Hinata and Sasuke arrived at the training ground both still trying to rub the sleep out of their eyes. The sun was just barely peeking over the mountains as the early morning fog began to dissipate.
They both caught sight of their third teammate, standing silent as a specter in the shadow beneath one of the trees waiting for them.
He turned his head in their direction, barely nodding in greeting.
The two gennins each walked forward and sat down, no one exchanged a word as they waited for Kakashi to arrive. Eventually Sasuke and Hinata fell asleep again, trying to catch those last few seconds of rest while Naruto remained awake. Silent as the dead.
It was several hours later that Kakashi showed up in his signature puff of smoke. "Oyaho." He greeted.
"You are late Hatake." Came Naruto's voice in a flat tone which held a distinct edge of annoyance in it.
Kakashi waved his hand dismissively "Maa, maa, I'm not late your just early." He stopped the nonsense as Naruto turned and glared, clearly irritated. He cleared his throat before he made two hand seals which formed two small streams of water that hit Sasuke and Hinata in the face, startling them awake.
Kakashi held in his mirth at their startled expressions but let a chuckle escape his lips at their mutual death-glares. God he loved these moments.
When it looked like the two clan heirs were about to get up and ring his neck he immediately took out his two bells and his alarm clock. "Now then, the purpose of this test is simple. In order to pass you must simply take a bell from me, before time runs out."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "In case you haven't noticed Kakashi, you only brought two bells."
"Your powers of observation continue to serve you well Sasuke." Kakashi said happily as his eye curved upwards in an upside down U.
"Then that means that one will automatically fail?" Hinata asked incredulously.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the cycloptic jounin. 'What are you up to Hatake?'
Kakashi cleared his throat, "Ready." A slight pause. 'Begin!" He yells before vanishing in a black and silver blur.
Sasuke and Hinata rush off to hide, not knowing where their sensei has vanished while Naruto vanishes in his own blur to follow the copy nin, having able to follow his form rather easily.
A few moments later, Kakashi and Naruto stand in a clearing. The former reading his orange book. Though most of his attention was on the living weapon.
"I am impressed Hatake." Naruto says slowly, making Kakashi's single visible eye turn to him.
"Ohh are you now? What did I do to impress you so?"
"Using an exercise that shows, the gennin they may one day have to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their assigned mission. I did not think one such as you would ennact such a test."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly. "Even though the test is centered around personal sacrifice, it is for one man to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their teammates, not for the sake of the mission."
This time it was Naruto who narrowed his eyes, though only in curiosity.
"You do realize Hatake, that in the Shinobi world, the mission, is what counts, not your teammates."
Kakashi kept his cool facade, it saddened and angered him somewhat, that the legacy of his sensei, the man who put the lives of his fellow Shinobi above all else, had been turned into this drone that was imbued with the stagnant foolish beliefs of the old Shinobi ways.
Still perhaps he could bend the truth to suit his needs. "A great man once told me. 'Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades…are worse than trash." He quoted his old teammate yet again.
Naruto remained impassive. "Then he was a foolish idealist. The law of the Shinobi is quite clear, the mission comes first. I would think the disgrace your father suffered would have taught you the price of such idealism."
Kakashi's grip tightened on his book as he reined in his temper. He had insulted both Obito and his father, were he anyone else, the boy would be in a great deal of pain right now. Crippling pain. He took a deep breath and calmed his temper. 'He knows no better. This is precisely what we want to undo. I cannot hold him responsible.'
He looked back up at the boy. "Well Naruto, do you know who it was that told me that?"
"Obviously not." Naruto said.
Kakashi smirked. "It was the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha." Not exactly true, but perhaps it would serve to shake some of that conviction of the Shinobi law out of him.
He saw him stiffen and knew that his ploy had the effect of at least surprising him.
Naruto indeed felt surprise.
The greatest ninja the world had ever known carried such a philosophy?
He stiffened for a moment before he relaxed again shaking his head. "It matters little and less who says it. The words are false."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes, apparently this was going to be harder than he thought. "Even if the greatest of all Shinobi hold that same philosophy? The Hokage's were and are the strongest ninjas of the village. Each of them had one thing in common. The desire to protect, to defend their people. They are shields not swords Naruto. What does the Shinobi law state about that?"
Naruto unsheathed one of his blades calmly and took up his stance. "It is a Kage's sworn duty to lead, guide and protect his village, therefore, they are merely following their own mission and orders. While we follow ours." He stated simply.
Kakashi resisted the urge to pull at his hair in frustration.
This was gonna be a lot harder than what he first thought.
"Now, I believe there are two bells I must take from you." Came the blonds altered voice, Kakashi barely had time to put his book away and lift his forehead protector before he was forced to leap away in order to avoid a sword swipe to his mid section.
As he moved through the air he took out a scroll and unrolled it, seconds later an Anbu blade poof'ed into existence. The copy-nin caught the blade just as he landed on the ground and in one fluid motion placed it just in time to block Naruto's scimitar.
The two blades met with a loud 'clang' and Kakashi nearly lost his grip on his blade due to the force Naruto had put behind it.
He hid it though and glared at the blond. "You think you can get these bells before time runs out Naruto? I may have been out of the Anbu corps for a good six years now, but don't think you can just beat me outright."
Naruto pulled his blade back before swinging again, batting Kakashi's blade away, he then tried to punch the copy nin in the face with his left. Kakashi caught his wrist with his right hand and tried to swipe at the blonds mid section from right to left with his left hand. Naruto leapt up, over the blade, as he came down Kakashi tried to come in with a follow up swing, however, now that the blade was on Naruto's right side the blond was able to turn the scimitar in his right hand so it was held in a reverse grip and blocked the former Anbu captains swipe.
The living weapon then shoved Kakashi away, making the man lose his footing slightly he yanked his left hand out of the mans grip and swiftly came with a round house kick that would have connected solidly with Kakashi's face had the copy ninja not seen it coming with his sharingan and managed to put up a last minute defense. Naruto's kick still broke through the hastily placed guard but it had lost all strength in it and did little significant damage.
Kakashi rolled with the hit and gave a quick spin which ended with an attempted back hand to Naruto's face, but the blond blocked it and then threw Kakashi over his shoulder.
The copy nin flipped in mid air and landed on his feet and charged at the blond again. He came in with a fast upwards swipe, Naruto back flipped to avoid the swing and then side stepped several times, narrowly avoiding the thrusts Kakashi sent towards his chest, the blade barely glancing his shoulders.
In the tree's Sasuke and Hinata were watching the scene with wide disbelieving eyes, their movements were so fast even Hinata, with the aid of the byakuugan could barely keep up with them. Sasuke could barely catch a flash of silver before a swift clash of steel rangagainst steel again. The resounding metallic sounds coming in so swiftly it sometimes sounded as if they had only hit once.
Finally the two Shinobi leapt back Kakashi, just slightly winded as he had not had the need to use such speed in a long time, while Naruto looked as immovable as ever his constant use of such speed and power having conditioned his body to handle it easier.
Naruto then straightened and with a few simple hand seals a gust of wind swooped in out of nowhere, carrying dead and rotting leaves from the nearby forest and fresh ones that had given way under the harsh wind.
The leaves fluttered around them swirling in a mini tornado that did little more than keep them in the air.
Kakashi looked towards Naruto. He knew that the blond was planning something, whatever it was, he wasn't going to let this happen. He rushed forward and thrust his blade towards the blond's chest but just as his blade would have made contact the blond vanished out of existence, reappeared behind the copy nin and delivered a sharp elbow to the back of his head.
Kakashi stumbled forward but regained his footing quickly and spun around, swinging his sword at the blond but again, Naruto vanished into thin air and appeared at Kakashi's side. The boy spun once before delivering a crushing swing with the blunt side of his scimitar to Kakashi's lower back.
The copy nin felt his eyes go wide with pain and bit his lip to keep himself from crying out. He stumbled forward but then felt all the air in his lungs leave as a harsh knee connected with his stomach. He coughed but before he could do anything he felt a foot connect with his face sending him flying upwards.
He opened his eyes and then saw Naruto blur into existence infront of him, bringing his sword down in a move that would cleave his skull open.
He put his own blade in the way but before Naruto's blade hit the blond vanished again. Kakashi then felt a harsh kick connect with the back of his head. 'How is he doing this?' The copy nin wondered frantically. 'How can anyone be this fast?'
Hinata however, from her vantage point, along with the chakra seeing ability of the Byakuugan knew exactly what Naruto was doing.
He had taken the most basic of ninja skills and had made it something incredibly deadly. He had first created a tornado of swirling leaves and then, every time Kakashi would attack him he would immediately replace himself with one of the leaves anywhere in the swirling mass, while simultaneously removing the signature cloud of smoke.
Still, this confused her, in a Kawarimi the smaller the object you were replacing yourself with the greater control you needed in order to accomplish it. For him to Kawarimi with a leaf so easily was nothing short of remarkable especially for someone with so much chakra.
She pushed these thoughts aside and instead continued to watch the one sided fight.
Kakashi felt Naruto grab his ankle the blond then pulled him down so the copy nin was below him and delivered a hard, crushing axe kick to the Sharingan wielders face sending him plummeting back down to earth.
Kakashi crashed into the ground a massive cloud of dust and dirt being lifted as he fell.
Naruto landed on the ground and stared into the hole, waiting for Kakashi to emerge, his sword at the ready.
After several seconds that Kakashi did not emerge Naruto's posture relaxed slightly and that's when Kakashi struck.
In an explosion of earth and debris Kakashi shot out of the earth directly behind the slightly startled Anbu.
He pumped his entire arm with as much chakra as he could and punched the young Naruto solidly in the face, Kakashi tried not to wince as the edge of Naruto's metallic face mask dug right between his knuckles nearly breaking one.
Still, Naruto could attest to the success of the attack as he was sent flying clear across their battle ground, crashing into a tree, the wood groaning and creaking as a crack formed on the other side.
Naruto snapped his head around and found Kakashi rushing towards him at high speeds, intent on keeping up the momentum his assault had granted him.
Naruto put his legs to the tree trunk and jumped up in a flip just as Kakashi's fist was about to hit him. He went over the copy nin, flipped and landed behind him facing his back.
Kakashi turned just in time to catch a foot to his face, making him hit the tree this time. Except this time it actually broke.
Kakashi flipped and landed on his feet skidding to a stop, he looked up and Naruto again blurred into existence right before his eyes but this time Kakashi was finally able to see with his sharingan just what the blond had been doing. 'Oh you've got to be kidding me! Its that simp-.' He got yet another knee to the face, this time, the edges of his vision went dark, he tried to stay conscious but soon fell into unconsciousness.
Naruto approached the fallen jounin, knelt down next to him, removed the bells and stood. "We pass, Hatake."