A/N: Dear new readers, please be aware that the reviews for this story may contain spoilers. There is an option to filter them by chapter, if you so wish. Thank you and enjoy!

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"Haruno Sakura, come back here right now!"

Gritting her teeth, Sakura stomped down the stairs and made a beeline for the downtown Konoha streets.

"Sakura!"

She blocked out her mother's call.

It was past twilight. Whatever pedestrians had scattered off, granting her free rampage across the intersections. After a kilo's stretch, she collapsed on a bench in front of the public library.

She pressed her forehead against her knees. Stupid, stupid parents. Every girl wore earrings, Ino included. Their parents understood the importance of beauty in success and self-esteem. Their parents dedicated the time teach them how to walk gracefully, speak sweetly, and dress cutely, to raise them with skills to move up the social ladder.

Sakura's parents did not understand. They did not understand why Sakura would cry whenever her mom sheared her hair with a pair of kitchen scissors, or why she threw a fit at leftovers from the discount rack. They did not understand why Sakura would cringe at their crass mannerisms or embarrassing jokes. They did not understand the pain of an outcast, nor the difficulty to compare to clan kids, who naturally excelled and lived in riches. Finally, they did not understand what it meant to fall in love with one of them.

Just for once, Sakura wanted to be given a chance. There had been a pair of silver butterfly earrings on display in the marketplace. After a year of begging, her parents promised that if she kept good grades, she could get the earrings for her next birthday.

Sakura kept true to her side of the bargain. So on her tenth birthday, she had no appetite, jumping for her earrings. However, when she opened the box, in the place of silver butterflies were ugly stars. To make it worse, they were big and plastic, like someone taped buttons on her ears.

Her parents were happy though. Kizashi clapped his hands in drunken approval, and Mebuki jokingly bet that Sakura would not last three days before the earrings were forgotten in the drawer.

No. Had Sakura gotten her butterflies, she would wear them faithfully every day. Instead, she was made a fool.

The box had slammed against the kitchen floor.

"Sakura!" Mebuki rose up from her chair, the humor gone from her voice."What is wrong with you!"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! Is that what I said I wanted? I wanted the Kairu Silver Butterflies!"

"You're not piercing your ears. You wanted earrings, and these can be clipped on."

"I don't WANT clip-ons! I NEVER wanted clip-ons!" Sakura banged her fists on the table hard enough for the bowls to clatter.

"Now, now, give them a chance," Kizashi said. "Didn't you always want to be one of those Sailor Star girls on TV? With them, you look just like one!"

He laughed. Sakura could only stare at him. Her hands itched to throw a chopstick. "NO! No, you retard!"

"Sakura! Don't you speak to your father like that!"

"Screw you!"

Konoha nights were chilly. Shivering, Sakura buried deeper into herself.

She heard the flip-flop of slippers approach her bench.

"There's my princess."

"Go away."

Kizashi knelt down, patting his daughter's back. "Come on, don't get grumpy on your birthday."

"Well I am, no thanks to you," she spat, swatting away his touch.

"You know, if you end up catching a cold, you'll be stuck with more chicken feet soup."

He chuckled until he caught Sakura's despondent expression. Sighing, he joined her on the bench. "Sakura, your mother is right-"

Sakura reacted violently. "Of course! Side with her! You always do!" She felt her energy leave her. "You always do..." Her voice cracked, and she fought back a new stream of tears.

Kizashi's face slipped, his gaze fallen on the crumbled mess beside him. His daughter was prone to emotional outbursts over every little thing. However, he could tell this time was different. For months, Sakura sat through practice after practice, afternoon to night, the books stacking in piles in her room. She studied with the fervor of religious devotion, of a little girl in love. She truly wanted the earrings.

Sakura was so consumed by misery that she nearly missed the object dangling before her.

"Otou-san?"

"Ah ne, I saved it for your twentieth birthday." Kizashi smiled, dropping a necklace into her palm. "It can be yours now if you promise to not cry anymore. I know they're not earrings but..."

Under the street light glinted a crystallized cherry blossom flower, simple and geometric. She never expected her tasteless parents to have jewelry this beautiful.

Her heart skipped at the prospect of Sasuke seeing her with it. He would notice her. Maybe they could even date. A warmth fluttered in her chest and tinted her cheeks, as she thought of the idea of them together at a table in Dangoya, their fingers intertwined.

She closed her palm. Appeased with the compromise, she tailed her father back home.

"Well, who's excited for cake?" Kizashi exclaimed, swinging the main door open.

Behind, Sakura grumbled on her climb up the stairs. She heard him announce, "Daughter retrieval mission, accomplished!" followed by another round of hearty laughs. "Let's-"

Her hand barely touched her sandal when she heard a crash from the kitchen.

"Otou-san-?"

She froze.

The kitchen table had splintered in the middle, with two broken legs that sent all plates top-sided on the floor. Crawling under the vegetables was a contrasting red.

Her gaze flickered across the room, unable to stop seeing more speckles of red on the chair seats, the cabinets, the bare forearm sprawled parallel to the floorboards. It was even on her birthday cake, half of the dessert smashed by scalp and hair.

Sakura's heart stopped when she caught a movement in her father's eye. His lips twitched.

Before Kizashi could form a word, a boot stepped on his head. Gulps of blood bubbled into the cake as the sword pulled out of his neck, as fresh and gleaming as a newborn baby.

"Much better."

Sakura wanted to scream. Run. Faint.

Instead, she stood still. From beginning to end, she stood still, letting the murderer strut around her home in an appreciative hum.

.

"... n-normal weight, I guess."

"Hair?"

"He was bald."

"Eye color?"

"I- I don't know. He was wearing um, like one of those... those stage masks."

"So you never saw his face?"

Sakura shook her head.

"Did you hear his voice?"

"Yes, it was kind of raspy."

"What did he say?"

There was silence.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura snapped out of her daze and shook her head. "I don't remember."

Once the officer finished his questioning, he pocketed his notebook. At the door, he sent the girl a small, awkward smile. "It's going to be okay." It was a terrible lie.

Raidō closed the door behind him, then stared at the chaos that was the makeshift police station, complete with tangled telephone lines and tipping paperwork.

Two summers ago, there once stood a respected military police force, with mastermind detectives, an elite capture team, and the best evidence crew that blood can produce. Then some psycho kid just had to kill them all.

Shortly after the Uchiha massacre was a tumbleweed of whispers, excitement, and fervor. Waves of freshly vested chūnin had wanted in on the manhunt, because the bounty on the head of Uchiha Itachi was enough to cruise in sea of money.

Unfortunately, Raidō hopped on the bandwagon too late. He had been recruited to face the long-term consequences, starting with a painful attempt to scavenge all law and order. Crime rates had spiked, and while many of the temporary officers were excellent soldiers, few were trained to work within a bureaucracy. Neither did they have the discipline.

With a sigh, Raidō tossed his notebook on the mess of paperwork by Genma's kicked up feet.

Genma peeked up from his file. "Well?"

"Burglary turned homicide."

"Burglary," Genma repeated with a raise of his brow. "You positive? I've checked up on this Haruno family. They're not broke, but they don't have much for show either."

"The girl said the murderer had a backpack. He took the family's savings from under the sink and more stuff from the parent's room. Sounds like burglary to me."

"Why burn the place down?"

After a trainwreck of cases, Raidō honestly did not want to think any deeper. "Probably to get rid of evidence. From what I can tell, we're not dealing with a shinobi here. There was noise and a bloody mess. He used a slicing-specific sword to stab. And..."

"And what?"

Raidō averted his gaze, thumbing through the tabs of his binder. "And he let the girl live." While shinobi knew better.

They sat in a background of staple punches and telephone rings. Finally, Genma swiveled in his chair and returned to his file. "Non-shinobi, huh. Neighbors will be relieved."

Sakura spent another day in the police station to identify the type of mask. Afterward, she was no further use and returned to school. She took her usual seat, blankly listening to her sensei tap the chalkboard and read sections on history.

"... Sakura. Haruno Sakura!"

Her head snapped up. "Sensei?"

Iruka sent a look that hushed giggles across the classroom. "Sakura, the next passage, if you may."

On reflex, she stood up, only to realize she had no book. She trembled in place until someone passed a book to her. Speechless, she watched Sasuke face the front again.

She broke the croak in her voice and read.

"Thank you, Sakura. Don't forget your materials next time."

Sakura reseated, relieved that Iruka did not reprimand her further.

Her relief was short-lived. The police officer handling her case reassured her that the governmental housing administration will find her residence. He never told her where to go in the meantime. After school ended, she uneasily filed out with the rest of the students.

Out of options, she sat at the swing set, fatigued. Her hair was greasy and tangled, with specks of dandruff. Her clothes held a nauseous stench of sour copper and explosive powder. She barely slept in the past two days, nor eaten since the officer bought her crackers from a vending machine.

The swing creaked under the sway of her weight. Her fingers grew numb as metal chains bit into her palm.

The shadow stretched longer from the tip of her shoes. The burglar should have killed her too. It would have been better than dying like this.

"Ano, Sakura, are you okay?"

The voice was so tiny that Sakura almost did not recognize the speaker.

Averting her gaze, Ino pulled a woolen scarf to her nose. "I heard what happened," she mumbled. "My parents said it's okay for you to sleep over... if you want."

In that moment, Sakura forgot everything, how she swore off her friendship with Ino, how they fought and threw insults every day. She buried in the arms of her best friend and cried until she could cry no more.

.

In the middle of the night, Ino peered down her bed. A nest of pink hair peeked out the futon on the floor, soft sobs muffled into the pillow. For days, Sakura had curled against her side, jumpy at every change in shadow, clutching her arm so tight that Ino lost circulation.

Then, out of nowhere, the stubborn girl insisted she could sleep alone. Ino was not sure who or what prompted the change, but Sakura was not ready for it. With a sigh, Ino pulled the chain to her lamp and scooped her friend into her bed, pulling the covers over the both of them. Sakura made a defiant whimper. Ino pretended it was gratitude.

By morning, Ino had ran off to the guest shower, leaving Sakura in quiet contemplation of Ino's bathroom. Like the bedroom, there hung floral perfume in the air, with clean marble tiles and walls of pressed lilies. Before the vanity were clusters of moisturizer, jewelry pieces, and colored glass bottles that caught the light.

It was so different from the claustrophobic bathroom of her former home, of discolored cabinets and stable household products. Sakura stared at the glint of earrings twirling off the stand.

"Maa Sakura, are you ready-" Ino stopped.

Sakura jumped, clutching a strand of ribbon stolen from the basket. Ino softened her expression.

Ino's mother hummed into her breakfast tea. "Sakura-chan, why don't you accompany me to the market today."

Ino brightened at the idea, only to pout at the reminder of her own ninjutsu lesson with father.

There was a regal type of authority wherever Ino's mother walked, the type that made people hesitate to disagree. Unlike with her own mother, Sakura made no complaints in helping carry the bags of grocery, no matter how numerous or heavy. The trip lasted until afternoon, and by then, her shoulders ached and pink lines marked her wrists.

As reward for her assistance, she was given a subtle smile. "I have found all I need. But what would you like, Sakura-chan?"

They stood in the busiest intersection, where garment vendors pulled out lovely spring fabrics and the jewelry merchants showcased their finest gems. In the window of the game store stood paint kits and dolls made of porcelain. The gourmet cafe next door brought out a fresh cake.

Sakura spun around in confusion, lost in the colors and noise. A familiar door chime stopped her still. Weakly, she pointed to the shop in the far corner.

Ino's mother followed her to the bookstore, where with shaking hands Sakura pulled out one textbook after another from the shelves. She reached for blank paper workbooks and a box of wooden pencils. Finally, she took a backpack.

It was large and brown, with double buckles in the middle. It was tailored for boys. Ino's mother had frowned in disapproval when Mebuki had grabbed something similar.

"Eh, what do you think? She'll love it. And look, on sale!"

She had been lost to Mebuki's excitement. As subtle as possible, she nodded in the direction of a white bag, with red lace on the side and a heart clip. "I heard that brand was popular with the young girls."

Mebuki paused at the bag on display. She kept her smile. "Nah, I think my Sakura-chan will love this one."

Sakura froze at the hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, have you thought about that one?"

Briefly, her eyes flickered over to the Sailor Stars backpack collection, where two school girls giggled and fawned in admiration. Her gaze fell back down to the backpack in her hands. "N-no, thank you, this is fine, thank you, oba-san."

Ino came back from training, excited to see the goods, only to find her friend perched by the windowsill, working on Monday's homework.

.

Eight hours at the Academy. Eight hours at home. Eight hours asleep. That was the cycle of her life. Even if she lost one part of it, she was determined to protect the other two parts.

From the sidelines, Ino watched in worry as Sakura pretended nothing had changed. During the first week, Iruka expressed disapproval over Sakura's recent slack. Ino's friends kept asking why she was nice to Sakura again. Ino bit her lips and kept her discretion. She did not intend start gossip, not when her friend felt frailer than damp rice paper.

No one knew.

Everyone knew when Sasuke lost his parents. He received an official condolence from the school and the Hokage. He received a month's pardon as part of his recovery, and teachers warned all students to show sensitivity and respect. The wealthiest families of the village even offered to welcome him in as one of their own. With Sasuke, the news had been loud and fast.

Ino felt that it would be better if more people understood and sympathized with Sakura too.

Months later, a rumor crept through the school, and Ino found herself proven dead wrong.

"Hey, it's the hobo! How's it like sleeping in the streets?" A group of girls laughed while Ami crossed her arms, smirking.

Gritting her teeth, Ino stomped across the playground.

"Do you bathe in the sewers too?"

With a shove, Ino sent Ami careening backwards. "The only thing in the sewers will be your ugly face!"

At Ino's glare, Ami scowled and left. Not only was Ino rank one in class, she was a Yamanaka. You did not mess with clan kids.

Turning around, Ino knelt down and gathered Sakura into her chest. "It's okay. Listen, we're going to get back at her. Tomorrow, we're getting ten cans of nattō and convincing that Naruto idiot to dump it all into Ami's pants. He'd be totally in on it."

Ino let out a breath of relief when Sakura broke into a smile. "Yeah."

The nattō plan never carried through. Sakura trembled before her vandalized locker, her jacket torn, her homework in pieces on the floor. While she dropped to her knees and combed through her belongings in panic, Ino cursed under her breath.

"No... no..." Sakura threw her papers across the floor in search of something.

Before Ino could say anything, there was a giggle. "Look everyone, she even grovels like a hobo!"

Sakura froze, her eyes on Ami.

Ino cracked her knuckles and stepped forward. "That's it-!"

"You."

Ino whipped back to see Sakura stand up.

"Give it back."

Ami tilted her head. "Give what back? I wasn't aware hobos could own anything."

"Give it back!" Sakura cried, eyes swelled with tears. "Please!"

Ami lowered her eyelids, before she made a noise of concession. "Fine, you can have it back," she said, bending into a nearby trash can.

"Here, have it back."

Before Ino could react, Ami threw the soda can. It made a frightening noise against Sakura's head, before the remaining contents spilled down her hair and shoulders. In shock, Sakura watched the homework on the floor stain with blotches of brown.

Ami laughed. "Hey, ninety-nine more and you can buy yourself some deo-"

The hallway echoed with a howl that made Ino's blood turn cold. All the girls ran away as Sakura tackled Ami into the ground, clawing with her nails without restraint. "GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK NOW!"

Ami's scream got higher with each strike. Blood dripped from under Sakura's nails.

Shaking, Ino took a step back, then looked down to see a strand of something glinting under her foot. Ino ran to show Sakura her necklace.

By the time the teachers pried the hysterical girl away, Ami was already blind.

.

After six months, the housing administration had returned with a contract of Sakura's new home. The apartment was not glorious. Ino cringed at the peeling walls and crooked windows. Overhead on the roof were loud, gonging pipes caked with mildew, and below was the distinct smell of a run-down laundromat.

However, the price was more than fair, if not suspiciously cheap. Sakura had her own bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. Most welfare children bunked in rooms that were smaller than a closet.

Ino's family made several trips getting Sakura furniture. Ino ran to her family's shop and picked out plants to provide distraction from the hideous walls. However, as she pushed a pot of spathiphyllum across the room, she caught the sight of something unusual. Frowning, she pushed the pot until it pressed against the wall. She pretended to not hear the groan on the other side.

"Sakura," she whispered, beckoning her friend over.

Sakura peeked out from the bathroom, foam-lathered gloves in the air. "What is it?"

"You've got pervert neighbor!" Ino hissed, scandalized. She nodded toward the part of the wall covered by the plant. "There's a peep hole."

Sakura knelt down and tilted her head against the wall, examining Ino's concern.

Ino expected some sort of reaction, but Sakura only stood up. "I'll keep the plant there. Thanks for letting me know." Without another word, she reached for the steel wool and went back to scrubbing.

Ino dropped her shoulders.

"Your mother was like a sister to me. You are welcome to eat with us, live with us, anytime." Ino watched her mother place a hand on Sakura's shoulder, then gather her purse and leave. Ino followed but gave a hesitant glance back.

"Bye, Sakura."

There was no reply.

After the door closed, the apartment was filled with only the sound of running water and scritch-scratch against ceramic. When no further justice could be done about the sink scum, Sakura filled a bucket and started on the floors.

She worked until the noise of labor could not distract her ears anymore. She became haunted by the creaks of her own footsteps, the silence of a humming refrigerator.

Rag forgotten, Sakura curled inwards, head pressed against a leg of her bed. She remained there while the light outside shifted and shadows stretched longer against the floorboards.

Even when her body told her it was past dinnertime, she had no will to move. Her mind blanked, as she stared at a fly crawl up and down the ceiling.

It was near dusk when Sakura crawled to her backpack. There was school tomorrow, and her homework was nowhere near complete. She dug around for her notebook, only to be confronted by an old cover.

Konoha, the History.

Her fingers trailed up the spine of the book, well-kept and fairly new. It still smelled of its previous owner. She shut her eyes, clutching the book intimately close to her heart.

Decided, she stripped away her pillowcase and wrapped the book as carefully as she could. In the bathroom, she scrubbed her hands and splashed her face. From her closet she threw on the nicest clothes Ino had given her. Finally, she pulled out her necklace, letting it rest against the center of her chest, crystallized in time.

She ran, hoping reach her destination before she lost the last streams of sunlight.

There was no answer on the first two knocks, but she heard movement inside by the third try. She stepped back when the door opened.

Sasuke waited.

"I..."

Sakura clutched the book tighter.

"I..."

She snapped shut her eyes. "S-Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke stared at the book in her trembling hands, then her. He closed the door.

"Go home, Sakura."

.

Two years later...

.

For ten minutes, the alarm blared in the same beep beep beep until someone finally slammed the button.

With a kick of the foot, the mattress flipped onto the ground, sandwiching the person on it against the ground.

"Get up."

.

Hatake Kakashi stared at the folder in hand.

Uzumaki Naruto, age twelve, arrested for graffiti and vandalism, assault and battery, stealing, indecent exposure, loitering, and public urination. Orphaned since birth. Jinchūriki. Special notes: requires repetition around theoretical concepts, prone to bursts of unpredictability, fond of inappropriate jutsu. Addicted to ramen.

Uchiha Sasuke, age twelve, no criminal record. Orphaned at age eight. Lone survivor of his clan's massacre. Special notes: severe lack of cooperation, little respect for adult authority, resistance to communication. Most gifted student in all forms of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Has notable admiration from his peers.

Haruno Sakura, age twelve, arrested for assault and battery, placed in psychiatric therapy for eight months under guidance of Yamanaka Inoichi. Orphaned at age ten. Special notes: despite record, Sakura is a good, well-behaved student. Highly sensitive, so use kind words during criticism.

Kakashi looked up from Iruka's notes and wondered what the hell the Hokage had set him up with.

He hid the files when the first of his students came. It was the Uchiha, who wordlessly sat across from him on the rooftop. Within a minute, a rosy girl joined them, sitting politely next to Sasuke. Kakashi assumed she would be Sakura.

After a minute, Kakashi was ready to start, only to interrupted by one last set of footsteps making its ascent up to the roof.

The Uzumaki clutched his head as he trotted over, hunched. Before the seats, he hesitated, switching his gaze between the Uchiha and the girl. He settled for the ground in front of them.

Kakashi cleared his throat and began. "I assume everyone got the notification that we were supposed to have met last week." He stared down his three pupils, gauging their reactions. He was surprised to find none. "Well, do you have an explanation for yourselves?"

The silence was broken by the girl, who shuffled her feet. "S-sorry sensei, we did show up, and waited a long time too. But you see, it started getting late, and I had to return to my work shift. Then there was dinner to cook, laundry to wash, floors to clean, and bills to go through..."

When her lips quivered and she buried into her palms, Kakashi felt a piece of his dead heart break off.

Sasuke refused to justify himself until the girl looked up from her tears and sent a sharp stab to his side. "It was my mother's birthday," he sighed. "I went to deweed her grave."

And now, whatever remnants of Kakashi's heart crumbled into a pile of ash.

Both Sasuke and Sakura turned to Naruto, awaiting his story.

Naruto kept his face hidden behind bangs. "Well, you see. A few days ago, something dramatic happened in my life. I couldn't graduate, so I was told about this scroll, and things happened, and I learned that I was a... I was something awful... So I... I..." His voice went hoarse.

He lifted his head up. "So I forgot to water my plants, ahaha!"

Kakashi collapsed.

"Sorry!" With a grin, Naruto swung both arms back. "We all had shit to do, so when you didn't show, we thought that a great jōnin like yourself must have been caught up on some noble, life-threatening mission to protect the village."

Naruto passed the baton back to Sasuke.

"One that was so crucial that he had to neglect his teaching responsibilities." Sasuke passed the baton back a full circle to Sakura.

"Because it would be incomprehensible that a man as respectable as you would be so insensitive and cruel as to intentionally make us waste time waiting for you, especially one with prior knowledge of our circumstances." Sakura smiled.

After an awkward pause, Kakashi clapped once. "Okay, nevermind," he said. "Let's just jump to introductions, shall we?"

Naruto snorted. "Oi, we've been classmates for six years. Think we already know each other."

"Just do it," Kakashi deadpanned.

And thus, Naruto delivered an ode to ramen. Sasuke hated on everything. Sakura gushed about clothes and boys and some television show named Sailor Stars.

When she finished, Kakashi stood up from the railing and closed his eye. "Well, now I guess you're all curious as to who I am."

"Not really."

"We already know."

"Can we talk about our first mission?"

Kakashi held back a blink.

His expression changed. "If you're so eager to get started," he said, dropping all nonsense, "then let's see what you're made of. Bring all your shinobi tools tomorrow morning. Pass my test, and we talk missions. Fail, and return to the Academy."

The trio accepted their logistics packet.

"Do come prepared. I will warn you that it is a difficult test, with a sixty-six percent failure rate every year." Kakashi smiled inwardly when the children tensed up.

As a farewell, "Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up."

.

"Team Seven? Yeah, I remember them. I'm guessing they left the classroom after ten minutes?"

"They waited ten minutes."

"Well, maybe more like eight."

.

Kakashi jumped through the trees unusually passionate that morning. Passionate for the homicide of three arrogant children.

Three arrogant, assiduous children, he realized upon reaching the clearing. Dawn had yet to break, yet there were already busy movements below. Cloaking his presence, Kakashi observed the Uchiha boy lie a variety of traps throughout the field. Meanwhile, the girl sat amongst a mountain of scrolls, with the Uzumaki unloading another satchel of them from his back.

"Got anything, Sakura-chan?" Naruto peered down her shoulder, toast in mouth.

"Not yet," Sakura growled, unraveling another meter of scroll. "But I'll find it. Kakashi-sensei mentioned failure statistics. No way a test that common and standardized would not be documented... Aha!"

Sasuke paused his metalwork, listening.

"The two-bell test is a form of examination used to evaluate the compatibility of the three-man cell of fresh Academy graduates. Developed by the Second Hokage, further promoted by the Third and Fourth..."

As Sakura read, Kakashi felt a drop of sweat down his back. He glanced down at the stolen scrolls. The security at the Teaching Academy was not necessarily tight, but the fact that they thought to go there and succeeded in extracting the correct information was impressive.

Kakashi fought back a smile. Well, wasn't this an interesting team.

"Wait, I don't get it. So according to this, there are only two bells, but three people." Naruto held up three fingers in one hand, two in the other, and confirmed that they indeed did not match in number. "How does that work?"

When the other two looked equally befuddled, Kakashi pinched his nose. A moronic team too.

"We can steal the bells beforehand," Sasuke spoke up, his eyes never leaving the rig wires at hand. "No bells, no test."

Sakura frowned. "Who's to say he won't substitute the bells with something else. Also, he'd be on to us."

"Then you suggest we feign ignorance and take the test."

"Yes. This will be tricky, but it's ultimately an application of game theory. It's Hatake Kakashi. If we all think about securing a bell for ourselves, we have a zero percent success rate. It's better to combine our efforts and focus on getting them first, then rock-paper-scissor for the bells. Sixty-six percent success rate." Finished, Sakura rolled up the scroll and looked to her teammates, awaiting their reply.

"Heh, wouldn't that suck, if you lost your future to rock-paper-scissors." Naruto switched his gaze from Sakura to Sasuke, who kept his gaze on his work. When Sasuke finished oiling the last trap, he stood up.

"I think," Sasuke began, "we can all understand..."

With a bitter grin, Sakura extended a hand. "The meaning of..."

Naruto added his fist to the circle. "Tough luck."

They broke and got to work.

Kakashi watched his students coordinate their plot. By late morning, they had exchanged their arsenal and mapped a tree of scenarios and strategic maneuvers. Kakashi decided there was no point stalling any longer and revealed himself, ready to follow their choreography.

Naruto was sent first for an assessment of Kakashi's speed and strength, then later as the distraction. Sasuke had the offensive skills to perform the cornering and boxing. From above, Sakura kept peripheral and controlled signaling.

Despite a rough start, their performance became increasingly smooth, resulting in a bombardment of kage bushin from above, a net of blazing fire from below, and a lone girl waiting at his last escape point.

When Sakura jingled the bells, Kakashi held up his hands in acknowledgment.

"We got it, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered, huffing heavily.

Smirking, Sasuke wiped the blood from his lips and straightened up.

Sakura kept her smile.

"Hurry! We've only got a few seconds left to play rock-" Naruto turned around, eyes wide. "Sakura-chan?"

Alarmed, Sasuke pulled out a kunai.

However, Sakura had already handed a baffled Kakashi one of the bells, just as the timer rang.

Naruto gaped. "What-! We were supposed to rock-paper-scissor for those!"

Twirling her bell, Sakura smirked. "I lied. Thanks for the bell, boys."