A/N - *scratches head* Heyyyyy, what's up? How have yall been? Thanks for letting me take my two... three-month hiatus. Spent that time very well. I did what I set out to do, working with others to help my country with the fact that afab people lost their rights. But, other than that, I also worked on my happiness and am now doing quite well mentally. I've gotten back into art and writing - I have a lot of work-in-progress stuff that I'm working on every chance I get. I started a new fanfiction in a different fandom, but I'm still going to try to work on this (even though I'm falling out of the Naruto fandom a bit).

Well, that's all from me. I don't really have anything else to report. So, until next time!

Team 7 sat closely together, hunched over in their quiet conversations. It had been three hours since the first of the genins had arrived at the clearing, waiting on their sensei. It didn't take long, though, once the clock hit eight in the morning, their teacher appeared in the clearing within a plume of smoke. "Good morning!" He greeted with an eye smile and a wave of his hand, "Did you all sleep well?" The three jumped at the intrusion, three heads whirling around to stare at the newcomer.

Sakura sprang to her feet immediately, pointing accusingly at him, "Kakashi-sensei?! You're late!"

Naruto hummed from where he sat, a bored look on his face, "Yeah, I was starting to think you'd never show." He moved to stretch his arms out, a popping noise coming from his back. "I do hope this doesn't become a habit of yours, Kakashi-sensei." He grumbled out, moving to stand up as well although with less aggression than his teammate, "If it does, I'll just spend my time at the hospital helping people there instead of wasting my time here."

The silver-haired jounin ignored the slightly condescending tone from his student. Instead of correcting Naruto on his lack of respect towards someone who, frankly, was older and more experienced than him, Kakashi decided to give his genins a bored look. "You see," He drawled out, waving a hand vaguely, "A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around."

"Well, even if you had to take the long way around, it shouldn't have taken you three hours to get here." Sasuke hissed out, arms crossed over his chest as he joined his teammates in their standing position.

"If I had any say in it, I'd say you're lazier than a Nara." Naruto huffed, turning his nose up at his sensei. Shikaku was right, Kakashi was lousy at keeping the time. Hopefully, this doesn't reflect on his teaching habits.

"Ehm, well, that's up for debate." Kakashi smiled once more, hands raised in front of him as if it would help dampen their apparent anger, "Let's get started, shall we?" He walked over to one of the three logs that were standing up in the center of the clearing and moved to set a clock on it. "This clock here will be set for noon - that gives you all about four or five hours to complete your task." The silver-haired jounin pressed a few buttons, setting the clock.

Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes, "And what task is that?"

Pulling out two rather aged bells from one of his vest pockets, their jounin teacher held them up in front of him at eye level, shaking them slightly for emphasis, "Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me - that's all there is to it. If you can't get them by noon, you all will go without lunch and you'll be tied to those posts there." Kakashi waved a hand at the logs in the center of the clearing where the clock was at. "While tied up, you will watch me eat my lunch in front of you." He gave the three a knowing smile.

"Oh, so that's why you didn't want us to eat breakfast." Sakura nodded her head in understanding before patting her blond-haired teammate on his back, "Good thinking, Naruto. You really saved us this time! If it wasn't for your bento, my stomach would probably try to eat its way out of my body." Her words ended in a hearty laugh.

Naruto took the words kindly, giving the kunoichi a small smile of appreciation, "Thanks, Sakura."

Kakashi looked in between the three of them, feigning ignorance, "So, you three decided to go against my warning and eat breakfast anyways?"

Naruto shook his head up and down, agreeing with the man's statement, "Over the past three years that I've volunteered at the hospital, I've noticed an odd trend. Ninjas would come into the hospital - fatigued, dizzy, disoriented, and some would even pass out - because they didn't eat anything before training and ended up ill. Because their bodies didn't have anything to pull energy from, it would make them quite sick. I... couldn't just let that happen to my teammates. We need all the energy we can get."

Sakura gave him an odd look, blinking in surprise before grinning from ear to ear, "Then you have my thanks... again!"

"Interesting." Kakashi found himself thinking, moving to tie the bells to one of the loops on his pants.

"Kakashi-sensei, I have a question." The pink-haired kunoichi suddenly blurted out, getting a nod from her jounin teacher to continue, "Why are there only two bells if there are three of us?"

The silver-haired man gave them another smile, feeling quite devious, "Well, that way at least one of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. The one tied to the post goes back to the academy."

There was quite a dramatic reaction from the three, full of shock and determination, but from there, the three genin's emotions started to differ. Sakura was still holding primarily onto her shock, but there was a cloud of worry starting to fill her eyes as they started to scatter from side to side in order to gather her thoughts. Sasuke's face mostly held the determination from the initial admission, but his eyes began to dart to and from his teammates, searching them critically. Naruto's face, though, held neither shock nor determination after Kakashi's words, but instead looked inquisitive and holding a look of wonderment, possibly enlightenment if the silver-haired jounin had anything to go by, which was practically nothing.

"I can't tell whether he's figured it out or not." Kakashi found himself thinking, "Granted, he practically lives with Nara's, of all people. Maybe they fed him some of their intellect." He tried not to smile at his own thoughts, thinking them to be too immature for his tastes. Instead, though, he continued with his speech, "I suppose, though, that all three of you could flunk out too." He tried not to laugh, really, at the surprise that kept coursing through his genins, minus Naruto who seemed to be in his own world by now, absorbed by whatever he was thinking. Hopefully, the overthinking wasn't going to be a big issue with his little medic. "You can use any weapons including shuriken." Kakashi continued, "If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells and succeed in your mission."

"Kakashi-sensei, are we really allowed to use those weapons? They are pretty dangerous." Sakura asked cautious, unsure about fighting her teacher. She eyed her weapons pouch that held the weapons that the academy had gifted her after graduating.

"Sakura," The blond-haired medic-in-training began, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Kakashi-sensei is a trained jounin, I'm sure he'll be fine with whatever we throw at him. Hell, shurikens are probably like sticks to him by now." That got a small laugh out of her, Sakura's previous tension slipping from her shoulders easily after the joke.

Kakashi eyed the medic carefully, "Maybe I might try to take him out early to make it harder on the other two." He weighed the option carefully but came out with nothing substantial. He'll play this like he always did - wait for them to fail, get angry with one another, refuse to work together, fail them for their insubordination, and then send them back to the academy. Still, though, this bunch of genins was quite the interesting one, even he had to admit. "Alright." He smiled, "You may begin."

"What? Already?" Sakura scrambled for a kunai.

Naruto nodded, pulling out a few circular objects and throwing them in Kakashi's direction. He moved to grab both of his teammates' wrists, swiftly guiding the two away from the plume of purplish and blue smoke that began to filter out of the smoke bombs. The silver-haired jounin let out a quick cough from behind his mask as it quickly covered the clearing and consumed him. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock before slapping a hand over his mouth and nose, effectively covering them from the smoke's assault. He dashed to the side, completely stepping out of the toxic fumes, but he was already starting to see small dots of color filtering into his vision.

The jounin grit his teeth, "Should've known that a smoke bomb coming from Naruto would have some type of... noxious substance in it." It wasn't even a surprise to Kakashi that his student had them on him - Naruto's been volunteering at the hospital for three years - the jounin knew this much - and had been studying medical ninjutsu a little while longer. "I'm sure he's picked up a few tricks by now." He found himself thinking. The older man could feel his heart rate quickening as the little amount of noxious gas he'd inhaled started to run its course. "He most likely used a small dosage - anything higher and I probably would've been in trouble." Kakashi took a deep breath, trying to quell the uneasy feeling settling in his stomach, "I doubt he'd try to kill me."

Right?

Naruto made a mental fist pump as he and his teammates dashed through the trees away from the clearing, making space between them and their teacher. Shikaku had gone to his apartment and collected some supplies for him after the medic had explained that he and his team were supposed to have a mission - well, more like another test. The Nara clan leader had gotten him things Yiruma had gifted him quite a while ago in hopes they would be useful. It was. Being the head medic of Konohagakure, the doctor was well-versed in combat and had given the blond-haired genin a few things to keep enemies at bay or cause a distraction. While Naruto hadn't truly been aware of what Kakashi had planned, a mission was a mission and should be treated as seriously as one given by the Hokage.

"Thank you, Dr. Hana, for those sleep bombs! It wasn't as effective as I'd hoped, but it did its job!" He mentally thanked the doctor.

"Get off me!" Sasuke suddenly hissed out, pulling his arm out of his teammate's grasp once they'd hidden in the brush. His voice was quiet but aggressive, likely to keep Kakashi from hearing them.

"Sasuke, if I had let you stay in that clearing, the side effects of that gas would have made you fall unconscious. Since you're younger and have a smaller body index than Kakashi-sensei, the gas would've caused worse damage to you than him." He explained quietly, trying to keep his voice down as well, "I was trying to protect you."

He growled lowly, red in the face, "I don't want protection and I don't need it! Especially, from someone like you."

Your kind.

It's like a slap across the face, a memory he hadn't thought about in some time. "Someone like me?" Naruto snarled heatedly. Images of that nameless, faceless woman once upon a time appeared in his mind. The way her face contorted and shifted, the words she spoke that day practically spat at him, full of venom and hatred. Her face morphed into the wicked look Mizuki had given him before plunging his kunai into the medic's abdomen. Naruto could feel a phantom itch right where he had been stabbed, mind conjuring Mizuki's sick grin.

He was knocked out of whatever memory he was about to relive when Sakura came into view, hands outstretched between the two as if to help calm the situation down a bit. "Guys," She tried, voice low and slow, enunciating her words as if she were talking to dangerous animals instead of her teammates, "I don't think we should be fighting right now. We need a plan or something."

He swallowed thickly, Naruto turning to face her, trying to ignore the look Sasuke was giving him, "You're right, Sakura." He couldn't help but glance at the Uchiha before sighing. The blond-haired genin crossed his arms, "I... apologize, Sasuke, for assuming you'd want to be protected from something that would have knocked you unconscious within seconds of inhaling it and would've made you quite useless during this survival exercise." Sakura gave him a look, eyes narrowed. It's not really an apology, he supposed.

Sasuke balled his fists, "Whatever. I'm not going to sit around like you two - I'm going to get a bell."

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura squeaked out sheepishly, the black-haired teen looking at her with clear anger in his eyes. It made her freeze, her heart starting to pick up from the intensity in his eyes as she gathered her courage enough to speak, "I... I think it's too dangerous to go by yourself. We need a plan or... at least a distraction."

"Sakura's right." The medic-in-training beside her agreed once more.

"Is that all you say?!" He was quick to bark out, turning towards the blond, a vicious look in his eyes as he stared down both his teammates in a display of dominance. The pink-haired kunoichi cowered in the wake of Sasuke's anger while Naruto merely stared as if challenging him. He didn't need them, teammates, that is.

"I hope we're on the same team..." It echoed in his head, more than he'd like to admit. An admission of how the Uchiha honestly felt, despite how closed-off and cold he appeared to those around him. Sasuke grit his teeth, turning to look away from them, "I don't need a plan to beat Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto hesitated, the urge to reach for the other boy's arm filling him, "Yes, you do."

"Stop telling me what to do!" The Uchiha swung, his fist being easily dodged. If anything, that just made him angrier, practically sputtering.

"I was simply giving you my opinion. I'm not your mother, Sasuke." The other teen stiffened at Naruto's words. The medic almost felt bad. Almost. "I'm just your teammate. I was giving you a mere suggestion. If you don't take it, so be it. Get yourself hurt. I'll just have to drag you back and heal you up so you can tell us that you don't need our help or a plan and repeat your failed attempt at getting a bell once again." He shrugged.

"Why am I the only one who's wanting to take down Kakashi-sensei?! Why aren't either of you even trying?!" He hissed out, taking a step away from the blond when it felt like he was too close.

"Sasuke-kun, we... we are trying. We just need a plan first..." Sakura blurted out, glancing between the two hotheads on her team. Her words fell on deaf ears.

Whereas Sasuke took another step back, Naruto took one forward, a proud feeling in his chest. "As a medic-in-training, there are clear rules that I have to follow." He began, eyes fiery, domineering, "I won't bore you with all the details because with your temper, I'm sure it'll only annoy you further. But, because of those rules, I know my duty in a fight and my duty to you, my teammates, as your medic." He took a step towards the raven, impeding on the Uchiha's space even more so. Dark eyes peered down into sky-blue ones, an intensity being shared between them. "I can't stop healing, can't be the first to die and I can't be on the front lines. But, I will if you need me to." He finished, finally stepping away from Sasuke, watching him take a staggering breath.

"Naruto..." Sakura's eyes were wide.

"I want to be a genin so badly, Sasuke, and I can see that you two want to be one as well. We are all after the same goal, so why are we fighting like this?!" He tried, frustration leaking from him, "While it may not seem like I am trying to take Kakashi-sensei down, I'm trying to think of a plan of some sort like Sakura wanted, one that can combine all of our talents and abilities, but... I can't be the only one to support working together, right?" He took turns staring at both of his teammates. "We said that we'd keep an eye out for each other, or have you already forgotten?" Naruto sighed deeply, shoulders sagging, "If we're going to be on a team, we need to start acting like one."

Sasuke sighed dramatically, his shoulders sagging, "...fine. What do you have in mind?"

Sakura sighed in relief now that the tension was over, "Yeah, Naruto, spill it."

"Alright, but you have to help me out because this is only a draft." The medic-in-training tried to smile, happy that he finally got through Sasuke's thick skull.

:::^^^^^:::

Kakashi had been searching for his genins for a little over thirty minutes by now. He'd tried to give them some time to collect themselves, aimlessly walking without truly trying to find them - all his previous genin teams would always come looking for him, so why bother putting in all that work if he was just going to fail them anyway? He was reading one of his Icha Icha books, something from the third edition. It wasn't his favorite, but with an Uchiha known for fire jutsus, he wasn't going to bring one of the editions he actually adored lest it gets left in a pile of ashes.

He stopped walking all of a sudden, ears perking up at a noise. With his eyes still on the page of his book, he flicked out one of his hands, easily catching two shurikens with his index and middle fingers. His wrist flexed, throwing them back to where their origin was located, hitting a log instead. "Substitution jutsu, hm?" He mulled inside his head, not willing to ponder the location of the genin attacking him. The sound of feet tapping quickly against the dirt alerted him that someone was almost directly behind him. Swiftly turning around, he saw Sasuke standing there with utter confidence leaking off him.

Kakashi gave the boy a smile, "Ah, Sasuke, so nice of you to finally join me. I was starting to get lonely wandering the woods by myself."

"Hn."

"Not much of a conversationalist, huh?" The silver-haired jounin mumbled to himself, feeling quite bored without a talker. He moved to look back down at his book for some light reading. Sasuke lowered his body before bounding forward, using the momentum to appear faster. With one hand, the older man dodged most of the Uchiha's attacks, eyes still latched onto the page in front of him. "Ah, we're getting to a good part." Kakashi chuckled to himself, scanning the page carefully despite all the commotion happening around him.

Flipping to the next chapter, he started to block the rest of Sasuke's attacks with his free arm. He could start to see that his student was slowly growing more and more frustrated as the practically one-sided fight continued, eyes narrowed and angry grunts leaving him in huffs. The black-haired boy growled, jumping up to be at eye-level with his jounin teacher before attempting to punch the man square in the face. Kakashi bent backward with surprising flexibility, successfully avoiding the attack before letting out a sigh. Hopping to the side, he finally put that damned book away, "Looks like I'm not going to be able to do any light reading anytime soon."

The two soon engaged in a taijutsu fight without a word between them. Honestly, the prowess Sasuke showed in his taijutsu was surprising to the jounin as he had originally thought that the Uchiha heir would likely want to automatically use one of his many clan's fire jutsus against him. Sensing something behind him, Kakashi jumped to the side, easily dodging the several shurikens starting to fly by him within seconds of his detection. He spared a glance at the raven-haired genin to make sure he hadn't been caught in the range but was relieved to see Sasuke following his moves, never breaking eye contact with his jounin teacher as they resumed their taijutsu battle.

Once more, the silver-haired man found himself dodging shurikens or kunai seemingly out of nowhere. He suspected who was behind it out of his students but couldn't be sure since he didn't know much about their abilities individually besides a few guesses on Naruto and Sasuke's part. Kakashi crouched down lowly, side-sweeping the Uchiha's legs from underneath him. Sasuke started to fall, taken aback by the move as the silver-haired man started readying a fist to take his student out of the fight long enough to take care of his mystery sharpshooter.

He had barely half of a second to react when his fist hit the ground instead of Sasuke. He caught the tail end of several blurs skittering back to stand near the forest's edge with Sasuke in tow, pulling the Uchiha out of Kakashi's reach. The man straightened up, looking over in shock at three Naruto's who was standing in front of Sasuke, the teen starting to breathe heavily.

"Shadow clones?" Kakashi tilted his head, mind whirling in realization, "Since when did Naruto know how to use a forbidden technique? This is something Hokage-sama might need to know about." The jounin raised an eyebrow before rolling his shoulders, startling his students who were now very much on edge. "If you're really a medic, don't you know that medics aren't supposed to be on the battlefield?" He questioned, hoping it would get a rise out of the real Naruto, "If I remember correctly, the rule went something along the lines of 'No medic ninja shall ever stand on the front lines'. Right?"

"We're not." The clones voiced in unison. Kakashi cocked his head to the side, easily dodging the three kunai that soared behind his head. During that time, the three clones had disappeared from their original spot in front of him.

The silver-haired jounin could sense that the original Naruto was somewhere close by, sensing the boy's chakra as easily as he could smell. He started to dodge all the swift and precise movements of the clones, being careful of the ominous glowing blue chakra surrounding the clones' arms and hands. "Chakra scalpels? Can't say I'm surprised." Kakashi found himself thinking. Granted, the ability was not unheard of, just very unused. He had probably only seen three combat medics use them in his entire life.

Sasuke appeared in front of the jounin, trying to use a roundhouse kick against the man. Using a cartwheel to get away from the kick and Naruto's clones' aggressive melee attacks, Kakashi took a breath before stepping to the side by instinct, a large shuriken passing him by. One of the clones' eyes lingered on it, their head following the shuriken until it got stuck in a tree. Kakashi briefly saw that wide-eyed look he knew all too well in his years of being a ninja before taking the clone out with a kunai. After the attack, the jounin jumped away, a barrage of kunai taking refuge in the spot he'd been last.

"So, Sakura's the one doing that..." He mulled to himself with a sigh, "Man, I really won't be able to read anything with these three around. I shouldn't have given them this much time to plan and prepare." The now two clones and Sasuke began to approach him cautiously. Kakashi leaned forward, getting ready to attack, "I need to end this. It's almost noon."

"Ah!" A strangled noise left one of the clones before they poofed away, Sasuke rolling through the brief smoke to grab one of Sakura's kunai that were still embedded in the ground, barely dodging a swift attack from his jounin teacher. The Uchiha looked behind him as he fled, seeing Kakashi destroying the last clone left in the clearing without breaking a sweat.

Their plan failed, obviously.

"Time for Plan B, I guess..." Sasuke mumbled to himself before turning around and going through some quick hand signs; Kakashi was still approaching him and fast. "Fire Release: Great Fireball!" He shouted out before sucking in a breath and exhaling out a large fireball.

"Well, shit." The silver-haired jounin thought to himself before replacing himself with a log just as the fireball reached his previous location. When he looked back to Sasuke's last position, he saw that the black-haired teen had successfully fled from him. A rustling came from around him as almost a dozen shadow clones of Naruto surrounded him, all of their arms flashing blue, readying their attacks. In one fluid motion, they all started to move.

"We won't let you hurt our teammates, Kakashi-sensei!" The clones chimed together, advancing toward him at a fast pace. A distraction.

Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows in thought, all the while dodging the many fluid attacks that rained down on him. After all the years he's been on the field, he'd only ever known medic ninjas excluding a few - Tsunade Senju and that rookie head medic come to mind - to always be in the background, to never be on the front lines or do an attack like these clones were. They usually sat high up in the trees, showing themselves only to collect bodies or drag away the ones who were still alive. He was grateful to any medic who sought to help him in his time of need, but Kakashi had always found them to be rather... cowardly, unwilling to put themselves in danger in fear.

In his younger years, when he was more volatile and spiteful, he might have sneered at the title of combat medic, seeing as how most of those medics were never actually in combat. They were like ghosts on the field - you never saw them until you were dying. He remembered during the war, medics were sometimes even nicknamed White Death - white being associated with healing and hospitals, but the fact that medics only ever acted when someone was injured or dying. It was a crude nickname, even Kakashi knew, but it's how many ninjas felt towards the small group of people in their village.

Maybe Naruto's teammates coaxed him into using clones as a distraction for the rest of them while they prepared, Kakashi reasoned with himself. It still doesn't explain how Naruto knew how to use a forbidden jutsu, though, not that that is immediately on his mind as he dodges attacks. Though, if that was the case - where Sasuke and Sakura had gotten him to cover for them - then the blond-haired medic-in-training would still be following the rules by keeping himself away from the battle, but close enough to keep an eye on his teammates. Kakashi smirked to himself, "Smart kid."

Having been lost in thought, he barely managed to flee from the two pairs of grappling hands at his hip. He saw the wide almost disbelieving stares of Sasuke and Sakura who seemed to have dropped from the treetops to try and get the bells from him. Another swarm of clones - albeit a smaller group than the previous several dozen that had appeared earlier - seemingly appeared out of nowhere. That's another thing that's so odd about Naruto knowing a forbidden jutsu. With his copycat tendencies, Kakashi could perform a shadow clone jutsu if he wanted, but the amount of chakra drain that would cause him would be astronomical.

How the hell is Naruto able to keep summoning dozens and dozens of shadow clones?

"Another thing to mention to the Hokage." He mused to himself, Kakashi looking out into the sea of heads, counting at least sixteen blond-headed clones, Sasuke, and Sakura. Some of Naruto's clones were standing behind their two teammates while the others were standing protectively beside or in front of the two. The silver-haired jounin tried to hide his grin, succeeding at that as the group readied themselves for another attack. "I don't like to admit it, but they're going to make a great team." He found himself thinking.

He watched as Naruto's clones started to take on two different forms. The ones in the back pulled out about three or four senbons, likely soaked in some kind of sedative, he would have guessed - at this point, it's to be expected. Kakashi couldn't tell anymore - hell, the kid could have laced it in poison for all the jounin knew. The clones held them out in front of their faces, crouching down low to the ground. The ones that were in the front and on the sides started to cloak their arms in the now well-versed chakra scalpel. From previous interactions with the jutsu, Kakashi knew how sharp to the touch they were.

"Best to keep my distance." He thought, the silver-haired jounin watching as Sasuke's eyes pointedly looked at Sakura and behind her at the clones, giving them all a curt almost unnoticeable nod. They advanced toward him quickly and the older man tried hard not to be pleased with their ability to work together as a team.

A first, really.

Sakura dashed in front of Sasuke to parry an attack he would've taken, the slide of her and Kakashi's own kunai making sparks against their hands where they clashed against one another. She jumped away with a shout, the Uchiha heir following her retreat with a fireball jutsu. He ran in after the fireball, sliding against the grass to chase Kakashi down after his successful dodge of the jutsu. The pink-haired kunoichi was making her way back beside Sasuke, intent on giving him the backup he needed to try and get the bells off their teacher's hip.

The clones whose arms were gathered in a hue of blue chakra were suddenly behind the silver-haired jounin, slashing at the air, Kakashi having jumped out of the way at the last moment. They didn't say anything, following Sakura and Sasuke in their assault. The kunoichi ran in a diagonal, a clone crouched low to the ground, allowing for her to springboard off their back to dodge one of Kakashi's kunai. Naruto's clone disappeared in a plume of smoke, having taken the kunai to the chest instead.

Off on the other side of the clearing, another clone disappeared, taking a punishing kick to the chest for Sasuke to allow him a chance at reaching for the bells. Kakashi merely swatted the teen's grasping hands away, jumping backward into Sakura's own pawing hands. Her fingers grazed one of the bells before the pink-haired kunoichi was kicked precariously away. "They're swarming me." He found himself thinking.

After a while of this back and forth between himself and his students, Kakashi noticed that the clones who were holding senbons had retreated to the treetops during the commotions, starting to fling weapons from above. Some of the senbons had just barely grazed the jounin's skin, but the attack was starting to make him feel quite dizzy, stomach-churning ever so slightly. However, being a trained ninja, Kakashi was able to easily correct his footing and block out the needles in his line of sight and parry any attacks his students threw at him. Knowing this information, the silver-haired man was sure to be more aware of where those clones were throwing the senbons.

There was movement in the trees that alerted Kakashi's strained attention to it. He saw a brief flash of yellow and knew instantaneously that that was the real Naruto. A second later, a large circular object, roughly about the size of his fist, flew out into the clearing. Sakura, Sasuke, and the clones backed away immediately as the ball erupted in dark gray smoke, dialing visibility to zero.

Kakashi, having had to battle without the need for his eyes, wasn't scared or perturbed at all. He stayed still as he quietly observed his surrounding. He could vaguely see swishes in the smoke and hear the light tapping of footsteps against the grass around him. Flanking a hard left, the jounin watched as Sasuke's foot appeared and then disappeared back into the smog, almost as if it had never happened. He dropped into a pushup, hands barely keeping his chest off the ground as a senbon flew from out of nowhere, barely grazing the top of his head.

This continued for several minutes, the attacks becoming more and more frantic. In that time, he was able to destroy about five of the dozen clones and throw Sakura away from him when she'd tried to engage in a taijutsu fight as well as dodge a jutsu from Sasuke. The smoke, Kakashi had noticed, was only now just starting to thin out. Though, it was just enough that he could now see silhouettes in the distance. The downside was that it didn't tell him exactly how far or how close his students were to his location.

A disgruntled noise left him in surprised shock as arms and legs wrapped around his midsection and under his shoulders, limiting most movements in his upper body. "Probably dropped from the treetops." He thought to himself, turning his head around, desperately trying not to grin in proudness as he saw the small smile of one of Naruto's clones attached to him. Using a simple kawarimi to replace himself with one of the other clones, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself quietly, "Smart, but not smart enough, my cute genin."

"Now!" Naruto's clone called out. Sasuke and Sakura bounded out of the thinning smoke, reaching for the man's hip and tugging off the bells. A gasp leaves the genins' mouths as the bells poofed away, 'Kakashi' turning into one of the other clones. They sighed dramatically before poofing away. The clone stared at their teammates with a dumbfounded face before turning to smoke, having exhausted their chakra completely.

"W-What happened?!" Sakura rushed out, obviously in shock. Sasuke was going to reply when he heard something. Almost as if he body moved on it own, he pushed his teammate out of the way just as two pairs of hands quickly grabbed at his ankles. Sasuke felt himself being pulled deep into the ground directly underneath him, leaving only his head for display. The pink-haired kunoichi in front of him quickly stood up in a panic, wide eyes displaying her fear and worry. Kakashi pulled himself out of the ground, patting his hands together to get the dirt off.

"S-Sasuke!" Sakura squeaked out, backing away from her teacher, fearing the same fate as her teammate.

He looked at her and motioned his head towards the woods, "Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice, holding back fearful tears threatening to spill from her eyes - it's not every day you see your teammate get practically buried alive. Sakura dashed into the woods as quickly as possible. She needs to find Naruto so that they can regroup and figure out how to get those bells before noon lest they all fail and get sent back to the academy. "No, I won't let that happen!" Her mind coursed out.

Breathing deeply, heart pounding in her chest, the pink-haired kunoichi looked around the area critically. Sakura desperately hoped that she had lost Kakashi in the dense woods around her, but her logical mind disagreed with her heart. She gulped and picked up the pace, trying to remember where they had been hiding before so that she could get to where Naruto was before Kakashi got to her. Sakura felt like her legs were going to give at any moment, the unrelenting fear and adrenaline bubbling inside of her.

"Too slow." A voice chuckled in front of her. Kakashi gave the girl an eye smile, fingers moving together to form a jutsu. He cast it upon her and cringed at the loud, long scream she made. In mere seconds, Sakura tumbled forward, unconscious. "I thought she'd be able to break that genjutsu." Kakashi mused to himself before walking in a different direction to find the last member of their team, "Where are you, Naruto?"

Naruto could feel a bead of sweat trailing down his forehead, the clones' untimely demise, and their memories flooding into him. It honestly was a little much, a bitch of a headache finding space in his brain, reliving several different moments of one event all at the same time.

Kakashi had destroyed the remaining clones that were in the area after he'd dragged Sasuke underground. His clones' memories showed where his teammate was vaguely located. He couldn't stop the worry from pooling in his chest; something like being dragged underground could leave broken bones or twisted ankles, both of which weren't fun to deal with - he knew from personal experience. Naruto just hoped that the Uchiha would be fine, summoning a few clones out to fetch his teammate and bring him back to his location so that they could regroup.

That just left Sakura. He didn't know exactly where she was and hoped that she wasn't in too much trouble. Naruto had heard her scream all too clearly in the forest, the noise ringing in his head, memories flooding into his mind without prompting. Though he didn't have the chance to relive haunting faces for too long, the mortification of something bad happening to his teammate quelled any ill thoughts, allowing him to pull himself together. Naruto raised a hand to summon more clones, sending out a four-man group after Sakura.

Hopefully, both of his teammates would be fine.

:::^^^^^:::

Sasuke looked up at the three clones looming above him. He sneered slightly, a touch of embarrassment creeping up on him. "What?" He deadpanned.

"Do you need assistance?" One of the three clones asked, no amount of emotion in their voices, but the concern in their eyes spoke the truth.

"I suppose so." The Uchiha heir grumbled out.

"Stand watch." A clone ordered out, the one who'd spoken earlier merely nodding before beginning to walk in a slow circle around the perimeter, head craned to look in almost every direction. Naruto's two other clones channeled chakra into their hands, turning them blue before stabbing the ground around their teammate's body to separate the dirt.

"Hey! Watch it!" Sasuke barked out frantically, "You're going to cut something off!"

The clones both stopped their movements, glancing at one another before staring pointedly at the Uchiha, "Sasuke, we can just reattach it if need be."

The black-haired teen could feel his face pale at the thought as the clones moved to continue their previous actions. After a couple of minutes, Sasuke could begin to feel his shoulders start to loosen up as the dirt surrounding him was slowly but surely being removed. Sasuke let out a sigh of relief, the pressure being removed from his chest soon after - feels nice to breathe properly again. Rather agitated at still being stuck, Sasuke started to wiggle around, managing to pull a hand free. The clones, seeing this, grinned at each other and started to work faster.

"Um!" The clone that had been standing watch suddenly squeaked out, "We need to hurry up, I feel like Kakashi-sensei is near!"

"Are you sure?!" One of the other clones questioned hastily, hands already moving with precise strikes. The watchdog clone nodded, moving to their sides to help dig Sasuke the rest of the way out so that they can get out of the area as quickly as possible. Another one of the Uchiha's hands became free. The three clones started to pull the boy out, the ground shifting underneath him.

Naruto's clone turned his head, "He's getting close. We've got to go, now!" The three tugged together, successfully pulling their teammate from the ground. The Uchiha stretched to get the soreness out of his limbs before the four of them started to run in the direction of the original Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei is steadily approaching our location." A clone informed, "We can't allow him to see where we are hiding out. We'll need to split up."

"Alright, you-" One of the clones pointed to another, "-come with me. I'll henge into Sasuke. Together, we'll try to get him off our trail, got it?"

"Yes!" They cheered together.

The blond-haired clone nodded, everyone watching as one of them turned into a carbon copy of the Uchiha heir. He looked at the original Sasuke and the clone that would be accompanying him, "You two stay safe. It's anyone's game right now."

Sasuke nodded in determination, "Give him hell." The clones nodded, turning right in hopes of Kakashi following them instead. "You know, you clones sure do come in handy in situations like this." He found himself saying, jumping over a fallen down log.

The imposter smiled slightly, "I guess so. I – the original me – didn't realize that we could use the shadow clone jutsu to be on the frontlines while still playing medic in the background. Thank you for the idea."

The Uchiha shrugged, "We needed another advantage in our plan, even though it wasn't successful, it did prove useful."

The clone hummed, pleased at the other teen's words, "Guess it's a good idea the original me managed to learn that technique a few days ago."

"What?" Sasuke nearly stumbled.

"What?" They parroted.

"What do you mean you - like the real you just learned it?" His eyes were only a little wide; he was trying hard not to be shocked.

The clone shrugged, "We learned it on accident and then just remembered we had learned it. Shikaku-san helped us hone it and test its capabilities."

Sasuke's left eye twitched, "How long did it take you to learn it?"

"...a day."

His jaw clenched, "I wish I hadn't asked."

"You know," Naruto's clone ignored the gloom and doom aura settling over his teammate still running beside him, "That gives me an idea."

"You learning a jutsu in a day gave you an idea?" Sasuke sputtered out.

"No, no - the actual technique did." He tried, "If we're ever in a situation where a lot of people need healing, but we don't have enough medics, I - the original me - could just use a mass shadow clone jutsu to help everyone, right?"

"I suppose." Sasuke said through clenched teeth, still reeling on what the clone had said, "So, where is Naruto - the real one, I mean."

"He's close by." They stated, "He sent three of us to come get you and a four-man group to find Sakura."

He tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing in question, "What happened to Haruno?" He wasn't worried.

Naruto's clone heaved a sigh, "We're not sure, but we think that Kakashi-sensei got to her before she could get back to where we were hiding."

"So, my sacrifice was for nothing." Sasuke huffed, willing himself not to cross his arms over his chest as they continued to run in some random direction.

"Sasuke, I must ask as a medic-in-training, but... are you alright? You didn't get hurt at all?" The clone questioned all the sudden, eyeing his teammate up and down for any injuries.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes, "Other than a few bruises and cuts from Kakashi-sensei, I'm fine. I don't need your healing."

The blond-haired clone gave him an eye smile, "That's great, I was getting worried."

"Worried?" Sasuke could've scoffed.

They nodded, "This is only the second time I've been put in a situation like this where I had to look after someone as a medic ninja and backup. It's scary considering how the first time went...." The clone's head drooped in memory.

The dark-haired gennin took a moment to stare, absorbing the information before turning away, "Does the original Naruto know that you're telling me this?"

"Nope, but he will once I poof away!" Naruto's clone let out a short laugh. Sasuke raised an eyebrow again. Seeing this, the blond-haired clone grinned, "Naruto can see all of the memories and thoughts of a clone once we poof away. That's why we knew exactly what happened to you and where you were because the original clones that were with you when they poofed away, gave the original Naruto their memories. He only just found out about it before the exam."

"That is... very useful," Sasuke mumbled.

"We're here. It's right up ahead." The clone blurted out, "Nice chat, right? See you later!"

"I guess?" He found himself saying, the clone leaving him in a plume of smoke. Sasuke ran forward, seeing Naruto's eyes widen before blinking several times. He looked up at the dark-haired boy and grinned. He guessed that Naruto got back his clone's memories.

"I'm glad you're okay." Naruto finally said, speaking softly, "I know my clone said the same thing, but are you sure that you don't need anything healed?"

Sasuke sat beside the blond-haired gennin and grunted, "Hn."

He chuckled, "I'll take that as a no?"

"Hn."

"We're back!" A breathless voice called from the right, practically startling Sasuke. There were two clones left, one holding an unconscious Sakura on their back. The clone set her down beside the original Naruto before dispelling themselves.

"A genjutsu?" Naruto mused, going through his clones' memories with a wince - he definitely had a headache by now, "Sasuke, can you dispel this one? I'm not proficient in genjutsu."

He nodded, "Move." The blond-haired medic-in-training nodded, giving his teammate space. Sasuke flew through a few short hand signs, "Kai." Sakura awoke with a large gulp of oxygen, eyes wide and filling with tears quickly. She glanced at her two teammates in worry, fear, shock, and utter happiness. Launching herself at Sasuke, she cuddled up against his side, tears slipping out of her eyes. The Uchiha grimaced, a disgusted look on his face and eyes pleading for Naruto to do something.

"Sakura." The blond-haired boy's soft voice alerted her.

Their pink-haired teammate sniffled, peeling herself away from her crush. Sasuke visibly relaxed and gave the other boy a small grateful smile which quickly vanished. Sakura whipped her eyes, "What happened?"

Naruto gave her a placating smile, placing his hands on her shoulders softly, "Kakashi-sensei put a genjutsu on you. If you need to talk about it later, you can tell me about it after the exam."

She blushed at his politeness, "U-Um... I'm fine, I think... No need to t-talk about it."

He nodded in understanding, "Are you okay? Do you need any medical attention? I heard you screaming a while ago and I was worried."

"I think I sprained my ankle when running, but I'm not sure," Sakura admitted honestly, cheeks growing redder by the minute by the sickly-sweet attention she was getting from the medic-in-training.

"Mind if I have a look?" He asked, eyes wide with curiosity and worry. She nodded, moving her leg so that it was closer to him. He took off her shoe, making Sakura feel slightly embarrassed by the situation. After a few seconds, Naruto nodded, "Yeah, it's sprained." His hand started to glow green, letting it hover over her ankle. "This will help with the swelling and pain, but you need to be careful running on the weird terrain around here." He grinned up at her, "You'll be fine in about a day or so."

She smiled, "Thanks, Naruto. I appreciate it."

Naruto, after watching her put her shoe back on, turned to look at Sasuke, "You sure you don't need healing at all?"

"I'm fine." He hissed out, "Let's just try to make a new plan so that we can become genins."

And plan they did.

:::^^^^^:::

An hour.

They had an hour to plan and prepare and launch their attack and they failed. They were captured by their teacher once the timer rang tauntingly, signifying that it was noon. There was no yelling, no blaming one another amongst the three, just weariness. They had tried, tried so hard that they had cuts and bruises, bled enough between the three of them. But they had still failed.

Kakashi stared at his students who were all tied against one of the large logs in the center of Train Ground 7. They all had a mix of emotions crossing their faces - guilt, shame, disappointment, anger, sadness. They stared at the bells that jingled tauntingly at their teacher's hip, a distraught look on their faces. The silver-haired jounin cleared his throat, garnering the attention of his students, the three of them looking directly at him.

"Team 7, for not completing your mission and not being able to retrieve these bells from me, you..." Their eyes fell to the ground, dejection clear on their faces, "...pass."

It took half of a second for the word 'pass' instead of 'fail' to settle in their heads. "WHAT?!" The shocked screams of the three genins filled the clearing, leaning forward in their surprise.

Kakashi couldn't help himself, letting out a boisterous laugh, "Yep! You three pass!"

"Not that I'm upset about passing, but... Kakashi-sensei, we didn't get the bells." Sakura found herself saying, giving her jounin teacher an incredulous look.

"We don't deserve to pass," Sasuke mumbled out after a few seconds, that dejected look still clear as day on his face.

Naruto nodded, giving his teammates a once-over before looking back to their teacher, "Why are you passing us? We didn't succeed."

"On the contrary. Your team is actually the first and only team under my tutelage that has ever succeeded." They stared at him in awe, "The other team did exactly what I said and fell into every trap I set. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception, even if it comes from someone you are supposed to trust."

"Like a jounin teacher," Sakura mumbled.

"Yes. You were the only squad that was able to do something like that, even before I told you what the exercise was about." Kakashi stated, giving Naruto a pointed look, "There is a saying that I learned many years ago. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum; that's true, but... those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." He was quiet for a few seconds, letting his genins absorb the information. He smiled, giving them a thumbs up, "The exercise is over. Everyone passes. Team 7 starts their first mission tomorrow!"

"We did it!" Sakura cheered, loudly.

"Hn." Sasuke let a small smile grace his features.

"Yes!" Naruto grinned brightly, feeling his heart swell with happiness.

He was one step closer to being recognized by the village as a medic!