Tale of the Setting Sun.

Shinobi IV

He hid a smile behind his mask. Maybe the Third had been right after all; it looked like the Fourth's son had grown up to be quite interesting.

The next day, the newly formed genin team waited at the training field for their new jōnin sensei. Though Kakashi had told them to arrive early, it seemed the man himself was going to be late. Grumbling about being hungry, Rai sprawled across the ground. Her face pinched with hunger, Mayu sat down next to him.

As the minutes ticked by and the sun inched up the sky, Naruto observed his new teammates in silence. Rai Hagane and Mayu Kamizuki... He had never really noticed either of them in his classes. Though that wasn't saying much, when he had barely interacted with any of his classmates over the past few years. The scant little he could recall of either them was superficial at best: Rai was loud, and Mayu was quiet. It seemed the two had known each other for quite a while as well, considering how tightly Mayu stuck to Rai's side.

None of this would have mattered to Naruto, except for the fact that they were now a team. He held back a sigh; he wished they would have just put him on a team by himself. It would've been less cumbersome that way.

Though Naruto had made an effort to stay alert, when his stomach began to make rumbling sounds, he settled down on the ground. Closing his eyes and focusing on the stream of chakra running throughout his body, Naruto began to think upon their present situation.

Why had the three of them been explicitly told to come this early for training? Why hadn't Kakashi come yet, leaving the three of them alone together? What kind of test could it be, that it would determine whether they were to continue training as genins, or return to the Academy as failures? Surely nobody expected them to be able to defeat a jōnin? And most importantly...why had they been told to skip breakfast?

Ironically, it was the sharp hunger wracking his belly that brought clarity to his mind. Naruto's eyes snapped open.

"We need a plan," he said aloud. His teammates seemed surprised at his addressing them.

"What do you mean?" said Rai, regarding him through narrowed eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei's test will probably involve us having to team up to beat him," he explained. "That's why he's late - he knew we didn't discuss anything yesterday, so he's giving us time now to work out a plan. In fact, he's probably watching us from somewhere right now to see how we spend this time."

His eyebrows raised, Rai looked around skeptically. "I don't sense him anywhere."

"He's a jōnin," said Naruto. He turned to look at Mayu, noting how she flinched from under his gaze. "You specialize in genjutsu, right?" He turned toward Rai. "You're a long-range weapons specialist. And of us here, I'm the best at taijutsu. If we team up and combine our abilities, I think we've got a decent chance at beating Kakashi-sensei."

His teammates exchanged looks. Then, Rai looked back at Naruto and to his surprise, gave him a nod. Considering how the other boy had introduced himself - I hate being ordered around -he'd expected him to put up more of a fight.

"Since it was your idea," said Rai, "what do you want us to do?"

By the time Kakashi finally arrived, Naruto felt reasonably pleased with the plan they had worked out. Getting the other two to cooperate with him had also been much easier than he had expected. In fact, it made him wonder if he should have put more effort in reaching out to the others in his class.

"Your test is to take these two bells from me before noon," said Kakashi, looking about as disinterested as possible. "Whichever one of you doesn't get the bell will be tied to the rock and forced to watch the others eat."