The Law of Teamwork

Naruto yawned as he got out of his bed. Looking at his clock, he saw it was 4 in the morning. Grumbling, he made his way to the kitchen after dressing himself and began cooking his breakfast. As he sat down in a chair, Naruto ate the meal he cooked for himself.

Within a few minutes, Kyuubi came down. The big fox looked like he was still half awake, but grudgingly sat down below the table and ate from the bowl there. "Morning kit." "Morning Kyu." They ate in silence until a yellow bracer with a creature on the top floated down. "Morning Naruto." "Hey Reno."

Naruto had received a gift from Ueki halfway through the year, the gift being Reno. He was an ancient heavenly being, who was the result of a union between Ueki's friend Tenko, and his mate Tenshi (Angel). He received Reno as a gift from Ueki because he said it would help him identify any rouge Heavenly Beings on Earth, although Naruto suspected some other reason for it.

After eating their breakfast, they headed towards their academy to receive their Gennin teams. Naruto sighed. It had been a long, long year. The academy had taught the students what he thought, was quite frankly, pampering them. They had taught them nothing about the harsh realities of the life of a ninja life. He knew it wasn't Iuka's fault, though. The stupid council, at least the civilian side, wanted to protect their "precious babies" from the realities of life. The fact that they had "budget cuts" to add the money to their own pockets was an added bonus too.

Naruto rolled his eyes thinking about the civilian side of the council. They had gained too much power after his father's death, so much so they had long over stepped their boundaries as advisors to the Hokage. Naruto sighed, and made a mental note to try and help the old man fix it.

As Naruto walked down the street to the academy, he ignored the usual fill of hate filled glares he got from the older villagers. Being a Jinchuriki and all, he was used to such stupid behavior. As he continued walking he heard the familiar sound of his friend calling out to him.

"Naruto!" He heard Kiba call out to him. He saw most of his friends were also there with him. He grinned and waved. "Yo." Over the years, he had become good friends with all of the people in the class, as well as some of the people from the older generation but there were only 9 people whom he was especially close to. They were Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino, Rock Lee, Tenten, Haruno Sakura, and Hinata Hyuuga.

He got off great with Kiba, being able to relate to his loud and brash personality, but got him to tune it down abit, telling him it would make him more like a ninja and more of a "ladies man". He had also got him to train harder so he could become what he himself called an "alpha".

He also became fast friends with Shino after helping him find insects at the park where he hung out. Shino respected Naruto for his respect of bugs, where he would simply set the bugs on his plant on the ground instead of squishing them like most people, and Naruto in turn respected Shino for his strength which was very much like his. He suffered due to being a Jinchuriki while Shino suffered due to his symbiotic relationship with his bugs.

He also got off great with Shikamaru, whom he met when he saw him playing shoji one day. After defeating him, which greatly surprised both him and his father, they became more friendly with each other, and soon became friends, in what Shikamaru called "a very troublesome" friendship.

He met Chouji shortly after meeting Shikamaru, and they got off to a great start. He didn't tease him about his weight like most people did, and he was one of the people who could out eat him in Ramen. With that, they soon became great friends.

He got off to a shaky start with Ino, but he managed to befriend her in the end, and after a quick insight on how she was behaving would destroy the village, he became friends with her.

He had met Team 9 one day during his more intense training sessions, which had caught their attention. He became friends with Rock Lee very quickly, understanding his will to become greater, even though his inability to use Nin or Genjutsu. Naruto fixed that, however, but that is a tale for another time. He had also got off well with Tenten, because he respected her skills as a swordswoman, and did not prejudice her because she was a girl.

He befriended Sakura by teaching her some more advanced Shinobi skills, and told her to practice so she could get stronger, as well as to stop fawning over the Uchiha so she could actually get his attention.

Finally there was Hinata. Over the year, they had grown closer and closer to each other, to the point of dating. Naruto had helped her gain skills as well as confidence, causing her to be grateful. During that time, she developed a small crush on him, progressing to the point of love, and they had started dating after a few months.

Naruto had hid his true abilities well in the village, and not a single person in the world knew what he was truly capable of. He did everything he needed to with the bare minimum, because he wanted to keep his abilities hidden. As they said, "Deception is key to a Shinobi", so he used what he had to, no more, no less.

He continued talking with the rest of his friends until they reached the classroom. Then Naruto sat down at his seat in the academy with a bored sigh. He just wanted to get assigned to his team so he could see whether this village could accept him or not. IF it couldn't, he would just return to heaven and be with his friends.

Soon, Hinata came into the room and sat down next to Naruto. Naruto flashed a cheesy grin. "Hey Hina-chan." She grinned back at Naruto and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Ohayo Naru-kun." Kiba just groaned at them. "Get a room you two." He said, although he was quickly silenced by Hinata's glare.

Within a few minutes, all of the graduates had come into the room and so had Iruka. Soon, Iruka began his speech about what it meant to be a Shinobi and whatnot. Naruto didn't really pay any attention to his speech, but rather simply looked out of the window lost in thought.

Ueki had visited him a few times during the past year, but he hadn't been delivering good news. The rouge Hellions were becoming more and more elusive, and harder to track. There was also wind of a group of Hellions recruiting others to organize an army. It greatly concerned Naruto, as although he was young, he was by no means naïve, nor dumb. He knew that some of the Hellions clung to the past like a lifeline, and were bitter over it, and a few were by no means afraid of trying to overthrow heaven, and some were rather charismatic. At this rate, there would be a second, even bloodier war between heaven and hell soon.

Naruto shook off the thoughts and started listening to Iruka when he started announcing the gennin teams. He only paid attention when his own name was announced. "Team 7 will consist of Uchiha Sasuke…" "Hen." "…Haruno Sakura…" Sakura didn't show much emotion, although she was inwardly cheering, while getting death glares from his other fan girls. "… and Uzumaki Namikaze Kosuke Naruto. Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." At this Naruto banged his head on the desk.

"OH HELL NO WHY THE HELL IS HE MY SENSEI OF ALL PEOPLE PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS SOME SICK JOKE ON YOUR PART!" Iruka chuckled and shook his head. Groaning, Naruto slammed his head on the desk again, mumbling about "good for nothing Kami who have no sense of humor".

Snickering, Iruka went back to announcing the gennin teams. "Team 8 will consist of Kiba Inuzuka, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata. Your Jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 9 is still in circulation from last year, so Team 10 will be Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino. Your Jounin sensei is Sarutobi Asuma." The corresponding Jounin then came into the room and brought the Gennin out of the class. With a sigh, Naruto stood up and made his way towards the door. "Where are you going, dope?" Sasuke asked. Naruto turned his head around and replied "Leaving for a jog and I suggest you do too. Hatake Kakashi is famous for two things, being Konoha's Copycat ninja and being extremely late. At best, he'll arrive 2 hours from now, so I'm going for a walk, you coming?" Sasuke just looked away and Sakura shook her head at Naruto's antics. Naruto simply flashed them a cheesy grin before vanishing in a leaf shunshin.

Two hours later, Kakashi finally walked into the class. "You are Team 7, yes? Where's your other teammate?" Sakura replied "Naruto left after it was announced you would be our sensei. He said something about you always being late at least two hours." Kakashi sighed and was just about to go and find Naruto before he suddenly crashed downwards. He looked upwards in pain when he saw Naruto sitting on top of him with an irritated look in his eyes. "I am telling you this once and only once, Kakashi. DON'T BE LATE AGAIN!" Sakura and Sasuke were expecting Kakashi to get up and shout at Naruto, but to their surprise, he just sat there meekly and said in a timid voice, "Yes, Naruto-sama." At this Sakura blinked, before dropping on the floor, rolling and laughing, while Sasuke stood there, with a neutral expression, although the corners of his lips were twitching.

After Naruto got off him, Kakashi coughed and said "Meet me on the roof." Before disappearing in a Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Jutsu literal Japanese, more commonly known as Teleportation).

After 5 minutes, all 4 of them were on the roof. Kakashi said "OK, so let's begin with some introductions, you know, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future and stuff." Sakura said, "Why not you go first, sensei, so we all have an idea how to do this?"

"Oh, me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your business. Dreams for the future? Well I have a lot of hobbies."

'All we learned was his name…' lamented Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi turned to look at Naruto and saw that he had fell asleep. Sighing, Kakashi walked up to Naruto and coughed. Naruto stirred, before sighing and sat up.

"Name's Naruto. Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I have no need to discuss my likes and dislikes for you, and my hobbies are personal. My dreams are none of your concern." Naruto stated, thoroughly bored, before turning around to look at Sasuke and Sakura, the latter which had a huge sweat drop, while they were both thinking the same thing. 'That was just the same thing said differently! I wonder if they're related…'

Kakashi smirked and pointed to Sakura. "Alright Pinky. You're up." Sakura glared at him for the nickname, before starting, "My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are Sasuke-kun, my friend Ino and Naruto. My dislikes are fan girls who keep swamping Sasuke-kun, and sexists. My hobbies are training. My dream is to one day become a good kunoichi."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He then pointed at Sasuke. "Alright Emo-king. You're up." Sasuke glared at him for the nickname before starting. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have few likes and many dislikes, one of which is Naruto. I have no hobbies. My dream, I wouldn't call it a dream, more of an ambition, to revive my clan, and to kill a certain man."

"Well, tomorrow you will have another test. This is to see whether you can become Gennin or not. The test has a failure rate of 66.6%. Meet me at Training Ground 7 at 7.30 tomorrow. Oh and a word of advice. Don't eat any breakfast, you'll throw it up." With that he disappeared in a leaf shunshin, leaving a slightly stunned Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto turned to them and said "I think I like him, what do you think?"

They just glared at him.

The next day, Sasuke and Sakura arrived at Training Ground 7 at around 7. They mostly just sat there quietly, although Sakura was trying to start a conversation. With Sasuke being the object of your efforts, however, you would have more luck with a dead fish.

In two hours, Naruto arrived in a swirl of leaves. He had changed his attire. He was wearing a high collar black shirt with no sleeves, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm. Naruto also gains an entirely new pauldron, and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge looking like the head of a fox along with deep black sunglasses covering his eyes. On his back was a big sword which was seemingly separated into 5 blades. (Think Cloud Strife's attire in FF7 AC, except for the badge which in this case is a fox's head. Btw, there WILL be FF7 Xovers)

Sasuke and Sakura glared at him. "You're late." Naruto shrugged. "I told you that Kakashi is late to everything barring A-ranked and above missions, so why come early when he comes late?" Sakura couldn't help but sigh at his logic, while Sasuke just turned away. In a few minutes, Kakashi appeared. "Yo." Sasuke and Sakura glared at him. "You're late!" Kakashi ignored them. He pulled up and set an alarm clock on one of the three stumps on at the training ground. He set it to noon. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these two bells from me by noon. Whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to the stump, not get to eat lunch, and be sent back to the academy." "But sensei, there are only two bells."Sakura pointed out. Kakashi chuckled. "Then I guess at least one of you will go hungry, eh? You will have to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to have a chance at getting one of the bells." At this point Naruto threw one of his kunai at Kakashi. Kakashi caught it easily and vanished, before reappearing behind Naruto and holding it to his neck. "Maa, maa, Naruto, take it easy, I haven't even said 'go', yet." Suddenly Kakashi felt as if he had become a few times heavier. He tried to move his hand, but found he couldn't. Naruto turned and smirked at Kakashi. "And you should be careful using my weapons, sensei. I have many defenses armed into each of them." With that, he wrestled the weapon out of his hand. As soon as he did, the paralysis faded from Kakashi's limbs. Kakashi shook his arm abit, before walking back to his previous position. He coughed. "Alright. On your mark, get set, GO!" With that Sasuke and Sakura leaped off, disappearing into the woods, leaving Naruto standing there, locking eyes with Kakashi.

"You know, you are a strange one." Naruto smirked. "The only thing strange here, is your hair." Kakashi then reached into his pouch and pulled out an edition of his favorite book, the Icha Icha Paradise series. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you won't be taking me seriously, huh." Kakashi chuckled. "With you, that won't be necessary." Naruto chuckled. "Then I guess I'll have to make you take me seriously!" With that, he reached to his back and pulled out three kunai from his pouch and threw one at him. Kakashi moved his head to the left slightly to dodge the kunai, which embedded itself into the ground behind him. "You're gonna have to do better than that, Naruto." He noticed a malicious smirk make its way onto Naruto's lips, before he disappeared in a blur, swinging the kunai in his right hand, with Kakashi barely able to dodge it by moving backwards, able to avoid being decapitated by mere centimeters. Before he could react, Naruto had already pushed the kunai in his left hand upwards, Kakashi was able to block it with the metal on the back of his ANBU hand gloves, although he failed to notice the kunai in his right hand making a bee line towards his chest. Kakashi noticed it just in time, but he had nothing to block with except his book which was in his hand, which he sacrificed to escape.

Kakashi sighed at his book, which now had a hole in it. He put it away in his pouch, before pulling out a kunai and lifting his headband, revealing a Sharingan eye, much to the surprise of Sasuke, who was silently observing the battle.

'That's impossible! Kakashi can't have the Sharingan! He's not an Uchiha! I have to talk to him after this." He also wondered about his strength, since a nameless nobody like Naruto was able to force him back, he probably could too.

Right?

Naruto stood there, smirking. "Looks like you're taking my advice to take me seriously. This will be fun." He stated, before disappearing in a blur of motion. Kakashi narrowed his Sharingan and began to scan the surrounding area for him.

'He's fast. I couldn't even track his movements with the sharingan. Just what did he do during those years of training? Above… Behind me... Left… Right... Dammit below!'

He jumped up, barely dodging the hand that reached up trying to grab his ankle. He wasted no time, throwing two shuriken at him, which Naruto caught and threw back at him. Instantly he thrust his hands with his index and middle finger pointing forward and yelled. Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu)! Kakashi's eye widened before he got struck by all the shuriken, before 'poof'ing into a log. Naruto then turned around and threw a shuriken into the woods, which was followed by Kakashi jumping out of the woods. He then quickly leapt at him with kunai in his hands. He then engaged Kakashi in a battle of kunai, slashing, ducking and weaving through his blows, and countering with his own. Kakashi was greatly surprised by Naruto's physical strength, which to him was considerably strong for his age. Naruto then tried to stab Kakashi with both his kunai, only to have Kakashi drive his kunai into Naruto's stomach. "You got careless, Naruto." He said, only to jump away as 'Naruto' disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Kakashi sighed. "Well, looks like he MAY have gotten the meaning of this exercise. He better hurry up, however, there's only an hour left." He mused, before walking towards the middle of the field to wait for them.

XxxxXxxxXxxxXxxxXxxx

Naruto sat in a clearing in the forest, and closed his eyes as the memories of his clone flooded him. Hearing a rustling noise, he turned around and saw his clones dragging with them his two teammates. He turned to them and greeted them. "Yo." They glared at him.

"Naruto, what is it that you have planned?" Asked Sakura. "Simple question. 3 Gennin, fresh from the academy, no experience whatsoever in the field are supposed to take down a Jounin who has had years of experience and a whole repertoire of jutsu at his disposal with only the academy basics at their disposal. What are the odds?" Sakura was the first to reply.

"No. It would be impossible to given the circumstances with no handicap to the Genin whatsoever, unless…they…worked… together…" As she slowly realized what Naruto was implying. "You mean we have to work together to retrieve those bells?" Naruto nodded at her. "But that doesn't make any sense! If we're supposed to work together, why are there only 2 bells?" Naruto replied. "That was just to divide us. Have you ever heard of a two man Gennin squad from Konoha?" Sakura nodded. "I see your point."

Sasuke interjected at this point. "Hn, why do I need to work with you idiots anyway? You'll just get in my way. I only need to rely on myself." Sakura looked hurt at the statement, while Naruto looked at him disappointedly. "Sasuke, you are weak." Sasuke fumed hearing this. "HOW DARE YOU SAY I AM WEAK! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I AM AN UCHIHA! UCHIHA SASUKE! I AM THE ONE WHO WILL AVENGE THE UCHIHA CLAN AND REVIVE IT!"

'SMACK!'

A red palm print appeared on Sasuke's face as Naruto smacked him across the face. "Stop being such a whiny bitch and GROW UP! You are such an idiot. First of all, you followed Itachi's advice to being strong although he murdered your entire clan. I understand you want revenge, but are it worth becoming what you seek to destroy? Second of all, I know why you will not form any bonds. You fear them. You fear the pain of loss and you don't want to experience it again. Well NEWSFLASH! True power comes from protecting those important to you, and until you figure that out, you will never be strong. Come on Sakura." With that Naruto left Sasuke, with Sakura following soon after, leaving a thoroughly stunned Sasuke.

"Naruto, did you have to be so hard on Sasuke-kun?" Naruto sighed. He may have broken her out of her silly obsession with Sasuke, but she still did have a soft spot for him. "It would have taken a serious shock to his system to get it in, and that's what I did. Anyway, we need a plan to take care of Kakashi." Sakura nodded, and they began drawing up a battle plan.

A few minutes later, they had drawn up a plan. Naruto nodded his head at Sakura. "This will work, but it will need someone else. Shadow clones won't cut it." "Then maybe I can help." They turned around and saw Sasuke standing there. He looked down for a few minutes before saying, "I thought over about what you said, and I'm just here to say that I want to change. Itachi betrayed our entire clan just for the sake of gaining power. I don't want to be like him. I can't be like him. I won't let my contempt turn me into what Itachi became. I will still avenge my clan, but not using my hatred."

Naruto nodded and smiled as he looked at Sasuke. "To let go of your hate, is the first step to gaining strength. Good job. Now, here's the plan to take down Kakashi…"

Kakashi glanced at the clock on the stump. There was only 10 minutes more for them to get the two bells. They would have to hurry up. 'Where are they? If my initial assumption of them were correct, Sasuke would have already come to attack me with his arrogance, and Sakura probably would have helped.' As if to answer his question, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura appeared in a swirl of leaves in front of him.

"Well, I honestly wasn't expecting the three of you to work together. Well, I guess I'll have to get serious again, ne?" Kakashi said, before lifting the headband to once again reveal his Sharingan eye.

Naruto smirked. "You'll find we're just full of surprises. Ready guys?" His two companions nodded. "Kai San!" With that the three of them scattered into different directions, Kakashi mainly focusing on Naruto, who was attacking him head on. He blocked a punch from Naruto, before having to jump over a leg sweep. Naruto, spinning around with the leg sweep threw a punch, with Kakashi catching the fist, before he was struck backwards by a palm to the chest, which sent him skidding backwards. He barely had time to compose himself, as a cry of Katon: Goukaken no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fireball jutsu) had him widen his eyes, before jumping away in the nick of time to avoid becoming incinerated by a large fireball.

As he landed on his feet a few meters away from Naruto, Sasuke jumped out of the woods next to Naruto. As if on some unspoken signal, Naruto and Sasuke rushed at him simultaneously. He was again forced on the defensive as Naruto and Sasuke pounded him with a barrage of punches, kicks and swipes. Ducking under a kick from Sasuke, he tried to deliver a punch to the blonde, although that failed because Naruto sidestepped the strike and delivered a solid elbow to his stomach. Thrown back a few meters, Kakashi widened his eyes hearing the noise of shuriken headed his way. He glanced at the shuriken and prepared to perform a kawarimi, but something bothered him. The shuriken weren't aimed at him; they were aimed at the space between the trees behind him. His eyes widened as he realized what the trick was and tried to perform a kawarimi, but couldn't access his chakra. His eyes widened as he finally noticed a seal drawn onto his hand.

'A Chakra suppression seal? But when?' His eyes widened as he realized that Naruto had placed the suppression on the kunai he had thrown behind him and had placed the seal onto him.

Naruto stood in front of Kakashi with a grin on his face, holding in front of him the two bells, while Sasuke and Sakura stood on either side of him. "We win, Kakashi-sempai." Kakashi smirked slightly. "Oh, but you see there are only two bells. So which one of your teammates will you sacrifice?" Smirking, Naruto tossed a bell at each of his teammates. "The answer to that is easy. 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash', so I choose to sacrifice myself to save my teammates. If that doesn't make me a true Shinobi, then I'll destroy that idea and create a new one." Naruto said to Kakashi, all the while smiling at Kakashi's shell shocked face.

"Those that break the rules and regulations are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. If I'm going to be called scum either way, I'd rather break the rules! And if that's not being a proper Shinobi, then I'll destroy that idea!"

Those were the very words that haunted him to this very day. Those were the words Obito said to him that got him to turn his life around, from a strict, rule obeying no-nonsense ninja, to a more goofy, carefree and humorous one. Only one thought crossed his mind as he looked at Naruto's face overlapped with the face of a goofy ninja who wore orange goggles.

'Obito…'

"Yo! Sempai!" He was brought out of his musing by Naruto snapping his fingers in front of his face. "If that's all, I'll be leaving." Naruto took a step towards the exit. "Naruto! Wait!" Kakashi almost yelled at him. Naruto paused mid step and tilted turned his head slightly, so Kakashi could only see the right side of his face. "You all… pass." Sasuke and Sakura looked flabbergasted, while Naruto allowed a smirk to crawl onto his face.

"In the world of shinobi, those who break the rules and regulation are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. Remember that code, and make it your way of life. Anyway, meet me tomorrow at this training ground at 7.00 am." Kakashi turned to look at Naruto and talk to him, but all he got was a goofy grin. "Well, guess I'll see y'all tomorrow. Ja ne!" With that he vanished into a whirlwind of leaves, soon followed by his two teammates.

Sighing at his new team which reminded of his old one more and more, Kakashi massaged his temples.

"I need a drink."

AND DONE! Sorry I haven't been updating guys, but between school and homework and all that, I don't really have time to. So, Chapter two has been redone too, and Chapter 4 will be out ASAP. Btw, I recommend these stories if you're a fan of Bleach and Naruto : A Hollow Maelstorm, A Hollow's Regret and Cracked Mask.