Important note: I've been having serious issues with my computer so I'm taking this opportunity to upload everything I can to , completed or not so that everyone can at least have something to read.

As Kakashi engaged Naruko, Sasuke was forced to watch in wide-eyed amazement as Naruko went headlong into combat with their teacher, the white and black falchions in her hands moving so fast they were only blurs to his eyes. For all the skill she displayed though, it seemed she could only match Kakashi as her reach, speed, and strength were an order lower than his. Despite that handicap it didn't look like Kakashi was making any headway against the girl. Through some means of her own, Naruko was managing to block or deflect every strike that came at her, even when they came from directions she shouldn't have been able to predict.

For the time being at least, the two were evenly matched, but as they put distance between each other Sasuke saw Kakashi do something strange: he tossed away his kunai and drew a new pair as he locked eyes with Naruko and spoke.

"You're good Naruko-chan, a lot better than anyone at your rank has the right to be in all honesty," Kakashi said, though there was a small note of...perhaps worry? lacing his tone.

Naruko didn't seem to care though as she grinned saying, "And I'll only get better as I get older. I'm a little disappointed you're holding back so much though."

"Can't help that, Naruko, if I push any harder I'll be left fighting bare handed after you break all my kunai."

Sasuke felt his eyes go wide at that pronouncement and quickly refocused his attention on the discarded weapons to see them riddled with cracks and chips before refocusing as Naruko replied, "Che, as if that would actually leave you at a disadvantage."

"Oh? You think I'd do better without them?" He shot back.

"Better? Maybe, but I know you have hand-to-hand techniques to make up for a lack of weapon," Naruko's voice was almost...disappointed to his ears as she charged again, lashing out with the black and white blades only to be intercepted each time by Kakashi's fresh kunai.

The fight dragged on for what felt like hours but was likely only minutes going by the position of the sun till Naruko finally backed off and tossing her swords and letting the blades shatter into particles of golden light as her right hand shot out and caught something that had been falling from the tip of her white sword. It took only an instant, but Sasuke recognized the tiny jingle noise that came from her hand.

Turning his head to look at their teacher, Sasuke could see the surprise in what part of his face was exposed before he tucked away his kunai and gave her a small, slow clap.

Naruko responded with a dry look before she sighed and tossed the bells she had taken back to Kakashi as she asked, "So do you want to tell them what went wrong or should I?"

"Oh I'll handle it, after all I'm the one who's supposed to be teaching you three," Kakashi replied wryly.

As their teacher reached down and sharply yanked him from the ground by his collar, Sasuke found himself glowering at both Kakashi and Naruko as the girl waited for Kakashi to wake up Sakura and explain the whole deal with the test.

I let the grin disappear as Kakashi set Sakura and Sasuke down and began to explain the purpose of the exercise he had given them. Personally, I wasn't too offended at how Sasuke had immediately dismissed the offer of aid I had given him at the start, but his expression when Kakashi had pulled him up out of the ground had been rather entertaining.

It was impressive that he was looking to resurrect his clan when he was so self-reliant that he couldn't recognize the fact that he would undoubtedly need the aid of others to achieve his goals.

"The whole point of this exercise was to see if you could manage to work as a team," Kakashi droned, looking down at a sulking Sasuke and a rather nervous Sakura, "Ninja work in teams for all but the most extenuating circumstances, and you both should know that. So the fact that you refused Naruko's offer at the beginning completely out of hand shows that you really don't understand what you're trying to do."

I watched as Sasuke clenched his jaw and Sakura donned a slightly ashamed look before shaking my head slightly as I decided to speak up.

"Now that they know what they did wrong, how about you give them a chance to fix it, Kakashi-sensei," I asked, "I know how your usual policy goes, but why not offer the chance to fix what went wrong and see if the lesson was learned?"

Kakashi watched me with a narrowed eye as he considered what I had said before asking, "And how do you know what my usual policy for failure is, Naruko?"

"I asked."

The bluntness seemed to stall Kakashi for a moment before he sighed and ran a hand back up through his gray-white hair as I smirked in response.

"Hn...Surprising that you actually got the correct answer, Naruko, but then I'll ask this, if you're saying that you think they deserve a second chance does that mean that you're willing to wager your own success on theirs?"

For a moment I was quiet before I let out a wry chuckle as I replied, "I must be, after all isn't sharing victory and defeat what it means to be a team, sensei?"

Just barely I could make out a smile beneath his mask as Kakashi replied, "I suppose so, now all three of you get ready to either sink or swim as a group, and this time I won't be holding back since Naruko will be helping you."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei.

"What the hell are you thinking?!" Sasuke asked, his voice an urgent whisper, "You already passed, so what are you doing risking your success on us?"

"That's your response?" I asked incredulous at his behavior, "Did you even think about what my statement meant?"

"Um, aren't we getting away from the point of this?" Sakura asked, interrupting the brewing fight in our impromptu huddle.

"Thank you Sakura," I replied before turning back to Sasuke, "The fact that I'm willing to risk my success on yours means that I think you can do this Sasuke, did you not realize that?"

His silence was obvious enough before he sighed and closed his eyes, briefly rubbing at his temples with his fingers as I grinned.

"Fine, I assume you have a plan then Naruko?" he asked.

"Of course, so get ready cause I'm only going over it once, and I doubt Kakashi will give us the time anyways."

"Are the lot of you ready then?" Kakashi asked as we approached, kunai already in hand as we stood opposite him across a few yards of dirt.

"Of course."

"I think so.."

"What do you think?" I replied as I summoned the comfortably familiar black and white falchion blades to my hands.

"Then let's begin." he replied, his voice unusually heavy.

With naught but a cloud of dirt lingering from his sudden launch, Kakashi rushed forward, directly towards me as I lowered and lead with my left hand while my right arm raised above my head as I angled the blade down and forward. The position left obvious holes in my defense over several vital spots on my body and Kakashi was quick to try and take advantage of them as he closed the distance enough to try driving a kunai towards my heart, only for the blow to be parried along with the next several strikes.

I could read the confusion on his face at the stance I was using. To any experienced fighter like him, it was obvious that he could read that the only openings were at undoubtedly lethal points meaning that, even if we weren't going with the intent to kill, to intentionally kill me was his only valid option.

And that was a good thing in my opinion.

Even if I had potentially centuries of experience compared to Kakashi-sensei across all my various lives, the fact was that many of my more esoteric abilities and weapons were off-limits in this situation, and even with reinforcement, Kakashi was still a fair bit stronger than I was to say nothing of his greater reach.

And so we fought.

Each and every blow came faster and harder than before, pushing me closer to my human limits as I refrained from reinforcing myself for the moment.