Pass or Fail: Survival Test l l Team 7 [Invite]

[uchihasasuke]

υcнιнa ѕasυĸe

It was only a half hour left till Sasuke would have to leave and meet up at the training field. He was up most of the night after leaving his two teammates alone yesterday, thinking, and practicing his kunai and shuriken targeting skills. He wondered about the test they would be taking and the words his sensei said, “If they ate breakfast they would puke”. Those words alone made Sasuke question his opinion of Kakashi. Who was this Jounin really? Why did he have one eye covered?

Focusing on that would only hasten the time before he had to meet up with his teammates. He needed only focus on a plan for what was to come. He stood up in his room and grabbed hold of his backpack. His holsters were already packed with kunai, shuriken, and some wire just incase he needed to set a trap. All that was left to do was to wait before leaving 10 minutes early. His lunch was already made and he didn’t eat anything for the morning; as his sensei said.

As time passed and it finally reached 5:50, Sasuke decided to head out; grabbing his bag and putting it on his back. He figured he would be the first to arrive since he most likely took this more serious than Naruto and Sakura. He headed out of his home, the empty, lonely place that it was and walked outside. He looked up at the dark sky, the sun barely started to rise, and felt the emptiness as he heard no voices from his clan members. He continued onward and jumped on top of his home.

He hopped from one building to the next making the slightest bit of noise as his foot touched the many roofs. He saw no signs of his teammates but it wasn’t as if they lived close to one another anyway, hopefully they were already on their way there or already there by time he arrived. When he finally saw the field he jumped off the last building into a tree then dropping to the floor gracefully. Sasuke was right; he was the first one to arrive and he became a little worried in their showing up. He just stood in front of the three logs that were lined up by each other to have to wait for them. “Humph, losers.”

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[Yamanaka Ino]

Sakura yawned as she started making her way through the village towards the assigned meeting spot. After she ran into Sasuke (and Naruto) last night, she had trouble sleeping. The thought of being on the same team as Sasuke was still making her heart beat rapidly in times, and the chance to show off her skills in front of him just made it worse. There was no way she was going to fail this test and get sent back to the Academy; she had come too far for that to happen. Besides, if she did fail and Ino passed, there was no way she was going to hear the end of it. Sakura was going to past, it was that simple.

As she walked, however, she started to wonder how it was she was going to do so. She had skipped dinner last night due to her diet, and didn’t eat breakfast as their sensei demanded. So her stomach was gargling every few minutes of so, wanting food. Combined with the lack of sleep and such an early morning, and she was rather tired. Even right now she was struggling to keep awake as she moved. Why in the world did he want them to arrive in such a condition anyway? If this was a survival test, shouldn’t they be in the best condition possible? Or did he want them in such harsh conditions in order to simulate the effects of being on a mission and forced into such harshness?

Either way, Sakura had doubts about Kakashi-sensei. To have fallen for such a simple trick as that eraser, running late, and overall seeming completely absentminded, how he became a Jounin she didn’t know. That didn’t mean they should underestimate him though; he was a Jounin after all. Whatever test he gave them, however, she knew they could pass. Well, at least her and Sasuke at least. Hopefully Naruto wouldn’t drag them down and ruin it all for them. Curse that ‘make all the teams balanced’ planning. If it had been anybody but Naruto or Ino, she would have been perfectly fine. But she was stuck with him, so they might as well make the best of it all.

Arriving in the field, however, Sakura’s heart skipped a beat. Sasuke was already there, looking as if being up this early didn’t even faze him. He looked fully awake, just waiting for her and Naruto to show up. Not wanting him to think she couldn’t handle it, Sakura waited a minute before showing up in his field of vision. Shaking her head a little (followed by straightening her hair) to shock her awake, she strutted into the field as if she had been fully awake for hours.

”Good morning Saskue-kun.” she said, a little sleepiness still in her tone. It was, however, a rather heartfelt welcoming at least.

[Hatake Kakashi]

Kakashi had been sitting on his bed for perhaps the past hour. Not much had changed, and everything was quiet. It was the dead of night, about three in the morning, and most everyone in the village should be asleep. Kakashi wasnt, though. He had the uncanny ability to work on minimal sleep, but still the occasional snooze was well-appreciated. His thoughts, however, were pre-occupied. He had another team assessment tomorrow. None of his ‘students’ had ever gotten past this, even though he’d warned them they’d probably fail, they still came, practically begging him to fail them. He’d obliged without batting an eye...failing every single one of the Genin that came his way.

His bag was packed...not with much, though. He’d packed a small lunch for himself, to eat after the assessment finally ended, a few kunai, shuriken, string, rope, and his Icha Icha Paradise book. Oh, that was such a good book, and the writer, Jiraya, was a genius for writing these novels. It was like art to Kakashi. Shaking himself, he made the silent vow he could read it tomorrow while giving the assessment to the three Genin who would be tested; Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki & Sasuke Uchiha. They were only Genin, fresh out of the academy, so they would probably not pose any kind of a problem to him. He could take it easy. The only question in his mind was the Uchiha...but he would worry about that when it came time to.

He had about two hours before he would leave to go test the little team, he could do with a bit of shut-eye. Setting his alarm clock, he took off his sandals, flak jacket & headband before he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes to rest a bit.

*Beep! Beep! Beep!*

The sound of the alarm clock was no surprise to him, he’d been in and out of sleep for the time, so he sat up easily, turned it off, and got himself a piece of fruit and some rice to eat. His breakfast was over in a flash, and he spent a little bit of time to give a chuckle at the Genin. He’d told them not to eat, so their test would really suck today. They wouldnt eat till noon. Glancing out the window as he cleared up, he saw the first rays of sun coming up over the horizon. Time to get going... he thought.

Slipping his flak jacket, sandals & waist pouch on, he grabbed his headband and started for the door. He paused just before it, and tied the knot right behind his head, and pulled the headband down to a slant so that it covered his left eye. Now he was set, and he was through the door in a flash. He quickly locked it, and took off through the quiet streets of the city. He walked for a fair few minutes before he came to his destination I had this as a pit stop on my list for today, and its the best time of the day to visit, too. Nobody is here... he thought, crossing the open field to the Konoha shinobi memorial stone. He walked over solemnly, lowering his eye to read the one name he looked for every day.

"Uchiha Obito..." he began, putting his hands in his pockets. “Are you listening, Obito? I get to test more Genin today...I have a feeling they will be the ones that grasp the concept of what you taught me...about who in the shinobi world is regarded as scum, and who is not. Maybe my chain of incompetent Genin will be letting up soon. Do you know at all, Obito?” he asked the memorial of his fallen comrade. He didnt expect a response, and he was offered none. He stood, looking at the grave for a good while, his thoughts and memories tossed about in his head. He could spend all day here...

[uzumakinaruto]

Naruto had a restless sleep. Staying up late thinking of ways to counter that Kaka-sensei seemed to get the better of him. And just as he was drifting into a deep sleep, his alarm clock rang. A vein pulsed in Naruto's head and it seemed like his entire body was flushed with disbelief. Angered by the reality of waking up so early, Naruto was extremely tempted to throw his alarm across the room. Instead, he just picked it up and slammed it on his bedside table twice before it finally shut up. That was when Naruto rolled out of bed and let out a nice, hearty yawn. He went through his common morning routine, though he felt a little rushed this morning. Plus, thinking about the test put butterflies in his stomach. One thing was for sure, Naruto was stoked about becoming a Genin.

Before leaving, Naruto gave a longing glance to his instant-ramen in his near-empty kitchen cupboard. There was already a distant pang of hunger within his stomach, and he couldn't believe he wasn't allowed to eat breakfast. Naruto usually wasn't one for following the rules, but this time it was an exception. Kaka-sensei seemed pretty serious about that, and Naruto didn't want to screw up and ruin his chance for becoming a Genin. It was part of his dream to be Hokage, his first step into the ninja world.

Smiling, Naruto picked his headband off of his dresser and neatly tied it around his forehead. This practice was still somewhat alien to him, but all that did was make him even more excited. Immediately after he had woken up, Naruto hadn't felt all that tired. But when he had proceeded to packing weapons inside of his backpack, he felt like there were bags under his eyes. Zipping up the backpack, Naruto took the remaining weapons and started refilling his pouch. His eyes lingered a second longer on a handful of shuriken he'd received the night before.

Groggily, Naruto shuffled out of his apartment and took the time to lock his door. He'd learned the hard way that security was a big deal for him. Being twelve-years-old and living by yourself didn't help the matter, and plus everyone seemed to target him for being the Kyuubi's container. A part of Naruto's mind wanted to linger on that fact, in disbelief once again but he was too tired to focus on anything, even his own thoughts.

When Naruto had finally arrived at the training field after taking his sweet time dragging his feet, he was a bit alarmed to find Sasuke and Sakura already present. Was he late? Doing a quick scan of the area, Naruto didn't find any sign of their sensei, so he shrugged off his worries and yawned once again. He made a half-assed effort to cover his mouth with a single hand, but honestly couldn't care less at this time of day. In Naruto's point of view, waking up before the sun rises was just wrong. Usually, he'd sleep in to noon so he thought he was the worst off with waking up in the morning. On top of that, the morning seemed to be a bit chillier compared to the rest of the day. Konoha was a relatively warm country though, so there wasn't much need to worry.

"G'morning." Naruto grumbled, slouched forward with his hands in his pockets. His backpack hung on his back, but he soon slid it off his shoulders and plopped it onto the ground. He yawned again and stretched his arms up over his head. Looking over towards a tree a couple feet away from where they were standing, Naruto wondered if he could get a bit of extra sleep before Kakashi-sensei showed up. What the hell, why not? Naruto figured before dragging himself over to the tree and slumping against it. He slid down into a sitting position and tiredly watched his teammates. He knew he should probably be getting ready for the survival exercise or whatever it was, but he just couldn't bother himself with that at the moment.

[uchihasasuke]

υcнιнa ѕasυĸe

It sort of became a shock to him as he waited. Thoughts of his brother returned to him, “ If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as me, come before me.” Those were the words that his brother uttered to him left him thinking of his Sharingan. He only had one black tear drop in both of his eyes, it still wasn’t good enough to use in combat. He activated it when he was seven and still made little progress. Was that why his clan had to die?

He decided to focus back on this current issue, Kakashi. He needed to set up a trap because he wouldn’t have time to do it in actual combat against him. He needed to do this before his teammates arrived as well. He couldn’t trust them not to reveal the location. Before he could move he sensed Sakura, the familiar presence was undeniably her as she came into his field of vision. “Tch, guess I’ll wait.” He watched her as she headed in his direction and sighed a little. As she greeted him he put his hands in his pockets. “Morning. Where’s Naruto?” That was about all he could say to her, they never really spoke and he wasn’t comfortable being alone with her.

With her here only Naruto and Kakashi was left. He wondered if the both of them would be late. Naruto who was always tardy and their sensei that showed up totally late on their first meet. If Naruto was serious about becoming ‘Hokage’ he would definitely arrive early, wouldn’t he? All this Uchiha cared about was furthering his progress and this test was only one hurdle he had to pass. No one would stop him from becoming stronger to revive his clan.

Not long after thinking this Sasuke saw a certain knucklehead ninja. He finally arrived and it only left their sensei to show up. It was amazing in itself that Naruto arrived early though. Sasuke ignored his greeting though, he still made him sick. And with that being said he needn’t wait to set up the traps they were necessary. He flickered and appeared a few trees behind them and grabbed some rope from his bag. He set up a mechanism so when it was triggered kunai would fly at his enemy, Kakashi. After that he went back to his teammates and stood their by the log with a nonchalant attitude.

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[Yamanaka Ino]

Seeing Sasuke brought Sakura’s mood up rather well, and even helped to abate some of her tiredness. He looked so cool there, just standing there with his hands in his pockets. She was resisting the urge to rub her eyes in tiredness, but she had to present herself as being just as cool as Sasuke to impress him. Still, it didn’t help prevent her from smiling a little when he talked back, though it was about Naruto.

”Knowing him, he’s probably going to oversleep and show up late.” she replied, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. Wanting to get off the subject, she went right back to talking about Sasuke.

”So Sasuke-kun, any plans on how to take on Kakashi-sensei?” she asked. It was for the best. If the group was to battle Kakashi, then they needed to work on a plan together. And since Naruto couldn’t plan his way out of a paper bag, it was all up to Sasuke and her.

A grumbled ‘good morning’, however, drew much surprise from Sakura. Turning around, she was shocked to find that Naruto had showed up on time. Maybe he was actually starting to grow up some? That, that wasn’t expected at all. Apparently some of Sasuke’s matureness was rubbing off on the knucklehead ninja. She could afford to award him a little bit for the effort.

”Good morning Naruto. How are…”

Before she could finish the sentence, however, Naruto had walked off and slumped against a tree, falling fast asleep rather quickly it seems. Sakura just started at him, annoyed. That was his response to a greeting, to fall asleep on the person? However, she couldn’t blame him. She was tempted to fall asleep herself; it was only Sasuke’s presence that was keeping her from doing so. A small yawn escaped her mouth, however, and she quickly covered up her mouth to prevent Sasuke from noticing it.

Sasuke, however, wasn’t there. Sakura blinked in confusion, and then spent a moment trying to figure out where he went. A moment later she spotted him out of the side of her eye. There he was, standing by the log like he was earlier. So where in the world did he just go? Was it to the bathroom or something? Inner Sakura snickered at the thought of that, but quickly put it aside. Admittedly, she thought Naruto’s idea was a good, and moved over to the log by Sasuke. After making sure the area she was going to sit on was relatively smooth and clean, Sakura sat down on the ground and propped her head on her legs.

”So, feeling good about this test Sasuke-kun?”

[Hatake Kakashi]

Kakashi stared at the memorial stone for endless time. Whenever he was there, he never felt fatigue or the effects of time...nor did he notice them. Memories jumped about his head, as did his wordless conversation with his fallen comrade. He talked of various things, mostly his more recent missions. Even though they had been S-Ranked, he'd felt as though they were easy enough, only having to bat an eye a few times with them. However, if all proved successful, he may actually have something more & new to talk about with Obito. However, he was rather pessimistic, no Genin had ever passed his test, and they'd all been too self-absorbed, arrogant, or careless. "Scum" as Obito would have called them. With these thoughts, Kakashi himself muttered the words "Scum...".

He let himself sit with these thoughts for quite some time, and he barely noticed as the memorial stone grew brighter and brighter. It was only when a lapse in his thoughts occurred that he took notice of the fact that he'd probably spent much longer than a couple of minutes here. Letting out a sigh, he scratched his head. Whoops... he said. He didnt feel like making up an excuse, so he simply glanced at the position of the sun. It looked to be about 10-11. Oh dear... he thought to himself Judging by their reaction to my being late yesterday, they wont take to kindly to this. Oh well, I have this entire Survival Test to rough them up a bit. He reached in his bag and placed three lunches on the stone. It was about 800 meters from the stumps where they were assigned to meet, but from the air, it probably didnt look all that far.

Silently and swiftly, he leapt into the trees, through the branches, and easily navigated the spaces between the trees where he could set his footing to traverse the air easily. He landed just as he came out of the woods and walked forward to observe the three Genin. He expected the most out of the Uchiha, and he wasnt too sure about Sakura...she'd been too obsessed yesterday. Girls this age are more concerned with love than Ninjutsu... he mused to himself, frowning all the while though. He scanned the area for the short, orange-suited one and ...Ah.... Kakashi spotted him. He was sleeping...great.

"Ill deal with that soon enough..." he mumbled to himself. Walking up, he raised a hand above his head in a friendly greeting and gave a false smile, closing his eye as he walked. "Good morning!" he called loudly, in a falsely cheery voice. "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life!" He figured he didnt need to tell them to wake Naruto up, because he had a feeling Sakura would do that on her own...

[uzumakinaruto]

In all honesty, Naruto was glad he had made the decision to doze off. When Kakashi's voice had awoken him from his dreamless nap, the sun was nearly at the top of the sky. Then a realization had come to cross, and suddenly Naruto was in disbelief. Kakashi-sensei was... what? Five hours late? When Naruto shifted his position against the tree, he realized his neck and back were stiff from such an uncomfortable position. Internally, Naruto growled at his discomfort and Kakashi-sensei's carelessness. If he was going to show up around noon, why the hell did he expect them to arrive at dawn!? Instead of sleeping against some dumb tree, Naruto would be happily sleeping in his bed. He'd made the extra effort to actually abide by the rules, and it was totally blown off! Didn't he understand how hard it was for Naruto to wake up in the morning?

Naruto jumped up to his feet, ignoring the tingly sensation that ran down his legs. Shit, my legs are asleep. After a flicker of annoyance, Naruto pointed an accusing finger at his sensei. "Don't give me that bullshit! You just wanted to sleep in, didn't you?" His last sentence hinted at a longing for sleeping in. Naruto and morning just didn't go together.

Just at that moment, the blonde's stomach growled very audibly and Naruto proceeded to whine about it. "Ughh, I'm so hungry..." He placed a hand above his stomach and wore a blank expression. Downing five bowls of ramen in a single night was proof that Naruto needed a lot of food to keep him going. In his perspective, the exercise they were about to undergo would be hardest on him, physically.

At that thought, Naruto's head snapped over to Sasuke. Even if Naruto was starving, he would still show up Sasuke, no matter what. At the thought of emerging victorious over Sasuke, Naruto was suddenly anxious to get this started. He signified his readiness by giving Kakashi a look that had 'Let's go already' all over it.

[uchihasasuke]

υcнιнa ѕasυĸe

It was a little frustrating to Sasuke as he continued to wait for their sensei. He still stood their though as the hours passed and could only make small talk with Sakura at least. “No matter what Kakashi throws at me I will survive.” He said with a smirk. Sasuke was confident in his skills he obtained from training, and he would make full use of those skills against Kakashi.

Finally, five hours had passed and it was a surprise that showed up, Kakashi their sensei. Why did he show up so late? Was it to test their endurance until he arrived? If it was it seemed they passed this part. But, what Sasuke really wanted to know was what this test was about. He was a bit eager to start; however, he showed no facial expression to prove his eagerness. “Humph, seems he’s already testing us. He’s a fool just like Naruto if he thought I would lose to that.”

Sasuke made no remark to Kakashi’s greeting though, but it seemed like Naruto begged to differ. “What a moron!” Sasuke was annoyed he would have to deal with this a lot, being on the same team with him and all. His team was made up of an idiot, clingy girl, and a fool. Sasuke took his hands out of his pockets and folded them across his chest. “I agree with Naruto, can we start already?” Suddenly, Sasuke felt piercing eyes stare at him, obviously it was Naruto but he couldn’t help feel Naruto had something totally stupid planned.

{ooc: short I know but it will change when the test start.}

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[Yamanaka Ino]

Five hours. That was how long it took before Kakashi-sensei even showed up. He had gone through all that trouble to order them to arrive early, and he doesn’t even show up on time. Sure, if it had been a few minutes or so it could be understandable. But five hours?! If she wasn’t starving right now she’d beat the crap out of him right now. Though on the bright side, the five hours wasn’t a total waste. She had gotten the chance to talk with Sasuke, who was confident in being able to beat Kakashi-sensei. His confidence gave her confidence they could do this. Whether or not Naruto could was still up in the air. She did have to give the idiot some credit though; he was smart enough to take the five hours to sleep.

Naruto’s response, however, was anything but tactful. As soon as Kakashi arrived, Naruto was spouting off his mouth at him. Sakura closed her eyes, trying to hold back the annoyance. He was such an idiot, though deep down she was agreeing with him. Still, right now was not the time to go and mouth off to the sensei. He could fail them all right now if he wanted to. Realizing she was still sitting, Sakura stood up, wobbled a moment since her legs weren’t used to standing, and then did what she felt was needed; she smacked Naruto in the back of the head.

”You idiot! There’s no need to mouth off like that,” she yelled, but since she was trying to be nicer to Naruto she whispered in,”Even if I agree with you.”

Her anger vented, Sakura returned to her usual position next to Sasuke, and waited patiently for the sign of something to start. All that occurred was Naruto’s stomach growling in hunger. This time she let the boy slide, since her stomach was also make similar noises. In fact, they were probably worse than Naruto’s; she had skipped dinner the night before. This was probably the wrong day for her to want to continue with her diet. Sakura made a mental note to never skip dinner the day before a ‘mission’ ever again.

Once the sounds passed, Sakura noticed that Naruto was glaring over at Sasuke, who was ignoring the boy as usual. He was more concerned with wanting to get this test started. Sakura looked over at Kakashi-sensei, but didn’t say anything. He already had two people nagging him to start; there was no need for her to get involved. Inner Sakura, however, was pumped, and was getting rather impatient about it all. They had waited five hours after all, and she wanted to get this started now.

[Hatake Kakashi]

Kakashi exhaled, trying to mix in a feeble attempt at a nervous chuckle while doing so. He sighed a little, lowering his hand to his side and loosing his friendly expression, replacing it with a more natural, emotionless one. He curled his lip a bit at Naruto's indignant exclamation..and that curl turned into a bit of a frown as Sasuke sided with him. Naruto, he expected to say that, yes, but not Sasuke. He made a small note of how Sakura chided them, but Kakashi had his money on her being just as impatient as the both of them. Boy...do these guys have alot to learn.. he asked himself, with a small sigh. He suddenly had his doubts about this team, but that was completely normal. if he had no doubts, he'd be a bit worried.

After scanning over all three of them, he swallowed and said something that actually may be of use to them rather than just tactless excuses for his tardiness. "Calm down." he said bluntly to them, mostly Naruto. "Patience is a key shinobi tactic, and it may one day save your life. Practice it while you can, and by the looks of it, you have alot of practice to do." he said, looking at Naruto as he finished his statement. If there was anyone here who those words would benefit the most, it was him. However, Kakashi mused a bit to himself as he wondered if Naruto's attention span had ended from the eagerness that he was showing to get ready. Doubtful... "However, I do like your enthusiasm, just save it for later."Letting that set in the air, he turned.

Time to get "serious"... he thought to himself. Wasting no time at all, he strode over to a short stump and reached around inside the hip pouch he wore around his hips. All he had in there were two kunai, his Icha Icha Paradise book, and a small alarm clock. He glanced at the time the clock read Geez... he thought Am I seriously that late? Oh well...nothing I can do about that now. Pressing the button down on the clock he turned back to them. "Alarm set at 12 PM." he told them. Without waiting for a response, he half expected some clueless faces, but he continued smoothly, walking until he was infront of them. Grabbing the bells from around his belt-loop, he held them in two fingers.

"Todays topic will be to get these bells from me." He shook the bells once, letting them ring. "Whoever cant get a bell will have no lunch." Kakashi sort of glanced to his right, where he had just been, and pointed to the three stumps in that direction. "I'm going to tie you there, and eat lunch in front of you."

Now he would give them a chance to ask any questions they had so far in this 'assessment' he was setting up for them.

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[uzumakinaruto]

"Ow!" The smack in the back of the head from Sakura wasn't expected, seeing as how it was from behind and the last time he looked over at her she'd been sitting down. "Aw, come on Sakura-chan." Naruto gave her a pleading, pitiful look. He thought Sakura may have been warming up to him or something, especially after last night, but that obviously didn't seem to be the case... Or did it? After she whacked him in the head, she let him know she agreed. Wait, so she hits him and then follows up with an uncharacteristic, non-negative response towards him? Naruto sighed, internally. Why couldn't everything be simple?

At Kakashi's words, Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, adopting a pouting face. He immediately tuned out once he recognized the tone of a lecture, and all he got out of it was something about patience. I'd like to see him be patient for four hours... Naruto thought in contempt. So far, Naruto wasn't sure he liked his sensei all that much. Kakashi had this aloof-ness that painfully reminded Naruto of Sasuke. The same 'whatever' attitude really did piss him off.

When Kakashi admitted he admired Naruto's enthusiasm, the blonde boy uncurled his arms and smiled at his sensei. Naruto was used to getting negative remarks, especially from adults, so hearing him say that boosted up his mood a bit and pushed the issue of Kakashi's tardiness away. Sure, it was nothing special and not directed specifically towards him, but it was something.

When Kakashi made his way over the stump, Naruto's blue eyes followed him curiously as he set an alarm clock to 12 pm. A flicker of confusion crossed his face, but Kakashi's explanation had jumped in a moment before Naruto was about to ask about the clock.

However, after Kakashi's explanation, Naruto was still confused. "Ehh...?" He began, squinting at his sensei. "So, what? If one of us doesn't get a bell, then they don't get lunch? That's it?" Though he wasn't the most clever kid out there, Naruto had a feeling that there was some kind of catch. Then again, not being able to eat lunch was pretty brutal. Naruto lifted his fingers to his chin and remained in a thoughtful position.

That didn't last long, of course, and soon Naruto was jumping up and down. "Okay, yeah yeah whatever. No bell, no lunch. I got it! Can we start now?" Naruto was tempted to just grab a bell out of Kakashi's unsuspecting hand right now, but he resisted his urge. It wouldn't matter anyway, Naruto was sure he'd get a bell first.

[uchihasasuke]

υcнιнa ѕasυĸe

The more they stood in anticipation his unsettling stomach began to rumble. Sasuke tried to keep a serious expression on his face not to show any weakness in front of Kakashi, much less Naruto. If Naruto was to see any signs of wavering from him he would most likely pull something. Still, it seemed this test would never start and it began to frustrate him. He slowly lowered his head sighing as he waited.

He saw the alarm clock Kakashi took and became a little restless. Only one hour to get a bell. Humph, easy enough. Hopefully being in a group of three won’t slow me down. He put his hands back into his pockets and waited with a smirk on his face. This would be easy for him, he didn’t train all this time for nothing; Kakashi would be surprised for sure. He had no questions for the task, he was prepared, and hopefully they were too.

He looked over at Naruto with a little disgust. “Just make sure you don’t get in my way, loser.” That was the only advice he could give Naruto, even if it wasn’t really advice so to speak. He didn’t bother looking at Sakura since he thought she would most likely fail. With only two bells one of them were screwed, but he was positive he would grab one.

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ooc: sigh... begin the test.

[Yamanaka Ino]

Sakura completely ignored the pitiful look on Naruto’s face. She had said her peace, and now was the time to focus on what Kakashi-sensei was saying. It didn’t matter that Naruto seemed to be confused by her actions; he was always confused so it wasn’t a new state of being for him. What did matter, however, was this test they were to be given. She’d try to explain her behavior to Naruto later. Unless he got distracted or bored, which would probably happen.

First, however, was a small lecture on patience. PATIENCE! He was late by four hours or so. Wasn’t punctuality an important tactic as well? What if your teammates expected you to arrive at a meeting point on time? They weren’t going to wait for four hours for you to get there; they could be dead by that time. Inside her mind, Inner Sakura was going nuts at that statement. Kakashi really needed to work on his priorities, that was for sure. On the outside, however, Sakura was nodding in agreement with the statement. He did have a point, but there was a limit to how much one could be patient. At least he did compliment them on enthusiasm. That brought up Naruto’s mood some.

All three of them stood by as they watched Kakashi place a small alarm-clock on a post, setting it to twelve. Her eyes then followed as he pulled out two bells from a belt-loop, holding them up for them to see. So they had to get the bells from them, and whoever didn’t get one would not get lunch. To make it worse, he’d eat it in front of them. The gurgling of her stomach reminded Sakura of the lack of breakfast and dinner, and the sudden realization that was the reason he told them not to eat. The bastard. Sadly, her mind was too busy on food for Inner Sakura to make a statement about it.

The reactions of the other two were predictable; Naruto wanted to get started, and Sasuke was telling Naruto to stay out of the way. Wait, he didn’t say anything to her. Did that mean he didn’t want her to stay out of his way, that she could do something? Or was it the opposite; that she was too useless to even bother talking to? Well, she was going to have to change that view of her. This test would be the perfect way to prove to Sasuke-kun that she wasn’t useless; she was going to grab one of those bells even if she had to kill Naruto to get one (was that allowed?).

[Hatake Kakashi]

Kakashi stared levely at the three graduates before him. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be at each others throats, even though they were hardly talking to one another...let alone looking at each other. Naruto seemed to be gunning only for himself, and not thinking at all about his teammates at the given time. As for Sasuke, he just gave Naruto the cold shoulder and told him to stay out of his way. Neither of them acknowledged Sakura. ...Great... Kakashi thought I have idiot students already. Maybe I was wrong...they already dont seem to be able to grasp the '3-man cell teamwork' concept. Maybe they wont be the ones to pass...

He didnt let this damper his hopes, but he did give them a fair warning before actually initiating the test, which they all seemed ready enough for. "Let me just remind you of this...of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be selected to be Genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy. This training exam...my training exam, has a failure rate of more than 66%! And I get to decide if you pass or fail." He was trying to give them just a smidge of a hint to use each other and act like an actual team rather than acting alone, but there was no way in the world that he would directly tell them that. Shinobi had to figure things like this out for themselves, hence why all of his previous students had failed.

Letting this rest in the air, he paused before he figured it would be suitable to add "And to add insult to injury, Im sure that you three have already figured that there are three of you, and only two bells. So, given those statistics, already, one of you will be tied to the stump and sent back to the Academy. At least one of you fail." he walked a way from them a bit, re-tying the bells around his beltloop before he turned around to face them "Oh, and another rule before we begin. You can use shuriken and kunai in this...because you wont succeed unless you come at me intending to kill." He glanced around before he gave the final words.

"Now, when I say start, you may begin. Ready...?" He would let this linger for only a few seconds, and then say start without hanging over their heads like a steak in front of a dog. .However, he paused to only satisfy the curiosity building within him to see which one of them would actually tense up and draw a kunai to ready themselves for an attack or defense. In the very least, he half-expected them to go hide somewhere, because the most important thing for a shinobi is to be able to hide oneself. He also somewhat expected them to be pro-active and start already, which would be a good sign of the will to kill him, but if they waited it was no big deal...

However, Kakashi himself tensed slightly, ready to spring to interfere with anything that came his way, or to simply avoid, duck and evade until he actually sensed the will to kill...then he would fight them more seriously, instead of just leaving them be like they were only Academy Graduates. At the moment, he could easily grab a kunai to 'battle' them with, and he was ready to use agility & speed to get behind them when he found necessary. Hopefully, these three will show a bit of challenge towards both themselves and himself. If they could use a bit of Ninjutsu to work together, that would be good, or if some of them singularly used Ninjtusu, Taijutsu or Genjutsu, it would be good. If the three used a combination of any of the three, that would be excellent. But, they have to grasp the concept of teamwork first. If all goes well, this might actually be interesting...

"...Start..." he whispered. It was a bit of a test on their hearing. He recalled a mission from when he was younger where he detected the place of an enemy by hearing alone. All shinobi should have at least slightly honed hearing...