"Pass? But why?" the kunoichi asked, this time using words instead of dull exclamations.
"Simply put, you guys are the first," the Jonin continued without skipping a beat, stepping back and slipping his hands into his pockets.
"First? First for what?" Naruto asked.
"What I mean is that you guys are the first team I've ever tested who were able to set aside your personal interests and resolved to work together to complete a task that would have otherwise been impossible to do on your own," Kakashi exclaimed with an affirmative head nod, "Even if it meant that one of you would fail, in the end you were willing to work as a group to see it through the rest of the way. Everyone else would have continued blindly until the final bell fighting on their own without even sparing a second thought to their teammates. You guys though… you really came along."
The man walked out a little, taking on a faraway look as his team stared up at him intently. As confusing as the results were to them at first, things shortly thereafter started falling into place.
"While individual strength is important for a shinobi, what's even more important is teamwork. Everyone in this village knows this. Ninjas are also required to think beyond the normal. Look underneath the underneath. In this world, it is said that those who break the rules and codes of a ninja are called trash," Kakashi recited, before looking back at them and giving an eye smile. "But you know what?" He pulled out a familiar wrapped leaf from his pocket and tossed it up and down in his hand, with Sasuke blinking in surprise and checking his pocket for the forest food Naruto had given to both him and Sakura earlier that day. All of them then looked at their instructor in astonishment. "Those who don't take care of their comrades are even worse than trash."
At this, the sun seemed to shine a little more brightly through the trees, and the small clearing they were standing in lit up in the noon sun. The warmth that flooded the area from the brilliant rays filled the team's hearts with triumph and understanding, with Sasuke giving an approving smile and Sakura giggling in excitement. Naruto on the other hand was gazing up at their teacher admirably, taking the words he'd spoken to heart with shimmering eyes.
"He's so cool," the jinchuriki thought.
With that said and done, the Jonin handed back the food to Sasuke before patting him, Sakura and Naruto on the head, "The training ends here. Everybody passes. Team 7 will start its first real missions tomorrow morning." He saw them all nod at the exact same time, to which he smiled warmly at them and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Meet up at this same training field at seven o'clock sharp over at the stumps. Great work you guys."
Once that announcement was made the trio and their teacher then began heading off, leaving the clearing in the woods well behind. When they arrived at the training pillars to collect their gear, Naruto was stopped by his teammates walking up to him and holding out two boxes. The jinchuriki looked between the two containers in confusion before glancing up at his friends, whom he could see were smiling at him and looking away respectively.
"This is for earlier, Naruto," Sakura exclaimed happily, thrusting the box further out.
The blonde recoiled a little in surprise, "Huh? R-Really?"
"Yeah. I mean… we were starving today and you gave us food. It only makes sense that we should return the favor," Sakura replied sincerely with the brightest of smiles. The Uchiha however maintained radio silence and just held out his thing with his gaze continually averted. Even though both of them had come to the same gesture of good faith at the exact same time, clearly they both had different ways of conveying their gratitude.
Feeling his stomach grumble, Naruto glanced down at himself apprehensively to listen to it voice its complaints before beaming back up at his teammates. He took their bento boxes and bowed to them gratefully, "Thanks so much, Sakura-chan. Sasuke."
The two smiled back at him, glad to see that he was satisfied.
Soon after that, with bags on their backs and a spring in their step, side by side with their teacher, the squad walked back to the village. Allowing the youngsters to get a little further ahead, the Jonin gazed at them all with an approving smile, watching as Naruto and Sakura chatted and Sasuke just listened in with an open ear.
"I have a feeling that things are about to get a whole lot more interesting around here," Kakashi thought, above everything else looking forward to the festivities tomorrow.
OOO
That night…
On the road leading across the Land of Fire away from Konohagakure, locked inside a horse-drawn wagon and guarded by several armed Chunin, the three kunoichi that had been involved in the Scroll of Seals incident were currently being escorted to Konoha's Strict Correctional Facility. Having no further need for them and feeling that they'd spent enough time in the village's dungeons; the officials had quickly decided to move them out for an extended sentence.
After aiding a now dismissed Konoha shinobi in the theft of an important historical and potentially dangerous artifact, it was no surprise they were being moved to their main holding facility for criminals. Even if their threat to the village was minimal, they were still too troublesome to keep an eye on, so you could say those that had been charged with their imprisonment had become fed up with looking after them. This was how poor Noriko, Kureha and Shuko took their dismissal from the underground cells and their processing by guarded transport. The leaf ninja were taking no more chances with them.
"This stinks," Kureha sulked from her spot against the walls, looking around at all the seals keeping them locked up. The fact that they were still dressed in their shinobi garb but had their hands cuffed was another thing worth noting. They were probably going to have their clothes changed at the facility. "I'm getting sick and tired of getting my ass kicked by that blonde haired kid."
"Yeah well… let's just be grateful that he didn't kill us for trying to take out our frustrations on him," Shuko spoke up, pulling her legs up as she thought back on their defeats. "If it were anybody else, they would've killed us on the spot for trying to take their life. I'm just thankful that our opponent was merciful and that I'm still breathing right now."
Noriko, their leader who was still showing some signs of her defeat at the hands of the boy's companion, huffed and glared towards one of the corners of their moving carriage. The bumps in the road were accentuated by every rattle and shake of the wooden hull, which didn't exactly make their ride comfortable. "You guys may be happy, but I'm sure as hell not. That mission was a complete fuck up. I've never felt so weak before in my life."
Kureha sighed, "That's because we spent all of our time in prison lounging about and letting our skills deteriorate. We could've at least done some training and kept up our strength."
"Well… if that's how you feel," Noriko looked back up at them, "The moment we get dropped off at prison, I'm going to start training from scratch and hitting the courtyard. There's no way I'm going to let myself get beaten again."
"B-But," Shuko looked across in surprise at the woman's assertive tone, "Wouldn't that be kind of redundant in our case? To do any kind of worthwhile training we'd need to use chakra, wouldn't we? And… well…" She pointed around them at the seals on the walls, "It's not like our hosts are going to be letting us have those kinds of privileges in our cells, are they?"
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