Team 7! Formed!

"Third Hokage, this is too much!"

Iruka said anxiously. Ever since he and Naruto had cleared up their misunderstanding, he had been quietly keeping an eye on his mischievous student.

"Calm down, Iruka. Keep watching. This is Kakashi's real test! Whether they get the bells or not isn't important!"

The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe, exhaling ring after ring of smoke.

After Kakashi left, Naruto hesitated, wondering what to do next. Jimo, however, simply opened two extra-large lunch boxes.

"That hint couldn't be any more obvious..." Jimo glanced at the lunch box, which was big enough for two, then picked up a slice of steak and held it to Sasuke's mouth.

"At least Kakashi-sensei has good taste in lunch!"

When Sasuke refused to open his mouth, Jimo tickled him under the arms, then slipped the steak into his mouth the moment he couldn't hold back a laugh.

Nearby, Naruto also fed Sakura from the lunch box.

"Why? Why give up your chance to become a ninja just like that?" Sasuke couldn't understand Jimo's choice. Kakashi had made it very clear: if Jimo and Naruto shared their lunch with them, they would lose their chance to become ninja.

"Why what? Let me ask you this: what is a ninja? Does a ninja's strength really come from ninjutsu and Chakra?" Jimo asked Sasuke as he ate.

"Doesn't it?"

"Remember, a ninja is someone who can endure any hardship to achieve a goal! A ninja's strength comes from protecting others, not destroying things!" Jimo turned away, thinking he looked incredibly cool.

"If you're willing to sacrifice your comrades just to reach a goal, you're not a ninja—you're trash! Failing a mission might make you a lousy ninja, but abandoning your comrades makes you worse than trash."

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

"Well, looks like someone here understands."

Kakashi was sitting in a tree. No one knew when he had gotten there. He applauded in praise.

"Actually, this test was meant to assess your teamwork." Kakashi paused and looked at the Training Ground, which had been blasted into a wasteland.

"Although Sasuke and Sakura just watched when Naruto and Jimo attacked, I don't know what you think of those two comrades of yours. But remember, one person's strength is always limited. On many missions, you can only complete the task and make it out alive by sticking together."

"But I'll let you pass this time. Those two have some pretty outrageous jutsu, after all..."

"Team 7! Formed!"

On the way back to the village, everyone except Jimo and Naruto was unusually quiet.

"Ji... Jimo..." Sasuke finally spoke, his face red.

"Yeah?"

"I know this is rude, but... could you teach me that jutsu you and Naruto used?"

Sakura watched Jimo nervously. She also wanted to learn the kind of ninjutsu that could be fired from a distance.

"Sure! I can teach you right now!"

The four of them went to another open Training Ground.

"Try gathering Chakra in your hands!" Jimo said, slowly forming a ball of light in his palm.

Since Jimo had already given Naruto a head start, Naruto quickly formed a ball of light too.

Sasuke and Sakura managed to form balls of light as well, but the Chakra on their surfaces was visibly unstable, drifting away like a cloud of gas.

"Not bad. Much better than some people did their first time..." Jimo glanced pointedly at Naruto, who was scowling.

"This is the most basic form of the jutsu. Next, use the Chakra inside you to compress it!" Jimo dispersed the ball of light and began demonstrating from a cloud of Chakra, slowly compressing it until the light grew brighter and brighter.

After some training, Sasuke and Sakura were able to compress their Chakra into balls of light.

"Next, you just throw it. You can control its power by deciding how much Chakra to compress."

Sasuke and Sakura threw their apple-sized balls of light at a Shuriken practice target in the distance.

After a tremendous explosion, not only was the target gone, but the tree had been blown away too.

"How did you make that beam of light with the long tail?" Naruto asked excitedly. Even Kakashi-sensei had to dodge that move.

"Uh... that's much harder... You can't learn it yet..."

It wasn't that Jimo hadn't thought about teaching these little ones the Kamehameha. But it required a huge amount of Chakra, and he was worried that if Naruto learned it, the Nine-Tails might mix its own Chakra in and cause an accident. Sasuke and Sakura might also hurt themselves by channeling too much Chakra. It just wasn't worth the risk.

"Naruto, how can you ask someone to teach you their secret move? That's so shameless!" Sakura tapped Naruto on the head.

"Oh..."

Jimo smiled and took the others to Ichiraku Ramen again. This time, Sasuke didn't have to be dragged there.

The next day, they arrived early at the meeting spot Kakashi had chosen. As expected, Kakashi was late again.

"Today... our mission is... to help a village east of the Hidden Leaf Village harvest pumpkins!"

"What? What kind of mission is that?" Naruto shouted in protest.

"Naruto, taking care of the people living around us is part of our duty as Hidden Leaf Village ninja."

After being coaxed and half dragged along, Naruto finally made it to the pumpkin field.

Sasuke and Sakura barely lifted a finger during the harvest. Naruto and Jimo's Shadow Clones turned their sorrow into strength, helping the farmer harvest the pumpkins and even plow the field afterward.

Jimo was even more astonishing. He plowed the field with his bare hands, prompting the farmer nearby to say he'd ask for Jimo's help again next time there was a job.

Shadow Clones worked incredibly quickly, but Jimo and Naruto forgot that when they dispelled their clones, the fatigue would be transferred back to their original bodies along with their experience.

"Ugh~~~ We forgot about that side effect~~~"

Jimo lay limply across Kakashi's back, not much better off than a dead dog.

"That's what you get for being overconfident..." Kakashi carried Jimo on his back and tucked Naruto under his arm, explaining the drawbacks of the Shadow Clone Technique to Sasuke and Sakura with a wry smile.

Over the next few days, their missions involved buying supplies for the villages, delivering milk, helping with plowing, and other such tasks.

The most unbearable by far was the mission of finding the cat entrusted to them by Lady Shijimei, the wife of the Fire Country's daimyo.

Jimo felt utterly helpless and speechless about it, silently crying out in sympathy for the poor cat. With an owner like that, no wonder it kept running away from home.

If he were that cat, being held in someone's arms all day and subjected to terrifying hugs from two-legged beasts every so often, he'd be bored to death too.