Uzumaki

Connect

The morning was cold, and Satsuki felt on the verge of vomiting.

They all arrived at the Training Grounds simultaneously, sans Kakashi.

"Good morning, Satsuki-san," Sakura said, bags under her eyes. Her smile resembled the forced grin of a corpse, but Satsuki nodded at her anyway.

"Ugh..." Naruto said, groaning and sitting down against his bag. "If Kakashi is late again today...!"

Satsuki hoped he wouldn't be.

He was.

Three hours later, Kakashi arrived with an entirely disinterested expression. He waved cheerfully. "Yo."

Satsuki supposed she'd be cheerful if she'd had three hours more sleep, too.

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison, identical expressions of rage on their faces.

Kakashi shrugged, smiling and putting his hands up as though to admit defeat. "I had to run around the village fifteen times to defeat a green beast."

"Liar!"

--

Kakashi dangled two bells in front of them, and they jingled.

"These," he said, "are your ticket to being a shinobi."

He tied them to his belt. "Take them from me, and you get to become a ninja. Don't? And you get sent back to the academy. And you get to be tied to a log while I eat food." Kakashi smiled. "I hope you ate breakfast."

Naruto stomped his feet, furious. "But you told us not to eat any!"

Satsuki felt awfully stupid for having listened. Her hand wandered subconsciously to her stomach.

"Well, maybe you three cute genin ought to think for yourselves," Kakashi said. He reached for the timer, winding a knob at the back and pressing down on the top. "You have until noon. Fight me like you intend to kill me, or you'll do no damage at all, I assure you."

"But, sensei..." Sakura said, looking nervous. "What if we hurt you?"

Kakashi just laughed at her, and Satsuki saw Naruto tense and run forward like a hare.

"As if I'm gonna lose out on being a ninja now!"

And with a roar, Naruto lunged forward, kunai clutched in one hand-

And with a blink, Kakashi had that very same kunai pointed at the back of Naruto's very own neck. He smiled.

"I haven't even said go yet."

Satsuki felt herself go cold.

"But you two would do well to take from Naruto's example... come at me with the intent to kill. Now..."

Kakashi released Naruto's hand from his grip, and walked into the centre of the clearing.

"Go."

Within a millisecond, Sakura and Satsuki had hidden within the trees, but Kakashi looked entirely unconcerned. Naruto was bemused.

"Aren't you... I dunno, gonna chase after them?"

The man shrugged, and reached into his pouch. Naruto steadied himself, eyeing his bag carefully as he rooted through it.

'Kunai... shuriken... or something else... I don't know what to expect from this guy...!'

With a sleek motion, Kakashi pulled out a small orange book.