Naruto, the 4th member of Team 7

Teamwork was the answer

I couldn't see Sasuke's face from here, but I bet he must be gritting his teeth in frustration right now since he couldn't even lay a fist on him.

Kakashi sensei looked up and glared at us which made me gulp in fear. "Are you guys underestimating what it means to be a ninja? Do you think that's its that easy to be a ninja? Huh?"

"Why do you think you guys were divided into teams? Why do you think we're doing this training?" he pushed, he sounded angry.

"Um.... what do you mean by that sensei?" Sakura asked, she was clueless for once.

"To put it simply.... it's as if you guys do not understand the answer to this test."

"Answer?" Naruto was confused.

"Yes, the answer that determines if you pass or fail this test."

"That's.... what I've been wanting to ask for a while now....." Sakura was trying to defend herself.

"Man..... are you guys brainless or what. Don't you get the meaning of 'three man squad'? " Kakashi sensei scoffed.

"Jeez! What about three people in a group?! What's the answer already?"" Naruto was tired of Kakashi sensei not getting right to the point.

Kakashi sensei then looked over to me, "Out of the 4 of you, only Akiko managed to figure out the answer. Akiko, why don't you tell them."

Eh? Me? I figured it out? So.... that means I was right then?

"It's teamwork." I said it loud enough for everyone to hear, I could see the shocked yet confused expression on their faces when they found out the answer.

"Exactly, it's too late for you to realize it now. If you guys had figured it out earlier and worked together then you might've been able to take the bells away from me."

"Chotto matte! How could we even work together if there are only 3 bells? One of us would definitely fail even if we were to work together!" 

Kakashi sensei sighed and looked at me as if asking me to answer. "Akiko, since you figured out the answer. Care to explain the purpose of this exercise?"

I raised an eyebrow but answered anyways. "He was pitting us against each other on purpose. He was trying to see if we would work together despite the situation given to us."

"That's right. The purpose of this exercise is to see if you could cast aside your own interests and work together as a team in this kind of situations. And yet, you fools...."

"Sakura! You were only concerned with Sasuke even though you had no idea where he was. Naruto was right in front of you, and yet you didnt care about him or even bothered to find out where Akiko was." Sakura looked down with a guilty expression.

"Naruto! All you do is run solo, not even thinking about asking others for help." Naruto closed his eyes, clearly feeling bad about what he did.

Kakashi sensei looked down at Sasuke who was underneath him and stepped on his head even more, "Sasuke! You just immediately assumed that Sakura and Naruto would be a burden to you, and were determined to do everything by yourself whether you managed to meet up with Akiko or not."

"Akiko," Kakashi sensei looked up at me, though his tone wasn't as harsh as with the others, probably because I figured it out. "You were the only one who figured out the answer, you were the only one who thought about searching for your teammates and coming up with a plan to take me on, even if you weren't sure if they would agree with you. Which I bet, they clearly wouldn't have, you'd merely be wasting your time. I held you back on purpose to see if the others would search for you, but they didn't."

Kakashi's words for me made the others look at me with a different expression, it was like they couldn't believe I actually figured it out and were disappointed in themselves for not figuring it out too.

"Missions are carried out in squads. There's no mistake that your own ability is important, but teamwork is more important is considered more important than that. Keep in mind that your actions could affect your teamwork which can put your comrades in danger, you could even die."

"For example....." he then took out a kunai and held it at Sasuke's neck, "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies." he threatened.

"What?!" Sakura and Naruto shouted.

"Is what would happen if you got caught." Kakashi sensei added as he drew his hand back from Sasuke's neck.

"Oh. I was so surprised." Sakura let out a huge sigh of relief.

"On top of having a hostage taken, you're faced with two impossible choices and end up being killed." He spun his kunai around his finger before keeping it in his tool pouch.

"Every mission you take will be putting your lives at risk." he got off of Sasuke's back and walked towards a kunai shaped monument. 

"Look at this, the numerous names that have been engraved on this stone...." he started "These are all ninjas who are recognized as heroes of the village." it felt as if there was something else in his tone, like sadness.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!! I like that! I've decided now to get my name engraved on that stone too! A hero! I'm not going to die like a dog!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

"Tch." Sasuke clicked his tongue again as he walked back to stand next to me.

"But... they're not just ordinary heroes."

"No kidding, what kind of heroes are they sensei?"

Kakashi sensei was quiet for the first time, which gave me a bad feeling.

"Hey, hey!" 

"They are heroes who died while on duty."