A Cage for a Cage

Team 7 was nothing when they left the gates of Konoha with a bridge builder in tow. They were three children with minimal shinobi training and all of them with attitude problems. Their sensei was a lazy genius too heartbroken to give them the training they needed to advance beyond the static group of angry pre-teens that they were.
Kakashi was shown a glimpse of what Team 7 could be, when they fought Zabuza. He saw Sakura’s bravery as she continued to put her body between an attack and Tazuna. Saw Sasuke’s amateur but ingrained battle instincts keep him in the running during Haku’s fight. Saw Naruto’s indomitable Will of Fire when he managed to stop Zabuza and Haku in their tracks and then made them reconsider.
All four of them could feel something tighten around them, forging the first anchors for a true team bond that night on the bridge. It scared Sasuke and Kakashi in an equal amount as it gave Sakura and Naruto hope. Maybe they really could become a team in Konoha. Train side by side and grow together.
Team 7 didn’t make it back to Konoha for 6 months.