A/N: Alright, I'm sorry for the unexpected hiatus. Things got a bit hectic at school (had this huge exam that I passed!), a bit of drama, internet problems, a sudden manga/anime craze, an externship where I worked at a urgent care clinic for a while to complete school hours, computer problems, a cousin having boy problems...and yeah, I think you get the picture.

Life gets hectic.

Anyways, here it is! Chapter 3!

Sorry for the long wait!

Sorry for spelling and grammar errors!

&Sorry, but Haku and Zabuza are not in this chapter, but they will be in the next!

Chapter 3: The Test

"…is there something that you want, Kurama-san?" Sakura questioned hesitantly, her emerald eyes watching the fox warily.

"Can I not appear before you to simply speak?" the fox questioned, an amused glint shining in his blood red eyes.

He stood.

Sakura leapt back, creating a fair amount of distance between her and the animal. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, that she was in danger. She could sense the power practically thrumming in her dark surroundings. She could feel it brush against her and suffocate her own chakra, as if it was letting her know that she was nothing compared to it…and the power was all coming from the fox that began to chuckle.

"You are hurting my feelings, Sakura-hime," he stated, stretching out her title as if to mock her.

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek.

"Whatever you wish to speak about, we can do it at this distance," she stated.

"Now, now, no need for hostility, child," he retorted, his voice whispering directly into her ear.

A burning sensation unexpectedly wrapped around her abdomen, ripping into her skin. Unable to register the sudden sensation, Sakura could only gasp in pain as she realized that Kurama was no longer before her. Instead, he now stood beside her, one of his nine tails twisting around her. If it wasn't for the burning, it would have been like the tail was caressing her in a loving and protective way, but as the pain grew, Sakura knew it was anything, but.

With a shout of pain, she ripped her person away from the red fox and hurled herself forward. From the deep raspy laughter behind her, Sakura had a feeling that the fox had let her get free. Irritation filled her. Twisting around to face him, she now looked at him with anger and determination. Noting her glare, Kurama silenced his laughter and narrowed his eyes darkly.

"Are you done playing?" Sakura hissed.

His tails seemed to bristle and began to whip around his body. "Watch your tongue," he growled, "Child."

She ignored his warning, and repeated her earlier question. "What do you want?"

"Impudent girl, I see you have yet to realize who I am. The intelligence among you weak humans has greatly decreased," he grumbled, lying down on the ground. "If not for the power in you, I would destroy you where you stand, and you would be left as a vegetable in the physical world."

Sakura tensed at his words. "Then tell me who you are! And what is it that you want from me?"

Before Kurama could even speak with his growing impatience, the ground began to tremble and a crack appeared between him and Sakura. A white light seeped through it, and as the ground continued to shake, the crack grew wider. Sakura watched in a mixture of fear and shock has a gloved hand shout out. It grasped the ground of her side as another hand appeared. The two appendages then began to pull, and to her surprise and relief, Inner Sakura appeared.

"You dare interrupt me?" Kurama hissed as Inner Sakura pulled herself up out of the crack and stood in front of Sakura protectively, glaring venomously at the fox.

"You dare to try and make my creator do your bidding?" she shot back, and before a response could be given, Inner Sakura's shadowed hands came together. The noise made by her palms conneting seemed to resound loudly through the air, and Sakura watched in silent awe as white cracks seeped through the dark world. In another moment, everything shattered, and she found herself standing in ankle deep murky water.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she took in her new surroundings. There were walls of dark colored metal with water slowly dripping down its surface. There seemed to be no ceiling as Sakura looked up to see nothing, but black. Behind her were a set of tall metal bars and on the other side of them was a corridor. Just like what was within what so obviously was a large cell, there was murky water that hid the floor. The walls, also metal, took a light shade of bronze compared to the room of imprisonment with pipes lining them.

"Now suffer in your prison from now and forever, because you will never be given what you so desperately want, you fox!"

The sudden declaration from Inner Sakura had the real Sakura returning her attention to her mental barrier personified and the red fox…but to her confusion, the fox was no longer small. It was now large, more than double times the size of the Hokage Tower in Konoha. Its red fur now had a hue of orange and seemed to dance around; the sight akin to crackling fire. His large nine tails were still, tense, and positioned in a pointed way that looked like they were about to attack.

And that's when Sakura realized who Kurama truly was.

T-The Nine-Tailed Fox…

He roared angrily. "You, a figment of a child's imagination, dare speak to me like that! Well, know this," he lowered his head, lips pulled back to reveal his sharp canine teeth in a snarl, "I will be free from this prison—with or without the help of this Haruno child!"

His tails then shot forward, and Inner Sakura quickly spun around and ran. She grabbed Sakura's wrist as she passed her, and the pinkette had no problems against following after her counterpart. She could feel the heat of the nine tailed fox's chakra licking at the back of her legs, and just as she and Inner Sakura slipped through the cell's bars, her shoulder exploded in pain. She screamed and Inner Sakura cursed at the demon behind them.

"Bastard!"

"…and that's what happened, Moku-oji-san."

"It seems you have had yourself quite an adventure, hime."

Sakura huffed, tilting her head back to look up into the heavy foliage of leaves of the grand tree she sat up against. It was around six-thirty in the morning and an hour since she awoke from her nightmare. "I guess you could say that… If Inner Sakura hadn't come and broken me out, who knows what would have happened… By the way, she said she wouldn't have known what was going on had a gust of wind not suddenly blown into the room, informing that you wanted to speak with me."

The leaves rustled slightly with no breeze present. A few escaped from the tree's branches and fluttered down to her, brushing against her cheek before reaching the ground. "I sensed what that Nine Tailed Demon was doing…and recognized the danger inside of it."

Sakura hummed in agreement with the great tree, unconsciously raising a hand to her left shoulder where the nine tailed demon had struck her. Physically, her shoulder was completely fine. After having awoken from her dream—though it was much more than just a dream, what else was she supposed to call it?—she had pulled down the sleeve of her nightshirt and saw no markings whatsoever. No blood, no wound. Just like around her waist. Yet, there was undeniably a burning pain, and while it had gone down to a dull throb, Sakura realized that this was more like ghost pain.

"…but Moku-oji-san, I'm curious…how did the Nine Tailed Demon get into my dreams? Wasn't he sealed?"

"…Hime, he did not enter your dreams. Instead, you entered his domain."

She cocked her head to the side, emerald eyes glazed with confusion. "I don't understand…"

Moku sighed softly in her mind. "To put it in simpler terms…he summoned you to his domain where he is imprisoned."

Sakura blinked. "Is that possible?"

"With your gift, and his power, it is," Moku answered.

"How?"

"You still have yet to master your ability, Hime, and because of that, those that are intertwined with nature can contact you easily… That is, as long as they have the power to do so."

Sakura's eyes widened as she recalled Kurama's words.

"When I was sealed away, a part of my chakra was absorbed into earth."

"So…because his chakra was sealed into the earth…"

"Exactly. His chakra that was sealed into the earth has become a part of it. He has no way to use it, but through it, he gained a connection with you and summoned you to where he is sealed. It was through my own roots that is deeply burrowed into the earth was I able to sense what was going on."

"…does that mean he can summon me anytime he likes?"

"Not unless you let him. The only reason why he succeeded this time was because you did not know you were being summoned. It was all just an odd dream to you, right? …but now that you know how it feels—now that you have a way to recognize it, you can block it. After all, you were able to break out from there."

"That was Inner Sakura who did it though…"

"And Inner Sakura is a part of you."

Sakura said nothing, and only nodded.

Then, she remembered something that peak her curiosity.

"Moku-oji-san, do you know where Kurama is sealed?"

There was a moment of silence.

"No, I do not child."

"Oh, OK."

The leaves above her head rustled again. "Now then, you did say that your team will meet at about seven?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei told us to meet him in front of the training grounds."

She heard a silent snort in her head. "That man is your teacher? If that's the case, then you don't have to be there until at least ten, Hime."

"What do you mean?"

"Rumors of him have spread through my brethren. The winds even speak of him, repeating words of rocks."

"And…? What do they say?"

"Your teacher is notoriously known for being horribly late for scheduled meetings."

"Eh…?"

"Seeing as we have time… Sakura-hime, let me tell you a little trick. I'm sure you've noticed it, but haven't realized what it is…"

Sakura couldn't help, but repeat herself again.

"Eh?

Moku-oji-san was right, Sakura thought as she approached a small red bridge that was built over a stream. There, she saw Sasuke and Naruto waiting. Sasuke was leaning against the railings with his arms crossed over his shoulders, and looked beyond annoyed and about to knock someone's lights out. Said person was most likely the blonde who walked from one end of the bridge to the other. Complaints fell from his lips with every second that passed by, and when both he and Sasuke noticed Sakura approaching, his complaints were directed to her.

"Sakura-chan! Where have you been? Why are you late? Sasuke-teme and I have been waiting here forever for you and Kakashi-sensei! By the way, is that guy with you? Gosh, why did he tell us to meet here at seven, but it's already ten-thirty and he's not even here yet!? It's like it's been years since we've been waiting for you guys!"

"Shut up, dobe. It's only been three hours."

"Yeah, three hours wasted! I could have had dozens of bowls of ramen by now at Ichiraku's!"

Sasuke only rolled his eyes, deeming that that didn't even deserve a response, and directed his attention to Sakura. "Why are you late, Sakura?"

Sakura shrugged, giving a nervous chuckle. "Well…someone told me about Kakashi's late habits…"

"What?! And you didn't even let me know, Sakura-chan?!" Naruto shouted, pointing his finger accusingly.

Sasuke didn't say anything, but his silent glare told Sakura that he agreed with the blonde.

"Sorry, I was talking to someone, and couldn't come until now to tell you, but to make it up to you…" She raised her right hand, where a large paper bag hung from her fingers. "I got you something to eat…"

"Is it ramen?!"

"Uhh…no," Sakura said, sweat dropping. "It's just simple bentos." She set the bag onto the bridge and crouched down. Taking out a dark blue colored container, she held it out in Sasuke's position. "Here, Sasuke. It's not much, but I was sure to add sliced tomatoes."

"Hn… Thanks," the raven haired boy said, grabbing his lunch.

Sakura smiled in return, and took out a dark orange container and held this one out to Naruto. She ignored the hum of voices telling her to get away from him, or to help release Kurama. "Here, Naruto. Uhm…I didn't know what you like, so I just added a few extra onigiri and some hot dogs, if that's OK."

"It's perfect, Sakura-chan! Thanks!" he said enthusiastically. He wasted no time in taking a seat and ripping the lid off his lunch, taking a pair of chopsticks that Sakura had handed him, and dug in. He was taking in such large amounts at an alarming rate that he eventually began to choke. Sakura laughed as Naruto's eyes widened with fear and began to water before giving him a bottle of water. He took it quickly and easily drank about half it to get his food down.

"T-Thanks, S-Sakura-chan," he said between coughs.

"No problem," she said with a small smile before handing another bottle of water to Sasuke. He nodded in gratitude as he grabbed it and set it on top of the rail beside him. He then returned to his lunch, which he ate at a much more lax pace and with smaller amounts compared to Naruto.

Still smiling, Sakura took out a red colored lunchbox to join her teammates, taking a seat beside Sasuke. The further away she was from her blonde teammate, the softer the voices…

It was ten minutes into their unscheduled lunch when Kakashi finally decided to join them. Naruto took a moment to point at him, announce how late he was with food sputtering from his mouth (Sakura scolded him for that, and Sasuke grunted in disgust) before returning back to his food. Sasuke gave a nod of welcoming since he was chewing at the moment. Sakura was the only one that gave a polite verbal greeting, which was followed by a grey colored lunchbox and water bottle being nervously held out to her teacher.

Kakashi raised a brow at this, but other than a polite "hello" and "thank you" as he grabbed his food and water, said nothing else and joined his team for lunch.

It was about another ten to fifteen minutes until they were all done, making sure to clean up after themselves and returning the containers to Sakura's paper bag.

"Well, that was unexpected…but a delicious lunch. Thank you for making the food, Sakura," Kakashi said, his eye smiling and crinkling at the only female.

Sakura smiled back, "No problem."

"Ahh…" he nodded, "But I thought I said that you guys shouldn't eat this morning."

"Yeah, morning," Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms. "You didn't come until almost eleven, and we were starving!"

"Hmm, I guess you're right, but if you throw up, I'm not the one to blame."

"Huh? Why would I throw up?"

Kakashi said nothing at first, and a sneaking suspicion told Sakura that he was grinning mischievously under that mask of his. She said nothing though, and watched silently as he pulled out something from his pocket.

Two silver bells hung from between his index finger and thumb, jingling softly.

"So that's where he is…" Sakura mumbled under her breath, and as silently as she could, she moved from underneath the bush she used to hide and ran through the forest. Maneuvering around the trees, she made her way around the clearing to where Sasuke was. It's been about fifteen minutes into their exam to become "official genins." Kakashi had informed them that the tests at the Academy were to ensure they could execute what they learned, while this exam was to make sure they could apply them in the field. What was the exam? To take the silver bells that was attached to the hip of his pants in the next hour. They could use anything in their arsenals of weapons, taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu, but there were two problems.

One, even though it was three against one, Kakashi was a jounin and they were fresh out of the Academy.

Two, there were only two bells, and whoever didn't get one wouldn't be a genin.

It was practically an all for one thing, but how could they possibly get the bells by themselves? They had to work as a team, and yet, they were trying to have the upper hand against each other… At this rate, there were only three options. The three work together and one of them fails, or they don't work together and all of them fail. She clenched her jaws. Those two options were impossible, because none of them wanted to go back to the Academy.

Then there was option three. She teams up with either Naruto or Sasuke—because no way would those two work together voluntarily—and they work together to get the bells. The chance is less favorable with two against one than three against one, but it was far better than fighting alone…and seeing that Naruto was currently hanging upside down from a tree, Sasuke was her best bet at the moment. Though, he wouldn't be long if she didn't get to him before Kakashi did. The boy decided to give away his position by hurling kunai and shurikens at their Sensei when he thought his guard was down…

Well, he was wrong.

Sakura mentally sighed. Better hurry or I'll be too late…

"Hime, look out!"

Sakura came to an abrupt halt as a soft breeze swirled around her. She felt her eyes water when it became a strong gust the next second, causing leaves to whip through the air. Silently cursing, she wiped at her eyes, never noticing the shimmer casted over her surroundings. By the time she was done, the shimmering had stopped, and an injured Sasuke was lying before her. He was struggling across the ground with his arms and legs, and stretched his hand out toward her in pain.

"S-Sakura…help me…"

Her eyes widened in shock. But when…?

"It's not real, Sakura-hime!"

"It's a genjutsu."

"Don't believe it!"

Sakura squinted when another gust of wind swirled around her, filled with three different voices. She could faintly hear more somewhere in the back of her mind, but these were the loudest. Registering what they were saying, she slightly nodded and looked up at the sky, ignoring the fake Sasuke before her.

Can you get rid of it? She thought, considering that if Kakashi was close by, then it was best to not speak aloud.

"Yes."

"Pretty weak!"

"Not even a challenge!"

She signed and lowered her head. Alright, then do it.

Once again, wind swirled around her with leaves flying past. She watched silently as the Sasuke before her disappeared, and as the wind disappeared, she sensed it. Looking up, she easily saw her silver haired teacher eyeing her with curiosity.

"Well, hello, Sensei," she said before her hands began to fly through signs.

Kakashi had seen Sakura running through the forest—pink hair was easy to see after all—and noticed she was heading in Sasuke's direction. He sighed. It seemed like the female of the squad had a crush on the dark haired one. How typical, he thought with disappointment as he easily caught up with the girl. Hiding his chakra signature, Sakura didn't even know that he was running right above her as he made a sign. A whirlwind of leaves spun around her, and as he settled into a tree, he watched as she settled into his genjutsu.

"Too easy," he muttered, his eyes returning to the little orange book in his hands when her eyes widened with surprise. Now all he had to do was wait for her panicked scream and possibly faint. Just like the other females of the genin squads he tested. He has yet to come across a kunoichi-worthy girl.

The sudden gust of a second wind caught his attention. His lone eyes shot up from his book, and he watched as leaves whipped around the young girl for another time. His gaze narrowed. At first, he believed another genjutsu was being casted on her, which would mean there was someone messing with his current student. However, he realized it was her breaking his genjutsu as the wind disappeared and her emerald eyes focused. They then shot up to meet his, and he stared with disbelief. What was going on? He hadn't sense a sudden release of chakra from her. He had sensed a little with that second wind, but it was hardly enough to break his genjutsu. He also didn't see her make the release sign, so…what exactly did she do?

"Well, hello, Sensei," she said before her hands began to fly through signs.

"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" she shouted and opened her mouth wide open, allowing condensed balls of water to shoot out at Kakashi.

Kakashi quickly jumped to the side and landed on a different branch as the one prior shattered by balls of water. He then returned his attention to where the pinkette was, and saw that she was gone. Furrowing his brow, he dropped to the ground and looked around.

Nothing.

Frowning, he dispersed a small amount of chakra, and wasn't all too surprised to find Sakura underground.

Sakura had executed an earth jutsu and was now traveling underground. He recalled her using the underground jutsu yesterday morning when he was watching her, followed by a fire jutsu and the same water jutsu she had just used on him. He released a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. He had read the reports. Both Sakura and Sasuke were exceptional students in class, while Naruto was at the bottom, but obviously, there was something much more to them.

Sasuke was an Uchiha after all, pushed by his thirst for revenge.

Naruto was the son of his late sensei and had the Kyuubi sealed within him.

Sakura? He believed her to be a paper ninja at first…because how well one did in a class wasn't always the same as how well they do in a field. This seemed to not apply to his current students, however, because they were doing just as good…no, even better.

Naruto was able to create several shadow clones.

Sakura broke his genjutsu and can execute different elemental jutsum even if they were low ranked.

Sasuke knew when to attack…and it seemed he just managed to escape his little earth prison Kakashi had put him in. Kakashi had also watched him practice and master fire jutsu common for his clan just last night, so that was another thing too. One of them was pretty highly ranked too.

…Oh, it looks like Sakura is with Sasuke now…and what's this? Naruto as well? Interesting…

Sakura was relieved when she found herself underground. That split second distraction with her water jutsu left barely enough time for her to escape. Pretty proud of her escape plan, Sakura quickly made her way to the clearing underground, looking for her teammates. She easily found Sasuke, who was struggling at the moment. His body was in the ground with only his head above the surface. Sakura had to suppress a giggle as she moved to part the dirt around him a little, allowing escape to be easier for him. Once she knew he would be fine, she went in search for Naruto, who actually wasn't that far away.

Nodding to herself, Sakura came to a decision.

A cloud of smoke appeared before Naruto, who immediately fell into a defensive stance. His body tense, while his hands formed the familiar sign of the shadow clone jutsu, and waited.

"Hey Naruto," a light voice called out to him, and his body immediately relaxed when a pink hair came into view. Giving a relieved sigh, Naruto gave a wide grin at Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! For a moment there, I thought you were Kakashi-sensei!" he approached her rather quickly, "By the way, do you know where that teacher is?"

"Uhm…no," she muttered, concentrating on quieting the voices in her head.

"Get away-!"

"-dangerous-"

"Unfortunate creature-"

"-should be free!"

She winced a little in pain, but Naruto didn't notice as he looked around in the forest.

"The last time I saw him was over there," she waved her hand to the left, "But he's probably long gone by now."

"Ah, OK. Well, anyways, I got a plan, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, "I know how we can get the bells!"

"Oh? How?" she questioned, honestly curious.

"I was thinking…" he placed a hand on her shoulder, taking note at how stiff she was, but dubbed the cause being her nervous about the this test. "With my awesome strength and your brain power, we could bring Kakashi-sensei down!"

The moment Naruto had touched her, a chorus of voices slammed into her mind. She gritted her teeth, suppressing the urge to slap his hand away. Inner Sakura?

"I'm trying the best I can!" her inner screamed in her mind, "You need to get away from him!"

Sakura shook her head. I don't understand…does Naruto have some kind of connection with the Nine Tailed Fox? The voices have only talked about Kurama when Naruto is around…

"Sakura-chan?"

"Y-Yeah?" she questioned, trying to focus through her inner turmoil.

Naruto was staring worriedly at her. "Are you OK? Do you have another migraine?"

"Yeah…something like that…" she gave him a strained smile before turning away so he wouldn't see her grimace, causing his hand to drop to his side. "Come on, let's go meet up with Sasuke."

"Teme? But we don't need him, Sakura-chan!"

"Let's just go, Naruto," she mumbled, and before he could complain any further, she sprinted forward with him not too far behind.

By the time they reached Sasuke, he was standing next to a deep hole, dusting dirt off of his clothes. Naruto, who must have realized what happened, began to laugh and point at the dark haired boy. He even went as far as falling to the ground, clutching his stomach as he laughed. Sakura couldn't help, but let a few giggles of her own escape, and Sasuke did not look amused at all. He glared warningly at his two teammates.

"S-Sorry, Sasuke…" Sakura said between her giggles, managing to stifle them after a few more seconds. Naruto had also calmed down, but was still chuckling as he stood back up.

"Man, Teme, can't believe you were stuck in the ground!"

"Says the dobe who was hung upside down in a tree," Sasuke retorted, annoyed.

"At least I didn't look stupid!"

He raised a brow. "What are you talking about? You always look stupid."

Naruto opened his mouth, about to say more, but Sakura intervened.

"Come on you guys, stop arguing," she said, hands on her hips as she stared her teammates down. "Kakashi is more than likely on his way here, because you guys are so loud."

"Very good, Sakura, but I'm afraid you stopped them a little too late."

Sakura tensed at the sound of the jounin's voice behind her, and both Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Just as quickly though, their gazes narrowed in determination, and at the same time, they both executed their own jutsu. Sasuke created several different hand signs and raised a hand to his mouth. Realizing what he was doing, Sakura quickly threw herself to the side as he released a large ball of fire, and entered a puff of smoke. She coughed a little, covering her mouth with one hand and waving the air in front of her as the smoke cleared to reveal at least twenty Naruto's. They charged forward with a battle cry when Kakashi jumped up to dodge Sasuke's fireball. Sasuke himself looked like he was about to jump up to join the fray, but halted when Sakura called out to him.

"What?" he growled irritated, a bit surprised to see the original Naruto standing beside her.

"Come here for a moment. I have a plan."

Kakashi twisted his body in midair, raising an arm to block an attack and snapped his leg forward to deliver his own. He then grasped one of the blonde clones, using its weight to spin around and hurl the fake Naruto into another. There was a puff of smoke, and through it came another Naruto. He punched this one back into another; another puff of smoke. He then chose to dodge the rest of the blondes' attacks as the ground was fast approaching, and the moment his right foot touched it, raven locks filled his vision. Onyx eyes narrowed, Kakashi leaned to the left, dodging Sasuke's punch, and leapt back.

Sasuke was quick to follow, and behind him were several Naruto's.

Kakashi mentally shook his head. These boys still haven't learned that total confrontation with him was not going to work. His gloved hands flew several signs, and the moment his feet touched the ground—

"Now!" Sasuke shouted.

—the ground itself broke apart as a hand shot upward.

His eye widened, and as he moved to dodge, another hand from the front grasped his vest. Sasuke had grabbed a hold of Kakashi, but that wasn't going to stop the Jounin. Grabbing the younger boy's wrist, he began to twist around, pulling Sasuke with him. The Uchiha grunted, but the silver haired jounin ignored it, instead focusing on the hand below to make sure it didn't grab one of the bells. To his shock—really, he shouldn't be all that surprised—the hand was followed by a familiar head of pink hair, and he locked gazes with emerald eyes.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she reached for the bells.

Oh no you don't, Kakashi thought as he used his free hand to create a sign, planning on substituting himself away. Before he could flare his chakra though, a large cloud of smoke surrounded him, and for a moment, he was blinded. He couldn't see Sakura at all. The moment caused him a second of hesitation before he replaced himself with a nearby log. He now stood in a tree a few meters away and took the scene before him in. Everything had occurred in mere seconds. Sasuke and Sakura were still in the large cloud of smoke, and Naruto was running toward them.

There was only one Naruto.

Where were his clones?

Then it hit him.

The boy had dispersed them to create the smoke, and as it cleared, he saw Sakura and Sasuke smirking at each other, because in Sasuke's hand was a silver bell. Kakashi darted his gaze down to his hip where, yes, one of his bells had been snatched, and everything finally made sense.

…

The Uchiha grunted, but the silver haired jounin ignored it, instead focusing on the hand below to make sure it didn't grab one of the bells. He was so focused that he didn't notice the odd way Sasuke was twisting his body around, his free hand reaching out to grab a bell. He was then distracted that it was Sakura coming out from under the ground.

"Naruto!" she shouted.

On no you don't, Kakashi thought as he used his free hand to create a sign, planning on substituting himself away. Before he could flare his chakra though, a large cloud of smoke surrounded him, and for a moment, he was blinded. He couldn't see Sakura at all, or Sasuke. The only thing he could see of the boy was the hand in his grasp, so when he replaced himself with a log, looking for the hand from below while doing so, he never noticed the other that came from the side until it was too late.

…

A faint buzz rang throughout the field, and Kakashi sighed.

Time was up.

He flickered to the three children, where Sasuke stood and smirked victoriously. Sakura was giving him a strain smile, and Naruto was complaining about how he and Sakura had to go back to the Academy.

"Oh, come on! That's not fair! That bell should go to me, Teme! Or Sakura-chan since it was her plan!"

So, Sakura was the mastermind.

"Congratulations, Sasuke, it looks like you will be the only one to officially become a Genin," he spoke up, turning all attention to himself. "Sakura, Naruto, I'm sorry to say, but you will have to repeat the Academy."

"Totally unfair, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted angrily.

Sakura gave a sigh, and directed a sad smile at Sasuke. She knew this was going to happen when she chose option one: to work with both of her teammates and one had to fail. Too bade it was both she and Naruto though. "Good luck, Sasuke."

Sasuke said nothing, his smirk now gone. Kakashi raised a brow. He could even say that the Uchiha looked a bit…sad? Though, the blank look on his face said otherwise. So it was a surprise to both Sakura and Naruto when he tossed the silver bell back to their sensei.

"You're wrong, Sensei," he grunted, shoving his hands into the pockets of his white shorts. "We all passed."

Kakashi's eye brow rose higher. "Are you forgoing your victory, Sasuke? Because you're the only one that grabbed the bell…or do you want to go back to the Academy with Sakura and Naruto?"

Naruto and Sakura were quick to come to his defense.

"What are you talking about, Sensei?! Teme got the bell fair and square! You can't send him back to the Academy!"

Wow, you change your tune quickly, Naruto, Kakashi thought, amused.

"He's right, Kakashi-sensei! You can't send Sasuke back!" Sakura turned her head to the Uchiha, "You idiot! Just accept your victory! We'll see each other again in the field! Don't think so lowly of Naruto and me!"

Kakashi inwardly chuckled. So Sakura doesn't like Sasuke in that way…

Sasuke rolled his eyes, irritated at his teammates' loudness before shooting a threatening glare at Kakashi. "We all passed."

And the Uchiha isn't as cold hearted as I thought. Lovely, Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, this team may actually have a chance.

"Alright, alright, I've come to a decision," he spoke up, silencing both Sakura and Naruto as they continued to shout at how stupid the Uchiha was being and that Kakashi should ignore him. "You all…are going back to the Academy."

He watched as Sakura and Naruto began to scream; Naruto at him for being unfair, and Sakura at Sasuke for making an idiotic decision. Said Uchiha was visibly paling, the action of what he had done finally registering in his mind.

This is going to be fun!

"Just kidding! You all pass!"

"W-what?" Naruto stuttered out, while Sakura and Sasuke stared at him with disbelief.

"Yup!" Kakashi declared happily, "You bunch are officially genins! We will now be known as Team Seven!"

It took a moment for his words to register, but soon, the genins of the newly made Team Seven began to cheer in their own way. Naruto was hollering, jumping around in excitement. Sasuke just stood there with a satisfied smirk on his face, not minding the blonde's yells. Sakura fist pumped to herself with Inner Sakura yelling about how awesome they were in her mind.

A soft breeze swept through the clearing, filled with leaves, and a chorus of voices from plants, stones, and wind alike bled into her head.

"Congratulations, Sakura-hime."

A/N: Again...sorry about the late update and I appreciate those who decided to stick around. Thank you!