Naruto's Best Friend

Urge to Swipe

Ryoko walked to the training grounds they were told to meet up at with Naruto sleeping soundly on her back. She was able to get there before anyone else and was pretty sleepy herself. She didn't eat and neither did Naruto, making her a little irritable.

She lied down and curled up around Naruto, providing him with warmth and a pillow, not long before Sasuke and Sakura eventually showed up, seeing the pair sleeping.

Hours had passed, and soon, all members of team 7 were sleeping, the three using Ryoko as a pillow.

When Kakashi arrived at the training grounds, he didn't expect the whole team to be this relaxed. He sighed, wishing he too could be sleeping.

He walked up to the group and shook them all awake, Naruto was a bit more difficult than the others when it came to waking up.

"Morning everyone. Ready for your first day?" Kakashi asked once everyone was woken up from their naps. When Ryoko woke and stretched, she transformed into her kitten form.

"Hey, you're late!" Naruto and Sakura yelled, suddenly feeling energized.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way." He spoke, sounding like was trying to care and give a good excuse.

The two didn't say anything, only groaning in annoyance. Ryoko sighed through her nose, feeling the need to go back to sleep.

Kakashi walked over to one of the three stumps, placing a clock on it. "It's set for noon." was all the sensei said, leaving the three even more confused.

The silver-haired man pulled out two bells, causing them to jingle lightly. The cat immediately became interested, thinking they were cat toys for her to play with.

"Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." Kakashi's laziness seeped through the more he spoke, jingling the bells in his hands.

"If you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts," He said pointing to where the clock was, "and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."

Naruto groaned loudly, shaking in pain as he never had to go this long without food.

'So that's why..' Sasuke thought in his head.

'He told us not to eat breakfast this morning to make it harder for us.' Sakura immediately thought right after, holding her stomach.

Ryoko snorted at how well they were in sync without either knowing it. A light bulb suddenly went off in Sakura's brain.

"Wait a minute, there's only three of us, how come there's only two bells?" Kakashi chuckled lightly at Sakura's question.

"That way, at least one of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy." The silver-haired man said with a closed eye smile.

"Then again, all three of you could all flunk out too." The three suddenly became more determined, ready to get a bell.

"You can come at me with any weapon. If you're not ready to kill me, you're not ready to take the bells." Sakura immediately became alarmed.

"Those weapons are too dangerous, sensei!" She exclaimed as Naruto laughed, finding what Kakashi and Sakura said humorous.

"Especially since you couldn't even dodge that eraser." Naruto's hands flew behind his head, providing support to his head.

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links. You can safely ignore the lowest scores. Losers." Naruto stopped laughing and turned to glare at the man. Ryoko stared intently at the bells tied on Kakashi's hip, too focused on the silver bells to notice the man's insult.

The cat wanted to play with the bells, finding the will to swipe at them overwhelming.

"When I say start, you can begin." An irk mark appeared on Naruto's face as he gritted his teeth in anger.

The blonde pulled out a kunai, spinning it on his finger before gripping it tightly and charging at the silver-haired man.

Kakashi, however, quickly reacted and twisted Naruto's arm to point the kunai at his own head.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say start yet." Ryoko snuck up to Kakashi, swiping at the bells, without yet touching them, no one noticing her small form. Sakura and Sasuke back away from Kakashi in slight fear at his speed.

"But you came at me with full intention of destroying me. So, what I'm trying to say is, I'm starting to like you guys." Kakashi finished, a little proud that his students were taking this seriously.

"Get ready." He warned, "Aaaaaaaand....Start!"