Naruto: The Mega Gamer

Chapter 22: New Friends, New Teams, New Everything

The scene opens with a wide view of the Hidden Leaf village before going over to the Hokage Rock where we find Naruto as well as a photographer who's adjusting his propped-up camera atop the roof of the Hokage Mansion.

"Are you ready to take the photo?" asked the photographer.

Naruto, who was seated a short distance away from the camera, nods in response "Yes, I'm all set,"

"Very well, hold still for just a few seconds,"

Click*

The photographer pressed down on the clicker for the camera to take the picture and saw that it was successful with no flaws…but he can't deny feeling a bit intimidated by the boy's serious expression even if it's a photo.

Those were the same thoughts shared by Hiruzen as he sits alongside another ninja in a room at the Ninja Academy with Naruto as he looks at his newly created Ninja Log.

"It's like I'm looking at both Minato and Kushina at the same time, but then again…," Hiruzen looks up at Naruto "I see that you took a good photo, I was expecting something more comical from you,"

Naruto smirked "If it was in another universe, but I know well enough when to be serious and when to be playful. That Ninja Log of mine is going to be around for a long time, can't afford to mess around with it,"

"I agree with such views," said Hiruzen.

"Of course, I need to be ready for everything after all," said Naruto, looking pointedly at the Third Hokage who flinched at the statement.

"*Sigh* I can tell that he won't be letting this go for a while," thought Hiruzen before recalling the conversation that he and Naruto had that night when Mizuki stole the Forbidden Scroll.

*Flashback Start*

Upon returning to the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen had Mizuki taken to Ibiki Morino to 'ask' him questions while also sending Iruka to the hospital to be cared for having Naruto stay behind and making sure that the Forbidden Scroll locked securely this time, it's already bad enough that the Nidaime's Raijin Sword was stolen before. He's not in the mood for a repeat!

The two sat away from each other silently with the Hokage's desk just between them, neither side breaking the silence until Hiruzen finally decided to be the one to speak first.

"First and foremost; I'd like to extend my congratulations to your very first S-ranked mission as well as gratitude in preventing the theft of the Forbidden Scroll," said Hiruzen gratefully.

Naruto nods in response "Thanks and you're welcome. It is my duty as a newly inducted shinobi of the Hidden Leaf village,"

"Indeed, although I am curious to ask of the skills and weapons you used in apprehending the criminal Mizuki. I've never seen nor heard of them in my time,"

"Come on, Hokage-jiji. I can't exactly reveal all my cards I have in my deck. After all, keeping or revealing certain secrets tend to have severe consequences, right?" Naruto was now glaring at the Third Hokage who starting to realize that the blonde ninja is more than just a little bit angry.

"Naruto, I can explain…,"

"Oh really? Like how you explained to a little boy who simply wanted to know whom his parents are with the words that 'It won't bring back the dead' while oh so conveniently leaving out that he has a powerful being sealed inside him?" asked Naruto sarcastically before continuing "And let's not forget the worst of your betrayals,"

Naruto pointed over at the portrait of the Fourth Hokage while still glaring at Hiruzen "About the fact that you do know who my parents are but chose not to tell me no matter how many times I asked you!"

"H-How did you…?" the Third Hokage paled when Naruto pointed at his stomach.

"It's rather ironic that the very beast that nearly destroyed the village and whom you kept a secret from me was the one to tell me EVERYTHING instead of the person who I saw as a grandfather. Do you have any idea what you could have caused?"

"I…,"

"Were the Kyuubi truly evil, it would have fed me plenty of lies which would have turned me against the village. All because you decided not to tell me the truth, care to tell me your reason for this?"

"…you were too young; the risk was too great for me to ignore if I told you the truth. I didn't want to place an additional burden to what you already have at that age," said Hiruzen, feeling mentally exhausted. He was expecting something like this to eventually happen but this was more than he thought, seeing the look of anger and betrayal in Naruto's eyes really tore at his heart.

"Then what you should have done was tell me to wait until I wasn't ready to learn the truth, I would be upset but eventually understood the seriousness of why you wouldn't tell me yet. Instead, you chose to leave me cluelessly wondering about 'What-ifs'. Can't exactly call that a smart decision made by 'The Professor', can we?" said Naruto angrily.

"Kami, he's right. Everything that he said is true, I could have simply told him to wait until the time was right but I ended up making it appear to him that I purposely withheld the truth because I didn't trust him, making me no different from the villagers who mistreated him," Hiruzen truly felt guilty, believing that he let down Minato and Kushina who had entrusted their son to him before their deaths. He has already made too many mistakes with severe consequences and unfortunately, this is one of them.

"Young one…," Elrath was about to say something but was stopped by Drago who shook his head since this was something that needs to be settled between their summoner and the Hokage.

"Naruto…I know that I've destroyed most of your trust by having not told you the truth because I was afraid of the potential danger to the village without considering you overall, leaving you to suffer from my inactions and not seeing that you wanted more than just a life goal, a house and a stipend. I should have known better, I don't expect you to forgive me but I only wish that you would give me a chance to do things right by you," Hiruzen bowed his head to Naruto in apology.

"…,"

Naruto stares at the Third Hokage stoically. To be honest; ever since the ninja had returned from Gamindustri and granted the ability sense negative emotions by Kurama. From the few times he had visited the Third Hokage; he would sense guilt, shame and self-loathing from the aged man which made he feel less upset but still upset regardless. He just wanted to let Hiruzen know exactly how he felt about the effects of the decisions that the man made concerning his life.

"*Sigh* I don't hate you but at the same time not happy with the choices you made for me, it will take a long while before I could find it in my heart to forgive you," Naruto rose from his seat and walked to the door, then he paused for a moment "Just know that I won't be lying down and taking hits from anyone anymore, rather I'll be hitting back twice as hard,"

Then Naruto exited from the office, leaving the Third Hokage to his thoughts of how his choices led to this.

*Flashback End*

"I really messed things up, I should have been firmer and trusted Naruto. Another one of my many mistakes, I truly have a lot to make up for," thought Hiruzen, resolving to makes things right for Naruto for he owes him that much "I've noticed that you aren't wearing your headband, why's that?"

"Oh, that's because I don't want it to get dirty until the orientation next week," Naruto answered, currently wearing the goggles which was gifted to him on one of his birthdays which was strangely left at his doorstep with a note wishing him happy birthday. That was one of his happier days plus the note oddly had a scent of perfume on it too.

Suddenly, they heard the door open as a young boy with brown hair and ridiculously long blue scarf while holding a shuriken "Hey old man, I challenge!" he charges towards where the Third Hokage is seated "I'm going to defeat you and become Hokage!"

However, he ends ups stumbling on his feet and falls to the ground face first. He grabbed his face while groaning in pain.

Hiruzen sighed tiredly "My grandson, one of my many headaches,"

"Well, that just happened," thought Naruto then he realized something else "Shoot, I just missed a great chance to record a Fail Video. What a wasted opportunity,"

"Is that really what bothers you?" Kurama commented with a quirked eyebrow.

"Something tripped me!" the boy complained while getting back up.

Then a shinobi wearing black sunglasses and his headband as a bandanna enters the room and panics upon seeing the boy on the floor "Are you alright, Honorable Grandson? And by the way; there's nothing for you to trip on, the floor is pretty flat,"

"Who's this kid?" thought Naruto then he sense negativity and noted how the ninja is looking at him "Great, another blind bigot,"

Then he was snapped out of his thoughts when the boy suddenly points a finger at him and starts yelling "Alright, you're the one who tripped me, aren't you!?"

Naruto frowns at the boy, realizing that he's trying to cover up his embarrassment "You tripped yourself up, kid. Don't go pinning it on me,"

"You liar!" the boy lunges at Naruto only to find himself hanging in the air by the blonde ninja holding him up by the back of his shirt's collar.

"You're not exactly making good choices right now, kid," Naruto commented.

The boy squirmed to get free "Hey, put me down!"

"Release him at once!" the ninja declares angrily "The young man is the Honorable Grandson of the Honorable Third Hokage!"

Naruto paused for a moment to look at Hiruzen for confirmation which he did with a casual nod to affirm the man's statement.

"Hah, he's just like all the rest. Now that he knows who I am, he'll start worshipping me," thought the boy smugly "What's the matter, afraid that the Third Hokage is my grandfather?"

Naruto calmly placed the boy back on the floor but the next thing that the latter knew…

BONK*

The boy was squatting on the ground with his hands on his head due to having been hit there by Naruto who was holding up a fist with a look of annoyance at the kid, the shinobi was shocked upon seeing what just happened.

"Listen you little brat, respect is to be earned instead of given without anything to show for it, and I could care less if the old man was your grandmother just because you're his grandson," Naruto turned to Hiruzen "Would you mind if we pick this up later? The atmosphere is pretty much ruined right now,"

Hiruzen nods in understanding "Of course, you may leave. I'll contact you should anything come up,"

Nodding understanding, Naruto took his leave while ignoring the look that the ninja was giving him. Not noticing the boy's gaze from behind.

---

Sometime later, Naruto was calmly walking through the streets of Konoha and while having a mental conversation with his Summons and Biometals.

"We'll be continuing the training with the skills we've taught, you're coming along well with them but require finetuning before they can be considered usable on the field," Model Z instructed.

"Yeah, still feels satisfying to use the Shoryuken on that jerk Mizuki, he's had it coming for a long time," thought Naruto with a grin.

"Maybe so, but don't get cocky. Last thing I want is for your ego to get us both killed," said Kurama.

"No worries, I'm no Uchiha after all,"

"You'd better not be,"

"Naruto, surely you're aware that you're being followed," said Model X.

"I'd be a failure of a ninja to not notice," Naruto replied.

Naruto said this because the person currently following him sucks at stealth. So far, the kid's various 'disguises' had included: a perfectly square rock, a camo cloth design of a fence with the planks facing the wrong direction, a mobile bush in the middle of the road, and walking behind him using a newspaper to cover his face with large easily noticeable eye-holes cut in it.

He had been leading the kid on a merry chase for over an hour now, hoping to lose him so he could go to his personal training ground to practice his techniques, but the kid was still right on his heels. The little brat either had much better tracking skills than he did stealth or he was that tenacious, plus he could sense that the kid had no feelings of negativity for him. Realizing that he couldn't keep this going on forever, Naruto decided to get this over with.

"Alright kid, what is it you want from me?" asked Naruto.

The boy emerges from his hiding place with a look of excitement "So you noticed me, you're even better than I thought!"

"Everyone would notice, given how horrible your stealth skills are," thought Naruto with a sweatdrop "Again, what is it you want from me?"

"I'll be your apprentice and you be my trainer, so you can train me to become the next Hokage!" the boy proclaims.

"I'm gonna have to say no to that, I just became a ninja so I lack that kind of knowledge," said Naruto as he turned to walk away.

"Come on, boss! Please don't say that, I really need a new trainer!" the boy pleaded.

"Sounds like the young one really wants to be trained and isn't halfhearted about it," said Elrath.

"All because our hatchling hit him in spite of being the grandson of the village leader?" Drago commented with a quirked eyebrow.

Hearing their conversation, Naruto had a second thought "Well, it could also be considered training for me since I would be teaching subordinates in the future," then he spoke up "Alright then, I'll see what I can do to help you with what I know right now,"

The boy's eyes brighten at his words "Really, alright!"

"Calm down, what's your name by the way? Mine's Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto introduced himself.

"My name's Konohamaru, Konohamaru Sarutobi!" said the boy with his chest puffed out with pride.

"Alrighty then, Konohamaru. The first thing I'll be teaching you will be stealth. I'll be honest with you, it's so terrible that I can't believe your previous trainer didn't correct that, so it needs to be dealt with,"

"My ears are wide open, boss!" said Konohamaru with eyes full of determination, making Naruto smile a bit.

"Okay then, let's get started,"

"This will be quite interesting," said Zekrom, waiting to see what their Summoner has in mind for the boy, same could be said for the others.

Sure enough, Naruto took to teaching Konohamaru how to move around stealthily like he was supposed such as reducing the amount of noise with his footsteps, using the camouflage cloak correctly and also not use items that make him stand out too much in certain environments. Naruto's an expert in this field considering the kind of pranks he does which require him not getting caught by more experienced shinobi. He plays games more often than he does pranks but to be frank, he gets ideas from the games he plays and applies them to his pranks.

"Boss, can't you teach me anything more than stealth?" Konohamaru whined a bit during their break from training.

"Sure, but it will be after you've proven to have mastered what I've taught so far. Which is why I'm going to give you an assignment," said Naruto.

"An assignment?"

"That's right, if you can hide from your first trainer and land a sneak attack on him, then I'll teach you again and also give you a reward too,"

"Really? You mean it?"

Naruto nods in affirmation "That's right, and I never go back on my word,"

"Awesome, you just wait and see. Ebisu-sensei won't even see me coming!" said Konohamaru excitedly.

"I'm starting to like this hatchling, he's got spunk," said Drago in amusement.

"Of course, you would," said Stiria.

"By the way, how good are you in video games?" asked Naruto curiously.

Konohamaru puffed up with pride "I can say I'm pretty awesome, I always beat my uncle Asuma in it!"

Naruto grinned "Oh really? Then let's head over to the arcade so you can show me your gaming skills,"

"Okay boss, prepare to be wowed by my awesome skills!"

"Wow boss, I didn't know you were so good at playing games!" said Konohamaru in awe.

As it turns out, Naruto's well-known at the arcade since he frequents there alongside Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba with the group having made highscores in most of the arcade machines. Naruto and Konohamaru played a fighting game and needless to say, the latter got creamed…a lot. So, they switched to playing a Co-op Beat em up game with Naruto having to take the lead the whole time but they had fun nonetheless.

Right now, they sitting on a fallen wooden log in the middle of a forest clearing while drinking canned juice which they had purchased earlier a vending machine along the way.

Naruto then spoke up "By the way, Konohamaru. I've been wondering about something,"

Konohamaru perked up "What is it?"

"What do you want to become a Hokage so strongly?"

Konohamaru became silent that it worried Naruto for a moment before the boy responded to him "My grandfather gave me the name 'Konohamaru' in honor of the village, so it should be easy to remember. But no one calls me by my name, not one person in the whole village. Because when they look at me, they don't really see me. All they see is the Honorable Grandson of the Lord Hokage, no one knows who I am. I can't stand it anymore, it's like I'm invisible, like I don't exist and I hate that. That's why I've got to be Hokage as soon as possible so people would know who I really am,"

"That explains a lot of things," said Nix.

"No wonder why he got so attached to you, it's because you treated him like a normal person," Stiria added.

"In a way, you could have been in a similar position were your parents still alive, young one," said Elrath thoughtfully.

"You're right, he's kinda like me. He wants to be seen for who he really is and not what he's connected to," thought Naruto.

"It certainly seems that way," said Zekrom.

Naruto then spoke up "You shouldn't in such a rush to become Hokage, Konohamaru. That title bears a lot of weight and comes with serious requirements,"

"What do you mean?" asked Konohamaru curiously.

"To be Hokage means to be someone strong, wise and has a great love for the village and its people. Such a person is acknowledged by the people if he proves himself worthy of the title. I used to yearn for the title of Hokage but I realized that I took it too lightly, so I decided on a new goal; to become a ninja who is capable of facing down any form of opposition, someone you can count on and not be disappointed, to be able to protect those I hold close to my heart. To become the best version of who I can be,"

"Wow…," Konohamaru was amazed to hear that from his boss.

"So, if you still want to be Hokage then you have my full support. But as your boss, I'll give you the ultimate test…," Naruto looked at Konohamaru with a competitive grin "And that is to defeat me in battle, do that then you're more than ready to become Hokage!"

With those words, it began to dawn upon Konohamaru want Naruto is trying to tell him; the youngster needs to train hard and learn a lot to become a powerful ninja so that when the time comes for him to face Naruto who would be a powerful ninja by then and manage to beat him, then he's proven himself to be more than ready to become Hokage. His boss is truly supporting him not as the Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage but rather as Konohamaru Sarutobi, as himself.

"By the way, Konohamaru. Wanna see a cool move before ya go?" said Naruto with a playful grin.

"Really? Let me see, let me see!" said Konohamaru eagerly.

"Alrighty then, pay close attention or you might miss it!"

Naruto took several steps away from Konohamaru and took a stance as he focuses energy into and through the palms of his hands, compressing it into a single point "Hadoken!" then he thrusts both palms forward to launch an energy blast in the form of a blue fireball as it shoots through the air and smashes through a tree with the upper half crashing onto the ground.

Konohamaru's eyes sparkle with awe at what he just saw "Wow, that's so cool! You gotta teach me how to do it!"

"All in good time, my apprentice. You need to train your body hard to be able to handle this technique, and your body is currently lacking at the moment," Naruto advised.

"Then I'll do, I'm gonna train hard and become stronger so you can teach me that move. You just watch!" Konohamaru started running off to get home.

Naruto waved at him "See you around, Konohamaru Sarutobi!"

Konohamaru paused and turned to wave back with a bright smile "You too, Boss Naruto Uzumaki!" then he resumed his running.

Meanwhile at the Hokage Office, Hiruzen had been watching the whole thing between Naruto and Konohamaru through the crystal ball, smiling at their interaction from the beginning to the end.

"Out of everyone in the village besides family, you were the one to give Konohamaru what he wanted the most…a true friend who sees him for who he is," the Third Hokage smiled sadly "In spite of everything you've gone through, you would still extend a hand of kindness to others. At times like this, I believe that this village and unfortunately myself is blind to your true potential,"

---

A week later, Naruto was walking through the streets with the Ninja Academy as his destination for it is the day when he alongside other graduates will be assigned into teams and he doesn't want to be late for it, he was even wearing his headband as to make it official.

Suddenly, his left ear twitched then he quickly sidestepped to the right as he reached out to grab something and hold it away from himself with a small smile.

"You're getting better but there's still room for improvement…Konohamaru," Naruto looks at said person whom he holding in the air by the back of his shirt.

"Geez, thought I'd get you this time!" Konohamaru whined a bit "Where are you off to?"

"I'm heading to the academy for team assignments since my career as a ninja officially begins today, which is why I'm wearing my headband from now on," Naruto explained.

"Whoa, then I can't wait to hear the kind of missions you'll be on that will take you outside the village!" said the young Sarutobi excitedly.

"Same here, I'll catch you later," after placing Konohamaru back on the ground, he continued on his way, leaving the young boy to cheer him on.

Arriving at the academy and going to his soon to be former classroom, Naruto saw that there were already several graduates seated and saw familiar faces being his gaming friends and friendlies as well as non-friends like Sasuke and his fangirls but the lesser said the better.

Naruto went up the stairs, looking for a seat when he noticed Hinata looking at him which caused the blonde ninja to smile and wave at her, making the shy Hyuuga blush and timidly wave back at him.

"If it weren't that the seats around her are occupied, Naruto could have sat next to her," said Stiria in mild annoyance with Nix and Garuda agreeing with her, the other summons wisely chose to remain silent, considering the last time one of them opened their mouths about the current subject.

Naruto managed to find a suitable seat and relaxed on it before taking out his handheld game and started playing with it. That's Kiba leaned over the table from above to speak to him.

"Hey Naruto, who do you think you would be teamed up with?" asked Kiba.

"Kinda hard to say, so long as it's people whom I can get along with," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"Same here, so long as it's not with duckbutt or any of his fangirling posse,"

"I hear ya man," muttered Chouji who's munching on his bag of chips like always.

"You needn't worry about that; I can tell you for sure. I have an inkling as to we're gonna be assigned as a team with…and it's gonna be troublesome," said Shikamaru while he plays a game of shoji on his own handheld game with a sleepy look in his eyes in spite of setting the game to the highest level.

Kiba shrugged his shoulders "Good for you, just hoping that we get the same thing," Akamaru barks in agreement with his partner.

Everyone was disrupted when the door suddenly slammed open and Sakura came running before declaring "I'm first!"

"First in what?" asked Kiba confusedly.

"First in arriving here before Ino did!" said Sakura as a matter-of-factly.

"But Ino isn't here," Chouji pointed out to the pinkette, Sakura looked around to see that indeed her rival was nowhere close to her.

"Hmph, guess I left her so far behind that I didn't notice. Just shows I'm far more fit for Sasuke-kun than her!"

Sakura struts off with pride while everyone simply sweatdrops in response. Moments later, Ino arrives and looks to Sakura gawking at Sasuke as she looks at the Yamanaka smugly of her victory. However, Ino didn't react with envy like everyone was expecting but rather walked away to find a seat, shocking everyone especially Sakura.

"What's going on, why isn't Ino-pig coming over to argue with me for hogging Sasuke-kun? It's not like her to just walk away like that or could it be a ploy of hers, to act uninterested to gain attention?" thought Sakura, confused by all this.

The door to the classroom opened again and this time it was Iruka carrying several sheets of paper as he walks over to the front of the class to speak to everyone before him.

"All right students," Iruka said as he walked in the room, "I would like to congratulate those of you who made it this far and will be joining teams today. Now let's begin. Team 1 will be…"

"Team 7 will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake," Iruka announced.

Naruto groaned while Sakura cheered for being on a team with her beloved Sasuke. Sasuke just grunted and went back to his usual brooding.

"Darn it, which side of the bed did I wake up from this morning to have such bad luck!" thought Naruto in frustration, having been assigned to the two people whom he doesn't get along with at all.

"The only silver lining would be that your new sensei was tutored by your father and also has been the one who helped save you that day which those children tricked you into leaving the village to acquire that kunai," Kurama revealed to him.

Naruto was surprised to hear that since he wasn't aware of the full details "It was him who helped Iruka-sensei save me?"

"That would mean that he had been watching over, perhaps it's why the Hokage assigned you to his team," said Elrath thoughtfully.

"Guess I'm gonna have to grit my teeth and bear it then,"

Iruka continues to speak "Team 8 will consist of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuuhi,"

Hinato nodded a little meekly while a bit saddened, Kiba cheered and Akamaru barked happily. Shino just pulled a Shino and stayed silent. Although the Inuzuka and the others felt pity for Naruto having been placed in the possibly worst team ever.

"Team 9 is in rotation from last year. Team 10 will consist of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi,"

Shikamaru braced himself to hear Ino start ranting about not being in Sasuke's team but heard nothing, he looked to see Ino simply sitting there quietly with a contemplative expression on her face, confounding the lazy guy even more by the change in her behavior.

"What's with her, this is totally out of the norm for not to act up. Ugh, this is so troublesome," thought Shikamaru tiredly.

"You will wait here until your teachers arrive," Iruka said, "since this is the last time I see you I'll give you this little tidbit of info before you leave; Do anything to humiliate this village and even hell won't be able to save you from me!"

With those unnerving words the scarred Chuunin walked out the door.

A few minutes later, the sensei's arrived, one-by-one and called out for their teams to follow them, which they did.

The first of the notable students began leaving when a beautiful, raven-haired, crimson-eyed woman walked in and offered a quick smile to Hinata, which was returned. Naruto noticed Kiba (along with most of the male students) staring at her and had to hold in his laughter but it can't be denied that she is indeed beautiful.

"Team Eight, you're with me," said the kunoichi.

The Aburame and Inuzuka heirs, along with the Hyuuga heiress, stood up and followed their new sensei.

"Good luck" Naruto whispered as his saw his friends leave.

"Thanks/Thank you" Kiba and Hinata answered as they left.

A few minutes after that, a bearded man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth walked in.

"Team Ten?" he called out, Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru (the latter rather reluctantly) stood up.

Asuma Sarutobi nodded, "Alright, follow me" he told them.

As they were leaving, both Shikamaru and Chouji wished Naruto good luck while Ino simply looked at him for a moment before leaving with them.

Soon after, the only people left in the classroom were Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Almost half-an-hour passed and the Team Seven sensei had still yet to show. In spite of his new changes, Naruto was losing his patience.

"Seriously?" Naruto thought "Where is this Kakashi guy?"

"I find it rather unbecoming of a teacher to be acting this way," said Zekrom in disapproval.

"I would have suggested chatting with your new teammates to while away the time, but we all know enough about them to not do so," said Stiria.

"*Sigh* Might as well play a little game while we wait," Naruto took out his game and started playing like he always does when bored or not having much to do.

"Naruto-baka, can't you see we're trying to have a moment here!?" Sakura yelled at Naruto, apparently looking for a reason to vent her frustrations and using the blonde ninja as her target.

"…," Naruto looks at the pinkette with a quirked eyebrow then he casually reached into his pocket to take out a pair of earphones which he placed in his ears and resumed playing his game like nothing happened, irritating the girl further since she was expecting him to react in some way.

"…hn," Sasuke paid the two no mind for they are not worth his interest or involvement.

The door slid open, catching the trio's attention as they turned to see a man with gravity defying silver hair, a facemask, and his headband which covers one of his eye entered the room.

The man looks at the trio thoughtfully with a hum "Well, my first impression of you guys is that…you're all weird," everyone sweatdrops in response to his statement.

"Really, that's all he has to say. This supposed student of the hatchling's father is falling even further below my expectations," said Drago in annoyance.

"Be patient, we've just met him. The benefit of the doubt still applies," said Elrath.

"Hmph, we'll see about that,"

Sometime later, everyone had gathered at the roof of the ninja academy as the three students sat down on a conveniently placed bench in front of their sensei.

"Okay," Kakashi said, "Let's get started with introductions. Tell me your name, likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future,"

"Why don't you start sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Fine," Kakashi said, "my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes…none of your business, my dislikes…also none of your business, my dreams…not telling you that either,"

"The only thing we got from his introduction is his name," thought Sasuke and Sakura but Naruto wasn't bothered that much since information is a ninja's armor against enemies.

Kakashi turned to Sakura "Okay then, let's start with you pinky,"

Said pinkette gritted her teeth before introducing herself "My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is…," she glances at Sasuke "Well the person I like is…," she glances at Sasuke again "And uhm…my dream for the future…," again she glances at Sasuke," uhm…?" need I say more?

"And your dislikes?" asked Kakashi curiously.

"Ino-pig and Naruto-baka!"

"Must I constantly repeat that I'm over you?" Naruto frowns in response, causing Sakura to flinch from his words.

"Hmph, and my hobby is…," at this point, there's no need to say the obvious.

"Girls of this age are more interested in love than ninjutsu…," thought the man as he looked at the raven-haired boy indicating that it's his turn "You're up, emo,"

With a frown, Sasuke introduced himself "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything and…I can't really call it a dream…but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and…to kill a certain man,"

"He's so cool!" thought Sakura with her sparkling with admiration.

Kakashi frowns mentally "As I thought…,"

"So, he seeks vengeance. I fear that the path he intends to follow will cost him his very sense of self," said Model X "I fear that he might make decisions that cannot be undone for the sake of achieving his revenge,"

"He should rather be seeking justice, not vengeance," said Elrath with a frown.

"Kakashi-sensei will need to keep an eye on him," thought Naruto, then he noticed that everyone was staring at him.

"It's your turn, blondie," Kakashi pointed out to him.

"Oh, alright then," Naruto cleared his throat before introducing himself "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like my gaming buddies, ramen and training. My dislikes are arrogance, bigotry, stupidity, treachery, the time it takes instant ramen to microwave, online trollers and fangirls,"

Sakura felt a bit hurt by that last comment but shrugged it off while Kakashi was paying close attention.

"My hobbies include training, playing video games alone or with my friends, gardening and learning new techniques. As for dreams…," Naruto hummed "It used to be wanting to become Hokage, but now I want to become the strongest version of myself that won't be weak and lose to anyone ever again,"

"It would seem that Lord Hokage was right, Naruto has definitely changed a lot and now has a new goal in mind," thought Kakashi, he recalls when he was summoned by the Third Hokage and being informed about Naruto's awareness of containing the Bijuu and also his family legacy while also cautioning about the change in attitude.

Kakashi then noticed that his students were waiting on him to continue "Okay, now that the introductions are out of the way, we'll be meeting at the Third Training Ground at 7am for your Genin test,"

Sasuke and Sakura were confused while Naruto just quirks an eyebrow.

Sakura couldn't but voice her concerns "But sensei, didn't we already pass our Genin test?"

The silver haired cyclops shakes his head, "That's where you wrong, the academy test was designed to weed out the weak. The real test takes place after you're placed on a team. That's when Jounin like me would test you three personally to determine whether or not you have what it takes to make it in the shinobi world. If you pass, you become official Genin and if you fail, you get sent back to the academy" he gives them a strange smile expressed only through his visible eye.

"When he puts it that way, it makes a lot of sense since you can't just become a ninja like that," thought Naruto.

"Life is full of trials after all, it doesn't start or end with just one," Elrath advised his summoner.

"We'll need to keep both eyes and ears for whatever he has planned for you and the others," said Model Z.

"I just know that you're going to end up bearing the entire weight for this test," said Drago with a groan.

"If I fail, I'll get separated from Sasuke-kun. This is trial, a trail of love!" thought Sakura with determination.

"…," Sasuke didn't say anything but one could see his fists clenched tightly in reaction to the man's words.

Kakashi turned his back to the three and prepared to leave "Remember to come to the Third Training Ground at 7am. Oh, and I suggest skipping breakfast or you might end up puking," then he disappeared via shunshin.

The group got up and individually started going home. Well, Naruto and Sasuke tried to go home but Sakura tried to get a date with Sasuke and was promptly rejected as usual. Naruto shook his head that this girl is still being naïve about the ninja life and casually stepped off the roof, shocking the two.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other and ran over to the side and looked over to see Naruto walking away like nothing was wrong and he hadn't even jumped off a roof. The two looked at each other shocked and then back at Naruto. Sasuke, realizing he was alone with Sakura, quickly snuck away. Around this time Sakura realized that they were alone and looked to see the boy was gone much to her disappointment.

Naruto then headed home to rest up for his test with Kakashi tomorrow. While on the bed, he was having a discussion with the others in his mindscape about tomorrow's test.

"What do you guys think, would this test of his really make me puke if I ate?" asked Naruto.

"It would depend on what he has in mind, but I'm rather skeptical because you would be undergoing a test with low stamina and energy," said Model X.

"Or perhaps that's exactly what he's aiming for," said Model Z.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto curiously.

"I see what Model Z is talking, think back to what your sensei said; word by word," said Zekrom.

Naruto recalled the words, repeating them in his head several times before it dawned upon him "Why that sneaky little…he didn't order us not to eat but suggested, knowing that we would automatically obey him since he's of higher authority. Plus it's common sense to always prepare oneself for any mission which includes being well-fed!"

"It would appear that your sensei is a rather crafty person, best to be attentive and on guard around him," said Elrath in amusement.

"Remember your first lesson when you started attending the academy; Deception is a shinobi's bread and butter," said Kurama.

"Yeah, I do. Looks like he already started teaching us before even beginning the test tomorrow, makes me look forward to what he has in mind for us," thought Naruto with a grin before he finally went to sleep.

---

Arriving in the clearing of the Third Training Ground, Sasuke and Sakura noticed that Naruto was already there and oddly enough, he's meditating with a serene expression in his eyes. This was a very odd thing to see considering how long they've known but then again he started changing close to the end before their graduation.

"So long as he's not getting in the way, I could care less," Sakura mutters to herself.

"Hn," Sasuke simply decides to ignore him entirely and lean back against one of the training post to wait for their sensei to arrive while ignoring the pinkette's advances.

After TWO hours of waiting, Kakashi finally shows up while looking like there weren't any problems at all.

"Hello everyone," the cyclops greeted cheerfully.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled angrily while Sasuke glared at him but Naruto simply opened his eyes and smirked.

"Sorry about that, a black cat crossed my path on my way here, so I had to take the long way around the village to avoid any bad luck,"

"LIAR!"

"That's some excuse," thought Naruto, mildly amused with the others feeling the same way.

"Indeed," said Drago.

"Anyways, let's begin…," the Jounin said as he took out two bento boxes, an alarm clock and two bells "Your job is to get the bells from me before noon,"

"But sensei, there are only two bells," said Sakura confusedly.

Kakashi simply smiled "Yes and that's because one of you will fail and get tied to the post while other two will eat lunch," he heard two stomachs rumble and noticed that Naruto didn't appear discomforted which made him suspect something "Naruto, why did you eat when I said you shouldn't?"

Naruto smirked "You said and I quote 'I suggest skipping breakfast or you might end up puking'. Emphasis on the keyword 'SUGGEST' as in you weren't ordering but implying a possibility. Also, Iruka-sensei had taught me that a ninja who's not ready for anything and everything is less likely to survive. So, if I were to puke then I'd least have the energy to do so,"

Instead of getting upset like Sasuke and Sakura expected, Kakashi rather smiled behind his mask "Quite sharp of you to catch on, too bad the other two didn't notice," then he thought "I see traits of Minato-sensei's intelligence in him right now, better keep an eye on him,"

"How could he have noticed?" thought Sasuke, glaring at Naruto.

"This is bad; not only did I skip breakfast this morning but I didn't eat last night because I'm on a diet," thought Sakura worriedly.

Kakashi spoke up "Let me repeat myself; the goal of your test is simple; you have until noon to steal these bells from me. Whoever gets a bell passes the test and becomes a Genin. Simple. But those who don't will be tied to the post and watch me eat,"

Sakura decided to speak again, "But sensei, there are only two bells! Doesn't that mean one of us will fail no matter what?" she asked.

"Right you are Sakura. Whoever doesn't get a bell goes back to the academy,"

This had Sakura and Sasuke feeling nervous while Naruto narrows his eyes in focus.

Kakashi shrugged, "Of course, there's always the likely chance that none of you will get a bell which means you'll end up getting sent back to the academy. And another thing; you're allowed to use any and all means to try and take the bells from me, including weapons and jutsu. But I advise that you come at me with the intent to kill,"

"B-But those are too dangerous and you could get hurt!" Sakura protested.

Naruto scoffed "Seriously Haruno, standing before us is a Jounin with YEARS of experience under his belt and gone through a lot. Do you seriously think that he would break a sweat against three Genin who just graduated from the academy?"

"Such a naïve girl," Stiria commented.

"He's not wrong, you know?" said Kakashi amusedly "If you don't have any more questions to ask, then let the test…begin!"

Music Start: Blazblue Phase III Chronophantasma OST; Susanooh II

Sasuke and Sakura leapt into the nearby foliage and disappeared from view in order to conceal themselves.

Kakashi reached into his ninja pouch to take out an orange book and began to read, shocking Sasuke and Sakura. He stood out in the open with his nose in a book, making himself seem to be an open target.

Kakashi noticed something and looked up, seeing that Naruto hadn't moved from his spot at all.

"Um, aren't you supposed to hide?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "Probably, but I have something more fun in mind," he adjusts his gloves and installs the Command Core and Weapons Core into the slots of his gloves.

"What the hell is the dobe doing?" Sasuke thought with a small frown.

"Wait…he's not actually going to fight him…is he?" Sakura was confused by the action of her teammate.

"Whatever you say blondie" Kakashi said, returning to his book.

Naruto smirked and held out his hand as there was a flash of light which dissipated to reveal him now holding a single-edged shortsword with a white blade whichhas less of the shine of a polished metal in its ore that it has the haze of a cloud and bears a Yin-Yang symbol on the hilt.

This got Kakashi's attention and his visible eye widened briefly.

"Where did he get that?" Sasuke thought, fantasizing about killing a certain someone with that weapon.

"Whoa," Sakura thought.

Kakashi stared at the weapon "Well, that's…different,"

He was about to return to his book, when he sensed something and leaned back sharply as something whizzed through the air at where his head was before, revealing Naruto who had suddenly appeared in front of him and was now attacking fiercely with his shortsword as the Jounin backstepped several times before leaping away to build some distance from the young ninja.

"That's not the kind of speed one would expect from a Genin fresh out of the academy," thought Kakashi, looking at Naruto who's leaning on the tips of his toes in preparation to attack once. It was becoming clear to him that he wasn't going to be able to read and fight at the same time with this one.

Kakashi returned his book into the ninja pouch and took out a kunai "Now then, let's see what else you can do,"

Seeing the change in stance, Naruto crouched slightly then he launched himself forward Kakashi and began attacking as blades repeatedly clanged against each other with sparks flying each time albeit the Jounin proving to be more than capable of keeping up with the Genin.

Suddenly, Naruto broke away from Kakashi as he leapt backwards whilst simultaneously reaching into his ninja pouch and taking out a smoke pellet which he threw at the ground to create a smokescreen in between them. Then he threw Bakuya into the smokescreen with Kakashi as the target before diving in afterwards.

On the other hand, Kakashi remained vigilant for any possible attack which soon occurred when he sees the shortsword flying straight at him, he leaned to the side for it to fly past right as Naruto emerges from the smokescreen with a fist reared back for an attack.

"I see, creating a smokescreen to obscure my vision so you can attack with a combination of mid-range and close-range. An interesting tactic but not one I've never seen before," thought Kakashi.

As the Jounin moved forward to intercept, he saw another flash of light in Naruto's hand and barely reacted in time to raise his kunai to block a slash from Naruto now wielding another shortsword but this one has a black blade embossed with red hexagonal patterns which was currently pushing back against the kunai.

"Hmm, seems like you've got some tricks up your sleeves," Kakashi commented.

Naruto's eyes twinkled with mischief "And you've yet to see them all,"

At that moment, Kakashi felt the hair at the back of his neck rise then he broke away from the blade lock to quickly move to the side right in time to dodge something that came flying at his back. The Jounin looked only to be surprised to see Naruto catching the white shortsword in his free hand with a foxy grin.

"Where did it come from? I can still sense Sasuke and Sakura from here, so how did it come flying back after I dodged it earlier," thought Kakashi with a frown on his face. While he didn't see what exactly happened, the other two did and they were surprised.

"That weapon, it would prove more useful in my hands than his," thought Sasuke enviously.

"When he threw the white sword and Kakashi-sensei dodged it, it went flying back and almost hit. How did he do it?" thought Sakura in confusion.

"Pssst, Haruno…," Someone whispers close to the pinkette.

Sakura spun around and nearly screamed, but was stopped when a hand covered her mouth.

The hand belonged to Naruto.

"Shh" he shushed her, "Keep your voice down," he then lowered his hand to let her speak.

"Naruto? How are you here?" she asked as she saw another Naruto and her sensei battling in the clearing.

"I'm a shadow clone," he informed her, "And the boss sent me because he needs your help,"

Sakura was surprised by this, "My help? With what?"

"With stealing the bells,"

"What? But Naruto's doing just fine on his own!" Sakura told the clone.

The clone shook his head, "It might look that way now, but the boss isn't aiming to defeat Kakashi-sensei since there's no way that's gonna happen. He's not even trying to take the bells right now, he's only fighting to keep him distracted from going after you and Sasuke,"

"Why?" the pinkette asked.

"Because I realized that the point of the test is teamwork" he told her, "We're supposed to work together to steal the bells, that's the only way we can win against someone with Kakashi's experience!"

"But…but there are only two bells" Sakura pointed out to the clone "One of us is supposed to fail!"

"It's all a trick, meant to make us believe whatever he wants us to. Just like how he tricked us yesterday to not eat so we would be weakened for this test. Think, when was the last time you saw a three man team? He wants us to think only two of us can pass so that we're more reluctant to work together! We're supposed to take the risk and aid each other no matter what! That's the point of the test!"

Sakura considered this for a moment. It was true that she had never heard of a team with two Genin and a Jounin and it made sense that they had to work together against someone who was years ahead of them…

But, on the other hand, they might have changed the rules to allow a three-man team without telling them. There were Jounin who took a single Genin as an apprentice in the past, maybe this was similar, only it involved the two strongest, with the weakest being left behind.

Sakura knew that she was weaker than Sasuke and Naruto, that if she didn't play her cards right, it would be her two male teammates that took the bells and passed the test, while she failed. She needed help in order to get a bell, and aiding Naruto could allow her to grab one…but then it was likely that Naruto would also get a bell, leaving her beloved Sasuke in the dust, where he would hate her for taking his spot and aiding the dead-last instead of him, the rookie of the year.

No, she couldn't risk that. She needed to help Sasuke so that the two of them could pass and be together.

True love always wins after all, right?

"I can't take the risk that you might be wrong" the pinkette told the blonde clone, "If I help you and get a bell and then you get one and you're wrong, then Sasuke-kun will fail and hate me!"

The clone frowns at her "Think less like a fangirl and more like a Kunoichi, you're smart enough to know that I'm right about this!"

Sakura shook her head, "I'm not taking that risk. I'm going to find Sasuke-kun and help him get a bell,"

"Listen to me-,"

"No, you listen" Sakura hissed, "I'm not going to let some loser stand between me and my Sasuke-kun, so go away!"

The clone growled "Fine, at the very least I warned you. Don't come complaining to me about withholding information," he dispelled himself before the pinkette could retort.

Nearby, the same scene was being repeated by Sasuke and another clone.

"If you attack him alone, you are going to fail. He's a Jounin for crying out loud," the clone told the broody Uchiha "The only way we'll get even a single bell is if we work together!"

"I told you before, I'm not going to let you or that weakling hold me back," Sasuke told him, again, "I'm an Uchiha, an elite. I don't need anyone's help, especially not from the likes of you, so get lost!"

The clone glared at the idiotic clan heir and then shrugged.

"Fine" he conceded "The boss will look forward to watching you fail,"

The clone then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I won't fail," Sasuke thought as he began to move to a better position "I'm an Uchiha, success is in my blood,"

Back in the clearing, Naruto continues to engage Kakashi in combat as he creates several shadow clones to fight alongside him and using Kanshou and Bakuya's ability to keep the Jounin on his toes but knows that this won't last for much longer.

"Dammit where the hell are they?!" Naruto thought, wondering what was taking his clones so long to rally his teammates. Having used the moment he leapt into the smokescreen earlier to conceal his usage of the Shadow Clones to get to Sasuke and Sakura from Kakashi so they could take him by surprise.

He clashed blades with Kakashi once more when he felt the memories of his clones flow into his mind and realized what had happened, much to his and the others anger.

"I can't believe those guys!" thought Naruto angrily.

"Typical Uchiha, that self-entitlement never fails to grind my gears," said Kurama with disdain.

"This kind of attitude could get them and anyone else killed!" said Stiria angrily.

"How naïve can they be!" Nix added.

"So, what's the plan now?" asked Drago.

"We'll need a new plan since the initial has failed drastically," said Elrath.

Zekrom alerted the blonde ninja "Watch it, you're getting distracted,"

Zekrom's warning came too late as Kakashi saw Naruto's moment of distraction and seized the opportunity to disarm him of his shortswords and kick him in the torso, sending the blonde ninja flying and splashing into a river nearby.

"A distracted ninja is a dead ninja," Kakashi advised "Now to see how the others are doing," then he disappeared via shunshin in search of the other two Genin.

Moments later, Naruto shot out of the river and landed on the ground while looking both soaked and annoyed.

"Just my luck, everything's going wrong. Now I've got to go and save them from Kakashi-sensei. Just my luck," Naruto mutters to himself.

He crouches slightly before taking off at high in the direction as to where he might locate either of the two. Along the way, he heard a loud shriek which could only belong to one girl. He turns towards the direction where he heard the sound came from but slowed down in his approach to make sure that Kakashi wasn't around. Soon he finds Sakura standing there blankly with her legs shaking.

Naruto took a closer look and had an idea what's going on "It looks like she's trapped in a Genjutsu cast by Kakashi-sensei, I knew something like this would happen all because she wouldn't listen to me,"

The ninja was seriously considering leaving Sakura behind for so many reasons with most of them being good ones, but he wouldn't. first being that they're teammates and fellow shinobi of Konoha, second being that this test is all about teamwork and no doubt Kakashi might be observing him from somewhere, and third is he's too much of a nice guy to bear that much of a grudge.

"*Sigh* sometimes I hate being a nice guy," Naruto mutters to himself as he creates a shadow clone to dispel the Genjutsu and also carry her to somewhere conspicuous to hide from Kakashi in the meantime "Here's hoping that duckbutt isn't as completely defeated as her,"

"That would be wishful thinking," said Drago.

"I know,"

Meanwhile…

Sasuke was not having any luck. No matter what he did he couldn't get a beat on this guy. After a few more minutes of swinging a few punches and kicks, Sasuke got tired of this. He jumped back from Kakashi and went through set of handsigns which the Jounin recognizes and is shocked to see.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" the boy inhaled and shot out a massive fireball from his mouth shocking Kakashi.

"A Genin can't do fire jutsu," Kakashi thought "It takes way to much chakra!"

The flames enveloped Kakashi and Sasuke smirked at his victory. However, when the flames fell and revealed a burned log. Sasuke looked around to try and find Kakashi until he felt something grip his leg. He looked down to see a familiar arm sticking out of the dirt.

"Earth Style: Head Hunter Jutsu!" Sasuke was then pulled underground and buried up to his neck in the dirt. Kakashi rose out of the ground a few feet away.

"You know, Naruto could at least keep me on my toes since he has many more surprises than you," Kakashi teased him with that eye smile of his.

The Last Loyal Uchiha was humiliated by this. He couldn't understand how he, an elite member of the Uchiha clan, was beaten so easily while the dead-last could hold his own.

At that time, Naruto was hiding behind a tree trunk and concealing himself whilst watching the situation silently.

"Now to figure out a way to get him out of there safely, it's obvious that Kakashi-sensei doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon since he knows that I might show up to rescue that duckbutt," thought Naruto.

"It would be best that you find a way to forcefully separate him from the boy to make things easier for you. Fortunately, you have the means to do just that," said Model Z.

"Yeah, I just figured out how to do that,"

Meanwhile, Kakashi was reading his orange novel or that's how he made it to look from the outside. He's actually pretending to read while keeping an eye out for Naruto since he's well aware that Sakura is currently out of commission, knowing better to be on guard with that ninja lurking around.

Suddenly, something came flying out from the trees and struck near the feet of Kakashi who looked down to see several kunai with exploding tags, causing him to immediately leap away to get out of range. However, what he didn't expect was for the kunai to dispel and reveal clones of Naruto in their place.

"I see, he had his shadow clones transform into those kunai and tricked me into think that they might explode so he could get to his teammate. How sly of him," thought Kakashi, admiring the cunning of his teacher's son.

"Get me out of here, dobe. I can deal with him myself!" Sasuke demanded.

"Sorry, but that's not what I have in mind," Naruto replied.

"What are yo-," Sasuke felt someone pinch a part of his neck from behind and fell unconscious as a clone uses the Substitution jutsu to switch places then another clone carries him on his shoulder.

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at this "Knocking out your own teammate, is that something you would do in real-life combat?"

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures, Kakashi-sensei. He would have be more of a hindrance, considering that I had already asked both him and Haruno to work together but they refused. This left me with the only option of getting them out safely and having to face you alone," Naruto explained, as the clones begin running for the woods.

"Do you really think that I would stand back and let you get away!" Kakashi starts sprinting towards the escaping clones.

Naruto smirks "Of course not, which is why I have to make myself too irresistible to ignore; Speed Rave!" he crosses his arms together in front of himself as his body began emitting a light-blue aura then he broke his arms apart while air was pushed out from around him and he calls upon his twin shortswords that are now glowing with the same aura.

Naruto took one step forward and was already moving at blurring speeds and attacks a shocked Kakashi who dodges with a shunshin and stands a short distance away as the clones successfully enter the woods to hide.

"That speed, he's moving faster than before. What was that jutsu he used?" thought Kakashi, his eye narrowed at Naruto who twirls his shortswords a few times.

"Coming at ya, sensei! Charger!" executing the skill, Naruto rushed up to Kakashi and attacked with a horizontal slash from the Bakuya then followed up with a spinning vertical slash of the Kanshou before leaping into the air and attacking with a roundhouse kick before ending the combo with a powerful cross slash, all of which Kakashi managed to evade or deflect with his kunai then he countered by grappling Naruto's arms as he spun round several times before tossing him far away.

However, Naruto twisted his body in midair to land on the ground feetfirst "I am the bone of my sword…," blue circuit-like markings appeared on Naruto's arms and spread across his body before forming a marking on his left shoulder, resembling an unknown emblem "Projection!" he began materializing copies and throwing them at Kakashi as he dashes towards him as the Jounin evades and deflects the incoming projectiles until he was upon his opponent "Steel Fans!" the ninja creates copies of blades while holding three in between the fingers of both hands to resemble that of fans before attacking fiercely.

"Just what kind of training has he gone through and where on earth did he learn these techniques!?" Kakashi was confused to no end with he's being pressured like this "At this rate…,"

"Let's see you block this…!" the aura emitting from Naruto's body flares as he executes his finisher by rapidly striking forward with a four-hit combo, ending with him cutting five slash marks of light into the ground.

However, Naruto took note that in place of Kakashi is a wooden log which has been sliced up into many pieces, meaning that the Jounin had used the Substitution jutsu to avoid the attack.

"Kid, behind you!" Kurama called out in alert.

"I know! Sword Wall!" Naruto conjured multiple copies of Kanshou and Bakuya and having them float around him in a protective circle.

"Smart move, gonna be a bit tricky to get past those," a familiar voice spoke up from behind.

Naruto turned around to see Kakashi standing before him but then he noticed that his headband had been raised to reveal his other eye, shocking the boy upon seeing what exactly it is.

"T-That's…," Naruto was in disbelief.

"A Sharingan…," Kurama mutters with a growl, reminding him of his unpleasant relation with the Uchiha especially Madara.

Kakashi rubbed the back his head "Well now, I wasn't expecting myself to have to resort to using the Sharingan during the test when I woke up this morning,"

"Oh yeah? Well, I wasn't expecting to face someone using a Sharingan when I woke up either," Naruto commented, becoming even more vigilant than before. Hearing about how deadly that particular Dojutsu from his Bijuu made him rather wary considering that the person responsible for that night is still out there.

"So, what will be your next move?" Kakashi inquired, seemingly acting lazy but Naruto wasn't fooled.

"Nothing more than to bring my A-Game into this fight, and I know just how to do that," Naruto crossed his arms together and concentrated "Drago, I'll need your help for this!"

"Say no more, hatchling! Show him the power of the flames!" said Drago eagerly.

"Elemental Link: Firestorm!" Naruto's body began emitting a bright-red aura as the atmosphere grew hot then he broke his arms apart while heated air was pushed out from around him and his twin shortswords are now glowing with the same aura.

Kakashi's eyes widen in shock "He can use fire too?! But it's like an elemental variation of that technique. I'd be careful here,"

"Here I come!" Naruto charges forward while leaving behind fiery footprints in his wake before he began swinging his flaming shortswords at Kakashi who knew better than to clash blades with someone wielding weapons coated in flames and so resorted to fighting from a long range but Naruto wasn't having any of that.

"Not so fast, Fire Raid!" Naruto proceeded to throw the flaming shortswords at Kakashi then he would use Projection to create more copies and throwing those as well, all the while catching the ones that would return to him to be thrown once more and repeating the process to go into a juggling effect.

On the other hand, Kakashi was basically playing a game of dodge as he doesn't want to get cut/scorched by any of the incoming flaming blade. The Jounin took note of a river nearby and got an idea of what to do "Time to make this kid cool off…," he swiftly weaved through a set of handsigns as he evades the next barrage of flaming blades and landed close to the river "Water Style: Wild Water Wave!" he manipulates the water from the river and launches it towards Naruto in the form of a large wave.

"I was expecting him to use an elemental advantage against me once I reveal this, good thing I trained for this," Naruto charges towards the approaching wave then he expels powerful jets of flames from the bottom of his feet, launching high into the air akin to that of a rocket until he got clear of the wave and located Kakashi down below then he readies his counterattack.

"Fiery Impact!" He clads his entire body in flames then performs a dive attack at the Jounin who dodged it but the blonde ninja instantly teleports away in a burst of flames to reappear in the air to attack once more with a dive attack, repeatedly doing so with increasing speed until the last dive attack triggered a fiery explosion upon impact with the ground.

"Were it not for my Sharingan, I would have been cooked," thought Kakashi, patting out a small flame on his shoulder as he looks at Naruto who recovers from his recent attack to focus on him "Just who was it that taught him these techniques and why has no one heard of them?"

"My liege, you're running short on time for it will soon be noon," said Garuda.

"Not to mention that the duration for the Elemental Link is about to expire," Drago added with a small frown.

"Then I'd better make this quick," thought Naruto, crouching slightly and preparing to charge "Ignition!" he enshrouds his entire body in flames and glides along the ground while leaving behind a long trail of flames "Blazing Charger!" he attacks fiercely with his flaming shortswords, giving everything he's got to land that one hit on the man but that Sharingan was really proving to be a pain but also a learning experience.

At the last moment, Naruto threw a flaming Kanshou towards Kakashi and immediately lunges forward behind the thrown projectile. Kakashi tilts his body to the side to evade the blade then somersaults over Naruto to dodge the follow-up. Naruto turned around and prepares to at-

RING*

Everything stopped the moment the alarm clock from earlier started ringing loudly, signaling the end of the test.

Music End

Naruto let out a sigh of disappointment as he deactivates the Elemental Link which was about to run out and also sends his twin shortswords away.

"Guess this marks the end of the test, if I'm not wrong," said Naruto.

"Indeed," Kakashi pulls down his headband down to cover his Sharingan eye, since the battle is over now "Let's go and gather your teammates before I give my final decision,"

"Alright,"

---

Sometime later, Sakura woke up from her unconscious state and looks around to see Kakashi along with an alive Sasuke who's glaring at Naruto with the person himself ignoring the Uchiha, then she notices something else about herself.

"Why am I tied up?!" Sakura demanded to know, loudly.

"Because you performed the least effectively during the test," Kakashi answered her, "As I said earlier, anyone who doesn't get a bell or performs the poorest, gets tied to the post, without lunch,"

Sakura remembered and lowered her head to hide her shame, "I didn't do that badly…did I?" she asked/mumbled.

"You fainted from falling into a simple Genjutsu and had to be rescued by me, leaving you out of commission the whole time," Naruto reminded her, still ignoring Sasuke's glare.

Sakura blushed in embarrassment and continued to stare at her feet.

"Anyway," Kakashi interrupted, "I'd like to go over your performance during the test,"

"We're going back to the academy, aren't we?" Sakura asked in a depressed tone.

"Actually, only Naruto is going back to the academy," Kakashi informed them.

Naruto showed no emotion, but Sakura became giddy and Sasuke smirked arrogantly.

"Wait" Sakura began, "Does that mean Sasuke-kun and I are-?"

"Completely hopeless," Kakashi interrupted with a stern expression.

The two Genin in question were shocked by this.

"W-what?" Sakura asked, hoping she had misheard him.

"You two are completely hopeless" he informed them, becoming very serious, "I've had many teams fail this test, but I have never…ever…seen someone fail as badly as you two did,"

"I touched one of the bells!" Sasuke argued, a knee-jerk reaction to having his pride hurt and his skill questioned, "That's a form of success, the dobe and Sakura didn't even come close!"

"And yet if was Naruto who had to save you both and forced to face me when I tried to capture you both," Kakashi shot him down.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, remembering what he did "He got in my way and knocked me out before I could try to get the bells again,"

At this point, the Jounin was getting annoyed with the Uchiha "Getting the bells wasn't the true objective of this test!"

This surprised them, "What? Wait…but you said...what was the point, then?!" Sakura spluttered and demanded.

"To work together. As a team" Naruto told them with a glare "Like I said before which you ignored me or tried to be greedy about,"

"Stay out of this d-" Sasuke began, but was interrupted by Kakashi.

"He's right" Kakashi said, shocking them both.

"Naruto was right?" Sakura thought, stunned by the truth of it all.

Kakashi continued, "The teams I tested before failed because they failed to look underneath the underneath and worked individually instead of together. But you two learned the truth about the test from Naruto who had figured it and tried to help but you ignored him and even became selfish about it! You had the potential to pass the test and become a true team, but you decided to ignore common sense!" he sighed and continued, "It would be irresponsible of me to simply send you back to the academy to try again, when it is clear that you two aren't shinobi material,"

Sasuke was about to enter a rage filled tantrum about how he couldn't speak to him that way when Kakashi continued.

"Because of your absolutely abysmal failure, I'm having the two of you barred from ever becoming ninja."

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened considerably and their expressions showed absolute horror and fear.

Then they heard Naruto clear his throat to grab their attention "Say Kakashi-sensei, can I bring something up?"

"What is it, Naruto?" asked Kakashi curiously.

Naruto held out a closed fist and gradually opened to reveal him holding something which shook everyone to the core, especially Kakashi whose eye widened in disbelief at what he's seeing.

"Those are…," Kakashi looks down at his belt to see that the bells aren't strapped to his waist and looked at the very items in Naruto's hand "But how…?"

Naruto smiled mischievously "The fight earlier wasn't just to keep you away from Sasuke and Sakura like I made it look, I hadn't forgotten about the objective of getting those bells from you. So, I made it a point to attack so ferociously that you would focus less on minding the bells and more on not getting barbequed," Kakashi sweatdrops at the statement but couldn't refute it either "Then at the last moment, I threw one of my swords at you to force you to dodge and use that small window of opportunity to swipe the bells,"

What really happened was that Naruto used one of the skills in the Command Core known as Steal which helped him acquire the bells before the Jounin would even begin to notice as that was the plan all along.

"I see…I must admit that you certainly took me by surprise," said Kakashi, having to approve of the tactic which he executed "So, who will you give one of the bells to…?"

Naruto turned to Sakura and Sasuke; the former feeling very nervous considering their very bad relationship ever since the academy and how he no longer has feelings for her, not to mention how she spoke to him during the test. As for the latter, he was glaring at the ninja while also feeling nervous like the pinkette, expecting him to choose Sakura over him since in a way he would have done the same if he were in his shoes.

Naruto looks at the bells in his hands then at the two "By all rights, I shouldn't give either of you the bells and let you be banned from becoming ninjas at all while I go back to the academy to retry alongside more competent potentials," the two's eyes widen at his statement and the blonde ninja continued.

"Sakura, I asked you to team up with Sasuke and I because I knew that facing Kakashi-sensei alone is nothing short of foolhardy, but you chose to ignore and even intended to team up with only Sasuke while leaving me to fail the test all for the sake of love. If this was a real mission, you would be willing to sacrifice my life for another,"

"…," Sakura flinches from his words because he's right about what he's saying.

Naruto then turned to Sasuke "As for you, you believe that teaming up with either of us or anyone in general doesn't benefit you in your goals, failing to realize that there are so many people both in and outside of the village that are far stronger than you whether through quality or quantity. If you don't keep that ego of yours in check, you're gonna get yourself and everyone else killed. How will you fulfil your goal then?"

"…," Sasuke grits his teeth in anger at the audacity of this guy, how dare he say such things when he doesn't have any idea what it feels like to lose everything?!

Kakashi watches all this silently "He's not wrong and isn't so naïve like the others, it would seem that he's well aware that the world beyond Konoha would instantly consume those unprepared for it,"

"Let me be straight with you two; I don't like any of you," Naruto stated, the two remained silent but then something dropped at their feet and they realized that it was the bells, they looked at Naruto in shock "I'm not so petty as to deny either of you a second chance to correct yourselves, no one is perfect after all,"

Kakashi narrows his eyes at this "Are you sure about this decision, Naruto? It was you who succeeded in obtaining the bells in spite of their refusal to help and even tried to undermine you,"

Naruto smiles "That's what the test is about and I've learnt that it's not just about teamwork but also the willingness to cooperate with others, even those whom you cannot even stand to be with for the sake of the mission and the village,"

"Spoken like a true warrior, you are well on your way, young one," said Elrath fondly.

"Are you absolutely certain?" asked Kakashi, receiving a nod of affirmation from Naruto who's unflinching in his decision "Then I have no other choice than to announce this…,"

Everyone waited with bated breath of what he's about to say to them which could make or break their ninja career.

"You three…pass,"

…

…

…

"…What?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence.

"You heard me, you three have passed the test."

"But…but you said you would fail us for failing the test so poorly and ban us from becoming ninjas! I thought you still would even if Naruto gave us the bells!"

Kakashi nodded, "I did say that, didn't I?" he asked rhetorically. He then gave them another eye-smile, "I also told you that you would throw up if you ate any breakfast."

Naruto understood, "You wanted to test us to see that despite everything, at least one of us is still willing to stick their neck out for the team,"

Kakashi nodded, "I once believed that those who disobeyed orders were trash" he informed his students, "And, for a long time, that ideal ruled over me. It controlled my every action…", he trailed off, becoming was silent for a while as if lost in memory.

After a few moments, he moved over to where Sakura was bound and cut her free "Follow me," he commanded them.

Confused, the three teens did so. They walked for a few minutes until they reached a large strange diamond-shaped monument.

"The Memorial Stone of Konoha," he told them before they could ask what it is "Carved into this stone are the names of every shinobi and kunoichi that have died in the line of duty" he touched the stone with reverence, "Heroes, all of them,"

Kakashi notices Naruto places his hands together in prayer, giving his respect to the Memorial Stone which confuses Sasuke and Sakura, and also surprises Kakashi but he didn't show it as he continues to speak.

"Minato Namikaze…Rin Nohara…Obito Uchiha" he then turned to face his Genin "My sensei and teammates,"

Sasuke and Sakura were surprised by this. Their sensei was once the student of the Yondaime Hokage? The man many considered to be the greatest ninja to ever be produced by Konoha? Sasuke also took note that an Uchiha had been on his sensei's team.

"When I graduated from the academy, I was the strongest and smartest student of my year" Kakashi continued, "I was arrogant, cocky, and thought I was invincible" he sighed, "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I looked down on my teammates. I only respected Minato-sensei, who was like a second father to me. I only saw Rin as a fangirl and Obito as the dead-last goofball" he then turned to face them, sadness clear in his visible eye, "But, one day, everything changed,"

"It kinda feels like what we are right now, except I changed when I returned from Gamindustri and strove to become better," thought Naruto, seeing similarities between the past and present teams.

Kakashi went on to tell them of how they were on a mission when they were ambushed by an enemy squad and separated from their sensei. Rin got captured by the enemy for intel and Kakashi chose to abandon her for the sake of the mission assigned to them but Obito strongly disagreed and wanted to rescue Rin instead, it was Obito who told him the words 'Those who break the rules are trash…but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash' which left a strong impact on Kakashi and made him realize how heartless and a spoiled fool he'd been.

Together they tracked down the enemy squad to a nearby cave and rescued Rin but Kakashi ended up losing an eye in the fight. They were able to win but the enemy triggered a trap which caused cave-in, they tried to escape but Obito sacrificed his life to save his instead. Naruto and Sakura could see how painful it was for their sensei to tell them this story, Sasuke wasn't as affected.

"So, the way he acts now is nothing more than a cover for the pain which he has gone through," said Zekrom in understanding.

Kakashi continued "Since that day, I vowed to put my comrade's well-being ahead of my own, to protect them like Obito would have," his expression then showed pain again "Rin died on a mission a couple of years later and sensei…well, you all know what happened to him."

They nodded.

"And that…" the silver-haired mentor said, "…is why I value teamwork so much and why you should as well. None of us can be successful on our own. We're all pieces of the great machine that is Konoha. Without each other…we're nothing," he looked them all in the eyes, "Do you all understand?"

They nodded, though Sasuke's was insincere and Naruto noticed that which caused him to mentally frown.

The cyclops eye-smiled "Good" he told them, "Now, you three can take the rest of the day off, but I expect you all to meet me here tomorrow at seven a.m., got it?"

"Yes sensei!" all three Genin said.

"Excellent, you can go now."

And, with that, they left…or at least Sakura and Sasuke did, Naruto stayed behind.

Kakashi noticed this, "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"…I wanted to thank you for saving my life that day," said Naruto, causing Kakashi's eye to widen in shock.

"You remember?"

"Yeah, you fought of those ninjas while Iruka-sensei carried me to safety that day," Naruto explained.

"Think nothing of it, it's the least I can do," Kakashi tried to wave it off.

"And it wouldn't have to do with the relationship with mom and dad?" asked Naruto while glancing at the Memorial Stone, particularly his parent's names.

"So, you know who they are?"

"Yeah, I do. I learnt everything from you-know-who,"

"Would that include those techniques of yours?" asked Kakashi warily.

Naruto shook his head in response "Actually I learnt it from a couple of traveling nomads who were passing through the village. I befriended them and they taught me these techniques in the hopes that they would help me in my ninja career and also as a way for me to remember them before they left. Pretty sure you got firsthand experience of how effective they can be,"

"Tell me about it…," Kakashi mutters with a sweatdrop.

"Kakashi-sensei…," Naruto spoke up with a serious expression which catches the Jounin's attention, letting him know how serious he's being right now "You know that those two are far from ready for world outside the village. Sasuke thinks that he doesn't need anyone and won't hesitate to take any chance to become stronger. Sakura on the other hand is deluded with visions of love and fairytales, not taking the life of a ninja seriously which could lead to an early death or something far worse for her. Not to say I'm not without flaws either, we need you now more than ever,"

Kakashi understood what Naruto is talking about since he personally witnessed everything about the three, knowing that he has a lot of work to do. Not only to live up to his responsibilities as a newly inducted sensei of Team 7 but also to live up to the expectations of his belated sensei and teammates. The last thing he wants is for his new students to go through the same thing he did.

"Don't worry Naruto, I'll strive to make you all improve and be ready for the ninja world," said Kakashi.

"I'll be counting on you," Naruto turns away and mutters "Kami knows that the number of people I truly trust can hardly be counted with two hands,"

Watching the blonde ninja walk away calmly, Kakashi could see that Naruto has changed a lot from the young boy he knew before. This new Naruto is more mature, calm, observant, and also stern when the situation calls for it which reminds him a lot about Minato when his sensei gets serious. The cyclops finds this both reassuring and also concerning but he'll see what he can do along the way.

Kakashi turns to face the Memorial Stone with a contemplative expression "Minato…Kushina…Obito…Rin…I hope I can help these kids grow up into proper ninjas,"

While walking through the streets in direction of his home to relax, Naruto was so lost in his thoughts that he did notice that the screen of his handheld flicker several times to reveal a familiar symbol glowing for a couple of seconds as a voice whispers.

[Na…u…to]

Then both the voice and symbol fades away, Naruto paused for a moment to look around in confusion, wondering if he heard something.

---

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto undergoes the process of fully registering as an official shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. He goes to finalize things with the Third Hokage and one could easily see that their relationship has strained somewhat and for good reasons, then they were interrupted by a young boy whom Naruto soon learns to be Konohamaru who's the grandson of the Third Hokage.

Things soon get interesting when Konohamaru becomes rather attached to Naruto and view him as a boss, all because he treats him differently unlike the village that only sees him as the Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage instead of himself which Naruto would sympathize with.

The next day, Naruto goes to the academy for the assignment of teams and unfortunately ends up with Sasuke and Sakura under Hatake Kakashi who he remembers to have saved him thanks to Kurama. It went without saying that the trio can't seem to get along even professionally, becoming even more evident during the Bell Test that left Naruto with little choice than to carry the burden of the team by himself and eventually became the reason why they barely passed the test itself. However, he made it know to Kakashi that the team is seriously flawed and that he needs build it from its very foundations if he wants them to even stand a chance in the outside world. Now we see a familiar occurrence in Naruto's handheld, could it be a chance for Naruto to see his friends in Gamindustri again?

For this chapter, I combined a couple of the beginning episodes together with the modern theme in mind to make things much more interesting as well as the interactions between Naruto and the others. As canon team, I wanted how a different Naruto would work with those three and the effects that come out of it. Also, Kakashi would be a far more competent teacher in this one which means they at least learn the basics before the Wave Mission. As a heads-up, there'll be a few timeskips here and there before Naruto's return to Gamindustri for Rebirth 2 arc. Here's hoping that I made the Bell Test fight just as good with a twist, I got some ideas from how others did theirs and added in my own style. For those wondering, I'm basing the Elemental Links on the Command Style from Kingdom Hearts; Birth By Sleep, the techniques from KH Union X and the Eikonic abilities from Final Fantasy XVI in this and future. Just to let you guys know, Naruto is on Kakashi's team because Hiruzen wants the Jounin to keep an eye on him due to his changes. Read and Review like always to let me know what you think.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.