Kitsune no Akuryō

Sticks and Stones may break your Bones...As can seals (Watch out Everyone)!!

Kon'nichiwa mina! Welcome to the next (belated) chapter of Kitsune no Akuryō. Before I get into the recap, I wanted to make sure that I stated: when I am writing distinctly in 3rd Person P.O.V., I won't write whose P.O.V. in the chapter is, just lettin' ya'll know. Now...Kakashi-sensei has pronounced the first test for the new Team 7, a bell test previewed by no breakfast. Each genin comes into the test having his own plans for success, but the turn out might be disastrous...for everyone.

     Sakura was on a diet, Sasuke wanted to be prepared, and Naruto knew what it was like to miss a meal. In other words, Sakura ate a salad despite the protests of her parents. She must look her best for whenever he came along. Sasuke ate a big dinner without regard to what to what went into his mouth. Naruto ate a small dinner of chicken and greens. He hated every bite of it, but if breakfast was off the menu, he would need his strength for whatever came tomorrow.

    Thus, when five o'clock rolled around, all three graduates were at Training Ground 7. Naruto came early; he had plans. Sakura planned on obey the rules, and Sasuke didn't want to miss a chance to test his mettle against a powerful opponent. When they showed up then, Sakura was certain that she had arrived first. She waved at Sasuke when he came into view and quickly became impatient for Kakashi-sensei before remembering Naruto. Where was he?

     Around six o'clock, Naruto walked up seemingly away from the training ground towards his teammates, not that either noticed much. He was yawning and stretching as he met his team. Upon seeing him and his gaping mouth, Sakura promptly yelled at Naruto for being so late. Naruto only shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. It would take too long for him to explain, and he doubted that Sakura would be patient enough to even let him. Another hour passed before Naruto decided to ditch the team. Sakura was calling his name as he walked away, but he simply waved and continued his trek. Naruto was practicing his sensory skills and sending out waves of chakra to sense Kakashi-sensei.

     Who told their students to arrive more than two hours before an exercise actually started, let alone let them sit around on their own, unsupervised for the said two hours? Kakashi-sensei had to be somewhere nearby. Besides, Naruto was becoming sleepy. If he stayed still of another minute, he was going to fall over. He hadn't eaten much last night and, despite the hollow feeling in his belly, knew that trying to conserve energy would end with his falling over while he was being gutted by an enemy.

     When Kakashi-sensei did arrive around 8 o'clock, 8:30, Naruto was walking back into the clearing as well. He had been in a semi-conscious state where his mind and body were mostly resting, but his chakra was still alert. It was best used when pin-pointing a specific type of chakra. Even the general distinction of "foreign" chakra would suffice, but a specific person was far easier to track. It was difficult but often necessary when trying to keep watch between two ninja. He had been alerted to Kakashi-sensei's presence soon enough, but not so that he appeared like he was ready by 5 o'clock, not that he entirely minded since his sensei decided to wake them up at 5 o'clock in the morning and couldn't be bothered to show up till after dawn.

     He was awake enough to hear Kakashi-sensei's instructions and know the objective of the exercise. He was grinning when his sensei mentioned the last bit and caught his teacher's nervous glance when he had made final the statement. The objective was to take two bells from Kakashi-sensei which would hang at his waist. Whoever didn't get a bell was returning to the Academy which surprised Naruto at first, and once he thought about it a minute, it still didn't make sense. If Sakura caught a bell, then Naruto or Sasuke would be left in the Academy. In either case, Naruto would be forced to either follow Sasuke or fail his mission...again, twice in the same week no less. Why would Kakashi put all of that on the line, just to have the exercise. There had to be something more?