Bell trial
"Also, those who doesn't get a bell will have to go back to the Academy!" Kakashi continued with a threatening tone. This statement also earned itself some grunts and Sakura was the one to start complaining.
"But sensei! There are only two bells... Does that mean...?" she said.
"Yes, you get it. One of you will be sent to the log, will not get lunch, and also due to failing their mission, will be sent back to the Academy. One at the very least, or maybe all three of you. You will have to come at me with the intent to kill, without that you will have no chance to get them. We can start when I give the signal."
The other two tensed up after hearing all this, but Dix already had a solid plan to pass this challenge. He just had to get the bells, and he was more than capable of that. While Kakashi is a strong and veteran jonin, he can't hold a candle to Dix's centuries worth of training and experience.
"We are going to start... Ready! Go!" Kakashi shouted. Both Sasuke and Sakura jumped away to hide. It was the first rule of a ninja to hide away and wait for a good opportunity to attack. Contrary to that, in the original story Naruto would stay in the open and rush at Kakashi head-on. And Dix planned to do the same. He stayed where he was without showing any signs of planning to move. Kakashi was surprised, but that feeling quickly turned into annoyance.
"Naruto, you haven't heard me? I said we start..." he said.
"Oh, I heard it alright. I will fight you head-on." came the answer, but still no movement. This surprised Kakashi once again, even more than last time, but this soon turned into the most primal annoyance and anger he ever felt. None of that showed on his face, but inside he wanted to rush and teach the kid a lesson with his fists.
"Really? I see how it is. Well? Come at me. I'll teach you the first Shinobi Battle Jutsu, taijutsu." he said, then reached to his pocket and pulled out a book then started reading it. He was right, the kid will be arrogant enough to fight him head-on. He needs a wake-up call.
Instead of replying Dix ran at Kakashi with a normal genin's speed. He was about to reach him when five different clones jumped out of different hiding spots that he prepared before Kakashi arrived. They all threw one-one kunais at him and rushed forward with the most speed they can muster.
At the same time, Dix opened the first two of the Eight Gates to get a good speed advantage over his enemy and activated his body seals at a moment's notice to hide his presence.
Kakashi got genuinely surprised. He was sure he scanned the area way before and couldn't find anything. The kid somehow managed to hide his clones without his notice? That is insane. He was in a tight spot, he pulled out a kunai to block two projectiles, while because his other hand was occupied by his book, he had to use that to block two more attacks. They almost completely destroyed it, very sad times. He knew there was one more coming, but he didn't have anything to counter it anymore, as every attack came at once and both of his hands were occupied.
He tried to evade the last one by simply moving his body, and it worked mostly well, but the kunai still scratched him. All the while Dix used the commotion to silently move next to Kakashi and take his bells. With two gates open his speed way already way higher then Kakashi's so he had no way to react, even if he knew he was there. Dix moved back right away and concealed his seals immediately after closing the gates.
"Come out guys, I've got the bells!" Dix shouted to the woods. Kakashi turned around with a pale face, at least what was visible of it.
"... How?" there was nothing else he could say.
"Haha, I'm a ninja, sensei, you must know that a ninja never reveals their secrets." Dix retorted with a smug smile and some cheeky laughter hidden in his voice. "It seems like you severely underestimated me, sensei."
By the time Dix finished his sentence the other two kids came out of their hiding spots and moved up to them while looking at Dix with slate-white face, just like Kakashi. Only Sakura managed to comment it.
"My god... But he is a Jonin, isn't he?" she asked with her voice trailing off at the end.
"Yeah he is, now come here and hold out your hands." Dix answered. Both of them did as instructed, they had no thoughts of resisting or doing anything else. Dix separated the two bells and put them into each of their hands then turned back to Kakashi.
"I believe we are finished here. What is the verdict, sensei?" he asked.
Kakashi was stunned. He fought trough wars, killed many people, lost loved ones and even did dirty work for the ANBU. He thought he had seen everything, but this...
"And what about you? Are you willing to go back to the Academy?" he asked, still doubtful that it wasn't just a bad dream.
"I am, but I know the village will suffer a huge loss if I were to be sent back to the Academy."
...
Kakashi was hit in the head once again. It was getting really uncomfortable, that all of his expectations and ideas about this team is getting shattered one by one. He stood there for a few seconds deep in contemplation when he answered.
"You really are something, aren't you, kid...? What you said might be true, but for now, due to your little stunt, I don't know anything about the other two, so we have to do this again, without you interfering this time." he said after coming to a conclusion.
"Don't worry about that, sensei, I can tell you exactly what they can do." Dix answered, earning one more flabbergasted look from everyone present. "Sasuke is a small genius himself, he is a strong kid of the Uchihas. He has good combat awareness and can bring out most of his prowess by himself. He is a bit better at teamwork than the usual genins, so he should be able to pass this test. Sakura is not really strong for now, but she has exceptional chakra control, with this she would prove to be an outstanding medical ninja later, if taught right. Her teamwork is a bit weak as well, but she has the potential."
Everyone just stood where they were for a good minute or so to take in all the previous events. Kakashi was the first to speak.
"I see... It sounds like you guys were friends for a long time now..." he said but was interrupted by Sasuke.
"No. I've never talked to this guy in my life before. Not a single word. How do you know so much, exactly?" he asked, while heavily glaring at Dix. He tried to see though him so hard that even his sharingan subconsciously activated, that neither him nor the others noticed. He wasn't supposed to use it so early, even though he unlocked it at the age of 7.
"Don't worry, its just general observation. You would know much more yourself if you were to open your eyes too..." Dix retorted almost mechanically, without any color in his voice. Sasuke was about to get angry and answer with something probably not nice, when Kakashi interrupted the 'conversation', upon which Sasuke's sharingan deactivated right away.
"Well, I suppose that's good enough for today. Let's go and have lunch. We can start growing together and get to know each other better at the following missions." Sakura was the one to ask the obvious.
"So does that mean..?"
"Yes, you all passed, thanks to this walking tornado of trouble here. Seriously..." Kakashi was having a hard time coping with all that happened. But he was a Jonin, he could handle this for sure. " Gather here next morning, this time at 8 and make sure to eat well. We will take on our first few missions. Dismissed."
Dix said his farewells, but none of the others wanted to reciprocate his actions. Everyone just walked away. It was a strange day.
In the following week Team 7 kept on doing regular D-rank missions, just as a newly formed genin team would. Dix was waiting for a specific mission, at which he knew he will have to act to make the story go his way.
It was a mission about finding a lost cat. They quickly recovered it and went to report to the Hokage. When that was finished they were supposed to continue with the shitty low-grade missions like any other genins, but in the anime, Naruto threw a tantrum about the boring missions, which would get them a nice C-rank mission in the end.
Dix wanted to do the same, but was surprised to see that his input wasn't required. Kakashi was the one to do it instead of him. What a turn of events.
"Lord Hokage. As the leader of team 7 I believe we can handle maybe a C-rank mission. Even though the normal procedure is that the genins supposed to take D-rank ones for a while more, but this year's batch seems to be exceptional." he said, then looked at Dix, who just nodded. Hiruzen was quite surprised, he never heard Kakashi speak so highly about his students before.
"Well, I see where you are coming from, Kakashi. I too believe you may be able to do something better. Here, you can get a C-rank escort mission. Your task will be to take Master Tazuna back to the Land of Waves and guard him until he finishes building a bridge. That's all, you can go and meet the client now."
They did as instructed, met with Tazuna, an alcoholic old man, he really isn't worth mentioning. Soon they got their necessities packed up and set out to the Land of Waves.