Chapter Eleven:

The Bell Test

Sakura picked apart her breakfast, setting the vegetables to the side so she could savor the meat. Though it was unorthodox to have a breakfast that could pass off as lunch, Kotetsu was in charge of cooking today. And Kotetsu was the type of person that would eat steak all day, every day.

Not that Sakura was complaining.

Steak was delicious, and after she finishes eating her rice and vegetables, she would savor the meat.

"So, Sakura?" Izumo hesitantly asked, noise scrunched up in a bit of awed disgust as she was stuffing the rice in her mouth.

With a louder than necessary thud, the newly minted shinobi and Kotetsu placed down their bowls of rice.

'...why does Sakura take after your unsaviory habits...' Izumo sighed, shaking his head.

"What?" Sakura bluntly asked and promptly started shoving carrots in her mouth.

"We came back late yesterday, so I didn't get the chance to ask you about your team."

"Oh right!" Kotetsu grinned, as if forgetting that Sakura had been placed in a team. "Who are the unlucky bastards?" He cheerfully asked, only to grunt in pain less than three seconds later when Sakura kicked his leg.

Izumo wisely did not voice his agreement.

"Mmm?" Sakura hummed, seeming disinterested in them. She probably was, all things considered. "Fishcakes and Revenge-kun."

Kotetsu snorted, "Poor suckers have to endure your nicknames."

"Who is Fishcakes?" Izumo pressed on, intent on actually being a semi-good role model/brother-figure/guardian for Sakura by showing he cares.

Sakura's lips twitched upwards in fondness, before twitching back to its usual bored look. "He's Naruto, idiot sunshine."

Izumo and Kotetsu shared a bewildered look. Sure, they had stalked (silently observed, damn it!) Sakura enough to know that she hung out a lot with Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji, but they still hadn't expected a fond reaction.

"Prank-loving idiot, right?" Kotetsu grinned, happy that his surrogate little sister was unknowingly taking up a Will of Fire mentality day by day.

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Future Hokage."

Izumo coughed on the food he had been eating, before raising a questioning eyebrow at Sakura. "You actually believe that brat will become Hokage?"

"I believe in him, dattebayo," Sakura smirked, knowing her 'dattebayo' would garner a reaction from her idiot guardians.

"Dattebayo?" Izumo repeated, paling as his eyes widened in fear.

Kotetsu clawed at his throat, having a piece of steak stuck in there. He eyed Sakura's glass of water before giving the girl a pleading look.

"Kami, no...not another orange-loving, Hokage-wannabe prankster..." Izumo muttered, unaware of his friend's struggle.

Hiding a snicker, Sakura gave Kotetsu her glass of water. He greedily downed the liquid, even as Izumo's muttering started becoming more and more louder.

"Never. Say. Dattebayo. Again." Izumo slowly ordered, giving Sakura the most serious look she's ever seen from him.

"Agreed!" Kotetsu voiced in, comically fearful.

"Anyway," Sakura didn't bother hiding the amusement in her tone. "My other teammate is Sasuke."

Both Kotetsu and Izumo shared a snicker.

"I should have known it was the Uchiha when you said Revenge-kun," Kotetsu shook his head, disappointed in himself.

"But that sure is a combo, huh? Three monsters in one team."

"Yeah, yeah," Kotetsu nodded in agreement. "We got our fight-loving Sakura, mischief-causing Uzumaki and revenge-seeking Uchiha. They all also have a trouble-magnet installed somewhere in their body."

Izumo made a humming noise. "I heard the Uzumaki can use shadow clones and the Uchiha can already use several fire jutsus. Of course, our Sakura is...well, Sakura."

Kotetsu whistled, impressed. "Definitely three monsters."

"I feel sorry for their sensei already. Speaking of which, who is your sensei?" Izumo curiously asked.

Sakura stared blankly at the expectant faces of her guardians.

'Yarashi? No...'

Sakura didn't really care for her teacher's name, but she wasn't going to let Kotetsu and Izumo know she had forgotten her teacher's name. They would never let her live it down.

'Takeshi...? No, his name was lamer.'

But what was his name again?

'Bakashi? Sounds right, but not completely...'

"Sakura? Earth to Sakura?"

Sakura blinked, deciding to just go with whatever popped in her mind.

"...Pedo-sensei. My sensei is Pedo-sensei."

Both Izumo and Kotetsu sagely nodded.

"Yeah, I feel sorry for Pedo...sensei..." They trailed off, before pausing.

Sakura took this moment to discreetly throw Izumo's steak near Haru, who had been idly resting while they were eating.

"PEDO-SENSEI? I'M GONNA KILL THIS GUY!" Kotetsu roared in outrage.

"Kill?" Izumo repeating, shaking his head negative. "He won't be getting off that lightly."

As her two idiot guardians began plotting torture, murder and other fun stuff, Sakura's eyes landed on their clock.

'Ah, I'm late.'

With that, she walked away.

After grabbing Kotetsu's steak of course.

:::

"Sakura-chan, you're an hour late!" Naruto exclaimed the moment she walked up to them.

Sakura, ignoring her sunshine-personified friend, took a cursory glance around. She noticed that both her teammates seemed to be lacking sleep. The idiots were either probably too excited or worried to sleep.

Idiots.

"Pedo-sensei isn't here yet. What he doesn't know won't kill him."

"I guess you're right, dattebayo..." Naruto thoughtfully said. "But! It was so boring here with the Teme! He's the worst company ever. I'd take Shikamaru's lazy ass over Teme any day."

"As interesting as it is to hear about your love life, I think you should sleep."

Sasuke, who had thus been a quiet observant, glared at her.

"I don't like the lazy bastard or the teme!" Naruto loudly protested. "I like-"

"Sleep," Sakura ordered, punching Naruto in the head and knocking him out.

"You didn't have to knock the Dobe out, Haruno," Sasuke spoke up.

Sakura shrugged, "He wasn't going to sleep without throwing a speech about his nonexistent love life."

"Hn."

"You should sleep too."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at each other for a moment.

No.

Yes.

No.

I will knock you out.

...hn.

:::

When Kakashi arrived, four hours later than he had told his students to come, he had expected to be yelled at. Maybe even see an empty clearing, which would have made his job easier.

However, the copy-nin did not expect to see the trio he had been assigned to all sprawled around.

"Well, this is certainly a twist," Kakashi uttered aloud, absently noting that Naruto seemed to have a bruise on his head.

Perhaps the blond and the Uchiha had gotten into a fight before going to sleep?

Possibly.

He peered at the trio again, their peaceful expressions making his face soften. Back when he was their age, he couldn't go carelessly sleeping around in even his own village without the fear of something happening.

Truly, Naruto's generation was blessed with the relatively peaceful times.

Naruto's snores blended well with Sasuke's deep breathing and Sakura's nearly inaudible soft snores. Despite how bright the sun was now shining, the shades of the tree near them did a perfect job in covering them. All in all, they looked outright adorable.

However, as cute as the three looked, Kakashi had to get down to business.

After absently brushing the bells in his pockets, he brought his hands up and weaved through a series of seals.

"Water Style: Waterball jutsu!"

A relatively small and harmless ball of water shot out off his mouth, hitting the trio. Kakashi automatically lifted his mask back in place even before the water jutsu had fully hit the three.

"I'M UP, I'M UP, DATTEBAYO!"

"HARUNO!"

"IT WASN'T ME, DAMN IT!"

Kakashi didn't bother hiding his amusement as he looked at the three who had all sat up and started arguing. Sasuke was accusing Sakura of being the one who had doused them in water while Naruto was accusing Sasuke of doing it.

"Dumbasses, we're all soaked, so it couldn't have been any of us," Sakura finally said, ending the argument.

"Looks like at least one of you have common sense," Kakashi sing-sang, alerting them of his presence.

Sakura graced him with a blank look. "Don't have that. Oh, and you're late."

"That I am," Kakashi agreed.

"YOU'RE LATE KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto finally yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Sakura-chan and I already established that, Naruto."

"DON'T CALL SAKURA-CHAN SAKURA-CHAN."

"Possessive, much? Anyway, we've wasted enough time taking naps, haven't we? Time to get down to business."

His words seemed to garner their attention as each of them keenly eyed him.

Kakashi hid an approving smile. As stupid as it sounded, Kakashi had enough experience with careless brats that didn't even bother assessing him before battling against him while actually thinking they could win.

These three, while probably a bit cocky, did at least assess him for any weapon on person or objects.

Purposely slow, he drug out a timer from his pouch. "I'm going to set this for noon, kids," he cheerfully informed as he placed the item on one of the three stomps on the field.

"That's in less than three hours," Sakura remarked.

Ignoring the girl, Kakashi grabbed the two bells from his pockets and showed them to the three former academy students.

"Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. Those that don't get any bell by noon, don't get lunch. I'll also tie you to one of the stomps and eat my delicious premium-quality lunchbox in front of you."

On cue, Naruto and Sasuke's stomachs growled.

"The lunchbox won't be enough to fill my stomach," Sakura quietly noted with a sigh, despite still being relatively full from her breakfast.

"So that's why you told us not to eat..." Naruto commented, glaring at Kakashi.

Sakura blinked, turning to give Naruto a confused look. "He told us not to eat?" She asked as if it was the first time she was hearing about it.

"Weren't you paying attention to him yesterday, idiot?" Sasuke asked, scowling in annoyance.

Sakura shook her head no, "I was too busy thinking about sleeping with Hi-kun."

Naruto spluttered as Sasuke sighed in defeat.

"Okay! Time's ticking. So since there are only two bells, one of you will obviously be tied to the stump."

"I vote Sasuke."

"I second that."

Sasuke glared at his teammates.

Kakashi sighed, usually the teams he'd fail paid more attention to him. "Not only that," he spoke up to earn their attention. "But the one who fails to receive a bell will be send back to the Academy."

Finally, the three tensed, eyes wide as they took him seriously.

Kakashi gave them a close-eyed smile. "Any questions?"

Sakura raised her hand.

"Pinkie."

"Ne, ne, Kakashi?" Sakura innocently blinked at her sensei.

Kakashi's lone eye stared at her. "Yes?"

"If I kill you, will I get a promotion?"

Kakashi gave her a close eyed smile. "Rather ambitious, aren't you?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Sakura purred in delight, summoning her scythe with a gleeful smile.

Kakashi nodded, "Sakura here has the right idea. None of you will get the bells if you don't fight with the intent to kill me."

Chapter End.

Author's note: ...Sakura, stop being thirsty.

Questions:

1. Your opinion on the bell test?

2. How would you go about grabbing a bell if you had the same skill set as either canon!Sakura, Tenten or Ino?