Finally, a new ch. of Joys of Possession. Took me long enough, huh? This ch. is a little short, but I wanted to get it out. Planning to have another (longer) ch. out for this fic by the end of the month. For my most popular fic, I've neglected it too much. Anyway, here it is.

Disclaimed.

Obito hummed a cheery tune as he ran through the village. True, he was running late, but he was positive that Minato-sensei wouldn't punish him. Not because he was an Uchiha, but because Minato-sensei was nice and hadn't yelled at him once yet no matter how annoying he'd been.

He finally tore into training ground seven ten minutes late. Minato-sensei was leaning casually against a tree while Rin sat on the ground looking hungry. Kakashi, however, was glaring at him icily with his arms crossed.

A normal boy would have flinched at the look, but Obito had been on the receiving end of the Uchiha death glare for years and had become a deft hand at brushing it off.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path." Obito prevaricated while scratching the back of his head and grinning goofily. Kakashi twitched, Rin looked skeptical and Minato's expression didn't change at all. Obito wondered absently if they would call him on his lie.

Minato cleared his throat and stood upright, bringing something out of his pocket and catching the attention of his new students before the meeting devolved into a fight.

"Now that we're all here," he looked pointedly at Obito, "we can begin. Your mission for this test is to retrieve these bells from me. You have until noon to complete this mission. So...about three hours and forty-five minutes now." Again his eyes flicked over to Obito momentarily.

Even Rin was glaring at him now and Obito could see why. Didn't make him feel bad about being late, though.

Rin was the one to ask the obvious question, "But sensei, why are there only two bells?"

Minato smirked before dangling the bells in front of Obito's eyes. "If you can't at least get a bell, you'll be sent back to the academy."

The three genin candidates all had equally horrified expressions at that and Minato chuckled as he tied the bells to his belt, "We start when I say begin. If you want to get a bell, you'll have to come at me with the intent to kill."

He paused for a moment to see if they would speak, but when they just glared at him with determined faces he shrugged, "Begin."

Immediately they dispersed, all except Obito. "I'm the boy that's going to become the strongest ninja to ever live!" And with that clarification, he charged Minato head on.

Without going into the gritty (and embarrassing) details, he was defeated immediately and tossed carelessly into the river, where he coughed and sputtered as he was swept away by the rushing water.

When he finally made it back to others, he found Rin knocked out and dragged her behind some bushes where she would be safer before tentatively trying to find out how Kakashi's fight was going.

When he found them, he settled in to watch, wondering if maybe he could sneak a chance at getting the bells. That stuck up Kakashi would never live it down if he had to return to the academy for another year.

He found Kakashi fighting Minato-sensei with a surprisingly well-coordinated blend of ninjutsu and taijutsu. Even if he didn't want to admit it, the younger boy made fighting someone much larger than him look easy.

Still, Minato-sensei was holding off Kakashi without a lot of effort. Obito dubiously starting thinking up ways to snag a bell when the unexpected happened. Kakashi was distracted momentarily for no apparent reason and glanced in his direction.

The moment of inattention cost him though, Minato-sensei immediately used shunshin to get behind the boy and used the same move on Kakashi that he had on Obito. Obito tried to yell out a warning; competition or not, no male deserved to have that technique used on him. He was too late however and Kakashi went flying with a cry of pain.

As Kakashi sat upright with all the injured dignity of a drowned cat, Minato-sensei spoke in a deceptively mild voice.

"A moment of inattention in the field can cost your life. Never let the enemy get behind you."

Kakashi had never been so humiliated in his life. It wasn't just that he'd let himself get distracted when Naruto told him to work with Obito who was watching them fight. It wasn't even the fact that his sensei had punished him for the lapse by giving him a massive ass-poke.

It was that Naruto was currently laughing his own non-existent ass off so loudly that he couldn't hear himself think. As Kakashi pulled his injured pride around him like a cloak he wondered not for the first time why his future self would trust an idiot like this with his own body.

'You could have at least waited until I was clear to speak.' he thought at the man angrily.

Naruto sobered long enough to respond, 'Yah, we're gonna have to work on that.'

The man immediately started chuckling again as he continued, 'But I wish I'd seen your face, and before you complain any further, Kakashi-sensei did the same thing to me so it seems to be a bit of a tradition among Team Seven's jounin-sensei.'

Kakashi wanted to retort that he was not complaining, but held his tongue. It was best to ignore idiots, after all, no matter how hard it might be to do that when you have one in your head.

During this time Kakashi hadn't been sitting idle. He'd fled back into the safety of the foliage, knowing that Minato-sensei wouldn't follow. When he was finally clear he crouched down to plan.

Unfortunately, his planning consisted of silently acknowledging that it would be nearly impossible to get the bells from his sensei. This was a fact that he found extremely frustrating considering how hard he'd been training. It didn't help that Naruto was basically saying the same thing, shoving his weakness in his face.

As Kakashi continued to ignore the man in his head, Naruto sighed.

"Kakashi, pride has no place in the life of ninja. I'm not really one to talk, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the help of your older self. Sometimes, no matter how strong you are, you need to accept help from your teammates. And since your sensei is the future Yondaime Hokage this is definitely one of those times."

Kakashi blinked in shock, his sensei would be Yondaime?

He then frowned in consternation, "You shouldn't be telling me things like that, should you? Hokage-sama wouldn't approve."

Naruto chuckled, "Let me worry about that. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, you've earned it. You didn't ask for this, and regardless of your future self's decision, it's not fair for you to have to bear this burden.

Not having a choice...it's something I understand all too well. Believe me, if there was another way to save your father and everyone, I would have chosen that instead."

By the time Naruto finished speaking, his voice had taken on a tone of regret that made Kakashi want to cringe. The man's emotions were strong and Kakashi could almost feel them.

"But don't worry, I wont let anything happen to you. I'll help you in any way I can; you wont have to face all of this alone."

Kakashi snorted softly, "I don't know what you think you can do, but what do you mean by 'I understand'?"

"You'd be surprised." Naruto said cryptically and Kakashi was left to wonder which, if either, of his questions Naruto had answered.

Obito snuck away from his sensei after Kakashi lost. He had to find the stupid 'genius' and make him work with him, otherwise none of them would pass.

When Obito found Kakashi, though, he wondered what was wrong with the boy. He was staring off into space intently, his face contorting slightly from time to time under his mask. It was almost as if he was talking to himself silently.

Obito scrunched up his face; great, his new teammate was insane.

Kakashi heard a twig snap and spun around to find Obito staring at him with an odd expression on his face. Kakashi flushed beneath his mask at his inattention in the middle of a mission, he'd already been admonished by his sensei not to let that happen. He wouldn't let it happen a third time.

As he composed himself, Obito continued staring at him weirdly.

Kakashi finally snapped annoyance, "What do you want, dumb ass?"

Obito looked like he wanted to attack Kakashi for a second, but surprisingly regained control of himself.

"There's no way we'll defeat Minato-sensei by ourselves. He's a jounin, for cryin' out loud! We have to work together or we'll fail. Rin was already knocked out, we have to hurry!"

For once, the idiot was speaking sense. Not that Kakashi wanted to be on a team with him, but it would be better than no team at all.

"Alright. I'll distract him while you get the bells. Wait for my signal."

Obito nodded. Kakashi wasn't sure why, but he was certain Obito wouldn't keep both bells for himself and this plan was the only one that might succeed. He just hoped he was right.

As Kakashi attacked Minato-sensei with everything he had, Obito waited for the moment when he would be able to get close enough to grab the bells.

A minute later a shuriken that Kakashi threw at Minato was dodged and it embedded itself in the tree Obito was hiding behind. Showtime.

He crept around the tree and waited for the distraction. Minato's back was to him and he just needed to wait for exactly the right moment.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Kakashi was releasing a great deal of electricity from his hands and forced Minato-sensei to jump back to get more space to maneuver.

Unfortunately for him, Obito was already waiting at the spot he landed and he quickly grabbed the bells before his sensei could realize what had happened and then jumped back to a safe distance.

Or at least that's what he thought. But by the quickly masked amusement on his sensei's face, he suspected the man might have just let him take the bells.

Obito had the childish urge to stamp in irritation, but instead focused on the fact that he had gotten the bells. That thought in mind, he started doing a victory dance that left Kakashi's left eyebrow twitching while his sensei looked at him with bemusement.

That was when he noticed that they weren't alone in the clearing. Another Minato-sensei had entered carrying an unconscious Rin and looked extremely unamused. Just as quickly as his cheer had come, it disappeared.

The clone set Rin down before lightly tapping her on the cheek until she started to wake up. She opened her eyes to see her sensei standing over her before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Rin let out an undignified squeak and looked around. When she saw her team looking at her she scrambled to stand and only then noticed that Obito had the bells. She sent a shocked look in Kakashi's direction, who merely shrugged.

Minato-sensei once again cleared his throat to get their attention.

Looking at Obito he asked calmly, "So, Obito, who are you going to give your second bell to?"

Obito gulped as a sinking sensation made itself felt in his gut, Rin was looking at him with a dumb-founded expression, probably still wondering how he was able to get the bells, while Kakashi just cocked an eyebrow at him as if to say 'Who helped you?'

He didn't know what to do, Kakashi had earned it, but it somehow felt wrong to leave Rin out. She may have been knocked out, but that could have happened to him too. Besides, Rin was smart and had done better in the academy.

She was also talented at medical ninjutsu and he knew how important becoming a ninja medic was to her after her father died in the field from a simple poison that most medics could have made an antidote for.

If he killed her dream, could he live with himself? She always worked hard and probably deserved it more than him, anyway. His eyes prickled uncomfortably and he pulled his goggles over his eyes to keep his team from noticing.

He sighed and put a bright smile on his face.

"Think fast!"

Rin and Kakashi held out their hands reflexively to catch the bells that had been thrown to them. Kakashi's face betrayed nothing of his surprise, but Rin's eyes were wide.

"I can't wait to see the look on sensei's face when he realizes he has to put up with me for another year! You better be ready to get your ass kicked when I come back, Kakashi!"

Kakashi snorted and shook his head, but before he could retort, Minato interrupted.

"That wont be necessary, Obito. You pass."

Rin and Kakashi looked at him in surprise and Rin asked, "Why, sensei?"

"Because the most important qualities for a ninja are being able to work with their teammates and sacrifice their own interest for their team. Obito demonstrated both of those qualities.

Those that make it onto a genin team are being trained to be the military leaders of Konoha's ninja corps. What do you think happens to those that can't become genin? Their skills don't go to waste. They're fast-tracked into a harsh training course to see if they can cut it as ANBU. ANBU often work individually, so leadership capability and teamwork aren't as important.

But officers must be able to command and coordinate large groups. They have to put the well-being of their team first and understand the value of teamwork. Konoha's superior teamwork is what has allowed us to survive the last two wars and the only thing keeping us from losing this one.

We have fewer ninja than our enemies and so throwing away lives at the drop of a hat for a mission will only result in our eventual defeat. Mission success is vital, but sacrificing an entire team for a mission that can't be completed is only a waste of resources."

Minato paused and looked at Kakashi for a moment.

"Those are the sorts of choices that you will eventually have to make."

He paused again before continuing, "Obito gave you both bells, so you pass as well. Meet me at the Hokage tower tomorrow at 0800 for your first mission."

With that he disappeared, leaving a team of astonished ninja. Obito was the first to respond, jumping for joy and doing cartwheels in the grass. Rin looked slightly dazed still and Kakashi looked thoughtful.

He was pretty sure that Minato had been subtly referring to his father. It seemed that there were those in the ninja corps who supported his father's decision, although Sakumo hadn't seemed to be aware of that fact when he'd tried to kill himself.

Still, Minato-sensei had a point. Kakashi would have to decide for himself what was right. He'd always believed that the rules and regulations of ninja existed for good reason, but maybe there was more to it than that.

Obito yelled that they should all go for ramen, but Kakashi just walked off, intent on informing his father that he'd passed his genin exam. In the process he missed the slightly crest-fallen look on Obito's face, while Rin excused herself, saying apologetically that her mother was expecting her.

Obito slowly ambled home, not looking forward to the unenthusiastic greeting that awaited him. After all, to his family him becoming a genin just meant that he had still not activated his sharingan. Considering that he was the only heir to the head of the Uchiha branch family, that was considered a disgrace. Hopefully his father wouldn't be home yet.

Kakashi entered his house quietly, wondering whether or not his father was home.

Naruto piped up unexpectedly, "For a prodigy, you're surprisingly unobservant."

Kakashi frowned in annoyance before reluctantly asking, "What do you mean?"

"Just that there may be more to your teammates than you think."

Kakashi was getting frustrated with Naruto's tendency towards being cryptic, but figured that the best solution was to ignore him.

So he did just that, walking into the kitchen to find his father silently gathering ingredients to make dinner. That was the unsettling thing about sharing a home with one of Konoha's greatest shinobi; he typically had no clue whether his father was home or what he was doing.

When he was younger, after his mother died, his father had accidentally surprised Kakashi practically every other day. This had the unintended effect of teaching Kakashi to remain aware of his surroundings at all times.

Sakumo smiled down at his young son.

"How did your real genin test go? Did you pass?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Was it the bell test? What did you think of it?"

Kakashi thought for a moment before replying, "It was...interesting."

Sakumo seemed satisfied by this response and told him to go wash up for dinner.

"Oh and Kakashi."

Kakashi turned to wait for his father to speak.

"Next time you have a day free from team training and missions, there's a jutsu I want to teach you."

With that the White Fang turned back to cooking and Kakashi walked towards the bathroom with a smile under his mask.

Anyone confused about the ages, it's like this: Kakashi is 7, Obito and Rin are 9. In canon, Kakashi graduated at five, in this fic the sandaime doesn't let him graduate until seven.

R&R