4 Chapter 4: Survival training complete! Team 7 is formed!

Kakashi was crouching down behind a bush, he then peekd around making sure no one was there. Sweat dropped from his forehead as he thought back to earlier events. What did he do to deserve all this, he wondered. He then heard a twig snap and threw a kunai at the source, only to discover it was just a rabit. He breathed out a sigh of relief, those kids were really giving him a headache.

-Earlier-

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had finished their plan and began making preparations. In order to make sure Kakashi stayed away long enough for them to finish, they had Naruto harrass Kakashi with his shadow clones.

Naruto hid behind a tree as he created ten shadow clones. He then instructed them to transform into random things within the woods. He then crept through the trees, heading in Kakashi's direction.

Kakashi had originally planned on reading his makeout paradise book, but unfortunately, Naruto had proved too much trouble for him to do that. So he regretfully left it in his pouch. He then thought about his next move when he suddenly dodged as two shurikens flashed by where he stood.

Damn it, he thought, couldn't he get one second without interruption. Naruto appeared behind him, kunai in hand as he slashed down towards Kakashi. Kakashi grabed Naruto's wrist and flipped him over his shoulder, discovering to his dismay that it was a shadow clone. Then two clones jumped out of two bushes and grabbed hold of his legs, while a third came from above. The clone brought his hands together and slammed them onto Kakashi's head. A puff of smoke poofed out as a log appeared in Kakashi's place. Then Kakashi used the earth release: multiple earth-style wall jutsu while in the air, trapping the Naruto clones inside. Then he used the water release: water dragon bullet jutsu to destroy them all in one go. He landed on a nearby branch and breathed out heavily. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw ten shurikens flying at him. He jumped out of the way as the shurikens hit where he stood. Unfortunately, two of the shurikens hit each other sending one of them flying at him while the other went in a different direction.

He grabed one of his own shurikens and threw it, deflecting it. While in mid air, four more Naruto's jumped out. One of the clones kicked him up, while another jumped up and punched him even higher.

"U...Zu..." They started.

The third clone jumped off of the second, punching Kakashi again, finally the fourth clone hit him once more.

"Ma...Ki..." The clones continued.

However, before Kakashi could think it was over, Naruto came out from the top of the trees and rotating, slammed a kick into Kakashi, flinging him towards the ground.

Kakashi rotated himself mid air, before landing on his feet on the ground. He couldn't help but hold his stomach in pain. He didn't want to admit it, but Naruto was giving him a run for his money when it came to taijutsu. Thankfully, Naruto's ninjutsu didn't seem to extend beyond the shadow clone technique. Otherwise, Kakashi worried about whether or not he could keep up with the kid. He looked up at Naruto and saw him grinning, which made Kakashi upset a little. How could he let himself be outdone by his new student, he had to take him down a peg or two.

Kakashi then slowly lifted his forehead protector above his eye. But before anything could happen.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I'm only here to keep you occupied, I really don't want to get serious. bye-bye!" Naruto said before jumping away.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel like he was lead by the nose, and right as his expectations were getting up. He was suddenly dropped down, feeling more confused than anything else. Where was his shining moment of impressing his pupil with his true skills? He wondered, this wasn't fair. Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked over to see a Naruto clone with paper bombs covering him grinning. Kakashi's eyes went wide as he immediately escaped from the explosion, which forced him deeper into the woods.

Seriously, he thought, he really couldn't get a break. But where was Sasuke and Sakura? He thought, so far, the only one who's been engaging him was Naruto, and while he was impressed with the boy's skill. It wasn't what he was testing. Which disappointed him, since he saw them planning together earlier. As he was running through the woods, he noticed a glare hitting his eyes. When he stopped, he saw a trip wire which was connected to some more paper bombs.

Traps huh? I guess this must be from Sakura, she seems like the type who'd pull this thing together. Kakashi thought, then he noticed a kunai fly at him, he jumped out of the way but then the kunai cut the trip wire causing the paper bombs to explode. Shit! He thought, and using the earth release: hiding like a mole technique, he hid himself underground to avoid the blast. Then, using the magnetic forces around him, he sensed his surroundings and found thay the whole area was covered in traps. Great, he thought, not only do I need to be careful about setting off traps, I need to be careful of them setting them off.

Kakashi dug his way to behind a tree and concealed himself there. Nothing had gone how he expected them to go, and he knew exactly who to blame. Naruto, the kid had blown away his expectations completely. He had even prepared himself to use the sharingan. But he was outmaneuvered each time. He sighed to himself as he thought.

Then he looked up suddenly and saw Sasuke above him forming hand seals.

<horse> <tiger> <serpent> <ram> <monkey> <boar> <horse> <tiger>

Fire style: fire ball jutsu!

Sasuke spewed out a large fire ball straight towards Kakashi. Just as he was about to dodge out of the way, he saw Sakura throw several shurikens at him from the side. Leaving him no choice but to quickly delve back underground to escape. He then decided he was going to take out Sasuke first. But that was when Naruto did something he hadn't expected.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled slamming the rasengan into the ground, crearing a crator and forcing Kakashi to escape out of the ground wide eyed as he stared at Naruto.

"But- That jutsu?" He muttered, before snapping back to reality as he saw Sasuke charge at him.

He focused back on Sasuke while still keeping an eye out for Naruto. Sasuke aimed a kick at his head, which Kakashi caught in his hand. Then, Sasuke flipped over and kicked with his other leg, forcing Kakashi to grab the foot as well. Sasuke leaned back and stretched out his arms right in the moment when Naruto grabbed hold of Sasuke's wrists and pulled swinging them around before tossing Kakashi towards the ground. Then Naruto tossed Sasuke a giant shuriken who grabbed it.

"Demon wind shuriken: windmill shadow" Sasuke threw the giant shuriken at Kakashi. Kakashi then dodged the first one, and noticing the second one jumped out of the way as well. That's when the second shuriken transformed into one of Naruto's clones who threw a kunai at the back of Kakashi. Kakashi then created a shadow clone, and using the clone, threw himself out of the way while the clone took the hit. He then flickered away and hid himself.

-present-

Those kids had one surprise right after the other, and not only that, but his chakra reserves were getting low as well. This had turned into something completely different than the initial survival training he had in mind. He looked up towards the sun, there was about half an hour left before it would be 12. Then, the exercise would be over, and he would have made it. In the end, this had turned into a survival mission for him without him realizing it. He swore that he wouldn't let anyone find out about this. Especially Might Guy, he thought.

A kunai was then thrown at him and he was forced to dodge it. This time, he wasn't going to hold back anymore, so he pulled up his forehead protector and revealed his sharingan. Naruto was staring at him while smiling, and that's when Kakashi noticed Sakura behind him throwing several shurikens at him, he jumped out of the way only to find Naruto in front of him. Naruto reached out and grabbed tightly onto Kakashi before yelling.

"Now Sasuke!"

Sasuke was in the air again and created another fireball that he shot at Kakashi. To make matters worse, Naruto had jumped out with a rasengan in hand. He then touched the the fireball with his rasengan combining the two jutsus into one.

"Fire style: burning rasengan!" Naruto thrust his hand down and hit Kakashi's gut with the rasengan, blasting him away towards the ground. The last thought Kakashi had was; damn, now I can't read my makeout paradise book today. Then he blacked out, a few hours later, he came to and sat straight up while groaning. He looked down and saw that his gut had been bandaged up, and that his wounds were dressed properly as well. When he looked up, he saw Sasuke and Sakura each holding a bell while Naruto was standing with his hands behind his head grinning at him.

"Looks like we win sensei!" Naruto said cheerfully.

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle to himself. They really had blown away his expectations. While Naruto may have lead the team, the groups teamwork was perfect. Despite only working together just this once, they each had played a role vital in beating him. Though Kakashi felt like Naruto probably could've done even better than what he'd displayed. But the team had passed his test with flying colors.

He looked up at everyone and said. "Congratulations, you all pass!"

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk to himself, while Sakura was cheering happily. Naruto just grinned and laughed. Then, Sakura remembered something.

"But sensei, not that I'm unhappy with your decision, but didn't you say only those of us that had bells would pass?"

Kakashi smiled at her. "You see, it was never about the bells, it was about how well you three could work together as a team, even though the situation demanded that you three think of yourselves first. A long time ago, a friend told me that those who disobey orders are scum. But those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. You three have demonstrated what I wanted you to learn perfectly, and therefore, you all pass!"

Sakura thought about what Kakashi had taught them, and found herself agreeing with the lesson they learned. Naruto, had already known what the lesson was, but he still listened to Kakashi explain it clearly. It was one of the many lessons that had forged him into who he became. Sasuke was quiet and didn't say much in regards to what Kakashi had told them. All that really mattered to him was that he was finally a genin, and he could further this training to achieve his goal.

"Well, this turned out really unexpectedly, I think I should probably go to the hospital for a checkup." Kakashi said suddenly.

Naruto couldn't help but grin sheepishly, knowing that it was because of him that Kakashi was as injured as he was. So team 7 helped escort their sensei, where they got an earful for overdoing it on their training. As the sun was setting, Naruto couldn't help but watch the clouds. He say on the old swing by the academy, he had so many things he needed to do. But for now, he was happy with the current peace that he had. It had been too long since he had a moment to enjoy this, and he was determined to make sure that it would continue. In order to do that, he had to train even harder than before. Just as Naruto was about to leave, he was overwhelmed by exhaustion and pain. In his last thoughts, he remembered the soldier pills he had eaten, and what he had been doing the past two days.

Naruto collapsed unconscious onto the ground by the academy school grounds.