Satomi P.O.V.
I sat on the ground next to a tied up Naruto, sulking silently at my failure. I can't believe how fast Kakashi-sensei was able to release my genjutsu! I know my own power, and that should've been able to hold him for another three seconds at least. That was the most powerful attack I had up my sleeve, and he brushed it off like it was nothing.
I was still skeptical, though, since the only thing that could have been responsible for him breaking out of the genjutsu so fast was a kekkei genkai or something along those lines. Or, he was just extremely skilled. I'm probably overthinking this... There is no way Kakashi-sensei had anything that could have broken my jutsu other than his own power.
"It seems like the four of you don't understand the true meaning of this test," Kakashi-sensei says, breaking me from my previous thoughts. There it is again, the true meaning of this test. I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't grasp exactly what it is we were supposed to understand. Was it how we handled ourselves in a fight and our willpower? No, I don't think it's that simple... What could he mean? The four of us stare at him confused, as he sighs in disappointment.
"Why do you think all of you were put on teams in the first place?" he asks. I think it over, was it to help us each advance based on our sensei's skills? None of us answer, still confused as to what exactly Kakashi-sensei was getting at.
"The answer is teamwork," Kakashi-sensei informs, watching as all of our faces morph into ones of realization. The entire exercise was made to see if we would be able to overlook all of the disadvantages to complete the mission together.
"Naruto, you tried to do everything by yourself, without asking for help from anyone even though it was clear you couldn't beat me alone. Sakura, you were only concerned about Sasuke, forgetting about Naruto and Satomi completely. Sasuke, you're arrogant and think that everyone else is below you. Satomi, while everyone else was fighting me, you were off doing something else entirely, instead of attempting to help any of them. Although, I will give you credit for helping the three of them after I had fought each of them. You displayed the most amount of understanding of teamwork out of everyone," Kakashi-sensei explains.
I nod at his praise silently, no expression crossing my face. To be honest, I didn't understand the concept of the mission at all during the exercise. When it was explained to me, though, I began to piece together what he expected of us and how we should have dealt with the situation.
"You four are genin and should have a natural feel for working together, but instead you all tried to take me down alone. All of you should be ashamed of yourselves," This statement pisses Sasuke off, and he foolishly charged at Kakashi-sensei with a kunai. He sighs and flawlessly pins him down.
"It seems you still aren't getting it. Take this, for example, Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies. Satomi, kill Sakura if she refuses to kill Naruto," Naruto gets freaked out, Sakura looks unsure of what to do, and I frown at the situation. I understand now.
"Situations like these happen all the time on a real mission, and one wrong move could get your teammates killed. You must trust your team and act together if you want to stay alive," Kakashi-sensei says, releasing Sasuke.
"Now, I'll give you all one more chance. You may eat lunch, but don't give any to Naruto or else you will immediately fail. Is that clear?" The four of us nod, causing Kakashi-sensei to smile and disappear.
I grab a bento box and open it, preparing to dig in. From beside me, Naruto's stomach growls, making him blush and look away.
"I can go days without eating, believe it! I'm not even hungry!" And as if on cue, his stomach growls once again. I purse my lips and scan the tree line for any sign of Kakashi-sensei. When I don't see him, I quickly take a riceball out of my lunch and shove it into Naruto's mouth. He sits there confused, with a portion of the rice ball hanging out of his mouth.
"Idiot! Swallow it before Kakashi-sensei sees!" I whisper, shoving the food down his throat hastily. "Satomi! What are you doing? If Kakashi-sensei sees you, you will fail!" Sakura says, looking around wildly. I shush her and eat a rice ball of my own, trying to look inconspicuous.
"I understand that, but I would feel bad if Naruto didn't eat anything," Sakura looks down at her food miserably before holding it up to Naruto.
"Here. I'm on a diet anyway," Sakura concedes, placing one of her own rice balls in his mouth. From beside us, Sasuke's eye twitches as he places a ball of rice in Naruto's mouth.
"Eat quickly, you fool. If we get caught we will fail," Naruto looks at the three of us with tears in his eyes.
"You guys... Thank you!" Moments later, a clap of thunder is heard as dark clouds form above us, Kakashi-sensei appearing in front of us with a terrifying glare. I stare dumbfounded. We were caught, and now we would fail.
"You! What did I tell you about feeding Naruto? Any last words?" he asks scarily, causing me to flinch in panic. Surprisingly, Sakura is the one who speaks up.
"You told us not to feed Naruto... But if we hadn't fed him he wouldn't have had full strength to fight you, which would hurt the team!"
"Sakura is right, all of us are one, and we can take you on!" Sasuke shouts. I stare at them surprised, since when had they actually grown balls?
"I agree. We can't have Naruto bring the team down, so it was a smarter decision to feed him instead of letting him go hungry," I state. Naruto just sits there and nods encouragingly, not daring to say a word.
"Oh? So the four of you are one?" Kakashi-sensei asks eerily. We all gulp but stand by our word, not faltering. The situation then flips around, the dark clouds disappearing and Kakashi-sensei standing in front of us with a smile.
"Well, in that case, you pass," he says, shocking me completely. We pass? Was that all just a test?
"We... We pass?" Sakura questions hesitantly, the same confusion I had apparent on her face. Kakashi-sensei nods and holds up a single finger.
"All of my previous teams had listened to every word I said, not thinking for themselves. While it is important to follow directions from the leader, it is also important to protect your comrades. It is true that those who break the rules are considered scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."
My mind mulls over that, really taking it in. That sounded similar to the life that I pledged to live, one where I will keep all of my friends safe. Kakashi-sensei seems like the perfect sensei for me, and it warms my heart to know I can trust him.
"Alright, let's go get some food, shall we?" Kakashi-sensei proposes, turning around heading back towards the village. Sakura and Sasuke follow behind closely, while I cut Naruto down with a kunai.
"I won't leave you, don't worry," I say to him, helping him up. He smiles brightly at me, and takes my hand, dragging me towards the rest of the team. A soft smile graces my lips as the training grounds slowly disappear from view. Perhaps this team will be good for Sasuke and I. God knows we need it.
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"What are your positions from the target?" Kakashi-sensei whispers into the headset. I peer around the tree I was currently hiding behind and glare at the target.
"Sasuke, I'm at point B," Sasuke informs, followed by Sakura.
"Sakura here, I'm at point C," I bring my hand up to the headset and speak into it quietly.
"Satomi, point D. Whenever you're ready," A slight rustle is heard in the microphone.
"Naruto here, I'm at point A, dattebayo!" I cover my ears in pain, Naruto having practically blown out my eardrums.
"Naruto, don't shout into the microphone," Kakashi-sensei scolds him. He chuckles and apologizes, returning back to the task at hand. Successfully capturing our target.
"Alright, go when I say. And... Now!" Kakashi-sensei instructs, as Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and I all lunge for the target. Naruto ends up being the one to actually capture the target, though.
"I got her, I got her!" he screams, holding the target up like a trophy. The target, however, doesn't like this and turns on Naruto, attacking his face viciously.
"Can you confirm the target's identity?" Kakashi-sensei asks lazily, strolling up to us with a familiar book in his hand. Sasuke looks at the target, inspecting her closely.
"I can confirm the identity of the target. Lost pet, Tora, successfully captured." Behind us, Naruto is shouting nonsense and begging us to take the cat away from him. I sigh and turn around, pulling the cat out of his arms. Tora stops attacking Naruto and looks at me with a glare. I gulp and pet her head gently, to which she growls but decides that since I'm not Naruto she won't attack.
"Alright, let's head to the Hokage's office," Kakashi-sensei instructs, waltzing off with us in tow. Arriving at the office, the lady who had issued the mission greets us with a smile, snatching Tora away from me.
"Oh, my precious Tora! Thank you for finding her for me! Now, let's go home, darling!" The lady coos, squeezing the life out of Tora.
"Ha! That's what that stupid cat deserves!" Naruto laughs, still annoyed by the fact that Tora scratched him up. I sigh quietly at his antics and stare forward at the Hokage.
"Nice job, Team 7. Now, for your next mission, you may choose between babysitting the chief counselor's three year old, helping his wife to do the shopping, digging up potatoes and-" Naruto interrupts him with a loud groan.
"I don't want any of those lame missions, I want something exciting!" Kakashi-sensei sighs and looks at Naruto pointedly.
"Put a lid on it," he threatens, causing Naruto to grumble and cross his arms.
"Listen, Naruto... It seems you don't understand why we have given you these tasks," Lord Hokage starts, going on about the reason why we have to complete such low ranked missions. Naruto ignores him and decides to ramble on about ramen, which I admittedly would rather listen to.
"So yesterday for dinner I had miso ramen, and I can't decide if I want to have that again or pork ramen." I nod in thought, this was a real problem that needed to be addressed.
"Silence!" I'm snapped out of my thoughts by the Hokage shouting at us, making me scratch the back of my head apologetically.
"So Naruto wants to go on a real mission? I guess I'll have to make an exception. There is a C Ranked mission available to you four," Lord Hokage says, surprising me greatly. Was he actually giving in to Naruto's demands?
"You'll be bodyguards on a journey to the Land of Waves," The Hokage informs, smoking his pipe. Naruto's entire demeanor lights up and he starts bouncing up and down excitedly.
"Really?! Who are we going to be guarding, a princess or maybe a feudal lord?!" The Hokage chuckles gravelly.
"Don't be so impatient, we will send him in now." All of Team 7 turn to look at the door, which had slid open, revealing an old man with a bottle of sake in his hand. He takes a swig of his drink, inspecting each of us on the team.
"What's this? A bunch of little snot-nosed kids? And you, the little one with the idiotic look on your face, you really expect me to believe you're a ninja?" Naruto starts laughing, looking at each of us.
"Who's the short one with the idiotic look on their face?"
When we all lined up, you could clearly see that Sasuke was the tallest, followed by Sakura and Naruto, with the shortest being me by barely an inch. My eye twitches in annoyance as I purse my lips in order to not retaliate at our client.
"Actually, I was talking about the annoying blonde one in the orange jumpsuit," Tazuna informs, taking another gulp of his sake. Naruto's face scrunches in anger as he launches at Tazuna.
"Hey! I'll destroy you!" Naruto declares, getting ready to pummel the client. Kakashi-sensei grabs the back of his jumpsuit and hoists him back before he could get far, though.
"You're not supposed to destroy the client, Naruto." Said boy grumbles and settles down, glaring hatefully at the man standing before us.
"My name is Tazuna, and I expect you to protect me with everything you've got, even if it costs your life."
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