Chapter 2
"Why do you think we put you on squads, did you consider that?" he chided.
"Teamwork." The girl stated, like it was the easiest question in the world, and then her brow furrowed. "Wait, was that the point of this test? But you set it up with three people and two bells! If we worked together and got the bells then only two of us could keep them. That wouldn't be teamwork. It'd create internal discord." she scowled.
"Of course. This is a test set up to pit you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the needs of the squad ahead of your own. The intention was to select those who could prioritize teamwork." He explained, snapping his gaze up to meet hers.
"Sakura! You refused to even try to help Naruto or approach Sasuke while I was nearby. Even if you do care for your teammates, it means nothing if you are too cowardly to help them!" He snapped. The girl opened her mouth to protest, but then wilted under his gaze and looked away, staring into the middle distance in thought, and Kakashi moved on. "Naruto! You do everything on your own. Everything." He scolded, before pushing the Uchiha's face into the dirt even more. "And you, Sasuke. You labeled the other two as hindrances and acted on your own. Arrogance." He reprimanded, before looking back up.
"Shinobi missions are carried out in squads! Of course, you need individual skills, but teamwork is considered more important then that. Every Konoha Shinobi understands this. When individuals put themselves above the squad, it leads to failure and death." He lectured.
The girl didn't seem to be paying attention to him anymore. Her fists were clenched, and she was lost in thought. That definitely couldn't stand.
"For example," Kakashi continued, pulling a Kunai up to Sasuke's throat. "Sakura! Kill Naruto now, or Sasuke dies!" He demanded, and the girl went as white as a piece of paper. She didn't seem to register the panic of the blonde as she gripped her Kunai and took a deep breath.
That reaction was...unexpected. As a civilian who supposedly has little to no idea how the ninja world was, she should be more shocked then...Angry? Kakashi tensed, ready to interfere if the girl actually did go after the blonde.
Not even Kakashi was expecting it, when the girl darted forward to attack the her Jonnin instructor. Kakashi barely disarmed her and pushed her hand down at the wrist, locking the joint and bringing her to her knees. She let out a yelp of pain, but looked up to meet his cool gaze with an enraged and confused fury.
He had an unwelcome flashback to the first and all but last time he attacked Obito with real ill intent. Rin had planted herself in front of the Uchiha and broken Kakashi's nose before he even thought to put up a fight; she had never registered as a threat to him before. He never made that mistake again.
"That can happen, on a mission." he continued, a little softer. He could barely hear himself, still trying to escape the clutches of his memory. "The enemy takes a hostage, you've got an impossible choice, and someone ends up dead."
"I won't abandon my comrades." The girl whispers, quiet but sure, and only for Kakashi's ears as she refuses to break eye contact. He stares the girl down, and she doesn't even twitch. She looks at him with a knowing but angry glare, and her statement from the day before repeats in his head: Oh Kakashi-Sensei, I've heard all about you.
He blinks first, trying to bat back more memories as he pushed the girl back and she stumbles back to the logs, falling on her butt right in front of the blonde. Both of her teammates are staring at her with eyes wide enough to pop out of their heads, and she was still glaring at him. He took a deep breath and continued his speech.
"Every mission is a life risking assignment." he stated, sheathing his Kunai and making his way over to a familiar monument. The girl's breath hitched. "The many names engraved on this stone...These are all Shinobi who are called Heroes in the leaf village."
"That's it that it that's it!" an annoying voice interrupted, "I've decided I'm gonna have my name engraved on that stone! I'm not gonna live and die for nothing-" The brat continued, before suddenly being cut off with a yelp and a loud thud. Kakashi turned and saw the girl standing, absolutely livid, over the blonde.
"Over my dead body." She spat, but neither boy reacted at first as they stared in shock at the tooth on the ground. The blonde prodded the now empty space with his tongue, as if to confirm it was no longer there. After a few silent moments, the blonde's head snapped back up and he started yelling again.
"Oh yeah? Well that's tough, because you can't stop me! I'm gonna be a ninja, and a hero, and the hokage, and my name's gonna be on that stone because I'll be so awesome, Dattebayo!" he ranted, and the girl's fist clenched like she was going to punch him again. The Uchiha stepped away from the both of them.
"You idiot, that's the memorial stone! It's for Shinobi who were KIA." She growled
"Well I think that sounds really cool!" The boy yelled, and the pinkettes hand twitched.
"It means Killed In Action! They all died on a mission!" She shouted, standing on her toes so she was eye level with the blonde. Slowly, realization dawned on his face and she backed off, taking deep breaths. Her eyes were darting between three empty spaces, but she seemed to still be paying attention when he spoke up again.
"The names of my most precious people are engraved here." He admitted, letting the heaviness of that statement sink in as he renewed his composure. "I'll give you one more chance, but I will make it much harder on you. You have three hours to get a bell. Eat lunch now to build up strength, but Naruto doesn't get any." The blonde growled, and he smiled. "It's your punishment for trying to eat by yourself. If someone tries to feed him, they will be immediately disqualified. I make the rules, you follow them, got it?" He said lowly, and then Shunshinned away.
He barely had time to hide in the trees and turn around to observe, before the girl grumpily popped the lid off of her lunch and fed the boy tied to the log, muttering a steady stream of curses about Kakashi. The blonde was shocked at the gesture, but readilly accepted it nonetheless.
"What do you think you're doing, Sakura?" The uchiha demanded harshly. The girl winced at the harst tone from her crush, but didn't falter in her actions.
"I'm promoting teamwork and cohesion by ensuring that all members of our unit will be in top working order when the test starts again." She replies, surprisingly curt. "Is there a problem with that, Sasuke-Kun?"
The brooding boy did not respond, but he did raise a bite of food to the blonde's mouth as well.
Kakashi heaved a sigh and resigned himself to the suddenly extremely likely fate of being a Jonnin sensei and readied a genjutsu to spook the little brats.