Disclaimer- I don’t own Naruto, and I’m glad I don’t, otherwise I would be the result of the terrible fillers that are playing

Disclaimer- I don’t own Naruto, and I’m glad I don’t, otherwise I would be the result of the terrible fillers that are playing on TV right now, and all of you would kill me…

Summary: October 13th has never been kind to Naruto. But what if this time he gets a gift he will never forget, and finds out that miracles aren’t always what one expects them to be.

AU (alternate Universe) there will be OoC through the story on some characters.

“Denotes speech”
‘Denotes thought’
Shift in Time or Seen
Flash Back

Miracle

Naruto looked in awe when he saw that the money on the table had been just the amount he needed to not only pay the rent, but the water bill and the electricity bill also. There was even enough to buy him some badly needed clothes. He briefly wondered where the money had come from and silently thanked God for the angel whom had given it to him. He, for now, did not have to worry about his financial shortcomings and could focus on other important necesities instead. He was a bit worried about the exam his new sensei would be giving him and, entranced by his fears, he found himself forgetting not to eat and instead sitting with a very animated Kiseki sipping up some ramen for breakfast.

“Yummm!”

Luckily, in Naruto’s and possibly Kiseki’s point of view, ramen was the escape for all troubles and for a moment he was able to forget his problems and focus on a different topic. He had learned yesterday that the little girl beside him had never been taught to read and he found it troubling that she did not even know the perticular sounds each letter in alphebet made. He figured that since he was now watching over her it was his responsibility and duty to teach her how to read and made it a priority to go to the library and get some childrens books directly after the big scrimmage with his new team. He also thought about teaching Kiseki some self defence just incase a situation came up. He knew that he could teach atleast the basics of self defense. A couple of blocks and punches would work out fine. If she decided that she liked the excersizes, he would teach her more, but only at her request. He wasn’t going to force her into being a ninja.

The morning sun had begun to shine into the kitchen and Naruto shivered a bit at the chill that passed through his unsealed window. Kiseki, despite wearing some rather warm clothes, had snuggled into the bedroom blanket and invited Naruto to join her, but she found herself a bit dissapointed when he turned down her offer saying that he had to wash the dishes before he left.

After yesterday’s events, Kiseki did not put up a big fight and instead found her self agreeing that she should stay at home during Naruto’s training session. She was thrilled when he told her that he would make sure they had time together outside the house whenever he got home. It was already no secret that she enjoyed her time with him very much, but she made sure not to aggravate him to much; even though he continued to insist that she never bothered him at all. In fact, you could almost say Naruto enjoyed her company just as much or even more than she did.

Naruto sneezed and while hugging his body he went to the bathroom for some towls; he could atleast try to seal the window. Winter was becoming more apparent everyday and the incredibly cold winds made it more noticable. Despite only being October, Konoha was known for its exasperatingly long winters and Naruto’s senses told him that it would probably snow later in the day. He had always been fantastic at guessing the weather, almost as if it came natural to him. This, one could argue, was because the Kyuubi’s own hightened senses; however, there were those special cases in which a child was born with certain suprising abilities, Naruto didn’t think this was one of them though.

Despite the cold whether his house was still rather cossy and the only thing that took away from the warmth were the breezes that blew through the door and window. If those breezes got too strong, then he and Kiseki could simply high tail it to his room and use the bedroom blanket; much like she was doing now.

Naruto admitted, though, that he much rather enjoyed the season’s cooler breezes than he did the scorching hot summer heat. He did, however, feel a bit unconfortable with wearing such light clothes outside, but the boy figured that all the movement that would come in training would help warm him up. For now, he knew had no other option and complaining would only make the weather bite him even harder.

Kiseki noticed his pensive mode and demanded they go shopping later on. As much as he didn’t want to, he had to agree that he needed too. He guessed that it would be fine to do since it was in the same vincity as where the building he needed to go to to pay the light and water bill. He sighed a bit, moping about having to go to the market again, he didn’t like that place very much.

Naruto finished washing the dishes and before he left, he gave Kiseki some work to do around the small house. Her duty was to clean the room and sweep the floor, an easy enough task that she wouldn’t have any trouble doing. It would also give her something to keep occupied with while he was gone; he only hoped the survival training wouldn’t last long. If Kakashi-sensei was as late as he was the other day, then there would be trouble. While Kiseki dug out the broom, Naruto checked the window one last time making sure it was shut, sealed and locked and when he finished he said his good bye and walked out the door. Kiseki watched him as he left.

The rumble to training ground seven wasn’t that far, but an unsettling excitment that ran through Naruto’s vains was making the trip feel alot longer than it actually should have been. Fortunetaly, however, he did not have to put up with any villagers since the way to the grounds was the opossite way of the academy. Less people walked around the outskirts of the village and he would only have to meet up with a few people, mostly other students, on his way there.

Unfortunately, he knew that a quiet walk to the training grounds would not last long either, and Naruto sighed when he noticed two students from another team point and laugh at him as they passed by.

“Don’t have to worry about his team this year.”

They where both very well off, it seemed, as they both boasted very expensive gears and clothing specifically designed for fighting in the winter. The two, one of which Naruto noted to be named Ami, had been placed on team five which by coincidence had been deemed the best overall team of the year. Each student in this team had finished with an average score of about 85 and all three specialized in a different area. It seemed there where no holes at all.

“Ah just avoid him, you know what my mom says about him.” The girl name Ami said loudly, intentionally letting Naruto hear her, “Got to leave the trash in the dumpster.”

Naruto shrugged a bit but decided against responding. He knew it would just be a waste of time and he really didn’t feel like getting in a pointless arguement. He already had too much to worry about and getting discouraged right before his so called test would only distract him from doing his best.

“The trash can’t even talk; he’s too weak for us anywa...”

“Only the weakest ninja disregards a potential threat.” Said a voice from behind and Naruto turned around, a bit shocked, to see a girl a litte older than Kiseki.

“Pssh, what do you know brat?” The second of the two said, distraught that he had been bashed so easily.

“They always cry and moan about it later; I’ve seen it happen,” She said while maintaining a peircing glare directed at the both the boy and girl. The boy growled a bit and quickly drew a kunai.

“You want to test that theory!”

Ami became a bit tense and when the younger girl did nothing but stare down her partner she decided to get out of the situation. There was no sense in continuing anymore and she didn’t want to be late for her own exam.

“Whatever, let’s go Kota, we’re wasting our time.”

“But,” She looked at him with pleading eyes and he finally gave in, “Fine.”

The two marched off quickly leaving only Naruto and the black haired girl standing. Naruto was amazed at how she had told the two off so quickly and felt a bit ashamed that he hadn’t been able too. For a brief moment he wished he had her sharp tounge, but laughed it off telling himself he could never be that mean.

“You should have more confidence.” She said. She didn’t mock him or act superior, it almost seemed as she was giving advice. “Onee-san is the same way. She takes alot of crap, but never retaliates. She would be stronger if she did.”

“Oh... I see.”

“I’ve seen you fight, you’d do better too, if you had more confidence in yourself.”

“Wait, you’ve seen me fi...”

“In the forest, onee-san watches you. I admire you; I want to work hard too, to become strong.” She said. Naruto smiled and patted her on the head, causing the young girl to blush a bit.

“I’m sure you’ll be really strong! You can already do something that I can’t.”

“Y-you can,” She said, happier than before. She really seemed to enjoy his attention and became a bit sad when Naruto stopped.

“Ok, I will,” He said, “What’s your name?”

“Hyuuga Hanabi, nice to meet you.” She said bowing traditionally.

“Hyuuga Hanabi. Hinata’s sister, it’s nice to meet you too.”

Naruto was happy. Perhaps he had found a potential friend for Kiseki; another girl to which she could possibly relate too. After all, every little girl needed a girlfriend. They could talk about girl stuff and make up or whatever. Things he was sure he wouldn’t know or think about. He didn’t know if the girl would want to meet Kiseki, but he didn’t think that it would hurt to try.

“I know someone your age that would love to meet you,” he said, “That is, if you would like too.”

She looked at him curiously. Her father didn’t allow her to have many friends since he said that it distracted her from training. She pondered for a moment weighing the positives and negetives of meeting this person and finally, after a couple of seconds, her childish insticts took over.

“Ok.”

“Great!” Naruto smiled, taking her hands, “I’ll meet you right here at say...”

“One o’ clock.” She said.

“Your wish is my command,” He said bowing down to her.

She looked at him strangly but then gave a slight giggle. She had never met anyone so loose and happy in her life, and she found her self taking a strange liking for the boy. She had admired him much like her sister, but she had always found her self a bit jealous of Hinata since she had gotten to talk to him many times before. She would never admit that though.

“Now, I got to, or I’ll be late.” He beamed.

“Ok, bye.” She waved at him.

“Remember one o’ clock! I’ll be waiting!”

“Ok!” She said, a little more excitedly than before.

“That’s the spirit!”

Naruto went on his way, it wouldn’t be long before the exam and he now knew more than ever that he was ready to become a genin.

Hinata was the first to arrive to training ground seven. She made sure that all her of preperations were complete. She checked and counted how many kunais and throwing stars she had, strapped the holder around her leg and made sure that she could get to them fast enough to use in a seconds notice. She went through a couple of hand seals but before she could activate her bloodline Sasuke had arrived and hmphed to make his presence known.

“G-Good morning, Sasuke-san.” She mumbled.

He looked her way to acknowledge her greeting and then turned back to do is own preperation work.

“Don’t get in my way,” He warned.

“O-ok.”

Hinata was confident that the test wasn’t just to examin their individual skills and weaknesses, there had to be more to it; but for the moment, she couldn’t put her finger on it. She hoped that she could figure out before time ran out. She wanted to pass and make her father proud.

“Do you think we should team...”

“No!”

Hinata sighed, it seemed like Sasuke was completely uninterested in working with anyone. For now she would have to rely on Naruto. Hopefully he would team up with here. Her mother always told her that two heads were better than one. She had told her that team missions had always been easier than solo ones because you could always trust a reliable team mate.

“Hello everyone!”

Hinata looked towards the voice and smiled when she saw the boy. She waved at him and tried her best to give a confident reply, but it was to no avail. She had shyed off again and she once again scolded herself for not responding better.

Naruto had walked over to a large tree that stood at the edge of the training grounds and sat down in the shade. Hinata decided to take this opportunity to talk things over with Naruto. She wanted to tell him what she thought about the exam and that if she was right about it, then it would be better to team up than fight solo.

Through her nervousness, she walked slowly towards the tree and slowly sat next to Naruto. Her heart was beating quickly and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm down a little bit.

“N-Naruto-kun,” She said shakely. He looked up at her in question, but said nothing as he was to busy thinking about his own strategies and plans to pass the test. Hinata gulped once more and continued.

“I-I think we should... Team up.”

“Team up?”

“I d-don’t think we can pass by ourselves.” Noticing that he had given her more attention, she became a bit more confident with her words. “I don’t think the test is all about our individual skills.” She said.

“Then for what?”

“F-for team work. I think the true idea of the test is team work.”

“Team work? We are going up against a jounin...” Naruto paused, thinking about what she had said. He knew he wasn’t the smartest person in the world, but what she said actually made sense. She was right, there was no way they could beat a jounin alone. “You... might be right.”

Hinata smiled to herself, Naruto was going to team up with her. Maybe together they could pass the exam!

“Ok. I will,” Naruto said. He looked over toward Sasuke and when he saw he was paying no attention to either of them he took out a kunai and threw it at him. Sasuke, with quick reflexes, noticed the kunai and caught it with his finger.

“What do you want dobe,” He said, glaring at the blonde.

“We should team up.”

“No, you two will just get in my way.”

“Are you stupid, there’s no way you can beat him alone.” Naruto said; Hinata merely nodded in agreement.

“Hmph, he can’t even make a meeting on time. I don’t think I’ll have a problem.”

“Fine, but don’t come crying to us if you fail.” He said.

Sasuke just glared and returned to his own thoughts. Hinata thought that Naruto was being a little cruel, but decided that what he said was right. Since he didn’t want to work with them, if he failed, he should have live with the consequences.

Hinata quietly patted Naruto on the shoulder and asked him about a battle plan. He scratched his head in agreement and began to think of a strategy. She thought with him, for she knew that the plan would have to be absolutely perfect. The plan would probably be pass or fail, no exceptions. She shivered, she was now more nervous than ever.

Iruka, while sitting with the Hokage for some breakfast, looked at the jounins folder in disbelief. Kakashi had tested a total of 24 students and...

“Yamato failed... Motomiya failed... Ichigo Failed... Has he ever even passed a single student?” Iruka yelled. He was in pure disbelief. Naruto had been put on the most terrifying jounins team; A jounin who had never even thought about passing a student. Even the Hokage had had is moments of disbelief, but he knew far and well that this year could and would be different.

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that, this years batch of students seem to be far ahead of those from the past few years. You’ve taught well, Iruka.”

“But not a single student...”

Iruka dropped his head in agony. As much as he liked Naruto, he really didn’t want to teach him another year. The boy had already proven his worth; he just had to put his knowledge into practice. Hopefully Naruto would, so that he wouldn’t have to have another worrisome year with the boy.

“Oh, but look on the bright sighed, there has been more success on the survival exams this year than there has been in the last 5 years.”

Iruka prepped up a bit.

“For good news, Teams 3, 5, 8, and 9, have already passed. Unfortunately, Teams 1, 2, and 4 have failed. All that lacks is the results of teams 7.”

“How, what? Have they even started yet?”

“Kakashi is as late as always,”

Iruka sighed.

Kakashi Sneezed.

Two hours late and happy about it, he had finally arrived at training field seven and not only was he smiling, but laughing as well. After a few minutes of cheerful gigles, he looked up from his book and acknowledged the presence of his students.

“Yo.”

Needless to say, Sasuke and Naruto were pissed, even Hinata was fuming. He was a disgrace to any ninja, and for a moment the three found them selves discussing the possibility of finding a new sensei, especially if this continued on.

“You know,” Sasuke said. He gave a menocing glare to the teacher, almost making the man sweat, “Only a pathetic, disgraceful fool of a ninja...”

“CAN’T EVEN MAKE HIS OWN DANG MEETING ON TIME!” Naruto finished.

“Oh ho, a little angry are we?”

“I swear, you pervert, that if this keeps happening, not just me, but the rest of this team will not only report you to the Hokage, but get your sloth slow butt demoted as well!” Naruto said.

“N-not even an academy student shows up this late for class!”

“To make it clear, Kakashi-SENSEI,” Sasuke said, stretching the teacher part, “You.are.a.pathetic. Excuse for a ninja.”

Kakashi laughed nervously. He didn’t want to admit it, but he did feel a little interrogated.

“And if you don’t think we can, Kakashi-sensei,”

“K-Keep in mind t-that I am the Hyuuga heir, and I will have my father do something.”

“Ok... why don’t we start the exam?” Kakashi smiled. A small drop of sweat hung from the back of his head. He hadn’t expected this.

Kasashi lead them to the center of the training field. The area was surrounded by trees, but in the center it was just a large field of grass. To the right of them there was a rather small lake, but big and deep enough to be potentially dangerous. Each student took every part of the scenery into account. Every tree could have been a possible advantage, and the three planned on figuring out how and why they could be so important.

“I’ve set this clock to go off and 12:00, you each have until then to steal one of these bells from me.” Kakashi put on a serious face, “Come at me with killer intent, or else you won’t pass.”

Hinata and Naruto nodded. Sasuke merely grunted.

“Obviously there are only two bells, thus one of you will fail no matter what, so I suggest you get one quickly. Oh and I have brought two lunches, so whoever fails to get a bell will go hungry and...” He laughed, “...Get tied onto the stump right there.”

“Do you think it’s a trick, Hinata?” Naruto whispered into her ear.

She nodded.

“You start in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!”

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” Naruto chanted.

Twelve kage bunshins immediately appeared and before Kakashi had time to question his ability to use the jutsu, each bunshin began to attack. Kakashi opened his book and while reading, he easily discarded the first few with out even moving.

“Oh, Kage bunshin?”

Kakashi ducked under a roundhouse kick and grabbed the leg of the offender. He skillfully tossed it into two other bunshins that ran at him, causing all three to dissapear in a puff of smoke. Kakashi elbowed the last bunshin effortlessly and in a matter of seconds every bunshin had dissapeared.

“Good use of strategy, but bad use of the technique.”

Naruto grinned, “I’m just getting started,” he said before dashing off towards his sensei.

“Stupid Dobe,” Sasuke said. He ran deeper in the forest to prepare for his own attack.

“A hothead I see,” Kakashi retaliated. He sidestepped Naruto’s side kick and then ducked under a helicopter kick, “You are defenitely lacking in taijutsu training,” He said, blocking two more punches and a low kick with his heel. “You don’t seem to have a perticular fighting style either, almost like a beggining academy student.”

“Shut up! I’ll show you!” He said, continuing his attempted assualt.

“You have too many holes. Taijutsu lesson number one, never give up an opening to the body.”

Kakashi sidestepped Naruto’s punch causing the boy to get a little ahead of himself. He slid behind Naruto and began some hand seals.

“Secret technique, 1000 years of pain!”

Kakashi’s fingers stabbed Naruto is his butt, causing the boy to yelp out in extreme pain. Kakashi lauged, but his enjoyment ended when the boy puffed into a cloud of smoke. He raised an eyebrow.

Hiding in the forest Naruto laughed with Hinata.

“He fell for it,” the boy said, high fiving the girl, “Part one, complete.”

On the opposite side of Hinata and Naruto, Sasuke had finished laying out his traps and he pulled out a kunai to begin his plan. The Jounin had promptly walked his way and Sasuke was sure the man hadn’t seen or noticed him. Kakashi giggled a bit and after seeing the the jounins guard go down he quickly threw the kunai towards his head.

Kakashi smiled under his mask and as soon as the kunai struck him he puffed into a log.

“Replacement jutsu?” Sasuke said, “Oh no, he knows my position!”

Sasuke quickly jumped down from the tree and before he could depart he was stopped by Kakashi’s voice.

“Defensive lesson number 1 never let your guard down.”

“I’m not like the others, I won’t lose to you.” Sasuke said, glaring down the teacher.

“Oh ho, big words for a little boy.”

Sasuke quickly drew some shurikens and threw them at the jounin.

“You’ll need more than that,” Kakashi said, jumping high enough to evade every shuriken.

Sasuke smiled and for a brief moment Kakashi was caught off guard. The shuriken struck the tree behind them and Kakashi was a bit shocked when it released a whole new set of kunais and shurikens. Kakashi moved his book and pulled out a kunai of his own to block the projectiles that aimed for him.

“Hmmm, I can’t even read my novel with this one.”

Sasuke quickly ran towards the man and delivered an uppercut to the jounins face. Kakashi moved his head to aviod the frst punch and used his hand to block a second punch which went for his stomach. He grabbed the boys arm wanting to throw him off, but was stopped when the Sasuke used to the leverage to throw a kick at his face. The jounin released the boy and jumped back to avoid the kick. Sasuke took the opportunity to reach for the bell, but was denied when Kakashi lifted his knee, striking away the boy’s arm. They both landed feet first on opposite sides of each other.

“Good try!” Kakashi clapped.

“I’m not done yet.”

Kakashi watched as the boy started to make some hand seals.

“This jutsu? At his age, there’s no wa...”

“Grand Fireball Technique!”

A large blast of fire exploded from Sasuke mouth, the flames so hot that they burned the ground around him. Sasuke held the technique for as long as he could, but stopped when the heat became too much for him to handle and dispelled the technique. The boy smirked as the smoke cleared, but his confidence faltered when his sensei had dissapeared.

“Up? To the right? To the left?” Sasuke said, beginning to panic.

“Below.”

Sasuke looked down and grimaced a bit when Kakashi snared his ankles. In less then a second, Sasuke had been buried up to his head and Kakashi sat there looking at him.

“Got a little confident there, Sasuke-kun.”

Kakashi smiled and flicked him across the head, causing Sasuke to give him an angry glare.

“Remember; always keep your guard up.” Kakashi said. He stood up and left to find the other pair.

“Naruto-kun, do you think we should help Sasuke-san?”

Naruto looked over to Hinata. They had both heard the explosion and niether one of them had bet on Sasuke as the winner. Despite his refusal to help them, perhaps his humilation would convince him into teaming up with him. Whether Naruto wanted it or not, he knew it was for the best. Besides, he had planned on being a good teammate, some one that could be trusted and counted on. If he abandoned his teammate, he would be doing the exact opposite of what he stood for. A Hokage never abandoned his village. He wouldn’t abandon his teammate.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Hinata formed some hand seals and activated her byakugan. With it, she could scan an area of almost 360 degrees and see father distances than any normal ninja could. It would defenitely help them find their friend a lot faster, so that they wouldn’t use all their test time actually looking for him. It would be a shame to fail the test with out actually even trying to get the bells.

They quickly but carefully made there way towards their teammate, making sure that Kakashi was no where in sight. All though their strategy was intentionally made for two people, it would have to be altered to include a third person in it, assuming he would accept their help.

Hinata found him several minutes later and, choosing not to ask what had happened, both her and Naruto walked up to him. He didn’t look happy and Hinata flinched at his look of contempt towards them. Naruto just leaned down and stretched out his hand.

“So, Sasuke, do you want our help now?”

“No!”

“We could get you out in matter of seconds.”

“I can do it myself.”

“Fine then, we offered.”

Naruto took Hinata’s hand and began to walk off. If the Uchiha was too hard hearded to get help at this point, then he was unsavable, and Naruto wasn’t going to waste his and Hinata’s time begging him for help.

“W-wait,” Sasuke said silently, “Please get me out.”

“Alright, that’s all you had to say.” Naruto said.

He and Hinata walked up to Sasuke and with the help of some kage bunshins, dug Sasuke out of the ground quickly. Althought they didn’t recieve even as much as a small thanks, they were atleast happy that Sasuke had made enough progress to accept there help. Hopefully his somewhat friendlier mode would last until the test was over.

Hinata beconed the two to hurry up, they were running out of time and for the moment, niether had a clue where their sensei was. That could be fixed easily with her byakugan and she wasted no time in activating it.

To no one suprise, the man waited in the center of the training grounds reading his book. He saw looked over and saw the three off them and then pointed towards the clock. There were only ten minutes left.

Naruto looks toward Hinata and she nodded, knowing that this was there last and only chance.

“Alright Hinata let’s go!” Naruto said, ready to get into some action, “You can help to if you want Sasuke.”

“Hmph, there is no way you two could possibly beat him. There is no point to this.”

“We’ll see.”

Naruto looked over to Kakashi and gave him a thumb up sign. The man looked at him in wonder and shrugged.

“Alright go!”

Naruto pulled out sever kunai and while he threw them at his sensei, Hinata ran towards him to distract him more. Sasuke just stood back and watched, for he knew there was no way they would win. By there movements he could tell they were way under his level and if he couldn’t do it, then there was no way they would.

Kakashi easily dodged the first Kunai, but when Hinata came into strike he found it more difficult to evade the second. Hinata used her fists elegantly and quickly and her taijutsu was much better than either Sasuke or Kakashi had given her credit for. If he got struck once by one of Hinata’s palms, Kakashi knew it would be all over, for physical strength didn’t matter against Hyuugas.

Another shurikan flew towards Kakashi’s waist and while nearly avoiding a blow from hinata’s fists, he was able to pull out a kunai and just block the shuriken from nipping the strings holding the bells. Hinata took the chance to grab for them, and a single finger touched one before Kakashi had skillfully manuevered his body out of the reach of the younger girl.

Kakashi was about to speak but was interrupted when Naruto fist came flying towards his face. He barely blocked it using his free hand and when Hinata attempted to reach for the bells again, his elbow to knock her arm away. Getting tired of his students onslaught, he grabbed both their arms, but was suprised when Sasuke jumped in and grabbed one of the bells. Kakashi threw Hinata and Naruto away and when they landed on their feet they were suprised that Sasuke had grabbed only one of the bells.

“S-Sasuke, why didn’t you get both bells?” Naruto asked.

“Hmph, I don’t care if you two pass or not, you’ll just get in my way.”

“B-but we helped you,” Hinata exclaimed. She was very dissapointed that not only had they failed to get the bells the first time, but Sasuke had just taken one when he could have gotten two.

“No problem Hinata, we still got atleast five minutes left, we can get you the other one. We almost had them both.”

“B-but what about you Naruto-kun?”

“Don’t worry, let’s just get that bell.”

“O-ok.”

Naruto put his hand together and created some Kage bunshins, while Hinata once again activated her byakugan. All them attacked their sensei at the same time, but before they could strike their sensei put his hand out.

“Stop.”

Both Naruto and Hinata stopped their attacks and turned to each other in wonder.

“Why?”

The bell rung not two seconds later and while Sasuke had a noticable smirk on his face, the other two looked at each other sad and confused. They thought that a duel attack would work perfectly, and had they more time, they were sure that they would have succedded in getting the bells. The idea that Hinata, with her knowledge of taijutsu, and his unorthodox style of fighting could knock the teacher off balance had been the entirety of the plan. It wasn’t some great strategy, but it had almost worked. The idea, well they thought, was that of teamwork.

“All three of you come with me.”

He led them towards three stumps that sat in the middle of the training grounds and taking out a rope he pointed at the two with out a bell. Naruto smirked and shrugging his shoulders he spoke.

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

“B-but Naruto, I-I did less work, I should be tied up.”

Kakashi smiled under his mask and after tying up Naruto he spoke.

“Naruto, what was the purpose of this test.” He asked confidently.

“Uh... At first, I thought it would be testing our individual skills, but...”

Hinata gulped nervously, she wasn’t sure whether her early deductions were right anymore...

“It’s all right, go on.”

“I spoke with Hinata before starting the test and she convinced that teamwork was the actual point of this test. I realized that we weren’t fighting any beggining ninja, but a jounin, a high rank jounin. There was no way we could beat you one on one, no matter what the test was. She made sense of that. So I tried to team up with her, all though we failed.”

Sasuke smirked and held his arms across his chest.

“Excellent deduction.”

“W-when we heard Sasuke-san’s explosion, we went to see if he would work with us.” Hinata stumbled, speaking shyly, “He told us he would, so we got him out when he asked us too.”

“Sasuke, how did you get that bell?” Kakashi asked again.

“You let your guard down when you faught them, I just took advantage of that.”

“The mission was to get these bells from me. Those were the unspoken rules of this game.” Kakashi said, “But You two found out the correct answer to this test, and because of your willingness to help your teammate, you failed your mission because of it’s time constraint.” He said, “You however, abandoned your teammates in order to complete the mission. I’ll show why this is dangerous.”

In a serious of quick movements, Kakashi had grabbed Sasuke, thrown him on the ground, and had a kunai at his throat.

“Hinata, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies.”

“W-What!” All three shouted.

Sasuke began to struggle, attempting to get free; but it was to no avial. Kakashi calmed down the three ninja’s and after a few seconds let go of Sasuke.

“If you come home with one ninja, instead of three, then the mission is essientially failed.” He said, “Do you understand Uchiha Sasuke. An enemy will not show the mercy I showed you. Had they not helped you, you would have been as good as dead. Had you not slown them down, they would have obtained the two bells, while you would have been stuck in the ground the rest of the day.”

Sasuke put his head to the ground, he knew what the man said was true.

“But, they did the right thing, and because of it, you essientially stole both bells,” He continued, “The rules were to obtain the bells, you followed those rules. However, let me tell you this. While it’s true that ninjas who disobey the rules are trash; ninjas who abandon their teammates are worse than trash. Remember this lesson, for because of your teammates, you have passed the test.”

“W-we passed?” Hinata said in disbelief.

She smiled and clenched her fist while Sasuke breathed a breath of relief and smirked. Both were celebrating in their own minds and while Sasuke was proud that he had overcome a stumbling block in the way of accomlishing his goal, Hinata was just happy that she could tell her father that she had been the one to figure out the true answer of the test. She held a silent hope that it would make her father proud of her.

Naruto lowered his head a bit and frowned, allowing a sigle tear to fall from his cheek. A million thoughts ran through his head, and an undescribable amount of emotions flooded his body. He had finally passed. He wasn’t sure what to do, or rather what he wanted to do. He wanted to cry, but at the same time laugh. He wanted to think, but also to scream. He wanted to rest, but also celebrate.

“Congratulations, we will start team missions tomorrow,” Kakashi said, “Untill then your dismissed.” He said and then dissapeared.

Hinata untied Naruto and they each congratulated each other for a job well done. Naruto then walked up to Sasuke and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What?”

“We don’t understand each other very well, by why don’t we give it a chance?” Naruto said, holding his hand out to the other boy. Sasuke paused for a bit and after a couple of seconds, gripped Naruto’s hand.

“Ok.”

Hinata smiled at the two of them; maybe things were finally starting to come together.

Hanabi waited quitely at the exact spot where Naruto had told her he would meet her. For some strange reason, she felt more excited than she thought she should have been and despite not being the most giddy girl in the world a beautiful smile shown on her face.

Her father had put up a ruckus when he heard she was going out, but as soon as she mentioned Naruto’s name he hadn’t said another word and even almost ushered her out the door. She had questioned him about it, but he didn’t give a full responce, just something about the villagers being foolish. He had then told her something about inviting him over one day.

Guests weren’t a very common sight in the Hyuuga’s court, so there must have been something different about Uzumaki Naruto than everyone else, especially if her father had told her to invite him. Whatever it was her father was talking about, it had sparked her curiosity for him even more and she was determined that she would get to know him better, no matter what.

Hanabi shifted unconfortably. She was nervous. It was the first time she had ever had a play date and though she wasn’t a shy person, she wasn’t very talkitive either. She only hoped that she would come out of this with a new friend, she wanted to feel and experience outside of training and battle; for that, was pretty much all she had ever known.

The girl looked at her watch and gulped. It was almost time and she didn’t know what to do.

“Hanabi-chan, you’re here!”

Hanabi jumped a bit at his voice, but settled down and turned to see Naruto with kiseki standing next to him. She looked a little shy, almost like her sister, but Hanabi instantly took interest in her. Kiseki on the other hand looked nervous and for a while she just stared at the other girl.

Naruto laughed nervously, there seemed to be a small tension in the air, and when he was about to introduce the too, one of them finally spoke.

“So...”

Kiseki faught hard to speak through her nervousness and finally won out.

“Do you like ramen?”

Hanabi looked at her in confusion and quickly responded.

“What’s Ramen?”

“You don’t know?”

“No...”

“Ramen is Ramen! We are going to eat some!” Kiseki said excitedly. She rushed over to Hanabi’s side and took her hands, “You want to come? It’s really good!”

Hanabi looked Kiseki in the eyes and after moment of silence she smiled.

“Yes!”

“Onii-chan, can she come? Can she please?”

Naruto laughed and nodded his head. Both girls smiled brightly at each other and after whispering something to each other they ran ahead of Naruto and started talking.

“Success,” Naruto said to himself. He put his hands to head and followed them.

He may have never had any friends himself, but he knew for sure that Kiseki would; Hanabi was only the first, and most certainly not the last.

Naruto had learned to understand the value of other people’s feelings. The world wasn’t about him, it was about what he could do to help those around him; and although he didn’t have much, to the girl in front of him, he would offer everything. And though he may not of known it, for the two in front him, he was quickly becoming the world, their world, even though one had only just met him.

All right guys. This was a very very tough chapter to write, especially because of that dang bell test. As some of you may already know, I’m really bad at fighting scenes, so please forgive me for the crappiness of them. I will say though, there is a good 3000 words worth of the bell test so I think it is long enough to satisfy everyone.

Yes, Hanabi will show up more and I assure you that you will like the scenes with her and Kiseki.

Regarding Kiseki’s past, for some of you that are trying to guess who’s daughter she is (Which I bet you won’t), this will be revealed as Naruto’s adventures go on. It will probably be a couple more chapters until you start getting clues and hints, but Naruto has to go through some stuff before the story really gets interesting.

There is not a huge emphasis on fighting because the story is ment to show Naruto and Kiseki’s relationship as they go through different trials together. But trust me, I won’t dissapoint with action.

Excuse the errors, it’s late and I’m tired. But I will update it later with it fixed.

Thanks for reading. Please submit a review and tell me what you like, dislike, what you wish would happen, what you think shouldn’t happen or have happened, etc. It is all helpful critcism that will hopefully improve the story and make it more enjoyable for all of you.