he kept getting splattered with paint, glitter, glue, and miscellaneous objects, he had fallen in several holes, and he had no clue where those fucking animatronics were coming from! As another dirty yellow chicken person clawed her way out of the mist, Kakashi shook his head. 'Fuck it.'

The silver-headed jonin lifted his headband and used his Sharingan to glance around the mist. It didn't help much, but Kakashi could now see a few feet in front of him. He also noticed that he was about to walk into a hole, and decided to go around it.

Hitoshi almost laughed. He had to cover his mouth with his hands so that the joy-inflicted sound wouldn't carry through the forest. Sakura glanced up at him. "Are you okay?" She whispered, noticing the ginger's heaving shoulders.

"Kaka-sensei used his Sharingan." Hitoshi managed to choke out. "On a bunch of genin-" He had to cover his mouth again before his laughter gave away their location.

Sakura snorted, before shaking her head. "Focus." She insisted. "If he's using the Sharingan, then we need to move to Plan B."

Hitoshi nodded, finally choking back his laughter. "I'll set off the signal." The ginger informed, before lighting a firework. It flew up and exploded, alerting the other two members of their situation. A few moments later, Naruto and Sasuke landed next to the ginger.

"Alright you three." Sakura smiled. "We all know our jobs, so let's get those damn bells!" The three boys nodded in confirmation, and Hitoshi tossed the lighter down to Sakura. She was holding a few bundles of fireworks, and was taking careful aim at their sensei. "And... go!"

Naruto launched towards their sensei first, just as Sakura released a firework. Kakashi dodged the incendiary rocket, only to run straight into Naruto's fist. The jonin was knocked back quite a bit, and another rocket was launched towards him. Miraculously, Kakashi managed to dodge it, but Sasuke swept his legs out from underneath him.

Kakashi used the Kawarimi to substitute himself for one of the cloned monsters nearby. Then, the jonin made about fifty clones of himself so that the young genin couldn't locate him. Kakashi ran off, while his clones were attacked by the animatronics and his students.

'This has been quite an... interesting experience. To say the least.' Kakashi admitted, perching in a tree. 'I didn't expect anything like this.'

Hitoshi was frustrated. Kakashi had made clones, and they were all fake. The real Kakashi was nowhere to be found. "Hitoshi." Sasuke called out to him. "Go check the forest."

Hitoshi nodded. "Will do." The ginger sped off into the forest, attempting to sense where his sensei was. The mist was working against them at this point, but Hitoshi didn't think to take it down. It'd make it too easy for the jonin to see them coming. Hitoshi stalked through the forest, attempting the sense his sensei's chakra. Eventually, a small pinprick caught Hitoshi's attention and the ginger raced over to it.

Luckily, it was Kakashi. Hitoshi kicked him out of the branches and the two fell to the ground.

"Shit." Kakashi cursed, as he saw who had found him. It was the leader of the demons and controller of this hell the world had turned into. "Hitoshi."

"Hi, Kaka-sensei." The ginger greeted cheerfully, and Kakashi shivered at the malice-filled undertone. Loud clanking started to echo through the trees, all of the footsteps headed towards the pair. But suddenly they stopped, and the entire forest grew silent.

Hitoshi gave a sinister grin, before rushing at his teacher. The jonin had to evade and block the ginger's attacks, and he sensed the rest of Team Seven getting closer. Hitoshi pulled Kakashi's hitai-ate down, startling the jonin and temporarily blinding him. Sasuke and Naruto rushed in, delivering a devastating uppercut to the man, and Sakura fired another rocket at Kakashi. The silver-haired man couldn't dodge it, and was sent flying into a tree. Hitoshi quickly grabbed the three bells off of his belt, and gave one to Sasuke and one to Naruto.

The group had previously decided that the three boys would get the bells, because Sakura said that she only became a kunoichi to get closer to Sasuke. She admitted that she never really wanted to be a shinobi, but as Hitoshi looked over his pink-haired teammate and saw the sadness in her eyes, he knew she had lied. So, Hitoshi decided to be an idiot.

Just as the timer went off, Hitoshi handed his bell to Sakura. The pinkette was stunned, and Hitoshi allowed the mist to drop away. Kakashi screamed in terror as they saw that they had been surrounded by the hellish animatronics, and Hitoshi laughed. The ginger dispelled his clones, and the man breathed safely again.

Sakura kept glancing between the bell and her ginger teammate, and eventually Naruto and Sasuke noticed what had happened too. "...Why?" Sakura asked, and the ginger smiled sheepishly.

"You looked so sad." He admitted. "After everything that happened, you seemed really sad to have to go back to the Academy and leave our team. I couldn't help it." Sakura was stunned, but gave the ginger a hug in thanks. Hitoshi hugged her back, before releasing the pinkette and turning towards their sensei. "So, what's this I heard about me being tied to a stump?"

The three genin laughed sadly, and Kakashi shook himself out of his stupor. "Right this way, Lord of the Demons." That caused everyone to laugh, as they walked back to the KIA memorial and the three stumps. As promised, Hitoshi was tied to a stump.

"You three eat up, I'm going to go finalize some things." Kakashi told them. "And whatever you do, don't feed Hitoshi."

The three free genin glanced between each other as Kakashi leaped away, before glancing back at Hitoshi. "What? You heard him. I'm not even really that hungry-" The ginger got cut off by his stomach growling. Hitoshi blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh really, chibi?" Sasuke teased, and Hitoshi glanced away.

"I'm not short." The ginger protested quietly.

"Mhm." Naruto grinned, taking a bite of his food.

"Oh, you're siding with him now?!" Hitoshi shouted, and Naruto nodded. Hitoshi hung his head sadly.

Sakura laughed. "I'm sorry to say, but you are the shortest out of all of us." She added, making Hitoshi sigh.

"You three-" He was cut off by his stomach growling again.

"You can't sound threatening with your stomach growling like that." Naruto snickered. "Here." He offered, holding a piece of meat to Hitoshi's lips. "Eat it." The blonde insisted, when Hitoshi hesitated. Eventually, the ginger took the piece of meat from the chopsticks.

"Thanks." Hitoshi said quietly after he swallowed.

"YOU FOUR ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!" Kakashi shouted, leaping out of the trees. Hitoshi almost laughed at the way the simple moment had turned into the climax of a four-act soap opera. The sky grew dark as Kakashi started to perform a lightning jutsu. "DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY?!"

Sasuke moved in front of Hitoshi. "Hitoshi told us that this exercise was meant to demonstrate teamwork, and how well our team dynamics worked. Well, even if he does fail this, it doesn't make us any less of a team!" The Uchiha shouted.

Naruto moved to stand next to Sasuke. "Sasuke's right! You put us together for a reason, and I'd say it worked out! We all worked together to scare the shit outta ya, and succeeded!"

Sakura stood in front of both of the boys, the bells Hitoshi gave her still in her hand. "So do your worst!" She shouted.

Hitoshi was staring at the backs of his teammates heads in awe. 'Are they crazy?' He questioned mentally. 'At this rate, we'll all be sent back to the Academy. They're wasting their time and efforts. I mean, if it was one of them that was tied up, I'd understand. But... why me?'

Kakashi stopped performing the jutsu. He saw the determination in the three's eyes, and the extremely lost and confused expression on Hitoshi's face. The jonin felt a little guilty, as he could see the vague uncertainty in Hitoshi's eyes, a look he had seen on Obito and Naruto whenever people were kind to them. Like they were confused as to why someone was being nice.

"I lied." Kakashi revealed. "You four pass."

"WHAT!" All four of them yelled.

"Yeah..." Kakashi chuckled guiltily. "If you three hadn't disobeyed me to feed Hitoshi, and then stood up for him I would have failed you three."

The trio took in his words for a moment before realizing. "You weren't going to fail Hitoshi!" Sakura yelled.

"Of course not. He cared for his teammates, and made sure that the three of you got bells, even at the expense of himself." Kakashi explained, and the four felt stupid for not realizing.

"If you were going to pass him, then why'd you tie him to the stump?" Naruto asked.

"To see if the three of you would help him." Kakashi shrugged.

Hitoshi was a special kind of annoyed with the jonin at the moment, so he created a shadow clone of Chica and had it screech into Kakashi's ear. The jonin whipped around and screamed, punching the clone into non-existence. When he turned back around he saw that Sasuke had released Hitoshi from his bindings. The ginger's eyes flashed maliciously and Kakashi began to back away from him slowly.

Hitoshi smiled, and rushed towards Kakashi. The jonin turned to run, fearing the worst, when he noticed that the ginger had simply grabbed a bento off the KIA monument and was sitting down to eat.

Kakashi sighed in relief.