I woke up to the sound of my alarm and I stretched. I went to my bathroom, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and fulfilled the rest of my morning necessities. My stomach growled.
I'm so hungry...that's right, I went to bed without eating dinner. But...I don't want to puke...forget it, I'm not going to starve myself to death, I'm hungry and I don't care if I throw up.
I made myself pancakes and drank orange juice. After I finished, I grabbed my weapon pouch and walked to the training grounds. Everyone was there but Kakashi-sensei. I glared at Sasuke, and he glared back. Naruto was confused, but glared at him with me. Sakura, on the other hand, just crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.
"Where is he?" she growled frustratingly. We waited for hours, the sun even came up. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he appeared.
"Good morning, ready for your first day?" he greeted.
"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura yelled accusingly.
"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way," he made up an excuse, which none of us believed.
"Well, let's get started. This clock is set for noon. Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these three bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get it by noon, you won't get lunch. You'll be tied to those posts while you watch me eat your lunch in front of you," Kakashi-sensei explained and Sakura glared at him.
"That's why you told us not to eat!" I yelled accusingly.
"That's right."
"Wait, why are there only three bells when there are four of us?" Sakura asked.
"Good question. This means at least one of you gets tied to a post and has no lunch, and ultimately fails the test since they didn't complete the mission. That one gets sent back to the Academy," he explained, which made me glare at him. "You can use any weapons during this test, including shuriken. You need to have a full intention of killing me in order to pass this test."
Great, then I can use my Star Shuriken.
"But sensei, those weapons are dangerous!" Sakura countered.
"Yeah, especially since you couldn't counter that eraser!" Naruto laughed.
"Class clowns are usually the weaker ones of the crop. They have the lowest grades, and they're losers," Kakashi insulted. This angered Naruto quite a lot, making him growl.
"When I say start, you may begin-" Kakashi started, but was interrupted by Naruto's battle cry as he ran at Kakashi full-force with a kunai in hand. In the blink of an eye, Kakashi held Naruto so that he was pointing his kunai at his own head, which made my eyes widened.
He IS strong after all. This is going to be quite a challenge.
"I didn't say go yet, but you came at me with the full intention of killing me, so how can I say this...I'm actually starting to like you guys," he said, which made me raise an eyebrow, but slightly smile.
"Get ready...and...start!" he yelled and we all jumped into the trees.
Well, all except one of us. Naruto charged after Kakashi. Sensei swiftly dodged his attack. Naruto stumbled to turn around, but before he could, he made hand signs.
He's going to use a Jutsu on him already?!
"Secret Finger Jutsu! A Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi yelled and stuck his fingers into Naruto's butt. I sweat dropped and sighed heavily.
Of course... He wouldn't risk showing his Jutsu just yet.
Naruto fell into the lake next to us and I sighed heavily.
We should be working together, I mean wouldn't teamwork be more effective against a Jonin? He's a powerful ninja and we can't beat him on our own.
Naruto had 7 shadow clones jump out of the lake and attack Kakashi. One clone got him from behind, and Naruto was going to punch him, but Naruto punched himself instead. Kakashi had used a Substitution Jutsu, which replaced his body with one of Naruto's clones.
After undoing the Jutsu, Naruto noticed a bell under a tree. He walked over to it, not realizing it was a trap, and got caught in it. A rope grabbed his foot and hung him upside down from the tree. Kakashi took the bell from the ground and I sighed heavily.
While he lectured Naruto, Sasuke threw some kunai and shuriken at Kakashi since he had let his guard down. This made my eyes widen. However, it was another Substitution, and with that Sasuke was on the run. Sakura of course ran after him, so I took the time to quickly run over to Naruto.
He had cut himself down, but he fell for the same trap again. So, one again, he was tied up. I threw a kunai, cutting the rope. Then, I jumped and caught Naruto before he touched the ground so he wouldn't be caught in another trap.
"You okay?" I asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied with a slight attitude.
"Naruto, I have an idea. Let's work together against Kakashi. That way, it'll be easier to beat him. You know, since he's so strong. We'll ask Sasuke and Sakura to help too. That way we'll work as a team," I offered, and he squinted uninterestingly.
"Look, I can't become Hokage by relying on others. I have to do this on my own. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find Kakashi," he said, but walked into the same trap. Again. This time, I didn't help him since I was pretty upset with him. I ran over to see if anyone else would like to work with me.
I heard Saukra's scream from the other side of the field. I ran to her aid and she had passed out.
"Sakura, wake up!" I whisper-shouted and tried shaking her awake. She didn't have even a scratch on her body, she was probably in a genjutsu. I used my chakra to disturb hers and wake her up from the genjutsu. She opened her eyes slowly.
"Hotaru?" Sakura asked groggily. Suddenly she jumped up and her eyes widened. She looked around frantically. "Sasuke, where's Sasuke? Is he okay? Is he hurt? He's not dead, is he?"
"I'm sure he's fine. Kakashi sensei put you in a genjutsu," I informed her and she frowned.
We stood up and she was about to take off, but I gently grabbed her wrist. "Wait, Sakura! Let's work together, it's the only way we'll defeat Kakashi-sensei. He's too strong to defeat him on our own."
"No, I need to find my Sasuke-kun!" she squealed took off. I looked down and clenched my fists.
Now all I have left is Sasuke.
I jumped through the trees and stopped when I saw something poking out of the ground. I looked closely and saw it was a head. I squinted my eyes and realized it was Sasuke's head. I didn't know if Kakashi thought I was like Sakura who could fall for a genjutsu like that, but I'm definitely not. I tried releasing the genjutsu, but nothing happened, meaning this was reality. I jumped down and when I saw Sasuke up close, I started laughing my ass off.
"Y-you look hilarious," I cackled and he glared.
"Would you get me out?" he asked angrily and I wiped a tear from my eye.
"Well, it depends. Do you want to work together and convince Sakura to join us?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I touched a bell earlier by myself. Next time, I'll get one. I don't need your help, I'm fine on my own. Especially not after yesterday. You're weak, and I'm strong," he refused proudly and I frowned.
"Fine, then I'm not releasing you. Have fun," I said and left.
I guess I'm on my own then. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all refused. But can I really defeat Kakashi on my own? I mumbled quietly to myself and sighed.
These are my teammates huh. Sasuke is stuck up. Naruto is stubborn and independent. Sakura is obsessed with Sasuke and only cares about him. I wonder if I have a weakness like that?
I slightly laughed at my thoughts until I sensed chakra behind me. I slowly reached into my weapon pouch and reached for a shuriken. I turned swiftly and threw the tool at the chakra source.
"Woah, Hotaru, you don't have to attack me, we're on the same team!" Naruto exclaimed and stumbled while blocking the shuriken. I sighed in relief.
"Thank Kami it's you, I thought you were Kakashi-sensei. Since you're here, let's talk about a strategy to defeat him," I said and Naruto's eyes widened a bit, but then he nodded.
"Yeah, sounds good!" he giggled and I frowned.
"Star Shuriken Jutsu!" I yelled and threw the Jutsu at him. This time, it hit him. Naruto was hit and there was a Poof! It was a substitution, just as I thought.
"Impressive Jutsu, but how could you see through it?" he asked curiously from behind me.
"Well, you agreed to work together, and Naruto already refused," I explained and turned to face him.
"So you're saying that if I transformed into Sakura or Sasuke, you would've fallen for it?" he questioned, lifting his gaze from his book.
"No, because I already asked them to work with me, and they refused too," I said and he nodded.
"You're smart. And you're right about the teamwork thing. None of them would've accepted to work together. That's one thing that makes you different from them," he said and poofed away. I scowled.
Shadow clone...