Kakashi has to get them to pass somehow. Not because of the Council and what they want (Kakashi is of the opinion that the Council can go fuck themselves), but because if Sasuke doesn’t become an official genin of Konoha today, Natsu will kill him.
He sidesteps another attack from the Uchiha, and if the kid would just pause for a second and listen to Kiba then he could be given the standard Inuzuka speech of cooperation and depending on each other, yatta yatta, and then maybe they could get their shit together.
“Niichan!”
Kakashi freezes, because she wouldn’t, she said she wouldn’t –
Natsu lands on top of his head by her hands. “Natsu,” he sighs, “this really isn’t the best time.”
“I know, but I have to tell you-” she cuts herself off as she gets sight of Sasuke. The kid has paused about two feet away from them with the oddest look on his face. By Natsu’s sudden silence, he assumes she genuinely didn’t realize that he was in the middle of their genin test.
“What’s wrong?” he demands, because Natsu has been keyed up about this for weeks, so anything big enough to make her forget is cause for worry.
She doesn’t answer. Instead she twists her body so she’s sitting, then slides and falls so she’s laying against his chest upside down with her legs hooked over his shoulders. “Hi!” she says, “You know, you’re never going to beat Kakashi-niichan attacking him head on. He’s too skilled for that.”
“NATSU, STOP MEDDLING!” Kiba shouts, and from the sound of it he’s hiding in the top of one of the trees at the eastern edge of the clearing. “BUT ALSO SHE’S RIGHT!”
“What did you have to tell me?” he repeats. He’s also a little concerned about the fact that Sasuke is still just standing there staring at them.
She shakes her head, “Ah, it can wait. I’ll just-” She flips off of him and lands on her feet in front of Sasuke. She pokes his forehead, and for a split second his whole face crumples before it smooths back out into a blank mask. “Good luck! I know Kiba’s a bit of a goofball, but he’s really smart. You should listen to him.”
With that last bit of advice she shunshins away. Kakashi looks back down at his book, waiting for Sasuke’s next attack.
It doesn’t come. Instead Sasuke body flickers away. When less than two minutes later both Sasuke and Kiba’s chakra signatures collide with Sakura’s, he smiles.
Maybe Natsu’s hints aren’t exactly fair, but it’s not cheating as long as they win.
~
Iruka’s on his own in the mission assignment office, so he only has a little bit of a heart attack when Natsu appears in front of him with nothing to herald her entrance than a slight breeze from the displaced air.
“Natsu,” he groans and rubs his hand over his face, “We should put bells on you.”
She pushes aside some scrolls and sits on the table next to him, “That seems counterproductive.”
“Not to my lifespan,” he mutters. “What are you doing here? You should have left the village already.”
“I’ll make up the lost time,” she shrugs, “Three weeks to seduce a guard and get patrol logs? That’s basically a paid vacation.”
Iruka snorts. Three weeks to travel to the incredibly unstable Kirigakure and get ahold of its shinobi numbers, their patrol patterns, and how frequently the guard is changed all without getting caught or killed by the notoriously paranoid and bloodthirsty ninja that Kiri produces, and then back. He knows for a fact that it’s an A-rank, and it would have gone to Kurenai if she hadn’t just been assigned her first genin team.
