Hitomi was having a very difficult time. She had no idea how long has passed, but her limbs were growing tired and her mind weary. Her chakra supply was completely depleted, and she was sure her stomach was going to implode from hunger. After limping around aimlessly, the attention of her exhausted eyes were caught by the sight of a small object shining through the grass. Was that a bell? Kakashi must have dropped it in his hurry earlier. Who knew a stroke of luck was all she needed?

As she got closer, she saw that it was indeed a bell. Picking up her speed, she nearly broke into a full run. This was her chance! She bent down and prepared to pick it up.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY!" A mighty force rammed into her side and pushed her off her feet and quite a distance away from her target. Her body was already aching from the torrents of waves, and the landing did nothing to help her.

"Hey!" She complained, pushing herself up, only to see her blond friend dangling from a rope tied around her ankles.

"You idiot," Chiharu growled. "It was a fucking trap."

Hitomi's eyes went wide with apology. "I'm sorry Chiharu-chan!" She cried out. "Because of me you-"

Before she could finish, several kunai sliced through the air and sunk into the blonde's writhing body, which fell limp immediately.

"Chiharu-chan!" Hitomi screamed. "No!" Tears poured out from her eyes and bile rose to her throat. She hadn't even gone through her first mission and already she was losing a friend?

But the bleeding body dissipated into a cloud of smoke, allowing the weapons to fall to the ground. "Oi, oi," a familiar voice behind her said. Hitomi swung around to see the comforting figure of her blonde friend. "Don't go crying on me now."

"Chiharu-chan!" The Hyūga launched herself at the whiskered girl and pulled her into a, surprisingly, strong hug. "I thought you were dead!"

"Get the fuck off me!" Chiharu's face was growing redder by the second. She hated physical contact. Shoving the terrified girl off her person, she looked up, straight at the man who had set the trap. "I'm not gonna die so easily. Ain't that right, Kakashi-sensei?"

"A shinobi must always look underneath the underneath," he answered, bending down to pick up the bell. "If something is too good to be true, it probably is." He fastened the bell back on his belt. "You've gotten pretty adapt at using clones, eh, Chiharu-chan?" Quick as lightning, his gloved hand shot forward and released a kunai, which flew true as it sunk straight into Chiharu's forehead. She too disappeared in a cloud of smoke, eliciting a gasp from her nearby teammate.

"Now she probably knows my location," Kakashi said disinterestedly. "And since you're pretty much useless now, you're not worth my trouble. You might as well ready to head back to the academy." With that, he turned and in a blink of an eye, he was gone, the wind picking up the leaves at his sudden departure. He left behind a wide-eyed Hitomi, who fell to her knees and started shaking uncontrollably. Go back to the academy? But...but I worked so hard to get here! What would Mama say? How am I ever going to become as strong as uncle Neji?

::::::

Chiharu opened her eyes. "Okay I got her location. Let's go," she stood up, making Michio do the same. "Sensei's left her alone, but I got another clone tailing him. Once we reach Hitomi, I'll dispel her. Now follow me, eta Hitomi, 5 minutes."

They landed to find Hitomi hugging her knees and sobbing silently.

"Hitomi," Chiharu shook her shoulders. "Hey. Hey. What happened?"

"He said," she answered in between hiccups. "He...he said that...that I was useless...and that I should...I should return to the a-academy.."

Chiharu rolled her eyes dramatically. "C'mon, Hitomi," she urged. "We don't have time for this! We only have half an hour before the bell rings. I'll give you my fucking bell ok?"

Michio frowned. "Hey Chiharu, you sure that's wise?" He asked. "That's a one way ticket back to little kids and boring lessons."

"Yeah that's ok," She smiled in reply. "You guys have dreams right? It would be a shame if you guys couldn't achieve it just 'cos of some stupid bells. I don't mind the academy, Aburame sensei isn't so bad."

"Chiharu-chan!" Hitomi protested. "I can't do that!"

"Look, it doesn't matter if we don't first get the bells, ok?" Chiharu reiterated, halting all discussion of the matter. "We can decide what to with them later, but first let's get the fucking bells, ok?" Seeing her teammates slowly nod, she began.

"Alright guys, how much chakra do you have left?"

::::::

"Multiple shadow clone technique!"

Kakashi looked up to see a herd of Chiharus in the air, ready to land on him. Swinging around, he saw that they were coming from the sides as well. So she can sustain 10 clones already huh? Now that's impressive.

"Take this, Kakashi sensei!" They yelled as they attacked him from all angles, punching and kicking as much as the could. Kakashi gracefully stepped around, avoiding blows and blocking unavoidable kicks. Damn, I don't even have time to read Icha Icha Paradise.

"One!" He heard a clone yell as it latched on to his right arm, refusing to be shaken off. His left arm instinctively moved to grab her and throw her off, but another clone clamped down on his left arm too.

"Two!" It yelled.

"Three!"

"Four!"

He heard different clones shout as his legs, too, were secured.

"Five!" He looked forward to see the last one launch itself at him, hand reached out to grab the bells at his waist. Lifting the clones on his arms up, he used all his might to swing them around, and, using the momentum, threw off all the clones on his person, dispelling all of them as they knocked into each other or hit the ground. Patting the bells on his waist, he looked at Chiharu, who was now lying on the ground, panting.

"Not a bad attempt at all," he praised. "But if that's all you've got, then you're nothing special at all. A Shinobi must learn not to challenge an enemy's strength but look underneath to find a weakness and-why are you smiling?"

A grinning Chiharu pushed herself to her feet and reached into her kunai pouch. "Because, sensei, my target was never the bell." She pulled a bright orange book that was more than familiar to Kakashi's eyes.

"No..." Kakashi mumbled.

"I always wanted to know what's in these books that you read," she teased, waving the novel around. "But you never tell me! Why not? Ka-ka-shi sen-sei?"

Kakashi by now was quivering, either from fear that she might open the book or anger that she had stolen it from him; perhaps both. "Chiharu," he breathed. "I'm warning you, give that back to me, this instant."

"Maybe I'll give it as a gift to Mama!" She continued, dancing around as though Kakashi hadn't said a word. "Or maybe I'll burn it!"

"Chiharu!" Kakashi barked. "Give me the book!"

"Come and get it!" She sang as she took off, running towards the surrounding thickets.

"Get back here, you impertinent brat!" Kakashi roared as he raced after the flash of yellow.

Yikes, he's fast. She thought as she pumped more chakra into her legs, trying in vain to distance herself from Kakashi. She sped into the forest and her sensei soon followed, but the moment he stepped foot past the tree line, he heard a boy's voice.

"Earth Release: Fissure!" The ground shook and Kakashi was rocked off his feet, temporarily halted in his chase for his precious novel. Turning around with unsteady footing, he was ready to unleash his fury on Michio for delaying him, but he was met with a pair of determined lavender eyes.

"Eight divination signs," Hitomi called out. Shit, Kakashi panicked. I don't have the balance to defend myself! She aimed her chakra infused fingers at his shoulder tenketsu. "Two! Four! Eight! Sixteen! Thirty-two palms of the hand!" It wasn't nearly as superior a technique as the usual sixty-four palms, but with what chakra Hitomi had left, this was all she could do. Kakashi flew backwards and crashed into the ground, much to the satisfaction of the Hyūga, but he soon got to his feet. He was indeed winded, and chakra wasn't flowing properly to certain areas of his body, but he'd be damned if this was all it took to incapacitate him.

Hurriedly taking a step back, he barely missed the swing of Michio's arm as the boy attempted to attack him. Keeping the momentum, Michio spun around and aimed a kick at his sensei's head. Kakashi caught the leg with more than a little difficulty, finding his arms a little too stiff for his liking.

"SHANARO!" Was the last thing he heard before he felt the fist of his blonde student make contact with the back of his head. His body lurched forward, and he landed on his back, completely unconscious.

"We did it guys!" Chiharu exclaimed, jumping up and down in celebration, the orange book still in her hand.

"Yeah," Michio agreed, sitting on the ground. "But now I really am completely drained. I've never performed that technique twice in a row."

"Me...me too," Hitomi spoke up, panting like a thirsty dog. "I couldn't have done that without your chakra pills, Chiharu-chan."

"Bleh," Chiharu stuck her tongue out. "My mum made those, and they taste horrible."

"Don't let her hear you say that."

The three of them spun around in alert as they heard their sensei's voice. The man they thought they had defeated was walking towards them, completely unscathed, bells hanging casually from his belt. Reaching over, he snatched his beloved book from the hand of the little devil, who was frozen in disbelief.

"But! What the fuck?! I thought!" Chiharu yelped in confusion as she looked at the body she had rendered unconscious, only to watch as it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Congratulations on defeating my clone, you three," Kakashi smiled, stowing the book in his pouch (safely, this time). At that moment the silence in the forest was broken by a shrill ringing. "And that's the bell, yet none of you have collected a single bell." The three gennin looked down in disappointment. How were they supposed to pass this test if they barely managed to defeat a clone at their best? Perhaps they really weren't ready for the world of Shinobi. Maybe in six years' time, when they graduated again, they could finally become real Shinobi.

"You pass."

Three pairs of heads swung around dangerously quickly and they eyed him suspiciously.

"Hold the fuck up," Chiharu started suspiciously. "Who passed?"

"All three of you," Kakashi was smiling at this point, his heart brimming with pride. "Pass."

"What? How? I don't get it!" Michio was starting to yell.

"Let me explain," Kakashi sat down together with them. "This test, as all tests do, has an answer, and you answered correctly. The answer is teamwork. The test was never about getting bells or defeating me. It'll take you years before you can do that." At this Chiharu grumbled something under her breath about assholes and perverts.

"Those were just distractions," he continued. "I needed to see you could work as a team. I made you agitated by arriving three hours late, I made you weak by starving you, and then I told you an opposite objective. I needed to see that when your mind was challenged, you would do the right thing. If you become Shinobi, your every action has to be for the greater good of the village, never about benefitting yourself. Such is the life of the Shinobi, and I'm very proud to see that you lot have the resolve to live that life." He placed a hand on Chiharu's head and ruffled her long hair.

"Don't just do what people tell you to do, do what you believe is right. Because in the world of Shinobi, those who break rules are indeed scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

He...he's actually really cool, Chiharu thought as she started to smile.

"Now," Kakashi resumed, standing up. "To celebrate, I'll treat you all to a meal." Immediately Chiharu was on her feet as well, dancing about as though it were Christmas.

"Ramen?" She cried, eyes shining like the stars.

"H-hold up," Kakashi balked. "I never said-"

"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" She chanted while prancing around.

"Tomorrow," Kakashi smiled, his new team following behind his back. "Team 7 will begin its duties." After hearing several whoops and calls for celebration, he paused and turned around.

"Oh and guys?" He looked at their glowing faces. "Only one team has ever passed this test." They looked at him in awe.

"I'm glad you are the second."

A/N: I know, it's a bit corny, but I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for your support!