Major Update/Edit: Okay people, thanks greatly to the wonderful Reviews of Frozen-Requiem, this chapter has been edited and a lot of errors have been spotted and cleaned up.

Unfortunately, due to my own computers conspiring against me, DRtS is going to be put on and indefinite hiatus. The reason is very simple. I can't continue. Its not in the realm of physical possibility because I don't have access to the files to keep writing. I don't want to put this story on hiatus and I will try to get access back as soon as humanly possible, but for now there is nothing I can do. Perhaps when I have some money to fix/replace my desktop, I'll be able to continue. Until then, hate the man behind the story if you wish, hate the crappy cheap technology that's blocking the way if you'd prefer, or just make a sandwich. Nothing I can do in any case because the notebook computer I'm writing this from can't access my external harddrive, until that can be rectified, I'll look into a challenge or two that's caught my eye, because this computer does have OpenOffice- so I'm not completely dead to the world, just dead to my main stories. With that said, let the hate (or the sandwich making) begin.

Sorry.

A/N: Wow, sorry this chapter took so long. And sorry it's so short. Okay, it's not really short but it's short for me. Shorter than I like, only 7600 words or so (7632 for those who are really counting). It's short to me, but I'm kind of fond of this chapter. Also, for those of you wondering, I really wasn't milking this chapter for reviews, it was just hard to write. This whole damn story is hard to write! I have absolutely no medical experience (unless you could doctors visits) so I'm pretty much bullshitting my way through this. Sorry if the writing style changes throughout the chapter, this was written over the course of several weeks *cough*months*cough* and my writing style tends to change with time. I have not really done more than a basic run through of this. I think I got most of the glaringly obvious mistakes.

Also, there is a word in here that may offend some of you, so I'm going to cover that right now. I have used the word 'fag' in this chapter. It is not used in the context most Americans might think, it's another word for cigarette. I get tired or repeating words over and over again. Look it up if you don't believe me. So 'fag' in this story, not used as a demeaning term for homosexual, just as another term for cigarette because I'm trying (and likely failing) to be creative.

Now, my ranting is done, go forth and read this chapter and tell me what you think. Unless you stopped reading after the word fag. You people can just go away and do something else while the rest of us laugh at you behind your backs for being narrow-minded.

No disclaimer, everybody knows I don't own anything (I am poor! I make just enough to afford my 'R's. What the hell you you mean I'm ove budget?)

Moving on.

=3=

Goosebumps formed across Naruto's flesh when the chilly morning air ran over his bare skin as he was finishing off a cigarette on the roof of his clinic, enjoying the calming sensation that it gave him while he took a lazy hit. All too soon for his liking it came to an end when the burning ember reached the butt, with practiced precision he dashed it out against the wall and exhaled his lung full of the smoky gases before entering the roof door. His hands pressed together in a few quick signs as the heavy door closed behind him, he shifted his body and touched the chilled surface of the door causing inky black tendrils to spread out from beneath the surface and form intricate webs he could just barely begin to understand as they came together to form a defensive seal that glowed dimly for a moment before fading away.::

The blond's footsteps made no noise as he moved down the stairs with graceful ease and speed until he reached his small apartment area on the third floor, the clone making breakfast held up a hand and spread his fingers out slightly to signal that food would be ready in about five minutes or so. As he entered his sleeping quarters he saw his clothes laid out neatly across his bed and another clone leaning over his long trench coat with glowing hands, without looking up the replication dispelled itself and the memories of removing all the accumulated scents from his clothing. Naruto's hands began forming another, longer string of hand seals with complete focus on the task at hand- cleansing all identifiable traces of personal scent to make attempts at tracking him by scent a far more difficult task.::

'Medical Art: Full Body Purification Technique.' He thought to himself as the seal set ended and the blue glow of unrefined medical chakra enveloped his body, the heavy tingling throughout his entire frame let him know that the technique was working- now all he could do was wait and keep his chakra flowing.

"Where are those idiots?" Hanabi hissed as she leaned against one of the training posts, it was nine o'clock and only Sasuke had shown up- some company he was.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late- chores took longer than I thought they would." A familiar voice called, causing the two genin to look over to where their elder sun-kissed classmate was approaching from.

"You're late because you were doing chores? What kind of stupid excuse is that?" Sasuke questioned skeptically.

"Well, someone has to keep my place clean and I don't have lackeys to do it for me- so obviously I have to do it." The blond said with a smile.

"You don't smell like cigarettes anymore." The Hyuuga girl noted when he got close enough.

"I also took a very long shower this morning." He amended.

"You're an idiot." The Uchiha stated flatly.

"Quite possibly, or it could just be a cover. I am a ninja you know." He stated jovially, momentarily giving the other two cause to wonder.

"Only an idiot would wear bells during a survival test." Sasuke stated as soon as he saw the numerous silver spheres strapped around the older teen's neck and wrists.

"Whatever you say fan-boy." Naruto remarked waving off the Uchiha's declaration and intentionally letting his bells ring out as he did so.

"How someone as stupid as you managed to pass is beyond me." The raven haired boy muttered.

"You say something chicken head?" The blond asked casually as he tucked his hands into his coat pockets, a small smirk tugged at the corners of Hanabi's mouth at the question.

"W-what did you call me?" The younger boy asked while a small anger tick formed on one side of his forehead.

"I called you chicken head, though I may have to correct myself." Naruto answered as he leaned slightly to one side. "Because from this angle your hair looks like a ducks ass. Hey! I think I've figured out who you want to kill! It's your barber! Am I right?" The kunoichi prospect started biting her lower lip at this point to keep a straight face.

"Naruto... I'm going to give you I five second head start." Sasuke warned tensely, releasing a level of killer intent that sent a chill down Hanabi's spine. "After that, I'm going to hunt you down and beat you into a bloody pulp."

"Now now, none of that please children." Kakashi said, appearing from out of nowhere. "You're going to need all of your energy for today's test after all."

"Yo. You're late." Naruto stated.

"Sorry, I had to rescue an old lady's cat from a tree; it was a black cat so I had to back track my entire route and go around to avoid any bad luck." The jounin said as his eye curved with amusement.

"You know sensei, lying like that is a bad thing." The blond scolded childishly.

"You were almost as late as he is!" Hanabi accused loudly.

"Yes, but my excuse is more plausible." He grinned as Kakashi set an alarm clock on one of the training posts.

"My excuse is more amusing." The jounin defended himself chipperly.

'What did I do to deserve being stuck with these idiots?' Hanabi wondered as she turned her gaze to the sky.

"Is something wrong, Hanabi-chan?" Naruto asked, drawing her attention to both himself and their teacher- both of whom were giving her a concerned look.

"Don't call me 'chan' you idiot!" She ordered loudly. "You don't know me nearly well enough to be so damn familiar!"

"I thought all Hyuuga were supposed to be quiet and reserved." The eldest genin said quietly as he smiled at her kindly. "You're too easily provoked Hanabi-chan."

"I hate you more than you can imagine." She whispered, closing her pale eyes to take a breath to calm and recompose herself.

"Is that why you're picturing me naked?" He asked, instantly what little calm she gained shattered and her face turned a new shade of crimson- inwardly Kakashi was laughing boisterously at how easily the boy could get a rise out of the potential Hyuuga heiress, outwardly he merely smiled beneath his cloth mask. Sasuke just stared at him incredulously. "Honestly, I don't know how someone so young has become such a pervert."

"S-stupid! You're the one saying perverted things!" She shouted, still very red in the face as she lashed out at him with a kick only to have him jump over her leg effortlessly.

"Looks like the little crimson princess has a temper." He taunted, easily dodging, deflecting, ducking under and just generally avoiding the rapid fire attacks that followed.

"Hold still you damn monkey!" She shouted only to have Kakashi catch her last kick when the blond did as ordered.

"Listen, as amusing as this little scene is, we need to move on- or have you forgotten about my test?" The pale haired jounin questioned as he released her ankle.

"He started it." The blushing girl muttered as she and the blond walked back to the logs.

"True, Naruto, stop provoking your teammates." Kakashi ordered sternly. 'No matter how funny it is.'

"I promise nothing." He said in a solemn tone that everyone nodded to momentarily before they realized exactly what he said.

"Just work with me here Naruto." The older man sighed. 'What did I do to get stuck with these three?'

"Okay, so, what are we doing?" The blond asked, shifting gears once more.

"It's quite simple really..." He stated, pausing for a second before pulling a pair of bells out of his sleeve with a flick of his wrist and letting them jingle a bit. "All you have to do is get a bell and you pass."

"But there are only two bells." Hanabi pointed out with a scowl.

"Wow, you really are a genius." Kakashi said in an overly kind manner, his eye seeming to curve happily at her as a desire to hurt him was born in the young girl. "And because there are only two bells, at least one of you is guaranteed to fail this test. Just to make thing interesting, the person or people who fail to get a bell will not only be tied to one of those posts, they will be forced to watch whoever passes eat lunch with me- after which, they'll be sent back to the academy for retraining."

"A-are you serious?" The Hyuuga asked as she stared at the older man.

'Looks like I might not be so burdened by these idiots after all.' Sasuke thought while keeping his mask of indifference firmly in place.

"So, at least one of us is guaranteed to fail, and none of us are guaranteed to pass." Naruto paraphrased. "Is that what you're saying Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Kakashi confirmed with a nod. "Any other questions?"

"Are you serious?" Hanabi asked again, her pale eyes open wide with surprise.

"Very." The older man answered flatly as the tied the bells so they rested in one of his belt loops. "Anything else?"

"Hey, Sasuke, what was it you said about bells and survival tests? I forget." Naruto asked with a large grin plastered on his face that only seemed to get wider (if such a thing was even possible) when Sasuke gave only an annoyed grunt in response.

"The alarm is set for one, so, if there are no other questions, let's begin the test. And don't forget to come at me with the intent to kill. It's the only way you'll stand a chance of getting a bell." Kakashi said lazily. "Go!" At that word Sasuke and Hanabi split off in opposite directions with a decent amount of speed, for genin, while Naruto just stood there for a second before shrugging and vanishing in a swirl of wind and leaves. "My my. What good listeners we have this year."

Naruto scowled deeply as he received the memories from his shadow clone, something seemed off about this so called test and he didn't like it. From his small niche hidden within a tree a safe distance away from the infamous copy ninja, or at least what he hoped was a safe distance, he slipped a hand out from behind the leaves and branches to make a few quick signals to a similarly hidden clone. It was time to test his potential teacher, and hopefully at least get some clues as to the real purpose of the test. A small smile replaced his frown as the newly dispersed replications orders formed in his mind, as well as those of the shadow clones he had seeded in various places around the practice field. It didn't really matter to him if he passed this test or not, at the very least, he'd get to mess with one of the best jōnin in the entire village. This could be fun.::

Kakashi stood calmly in the middle of the training field with his favorite book in hand, casually reading over the pages he had long since memorized as he kept track of his students, two of them at least. Both Hanabi and Sasuke were fairly skilled for rookie genin, and hidden themselves quiet well in just a few seconds, they probably could have fooled most chūnin who didn't know they were in the area, but the laid back man wasn't a chūnin. He was a jōnin, and for damn good reason, he could have found those two in his sleep. It was their third teammate who was bugging him even if it didn't show, while most civilians thought ninja could disappear into thin air, no shinobi could truly do such a feat- at least not to his knowledge.::

After performing the standard body flicker to leave the area, Naruto's chakra simply vanished without a trace and that meant one thing. Naruto had never actually been there from the beginning. Actually, that wasn't what was frustrating him, what was came down to the fact that he couldn't find the boy's chakra anywhere in his range and that meant one of two things. The first, was that Naruto was at least a couple klicks away from him, unlikely but possible with shadow clones, and second was that Naruto was suppressing his chakra. The second one was far less likely in his mind than the first, jinchuuriki had massive chakra reserves that were difficult if not down right impossible to suppress so completely through natural means, and Naruto was the host for the most powerful of all the demons. Suppression was just too...::

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei!" The sudden shout made him tense instantly before turning around to see the boy he was just thinking about walking up to him casually- the bells around his neck were silent and his chakra signature was strangely absent. So much for that theory.

"Naruto, you know it kind of defeats the purpose of stealth for you to come out in the open like this. Right?" The jōnin asked the blond teen.

"Maybe, but I've got a question." He stated, stopping a good twenty feet away.

"Hmm, we're in the middle of a survival test Naruto, I don't think this is an appropriate time for questions." He remarked casually.

"Come on sensei, please?" The teen pleaded.

"Alright, what do you want to know?" Kakashi asked, keeping a lazy eye on the boy.

"What's the point of this test?" Naruto asked simply.

"To get the bells of course." He answered happily.

"No. That's the objective, sensei. I asked for the point." The blond said flatly, beneath his mask Kakashi gave a wide smile at that. "You and I both know that no one on this team is a match for you. We're just genin, you're a jōnin."

"Well. It seems that your grades were very far off their mark. Good job." Kakashi complimented, shifting his gaze slightly as a small rabbit emerged from the bushes and began nibbling on a blade of grass before returning his attention to the potential ninja.

"Shishou was a good teacher." Naruto shrugged. "Now, are you going to answer my question?"

"Like I said, you're not off to a bad start. If you want to know the point, you're going to have to puzzle that out yourself. Unless you'd like to ask someone else for help." He said calmly before suddenly pivoting on one foot and punting the rabbit a good distance away. "Nice try by the way. Very creative."

"Meh. Mediocre at best." The blond shrugged as the flying rabbit suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"Yeah, you're right." Kakashi stated, snapping his book closed and turning to face the boy fully as he slipped his little vice back into his weapons pouch. "But still good enough to get some effort out of me."

"Alright." Naruto said, sliding into a relaxed but solid stance as he brought his arms up before himself. "Let's have some fun."

Hanabi felt her eye give a great twitch as Kakashi sent the cute little bunny that had been innocently nibbling on grass flying with an overpowered kick, she liked cute little bunnies, she did not like seeing them being kicked about by bullies. It had come as a great surprise to her when said bunny had disintegrated into a cloud of chakra smoke, revealing it to be nothing but a mockery of her favorite animal (not that she would ever publicly admit such a fact) created by her eldest teammate. Granted, she probably shouldn't have been nearly as surprised by the deception as she was, Naruto-sen... I mean... that blond idiot, was too unpredictable from what she had seen in her interactions with him.::

In that moment Naruto charged at their teacher with his hands curled up like he had claws, closing the distance between the jōnin and himself far faster than she could have from a dead stop like he had done. His first kick was met with a halfhearted block from Kakashi as he also lashed out with a slashing strike toward the white haired man's belly only for the strike to be deflected with a leg block that turned into a snap kick aimed for his chest that caused him to jump back so it only lightly brushed his coat. The entire sequence seemed only a vague blur of motion to her inactive ancestral eyes, lasting less than a second, it was slightly disconcerting to her how fast the older boy was. With a trickle of chakra her white eyes flared to life just as Naruto rejoined his fight with Kakashi, allowing her to watch the match up at a more normal speed.::

As she watched the duo, Hanabi fell into one of the many lessons drilled into her head from a young age and she began to analyze their fighting forms. The scarecrow of a jōnin was using an advanced form of the academy taught taijutsu for his part and holding his own fairly easily against the blond, Naruto's taijutsu form however was not so easily read. A punch from him could lead to another punch or a kick or a headbutt or any other of a number of attacks, his style had no set pattern to it, but it was far from a brawling form. Every move he made was deliberate and wasted very little energy at all and though be barely seemed to be using any of his chakra, she guessed that he was holding back on doing that intentionally. One thing that caught her curiosity about him though, as she watched the fight between the genin and the jōnin, she noticed that Naruto's chakra pathways were almost as well developed as Kakashi's were and far more developed than her own were.::

Intently the young Hyuuga watched her potential teacher and teammate as they sparred, her eyes somewhat adjusting to the lightning pace of their strikes. It was slightly odd, she noted, that Naruto never once took a direct hit from the jōnin, always managing to either completely avoid a strike from the cyclopean man or at the very least deflect it so that the high speed blows did far less damage than they would have otherwise. It only served to make the blond that much more confusing to her, there was no way he should be at this level, even if he had special training as a medic (actually, that part only confused her even more, medics usually weren't very good at hand-to-hand combat like he was doing and usually settled for using poisons at a distance.) She watched as her teammate began to set himself up for a moderately powerful kick while her teacher braced to block it, both she and the jōnin were surprised when a punch connected with his jaw instead and knocked him off balance long enough for the young medic to break away.::

"You actually hit me." Kakashi remarked at he touched his cheek and eyed the boy. "I have to say, you're very fast, but you don't have a whole lot of power behind your attacks. I'm really surprised you're far enough along in that style to actually trick me like that too. I could have sworn you were going to kick me. Nice job."

"Thank-" Naruto began before a lightning fast punch struck his stomach and drove the air from his lungs.

"Don't let your guard down." He hissed in warning before his student exploded in a cloud of smoke. 'Huh, another shadow clone. So he's already divided his power into at least thirds. I wonder if he even notices the drain.'

"Follow your own advice!" The shout came from opposite sides as two identical blonds charged at him armed with matching yatagans, gently curving swords that were fairly popular in the Wind Country among the military powers and outlaws alike.

"I'd hate to see you die!" A third Naruto exclaimed as he came up from behind just as the jōnin was deflecting the weapons that had been aimed for him, moving to take the copy ninja's head off with his own sword.

"Your concern is touching." Kakashi said softly, his head ducked down and his hair now shorter in the back as he skewered the left-hand Naruto with the sword of the one on his right, and the one behind him with the sword of the one of the left after letting that Naruto decapitate the right hand counterpart- more than a little impressed with how long it took the mortally wounded clones to dispel.

"We're supposed to beat this guy?" Hanabi whispered quietly as she watched everything unfold from the safety of the trees. "Unreal."

"You really are trying to kill me, aren't you?" The jōnin asked aloud as he felt the back of his head, brushing his fingertips across the severely shortened locks before sighing as he looked around cautiously- he'd have to cut his hair after the test was over so he didn't look stupid. 'I'm surprised he hasn't attacked again. What are you up to kid?'

"What's wrong Naruto? Don't want to play anymore?" He asked loud enough to be heard at a good distance, casually moving about in the open while looking exposed and pretending not to notice the slight rustle of leaves in the tree behind him. "What a pity, I was actually starting to have fun."

'He's stronger than me, faster than me and probably has much greater situational awareness than I do.' Naruto thought to himself from his hiding place. 'I can't match him physically even if I tried, and he's been a jōnin for longer than I've been alive so there's no way in hell I can match him in experience. And if I can't get a bell alone, there's no way Sasuke and Hanabi can.' "What the hell is your game Ichigan?" As he whispered that he heard a shrill scream of terror from near to where his clones had placed Hanabi, a few fast hand signs below the cover of the branches sent one of his clones off to investigate.

Hanabi bolted upright in an instant, her white eyes wide with panic as she looked around for something, it didn't take long for her to spot the blond crouched down beside her with his fingertips resting gently on her shoulders and black lines receded beneath the sleeves of his coat. He resisted her when she tried to get up and simply shook his head while looking her straight in the eyes. She swallowed slightly as she stared into his intense blue gaze feeling a similar sensation to the one she got when her father was scrutinizing her, though the blond's eyes didn't carry the same weight of judgment that his did. Why the hell did he face feel so warm?::

"Even now, such a pervert Hanabi-chan." Naruto chided her with an impish grin as he pulled his hand back and set it over his heart, his voice never raising above a whisper. "Oh, what is this world coming to, that even the young fall victim to such corruption."

"Wha- mmph!" He cut her off before she could shout at him by clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Keep your voice down, I don't want Kakashi to find us." He warned before pulling his hand back again. "Now, tell me what happened."

"K-Kakashi found me where I was hiding, I thought he was going to attack me but he didn't- he just disappeared in an overpowered leaf shushin." She said, thinking back. "I felt kind of tired and then... Hinata! I heard Hinata calling out to me, I looked back and... Oh god! She..."

"Hanabi, it wasn't real." He said, gently grasping her shoulder like it would keep her tethered to where they were. "It sounds like he caught you in a genjutsu. Hinata hasn't been anywhere near here as far as I can tell."

"B-but I'm a Hyuuga, I can't be..." She cut off when he snorted and glared at him.

"Don't be so arrogant kid, just because you're a Hyuuga doesn't mean you're immune to genjutsu." He chided. "Those pretty little eyes of yours may let you see chakra, but only when they're on, and even then, I doubt you can see everything."

"What do you know?" She scoffed.

"More than you apparently. There's no such thing as a perfect bloodline limit. Every single one of them has some sort of flaw." Naruto answered. "Your eyes for example. The Byakuugan has a three hundred and sixty degree field of vision, at least in theory, but there is evidence that suggests that it has a blind spot. Granted, this is all stuff I learned from Shishou, but I believe it. For instance, they way you walk, you shift your upper body around just slightly, so does Hinata, this suggests that you've both been trained to do this. That in and of itself isn't too unusual, most martial arts have some form of similar nuance to them, because the way you shift also helps to keep your upper body loose for fast strikes. Secondly, the Kaiten, you family's 'ultimate defense'. There's no need for an ultimate defense unless there's some form or ultimate weakness.

"And that's all just from a combat stand point." He said with a smile. "From a medical stand point, the Byakuugan can't have a truly full field of vision. I agree with Shishou's opinion that your family has a blind spot somewhere in the upper back, but I also believe that you can't see what's below your feet unless you look straight down."

"W-what makes you think that?" Hanabi asked, slightly thrown about the fact that her dojutsu had been so thoroughly picked apart."

"Well, your eyes would have to have a blind spot to compensate for the stress that kind of vision would put on your brain." He explained. "As far as blind spots go, one in your upper back- say the base of the neck- wouldn't bee too bad of a place to have a blind spot, all you'd have to do to cover it would be move your back around a bit to check it. Though, admittedly, this is all speculation, neither of us has studied a Hyuuga with their Byakuugan active. I disagree with him on one point though, like I said. I think that your family has a second blind spot. The fist is all well and good, it's take a bit of stress off of your brains and all, but it's not large enough to truly compensate. Hence, I believe that you and your family can't see under ground without truly meaning to. That's a significant enough blind spot that it would reduce the strain to somewhere around half of what it would be otherwise."

"Why the hell do you even think about this kind of thing?" She asked flatly.

"It's as important to know the weaknesses of your allies as it is to know those of your enemies." The blond stated. "You must assume that your enemy knows your every flaw, and those of your allies as well and nothing else. Foolish assumptions in battle will lead to defeat."

"You were making a lot of assumptions a second ago." She said, glaring at him.

"Logical ones." He nodded. "You were the one who foolishly assumed that because of your lineage, illusions would have no affect on you."

"Yeah well..." She scowled, unable to come up with an insult.

"Enough, we need to find Sasuke." Naruto proclaimed.

"Why?" Hanabi asked.

"Because we're missing something, and I haven't figure out what." He replied evenly. "Now, can you find him or not?"

"Hold on." She grumbled as the veins around her eyes bulged and she began to look around. "Found him. Fifty meters, south south west. He's buried up to his neck in the ground and Sensei is saying something to him."

"Alright, let's go- quietly." He warned.

Sasuke growled and muttered curses under his breath as he tried to free himself from the ground without success. He was angry. Hell, he was beyond angry. He was completely, totally and down right unbelievably pissed. That bastard Kakashi had not only buried him up to his ears in the dirt, he had the gall to dress him, the last loyal Uchiha, down like he was some random child! The raven haired boy continued to struggle against the dirt futilely, trying to get enough leeway to free an arm when a shadow passed in front of his face, causing him to look up.::

"Yo, Sasuke." Naruto said crouching down in front of him with Hanabi at his side. "We need to talk."

"Get me out of here." The Uchiha heir apparent ordered, watching as the blond seemed to ponder it- much to his irritation.

"Hmm, no." He said finally. "Like I said, we need to talk. And, well, this is probably the best chance we'll have."

"Either help me or go away." He growled, resuming his struggling until Hanabi stepped on his head. "Hey!"

"You know, I really like this idea Uzumaki." Hanabi said as she continued wiping her sandels on the boy's head as he growled at her.

"Na-ru-to-sen-pai." He corrected her firmly. "I'm older than both of you."

"U-zu-ma-ki." She snarked, emphasizing each syllable by grinder her foot on Sasuke a little more.

"Stop doing that you little bitch!" Sasuke snapped, getting slapped across the face by Naruto- whom he turned his glare on in an instant.

"Watch your mouth brat. You might think you're really something, but right now, you're just a piece of trash in my mind- and you will be until you prove otherwise." The blond growled, grasping Hanabi's leg and pulling it off the boy's head. "Now, both of you listen. Kakashi-sensei is pulling something over on us. But I don't know what it is. Those bells, don't mean jack, that I do know. We can't get them, not working alone. I'm arguably the most skilled of us here, and I still couldn't get one away from him."

"Skilled? You?" The other boy scoffed.

"Yeah, did you miss the whole Kakashi versus my clones thing or something? I'm the only one of us with practical experience as a ninja." He said honestly. "This guy, he's on a whole other level. I can't beat him."

"He didn't seem that good to me." Sasuke comment, feeling something wrap around his body. "What?"

"You feel something?" Naruto asked.

"Someone is holding me." The other boy said with a deal of distaste in his voice.

"That would be your ride." He said, moving behind the buried teen and shoving his hand into the ground. "Allie-oop!" He declared before pulling up sharply, pulling both Sasuke and another copy of himself out of the ground that disappeared as soon as Sasuke was on solid ground. "Now then, as I was saying. I've been holding back this whole time. Sensei has been holding back even more than me. If he really get's serious, there's no way we could touch those bells, even if we all worked together."

"Your quiet right Naruto." Kakashi said, popping out of the ground and seizing the blond from behind. "You're definitely above your teammates in terms of skill, but you made a mistake."

"What's that?" He asked, struggling vainly against the stronger man.

"You wiped all the scent from your body, but you're still carrying cigarettes." The jōnin explained, causing the boy to stop struggling.

"Oh. Hell." He sighed before going up in smoke.

"Shadow clone." The masked man chuckled as he looked at his other students. "Those can get annoying, very quickly. Don't you agree?"

Naruto was in a crouch the instant his clone's warning reached him, his body tensed when he heard someone clear their throat from behind him, slightly off to one side.::

"Cute hiding spot, very well thought out." Kakashi remarked, his eye curving happily as soon as the blond looked back at him. "Hello!"

"Goodbye!" Retorted the blond as the branch he was on was severed by an invisible blade that cut half-way through the tree, dropping him down far enough down that he could escape.

"A wind user, how fun!" The jōnin said with a wide smile before taking off after his escaping student at what was a leisurely pace for him. "Oh Na~ru~To!" He singsonged as he started to catch up to the genin. "Is that all you've got?"

"Not even close!" He shouted back, unsealing his sword from inside his coat and using it in combination with chakra to sever the branches to slow down the copy nin.

"Clever, and a good idea against less skilled enemies." The older fighter observed, easily jumping the gaps left behind. "But useless against a jōnin Naruto-kun! You'll need to work harder!" He declared, watching the boy drop down lower into the tree before he heard a loud groan and found himself dodging a falling tree trunk. "Did you just try to drop a tree on me?"

"Sorry! I missed you!" The blond shouted over his shoulder as black lines spread across his entire face and out across his hands. "Don't worry though, my aim is getting better!" With the last declaration he drew back his glowing blade with both hands and slashed forward, cleaving straight through a particularly thick before stepping on the falling trunk and overloading it with a powerful surge of chakra. "How's that?" He called back as soon as 'Kakashi' turned into a sliver filled log.

"Much better!" Kakashi announced, attacking him from the side- dodging a sword slash by switching out with another log. "You really are good Naruto!"

"Timber!" The medic shouted as he dropped down lower into the forest, cutting down another tree and using it as a bridge to escape into the clearing.

"You shouldn't declare your intentions like that." He scolded his student, watching him unseal a harness and scabbard obviously meant for his sword that he donned quickly.

"I'll remember that." Naruto stated as he sheathed his blade and spun quickly, taking a deep breath as his hands flashed through a short seal set.

"What the hell is he doing?" Sasuke asked after hearing a loud crash coming from the forest.

"Attempting to escape me would by my guess." Kakashi said calmly.

The three of them heard Naruto's shout of 'timber' before a tree began to topple toward the ground, slowly at first but gaining speed as two figures ran out across the trunk like it was flat ground- the smaller figure leaping off and spewing forth a deep purple cloud that the second. The smaller person, Naruto obviously, continued to keep his eyes locked on the taller, Kakashi, as he ran backwards nearly as quickly as he had been running forward, spitting half a dozen small (fairly large actually) sized fireballs to keep the man at a distance as he backpedaled toward his teammates. The second Kakashi, disappeared in a flicker of motion and reappeared the blond in the middle of a kick, laughing aloud when he ducked down and used his momentum to carry him past the man, showing off slightly as he back flipped the remaining distance to Sasuke and Hanabi after he began to slow down. His chest heaving slightly from effort as he came to a stop.::

"I can't believe you tried to drop two trees on me." The nearest Kakashi chided him as the second simply disappeared.

"You told me to do better."He panted as he shrugged slight "I guess I should introduce myself properly though."

"Oh?" The jōnin asked with a bare hint of a smile visible despite his mask.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Medical specialist." Naruto said, drawing himself upright as his breathing evened out. "Hanabi, Sasuke. I've figured it out. Will you work with me?"

"How do we know you're the real you, and not just another one of your damn clones?" Hanabi asked, watching him reach into his weapon pouch to pull out a blue topped cigarette pack long enough to grab one and put it to his lips. "We're in the middle of a test! Why the hell are you smoking?"

"I'm going to start getting really really ticky soon if I don't." He answered, lighting it and taking a short drag. "Now, answer the question, will you work with me?"

"Can we win?" She asked after a short moment of thought.

"Probably. What about you Sasuke?" He asked calmly as the cigarette slowly burned in his lips.

"Fine." The boy said after Hanabi nudged him.

"On my signal, follow my lead." Naruto ordered, exhaling a toxic cloud of gas as the cancer stick neared the halfway mark- suddenly flicking it toward the jōnin before grabbing his teammates as he propelled all three of them back with a chakra enhanced jump. Sasuke nearly protested, before the explosive tag in the discarded cigarette lived up to it's name.

Kakashi was slightly dazed as he rolled to his feet, his ears were ringing from being so close to the explosion. He was only thinking one thing as several dozen copies of his fair-haired student surrounded him. Who the hell smokes a freaking bomb? Dazed as he was, it wasn't hard for the battle tested jōnin to defeat the handful of clones that attacked him as a ground, he'd been close to detonating explosive notes before, he'd been attacked by superior numbers before. Hell, he'd done both at once on several occasions, and those enemies didn't pop like party balloons after one good hit. In seconds, all the Naruto's save one were gone, and that remaining one was charging at him head on. Well, that's a stupid idea.::

The one became many with a single seal, and every single clone he had defeated was replaced and had extras. Crap. Why did he have to fight the Jinchuuriki again? Oh well, for all his power, the kid was still a kid. He had little real battle experience, at least not when compared to the sharingan user he was fighting. He sighed, to himself. The battlefield was no place for children and that's all they ever sent him, stupid bastards on the council. As he smashed through the clones, he noticed something. They were switching places with each other and replenishing their numbers every time he destroyed on of them. That would definitely get annoying quickly. One of the Naruto's shouted something he couldn't quite make out over the ringing. Damn explosion. Oh look, Sasuke and Hanabi just joined Naruto's little fist orgy, and a kick to the face of that stuck up brat Sasuke. Damn. Another Naruto clone. Still felt good though.::

The jōnin heard the soft jingle of his bells and the din of the orange hoard grow louder, his hearing was starting to return. He sidestepped Hanabi before grabbing her leg and smash her into a couple Naruto's, her becoming another him before he hit the first, but hey, at least he was winning. A sharp sensation like a bee sting drew his attention to his leg and the Hyuuga heiress that had just jabbed him, he caught her in the jaw with the opposite knee- he leg still hurt though. What genius thought up Jyuuken anyway? That crap hurts when it hits you. Granted, that is the point but... Oh look she didn't turn into another clone. His punch connected with Sasuke's stomach, and he too turned out to be the real deal. Well, two high-society brats down. Finally. Now if he could just find that damn blond brat. Two clones broke off the attack and grabbed Hanabi and Sasuke, pulling them both out of the field of fire. Fire. That sounded like fun. Kakashi's hands were blur as he performed the seals and took a deep breath. Flames erupted into the hoard of genin, consuming them and reducing them to literally nothing as he rotated. Oh, sweet satisfaction. And not a blond hair in sight. Where the hell did he go now?::

"Yo, sensei." Came the familiar voice of Naruto who was standing over his teammates, smoking a cigarette and holding a pair of bells while his clones tended to the two. "Got 'em."

"You switched them out with your collar?" Kakashi asked as he looked down at the belled band on his hip. "Nice touch. Now comes the important part. Who gets them?"

"These little trinkets?" The blond asked in a carefree manner, moving his arm down to his side for a second before throwing the bells up into the air and incinerating them with a decent sized jet of flame, his lightly singed lips twisting into a small smirk as the jutsu ended. "I guess no one now."

"What the hell?" Hanabi demanded. "We needed those to pass!"

"I told you. This test isn't about the bells." He stated, pulling out a fresh cigarette and lighting it. "It never was, haven't you figured it out yet? We have enough information."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, pushing away the arm of the Naruto double before rubbing his aching stomach.

"We had to work together." The kunoichi said, finally grasping the answer. "The bells were to separate us so that we wouldn't."

"Very good, Hanabi-chan." Naruto said with a face of bliss as he took a deep drag of his cigarette. "The point of all this was to see if would could pull together and work as a team."

"Did we?" Sasuke asked.

"Hell no." The blond snorted, reaching into his sleave and tossing the other two one of the bells. "I'm a medic, I run a clinic by myself. I know next to nothing about working as a team. I can give orders and I can follow them. But that's about it for me." He sighed before finishing off the fag and extinguishing it on his palm, letting the black lines covering his hands and face retreat back underneath his clothes. "I just gave you two some vague orders and you put it together from there. But hey, that's better than nothing, right?"

"Better than nothing." Kakashi agreed, nodding slightly. "But not being a real team could very easily get all of you killed."

"Listen, as much as I'm enjoying this conversation, I've got some urgent business to take care of- cannot wait sort of shit." Naruto said as he took out and lit another cigarette. "I hate to be rude, and I hate to rush you. But I have to ask you right now. Do we pass, or fail?"

"You managed to work together, if just barely. On top of that you actually managed to get the bells from me- if only by overwhelming me." The jōnin said, watching the boy carefully as he spoke. "Against my better judgment. You pass. Barely."

"Good to know." He nodded, moving away from the others. "I'll have to take a rain check on whatever team thing you had planned, sensei." He said before pressing his hands together in a ram seal and running off far faster than he had during the test.

"We'll meet back here tomorrow at six a.m." Kakashi said as the alarm sounded. "Don't be late." With that, he disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"I wonder what that was about." Hanabi said, looking over to find Sasuke already walking away. "Boys."

"Come on, stop shaking damn it." Naruto muttered at his trembling hand as he worked to prepare a syringe for clear fluid, grasping his wrist with his other hand in an attempt to steady it until a second pair of gloved hands moved in and prepared the needle for him- he looked up into the face of his teacher when the man paused. "Sensei?"

"How much?" Kakashi asked.

"All of it." He said, closing his purple tinted eyes as he took a deep breath.

"Is this going to be a problem?" The older man asked as the liquid drained into the syringe from the small vial.

"No more than usual." The blond said, exposing his neck fully, hissing slightly when the needle entered his jugular and released it's contents into his blood. "Thought I had a couple more minutes. I would have gone for one of the prepared shots if I thought it would hit this quickly."

"Are you going to be a danger to them Naruto?" He asked.

"No more than usual." He repeated.

A/N 2: Yeah, that's it for now. Chapter four won't be out for a while. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll look over it more thoroughly in the morning, but if you find any errors, let me know please. Even if you don't find errors, leave a review- be it good, bad or drool monkey infestation of the cranial persuasion. I like reviews. Even the flames. Flames are how an author knows they're doing well. You're not on the right path unless there's a vocal minority bitching at you. (you may want to take a look around if the majority starts complaining though).

Later.

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