3rd Person's P.O.V

Y/n half-snickered and half looked at Naruto in disappointment. He avoided Y/n's eyes as they walked up his tied up form and crouched down, flicking his forehead.

"Really, Naruto?" They said, disappointed.

He pouted and looked up at them, his cheeks tinted pink in embarrassment.

"Sorry Y/n... I just got hungry and I thought I could eat without getting caught... I'm sorry Y/n-chan."

Shaking their head, they ruffled his hair with a small smile,

"Troublemaker. You're lucky I can't stay mad at you."

Naruto blushed and grinned up at Y/n fondly, who rolled their eyes and sat between the tied-up blonde and the sulking duck. All their stomachs but
Y/n's growled loudly.

"Ohoho, you're stomachs are growling... hm, by the way about this exercise... well, there's no need for you to go back to the academy."

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto celebrated, thinking they'd passed. Y/n simply shook their head and leaned against the wooden post, waiting for Kakashi to continue and shatter their dreams. He smiled at their enthusiasm.

"Yes, yes, you three... must quit being a ninja!" He exclaimed, making them look up at him in shock and horror.

"Q-quit being ninja?! What do you mean?! Uh, well, it's true we couldn't take the bells, but still, why are we being told to quit?!!!"

"Because you three are all still little kids who don't have the qualifications to be a ninja."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and launched at Kakashi, who subdued him in the blink of an eye. Kakashi sighed exasperatedly,

"I'm saying you're squirts. Are you kids thinking that being a ninja is that easy? Huh?"

Shaking their head, Y/n watched, making eye contact with Sasuke who simply glared and looked away.

"Why do you think you're doing this exercise in teams?" Kakashi asked. The three were all confused and puzzled as to what he was getting at.

"Simply, you guys have no understanding of the answer to this test."

"the.. answer?" Naruto asked, confuzzled.

"Yes, the answer that determines the passing or failing of this test."

"That's... what I've wanted to ask for a while." Sakura piped up. Y/n groaned dramatically and stood up, sauntering over to Kakashi before leaning against him, shaking their head disappointedly at the other three.

"Man, are you guys brainless or what? Don't you get the meaning of a three... or four-man squad?!" Kakashi asked them. They remained silent.

Y/n coughed loudly, gaining their attention once again.

"I THINK what sensei is trying to say is... the answer was teamwork you FOOLS. The thing I've been pestering you all about!?! Why in the spicy chimichangas, would you be in teams if you were supposed to act solo?!" 

"But why didn't I pass?! I teamed up with N/n-chan!!" Naruto shouted, clearly upset about this new piece of information.

"I worked with them too. We almost got the bells. Shouldn't we pass, at least?" Sasuke spoke up, frustrated and angry. Kakashi shook his head,

"You two only teamed up with Y/n because they gave you no choice. Very cleverly, they made it so that you couldn't say no to their help. They saved you two, and then in return, you decided to help them back. While that may still be a very weak form of teamwork, it does not count. Only Y/n understood the purpose of this test. But it's too late now. If you four teamed up, you would've been able to take the bells."

Sakura looked troubled and opened her mouth,

"But sensei, if we were supposed to work together, why would you only have two bells? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of teamwork?"

Y/n sighed again and they looked at her. "Sakura, remember yesterday how I told you that survival exercises can mean more than physical survival? That they can be survival of relationships and bonds? Yeah, well, that's what this was. It was a test. To see if we were selfish enough to only think for ourselves. Ego has no place on a battlefield. The same way selfishness has no place in a ninja squad."

Kakashi smiled at them and nodded in agreement.

"Sakura! You were only concerned with Sasuke but didn't even know where he was. And you didn't care for Naruto who was right in front of you." Sakura looked down guiltily.

"Naruto... all you do is run solo. Although, I was impressed with your quick thinking when fighting with Y/n. But even still, you only worked together when they gave you no choice. You refused to help them find Sasuke and work altogether." Naruto grit his teeth and looked away.

"And you," Kakashi started, pressing his foot harder onto Sasuke, "you labelled the others as hindrances, and only worked with Y/n begrudgingly when they saved your neck." Kakashi looked up.

"Missions are carried out in squads! There's no mistaking that ninja must have unsurpassed individual skills but the most important thing is teamwork. Individual actions that disrupt teamwork throw the team into crisis and lead to death. For example: Sakura! Kill Naruto, or Sasuke dies! Y/n, if Sakura can't do it, kill them both!"

All three of them stood shocked. Y/n smirked and twirled a kunai around their fingers, staring directly at Sakura and Naruto. They both shivered,

"N/n-chan stop scaring us!!" Naruto called out. Y/n shrugged and put the kunai away.

"That... is what will happen." Kakashi continued, "on top of having a hostage taken, you're forced with impossible decisions and end up being killed." He stood up and turned around.

"Each mission is a life risking assignment,"

Y/n walked up to Sasuke and held put a hand, he stared at it for a moment before pushing it aside and standing up by himself.

"Look at this," Kakashi said, making their attention refocus onto him, "the many names engraved on this stone... they are all called heroes in the village."

Naruto grinned, "that that that! I like thaaaat!!! I've decided to get my name engraved there too!!!"

Y/n turned to Naruto and stared at him, grasping his jacket tightly.

"I will never let that happen, Naruto. As long as I'm by your side, I will do anything to make sure none of you ever end up with your names on that stone." They look down, before turning their head to Kakashi,

"Even if it means that my name ends up on there."

Kakashi looked at them with pained eyes, "as long as I'm your sensei I will make sure that never happens."

Y/n frowned, "what better use is there for me? Don't you think this was why I'm on this team? As insurance... to be sure that these three live to be the next generation of powerful ninjas?"

Kakashi turned around, "that is... do you really think that way? You are not insurance, you are a Konoha ninja. I don't know why the Hokage chose this team for you, but I know it wasn't so you could sacrifice yourself for one of them."

Naruto looked between them, very confused.

"What is happening?! Insurance?! Why don't you want me to be on that stone?!"

Kakashi remained silent for a few seconds, Sakura speaking up for him.

"The people on the stone are heroes who were killed in action... they died performing a mission."

Naruto looked down at the ground, ashamed he ever said he wanted to be on that stone before it occured to him. His head turned to Y/n's.

"You said... did u mean that you would die for us?!" He said, voice full of shock, hurt and anger.

Not meeting their gazes, Y/n stared at the stone.

"I would. If it was the only way to save you guys, I would do it without hesitation."

Sasuke's eyes lingered on Y/n, not knowing what to think of this revelation.

"What's the point in that?" He said, before he could stop the words tumbling out his mouth. They all looked at Sasuke, who's gaze never faltered from Y/n.

"What's the point in dying for us?"

Y/n scoffed with a smile. "I never said I'd go around saying 'ay kill me' to every enemy we face. If I'm going down, I'm going down with one hell of a fight and at least 3 explosions. If I don't drastically alter the landscape and KO every enemy within a 3 kilometre radius, I refuse to die."