An Arrow Among the Flame chapter 7

Naruto had his fingers crossed and Sasuke was praying to whatever god would listen. It was too bad that Jashin had been the one to answer. Iruka steadily announced the teams and as he got to the final four sets, he let out a sigh. "Naruto Uzumaki no Soreya, Sasuke Uchiha," The two boys breath hitched as they ran the odds. There was a chance that they could have a three guy team after all. "and Sakura Haruno."

"Yes, in your face Ino!" The pinkette screamed, causing most of the class to wince. It was no secret that Konoha would probably see two Genin suicides later.

"No, no ,no, it wasn't supposed to be this way. I was supposed to enjoy being a ninja," Naruto sobbed. Taking a look at Sasuke he immediately grabbed the knife out of his friends' hand. "Not a chance, if I have to go through this, so do you!"

Iruka sweat dropped at the scene before him. "Okay, just a reminder, you are unique in the fact that you have a duo sensei. Officially you're under Hatake Kakashi."

Two hours later

Naruto was just about to fall asleep when the classroom door opened. A Jonin with silver hair and a mask walked into the class room. Sakura was the first to open her mouth and yelled, "What kind of teacher are you? Two hours late is ridiculous!"

"Now, now, Banshee," Naruto said, "He probably crossed a black cat or had to help an old lady cross the road."

'Finally, a student who understands me!' Keeping his features schooled in nonchalance, the Jonin known as Kakashi announced, "My first impression is... I hate you. Meet me on the roof." He promptly turned on his heel and walked out with Sakura behind him. He already knew to expect the other two on the roof as he noted that they went to the window rather than the door.

After introductions had been made (and nothing new had been learned), he had let them go. Kakashi let them know when they would start training . Naruto had stopped to think about tomorrow when he realized something. 'Didn't Iruka say that we had two sensei?'

The next morning came and Naruto arrived at the training ground around ten minutes early to do some warm up exercises He nodded to Sasuke in the tree, and disregarded Sakura pawing at the base. He finished his daily regimen when Kakashi arrived with another Jonin. "Team front and center!" Kakashi ordered. When his three students assembled, he pointed to the other adult and introduced him. "Students, this is your other teacher, Cheshire."

The other Jonin raised his hand in greeting. Naruto noted that the man wore a traveling cloak and an Anbu-like mask in the style of a cat.

"It's nice to meet you all. I hope we can all learn from each other," Cheshire stated. Naruto couldn't quite place the man before him. He thought the voice sounded familiar. Naruto shrugged it off and continued to listen to the newcomer's introduction. Little did he know it, but Nasu was the one behind the mask, and he was smiling evilly. If Naruto didn't recognize him, then this was going to be a lot of fun.

"Now," the masked teacher started, "We will start the final test for you to become Genin."

"But we already passed the academy test," Sakura voiced the other team mates expressions.

"Please, that test is only to weed out those who would probably die on a D-rank." Nasu shrugged as he pulled out a little golden bell. "The real test is this, if you get this from me, you stay Genin and we're officially a team." Letting that sink in, he continued, "If not, you will be removed from the ninja force." The air was tense as the three youngsters stiffened. "Now for the rules. Kakashi is currently a wild card, he will be hiding and you have the option of finding him. The only catch is if he's my ally, you will have to fight him off as well as me. If he's on your side, then you just gained a powerful ally against me. If you retrieve the bell, your goal is to then A. Hold it until time is over, B. Bring it to the goal site, or C. Disable me while you have the bell in your possession."

Taking a short breath, Nasu continued, "On the low chance that you actually get the bell, the goal site is next to the flag I planted on the other side of the training field. You have fifteen minutes to prepare before the test starts. Good luck!"

15 minutes passed way too quickly for Naruto. Right off the bat, the team decided for Sakura to find Kakashi. Fighting a Jonin level ninja as fresh genin would be suicide, and the teachers knew it. For them to stack the odds with a wild card wouldn't be possible for them. Sakura had objected at first, but Sasuke had been quick to bring her around. "Why would they have two Jonin against us? We can't even take out one except by dumb luck." After he said that Sakura had only agreed because her crush had said it.

After they discussed tactics, they finally decided that Naruto and Sasuke would keep Cheshire busy while Sakura found Kakashi. Naruto would hide Sakura's absence with shadow clones, and Sasuke would launch long ranged techniques.

Cheshire noted their readiness and announced, "Alright, let's start the bell test for Team Seven! Good luck!"

Naruto and Sasuke breathed heavily while their opponent looked unfazed. It had been fourteen minutes and all they managed to get was his cloak. Cheshire looked at the two as they started another formation with the Sakura clone bringing up the rear. Again they launched into the same attack that they had used to destroy his cloak. At first the Sakura clone would launch shuriken and kunai at the teacher while Naruto closed in. Sasuke would then send a fire jutsu toward Naruto, and Naruto would substitute himself with Cheshire to put him in the way of the fireball. As the fireball neared, Naruto felt his substitute jutsu fail and his eyes widened. 'This is gonna sting.'

Nasu was having fun. Scratch that, he was having a LOT of fun. He already knew that Sakura had left to find Kakashi and had seen through the clone. It was smart of the team after all, she was the weakest member, but could still find Kakashi to provide back-up. He was glad that they had seen through that little speech and immediately went for him. On the battlefield, you can never be over confident. It was surprising to him though when Sasuke had launched a fire technique at Naruto and he had suddenly been in the way of the rushing inferno.

That cloak had been the thing to save him as it took the brunt of the flame, and left the rest of his clothing intact. It now lay discarded and ashed over. He saw more strategies produced by the 'team', team being Naruto and Sasuke. It was when he saw the same formation as the one that had actually got through that he became a little irritated He played along and when Naruto was just about to switch with him, he sent a small burst of chakra to disrupt the substitution. "Fool me once, Naru-chan, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Cheshire hadn't seen Kakashi slowly getting into position behind him. As the other Jonin turned to watch Naruto get hit with the fireball, he shot out, grabbing the bell from Cheshire's belt line, before reaching Naruto before the ball of fire hit him. Grabbing his student, Kakashi immediately started to dash for the goal.

Nasu had no time to react as he saw a silver streak next to him, grab the bell and Naruto, and immediately race for the goal. Turning around proved fruitless, Sasuke had already disappeared as well. He let out a loose chuckle. "The chase is on." Clouds darkened the area for a second and as the sunlight returned, Nasu had vanished.

Sasuke popped a chakra pill into his mouth as he followed Kakashi. They were near the goal and he still hadn't seen hide nor hair of their current enemy. It was when he reached the goal's clearing that he saw where Cheshire had gone. It was a small clearing, and in the center was a stump and a flag post with Sakura tied to it. She looked as though she was knocked out, but when he, Kakashi, and Naruto entered out of the treeline, she raised her head and yelled, "Stay back, it's a trap!"

Cheshire stepped out of the clearing opposite of the group and walked over to the captured kunoichi. When he was right next to her he raised a knife to her neck, and started talking in a sickly sweet voice. "Ah, look who it is. Now I don't have to go through the trouble of finding you. Kakashi, if you'll be so kind as to hand over the bell, Maybe we can work out a deal." He punctuated his speech with a cut on Sakura's neck, barely large enough to draw blood.

Kakashi didn't even hesitate when he pulled out the bell. Sasuke raised his voice slightly in panic as he asked the Jonin, "What are you doing? If he gets the bell, we are going to lose our ninja career!"

Kakashi gave his student a stern look and responded, "Is your career worth her life? If he doesn't get the bell, he will kill her. We can always try to get the bell again. You need to remember that those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who betray their teammates and friends are lower than trash."

Sasuke looked thoroughly chastised as he grabbed the bell from his teacher. "In my defense, I didn't think he would actually kill her." He finished by tossing the bell toward their masked opponent who caught it.

Naruto had stayed uncharacteristically quiet during the conversation. He had finally figured out both the man under the mask, and the actual goal of the test. "Not that he would actually kill her, right Nasu-sensei? Did we pass?"

Nasu couldn't hold back the laughter and removed his mask. "That's right Naruto, I probably would've just dispelled the clone and failed you." He dispelled his tied up clone and the real Sakura walked out from a tree a few yards away.

Sakura apologized and told the rest of the group, "When he found me, he told me that if I stayed quiet he wouldn't hurt me."

"Always remember Naruto, two can play that game." Nasu let out another laugh at Sasuke's confused expression, and tossed the bell onto the stump. A loud gong sound was heard and Nasu smiled brightly. "Now that's over with, I declare Team Seven to be an excellent group. Congratulations on passing. On another note, I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

A/N Well, chapter seven is up. If you're wondering why Naruto didn't use his bow, check back on chapter one and note one of the first conversations. Archery will not completely dominate his fighting style, but augment it drastically. I'm still deciding whether or not to test the waters with an original mission arc or not, but time will tell. How will the new team work together? What dangers will they face? And most importantly, will I ever write a longer chapter with decent fight scenes? Stay tuned for next time on An Arrow Among the Flame!