Naru: Misty Eyes (A Naruto Fanfic) [Complete]

Chapter Thirteen: Pass or Fail

At seven the next morning, Naru showed up with a half-asleep Kakashi. "We're here!"

"Both of us," Kakashi said with far less enthusiasm.

"Took you long enough, dobe," Sasuke said. Sakura voiced her agreement in a surprisingly subdued manner.

"You try getting Kakashi-sensei up. It's practically impossible!"

"I still don't think clubbing me in the head was necessary," Kakashi said in something like a whine.

"Oh, please." Naru crossed her arms, tapping her staff against her legs. "I didn't even hit you that hard... and you're lucky it was your head."

"On that note," Kakashi said quickly, "here's how the survival test works. I have two bells." They chimed, so Naru assumed he held them up for everyone to see. "You have to get them from me before noon. One bell per person, and the remaining person gets sent back."

"What?!" Sakura protested.

Naru held out her hand towards Kakashi. "Can I feel them? I want to know beforehand what I'm going after. The other two can see them, so I should get to 'see' them too."

"Fair enough." Kakashi handed over the bells. 

Naru wanted to laugh... or maybe groan. He was ridiculously trusting for a ninja, let alone a jounin. She made a small show of feeling the bells before turning towards Sasuke and Sakura. She handed a bell to each. "Here you go. I'm not technically a shinobi here anyways."

"You can't... I didn't... That's not how this works," Kakashi protested.

Naru tilted her head. "What's wrong? We got the bells from you, one per person, and it's before noon. I don't have a bell, so I don't pass. It's not like it's a super big deal."

"But there's also no way we would've gotten them nearly so easily if you hadn't done that, Naru," Sakura said. "It was smart of you, using your blindness like that."

"A disability isn't always a disadvantage," Naru said with a smile. "It certainly worked out here."

"And it might be useful again another time too," Sasuke admitted, although he sounded begrudging to say such a thing. "Don't send Naru off, Kakashi-sensei. She's the reason we finished so quickly."

Kakashi sighed. "You completely ruined my survival test, Naru... but you all somehow got the point anyway. Congratulations, Team 7. You all pass."

"Yes!" Naru smiled wider. "Teamwork!"

"How did you--"

"You talk in your sleep, Kakashi-sensei." Naru turned back to Sasuke and Sakura as she heard Kakashi hit the ground. Maybe she had hit him too hard this morning after all, and it was just a delayed reaction. "Let's go get breakfast. I'm starving."

As they walked away, Naru heard Kakashi mutter, "That's got to be cheating." It was too late, though. He had already passed them. Team 7 were officially genin.