บท 7: Survival Test
"Hey, uh...can I have the rest of it?" Naruto asked holding his chopsticks and looking at Y/N with hopeful eyes.
She was hoping to save some for dinner, but she didn't expect Naruto's appetite to be so large. But, his pleading eyes looked almost a bit funny and she decided to let him have his full.
To be clear about this situation, Y/N went home together with Naruto the day before and came to know the reason as to why he was running to the bathroom so much. It was either because he was lactose intolerant, which he was not. Or because he ate expired food. To be precise, it's because of the latter. After talking for a while, Y/N decided to let him have breakfast and dinner at her apartment from this day.
Well, she underestimated his appetite. Although it seemed to be a little more hectic than usual for her, it was better than to have food alone all the time.
She felt...lonely. Naruto's loud mouth made her forget about it most of the time. So she had zero complaints.
Y/N didn't even expect him to be on time, but he arrived earlier. It would be because they were going to meet their team leader today. Both of them were excited.
After they finished their meal and arrived in the classroom, they realized that the teams need to wait until their new teachers arrived to take them. Naruto was losing his patience little by little until he finally peeked out of the classroom in the hope of getting even a small glimpse of their leader.
"Naruto, sit down!" Sakura said.
"I don't want to. How come our teacher's the only one that's late? I'm ready to roll, believe it!" Naruto answered, "The other groups already met their new teacher and took off to some adventure or something and Iruka sensei's gone too!"
"He's got a point you know," Y/N sighed, and looked at the door hoping their teacher to arrive quickly.
Sakura agreed and then looked up hearing some noise, realizing what her blond teammate was up to. He fixed the duster in the middle of the door - anyone entering would lead to it falling on their head. Naruto grinned, "That's what he gets for coming late! Surprise~"
"Naruto," Sakura said holding her hips, "You know you shouldn't do that."
"Hn," Sasuke said, closing his eyes, "Our teacher's a jounin. An elite ninja. You think he'd fall for that?"
"Well, he shouldn't or it would be embarrassing," Y/N said crinkling her nose.
As soon as the words escaped her mouth, the door opened and the duster fell on his head. Their new teacher was a spiky silver-haired man with dark grey eyes and a lazy expression.
"I got him! He totally fell for it!" Naruto laughed.
Oh, well. That's another punishment for him. Or that's what Y/N thought. The man said something else though. "Hm, how can I put this," he said closing his eyes with a thoughtful expression, "My first impression of this group - you're a bunch of idiots."
They went on the rooftop of their school building where the new teacher sat on the railings and the students on the stairs. "Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time?" he said.
"Introduce ourselves?" Sakura asked, "Well, what are we supposed to say?"
"Things you like, dreams for the future, hobbies, and other things like that," he explained.
"Why don't you go first? I mean, tell us about yourself so we know how it's supposed to work?" Naruto said.
"Me?" the man pointed at himself and started talking, "I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate - I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future, never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies."
"Well, that was totally useless. All he told us was his name," Sakura muttered frowning, looking at Naruto.
"He doesn't even want us to know about him. Alright, then he won't mind if I follow his example..." Y/N replied.
"Alright, you on the right. You first," Kakashi said.
Naruto fixed his headband and said, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka sensei got me at the Ichiraku noodle shop. But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after pouring hot water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to be the greatest hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody - somebody important!"
"Alright," Kakashi said looking at Sakura, "Next."
"I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like...I mean the person I like...my hobby is...my dream for the future is.." she squealed like a fan looking at Sasuke, as expected, "and I hate Naruto." Naruto grimaced hearing her, but well, as Naruto should be, he quickly forgot about it.
"Alright, you in the middle?" Kakashi asked.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things. And I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I will restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."
Followed by his little introduction, a deafening silence took place. Y/N looked forward at the teacher with a mind full of thoughts. One thing she can understand about him was the intense hatred for the one who separates you from your family. He had it worse when his whole clan is wiped off.
"And the last one?" Kakashi asked looking at Y/N.
Feeling a bit self-conscious, Y/N said, "I'm Y/N Y/L/N. I like...a lot of things. I hate...a certain someone. My hobby includes reading...anything that interests me. And my dream for the future...well, it was to be like my father. For now, I want to be...strong and independent."
Y/N sat in the silence uncomfortably. She knew how the rest of the team might be looking at her - with pity. She didn't care in the least. Her dream, for now, was to find her parents, but it felt a little too personal. She wasn't yet ready to talk about it.
"Good, you're each unique and you have your own ideas," Kakashi said, "We'll have our first mission tomorrow."
Naruto exclaimed in excitement and began asking about it when Kakashi answered, "It's a task that the four of us will do together - a survival exercise."
"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission. Not more practice," Sakura said, "We already did this in the academy. That's why we are here?"
Y/N didn't have many complaints though. Well, she did join the academy much later than the others. She was in fact, excited to know about the nature of the survival test. Kakashi began giggling in joy.
"Hey, that's a normal question. What's so funny?" Sakura asked.
"Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it," Kakashi explained, "Of the 28 graduates who just came here, only 9 will be accepted as a genin. The other 19 will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, it is a make it or break it, pass-fail test and the chance that you'll fail is at least 66 percent."
"What? That's crazy! We worked hard to get here! What was that graduation test for anyway?" Naruto asked, annoyance laced in his voice.
"Oh, that was to select candidates who might become a genin, or not," Kakashi said, "That's how it is. I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at 5 AM and bring your ninja gear."
Y/N stared at Kakashi in a confused state when he spoke again.
"That's it. You're dismissed," he said, "Oh, and tomorrow skip breakfast or you'll puke."
[ TIME SKIP ]
Turns out all of them failed the test. Kakashi tied Naruto up on a tree post and explained to everyone about the main reason for the test. It was teamwork. Although they were pitted against one another with just 3 three bells, it should've been in their heads about why a team was chosen in the first place after becoming genin. If genins could've advanced alone, there wouldn't be a necessity of making teams.
Kakashi was straight about all the flaws that each of the team members had. Naruto always worked alone, Sakura only helped Sasuke when Naruto was helpless in front of her, Sasuke was too arrogant to work with anyone and Y/N...well she felt ashamed when she was called out for it. She made Sakura the bait when she was aware of Kakashi coming after her. She waited for her chance to attack him when he'll be busy attacking Sakura.
Yes, it was awful. Probably the worst out of all of them.
They sat silently with the three lunchboxes while Naruto was tied up.
A second chance was given to them. Kakashi told them to eat and replenish their energy. However, since Naruto broke the rules and tried to eat before the test was complete, he has to watch. Furthermore, if either of them tried to feel Naruto, they will immediately fail.
Y/N lost count on the number of times she heard his stomach grumble. The one thing she was absolutely sure of was how much Naruto loved food. It was already a struggle to watch him tied up. Sighing, she got up and stood in front of Naruto. "Open up," she said, "it's not like I'm gonna stay in this village much longer anyway."
"W-What are you saying!" Naruto shouted, "Where will you even go?! Your home is here!"
"She's right," Sasuke said, moving his tiffin box towards Naruto, "Kakashi's gone. We need to get those bells as a team. If Naruto's hungry, he'll be weak and ineffective. That hurts the team and jeopardizes the mission."
"Alright," Sakura said moving her tiffin forward, "I'll give half of mine."
"Uh, guys I can't eat when I'm tied up," Naruto said, he smiled slyly at Sakura, "Why don't you feed me?"
"Y/N can do it," Sakura grumbled and cringed visibly.
"Shut up and open your mouth or you aren't getting any," Y/N said furrowing her brows. It was annoying how they were quarreling when they didn't have much time in their hands.
As soon as Y/N fed him a bit of rice with her chopsticks, the wind started blowing profusely around them. Opening their eyes, they saw the face they hoped to arrive a bit of time later - and he looked mad. "You broke the rules. I hope you're ready for your punishment," Kakashi said and made some hand signs, immediately clouds started hovering in the sky, "Any last words?"
Y/N barely had any different reaction. Sure, she was trembling from the inside but oh, she was thinking. There was no possibility he would do this, right?
Naruto shouted, "You said that there were four of us! That's why-"
"We are all on the squad and we are all in it together," Sasuke said.
"Yeah we gave him the lunch because the four of us are one," Sakura said.
Y/N silently cut off the ropes with her kunai with her hands on her back, while standing in front of naruto. Kakashi noticed it and asked, "The four of you are one, that's your excuse?"
Y/N's brows turned down, a visible discomfort on her face when the skies cleared up and Kakashi said with a smile, "You pass."
"Huh?"
"You pass," Kakashi said in a clear voice.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, "How did we pass?"
"You're the first squad that ever succeeded. The others did exactly what I said, and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja should see through the deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum - that's true. But those who abandon their friends, are worse than scum." Kakashi explained, "The exercise is over. Everyone passes. Squad 7 starts its mission tomorrow."
Y/N dropped to her knees in relief. Later, when they started walking home, Y/N faltered back beside Kakashi and said, "That whole I-am-about-to-kill-you part was a bit...unconvincing."
"Hm? You were shivering in fear," Kakashi said, "I think it's pretty convincing."
"Well, I was in front of a jounin so...a child like me should be scared."
"What gave it away?"
"Well, you can't exactly kill us and then expect the village to be okay with it. For one, the hokage will have to give an answer to the parents and the public about the reason for death. And if it was a norm of what happened to genins there should only be a handful of parents who allow kids to become ninja. That's not the case here. And in case you did kill us, you have to face the consequences. If you were a rogue ninja, the higher-ups should've noticed it by now knowing the amount of time it took to complete the test. So..."
Kakashi halted by his steps and looked at the girl grinning at him.
"Am I right, sensei?" she asked.
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