The Test!
Sakura was sitting on the ground with her back leaning against one of the three wooden poles that were located within training ground seven. It was getting close to eleven and she was starving!
Sasuke was sitting on top of the left wooden pole, a blank look on his face. But she could tell that the uchiha was just as annoyed as her, if his twitching eye was anything to go by.
The two had shown up at exactly six in the morning and waited patiently for their sensei to show up. They waited.. and waited.. and waited. Sakura was ready to crack some skulls by the time ten rolled around.
But after multiple attempts to ignore her growing annoyance by asking sasuke out- she gave up and decided to just sit down and wait quietly.
Looking up at the suns position, sakura let out a miserable groan." Where is kakashi-sensei? He should be here by now." She stated for the umpteenth time that morning.
But it seemed as if kami was on her side as right when she finished her sentence, the silver haired jonin seeming appeared in front of them from out of nowhere with that stupid eye smile thing.
"Hello my cute little genin!" Kakashi greeted innocently.
He blink in shock as sakura seemingly appeared right in front of him with a look that promised sever pain to whoever earned her anger. She pointed up at him with every ounce of her feminine fury." WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU! We've been here since six and your five hours late!" She roared out.
Kakashi silently stared down at the girl, a blank expression on his masked face. It lasted a whole thirty seconds before he eye smiled at her." Ma ma sakura-chan-" he patted the girls head."- no need to be so angry. You see I was on my way here when a black cat crossed my path. I had to retrace my steps and then take the long way around in order to keep my good luck!" He explained in a tone that was way to cheerful for sakuras taste.
The pinketts face scrunched up as her eye twitched violently." You're such a bad lier." She replied as she glared up at the man.
"Anyways!" Kakashi totally disregarded the girls comment as he put his hands on his hips." Are you two ready for your test?" He questioned curiously.
Sasuke walked up and stood next to sakura with his hands in his pockets." Hn, just tell us what we need to do already." The uchiha replied with a bland tone.
"Okay, but first!" Kakashi looked around the clearing before continuing." Wheres naruto?" He asked the two genin curiously.
Sakura tilted her head in confusion." Naruto? Why would he be her-"
Suddenly the blond jonin seemingly flickered into existence standing right next to kakashi. The blond looked up at kakashi." Im not late right?" He wondered.
"Ah the man of the hour!" Kakashi patted the boys head before looking at the two genin." Okay since we're all here we can begin. Now your test is pretty simple-" kakashi began as he pulled an alarm clock seemingly out of nowhere." You have until noon to free the hostage. But you have to get past Naruto first." Kakashi explained.
"We have to fight naruto?" Sakura asked nervously. The girl looked at naruto who was just standing there with a blank look on his face.
"Yup!" Kakashi answered cheerful as he created a single shadow clone. He and the clone walked up to the middle wooden post before the real kakashi began to tie the clone to the wooden post." This clone will act as the hostage while you two deal with naruto." Kakashi told them as he finished tying the clone up.
"What will you be doing?" Sasuke asked the man.
Kakashi eye smiled as he answered." Ill be watching your battle from a vantage point in order to get a good look at your abilities." Sasuke frowned a bit as he looked from kakashi to naruto.
The memory of a six year old naruto beating him effortlessly was still fresh in the uchihas mind. He knew that naruto was strong then and if he was that strong at just six, then how strong was he now? He had no delusions within his revenge filled mind that the jonin title the blond carried wasn't just for show.
Kakashi set the timer on the alarm clock and put it on top of the wooden post that the clone was tied to. He clapped his hands as he looked back towards the assembled genins." Alright. The timers set. When i leave itll be the start of the test. Are you all ready?" He didn't really care if they were or werent ready. Seeing the two genin tense and pull out a kunai each, he looked at naruto who was standing there with his hands resting behind his head and nodded a bit." Fine. Start!" And he vanished in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear a few yards away, standing on a tree branch. He had a good view of the clearing from here.
Naruto lazily yawned and stretched his arms before looking at the two genin. He could see sakura shaking slightly due to nervousness. Sasuke on the other hand was looking at him with narrowed eyes, waiting for the right moment to strike.
"Before we start." Sasuke spoke up, getting both sakura and narutos attention." How strong are you really naruto?" He questioned the blond.
Naruto hummed lightly as he stared at the uchiha." How strong am I hmm?" Naruto repeated the question." Lets just say that I beat itachis record." He answered lightly.
Sasukes eyes narrowed into slits when he heard that mans name. But he forced himself to remain calm. He knew that itachi broke a lot of records in konohas shinobi forces. But itachis most famous record was becoming an anbu captain at 13.
"Which record?" He asked cautiously, staring the blond down.
Naruto eye smiled at the uchiha and idly rubbed his left shoulder, right where his anbu captain tattoo was." All of them." Was the blonds reply.
Sasukes eyes widened in shock as he watched the boy idly rub his shoulder. Shock and a bit of fear racked the uchihas body. He looked at the masked boys shoulder and frowned. Itachi told him that regular anbu members usually get their anbu tattoos on their right shoulders, but once you reach captain they remove the black tattoo from the right shoulder and place a red tattoo on the persons left shoulder.
"Are you done asking questions now?" Naruto asked in a board tone. He wanted to get this test over with, he wanted to see his hime-chan today and help her train a bit.
Sakura looked between the two with a slightly confused look on her face. Who was itachi and why did naruto saying he broke all the mans records scare sasuke? She knew that naruto was strong, but how strong could he really be? After all, the boy was the same age as her.
She watched as sasuke dashed forward and took a quick swipe at naruto. The blond easily redirected the attack and used his foot to shove sasuke back a few steps.
"Oh sasuke-chan." Naruto clicked his tongue." Youre gonna have to do way better than that." He stated. Sasuke growled and dashed towards the blond again.
Sakura gulped nervously as she watched naruto effortlessly block all the uchihas attacks. She took a step back and took a deep breath in order to calm herself down. She looked past the fighting and locked eyes with the 'hostage'. It stayed that way for a second before her eyes widened.
Their 'mission' wasn't to defeat naruto. It was to free the hostage. If they could figure out a way to distract naruto long enough for them to just untie the hostage, then they would succeed.
She ran forward and grabbed sasuke by the arm, stopping the slightly panting boy from charging back towards naruto.
"What are you doing?!?" Sasuke growled as he yanked his hand free from her grip.
"Sasuke-kun I know how to win." She stated quietly as naruto relaxed his stance and let them talk." Fallow me." She grabbed his wrist and ran in the opposite direction, towards the tree line.
Sasuke growled lowly as he let sakura drag him into the forest. They continued running for a minute before sakura stopped and faced him.
"You better have something good to say." He stated coldly as he glared at the fangirl.
Sakura blushed lightly." Our mission isnt to defeat naruto. All we have to do is find a way to free the hostage." She stated, hoping hed catch on.
Her hopes were dashed as sasuke snorted and crossed his arms." I was trying to fight naruto so that we could get the hostage you idiot. How are we gonna get to the clone if we cant get past naruto?" He asked her with an annoyed look on his face.
Sakura frowned at the boys attitude but shook her head a bit." No, we just need to distract him long enough to get the hostage untied."she told him." We need a plan." She added.
Sasukes frown deepened. He knew that he had no chance of defeating naruto, especially if his theory about naruto being an anbu captain was true. So with a sigh he looked at sakura and nodded his head. Hed use sakuras large brain for as long as needed.
"Whats the plan then?" He asked the girl cooly.
Sakura gave him a small smile before she began to explain the plan.
-30 minutes later-
Naruto was standing a few yard away from the tied up clone. He let out a sigh of boredom as he looked up at the sky. It was close to noon and the two genin had yet to attack him. He could've sent a clone out to fallow the two when they dashed into the surrounding forest but eh, why ruin the fun? He wanted to see what kind of plan they'd come up with.
He didnt have to wait long as he soon heard a shout of- " fire style: fireball jutsu!" The blond looked up and saw a decent sized fireball flying towards him.
He quickly extinguished the fireball with a few water bullets. He saw a small glint from the corner of his eye and looked to his right and saw three shuriken fly past him before they did a U-turn and seemingly swirled around him a few times.
"Oh?" Naruto commented as he was suddenly wrapped up in ninja wire.' They must've been attached to the shuriken.' He mused lightly. He felt a tug on the wires and looked in front of him to see sasuke standing on a tree branch with the wires being held in his hands.
The uchiha finished a set of handsigns before blowing a thin stream of fire onto the ninja wire. The wire erupted into flames and the blond watched the flames race down the wire, heading straight for him.
"Now sakura!" Sasuke called out loudly.
Naruto ignored the deadly flames that raced towards him and looked to his left. An amused glint flashed into his ringed eyes as he saw sakura dash out of the bushes and head straight for the tied up clone.
Right as the flames reached him he quickly replaced himself with a log before appearing in front of sakura. Said girl yelped out in shock as she quickly came to a stop in front of naruto.
Sasuke growled in annoyance when he saw that he had burnt a log instead of naruto. He looked towards sakuras position and saw the blond standing in front of her. He huffed in annoyance as their plan seemed to go down the drain. He looked towards the hostage and smirked. Naruto wasn't paying attention to the hostage right now.' Hn, ill let sakura distract him.' He thought before he jumped from the tree and headed straight for the hostage.
Naruto stared the girl down with an amused look in his eyes." You didn't think itd be that easy, did you sakura-chan?" He questioned the girl.
Sakura gulped and pulled out a kunai." S-sorry naruto. But I have to get past you. I need to get to that clone." She stated nervously. She shook her head and felt her confidence begin to rise as she glared at the blond." I need to stay on sasukes team. I cant fail him."
"Then come at me." Naruto replied.
Sakura ran forward and swiped at the blonds neck. Naruto blocked the attack with the metal plate he had on the back of his fingerless gloves. Sakuras other hand shot forward and aimed for his chest but naruto caught her by the wrist. He now hand both of her hands restricted.
"What now sakura-chan?" Naruto asked curiously." I've got your arms occupied. What can you do now?" He wondered.
Sakura growled." Ill show you what I can do!" She jumped forward and kicked off the blonds chest- making naruto stumbled back a few steps. Sakura backflipped and landed in a crouched position before forming a handsign." Shadow clone jutsu! " she called out and two clones appeared on either side of her.
Naruto managed to stop himself from falling backwards but his eyes widened in shock when he heard sakura call out that jutsu. He looked at her and saw two clones next to her. How was this possible? Theres no way sakura had enough chakra to summon a shadow clone, let alone two.
"Lets go!" Sakura shouted and dashed forward, her clones fallowing quickly behind her. Half way to the blond the three pinketts began to zig zag and mix up their formations, confusing naruto as he didn't know which one was the real sakura. Sure he could've just activated his rinnegan to find the real sakura, but where was the fun in that?
Finally the three reached their target and one sakura jumped up into the air and held a kunai out, aiming for the blond throat.
Naruto, still slightly shocked by the addition of said clones, managed to bring his arms up in an attempt to block the girls attack. But right as the girls kunai got close to him, he was thrown through a loop when said pinkett seemingly traveled right through him.
"Wha- AH!" Naruto cried out in both shock and pain when the second sakura appeared in front of him and stabbed him in the right shoulder. He stumbled back as the real sakura let go of the kunai.
He watched as the two 'shadow clones' went up in smoke, leaving behind the real sakura. He let out a small chuckled as he realized exactly what happened.
When she kicked off of him, she made sure that he was to busy trying to regain his balance instead of watching her. She used that distraction as a cover to summon two academy clones but shouted out 'shadow clone jutsu' as a way to make him actually think that she had somehow summoned real shadow clones.
Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow as she stared at the chuckling naruto. She gulped lightly as she looked at her kunai- which was embedded hilt deep into the boys right shoulder. She didn't think hed actually fall for her trick! She expected him to easily block her attack!
Suddenly the alarm clock went off. Naruto looked back at the hostage and saw said clone was untied with sasuke standing next to it, a surprised look on the boys face as he too stared at the injured blond.
"Well it seems the genin won." The real kakashi stated as he appeared on top of the wooden post. He reached down and turned the alarm clock off as his clone vanished. He looked at naruto with an amused look on his face." Ma ma naru-chan. Are you losing your touch?" He wondered innocently.
Naruto chuckled in amusement." Not even close kakashi." The blond replied before he went up in smoke, shocking even kakashi.
"W-what?" Sakura stuttered out in confusion as she watched her kunai fall to the ground. She yelped when someone rested their hand on her shoulder, spinning around she came face to face with a perfectly fine naruto.
"Shadow clones are wonderful." The real naruto stated with a hidden smirk.
"We were fighting a clone this whole time?" Sasuke asked, a look of shock on his face.
Naruto nodded his head but before he could speak he was punched in the chest by a pissed off sakura." You jerk! I thought I actually stabbed you! I felt guilty for no reason you asshole!" She roared out.
"Oi oi!" Naruto shouted out as he pushed the girl away from him, idly rubbing his now sore chest and arms. Damn sakura could hit hard when she was pissed." Even if it was a clone, you should be very proud sakura-chan." He stated with an eye smile.
"Whys that?" The now slightly calmer girl asked.
" shadow clones are real copies of the person who makes them." Kakashi spoke up, getting everyones attention." They can deal damage to an enemy during a battle and they send whatever information they learned back to their creator when they are destroyed. Theyre perfect for recon." Kakashi explained in a teacher like tone." But, the jutsu takes a lot of chakra, that's why its considered a B-ranked forbidden jutsu and you have to be either a high leveled chunnin, a jonin or an anbu in order to get access to said jutsu and learn it."
Naruto nodded his head and spoke up." Yup but what you should really be proud about sakura-chan, is the fact that you managed to not only surprise my clone, but you managed to injure it as well." The blond stated. " stronger opponents have tried and yet you succeeded where they all failed." He gave the now blushing girl a small clap in order to congratulate her.
"Oh stop you." Sakura waved him off with a small blush." I just did my best, nothing to be too happy about." She added sheepishly.
Sasuke was kind of annoyed. Granted it made him feel better knowing that she only managed to destroy a clone and not the real naruto, but it still irked him. He was way stronger than sakura, so how did she manage to do something that he himself couldn't do? He mentally growled as he tried to let it go.
"So anyways-" kakashi cleared his throat, getting everyones attention." Since sasuke managed to free my clone while sakura distracted narutos, I do believe that means you two pass this test." He gave them an eye smile." Congratulations on becoming full fledged shinobi. Take the rest of the day off and celebrate. But tomorrow we'll be starting training and missions. So make sure you get plenty of rest." He told the two kids before he vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Sakura whooped happily before looking at sasuke." Wanna go celebrate with me sasuke-kun?" She asked sweetly.
Said uchiha 'hn'ed' before walking away with his hands in his pockets.
Sakura sighed in depression before she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Looking back at naruto she saw him give her an eye smile." Come on sakura-chan." He motioned for her to fallow." Lets go get team 8 and 10. We'll all go out and celebrate together." He told her softly. Hed wait until tomorrow to help hinata train. For now hed celebrate his friends successes.
Sakura ran after him and jumped onto his back, forcing him to give her a piggy back ride." That sounds good. But you gotta carry me all the way there." She stated with an absolute nod.
Naruto furrowed his brows as he carried her on his back." And why cant you walk?" He questioned.
Sakura snorted." I worked super hard just then. My feet hurt and im kinda tired so without further ado.. forward my sturdy stead!" She ordered, kicking the boys side and pointing forwards.
Naruto sweat dropped at the girl before sighing." Yeah yeah, im going." He grumbled as he began to jog towards training ground ten. Hed pick up asumas students before going to get kurenais.