Survival Exercise I

"Ah, this is so boring. Why have all the other classes' teachers arrived while we're still waiting here?" Naruto finally exploded. The boring wait had made it impossible for someone as impatient as him to sit quietly.

"Exactly. What an irresponsible guy, still not here at this hour." Sakura complained as well. Only Sasuke was lying on the desk asleep. He had known this was how things would go, so instead of sitting there blankly and getting bored, he might as well catch up on sleep.

By now, Sasuke could keep his Sharingan activated all day until he went to sleep at night. This was tremendous progress. The blood vessels and meridians around his eyes had become exceptionally durable and could withstand Chakra flowing through them for long periods. Everything now proved that his theory had been correct. If he truly awakened the Four-Tomoe in the future, then he was confident he could complete the final evolution.

Restless as ever, Naruto placed a blackboard eraser over the door, then sneaked back to his seat.

"Naruto, isn't that a bad idea?" Sakura said timidly, though she was inwardly thrilled.

"Heh heh, he deserves it for being late—and this late, too. He needs a little lesson." Just as Naruto was proudly admiring his handiwork, the door opened. A white-haired man with a mask over his face walked in, and the eraser landed squarely on his head.

"Ahahaha, I'm the best! Hahaha..." Naruto clutched his stomach and laughed loudly, while Sakura explained, "Sensei, I tried to stop him." Her voice was still weak and lacking conviction. She was probably laughing herself silly inside.

"Hm. First impressions... you little brats are pretty annoying." Kakashi said expressionlessly, then led the three of them up to the rooftop. Sasuke had shown no reaction. Everything had gone as expected. After all these years, he knew the plot had basically remained unchanged. His arrival had probably only brought some changes to Sasuke himself and affected nothing else. Of course, if he did not go train with Orochimaru, there would definitely be changes.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi, the teacher of Team 7. Now, introduce yourselves." Kakashi leaned against the rooftop railing with his arms folded, still looking half-dead.

"What? Before asking us to introduce ourselves, shouldn't you introduce yourself first, Sensei?" Sakura said unhappily.

"Mm, fair enough. Then I'll demonstrate first. My name is Hatake Kakashi. There are many things I like, and things I dislike... well..." His answer contained practically nothing of substance, and Sasuke had not expected much anyway.

"What? In the end, all we learned was his name." Sakura muttered in dissatisfaction, but Kakashi did not care and had the three introduce themselves.

"M-Me, I'll go first." Naruto was always overflowing with energy, even rushing to be first for a self-introduction. His introduction was as entertaining as ever; he had never given up his title as a Ramen expert. Sakura went next. Sure enough, for girls their age, romance mattered far more than ninjutsu. Sakura had not changed at all, which made Sasuke frown slightly. He usually did not pay much attention to his future wife—he neither neglected her nor showed her much warmth. He wanted Sakura to grow on her own, but it seemed she was still the same. The reason Sasuke had done this was because he was afraid of delaying the part where she became Tsunade's apprentice.

"Now it's your turn, kid." Kakashi looked at Sasuke. He was curious about Sasuke as well. Everyone called him a genius, but was he really one?

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have anything in particular that I like or dislike. My hobby is training, I suppose. After all, I'm a ninja. As for my dream? When I was little, I wanted to own a Barbecue Restaurant. Now that dream has come true. That's about it..."

Kakashi found that strange. Why would Sasuke's dream be to own a Barbecue Restaurant? Was he hiding his true thoughts? Shouldn't he want to revive the Uchiha Clan? And that man should have had a tremendous influence on him. A mature child—that was how Kakashi defined Sasuke.

"Yeah, yeah, Sasuke's dream when he was little was to open a Barbecue Restaurant. He said so the last time we ate barbecue. A whole barbecue place... I want one too." Naruto chattered noisily.

"All right, that concludes the introductions. Starting tomorrow, we'll begin carrying out missions," Kakashi suddenly said.

"Sensei, what mission?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"A wilderness Survival Exercise with just the four of us. This won't be an ordinary Survival Exercise." Kakashi spoke mysteriously. Sasuke curled his lip. These guys all loved fooling children. Right, right. I'm a child now.

"Sensei, what makes it an unusual Survival Exercise?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Heh heh..." Kakashi laughed darkly. Sasuke listened helplessly. Was it really a good idea to build up the atmosphere like this?

"Sensei, what are you laughing for? What kind of exercise is it?" Naruto asked anxiously.

"Once I tell you, you'll definitely want to quit. Of the twenty-seven newly graduated students, only nine qualified people will be chosen to become Genin. The other eighteen will be sent back to the academy. In other words, this exercise is an extremely difficult test with an elimination rate as high as sixty-six percent." Kakashi's voice was low and heavy, and he successfully created the desired atmosphere.

After hearing that, Sakura and Naruto stared in shock. Sasuke wore Sunglasses, so no expression could be seen on his face.

"Haha, see? You want to quit now, don't you?" Kakashi seemed to be amusing himself.

After recovering, Naruto shouted, "Sasuke did mention this before—that we had another test to pass. At first, I thought it wasn't true. I worked so hard to pass the Graduation Exam, and now there's another one!" He clutched his head with a pained expression.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke and said, "Oh? So Sasuke already anticipated this? Very good. Then I assume you're mentally prepared. Gather at the Training Ground at five tomorrow morning, and bring your Ninja Tools." Naruto and Sakura both looked extremely nervous, while Sasuke appeared completely unconcerned.

"Oh, right. Don't eat breakfast tomorrow morning, or you'll throw up." Kakashi wore a terrifying expression, then vanished with a whoosh. Sasuke was now deeply envious of the speed of those high-ranking ninja. He had yet to come into contact with the Body Flicker Technique. Shisui, once a genius of the Uchiha Clan—just what level had his Body Flicker Technique reached? Was the Body Flicker Technique a kind of Space-Time Ninjutsu? Sasuke was very curious about that now. The Scroll of Seals had not contained the Body Flicker Technique last time. It was not an advanced ninjutsu; many ninja knew it. The difference lay only in how they used it.