She scoops up the piece of wood and starts carving with a small knife she takes out of her pack.

"So I definitely know Kakashi is full of it. I heard that he's failed every single one of his previous genin candidates."

"So there's a decent chance we'll have a chuunin teacher, no matter what we do."

"We'll just have to prove we're the best, with or without him!"

"I think what mama said was right. We have to impress him. We're already pretty impressive for genin, so we have to go above and beyond. Prove that we can be a great team." She pauses. "He likely knows most of our strengths and weaknesses and will exploit them."

"Uhhhh, so we need to cover for that somehow? I don't think I can get good at figuring out tricks in the next few hours, though."

"Everything you fall for is blindingly obvious, idiot." He pauses, then, grudgingly, "I'll tell you if there's a trick. Or throw a rock at you if you're being stupid."

"I think I'm very obviously too used to being in charge. I'm bossy. But I'm totally willing to take your lead, Sasuke. And that way you can demonstrate that you can work in a team, not be so lone-wolf all the time."

He nods. "You're the natural choice for leader. I hate people. He knows that, and will try to exploit it." He grimaces. "He might try to make me and Naruto fight, too."

She pauses, has a sudden idea, and looks to Naruto.

"Do you think you could transform into me?"

"Yup!" He does - fairly thoroughly, too. He's picked up on the importance of scents from hanging out with the Inuzuka, and while his sense of smell isn't quite as good, he can do her scent close enough it'll take anyone who doesn't know her well a few critical moments to tell the difference.

"That could be a good idea then. I don't think he knows us well enough at this point to immediately tell the difference. And I doubt he'll pull out his sharingan for this sort of thing."

"His what."

"His sharingan. They call him Kakashi of the Sharingan. 'The Copy Ninja'."

"How did he get it? Is he Uchiha?"

"No. His dad was Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang. He did have a Uchiha teammate who was KIA. That's how he got it."

"He stole it?"

"No. Definitely not. As much of an arse Kakashi seems, he definitely wouldn't do that. I don't know the whole story, but I'm sure his teammate gave it to him."

"...Deathbed gifts happen." He doesn't say anything else, but - his father hadn't liked them, but his mother had thought it was a good tradition.

He might remember an argument, even, about whether getting such a gift makes you a clan member.

"I don't think he uses it without good reason. He's not an Uchiha or an Uzumaki -- like mama said, he doesn't have a ton of chakra."

Nod.

"Sooooo why were you asking if I could turn into you, Rai?"

"If we can trick him into thinking we are each other, he might try to turn me against Sasuke. Which wouldn't be a complete disaster," she teases.

"Maybe we can surprise him, too!"

"We'll have to convince Inazuma, but they should be easy to bribe."

"Inazuma likes me! And likes messing with people, I think."