A/N: Photo is Kana Sarutobi
It was the afternoon, and the sun was shining golden rays on the newly minted team 7 as they sat in a semicircle on the rooftop in front of their sensei. Kakashi had just finished his introduction and pointed at Naruto, saying "now it is your turn, lets start on the right."
"Yosh! My name is Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto fiddled with his headband, excited to finally become a ninja despite the dubiously reliable nature of their new sensei. "I like cup ramen, and what I like even more is when-Iruka sensei pays for my ramen. What I don't like is the three minutes it takes for ramen to get ready. My dream, to become hokage and finally have the people of this village acknowledge my existence!" Here, he threw a fist in the air, looking wild and pumped up. Kana and Sasuke both looked at him, neither surprised by his goal as he'd go on about it on the daily, usually interrupting a lesson. Kana smiled pleasantly, wanting to be much of anywhere else than with the sun in her eyes. It shone so brightly that Kana had a hard time keeping focused.
"Hobbies.. pranks I guess." Naruto finished with a shrug. Then Sasuke took over, quickly ruining the cheerful mood. Kakashi's eyes narrowed at him, while Kana and Naruto remained confused at the grim nature of his dream, no, ambition.
"And now for the girl." Kakashi crossed his arms, leaning against the railing and Kana suddenly found all eyes on her. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them a second later they were bright with mirth. "I am Kana Sarutobi. I enjoy sashimi and kaiseki. My least favourite food is curry rice. My hobby is not cooking, despite this. My dream is to become a great ninja." She bowed her head to their sensei. Kakashi sighed, probably at the prospect of being saddled with three troublesome kids, but said nothing about it.
"So far from the introductions. Tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobi-" Kakashi barely finished before naruto was jumping up and down demanding to know what duties this entailed. His face fell at the prospect of survival training, and fell into a shocked expression as Kakashi told them there would be a second test, one 66% of academy graduates were sure to fail. Kana gulped, and even the stoic Sasuke looked mildly nervous.
Kakashi only eye-smiled at them, and with a "oh.. and skip breakfast or you might throw up," he disappeared in a shunshin, leaving the three graduates to part ways. Naruto shouted out "Time for training!" and clambered down the fire escape, hopping away over rooftops until he was out of sight. Kana took the stairs, leaving Sasuke behind alone on the rooftop to brood. Whichever way he took home, he obviously didn't want to interact with his teammates.
The Sarutobi compound was not as large as some of Konoha's famed clan compounds, but it still demanded respect. The gates were of intricately carved wood painted red and gold, depicting their clan symbol repeatedly. Kana gingerly touched her dress as she stepped inside, fingers tracing the symbol. But she quickly had to stop, as a blur came running at her and threw itself into her arms.
"Hello Konohamaru-kun," Kana greeted the kid, spinning him around before she sat him down on the ground.
"How was your sensei? Oh, did ya get to do cool ninja stuff?" Konohamaru waved his arms excitedly.
"Not exactly, you see.." as Kana launched into an explanation of what had happened Konohamaru listened attentively, until she came to the end. "Wait that's not fair! You graduated already, why do you have to do another test?!" He asked, and Kana shrugged.
"Ninja life isn't fair little cousin. Besides, don't worry. I will pass that test easily and become a proud ninja of Konoha. Now, don't you have chores to do?" Konohamaru groaned, but started trudging back towards his house, grumbling about laundry and dishes. Kana took in the other direction, towards her own house. Her house was on the outskirts of the compound; a bedroom, and a kitchen. It was simple, but she was comfortable. After her parents passed the Sarutobi clan had taken care of her well, but she never had any foster parents, instead the entirety of the clan had done a little bit each to ensure she grew up ok. Kana didn't mind, in fact she was incredibly grateful. Her smile didn't slip once as she entered the empty house, kicking off her shoes and placing them neatly on the shelf.
Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Kana ate leftover rice and fish from breakfast, all the while thinking about what kind of survival training Kakashi was intending to put them through. He had hardly made a great first impression during their meeting, but he was jounin for a reason. Kana was sure that she'd come to find out, whether she liked it or not. Right now her biggest priority was not getting sent back to the academy.
The next morning she woke up before her alarm, still nervous. As Kana went about her morning routine in a trance her mind was on their test. The tension didn't disappear until an hour after their meeting-time, when Kakashi still hadn't shown up. Naruto was pacing. In intervals he alternated between complaining loudly about their sensei, and fidgeting with a kunai from his pouch.
When Kakashi showed up Naruto was in the middle of one such rant, and he had the decency to look embarrassed. It didn't stop him from shouting "You're late!" on the top of his lungs.
"Maa, there was a little old lady carrying groceries. I had to help her," Kakashi smiles at them, so full of bullshit, and Naruto bristles.
"Now then," Kakashi sets down an alarm clock "it is set 'till noon." He says, then holds up two bells. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time is up. Those who have no bell by noon are not eating lunch. There are only two bells, so one of you will definitely fail." The smile on his face is downright evil, and how he manages to express so much with three fourths of his face covered Kana doubts she will ever understand. "And.. The person who doesn't take a bell fails, so one of you will definitely get sent back to the academy."
"Come at me with the intent to kill, or you will for sure fail." Kakashi is immediately mocked by Naruto, because if he couldn't even dodge a blackboard eraser how the hell is he supposed to dodge a kunai. Kakashi only looks at him disinterested.
"Ignore mr. deadlast and start when I say.." Kana can see the rage building up in Naruto with apprehension and when he grabs a kunai and is about to throw it she is ready to stop him, until suddenly Kakashi is right behind Naruto, the kunai pointing at the back of Naruto's head. "Maa, I didn't say start yet.." Kakashi's lazy tone is in contradiction to the calculation of a trained killer residing in his every move, and a chill goes straight up Kana's spine. They are supposed to fight him? How?
"Since it seems you guys are finally starting to come at me with the intent to kill.. Begin!" Kana scrambled to sort her thoughts out and leave her spot in the clearing. She immediately hides in a tree, watching as Naruto stays in the field and challenges Kakashi to a straightforward battle.
They fight, and Kakashi manages to trap Naruto in a snare easily. The boy grumbles, hanging from the tree by his feet. Then someone, and it must be Sasuke because there is no one else here, throws a volley of shuriken at their teacher. Kakashi uses the substitution technique and Kana's eyes race around the field, trying to determine where he has gone. When she sees a flash of silver in the greenery she throws her shuriken. The silver flash is gone as soon as it appears and Kana is left with no way of knowing if she hit, unsure if she should move towards him or away from him. She doesn't get to make that decision as Kakashi suddenly drops down in front of her, startling her into falling off the branch. She grabs another branch in the last second to stop herself from tumbling to the ground, and then she hangs there awkwardly.
"Whoops," Kakashi says, not a single ounce of regret in his voice. Kana holds tight to the branch she caught, and when Kakashi's eyes stary from her back to his book she swings upward, landing on the branch as she uses her momentum to aim a kick. Kakashi side steps easily, and Kana jumps backwards to the three behind her to put distance between them. She aims more shuriken, but Kakashi is replaced by a log at the last second. Kana feels a presence behind her, but by then it is too late and she is pushed down from the three. She meets the ground rolling, getting up and throwing a kunai at Kakashi who jumps down from the tree easily deflecting it with one of his own.
Kana retrieves a second kunai from her pouch and runs for Kakashi. Kakashi continues to block her attacks until he seems to get bored and then he sighs, hitting Kana in the stomach sending her crashing into the three behind her. Before Kana can realise what happens and defend herself she finds that she can no longer move, limbs locked in place. She squirms against the ninja wire, but it is tied without any weak spots and it will take a good while to untie herself, if it even is possible.
"Next time, don't give away your position with such an obvious attack." Kakashi smiles at her, and leaves her there tied up. Kana grits her teeth, watching the spot her sensei had previously inhabited. She wasn't going to, but this time she will use it.
After a lot of wriggling and no small amount of scraping against ninja wire until she bled Kana was finally free, albeit covered in miniscule cuts. She reached down for her weapons pouch to retrieve her scroll. With a push of chakra her naginata comes unsealed. It is a beautiful thing, a long metal spear with a sharp, cleaver-like blade at the end. It is longer than Kana is tall, but she has learned to handle it well from her family.
Her weapon makes running slightly impractical, but she goes through the trees fueled by adrenaline and a lust for another chance to prove herself to Kakashi. She finds him in the clearing, engaged in a battle against Sasuke. Two bells.. that means Sasuke and she could pass if they got the bells. She didn't have anything against Naruto per se, but by leaps and bounds did she prefer working with the rookie of the year on her team as opposed to the deadlast.
Kana stops and thinks for a second, but as Kakashi blocks a hit and kicks Sasuke away she jumps down in the clearing, landing behind Kakashi. When the jounin makes no sign of having seen her she races forward, swiping her weapon in what would have been a fatal hit had Kakashi not turned and easily blocked it with a kunai. The force Kana managed to put in the swing does send him back a step, right into Sasuke's shuriken. Kakashi substitutes with a log, and Sasuke and Kana are left alone in the clearing, looking at each other.
"Maa, I didn't expect two of you at the same time." Kakashi drawls, stepping out from behind a tree. Kana looks at Sasuke, and the boy frowns but nods minutely. "Better you than deadlast," he says, and then the two of them are running at Kakashi again. Kana engages him with her weapon, while Sasuke comes from the other side with a kunai in a pincer attack.
Kakashi has put his book away, Kana notices. He grabs a kunai himself, and throws it straight at Sasuke. He is forced to dodge in the air and it gives Kakashi enough time to turn and focus solely on Kana, which he forces backward a step before he roundhouse kicks at her and she ducks. Sasuke is back to aiming at Kakashi, and he gets the roundhouse kick coming at him at incredible speeds, but he manages to dodge by jumping into the air.
From there Sasuke aims a kick at Kakashi's head, and Kakashi grabs his leg. Kana aims another swing to sweep his feet from under him, and Kakashi easily sidesteps, but it is enough of a distraction that Sasuke kicks himself free, reaching for the bells. His index and pointer finger touches it, and then he is thrown back. Kana steps back, landing in a battle ready stance just as the alarm clock rings.
"Looks like time is up. But," Kakashi turned and casually threw a shuriken towards the stone. It nicked Naruto, and Naruto turned towards them wide eyed with a hand rubbing the back of his neck "I wasn't trying to steal the lunch!"
A minute later, Naruto was tied to one of the stumps as Kakashi assessed the tree. "None of you are fit to be shinobi."
"HUH!? OK! OK! I get that we didn't get a bell, but that shouldn't mean we have to quit as ninjas!" Naruto kicked against his restraints. Kakashi just looked at him, bored.
"Because the three of you are just punks who don't deserve to be ninja," Kakashi's eyes were hard "you didn't understand the true answer to this test."
"And when are you going to tell us the answer?" Naruto's voice approached calmer, but didn't settle completely yet.
"The answer is.. Teamwork"
Kana gasped, looking at the bells "then.. this test was rigged from the start!?"
"Yes. And you three couldn't overcome your differences and work together. If you had, you might have gotten a bell. Sasuke and Kana, you two worked together and even managed to touch a bell, but you completely ignored Naruto and that was your downfall. Had there been a third participant in your attacks, you would most likely have succeeded in taking a bell. But you were too self centered."
"The duties are done by a team. Of course individual strength is important for a ninja, but what is even more important is teamwork." Kakashi stepped up to the stone and dragged a hand along the names engraved there "This is the memorial stone. It has the names of heroes who died while on duty. My friends' names are carved here." Kana looked down, Naruto looked horrified and Sasuke made a 'hn' sound. The mood turned somber.
"I will give you one more chance at the bells," at this all three snapped to attention. "After lunch. But it will be even tougher. Those who still wish to challenge me can eat lunch. But don't give any to Naruto." Naruto made an offended sound in the background, kicking against the post. "That's so unfair!"
"It is punishment for trying to eat by yourself. If any of you give him food, you will fail immediately." With that Kakashi disappeared.
They ate in silence, until the rumbling of Naruto's stomach interrupted. Kana shifted uncomfortably, now too awkward to eat anymore. "I'm fine!" Naruto shouted "I don't need any food, I'm fine!" Even when he obviously was not. Kana looked down at her food, contemplating if they would have a chance at all, even with the three of them. Kakashi was ridiculously strong, and Naruto wouldn't have any energy after this.. She wishes she could give him food, but Kakashi said not to and he was probably close by watching them. To everyone's surprise, Sasuke suddenly offered Naruto his bento.
"Hey! Kakashi-sensei said not to!" Naruto shouted, but Sasuke just shrugged "I don't sense him anywhere near." Sasuke was the rookie of the year. If anyone would be able to sense Kakashi it would be him. Deciding to trust that, Kana tentatively offered her bento as well "Let's hurry then, before he catches us."
Kana picked up a piece of pickled plum with her chopsticks, but a strong gust of wind blew her back and she caught herself, landing in a crouch as she watched Kakashi reappear with wide eyes. "You three..
"Pass." He eye smiled, and that shock was just as likely to blow her to the ground as the wind. "I said, you pass," He repeated at their confused faces.
"Everyone else would blindly obey, but you three put camradiere before the orders. A dear friend told me once, 'those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash'" He looks wistfully at the sky, and Kana feels like she is witnessing something that she isn't for her. "Tomorrow you will begin your duties as shinobi of Konoha."