'I really, really don't wanna do this anymore.'

Naruto was clutching onto the branch of a tree he was sitting on, all while staring up at the leaves that shaded him from the sun. he couldn't see anything but the shadows and light rays that peered at him through the little holes there are. As the saying goes, if you can't see them, they can't see you. Frankly, there were so many things wrong about this so called saying, but Naruto couldn't care less. He completely agreed that not looking your 'enemy' in the eyes made everything so much better.

'But I really, really don't wanna disappoint Iruka sensei,' Naruto thought to himself, continuing to grab onto the tree branch below him nervously. 'Being a shinobi is so hard. It's probably the only job I'd ever be able to get, though. I don't have a place to complain, but still...'

Unbeknown to him, an hour had already passed since he sat up in that tree in hiding. It's kind of surprising how fast time passes when you're avoiding all your problems in life, no? But all the fun lasts until the problem comes back at you, and it wasn't any more different for Naruto.

'Maybe I should try to go fight him. But that'll need some planning too, and I need lots of time to do planning. It'll take at least 1 hour to make a plan to defeat a jonin, no, maybe two hours. And by the time I try to execute it, the time would've already been over and I'll get sent back to the academy. Then I wouldn't have to become a shinobi...' Naruto's train of thoughts continued longer and longer, towards a direction he shouldn't be thinking about.

"Naruto!!"

That was until a yell startled him out of his thoughts, making him nearly fall off the tree branch in shock. Thankfully for him, his hand had grabbed hold onto the tree branch on instinct right before he may possibly fall to his death. As his hand clutched onto the thick branches of the tree, he pictured a scenario of his funeral in his mind. Naruto Uzumaki, died from a 2 meter fall off a tree. Absolutely pathetic.

But then again, no one would even bother to attend his funeral, let alone organise one for him. After all, he had no family. These things were supposed to be celebrated by families, no? Perhaps 'celebrate' wasn't the best word in his vocabulary that he could've used, but who was he to care?

Ahem. Back to reality.

Under tree stood none other than Sakura Haruno the brave and the great- at least that's how Naruto pictured her in his mind after the girl's introduction for yesterday. She had offered to let him read her book borrowed from the library too, she was practically the beaming star, the one and only sun in his lonely solar system, the apple of his eye- She acted as a role model and a ray of hope for Naruto. In this past hour of sitting in a tree, he had considered changing his mindset as well. Since he's so incredibly stupid both academically, physically and emotionally, he figured he'd go 'Oh, this is what Sakura would've done-'

"Come down here! Or are you going to keep staring at me while holding onto that branch for dear life?" Sakura whisper yelled with an amused smile on her face. Gosh, he's so clumsy and out of it for most of the time. At least, for the duration that Sakura had gotten to know him, which is today and yesterday. That was it, but Sakura was pretty sure she'd already gotten a grasp on what kind of person Naruto was and what kind of personality he had.

On the surface, it'd seem as if he had a tofu to function as a brain. He was easily startled too, from the way he jumped just from someone whisper-yelling his name a few seconds ago. But Sakura, soon to be genin, was confident in her observation skills. She knew the speed Naruto used when he grabbed onto the tree branch was pretty damn fast for a fresh academy graduate like them. Heck, he might even be faster than Sakura herself. His instincts and reaction speed was possibly top tier among their class with the exception of Sasuke. He could be a shinobi that specializes in taijutsu.

She mentally noted that down as Naruto landed horribly after letting go of the tree branch he was holding onto, resulting in a few small scratches on his hand that were too small to even bother with. Sakura knew clearly what her own level was, and she had somewhat of a picture what the extent of Sasuke's skills were. She wasn't sure about Naruto's yet, but she was certain on something. This test is just made to try and impress their sensei- if they met certain requirements that he was looking for, they'd pass as genin. There was no way they stood a chance against him, even as three genins together, especially when they knew nothing about him at all.

"So, for the test, I was hoping we could work together," Sakura suggested to Naruto who was now sitting on the grass, listening intently. Naruto's head began to process her words. So, there are two bells in this test. The one who gets the bells will pass, which means the one who doesn't get it, will not pass. Which means it is only possible for two people to pass this test. So if Sakura was offering to work together with Naruto, that would leave a third member that would not be able to get a bell. And that person would be Sasuke. And that meant..

"You're betraying Sasuke?!" Naruto gaped in shock. There was no way Sakura, the top scoring female in his class had just offered to team up with a dumbass like him instead of Sasuke. He was so confused! After all, didn't Sakura like Sasuke, like, romantically or something? And who was Naruto to be chosen by Sakura Haruno, the brave, the great, the chosen one? "I-I thought you were obsessing over him at some point..."

"Excuse me??" Now, it was Sakura's turn to gape in shock back at Naruto. Her? Obsessed with Sasuke? No way. Although she had to admit, she admires Sasuke's skill, hardwork and potential, and she had tried several times to ask whether she could train with him just so she can take a peek at how he improves his skills, no, she was definitely not obsessed with him. She wanted to learn from him, she didn't exactly want him like a hopeless fangirl. To be fair, asking a guy, especially Sasuke, to train together sounds very suspicious. Maybe Naruto misunderstood.

"No, I'm not obsessed with him," Sakura laughed lightly. "But let's put that aside first, and work out a plan to get those bells. We should probably list out everything we ca do, but to be honest with you, I really don't have any strategies though. Do you have any ideas?"

For the first time in his life, Naruto found his weird daydreams useful somehow.

Well, about useful as a plan formed by genins could be against a jonin with years of experience longer than they have lived. While Sakura and Naruto's attacks surprised Kakashi at the start, the tables were quickly turned on them. It was impossible to build a bond and teamwork that lets them coordinate with each other flawlessly in a single day, but they tried.

The alarm clock had gone off, and the three genins were now sat before their unofficial jonin sensei who peered down at them calculatingly. Awkward tension filled the air as Sakura and Naruto squirmed uncomfortably under Kakashi's gaze.

'Not bad. At least they even tried to work together, but that's a problem,' Kakashi held back a sigh before his eyebrows relaxed lazily. "Alright. See, none of you got the bells, and you know what that means."

Naruto bit his lip in attempt to suppress all the emotions swirling through him right now. It was definitely his fault that Sakura could not pass, he was clearly dragging both of them down. In the end, it didn't end well for any one of them. Sakura stared at her clenched fists, still filled with determination. This wasn't fine, but she would work harder than she already did, because this wasn't fine at all. Sasuke glared at his sensei with eyes full of hatred and annoyance, all while screaming curses directed at the masked man in his brain. Satisfied with seeing their reactions, Kakashi continued.

"Does anyone know the purpose of this test?" Kakashi asked with crossed arms as he stared at his genins, watching as the gears slowly turned in their heads, each possibly coming to their own version of a conclusion.

Since Sasuke and Sakura were failing too, Naruto figured that this test wasn't about getting rid of his chance to become a shinobi forever. Still, that didn't mean that he hadn't failed his test. What was it about then, if not just making sure their abilities were up to par with the minimum requirements of becoming a genin?

"To evaluate our skills. Pick the bad beans out. Choose the ones who have the ability to live up to people's expectations," Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to speak up his opinion. Perhaps because he was fed up with Kakashi, and tired of this jonin's stupid games. While he sounded pretty arrogant, considering that he may have been referring to the idea of him being 'the chosen one', but it was fair. It was a fact that compared to his two teammates, he surely had been working far more than them and is already more talented than they are. He wasn't mocking them, he just wanted them to at least work harder if they were to be on the same team as him. But oh, little did he know.

"No. You are completely wrong. The answer is teamwork," Kakashi spoke. Sakura's eyes widened slightly as she leaned forwards towards Kakashi attentively. So she was somewhat right before? But she had already worked with Naruto! As she looked to her side at Sasuke, realization slowly dawned upon her. Oh. But then...there's only two bells..?

"Kakashi-sensei, even if we did work together, the three of us as a team, what's the point? Only two people will pass," Sakura argued back, confusion clear in her voice. In the end, it would still result in betrayal against each other- It was inevitable.

"Confusing, isn't it? Let me put it in this situation," Kakashi spoke, a hint of malice in his tone of voice. Faster than they could react, Kakashi immediately disappeared and appeared behind Naruto, a kunai pointed at the boy's neck. It pierced through his skin slightly, drawing tiny drops of blood that rolled down his neck slowly. With a flinch, Naruto immediately flung his hand towards Kakashi's jaw on instinct, only for his wrist to be grabbed by the jonin. Instantly, fear washed over both Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi's gaze seemingly piercing through their souls. It reminded Sasuke of events he wished he'd never recall. "Sakura, kill Sasuke right now, or Naruto dies."

Sakura's hand trembled as she failed to locate the weapon pouch tied to her thigh, even with the countless times she'd pull kunai or shuriken out of it. It was there, she knew. But it seemed so far, too far away to reach. Why is she so scared? Why is she trembling? Someone was in danger-!

Light gasps left Sasuke's throat as he felt his head spin at the sight of Naruto's blood. The scenes from that night flashed through his brain as he felt as if someone was clutching tight as his throat- He could not breath, just breath, why can't he breath!?

Seeing the two of their reactions, Kakashi released Naruto and stood up calmly, finally letting out a sigh to ease the tension that he had formed. Sakura let out a shuddering gasp before making deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, and Sasuke did the same. Naruto slowly moved up to his neck in slight shock, wiping off the blood that had stained him. He tried to feel his way through for the wound, but he couldn't find it.

"See, that's what I mean," Kakashi drawled out lazily. "Sakura, although you did approach Naruto and propose to work together, Naruto was right. You did abandon Sasuke. It's easier to make such a decision because this is a mere test where you just have to obtain two measly bells from me, nothing life threatening. But what if you're on a mission, stuck with the choice between two hard decisions? Your responsibility and your teammate. Just now, you have chosen to abandon Sasuke, which is why we currently have him tied to this log."

And yes, Sasuke had been tied up to this log the whole time as they spoke. But it wasn't Kakashi's fault now, was it? In the end, Sakura and Naruto were the ones who made the decision to push him away and leave him behind, so this was what Sasuke would've gotten. They need to understand, if this was a real mission where they left Sasuke behind to complete their tasks, Sasuke would've....

"I....I understand, sensei," Sakura spoke with clenched fists, ashamed at herself. It was only then she had realised what consequences her decisions would've brought in a serious situation. It was crucial to understand that in their line of work, lives were easily lost. As they speak, there may be hundreds out there meeting their inevitable fate of death.

"I'm glad you do. Hmm......I supposed I could give you another chance at it," Kakashi nodded to both himself at the genins as he fake hummed in thought. Sakura cheered and Naruto beamed with happiness at their sensei. Sasuke let a small smirk slide onto his face with a scoff. Well, maybe he'll have to cooperate with his teammates after all. But he was fully confident he'd be able to do it this time, as long as he's given the chance.

"You are now given 40 minutes to eat. I'll have my lunch somewhere else, you can chat around or strategize, whatever you'd like. But!" Kakashi placed two bento boxes in front of them. The genins stared at the boxes in delight before turning to their sensei again. "You must not feed Sasuke. At all. If you disobey my orders.....You are not getting a third chance."

A shudder ran down their body in slight fear as Kakashi sensei stared at them with a cold gaze. It was as if a switch was flipped as he turned to smiling brightly, waving goodbye at the genins as he walked away to have a nice meal of his own.