Three days later, Naruto stood on Training Ground 7, the headband now tied securely to his forehead. The initial thrill of graduation had worn off, replaced by a familiar impatience. He, Sasuke, and Sakura had been assigned to the same team, but their Jounin sensei was now two hours late.
"Where is our sensei? He's two hours late!" Naruto complained for the tenth time, kicking at a loose stone. It skittered across the dirt and hit the base of a wooden post.
Sakura, standing beside him, sighed in exasperation. "Naruto, be quiet! You're so annoying. A great shinobi is patient."
Sasuke, leaning against the post with his arms crossed, hadn't said a word. But his dark eyes were narrowed, and the slight tapping of his foot was the only sign of his own irritation. He was just as eager to start as Naruto, but he'd rather die than admit it.
Just as Naruto opened his mouth to complain again, a swirl of leaves materialized on a nearby post, and a man in a flak jacket and a mask appeared, slouched over with his nose buried in a little orange book.
"My first impression of you guys," he said, his visible eye curving into a smile, "is… you're a bunch of idiots."
Naruto and Sakura immediately bristled. "Who are you calling an idiot?!" they yelled in unison.
The man hopped down from the post. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I'm the Jounin who will be in charge of Team 7 from now on. Nice to meet you."
He led them over to a set of three steps and instructed them to sit. "Now, why don't we introduce ourselves? Let's start with our likes, dislikes, hobbies, and our dreams for the future."
"What's the point of that?" Sakura asked. "We already know each other."
"Hmm, do you?" Kakashi mused. "I don't think so. How about I go first to get things started? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have a number of likes, and a number of dislikes. I have hobbies, and my dream for the future is… well, it's a secret."
Naruto groaned. All they'd learned was that their sensei was a weird, secretive pervert.
"Okay, you next, the one with the bright eyes."
Naruto shot to his feet, puffing out his chest. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup ramen, but I like the ramen Iruka-sensei gets me at Ichiraku even more! What I dislike is the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the hot water in. My hobby is eating and comparing different kinds of ramen! And my dream for the future is to become the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will finally stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important!"
Kakashi's eye curved again. "Okay… next."
Sakura went next, glancing at Sasuke. "My name is Haruno Sakura. What I like is… well, the person I like is…" She trailed off, blushing. "What I dislike is Naruto. My hobbies are…" She glanced at Sasuke again. "And my dream for the future is…" She giggled, lost in her fantasy.
"Right," Kakashi said, clearly unimpressed. "And you?"
Sasuke stood up, his hands in his pockets. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike, and I don't really have anything I like. And I don't have a dream, but I have an ambition. That is to restore my clan and to kill a certain man."
A heavy silence fell over the training ground. Even Naruto stopped fidgeting. The raw, cold hatred in Sasuke's voice was a force of its own.
Kakashi just nodded, as if he'd expected nothing less. "Okay. You three have very interesting personalities. I think we're going to get along just fine."
He stood up. "We'll start our duties tomorrow. But first, we have one more thing to do. It's a test to see if you're worthy of being Genin."
"What test?" Sakura asked. "We already passed the exam at the Academy."
"That exam just gets you in the door," Kakashi said, his tone turning serious. "My test has a failure rate of over sixty percent. If you fail, you'll be sent right back to the Academy. In other words, out of the twenty-seven graduates who passed, only nine will actually become Genin. And it will likely be less."
He let his words sink in, watching the confidence drain from their faces.
"Be at this training ground tomorrow at five A.M. And don't eat breakfast. You'll just throw it up."
With another swirl of leaves, he was gone, leaving Team 7 alone to contemplate the terrifying reality of their new beginning.