To Save Them All

We Passed

"You all remember what I said at the beginning of the test, correct?" Kakashi asked, making sure he emphasised the 'what I said' part, as if asking if they dared to disobey a superior.

All three teenagers nodded, with only one looking worried, the other two sporting blank expressions.

"I said that whoever had no bell would get no lunch and be sent back to the academy. Correct?" Kakashi asked in a innocent tone, which just freaked the teenagers out.

Three heads nodded.

"Great. So which one of you pups has no bell?" He asked.

At this, the boys smirked while Sakura was too scared to look up.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow (at least they think he did, as they were only able to see one visible) and held out a gloved hand, asking (ordering) them for his bells.

The boys smirks grew, and Sakura's head ducked lower.

All three then in the same instant, took out a bell each, surprising their soon-to-be sensei.

"Ne, ne, Kakashi-Sensei, you said whoever had a bell by noon gets to pass right? Demosa, well you see, technically we all have bells, so none of us can fail, right?" Naruto 'innocently' pointed out to Kakashi.

Kakashi took a look at all of them and the bells and sighed.

"You all would have passed either way Naruto. You see, in this test, the main thing was teamwork."

At this, Sakura shot disbelieving looks towards Naruto, and occasionally glanced towards the sky, wandering to herself if the sky was going to fall soon, while Sasuke inwardly smirked, knowing his brother was right all along and they had a chance to mess with their constantly late sensei. Outwardly, he raised his head a little higher, face now emotionless, but proud that Naruto was finally able to start getting credit for his work.

"Before you three go off and celebrate, there's something I want all of you to remember. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But those who abandon their comrades are lower then scum. That is the code I have lived by for years now. I want you three to remember those words well."

Taking a look at his genin team, he nodded, almost as if to himself.

"We'll meet here tomorrow at 8am".

The now official genin took this in, and now that it looked like they were dismissed, they began walking off.

"Naruto, I want to speak with you for a bit."

At this, Naruto froze to the spot, and when Sasuke stopped as well, Naruto waved him off, telling him they'd meet up with Shikamaru later.

Sasuke nodded and began leaving, sneaking a backwards glance towards Kakashi, then turned around and left before Sakura would realise the he wasn't anywhere near her.

Naruto walked towards Kakashi, his strides purposely confident to either prove he knew what Kakashi wanted know or just because he felt that he was. Kakashi wasn't sure but was leaning towards former.

Naruto stopped in front of Kakashi, determined not to show emotion on his face until after his questioning.

Kakashi frowned slightly at this and took a closer look at Naruto.

"When did you learn the Kage Bunshin?"

Within seconds, Naruto thought up so many curses to himself that even Kurama had a hard time to block out his thoughts.

'I had an excuse for practically everything he could have asked, but nope! I have nothing for the Kage Bunshin. I'm so gonna get caught!"

"Tell him that you saw a scroll and was bored when you had been waiting for the Hokage in his office and took a peek." Kurama helpfully suggested.

'I'm gonna get into so much trouble for this. Thanks Kurama.'

"Ehhh... Well... I may or may not have sawascrollandwasboredwhenIwaswaitingforJijiinhisofficeandtookapeek!

(A.N. 'saw a scroll and was bored when I was waiting for Jiji in his office and took a peek!' is what he said.)

'Screw the emotionless plan, ACT INNOCENT!'

By now, Naruto already knew he screwed up, but hey, might as well pretend he found them rather then it being information he learned from the future. Besides, he did NOT want to explain to Kakashi about the how's and why's. At least not yet.

'Please! Kakashi-Sensei! If you ever cared about me, don't ask anything else! Pleeaasse!'

Panic took over in the head of the blonde, and it took Kurama screaming his fluffy head off to calm Naruto down.

"Gomen Sensei, but I have to meet up with Shikamaru and the others today. We already made plans, including RAMEN so I really need to go now. I'll see you tomorrow!" He yelled as he began to run.

When Naruto was out of sight, Kakashi heaved a sigh and wondered whether or not Naruto was being honest. He was believing the answer to be not, but couldn't think of what the real answer was.

'Did three years of not looking out for him as Inu make me miss out on too much of his development?' Kakashi wondered to himself, torn between feeling guilt for not being there and feeling happy that Naruto had turned out so well.

He smiled under his mask and decided to go meet up with the other jonin senseis. He couldn't wait to see Asuma's expression when he tells them that he finally passed a genin team.

With another little smile, he took out his 'Icha Icha Paradise' and began walking towards the usual bar.

'Wait a minute. Where'd that third bell even come from?''