Designed to Kill (ナルト/Naruto) [Various x Ghoul! OC]

Chapter 7: Pass or Fail

"You tried to eat food on the memorial stone?" Seven inquired the boy, impatience ran through her veins when Naruto once again avoided eye contact with her. She glare switched from the one to another, though all but two avoided eye contact, the sensei, and Sasuke. Naruto bound to the central post for attempting to steal a bento box Kakashi had left on the memorial stone. Their stomach growls despite their attempts to control their urges.

"Oh-oh, your stomachs are growling," Kakashi stated the obvious, as Seven rolled her eyes at his Sherlock-like moment.

"No, really? I thought a bomb went off," she mumbled to herself, mocking the Jounin in front of her.

"Oh, by the way, about this exercise; well! There's no need for you guys to go back to the Academy." Naruto cheered eternally, exclaiming out in amazement and pride. Sakura seemed awestruck like she couldn't believe she actually just passed. After all, she didn't do much but faint and then come back to life just to attack Seven for trolling her a little too hard.

"What? I... All I did was lay unconscious. Do ya get points for that?"

Sasuke smirked smugly and that was as if on cue the other two cheered to themselves, but she had a feeling this teacher was trolling the four of Seven a lot harder than she would have expected him to.

"Three of you must quit being ninjas!"

"Called it!" She declared, giggling to herself at the surprised expression displayed on Sasuke's face, now she just had to wait for who fail and who passed. Though she already knew.

"Only one made it. A ghoul nonetheless."

"Tch, I understand that we didn't get the bell-like Seven did, but quit being ninjas?! Are you kidding me! Why do we have to be told to quit?!" Naruto screamed, squirming about in the tightrope restraining him from any moments. Her eyes followed Kakashi-sensei's, her eyes were almost as if she were pleading with him, they were annoying but most of them were skilled. She should have seen them fight even if they could use a little improvement, Kakashi must know that already.

"That's because most of you are a bunch of squirts who don't have the qualifications to become a ninja." The bold statement seemingly kicked their pride in the face, as she just watched. Muffling her amused 'oohs' with a hand cupped over her mouth, "You don't think like ninjas, you think like little kids, like brats."

The boy abruptly shot up, charging at Kakashi with the intent to make him pay for creating such a damage on his pride. Sasuke shot out a hand along with a kunai aimed at Kakashi's face, as the male dodged his hand grasped Sasuke's in a vice-like grip, pulling him down the dust particles surrounding the two suggests that Sasuke didn't last very long in the fight. Seven's suspicions were more than correct when Sasuke landed underneath his own sensei, with Kakashi gripping his arm behind his back.

"Sasuke!"

"That's right, I'm saying you're the squirt."

"Don't step on Sasuke!"

"Shut up." She hissed at Sakura, a glint of her Kakugan was enough for Sakura to shut her lips like she never opened them in the first place.

"You kids don't know the first thing about being a ninja. You think it's a game, don't you?" An uppercut to the head was sent to their head as the realization hit them, figuratively speaking. "Why do you think you're doing this exercise in teams?"

"Thank you!" Seven slapped her knee, sending a knowing yet mocking glance at Sasuke as he continued to avoid eye contact, keeping his eyes on Kakashi instead of herself. "I f*****g told you, asshole."

"Sasuke, what was the point of this exercise?!" Kakashi called him out, the glare hardens at him. Though he couldn't blame him for having trust issues when it comes to working side-by-side with a man-eating ghoul, not to mention his past, of course, trust issues would be one of his problems.

"Huh? What is he talking about, Sasuke?" All eyes were on Sasuke at the moment with Sakura anxiously gripping at the helm of her shirt, Naruto shooting him a glare and her standing there with the most s**t-eating grin she has ever allowed to decorate her features.

"Teamwork..." He mumbled quietly to himself, clutching his fist until his nails dug into his skin. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough for her to pity how much he must be beating himself up for this.

"You mean.. working together?"

"Did you hit yourself or something?" Seven inquired the girl rudely, snapping at her. And here Seven thought she was supposed to be one of the more intelligent ones in the squad, and here she was barely knowing what the hell 'teamwork' means. Then again, Seven wouldn't be surprised if the only word she really understood was, 'love', 'Sasuke', and 'I hate Naruto'.

"Exactly. But it's too late even if you realize that now. But if all three of you had come at me then maybe you've might've been able to take the bells." He suggested, taking her by surprise when his hand gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, "Well, it's too bad. Even though a monster cared enough to even give you such an advice. Could've saved you."

"Why use teamwork if there were only two bells."

"To break us up, this wasn't a test about whether or not you could get a bell, but more of a whether or not you could put others before yourself. As you humans like to say. Unselfish bastards.." she mumbled the last part to herself, but she was pretty sure Kakashi held when he chuckled lowly to himself.

"Exactly, I purposely pinned you against each other. A genin should have a natural feel for teamwork. But you... it never even crossed your minds." he glared pausing before his eyes glared at her like daggers as she gulped, "Sakura! You were obsessed with Sasuke and you didn't even know where he was. While Naruto was right in front of you the whole time and you didn't even raise a finger to help!"

"Exactly..." Naruto mumbled dejectedly to himself.

"Naruto!"

"Huh?!"

"All you do is run solo. Everything by yourself. Everything!" he scolded, placing more pressure on Sasuke's head, much to Seven's amusement, "And you! You labeled the other two as hindrances and acted on your own. Even the person who tried to help you were shot down, being labeled a 'monster'. she thought the others were so far beneath you that they were worthless."

"Arrogances. Missions are carried out in squads! There's no mistaking that Ninjas need unsuppressed individual skills, but 'teamwork' is considered more important than that. Individual actions that disrupt teamwork throw the team into the crisis and lead to death. For example." Kakashi held the kunai near Sasuke's neck, "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies..."

"What?! What?! Whaaat?!"

"Is what will happen.." he calmed them down, as Sakura and Naruto released a breath of relief.

"The enemy takes a hostage and you've got an impossible choice. Somebody is bound to die."

She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. The Jounin sighed, removing his hand from shoulders. At least he as scared of herself as he used to be, now he actually had the balls to touch her shoulder.

"On every mission your life in on the line." He spoke, walking towards the memorial stone, "If you look at this stone and the many names engraved on this stone, they are all Ninjas who are called heroes in the village."

"That-that-that-that! I like that!"

"They were killed in action, you dimwit," she growled, swatting the back of his head in disappointment, though he didn't reject or complain when he looked at the ground in a regretful manner. Sweatdropping to himself.

"This is a memorial stone, the name of my closest friends are engraved here." Everyone was silent as tension filled the air, the thick tension in the atmosphere nearly suffocated you, "I'll give you guys one more chance! However, afternoon it'll be a harsher battle to take the bell. Those who want to take on the challenge can eat lunch. However, don't let Naruto have any."

Naruto growled maliciously.

"It's punishment for breaking the rules and attempting to eat lunch on your own. If anyone lets him eat that person will be disqualified on the spot." He glared into all of his student's eyes, he has a very effective glare for a man who has only one eye peeking out at the moment, "I make the rules, here. Got it?"

(ノಠ*ಠ)ノ*┻━┻

A growl ran throughout the forest, frightening all the birds. As well as the over-exaggerating ghoul who nearly flew into the air in surprise, a small high-pitched yelp escaping pass her lips. Well, a good thing to know her reflexes is still spot on, rarely a late reaction. Let's hope.

"No sweat! No sweat at all! I'm fine with no eating!" another set of rumbles erupting from his stomach like WW3 was going on in his stomach, a sheepish grin caused him to hung his head low in dejection, "Yeah... no sweat at all."

"You liar." Sakura proclaimed him, glancing at the other proclaimed monster sitting a little too closely near her Sasuke than she liked. She kinda wished Seven would make like the sun and stay 149.6 million km away from them all.