17 Team 7

The alarm I had set to cause a seal next to my hairline to vibrate on time hit 5:30. Groaning at the the buzzing, I crawled out of bed before stretching.

'It's been lonely waking up.'

It had been a little over a year since Rin and I started sleeping in separate beds. We should have stopped earlier, but Rin had nightmares of me disappearing in the night, never to come back. I'd shiver constantly if I wasn't near her when I slept.

Probably from us being Jinchuriki to the same entity.

It was something I talked to Hiruzen about. Even if I was a very good sensor, and a slight empathic one at that, I shouldn't be having the same sensation as Rin when we were separated during REM sleep. I'd had fears that Kurama's two halves might have been more connected than originally thought. The tightenings were still on my seal, while Rin didn't have them. It took a great deal of time for the both of us to get accustomed to sleeping separately. Having to explain to her why was somehow even worse.

In my over 3 combined decades of life, I'd never stopped to think that I'd have to be given "The Talk" twice. Rin had it with Anko last year, and judging by the look of near trauma on her face when she returned from her and Anko having a little "girl talk", it was probably a mixed bag on what the hell Anko explained to her.

Kakashi was the one saddled with me. It was one of the few times I decided not to screw with him because I'd never seen the man more uncomfortable. I explained that I understood the basics, but he still insisted on making sure I knew things that were accurate.

(Undesired Flashback)

/////////////////////////////

"So," Kakashi started uncomfortably, "You know why we're here?"

The two of was were at a park, sitting on the bench with nobody near us.

I just nodded slightly at his question, the day being one of the worst I'd had in years.

My sense of smell may have been a godsend for when I'd be out in the field, or when training under Kakashi, but it brought me one of the most awful experiences I've had, right up there with being squeezed out at birth.

Rin had woken me up with her shouting. Shouting that she was bleeding. I'd thought she'd somehow been attacked or hurt herself. I'd smelled the blood. My mind had gone into combat mode, until I realized where the bloodstain was.

I had rushed to the bathroom to vomit when I realized what I had smelt. I'd smelt blood on women before. I'd always assumed that it was from missions, given that most of the Village carried a faint scent of blood do to the traffic of Shinobi coming in from missions. My whole world seemed to flip when I realized that may not have been the case on every single occasion when I smelled blood on some of the female ANBU that had guarded us when we were younger.

Calming her down had been a nightmare, but I managed. I'd ended up forcing Kakashi to help, and he promptly dropped it in Anko's lap since she'd be able to explain it better than he could.

Which left us in the current situation. Hiruzen, after giving me a look of sympathy when he found out how I made the discovery, ordered Kakashi to explain things to me. Between me and Kakashi, I don't know which one was more horrified.

Kakashi looked at me. "What all do you know?" He asked.

I just looked at him. "Are you really going to make me say it out loud?" I asked, my tone pitiful. "I joke about it enough that you'd think I'd know this stuff." I added sarcastically.

"I need to know that what knowledge you think you have is accurate." he said, slightly flinching at the thought of where this conversation was going to go.

"Kunai goes in holster." I said, my voice monotone, "It then comes out, then goes back in."

Before Kakashi could say anything, I continued.

"Kunai goes in until the exploding tag goes off... You don't want to do that in the holster unless you want babies to be made."

Kakashi couldn't help but huff slightly with relief.

"If you can joke about it," he said, his body relaxing, "and still be right, you understand it."

I just glanced at him before looking away. I wasn't enjoying making eye contact about this subject.

"Where did you learn this?" he questioned, realizing he hadn't asked that.

"Books." was my short reply.

Kakashi's lone visible eye widened, reaching for a pouch in his Flak jacket.

"Not Icha Icha," I grumbled, "Health books. I learned it in health and biology books."

Kakashi relaxed at that. He probably didn't want to have his ass on the chopping block with Hiruzen if I found out about this from Kakashi's laziness in keeping his book to himself.

"Why were you reading those books?" He questioned again, trying to figure out what peaked my interest.

I simply tapped the side of my head, while channeling a slight amount of lightning chakra into my off hand, causing some static to dance around my fingertips.

I'd been trying to pull off the Raikage's Lightning Cloak for the last couple years, yet I still couldn't even pull off a bootleg version of it safely for more than a few seconds. Neither my Lightning channeling level, nor my chakra control, was good enough to pull it off safely yet. Hopefully that would be different in a year or two.

The lightning enhancement sped up your body and thought processing. No use in going at a really fast pace if your thoughts are going too slow and you end up splattering yourself against something solid. It almost worked like the chain Shunshin that Uchiha Shisui did and was known for, but on a far more effective level.

Kakashi could hardly help me with it. He'd pulled off a very rudimentary version of the mind enhancement part, but that was mostly done so he could stave off headaches from processing too many images with his Sharingan.

His wasn't combat effective. It was meant to augment his brain when his mind wasn't wired like an Uchiha's in how they processed and retained images better. His advice on it was only able to point me in the general direction.

I'd come to the acceptance that there was a possibility that I wouldn't be able to make my personal Hiraishin anchor and become combat proficient like my father was with it within the few year window I had. The next best boon was to be as fast as literal lightning.

Just imagine if someone was as fast as the Raikage, with Killer B's chakra levels... Wrath of the Thunder God indeed.

Kakashi pulled me from my thoughts with a serious tone. "I told you not to keep trying that."

I'd tried to channel lightning chakra into my brain, combined with pushing out my sensing similar to how a bat uses sonar. The first part was without a doubt the stupidest thing I ever did. Kakashi got a front row seat to me trying to full speed Shunshin at him in a spar, with lightning coursing through my brain, only for me to keel over with my eyes rolled back into my head and no small amount of blood leaking from my ears.

Brain cells were significantly more sensitive to electrical stimuli than the nerves in your muscles. I ended up frying part of my brain, pissed myself, and forgot who I was for half an hour. My healing made me right as rain, but Kakashi let his fists do the talking in our spar on how pissed he was that I made such a boneheaded oversight.

Kakashi was still glaring at me, demanding I respond.

"Oh lay off me," I said irritatedly, "I haven't done that since the incident. I was studying different parts of the brain so I wouldn't fry myself again."

Kakashi stared at me for a moment, probably trying to gauge my truthfulness, before he nodded.

"Good," he said, the worry in his body language obvious, "You worried me when you couldn't even remember your own name."

I grimaced at the reminder. It wasn't a pleasant half hour.

"I've been careful," I assured him, "But I'm going to need to enhance my perception if I'm wanting to fight like that."

Kakashi knew my desire to be Kage level. But we both knew I had to start somewhere, and this was one of my two major paths to it.

Kakashi nodded knowingly, before his expression shifted slightly.

"Back to the previous subject." he said, his tone back to uncomfortable.

I groaned and readied myself for another question.

"You know how the physical changes are?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, "Boys... and girls." I added, my face showing my revulsion.

"Care to clarify?" he asked.

I just glared at him. "Why do you think I puked when I smelled blood?"

Kakashi's whole body screamed shock. "You smelled it!?"

Kakashi wasn't there when I told Hiruzen how I knew what was going on.

"Yes." I whispered quietly.

Kakashi looked like he himself was ready to be sick at the thought. Composing himself, he looked at me again.

"I guess you understand everything we were going to talk about." he said.

"Yeah." I replied.

The two of us sat on the bench at the park we had commandeered for several minutes, before Kakashi broached another subject.

"You want something to eat?" he asked, neither of us having lunch yet.

I just shrugged my shoulders and nodded, wanting to move on from a terrible start to the day.

(End Undesired Flashback)

//////////////////////////

I made my way out of my bedroom, the memory of the incident still with me. It was a harsh reminder that time was passing by. Rin wasn't a little girl. It frightened me that there were certain things that I couldn't exactly help her with.

Over the last 6 years, I had to play the part of older brother and parent for the both of us. I was the one who cooked. I was the one who made sure Rin kept to her studies and training when she first got started on it.

This was terrain that I was out of my depth in. I didn't have children in my past life, and I didn't have kid siblings either. I'd been paranoid that I'd messed up in some way when I was basically forced to raise her. After I felt like I did a decent job, a curve ball gets served up to me with me being none the wiser.

If this is how fathers, and brothers 10 years older feel, I pity and empathize with them.

Getting to the kitchen, I got started on breakfast. I set my alarm earlier so I could fix a larger meal so Rin wouldn't have to wait on food.

Singing to myself softly, I grabbed the skillet from the back pantry, the sausage and eggs from the fridge came next, and I made sure to fix extra, along with a helping of tomatoes for Sasuke.

I was pretty sure Hinata would still eat breakfast even with 'Kakashi' advising not to. She'd done intense training before. Vomiting from exertion wasn't something she was frightened of. I also knew it would be hours before Kakashi showed up.

'I'm a jerk.' I snickered to myself. But at least I'll choose to suffer alongside my comrades.

By the time I was nearly finished with the sausage and eggs, Rin stumbled into the kitchen, her hair a mess and her eyes drowsy looking.

"Breakfast?" she asked, eyeing me standing at the stove.

"Hmmnn," I nodded, "Just in time for it to be done."

Rin smiled before sitting down at our small table, waiting for the food to be finished.

A short couple minutes later, it was done, judging by the pleasant sizzle. Grabbing two plates and filling them, I handed one to Rin before digging into my own.

I'd always been at ease when I made food from my first life. Whether it be something like pizza, which Rin loved, or something as simple as scrambled eggs and sausage, it was the kind I could make in my sleep, and also helped me to remember memories that were precious to me. Cooking for my parents and siblings instead of the other way around. The Circle of Life and so on.

After we finished eating, Rin eyed the untouched helping still simmering on the stove.

"Who's that for?" she asked.

"Sasuke." I said simply.

Rin's face scrunched slightly at the name. "Why?" she asked simply.

"Well," I started, "You told me how Kakashi said not to eat, and well, he'll probably show up late and I don't want to have to deal with Sasuke brooding and being irritable cuz he was stupid enough to not eat." I finished.

Rin nodded in understanding, "They're still my eggs and sausage." she grumbled.

Rin was very territorial on the food cooked by me. She loved my cooking and was unwilling to share unconditionally with anyone except Hinata.

"Yes," I replied, "But I also bought tomatoes yesterday when you told me how Sasuke likes them."

"I wouldn't have needed to if you hadn't decided to ditch us." Rin said, her tone accusatorial.

She had me there. She still didn't know I Henged as Kakashi to mess with them, mainly Sasuke.

"Alright Alright," I said, my hands slightly raised, "It'll be a one time thing... probably."

She just glared at me for a moment, before she shrugged and put up her plate and headed to her room to change out of her pajamas and into her normal attire.

Dropping my own plate into the sink, I headed to my own room to "suit up" as well. Black pants similar to Kakashi's, check. Red shirt, check. Lightweight ANBU style chestplate concealed under my jacket, check. Dark jacket that covered up the slight bulge from the armour and had plenty of seals stitched into the interior, check. I finished up dressing myself by strapping on my forearm guards that had multiple storage seals etched into the metal, and tying up my sandals that had a reinforced cover for my toes applied by me personally.

I still remember the pain of Anko stomping on my toes in a spar a couple weeks back.

"All's fair in a fight, brat." Her voice seemed to echo in my mind.

She only felt slightly bad when she realized her stomp tore a nail off my foot.

I stopped leaving my toes out in the open after that.

I grabbed a couple of my books and sealed them into one of the seals of my left bracer. I then left my room and went over to the stove to double check that I shut it off. Putting the food into a bento box that I drew a seal on the outside to prevent the heat from radiating out as much so it would stay warm, I grabbed it with my left hand and waited for Rin.

My twin sister came out of her room in her own normal clothes. Her clothes were similar to mine, except she still wore regular sandals and she didn't wear a jacket. Instead, she wore a long sleeve shirt over an orange t-shirt. She didn't exactly enjoy wearing concealed armour, but she still did when I requested.

I'd wondered in the series why Konoha Shinobi wore what looked to be flak jackets when it was shown that ANBU wore solid armour, not fabric, and the Sannin were shown to have solid armour. The answer was so simple that I nearly overlooked it.

Cost.

The flak jackets were designed to absorb strikes to some degree. The fabric was similar to how Kakashi's shirt could make gripping it with chakra slick. The layers of fabric in the jacket insulated your internal organs enough where an unguided chakra strike with lightning wouldn't stop your heart if you were unprepared, or a rudimentary wind blade or chakra scalpel wouldn't sever arteries. There were also pouches in the jacket where it could be reinforced with metal plates if need be.

The armour worn by the ANBU, and Sannin in the Second Shinobi War, by contrast was some of the highest quality armour Shinobi had access to.

Several veterans had armour similar to it, but didn't wear it, instead going with soft armour or none at all. The reason why, was that we were currently in a state of peace. Higher tiered Shinobi normally do escort missions or assassinations. Covert assassinations get problematic when you have unconcealable armour strapped to you.

This was something that genuinely perplexed me about this universe when I thought it was simply a show or manga. Knights, cavalry, and infantry stopped wearing full plate and mail only when guns got strong enough to pierce even the best steel plates. There'd be no reason to have armour if it was useless at stopping anything.

I'd wondered if there was a genuine reason why Shinobi didn't seem to wear plates. Kakashi gave me an ANBU manual and under Hiruzen's approval, gave me access to the Jonin section of the library. That was where I found out the cost issue and the hit to being covert.

My interest in armour ideas existed ever since I had thought up of a way to possibly stop Juken strikes from Hinata, because those hits hurt.

The reactive armour idea wasn't time or cost effective. Hiruzen had asked me how long it took me to make the prototype, and the stupid thing took me the better part of a week to make it after I'd worked out the worst issues... and that was with clones.

The plate itself could almost be pierced by a kunai strike from a high genin or low Chunin Shinobi. It only outperformed against chakra strikes and even then, the stupid thing bruised my ribs from the guided explosion. It was a wonder the clone didn't pop when the elder jabbed it.

Putting my thoughts on armour aside, I smiled at Rin.

"Ready?" I asked.

Rin smiled back and nodded. We linked arms and walked out the door, heading to training ground 7.

/////////////////////////

Sasuke hadn't gotten the best of sleep last night. His possible Sensei had poked at a sore spot when he made him share a couple things. He'd only gotten a few hours of sleep before the nightmares drove him to staying awake. He dragged himself out of bed and tended to the small little garden of tomatoes that he had been growing for the last couple years.

His tomatoes that he made and tended to himself seemed to taste much better than the ones he got at the market. It also had the added bonus that he wouldn't have to deal with the civilians, especially the women, looking at him in pity or like he was somehow broken.

He hated being pitied. It reminded him of that night.

"You are weak." A voice seemed to say.

Sasuke tensed and accidentally crushed a tomato, a spike of anger going through his mind. Cursing at ruining a perfectly good tomato, he wiped off the remnants before moving to the next plant, trying to keep his thoughts clear.

The villagers didn't see him. They saw something broken that needed to be fixed. The girls saw him as some tragic hero that was so handsome and quiet and brooding, and only their love could crack his cold, stalwart exterior.

"Only by hating me will you be strong enough to kill me."

He crushed another tomato without thinking. Growling at his loss of control, he left his garden, not wanting to destroy another.

The gardening hobby of his was something that he picked up because it reminded him of his mother when she had her own little garden. He saw each plant as a lifeline to something he'd never get back. Inspecting his hand, he saw the sticky juice of the tomato coat his fingers, the liquid looking reddish.

Like blood.

'The stink of blood. A shadowy figure, blade dripping the red life giving fluid, standing in front of his parent's bodies. Him screaming for his brother. The figure turning around. Seeing his brother alive and well. The relief turning into realization and terror. The eyes that once were filled with love, now almost glassy with an inhuman gaze.

Almost as if he didn't recognize his little brother.

Him staggering back. Him falling into a puddle of blood. The liquid sticky, foul, and red.'

Almost like the tomato's juice.

Sasuke's breath quickened as he started seeing something not there. Rushing to his bathroom, he tried to wash it off, but it never seemed to be completely gone, no matter how hard he scruubed. He tried to look away from his hand as he gritted his teeth, catching a glimpse of black, like his eyes.

Shaking, he fell backwards on his bathroom's floor. Only after a moment did he realize that what he saw was his own eyes, not Itachi's.

"The eyes are the windows into the soul, Sasuke." His mother had told him, her eyes brimming with light and love. Sasuke looked into the mirror, black eyes staring back. The same colour as his. The face that looked back was similar, far too similar. The hair was the same colour. But the worst was when he truely looked at his eyes.

The same emptiness he saw that night was staring straight back at him.

"I'm not you." Sasuke whispered to himself, his hands clenched around the sink. "I'm not you." he growled.

You are weak.

"I am not weak," He snarled, his hatred coming to the surface, "You took everything from me and I will smile as I rip your empty eyes from your head!" he spat, his voice rising to a shout with the last words.

He needed to get out of the house. He needed something to distract him. He nearly ran to his backyard where he had some of his training gear at from yesterday.

Not even padding his fingers, he began to punch the wooden post that was his taijutsu target on most days.

"To kill me, you must acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan. You must kill your best friend if you want to avenge our clan."

"I'm not you!" he snarled, landing a hard strike on the wooden post, hearing a crack from the wood.

He'd heard whispers of how Shisui died. He was His best friend. He turned up dead just a month before that night.

'Did you kill him? Your best friend?'

"You must kill your best friend if you want to avenge our clan."

"I'm not you!" He growled, his voice shaking as another punch cracked the post.

"Run. Run and cower."

"I am not you!" he howled, his last punch snapping the pole in half.

Breathing heavily, he fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath. Sasuke felt a deep pain at the thought of killing somebody close to him.

"I'm not you," he whispered, his breath faint, "You felt nothing when you took everything from me. I'm not you. I hurt. You didn't scream and cry when you took my mother and father from me. You didn't feel weak." he croaked, "You didn't feel like a failure." he whispered to himself.

Sasuke had longed for death for the first several weeks following the massacre. But it would have been too easy. If he didn't hurt and rage against the injustice done to his family, who would? If his pain died, his family would die for a second time. The best way for him to remember was to hurt. He couldn't let go of his hatred. It burned him like a fire, but he feared the darkness more than he feared the pain.

"You didn't long for death like me," Sasuke whispered, "But when we meet again, you will."

Pulling himself to his feet, he went back inside to put some ointment on his knuckles and bandage them. He had a test to pass.

////////////////////////

Hinata groaned as her alarm went off, wanting to sleep a little longer. She tried to reach to shut it off, only succeeding in knocking it over.

Muttering something that she'd usually hear Rin say at knocking her clock over, she got up and picked up the clock, shutting off the alarm. She heard a servant walking towards her room, probably hearing the sound.

"Hinata-sama?" the servant Aimi asked, "Is everything ok?"

"Yes." Hinata replied softly, "I just dropped the clock."

The servant nodded, before she continued on. "Are you ready for breakfast, Hinata-sama?" she asked.

Hinata nodded, knowing that Kakashi would probably be later than he said he'd be. It'd do no good to be starving while her Sensei took his time.

She followed the servant to the kitchen, a certain thought in her mind.

How difficult will it be to get Rin and Sasuke to cooperate?

We reached training ground 7 after about 15 minutes, neither Hinata or Sasuke having arrived. I made a dozen bunshin to look around the area and to dispell when they spotted the two. Situating myself on the ground, I popped open a storage scroll I had in one of my pouches and pulled out a couch from it.

"I still can't believe you actually kept that." She grumbled.

A furniture store employee decided to be as rude as possible to me. The little turd called me a demon and told me to basically, in polite terms of course, get fucked, and that my twin sister was a whore.

Suffice to say, I did not take it lying down. I Henged as the guy, pissed on the doorstep of the store in broad daylight, and then took the couch I'd planned to buy to replace the one that got blown up when I botched one of my armour prototypes.

Rin was irritated that I went through the effort of fixing the nearly shredded old couch and put it in a scroll to carry around.

"Waste not want not, my dear sister," I grinned, "Besides, I'm rather attached to this one."

"Only because you bled on it when you pissed off Anko." Rin grumbled, bringing up that subject.

Anko and I had a very spirited fight and I didn't realize, nor she, that I fell on a kunai and was bleeding all over my pants. Because of that, I got my blood all over the couch when I crashed.

"There's so much Uzumaki blood in it, I'd say it's legally a family relative, Rin." I said cheekily, "you don't turn your back on family." I fake sniffled.

Rin just looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world. "You're an idiot." she deadpanned.

"And what does that make you, my little sunflower?" I snickered.

Rin hated that nickname. Too girlish, and I pitched my voice to almost sound like Ino when she was loudly proclaiming how lovely flowers can be to her Sasuke-kun, especially Sunflowers.

Rin's face tightened slightly, "You said you wouldn't call me that." She said irritably.

"I lied," I proclaimed, my voice deepening for a moment, "as I have from the very beginning."

Rin just groaned at hearing another one of my "Stupid quotes of yours that I don't get".

"Do you have one of those stupid quips for everything?" She asked rhetorically.

"Possibly." I replied, my lips twitching slightly.

She saw my look. She looked like she wanted to say something, but decided not to for fear of me continuing to do it.

I pulled out a couple of the books I sealed and cracked one open for myself, pulling out a pen as well. I'd decided to start writing about two years ago. I needed something aside from training and studying to prevent me from turning into a complete lunatic.

There's Anko's insanity, then there's Kakashi, then there's Gai. Gai's craziness, I can tolerate.

I'd not really interacted with Gai outside of running into him when Kakashi and I came back from training, but I took the time to speak with him when I did. The anime and manga did absolutely no justice to the man's presence. He seemed to positively glow with life and energy. His talks of The Springtime of Youth was something that didn't seem nearly as crazy when he wasn't a character on screen or on paper. I understood why Kakashi would be around him even if his exuberance could be overwhelming at times.

You could feel that he lived fiercely. He would have been the one to pull Kakashi out of his death stunts in the ANBU had Rin and I not been here. Gai would always have my respect. It took a good friend to think of joining the ANBU just so your friend wouldn't come back as a body.

Returning back to what I was doing, I started writing out more of "my" story. All I had to do was change a few character names and twist the plot and dialogue slightly, and I got a novel series that Rin absolutely loved.

It was Star Wars, plain and simple. Except that I edited the background to be similar to the Elemental Nations instead of a galaxy. Rin loved the princess character, no surprise. I'd talked with a couple publishers under a Henge on potentially getting the book published, but I hadn't gotten word back yet.

But I still wrote it out to help me remember the things of my previous life. After about another 10 minutes, I got the memories of one of my clones back.

Sasuke had showed up.

A minute later, I could see him. Even if I wasn't a perceptive person, I still would have noticed something was off. His hands looked like they were bandaged from him punching something repeatedly.

Why would he be training when we're going to be tested by a Jonin?

I also noticed there was a very slight sway in his steps, something that normally occurs when you've gotten little food or sleep.

Of course he didn't eat. I thought.

"Sasuke." I greeted him, not getting off my couch.

Sasuke just blinked at me, realizing that I was sitting on a couch in the center of a training ground.

"Like the couch?" Rin grinned towards him, "I think he's crazy too." She added with a false whisper.

Sasuke just grunted irritably at having to deal with more craziness. "You hungry?" Rin gestured towards the bento box that was next the couch.

Sasuke just looked at it without much emotion. "Kakashi-sensei said not to eat."

"Incorrect," I stepped in, "He recommended that you not eat. He didn't order us."

I could see Sasuke's eyes narrowing as he glared at me.

"You weren't there." Sasuke ground out, his face twitching slightly.

I just looked to Rin, an unvoiced question asked.

"He didn't say you couldn't eat," she said, "He's going to be late, so you may as well eat something." She finished, before handing him the box.

Sasuke took it reluctantly, confused that we offered him food. Opening it up, I saw his hands shake for a moment, before he seemed to clench his hands slightly.

Was it the tomatoes?

"You said you liked tomatoes," Rin said simply, "So we got some."

Sasuke was quiet for a moment, his eyes not leaving the contents of the box. "Thank you." he whispered, before he began eating.

Hinata ended up arriving around ten minutes later, one of my clones spotting her and popped to let me know.

"The princess deems us worthy of her presence." I said cheekily.

She just turned a slight shade of red and giggled at my antics.

"How did you get a couch here?" she asked confusedly.

"Storage scroll." I shrugged.

Hinata understood completely then. "Oh." she said quietly.

"Did you eat?" I asked her.

"Yes," she replied, "I know Kakashi-sensei probably won't be here on time, so I had some breakfast."

We were like that for the next hour, just standing, or in my case laying down, waiting for Kakashi. I felt one of my clones pop, alerting me that Kakashi wasn't far away.

'He's early for once?' I thought. 'Unless he saw through my flat out lie.'

"I see through the lies of the Jedi." I snickered under my breath in English.

Rin just shot me a glare at me saying that.

Kakashi walked straight towards me, his look showed his displeasure.

"You're late, again." Rin growled.

Kakashi turned to look at her. "Would you believe me if I said your brother Henged as me and told you to come here at 6:30, and told me he told you it was at noon?" he asked.

Rin's face clenched and turned red. "That's so stupid." she shouted, "I can't believe you came up with that as an excuse."

Hinata glanced at me quickly, noticing a slight smirk on my face. She just smiled and shook her head, realizing that Kakashi wasn't lying.

I Henged as Kakashi when Rin wasn't looking at me.

"Oh ye of little faith," I said disappointedly, "How could you possibly doubt the word of your beloved Sensei?" I finished dramatically.

Rin's head sharply turned to me, a look of shock, then fury showing.

"I had to get up before 6:00 because of you?" she demanded.

"Guilty as charged." I replied flippantly.

Sasuke was giving me a death glare, Hinata gave me a look of slight aggravation, and Rin looked like she was ready to punch me.

"I don't see why you'd be upset." I said confusedly, "I fixed you breakfast."

"I'd rather have extra sleep." Rin growled.

"Sasuke isn't complaining." I said as a rebuttal, conveniently ignoring his glaring, "See," I pointed, "He's stuffing his face full of my sausage... wait," I said, "I didn't mean it like that."

Rin just growled, knowing I meant to say it that way to piss off Sasuke, ignoring her irritation at me. Sasuke's face turned green and he stopped eating entirely, not looking at the food. Hinata's face turned red in embarrassment. I didn't want to know why though.

Kakashi was giving me a "You said it that way on purpose" look.

"Well,' I asked Kakashi, "We ready?"

"Yeah." Kakashi said, before tossing me two bells.

Catching the two without issue, I tilted my head at Kakashi.

"Uh, what am I supposed to do with these?" I asked.

"You were the one who told them to be here at 6:30. You can be their Sensei today." He said flatly. "I'll just sit back and watch."

Rin got a look of glee on her face. She'd have another opportunity to try and beat me into the ground. Sasuke smirked slightly, wanting to fight, probably from the joke I made. Hinata just shook her head, knowing that it would either go bad for me, or very bad for them.

Sighing and sitting up from my couch, which I then resealed into its scroll, followed by my book, I looked towards Kakashi, flipping him the bird, before Henging as him.

"Alright, my little ducklings," I grinned, looking straight at Sasuke, "Here is how the test goes. There are two bells right here." I lifted up the bells to show them.

"The goal is to take the bells off of me. If you fail to do so, you fail the test. There are only two bells. You must have a bell if you are wanting to pass. Otherwise, you will be sent back to the Academy."

Sasuke glared straight at me. "You don't have the power to do that, Uzumaki." He sneered.

"I don't," I acknowledged, "But my ugly twin does." Rin thought I was talking about her and nearly growled a response, before she realized I was looking straight at Kakashi and was currently Henged as him.

Kakashi just shrugged at the insult, having been called far worse and said far worse himself. "This was the test I was going to give... and my generous little brother volunteered."

"Har har har," I laughed sarcastically, "See, my little duckling," I looked to Sasuke, his glare aimed back at me, " If you can't get a bell, you get sent back to the Academy as a failure."

At the word "failure", Sasuke flinched nearly imperceptibly, before his glare turned to a hateful one.

'Great, he's all worked up now and probably won't want to work with Rin and Hinata. I'm already off to a bad start.'

Kakashi stepped back several yards, before giving me the signal that I can begin whenever I wished.

"So," I started, eyeing the three potential genin standing about 20 yards away from me, "Sasuke," I looked towards him, "Attack Hinata and I'll give you a bell."

Rin's and Hinata's eyes widened at that. Sasuke looked at Hinata, then to me, a flash of indecision on his face as he paled visibly.

He must be made to know what betrayal entails.

"Yes," I said, a predatory grin on my face, "Be a good little Uchiha and betray a comrade. Be just like him."

Sasuke flinched and nearly staggered like he'd been punched, his eyes fogging over for a moment.

I took the slight distraction to Shunshin away, setting up a plan on the fly to combat the three.

Kakashi would have to take any fight very seriously against them.

Hinata on her own would be a nightmare. She caused severe damage with just a brush of her fingers, and she was fast, almost faster than Rin. I was still faster, but I couldn't just go barreling full speed at them or I'd possibly hurt them.

I was already pretty damn fast and it was enhanced by my extremely high degree of chakra sensory. In the same way that gamblers sometimes had a tell when they were bluffing, I could sometimes feel when the air was shifting if I pumped the area with water chakra in the form of mist and would move before a strike would come.

The Kirigakure no Jutsu was something that was even more dangerous when I used it compared to any other Shinobi. I maintained a connection to the mist, likely due to a combination of my extra dense yin chakra and my high level of chakra sensitivity. I could manipulate it to a degree where I could make a Mizu bunshin with the mist.

I'd nearly landed a critical strike on Kakashi more than once using that strategy. No one expects a half seal to make a bunshin behind you, especially from a twelve year old.

What can I say? Kage bunshin are great for lowering the needed hand seals.

Rin could nullify it with any wind jutsu that blasted the mist away, but Hinata had nothing that could beat me in Ninjutsu. Her alignment was fire, my vast chakra levels and near prodigious grasp on the strategies behind water manipulation left her vulnerable to medium to long range.

Rin couldn't match me in taijutsu though. Her strength was much greater than any other girl her age, partly because of her being an Uzumaki, the other being a Jinchuriki. But she couldn't beat me with brute force. Her punches would hurt me badly, but my greater speed would still carry me through. Her Ninjutsu would level part of the forest if I responded in kind, so I'd need to refrain from the more potent Suiton jutsu.

Overall, it would take too much effort to beat the two at the same time without either destroying the forest or hurting them, which was the point. I could do it without all my advantages, but Sasuke could tip the balance. But that only happens if they work together.

Kakashi knew what he was doing when he made me be their opponent.

//////////////////////

Sasuke hated Uzumaki Naruto more than anyone at that moment, aside from him. Uzumaki was the one, not Kakashi, that forced him to open up the day before. He was the reason that his nightmares were worse. And now, Uzumaki compared him to Itachi.

"Be a good little Uchiha and betray a comrade. Be just like him."

Eyes once full of love now were empty.

"You are weak."

"You must kill your best friend."

Sasuke couldn't breathe. He couldn't see what was in front of him. And then, just as quick as it had come, the feeling left. Rin and Hinata gave him a look of distrust, before they disappeared into the forest, trying to search for Naruto. Sasuke felt shame bubble up in him at his thoughts to Naruto's offer.

'I actually considered it.'

Sasuke clenched his fists before charging into the forest, trying to find the current object of his hatred.

'I'm not him.'

/////////////////////////

I'd made close to a hundred clones and popped open the storage scrolls I had on my person. There were dozens of logs with flashbang tags put on them precisely for the purpose of combating Hyuga in hand to hand. I had my clones lace the woods with the logs and had another detachment of clones try to bait Hinata and Rin to spring the trap.

3 of my clones were setting off the more intense flashbangs periodically to make sure Hinata couldn't use her eyes to scope out where I or my traps were put. Hyuga were a pain to ambush.

My thoughts were interrupted by an influx of memories and I stopped my running.

A clone popped.

I'd caught a glimpse of black, before the memory abruptly stopped.

Sasuke. He was perhaps 100 yards away.

'How the hell did he find me before Rin and Hinata?'

Shrugging at the thought, I made another dozen clones and had them Henge as some field mice before strapping some low grade exploding tags to them. I still hadn't learned the exploding Kage bunshin variant... Something about "being too explosion happy. Wait till you graduate."

At least the exploding variant didn't give you the feedback of what getting blown up feels like.

I hope I don't have to use them.

Approaching where I could sense Sasuke's chakra, I advanced through the trees, keeping an eye out for my prey. Spotting a head of raven hair that resembled poultry posterior, I made a silent bunshin and promptly dispelled it to relay a message to one of my clones on the ground Henged as a mouse.

It dropped the henge, and charged Sasuke. The Uchiha reacted promptly and engaged in taijutsu with the clone, my eyes fixed on the exchange. I needed to gauge Sasuke's ability outside of an Academy sanctioned fight.

He's good.

None of my disdain for his personality traits or overall demeanor blinded me to the fact that Sasuke was a very good fighter. His strikes were quick and had force behind them. Very little, if any, wasted movement was seen and Sasuke aimed to cripple and maim.

But I'd trained with one of the best ANBU that Konoha produced. I trained with a Tokubetsu-Jonin who trained under Orochimaru and didn't shy away from making me hurt, and I'd fought against Hyuga and a Jinchuriki.

In comparison, a twelve year old Uchiha, even a very skilled one, without his Sharingan was perfectly manageable.

Eventually, Sasuke was able to land a punch to the clone's ribs, popping the clone. I saw the slight surprise in Sasuke's posture at realizing that he wasn't fighting the real me. He didn't have time to think on it before two more of my clones dropped their Henges and engaged him.

I leaped to another tree to get into a better position for when I'd jump in. Sasuke pulled a kunai and was able to land a small cut on one of the clone's to dispell it. The second clone decided to try and blow itself up as a response.

Why the hell would I do this to me?

The explosion pushed Sasuke back a couple yards and winded him, his clothes and hair slightly smoking.

As Sasuke shook his head, I heard him mutter to himself, "What just happened?"

Same thoughts in my head. I cursed the clone for being annoying.

Sasuke pulled himself to his feet, rotating his jaw slightly, probably to pop his ears. I decided this was the time to join in myself. Jumping to the ground almost soundlessly behind him, I made my presence known in the most civilized manner possible.

"Hello there." I proclaimed.

Sasuke sharply turned behind to face me, kunai in hand.

"Are you a clone, or the real one?" he demanded.

I looked perfectly relaxed, but my eyes were roving over Sasuke's posture, taking in how tense he was.

"I'm the real one." I answered, "Not that it wasn't amusing to see you flounder against my clones."

"I killed three." He said coldly, flicking his kunai into a backhand grip.

"You killed two." I replied with a raised brow, "The other blew itself up and incapacitated you. For all intents and purposes, you're dead."

Before Sasuke could say anything, I continued. "That blast put you on the ground long enough where an enemy Shinobi would have buried a kunai in your head." I said simply, "You did something that no Konoha Shinobi that wants to come back alive does... You split from your teammates."

Sasuke glared at me saying that, "They'll only slow me dow-"

"I killed you already, Uke." I snapped, "Slowing you down would have meant you might have smelled a trap, but you didn't."

Sasuke still glared at me, his look getting angrier with each point I made.

"Hinata could have seen me in the trees with her eyes and Rin could have used clones to scope out the area and helped you fight me. You were dead the moment you separated from them. You can't beat me on your own."

"I'm an Uchiha." Sasuke growled, "You're a clanless orphan, while mine helped found Konoha. I don't need help from those two."

I replied with something that I knew would piss him off. I'd be poking a festering wound like bringing up Obito to Kakashi, or Rin to me.

"Your clan was gutted by a 13 year old." I stated matter of factly, "Not much of a clan if they were that weak."

I saw Sasuke freeze, the temperature seeming to drop.

The mind stuff I was doing to him was not something I liked at all, but I needed to know beyond all doubt whether he could be a friend and not a danger.

It was one thing to interact with him in the Academy, but it was another to gauge what kind of teammate he'll be to Rin and Hinata.

"Did I strike a nerve?" I asked, as if I were addressing a child, "You gonna try and hurt me?"

Sasuke's fists were clenched and his body was shaking.

"Don't try to jab at my lack of parents, Uchiha." I growled, "I know full well what happened to you."

"You know nothing." he spat, his eyes blazing, "I was Rookie of the year. I don't need help from them. You're just an idiot and your bitch sister is just as crazy as you!"

Looking back, I'm certain Sasuke wasn't speaking what he really believed. He was likely remembering the massacre and was trying to stay above water and not fall apart in front of me.

But I didn't think that at that moment. I wanted the little bastard to know that you do not call my sister a bitch to my face when I'm trying to give advice on how to not get killed.

"You jealous?" I sneered, my chakra make my skin itch slightly as it responded to my desire to fight, "Jealous that she has an older brother that doesn't find her to be totally useless and a pining dog that wants training every waking moment?"

Sasuke's face twisted into a feral snarl at that, but I wasn't done.

"I think I know why he didn't kill you," I said, grinning darkly, "You weren't even worth the effort of killing. You're too weak."

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke roared, before charging me, kunai raised.

When he maintained his composure, Sasuke was good enough to make me fight seriously in taijutsu. To end any fight with him quickly would require liberal use of Ninjutsu.

But Sasuke was the furthest from composed you could be. His movements were feral and sloppy, the attacks almost telegraphed. I dodged most of them, deflecting a couple swings from his kunai with a kunai I drew from one of the seals on my bracer.

Me shrugging off his attacks seemed to enrage him further.

"Fight back!" he snarled, before his kunai got knocked loose from me flourishing my wrist when I blocked a strike to pull his kunai from his grip.

"I don't hit the weak."

Sasuke seemed to finally think clearly enough to substitute with a fallen tree branch, before he started making handsigns.

'Fire.' I thought, feeling the slight warm feeling with my sensing. He fired the fire jutsu that was iconic in the Uchiha clan.

Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

I made my own handsigns and pooled water into my gut, blasting a jet of water out.

Suiton: Suidon no Jutsu.

The size of his fireball was fairly impressive, roughly the same level as Anko's, but I nullified it with the larger jet of water striking it.

The two jutsu clashed in a loud crash and sizzle, a few kunai whistling towards me.

I pulsed chakra into one of my storage seals and flung 4 shuriken at the 4 kunai, knocking them aside without issue.

Sasuke ran around the steam and rushed towards me, slashing at me with a kunai. I ducked under the slash and aimed a kick at his head, his forearm coming up to stop it. My other leg kicked straight forward and staggered him as he crossed his arms, unaware of how hard I could actually hit.

I started my own offensive, making sure to not go too hard. Sasuke wasn't able to keep up with my flurry of punches aimed at his face, one striking him hard enough to make him blink. Our arms locked and I tripped his legs out from under him, his fist blindly swinging at me as he fell.

I caught his punch, twitching from it actually having some strength behind it, and flung him away as hard as I could, wincing at the sound he made as he struck a tree.

He flipped his legs up to get back on his feet and went through handsigns again, a wrathful expression on his face.

Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.

Call me petty, but I wanted to send a message, the kind to let someone know they're outclassed.

I popped one of the seals on my left bracer to release the water I had stored in the seal. I then made multiple hands signs to use one of the higher end water jutsu I knew.

Suiton: Suijinheki.(Water Encampment Wall).

A wall of water shot up to protect me from the fire ball. I'd pumped more chakra into the jutsu than intended, causing the fire ball to be nearly swallowed up by the water.

Before Sasuke could shake off the shock from me responding with a bigger jutsu, I Shunshined a short distance to get around the wall I made. I risked it and chained another one together to close the gap.

Sasuke didn't have time to respond before I pressed hard on his defenses. My punches caused his arms to nearly give from the power behind them and his eyes were desperately trying to keep up with my movements.

A punch eventually slipped between his hands and found it's way to his right eye, his head jerking back. A kick to the ribs followed that had him gasping from being winded. More blows slipped through his defenses until finally, I was able to grapple his left arm, yanked him towards me, and drove my forehead into his nose, almost re-breaking it.

He howled in pain, before I drove a roundhouse kick into his sternum, knocking him to the ground.

Stalking towards his downed form, I pulled the kunai I'd resealed back out of the seal. Reaching him and grabbing the front of his shirt, my kunai inches from his face, I whispered to him.

"Dead."

Even with bruised ribs, a black eye, and blood flowing freely from his nose, he still showed a lot of fight when he tried to bite me. I just smacked him in the forehead with the blunt end of my kunai.

"Not only are you dead," I told him, my voice lowering. "Your teammates are dead."

I began to let some of my Killing Intent out. By the slight shaking I could feel from holding on to Sasuke, it was having the desired effect.

"I'm a comrade, Sasuke." I said harshly, "If you can't keep your head straight when I talk about your clan, how can you hope to keep your composure if an enemy Shinobi brings it up?"

Sasuke still had unresolved issues. He feared being weak and was willing to throw himself into danger because he was terrified of Itachi being right about him. And these issues aren't things that get solved overnight.

"Your teammates would be my sister and my closest friend." I growled, my KI raising even higher, "You would endanger them simply because you can't keep your mind straight."

"I," Sasuke started, his breathing erratic, but he was interrupted by me.

"You had everything taken from you, I get that." I said, looking straight into his eyes, "But if this were a mission and I an enemy Shinobi, you'd be dead with your eyes ripped out, and my sister and closest friend would either be dead or taken prisoner and raped by their captors." my voice started to deepen and I felt my canines slightly elongate.

Sasuke was shaking like a leaf, realizing why my hatred ran so deep.

"I will kill you before you take what's precious to me." I said quietly, "You'd take them from me like your brother took everything from you." I felt a tear spring from my eye, "I won't let you be like him. I'll do you the favour of killing you before that."

Sasuke looked at me in horror.

"You can't ju-"

I spiked my Killing Intent higher and caused him to let put a strangled gasp.

"The fuck I can't," I snarled, my anger starting to mess with me a bit, "No one is here to save you. You are at my mercy. Teamwork is what saved the Sannin from Hanzo. Their teamwork got them home. I could easily make it look like you got killed by a trap. Your quest to kill your brother will be left unfulfilled."

Sasuke just stared at me with fear as I reined in my anger.

"Please," Sasuke begged, "Don't take that from me."

"You're vengeance is what's precious to you." I sneered, "You'd take everything from me."

Sasuke had to understand what the path of vengeance would do to him. I refused to let him become the thing he thought his brother was.

"You're just like him." I stated.

Sasuke's shifted back to anger. "I AM NO-"

Smack*

I slapped him in the face.

"Do not lie to me." I snarled, "I saw the look you gave when I offered you the bell. You thought about it. You considered attacking a comrade to get one step closer to killing him."

Sasuke's emotions were clearly visible on his face in his current state. Shame was the one present.

"Would you kill an innocent if it meant you'd be closer to killing your brother?"

A look of disgust appeared on the youngest Uchiha's face.

"No." Sasuke gritted out, his eyes fixed on mine.

"Hinata's innocent." I responded.

Sasuke stared back at me with anger.

What I said next took all the fire from his eyes.

"Would you kill your best friend?"

Sasuke's face paled, his eyes widening at the precise words I'd used.

"Until you can look me in the eye and truthfully say you'd fight tooth and nail to protect your comrades, until you can look at me and tell me you'd never kill your best friend or the love of your life to get a chance at killing him, don't you dare delude yourself into thinking that you're any different than him."

I then restrained his hands completely, slapped a chakra suppressant tag on him, and put a weight seal to keep him still, at least until Hinata and Rin found him.

"Think on what I said." Was my parting shot before moving to try and locate the two girls. I didn't need enhanced hearing to understand what Sasuke was frantically saying under his breath, sounding like he was hyperventilating.

"I'm not him. I'm not him. I'm not him."

//////////////////////

"Don't keep trying, Hinata, you'll only hurt yourself." Rin told her friend.

Naruto's clones had been repeatedly triggering flashbangs to prevent Hinata from stretching out her sight to locate him or Sasuke. Let the record show that it's a nightmare to try and outsmart a tactical mastermind like Naruto.

Hinata only had about 50 yards of range before issues started to occur. Any more and the chakra flashes would cause her vision to temporarily blur. The limited range did help them to realize that Naruto had seeded half the area with logs with lower tier flashbangs strapped to them. By all accounts, Naruto came prepared to fight a Hyuga.

Rin wasn't confident that the two could get a bell off of Naruto without him letting them. Any Ninjutsu fight between her and her brother always resulted in total chaos. She couldn't keep up with his ability to ping-pong across the terrain with a Shunshin because he was able to sense wherever an obstacle was. His clones could also do the same thing. Rin simply couldn't outpace his maneuvering around her attacks.

Naruto seemed to be a hard counter to Hinata's juken and fire jutsu, while Rin was the lesser in their controlled chaos brawls.

Sasuke would guarantee that we would at least get one bell.

She was pissed at Sasuke. Naruto offered him a bell if he attacked Hinata. He didn't tell Naruto where to shove that offer, nor did he pretend to consider it before attacking Naruto. He actually thought for a second.

Sasuke said he hated "betrayal", yet he was willing to betray teammates.

Eventually, Hinata stopped for a moment, her eyes active.

"There's a pattern in how the logs are placed." She said.

Rin tried to think on what that would mean.

"What pattern?" Rin asked.

"Certain parts look intentionally empty. Then there's ones where there's several logs."

Traps. Rin thought. Naruto wouldn't run the risk of getting caught in his own traps. So, avoid the empty areas.

"Any idea where Sasuke is?" Rin asked.

Hinata shook her head, before the two heard what sounded like an explosion.

"That wasn't a tag." Rin said simply, being able to tell the difference between an exploding tag and a fire and water jutsu smashing into each other.

"Jutsu?" Hinata asked, being less well-versed in the sound of jutsu being launched at each other than her two friends.

Rin nodded, before gesturing for Hinata to follow her. "I hope he didn't kill Sasuke too badly."

Before the two get near the location of the explosion, multiple clones sprang out of cover and began attacking the two girls. Rin responded with making clones of her own, who drew kunai and engaged the opposing clones. Hinata fired off a C-rank fire jutsu then closed the gap under the cover of it and began striking down clones with juken strikes.

After just around 30 seconds, the dozen or so of Naruto's clones were destroyed from the greater number of clones made by Rin, and Hinata's juken. Hinata activated her eyes quickly to try and spot any traps, only spotting more logs with tags on them.

"No traps." Hinata said, before deactivating her eyes right before another flashbang went off.

The two girls then continued to advance towards their original location, the explosion.

////////////////////////

Sasuke felt more lost than he had in a long time. He'd let his anger get the better of him earlier in the morning, causing him to damage his tomatoes and hurt his knuckles from punching wood without padding his hands. He'd now let his anger control him and got thoroughly trashed like a fresh Academy student.

What Naruto said hurt. It hurt bad. He'd have night terrors of standing over the bodies of his mother and father, only to see a reflection in the mirror. His face, not his own, stared back at him.

'I'm not him.'

"Would you kill your best friend?"

Sasuke felt shame that he couldn't answer that immediately with a no. He'd come to the belief that he would not be able to have a family or close friends so long as he still lived. He killed his own family. He would have no sympathy or connection to people so close to Sasuke. He couldn't let anyone close. He wouldn't survive losing everything a second time. It took a mind healer to stop him from jumping into the Naka River like he'd planned to the first week after that night.

Uzumaki frightened him. The Killing Intent he felt caused that night to dance in his mind. He heard Uzumaki nearly growl out his words, the feral look in his eyes, how his eyes seemed to flash to a shade of violet similar to his sister's. In that moment, he didn't see the reddish-blond haired, insufferably irritating prankster.

He saw Itachi.

He'd not felt Killing Intent like that since it was aimed at him on that night. But Sasuke saw the look in Uzumaki's eyes. He'd seen it once or twice before.

He feared Sasuke.

Uzumaki saw the look Sasuke made when he'd been offered a bell, the consideration. Uzumaki saw him in the same way Sasuke saw Itachi. Sasuke feared he'd have everything taken away from him. Naruto feared the same.

'Naruto isn't like him...' Sasuke realized. 'He's like me.'

Naruto was an orphan. His two best friends were his sister and the Hyuga heiress.

And Sasuke looked to consider attacking one for a moment.

"You must kill your best friend if you want to avenge your clan."

"I won't be you." He whispered to himself, "I'll find another way. I won't kill what I care about. I won't let you take everything away from me again."

'Maybe he told me that on purpose, so I'd have no one to come back to.'

That thought filled him with dread more than anything.

His thoughts ground to a halt when he heard movement to his left.

"Well well well," He heard a familiar voice, "What have we here?"

Sasuke wasn't in the mood to snark back. What Naruto had said took all the fire out of him. He couldn't even muster up the motivation to respond to Rin of all people.

Rin's head tilted slightly in confusion. "No comment?" she asked.

Sasuke just slightly shook his head, not making eye contact.

He saw that Hinata was glaring at him, probably from what happened earlier.

"Could you help?" he asked quietly.

Rin adopted a look of false thought, "You gonna attack one of us to get a bell?" She asked sarcastically.

Sasuke flinched at the tone, feeling he deserved that jab. "No." he replied quietly.

Rin probably noticed something was off about him. He seldom let her set the pace of a conversation in the Academy if he could help it.

Rin looked to Hinata, "Check for traps, please." she said, before making a dozen clones to scope out the area. She then made another to remain next to Hinata, while she walked towards Sasuke.

Sasuke laid on the ground, not moving so Rin could get him out of his restraints faster.

"Why'd you try to fight him yourself?" Rin asked simply. "You know how good he is in taijutsu." she added.

Sasuke refused to look at her, his eyes still looking at the ground. He didn't want to see the accusatorial look in her eyes. Her brother was bad enough, but her eyes reminded him too much of Naruto's when he threatened him. Her eyes were violet while her brother's were blue.

Naruto's eyes turned a disgusting shade of violet when he threatened him. He didn't want to be reminded of that by looking at her eyes, even when her's didn't promise torture and a terrible death like her brother.

"Sasuke." She repeated, "Look at me." she said, almost like she were talking to a child.

Sasuke tensed, but forced himself to look up towards her.

"Why?" she asked.

"I thought I was strong enough," he said slowly, "If this was a real mission, I'd be dead." He finished quietly, not wanting to add on what Naruto had told him would happen to Rin and Hinata if they were captured in a real mission scenario.

The restraints came off and Sasuke stood up, trying to be careful with his bruised ribs from the multiple hits from Naruto. Rin just looked at him like she was trying to figure something out.

"He said something, didn't he?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Sasuke just nodded slightly, not wanting to talk about it.

"Naruto's always had this gift of understanding," She continued, "He sees things in people that others don't."

'No one sees me for who I am.' Sasuke thought.

Only Rin and Naruto, and perhaps Hinata, in his class saw him as something more than the Last Uchiha, something more than the broken child the civilians saw.

Naruto sees everything about me, even the things I hate.

There was much of what Sasuke hated about himself, but the things he hated the most were what he shared with Itachi. The two of them were driven to be the best. Both were the best in their year.

Sasuke looked at Rin, his expression showing his guilt.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly.

Rin's eyes widened at that. She probably never expected him to ever apologize for something he'd said or did.

"You'll need to apologize to Hinata too." She said, no opportunity for discussion in her tone.

Sasuke just nodded, before the two walked to Hinata.

"Find anything?" Rin asked Hinata.

"No," She replied, "He doesn't seem to be trying to press an advantage. His clones are pulling back and he's not triggering as many flashes." she finished.

"Flashes?" Sasuke asked, confused by what she meant.

Hinata just gave him a dismissive look. "Flashbangs that make it difficult for me to use my Byakugan." she said simply.

Sasuke couldn't say he was suprised by Hinata's irritation with him. He didn't outright say no to attacking her.

"I shouldn't have thought about it." He said, looking straight into her eyes, "I'm sorry."

Hinata just looked at him critically for a moment, Sasuke only now understanding where the saying "The Hyuga Death Stare" came from. You could hardly tell what they were thinking from looking at their eyes. They looked like the Moon.

"Apology accepted." Hinata smiled softly, before switching back to her tone when theorising where Naruto was. "I'll try to search a little further," she then looked to Rin, "Do you think your clones will find him?"

"If they do, they'll pop." Rin said.

Sasuke just watched the two silently. They seemed to act differently out here than when they interacted at the Academy.

'They're true kunoichi.' He thought.

Sasuke started to shift his stance slightly and flinched when his ribs protested against the movement.

Rin noticed his discomfort.

"You're hurt." She said.

" I'm fine." He replied stiffly.

She poked him in the side of the chest, his groan of pain betrayed how he felt.

"Lay down for a moment." She instructed.

Sasuke wasn't wanting to, but Rin decided to grab his shoulder and push down on him.

"Lay down, Sasuke." She ordered.

Sasuke glared at her for a moment, before sighing and sitting down on the ground.

"Where do you hurt?" She asked kindly.

Sasuke looked up at her for a moment, before answering. "My face," he said, gesturing towards his swelled up eye and bloody nose, "And my ribs." he finished, pointing to his left side.

Rin just nodded at his reply, thinking of something. "Hinata," she asked kindly, "Do you have some of your ointment?"

"Yes, I do." Hinata replied, "Do you think he needs it."

Rin just looked at Sasuke.

"Take off your shirt."

What?

Sasuke's eyes widened at what she said and how she said it.

"I'm not taking my shirt off." he protested.

"Don't be such a fangirl, Uke-kun." she said irritably, "You're hurt and you won't be able to fight well when you're hurting. I need to see if there's a break."

Sasuke wasn't comfortable with the thought. Not only would it hurt for him to pull his shirt over his head, but he didn't want girls to see him without a shirt on. He'd gotten ambushed at a bathhouse by some of the civilian fangirls who wanted to catch a peak and he didn't exactly enjoy running back to his house in only a towel.

Seeing that Rin wasn't going to relent, Sasuke sighed before he gently pulled up his shirt.

He heard a slight intake of breath from Rin, before his shirt came completely off. His chest looked terrible. The left side, which had taken the brunt of Naruto's punishment, was a mass of purple and blue from bruising.

'He punches like a freight train.'

Rin, the ointment Hinata handed her when he'd pulled up his shirt in hand, approached him. She gingerly pressed her hand on his ribs to check for a fracture. Sasuke shivered at the contact, his chest sensitive from the bruising. After a moment of her feeling, she shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing's fractured." She said, "Just some bad bruising."

"How do you know that?" Sasuke asked.

"I know what it feels like when Naruto's ribs are fractured from training." she shrugged, beginning to put ointment on her hand.

Sasuke was shocked at what Rin had said and how nonchalant she was about it.

'Naruto has broken his ribs before? Enough where Rin knows what it feels like?'

"How could you possibly know from that?" he asked.

"He always trains till he drops." she said simply, "We spar for hours at times."

'If I'm right in how hard the two punch, they'd be worse than me right now after about one hour. How do they do it?'

"This'll be cold," Rin warned as she pressed the ointment on the bruising. Sasuke jumped visibly and let out a hiss.

'That's frigid.'

"I said it'll be cold," she grumbled, startled by how much he jumped.

"Pardon me that your hands are cold as ice." He said irritably.

Rin just poked him in the forehead. "Idiot." she muttered, a slight grin on her face showing she meant nothing by it.

Sasuke tried to stay still as Rin applied the ointment to him. "Couldn't Hinata have done this?" he asked.

He didn't like Rin being this close to him. Every time they were physically close, it involved sparring, bruises, and a broken nose. The most recent event was a straight up embarrassment. He didn't even want to think how his fangirls would react if they saw that Rin, the girl who he'd accidentally kissed, was touching him without his shirt on.

They wouldn't even think for a moment that that's not what's going on.

Sasuke may have been dismissive of girls and romance, but he still was embarrassed by things, and the most embarrassing event he'd experienced involved the girl who was touching him.

"No," Rin said simply, "She needs to stay on the lookout for Naruto."

Sasuke just waited for Rin to be finished, which after a couple minutes, she was.

"Done." She said, "I can't use this on your eye because it will drip from sweat, you do not want this to run in your eye." she flinched like she remembered a bad memory.

Sasuke nodded before putting his shirt back on.

"Why'd you do this?" he asked simply.

He couldn't understand why the two would still help him after he ventured off without them. How he thought of taking up Naruto on his offer.

Rin looked contemplative for a moment, before she answered. "You're our teammate." she said simply, "Even if you didn't realize it at the time. Even when you didn't want to work together, you were still our teammate. We were put on the same team for a reason, the three of us had a better chance of being a good team than if we had someone else." she finished firmly.

'She still thinks we can work together to be a team.'

Sasuke nodded at what she said, thankful that he had a chance to show he knew he was wrong.

"Hinata," Rin called, looking towards the other girl, "Anything?"

"I can't seem to find him," Hinata replied, her eyes active, "It's almost as if h-... I found him." she said suddenly.

Sasuke and Rin both approached Hinata on each side of her. "Where?" Rin asked.

"He's," Hinata started, her tone that of confusion. "He's just standing out in the open. He's holding up a sign I-" she trailed off, her face turning red slightly in embarrassment.

"What's it say?" Rin asked.

"It says 'Hello, princess', with a heart drawn on it, " she said quietly.

Rin just growled irritably at that. "Idiot." she ground out, tired of the flirtatious jokes Naruto made all the time to girls, even if it was towards their friend.

"He probably has a trap set and wants you mad so we overlook it." Hinata said, her tone still quieter than normal.

Sasuke noticed the difference in how Rin and Hinata were out here. Rin was more restrained on things, even though she was still a little hotheaded on things, and Hinata was more outspoken on things, noticable so.

"What do you do when you know there's a trap you're going to walk into?" Sasuke asked.

Rin grinned at him. He didn't like that grin. It reminded him of when Naruto had an idea to screw with him.

"Spring the trap."

///////////////////////////

Kakashi had been keeping to the peripheral of the area where Naruto, Rin, Hinata, and Sasuke ventured off to. He'd spotted a couple of Naruto's clones dropping logs in certain areas of the woods, likely for when he'd be fighting Rin and Hinata.

Sasuke was someone he was disappointed in. Kakashi saw the flash of indecision to attack a teammate or not. It disgusted him to think that Sasuke would potentially think of that. Sasuke was the last remaining Uchiha loyal to Konoha and it was a concern if he had unresolved issues. Kakashi failed to save Obito, and he failed to see the madness in Itachi when he worked with him in the ANBU.

Kakashi had helped Itachi. He saw a prodigious kid that was swimming in the deep end before he even hit puberty and needed help. Kakashi knew very well the burden of being seen as the best of your peers. He took it upon himself to help steer Itachi to be the best he could be in the ANBU without ending up like himself. Itachi had a family, a clan, a little brother that Kakashi could see he adored just by looking Itachi in the eye when Sasuke was brought up. And Itachi wiped them out.

Kakashi still wondered if some of the tips or advice and the life lessons he tried to impart on Itachi might have caused him to lash out. He failed Obito, and then he failed to see Itachi for what he was. He hoped Sasuke wasn't like his brother.

Kakashi felt a chakra ping from about 200 yards in front if him.

'It's ANBU code.' He thought. ANBU members had a code system to give basic messages by pinging their chakra in a certain pattern.

It's Naruto.

Ping..ping...ping. ping. Meet. Me. Come. To.

It was a good thing that he had taught a great deal of the little tricks and tactics to Naruto. ANBU seldom had the Ninjutsu monsters that were notorious in the world. Even the best frontline fighter in the world could get killed by a skilled assassin who was barely skilled in Ninjutsu or taijutsu. The ANBU were good at what they did, playing the game of cloak and dagger.

Training a Jinchuriki on how to fight like that would cover up the weaknesses in his specialization.

To outsmart an assassin, you need to think like one.

Kakashi followed the chakra ping. After a moment, he spotted Naruto. The two walked towards each other. Kakashi broke the silence when he was within earshot.

"Yes, Naruto?" He asked.

"I'm a clone," was the reply, "boss told me relay a message to you."

I message?

"What's the message?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke feels guilty. I fought him, kicked his ass after comparing him to his brother. I think he got the message that betraying teammates and comrades makes him like his brother."

'Ouch, Naruto. That'd get a reaction.'

"I assume he didn't take it well at first?"

The clone nodded. "He needs to learn how to keep his composure. He was worse than when you said something about Rin several years back. He just blindly started attacking like an animal, no rhythm or thinking."

That made Kakashi think. He'd need to work on their teamwork if Sasuke did manage to learn something from what Naruto said.

'If he didn't take what Naruto said to heart, I'll refuse to have Sasuke on my genin team until he is more stable. I won't train someone who'll inadvertently kill himself and his comrades from being reckless like that.'

Kakashi would petition to have Sasuke either sent back to the Academy or completely discharged from the Shinobi forces. He'd be listened to. If he said Sasuke was acting erratic, the clan heads would immediately refuse to have a danger like that again, regardless of what any members of the civilian council tried to say.

Hyuga Hiashi would use his own influence to prevent the younger sibling of a clan killer from being on his daughter's team, especially with what had transpired a few short months prior with the infiltration of the Hyuga compound.

'I pray that it isn't the case. Hopefully he was having a truly terrible day and Naruto was simply being extra cruel.'

Kakashi looked towards the clone with another question on his mind. "How did Rin and Hinata do?"

"Very well." the clone grinned, "They adapted to my flashbangs, noticed how I laced the forest with traps, and fought off an ambush I set up. Their teamwork is not an issue at all."

'Good.' Kakashi was fairly certain that Hinata and Rin would work together perfectly fine. The two were close friends and trained together often. Naruto as the third member would have been the best situation for him, but Kakashi understood the reason why the Hokage opted to have Naruto float between the 4 genin teams trained by Jonin.

He'll motivate them all to be better and he's as capable, if not a little more, as most of the unblooded Jonin in the Shinobi forces. That and Jiraiya-sama will probably take over his training after the chunin exams.

Naruto had been able to, simply by talking, convince the Nara heir to work harder in physical fitness, the Inuzuka heir to try and approach things with a clearer head, the fangirls into trying to train harder, and the greatest of all... He turned a shy, stuttering, emotionally vulnerable girl into someone confident enough in themselves to become kunoichi of the year in the recent graduating class.

'He knows how to bring out the best in people.'

The Hokage had made an off hand comment/joke to Kakashi about how Naruto seemed to almost want to outdo the old man himself by making his entire class what Sarutobi made the Sannin into.

Only after he saw what Naruto managed with Hinata did Kakashi start to think the Hokage's joke might turn out more accurate than he first thought.

Kakashi decided to ask one final question. "Have they come close to getting a bell?"

"Nope." The clone grinned, "They haven't found boss yet. They kept running into clones while boss was putting the hurt on Sasuke."

Kakashi nodded his understanding. "Anything else you want to add?" he asked the clone.

"They'll no doubt get both bells if Sasuke works with them," the clone started, "Also, boss will be baiting them here to do an open fight. To show you how well they work together."

"Good." Kakashi said, "I didn't realize the payback I thought of would actually work better than what I planned out."

"Tell them not to eat, show up hours late, kick their butts, don't let one of them eat while the others have to determine whether they'll disobey your orders to help?" the clone asked cheekily, a knowing grin on his face.

Kakashi's eye twitched at that. "I'm genuinely wondering how you could have possibly known that." he said.

"I know how you think," the clone said simply, "You stress the importance of teamwork. If you're only teammates because you're ordered to, and not because you have genuine camaraderie with them, you're screwed the moment things go sideways. It's something I wish I was able to do half as good as you."

Kakashi hadn't thought many people would realize why he failed several genin teams in the past. The Hokage did. He'd suspected Naruto did, but what the clone said confirmed that Naruto understood. It felt nice to know that Naruto looked up to his belief in that.

Kakashi smiled at that. "Ok. I'm looking forward to see the fight. Hop to it."

The clone nodded and dispelled to send the content of the conversation back to Naruto.

Naruto arrived shortly after, removing what looked to be a sign from on of the storage seals in his jacket.

"Hello, princess." Kakashi snickered at what the sign said, specifically the heart on it.

It's going to be hilarious when he interacts with Gai's genin team.

Kakashi looked forward to it. The stuck up Hyuga that he knew Naruto did not like and Gai's mini-me will love what he'll get up to.

'Gai will say I 'corrupted' such a splendid Shinobi with my 'hip attitude'.'

Kakashi just laughed at what he had to look forward to.

/////////////////

'They're here.' I thought, sensing three signatures. Sasuke evidently decided to work with Rin and Hinata to fight me.

'Good.' They'd need to work together to get the bells before the time expired. Rin and Hinata might have been able to force a win, if they had time to. But that was a luxury they didn't have.

Seeing them visually, I sealed the sign back into the storage seal I pulled it out of.

"Hi guys." I waved, seeing the look of irritation on Rin's face at the sign.

Judging by the posture of the three, they'd planned out a strategy to face me. Hinata would likely be the one hitting from close range, Rin would be working extra hard to nullify my clones, and Sasuke would probably be floating between the two, with Rin having a natural wind affinity strong enough to enhance Sasuke's fire jutsu into a solid B-rank no problem, and Sasuke's taijutsu skills would force me to focus on him and Hinata more so.

I dropped a couple of scrolls that were filled with water that I had drenched with my own chakra so I could shape it better, not opening them yet.

"Come to surrender?" I asked.

"Not a chance." Rin quipped.

"We will get those bells off of you, Naruto." Hinata said.

Sasuke was silent, but gave a look of determination.

"Sure I can't bribe you with a bell?" I asked the three.

"No."

My eyes turned to who said it. It was Sasuke, and his voice had a frostiness to it that matched his glare.

Good. He listened.

"Well then," I said, pulling a kunai from a seal on my bracer, "Let us dance."

///////////////////////

Kakashi had seen Rin and Naruto fight with their clones before. To the untrained eye, it looked like complete chaos. Clones flinging jutsu, retreating only to rejoin the fray, the tossing of kunai and explosives to the point that you'd almost think an entire invasion was commencing.

But it wasn't chaos. It was organized. It was a grand symphony of destruction and several moving parts. The last couple years helped to hone Naruto and Rin's ability to coordinate the actions of their clones. Rin would combine Wind and low yield incendiary exploding tags to incinerate the chosen battlefield, and Naruto's combination of prodigious use of water and adding some lightning Jutsu left him a very difficult target to hit.

Kakashi had to uncover his Sharingan to catch everything that was unfolding, too many moving parts to pick up cleanly without a Sharingan.

The moment the last words left Naruto's lips, the forest seemed to come alive with his clones. He'd obviously Henged them to be concealed in the forest when he'd been setting off flashbangs to keep them from being spotted by Hinata.

Rin responded with making several dozen clones that proceeded to begin firing off wind jutsu to drive off the clones.

He saw Hinata, with her eyes deactivated, rush for Naruto, but her speed wasn't what it normally was. Kakashi realized why when Sasuke made a few hand seals and launched a fireball at Naruto.

The seals Naruto left on the ground exploded in a geyser of water, which promptly formed into a wall of water when he weaved his hands into the proper pattern. Naruto's vision was obscured for a moment, giving Hinata the chance to increase her speed and close the distance to engage Naruto in taijutsu and prevent him from trying to Shunshin away.

What followed next was Naruto attempting to back pedal and block or deflect Hinata's juken strikes from hitting him. The flashbang idea was genius because it prevented Hinata from keeping her eyes activated, ensuring that her strikes were less likely to hit Naruto's tenketsu points.

Sasuke entered the fray when multiple clones of Naruto veered away from Rin and her clones, and moved on an intercept course to take out Hinata.

Kakashi could see the look on Naruto's face. The brightness in his eyes. The half-grin on his face. He found this exhilarating. All three working together to bring him down. The challenge. The fight. The fire being stoked.

It's almost like how Gai talks of "The Flames of Youth".

Kakashi knew Gai would love Naruto's drive.

Rin had been fighting a near losing battle with Naruto's clones. They stuck to the edge of the forest where the logs were located. Even though the real Naruto was out of range to use them against Hinata, there were still flashbangs strapped to them, and flashbangs hurt anyone with eyes and ears, especially ears that are able to pick up sounds better like Rin and Naruto.

Naruto's clones kept pelting her with water jutsu after water jutsu, flashbangs, and a few would Shunshin straight into her to try and knock her to the ground. Kakashi lost count of how many clones Rin killed, but it was a lot.

A thought went through his head when he noticed that most of the jutsu used by Naruto were less dangerous than he knew the boy was capable of.

'It was probably because he didn't want to risk hurting anyone. Sensible enough.'

Kakashi heard Naruto let out a shout and a curse. He looked to see Naruto clutching his left forearm, with Hinata having a triumphant grin on her face.

The way Naruto's left arm at the elbow hung limply clued him into what happened.

She hit his main tenketsu in his arm. A lucky hit.

He'd be forced to make one handed seals temporarily, nullifying most of his area effect Jutsu.

Naruto made a one handed sign and Shunshined away from Hinata and Sasuke, and promptly made a second one towards the woods. He ended up staggering and falling hard to the ground from the sharp turn he made. His Sensei's son pulled himself up as fast as he could, but had both Sasuke and Hinata right back on him.

A half seal from Naruto had a ball of water shooting at the two of them, and the respective heir and heiress of two of Konoha's clans both responded with a Katon jutsu that struck Naruto's with a loud clap and hiss sound.

The two shot forward through the mist and Kakashi squinted Obito's eye to try and see clearly through the chakra heavy mist.

Naruto had a better advantage now that he was within range of the logs and clones he had near the forest. Naruto warded off Sasuke's attacks with his kunai and was constantly avoiding the two.

His clones are diminishing.

With two capable taijutsu fighters forcing him to focus, and one of his arms mostly paralyzed, he didn't have the time to make more clones to replace the ones getting shredded or torched by Rin and her clones.

Kakashi saw Rin notice a slight opening where she could break off from killing her brother's clones and jumped in to help Sasuke and Hinata.

Naruto probably sensed Rin barreling towards him because he flared his chakra violently, causing a temporary flash of chakra that staggered Hinata from her Byakagun picking it up and he slashed at Sasuke with his kunai that he channelled lightning chakra through for a moment as they were just a few feet away.

Naruto had told Kakashi how much it hurt to force his chakra out of his tenketsu that intensely. His chakra control meant some of the tenketsu points that weren't as well used by him would get flooded with too much chakra when it blasted out.

But it seemed to work and Naruto managed to shock Sasuke and make him seize up for a moment, his hair standing on end. Naruto was able to slip a punch straight to Sasuke's face, followed by a kick to his ribs, bringing Sasuke to his knees, gasping for air.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's left hand with his own and made handsigns with their hands and launched a jet of water behind Rin and tore its way through several of her clones.

Naruto wasn't able to press his advantage further because Rin still charged forward. Naruto may have been able to keep Rin at bay if his arm still worked at full capacity, but it wasn't. Rin's punches and kicks came fast and hard. Hinata shook off her vision from the chakra flash and re-entered her fight with Naruto moments later.

////////////////////////////

Damnit.

I'd missed my water bullet fired against Rin. I wasn't used to aiming it when I did it with someone elses hand while feeling like I had pins and needles going through my whole body from flaring my chakra.

I knew this final exchange was the end. If I'd hit Rin, or forced her to dodge by switching with a log with tags on it, I could have subdued Sasuke and used him as a hostage to stop Hinata and Rin, there was no way Sasuke could fight me off when I kicked his already bruised ribs.

Rin's hits were too fast for me to block when my forearm had no feeling in it. One of her kicks was aimed straight at my temple that I knew was going to make contact. I was forced to fling my gimp arm up to blunt the strike, the kick still ended up driving through my arm and smashing into the side of my head.

I staggered back and could sense Hinata just a few feet from me. I saw her aiming a juken strike straight for my chest as I turned slightly, so I pivoted on my leg to try and block her game ending attack by swinging my leg up and around blindly to hopefully ward off a hit to my blind spot from Rin.

I managed to block Hinata's juken strike, but it ended up still making partial contact with my foot. I ended up nearly falling backwards from the unexpected pain, and the pivot combined with me flinging my leg up changed where my ribs were located relative to where Rin's next kick went.

She aimed for my ribs, at least where my ribs used to be at before I shifted. The leg I still had weight on was bent, which I'd tried to straighten as she kicked out at me. Her foot ended up smashing full force into an unprotected area that was left open by my one leg rising up to stop Hinata's juken strike.

My balls.

I gasped and my lungs seemed to stop working as I felt her foot make contact and I dropped to the ground in a boneless heap, desperately trying to not vomit from the pain as I clutched my genitals.

Rin looked horrified at what she did. Hinata looked ill at seeing me on the ground as I was dry heaving. I ended up losing the battle of trying to fight off the nausea and vomited up my breakfast onto the ground.

"Naruto," Rin asked desperately, "Are you ok?"

I could barely gasp out a "no" before I started heaving again from the pain. Rin tried to reach for me, but a waved her off. It fucking hurt and I didn't want to be touched right now by my sister as I clutched my balls.

After several minutes of me trying to get through the pain, I managed to stand on my own. I still had my hands on my knees, but I was standing.

I reached for the bells on my waist, but I didn't feel them.

"The hell are the bells?" I moaned, my voice weaker than usual.

Rin, Hinata, and me looked around for the bells, but there was no way I was in any shape get the bells back before they got them. I looked towards Sasuke, who was still on the ground from when I winded him from hitting his ribs, smiling with both bells in his hand.

Rin and Hinata saw where I was looking. They couldn't believe how Sasuke could have gotten the bells.

"How'd you get them?" Rin asked, shock in her voice.

"When you were busy putting your brother's balls in his throat." Sasuke said simply, wincing as he clutched the bruised side of his chest.

Rin winced while I cringed and felt bile rise up in my throat from remembering it.

"Congrats." I muttered, "You got the bells. What are you going to do?" I asked.

Sasuke looked at the bells, looking in deep thought. He then tossed a bell to Rin, who caught it.

He then tossed the other to Hinata.

I looked at him with slight surprise.

"You know what you just did, right?" I asked.

Sasuke just nodded. "I'm not him." he muttered.

I just looked at him for a moment, before my face shifted into a broad smile.

"You pass." I said simply.

Sasuke's head shot up towards me, his eyes wide in shock.

"What?"

"You pass." I repeated, "You put aside any issues and gave them the bells, even when you thought you needed one to pass."

I signaled to Kakashi that the test was over. He came over to confirm what I said.

"The test was about teamwork." Kakashi said when he got over here. "You managed to work together to get the bells and you gave them to your teammates. You did good." he finished proudly.

The three grinned at them passing the test. "Now," Kakashi said, "You three are dismissed. Team training starts in two days at this training field. 7:30."

The three nodded before leaving. It was just me and Kakashi now.

"You ok?" He asked, noticing my discomfort.

"Aside from me feeling my balls in my throat, yeah." I said, still being sensitive to the impact.

Kakashi's visible part of his face showed his discomfort from thinking how much it hurt me.

"How did you think they did?" Kakashi asked, wanting my input.

"Rin did phenomenal tying up my clones." I started, "She can organize them to cooperate very well. Hinata and Sasuke did amazing fighting me with taijutsu. Using Sasuke's fireball as a smokescreen was a good strategy, but it wasn't completely seamless. Hinata may have landed more than a couple hits if Sasuke and she had properly fought me in sync. That could probably be fixed with time and experience."

Kakashi nodded at my breakdown of their performance, noting what I'd said.

"How do you think you could have been better?" He asked.

I sighed. "I could have set the pace instead of them. I wanted to see if Sasuke would work with them. I would have hard targeted Sasuke if I wanted to end the fight, which I tried to make him a 'hostage' when Rin broke off to help."

Kakashi seemed to realize something that I'd said. "You intentionally left openings to gauge their teamwork," he realized, "The gaps I saw were intentional ones, weren't they?"

I just nodded.

"You did good, Naruto." He said, "You're a natural leader and a fine Shinobi."

I felt good at the praise. All the hard work I put in was paying off. I was fast becoming a strong Shinobi, Rin was nipping at my heels in several of our skills, Hinata truely blossomed into someone confident in herself, and Sasuke looked like he may not be lost like I'd worried.

"Go on home." Kakashi said, "Get some rest, you earned it."

I nodded and turned to leave, but heard Kakashi say something else. "Group team training starts next week." he called out.

I nodded an affirmative before home, I smile making it's way to my face.