The next morning, Sasuke awoke to a strange sensation. Warmth.

Sasuke really enjoyed it. Normally, he woke up to a cold, empty shell of the once-lively compound. The Uchiha snuggled closer to the source of the warmth, and realized that he was sleeping next to a person. He almost screamed his head off, especially when he realized it was Hitoshi. Sasuke sat up, attempting to not wake the ginger in doing so.

'What the hell-!'

Then the nightmare of the night before came flooding back into his head. His usual nightmare, but it kept repeating. He did notice that Hitoshi appeared at one point, standing silently in the corner of his vision as the ginger observed the entire memory. And Sasuke remembered the other memory that had been revealed to him last night.

Sasuke studied Hitoshi once more, taking in how peaceful the ginger looked in his sleep. No pain or sadness etched onto his face. 'Did... Hitoshi do something?' The Uchiha questioned, as he noticed that the ginger's eyelids were fluttering. For a second, as Hitoshi opened his eyes, Sasuke could have sworn they were a different color. But when they fully opened, they were the warm honey-gold that Sasuke had gotten used to.

Hitoshi fully remembered the events of the night before, he just didn't remember going to sleep. And having no nightmares at that. The ginger noticed Sasuke gazing at him, and couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't stare at me like that." Hitoshi murmured sleepily, shifting onto his side more. "It's creepy."

Sasuke flushed and looked away. "S-Sorry." The Uchiha apologized.

A moment of awkward silence passed, before Sasuke had to ask. "Why are you in my bed?" The ravenette inquired, and Hitoshi sat up slowly. The sleepy look in Hitoshi's eyes faded somewhat as he glanced at Sasuke.

"...Do you remember what happened last night?" Hitoshi inquired, yawning. "With your nightmare?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. You fixed my memory, I think."

Hitoshi confirmed this with a sleepy nod. "After all of that looping, I knew where your house was. I took you back to your room so you could sleep, but," the ginger chuckled sheepishly, sleepily scratching the back of his fluffy bed-head, "you wouldn't let go of me."

Sasuke blushed. "I-I'm sorry." The Uchiha apologized, glancing away in embarrassment.

Hitoshi shrugged. "It's fine. That was probably the best night of sleep I've gotten in my entire life."

Sasuke turned even more red with the compliment. "...Thank you?"

Hitoshi laughed, and swung his legs out of the bed. He slowly got up, and Sasuke suddenly realized how thin his teammate actually was. Hitoshi's shirt, which would've been a little baggy on Sasuke, seemed to be way to big for the orange-haired teen. And yet, despite his thin stature, he was extremely muscular. If someone told Sasuke that Hitoshi could lift him with one arm, Sasuke would have no problem believing them.

Sasuke also had no trouble noticing the numerous scars that were on Hitoshi's arms, and the Uchiha could also see the tips of jagged scars peeking out from underneath the neckline of his shirt. The ginger stretched and yawned sleepily, before glancing back at Sasuke. "Wanna get breakfast?" Hitoshi asked, and Sasuke considered it. "You'll probably influence me not to get sweets and only sweets this time around." The ginger admitted.

Sasuke gave a small smile. "Well how could I say no?" The Uchiha got out of bed too. "Should we get some for Sakura and Naruto as well?"

Hitoshi nodded. "They might turn on us if we don't." Sasuke laughed at the ginger's statement. Sasuke grabbed his new clothes and dashed to the bathroom, allowing Hitoshi to change in his room. The ginger smiled, and choosing a navy blue kimono out of one of his storage scrolls, along with an almond croissant. Both boys quickly changed, and ran in to Konoha.

"What do you suggest we get for breakfast?" Hitoshi inquired, as the pair walked through Konoha. Hitoshi was munching on his croissant, while Sasuke thought.

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know what other people would like."

Hitoshi laughed. "We all liked that tomato onigiri." The ginger pointed out. "Have any other suggestions?"

Sasuke shrugged. "That's really all I eat." The Uchiha admitted, and Hitoshi laughed loudly.

"And you're getting on my case for only eating sweets." Hitoshi snickered.

Sasuke blushed. "Well onigiri is healthier than sweets!"

"Maybe by a bit, but they're really just carbs." Hitoshi admitted. "We should get something that's actually healthy."

The two shared a side glance before bursting out with laughter. "That's good one." Sasuke snickered.

"I know." Hitoshi wheezed. "I almost laughed just thinking of it."

"So, what should we get?" Sasuke asked, glancing around at the different stalls and shops for inspiration. They were silent for a moment, before Hitoshi grinned widely.

"Look! Sasuke!" He grabbed the Uchiha by his shoulder and dragged him to a stall. It was an open air stall, and the chef was making what appeared to be grilled sandwiches. It had a heavenly aroma, and Sasuke knew that Hitoshi wasn't going to leave without getting a few. "We should get these! Look at all the different types!" The ginger pointed to the menu, and Sasuke was surprised to see such a variety.

When they reached the front of the line, the pair had already discussed what they were going to get. "We'd like four bacon, egg, and cheese, four BLTs, and eight hashbrowns." Sasuke ordered, and the man smiled.

"Coming right up." The chef grinned, and Hitoshi paid him.

Both of the boys were happy with their choices. "Alright, one of each kind of sandwich and two hasbrowns each."

"Yep."

::

"Sakura! Naruto! Ohayo!" Hitoshi called out to them, and the two perked up.

"You're late!" They shouted at the pair, and Hitoshi laughed it off.

"Don't blame Sasuke, I got us sidetracked." Hitoshi explained. "Anyways, we brought breakfast!" The two highlighter-haired teammates forgave them immediately, and accepted the absolutely delicious food from them.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Naruto said through his mouthful of food, "but I think this is better than ramen." Everyone nodded in agreement, their mouths too full of the divine food to actually answer. Despite eating so quickly, they actually took thirty minutes to finish their food. The sandwiches and hashbrowns were huge, and definitely filled the group up.

After they finished, the group laid down on the grass in a contented silence, simply admiring the beauty of the nature around them. This is how it was for a good fifteen minutes, before Hitoshi sighed. "How long do you think he's going to be this time?"

Naruto snorted. "At least another hour."

Sakura sat up and turned around to face the blonde. "No way." She insisted. "Two."

Sasuke also sat up. "I agree with Sakura."

Hitoshi smirked. "I'm betting at least three, if not four."

The other three blanched at the thought. "Should we go look for him?" Sakura asked, not wanting to wait for three hours.

Everyone considered it. "Nah." They all simultaneously agreed.

"So, then what should we do?" Naruto questioned.

Hitoshi grinned mischievously. "I... may or may not have looked at Iruka-sensei's notes before."

The three gasped and turned to face him. "Really?!" Sakura asked.

Hitoshi sat up and nodded. "Apparently, all genin teams have to go through a second test. It's called the bell test."

"The bell test?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah." Hitoshi confirmed. "It's a teamwork test designed to see if the team will work well together. With a standard team, there are two bells and three students. That already causes some issues with the team's balance of power. Then, the sensei says that whoever fails to get a bell will go back to the Academy."

"What?!" They all shouted in disbelief.

"Let me finish." Hitoshi scolded. "The real test is to see if the team will work together to get the bells despite that. And if the team works well together, then they pass."

Hitoshi's teammates mulled over what he had said for a second, before Naruto spoke up. "I see where you're going with this, Hitoshi."

Hitoshi smirked. "I was hoping you would."

Sakura looked between the two worriedly. "What are you two planning?" She questioned.

Hitoshi leaned back nonchalantly, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Well... If he's going to be three hours..."

"...Then we should set up a bunch of traps!" Naruto finished, smirking slyly. "We'll be working together, and we'll get the bells."

Sakura looked between the two like they were crazy, but Sasuke was already infected. A grin of his own slid across his face. "Well... It's not like he doesn't deserve it." The ravenette reasoned, making Sakura whirl to face him.

"You're right!" Sakura decided energetically, grinning widely. "Let's do it."

Naruto and Hitoshi sweatdropped. 'So... she's only going to agree with Sasuke?' Hitoshi noted. 'That's a bit of an issue... but I guess we can work around it.'

"Okay!" Hitoshi clapped his hands, and handed Naruto 2,000 ryo in cash. "Use this to get anything you think we even remotely need." The ginger turned to Sakura. "Help him out, get some shinobi trap supplies and random prank supplies too."

Naruto took the money reverently, and Sakura nodded. "On it, Hitoshi!" The two chorused.

Hitoshi turned to Sasuke, as Naruto and Sakura leapt away. "Now, let's plan out where these traps are going to be." Hitoshi started to walk around, pulling out kunai. He handed a few to Sasuke. "These are paintballs henged into kunai. Just throw them where you want to mark."

Sasuke nodded, going around the clearing with Hitoshi and marking different places for traps. When the shopping pair had returned, the planning duo showed them all the ideas and places. It took the four of them about two hours to set everything up, and Kakashi had still not come to train them, so the four quickly grabbed more sandwiches and hunkered down in a tree to eat.