Team 7 took their assigned positions.
Naruto was the main damage and tank at the same time, while Sakura would use explosive seals, kunai, and needles to help them when they fall at disadvantage.
And the most important role was Sasuke, who would seek opportunities to stab with a small knife and throw Shurikens to distract and, finally, take the bells.
Kakashi saw all of this with his dead, fish-like eyes.
"Ready? I have all day, but you don't. If no one can take the bells in 15 minutes, the team will disband."
The moment Kakashi finished the sentence, Naruto threw himself forward.
He wanted to take it without being prepared.
But Kakashi knew it; all of his years in battle had not been in vain.
Moving a step to the side, he used his feet to kick Naruto's ankle, but that wouldn't be enough.
Naruto's, always seeing his movements, and responded by trying to punch him in his ribs, but he also receives the kick and loses the balance.
Kakashi stepped back, but the punch managed to reach his arm.
"He's fast. How long has he been training with Guy?" Kakashi expected Naruto to be strong, but not to this extent.
"Being distracted in a battle isn't how a ninja is supposed to be, Kakashi-sensei."
Feeling the air near his leg, Kakashi quickly used the substitution jutsu and dodged the dagger that almost stabbed him.
"Don't bother others when they're thinking, Sasuke. It's rude," Shaking his head, Kakashi jumped to the nearest tree.
When he was in midair, Sakura took the opportunity and hit him with an explosive seal with needles in the middle.
The seal exploded, and the needles dispersed in all directions.
These guys weren't joking, uh.
Even Naruto and Sasuke had to dodge that attack. If the needles reached them, the pain would make the situation worse.
Seeing each other, they nodded, and Sakura threw a smoke bomb.
Naruto remembered where Kakashi was and thought about where he could dodge.
Running through the smoke, Naruto sharpened his senses, but he couldn't find any trace of Kakashi.
Even Sasuke, who was outside the smoke, couldn't find him.
"You're right, Sasuke. There's no time for distractions." As these words came to Sasuke's ear, he felt a kick on his ribs.
"ARGH!" Coughing, Sasuke flew by and crashed into a tree.
Where did he come from?
When Naruto and Sakura saw this, they tried to help the battered Sasuke.
Throwing a rock, Naruto went into a sprint, and once more, he wanted to fight Kakashi up close.
Trying to get him into a close battle, Naruto grabbed his jacket and tried to get closer, but he couldn't feel any weight in his hands.
Kakashi had already disappeared, and now he was beating Sasuke.
He recovered quickly after that kick.
Feeling the hard punch on his arm, Sasuke cursed inside.
Why did this bastard hit him harder?
Sasuke barely defends himself from that, and Sakura saved him when she appeared near and took him, leaving an explosive seal on the ground.
Kakashi dodged it and hid once again in the smoke.
"They made great teamwork. I wonder how the end will be?"
He didn't have any time to think; Naruto was almost above on top of him.
"Take this, fisheyes!" He shouted, landed a lateral kick.
Naruto took the opportunity and he grabbed Kakashi's jacket one more time.
But this didn't work either.
"How is he so fast? I don't even see any signs on his hands"
"Stop doing that, Naruto. That move would never work. You're too slow" Naruto raised his head and saw him on a branch of a tree.
"I don't think so. I'm going to punch you and take off that mask" pointing at him, Naruto sprinted once more.
"You sound like him saying that" Shrugging his shoulders, Kakashi felt tired.
The fight continued, and every round, Naruto had another mark on his clothes.
After all these, Kakashi didn't pay much attention and started looking for the other two. He knew that they were plotting something.
Sakura and Sasuke were hiding in another spot.
"If we continue like this, we will never win against him" Sakura was worried.
"Mm, we need to take advantage of the opportunities Naruto creates for us. Meanwhile, let him fight with Kakashi"
"Ok, just do this"
Sasuke just saw Sakura make draws on the floor.
When Kakashi was distracted with his thoughts, he heard the sound of Naruto's kicks again.
He used the substitution jutsu one more time and tried to hide in the bushes, but this time it didn't work.
He heard Naruto's voice near him.
"I caught you" as he threw a punch with all his strength that just destroys the whole tree and a produced a small shock wave.
Narrowly dodging it, Kakashi tried to make a move, and then he felt a hand on his bag.
"You lost, Kakashi-sensei."
Crawling on the ground, there was Sasuke.
And in the other side is Sakura with 2 explosive seals in each hand, ready to throw them if he moves.
Raising his hands, Kakashi admitted it.
"Uf, that was a good demonstration. You won.
Now, who will be kicked off the team?"
"None" Naruto spoke
"If the Hokage made us a team, he would have a reason. I don't think you can just disband the team" Naruto is fully convinced about that.
"I can"
"Okay, bye" Taking his torn jacket, Naruto started walking out of the field.
Sasuke did the same, and Sakura remained stunned in her place.
"¿Ehhhhh?" Sakura didn't know how to feel. Weren't they supposed to help her?
"Sigh... come back, you bastards" with a hand on his forehead, Kakashi called them. These two are a headache.
"That was also a test. If one of you had agreed to kick out your teammates, you would have failed.""
"Sure, I assumed it "Sasuke said.
"It was obvious, both of us were the strongest in the class, and Sakura did a good job," Naruto nodded "isn't that simple to disband a team."
"Hey! Don't be like that, idiots!" Hearing the last part, Sakura stomped his foot in annoyance.
"Okay, let's go to eat. From now on, I will be your team leader. Hope we get along" Kakashi said, but his thoughts couldn't be more different.
"This team is going to be a pain in the ass"
"We need to leave this place flawless. Tomorrow, we meet again at 9 am. I will start teaching you the basic things and telling you about your problems"
After clearing the scene, they went to a food stall.
Naruto took the advantage and proposed.
"Let's go to the Ichiraku-Ramen, I come here at nights when I couldn't prepare food"
The group follows him; they eat almost every time at home and don't know much about the food stalls.
It did't take long to arrive.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Hey, old man!" waving his hand, Naruto greeted the owner familiarly.
"Oh, Naruto, it's been a while since you came" the owner returned the greeting with a kind face and his eyes closed as always.
"Today you came with friends"
"Yeah, I think so! These two are my teammates: Sasuke and Sakura, and this is my team leader, Kakashi-sensei. "
They took a seat, and Naruto introduced them.
"Hi, Ojisan" Sakura grinned
"Mm" and Sasuke just nodded his head
"I'm Teuchi, but you can call me old man like Naruto does" Teuchi answered comfortably "You come here sometimes, Kakashi. You can come more often"
"I think I will do it with these guys"
Teuchi didn't wait for them to choose what to eat.
"Here, this time I'm paying"
"Ohhh, thank you, Teuchi!" This time, Naruto called him by his name because it was an important moment for him.
"Thanks, Teuchi-san," a polite Sakura said.
Sasuke and Kakashi nodded and took the chopsticks.
Team 7 had its first memorable moment since its creation.
-----|------|------|------|------|-----
The next day, Naruto once more took his giant food box, and at 8:30, he was already in the field.
It didn't take long to see the silhouettes of Sakura and Sasuke walking to their places.
"Hey, morning. Wanna eat something?" Naruto took a small box and offered food to his teammates.
"Morning, thanks. I hope kakashi-sensei won't take hours to meet us" Sakura received it and complained.
Sasuke just took it and starts eating.
"Well, if that happens, I have this big boy with me. We won't starve with me on this team" Naruto was always proud of being prepared.
The clock marked 9 am, and the last man didn't appear.
"Sigh, I think we'll just wait until midday like yesterday"
The three of them expected that it will happen, but the annoyance was real.
"I will be training in the meantime" closing his eyes, Naruto sits down and cross-legged, he starts his meditation.
Seeing him in that state made them remember the fight.
If he hadn't done the last thing, his plan couldn't succeed. Kakashi's speed was something they cannot reach at this point.
"You think this is a training method? I've never seen another one doing this" Sakura asked.
"I think so, the speed and strength he showed yesterday proves that he has a mature training method," Sasuke shrugged.
While they were talking about the fight, a silhouette appeared near them.
"Morning, guys. I thought you would come later," Kakashi said, his eyes never abandoned the book in his hands.
"Morning, Kakashi-sensei" they both saluted, but Naruto was still in his place.
"What's the disrespectful brat doing?" Kakashi genuinely felt curiosity
"We don't know, but yesterday he told us that he was meditating" Sakura answered
"Meditation? Who taught him that thing? I only knew the fire temple monks who do that"
"Kakashi-sensei, do you know what he's doing? Even if we don't want to admit it, he was the core role yesterday"
"No, no one else in the village does that. Let's ask him after the conversation I mentioned yesterday that we need to have" nodding his head, Kakashi approached Naruto
"Hey Naruto, come here"
The moment Kakashi approached him, Naruto opened his eyes.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"
"We need to talk about the fight we had yesterday."
With the kids in front of him, Kakashi started talking.
"Naruto, you're the strongest on the team, but the lack of methods to attack from a distance is a great weakness.
If you want to specialize in close combats, you need to talk about it with your master, he can help you. And your perception is truly monstrous.
Maybe exploring that will help you."
"I think the same. The entire fight you only played with us, and even then, I could only catch you by chance.
Mm thanks, Kakashi-sensei, I will talk with my master about this." Naruto made a grateful gesture.
"Sasuke, you trusted too much in your physique, and that would cost you the fight if I wanted to kill you. You don't have the physique Naruto has, but you can use the advantages of your eyes, even if you can't use them yet.
The passive improvement can help you to use tools, such as a small sword, for example. "
"Ok, thanks, Kakashi-sensei. I will ask my mother for that." Sasuke nodded
"Now for the last one, Sakura. Haha, don't make that face. You did a great job supporting your teammates, and knowing that you and Sasuke couldn't help Naruto in a fight. And making a plan was great, but you need to improve your physical condition. If the opponent is too fast, you can't do anything to respond."
"Oki, Kakashi-sensei. I hope you can help me with that; you know that I'm only a civilian~"
"I will try" Kakashi replied with the same fisheyes.
Turning again to Naruto, Kakashi asked.
"And what were you doing before? I don't remember the school teaching that"
"Ah, I didn't learn this at school; the book taught me! And it's called meditation or chakra refinement"
Naruto replied proudly
"Chakra refinement? what is it for?" Kakashi asked again, confused
"I can only tell you if you promise me that you won't tell this to anyone" The smile on his face disappeared, and only seriousness remained on Naruto's face.
"Sigh, that's hard. How long have you been doing this?"
The group didn't expect it to be so serious.
"Fine, I promise. But if it's something harmful, I won't let you continue doing it"
"Okay! I promise!"
"Fine"
Team 7 responded consecutively.
Hearing that, the smile returned to Naruto.
"You know that at school they teach us Chakra, sharing the senses to feel both energies inside of us.
Meditation is similar to that, you need to feel your inner self, and by doing that, you can improve your control and avoid damaging your body. And for me, this helps me a lot to deal with the thing inside me. There are more things, but I need to ask the book if he allows me to share more."
"Does Chakra harm our body? The 'thing'?" Sakura and Sasuke expected something powerful, not this bullshit.
"Naruto, no one else knows about this, right?" The tired voice flew away, and Kakashi was now completely serious.
"Nope, I told this to Guy-sensei a few years ago, but no one else knew the effects" Naruto shook his head.
"Fine, I won't ask for it, but if you can share it with Guy, you can really help him a lot" Kakashi felt relieved.
"Guy-sensei is hurt?! I thought Ninjas have methods to avoid the damage"
"No, at least to my knowledge, no one uses a method to avoid it. Most ninjas die before they can feel the damage" Kakashi continued with his flat voice.
"And if this can help us with that thing, I won't say anymore"
"Okay, next week I will meet Guy-sensei again!"
"I'll go with you" turning his gaze to them, he continued "And you can come to see what a damaged body looks like."
"Mmm Okay, let's go together, Sasuke-kun"
"If all is done, come to the village, we need to go on our first mission"
"Yay!"
"Sight, come on"
-----|------|------
A few minutes later, they're in Hokage's office.
It's a tradition that the first mission of a team would be directly assigned by the Hokage.
Kakashi took the lead and knocked on the door.
"Come in" the same old voice came from inside.
They followed Kakahi and entered the office.
"Hokage-Sama" they said in unison.
"Yo, old man, Iruka-sensei" Naruto waved his hand with a smile on his face.
Everyone had black lines on their foreheads after hearing that.
"Cough! Welcome, Naruto, Team 7. Are you here for the first mission?" Hiruzen asked, trying to avoid embarrassment.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I want them to do a few missions before I continue with their training" Kakashi already knew that Naruto would say something like that.
"Hoho, alright. Team 7, you need to know that your first mission will be helping the villagers deal with tasks as simple as finding missing pets, weeding a garden, and moving materials"
"¿Eh?" said Sakura and Sasuke in unison.
"Old man, are we stealing jobs from civilians by doing this?" Naruto knew that it would be something easy, but not at that extent.
"..." Hiruzen frowned.
"Sigh, shut up for a moment, Naruto" Iruka intervened.
Hiruzen gave him a grateful look.
Coughing one more time, Hiruzen continued "No, Naruto. The village would never steal the citizens jobs. They put the missions, and we distribute them."
"I see, that's useful"
Naruto was a pain in the ass every time he spoke.
Feeling that if he didn't explain the mission in one sentence, it would never end, Hiruzen hurried.
"Anyway, the mission I've assigned to your team is to find and capture Tora, the cat. Be careful, it is the cat of a feudal lord's wife"
"Okay! Let's capture the cat! Bye, old man!"
"If you'll excuse us, Hokage-sama"
"Go ahead, when you finish this, I have another mission for your team"
They nodded and got out of the office.
After receiving all the information from the staff, they went to one of the residential areas.
The area wasn't big, but finding a brown cat in these areas would take a long time.
They tried to use food to attract him, but it didn't work. After an hour, the three of them were impatient.
"I didn't want to use it, but if we continue like this the stupid cat won't appear" The rest of the team turned their gaze to Naruto. What does this guy want to do?
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and more than 10 copies of Naruto appeared.
"????"
"Naruto, did you learn this from the book?" Kakashi asked.
"No! The old man gave me this when I graduated. He said it would be useful" Naruto grinned and gave orders to the clones.
"Now, search in every direction! We need to find that stupid cat in less than 15 minutes!"
"Roger!"
It was so weird seeing Naruto ordering his clones.
"Now we just need to wait"
"Isn't this cheating?" Sakura asked
"No, look, they're my clones. How could that be cheating?" Naruto shook his head and replied with confidence.
They didn't wait for long, and after a few minutes, one of the clones returned with a brown cat in his hands.
"There you are, now to the last part. Go and send this guy to his owner" Dispelling the clones, Naruto took the cat and went to the mission hall.
They just need to wait for a while until the staff calls the sender.
10 minutes later, a silhouette can be seen in the door.
Naruto could feel it; the cat in his hands was shaking with pure terror in its eyes.
When the person in the silhouette appeared in front of him, Naruto just gave her the cat and took a step back.
"Oh Taro! Where have you been?"
The woman crushed the cat in her arms. "I brought you your dress" she said as she put the dress on the cat.
The cat was still looking at Naruto in his eyes, as if blaming him for sending him back.
Naruto felt a bit guilty and asked the staff if they could get the reward and go.
After the team went out, Naruto put his hand on his chest.
"I feel like I sent a victim to hell, that poor cat"
"Yes, you did. That poor cat will think about you with rage" Kakashi replied with a smile in his eyes.
"Yes, Naruto, you did it with your own hands"
"Looks like this isn't the first time you've claim a victim," Sasuke said seriously.
Hearing that, Naruto felt veins popping out of his forehead.
"Ahhh, shut up! How was I supposed to know?" Naruto grumbled "I'm the victim here!"
"Hahaha, come on. This is all for today, rest for a day, and then we'll meet again in the Hokage office at 10 am"
"Okay, Kakashi-sensei" x3
Then the team dispersed.
-----|------|------
At home, Naruto was looking at the book.
"I wonder if this year I can ask some questions." he thought distractedly.
While he was thinking about that, Naruto noticed that the book had opened itself.
"It's been a while, Naruto" was written on the page.
Seeing that, Naruto felt stunned.
Acknowledging that this year he could talk with the book, he replied with a smile.
"Yeah, it's been a long time since we last talked, Ego"
"Last time I told you I would take you outside the village when you turned 12."
"Yep, I've been waiting since then. Something wrong?"
"No, I didn't expect you to graduate before you turn 12, so I showed up today to take you.
All the training you did was for this moment"
"Mmm okay, what do I need to do?" Naruto sat up straight.
"If you have already completed the training I gave you, this will be easy.
Just meditate deeply, do it until you feel something from afar."
"Fine! I'll be in your care, Ego" Naruto closed his eyes.
He hadn't meditated that way since he had completed the step the book told him to do that day.
He could focus on his inner self, but it seemed this wasn't enough, so he tried to go deeper.
Digging deeper, he didn't know how much time had passed, but Ego did.
"It's been almost an hour and a half. Did the owner make a mistake?"
But the only thing he could do is wait for him.
After another 40 minutes, Naruto felt it; something from afar was calling him.
And Ego felt it at the same time and started to try to create the connection.
At first, it went well, but after he was near the point, he felt something intervening.
"No, the owner wasn't wrong. He doesn't know about this"
Feeling that something was wrong, Naruto tried to go deeper to help Ego.
Ego and Naruto worked together to break the obstacle.
When both were about to fall exhausted, they finally broke the obstacle and created the connection.
"You did it, Naruto"
Those words appeared in Naruto's mind, and he understood: it was Ego.
"The tower welcomes us"
-----|------|------|------|------|-----
The team's dynamics are improving; everyone has their role and work together.
The fight is short; it's only a small demonstration.
Naruto's perception in the canon was powerful, he's also known as the greatest sensor in the series.
Sasuke: Instead of using a long sword let's try with a small.
Sakura, being a normal human, is already behind in every aspect of the two reincarnators, so maybe later she can use an improved version of "Yin seal: release"
Kakashi need to control that eye if he wants to continue with the team.
Ego is finally here and with him, the tower appears before us.
The next ch will be important for Naruto's character. These chapters were uncomfortable to read.-----|------|------|------|------|-----
Thanks for reading!
Have a nice day.
The next ch will be updated the Tuesday or Wednesday.