The next morning.
Waking up early, Sasuke freshened up and prepared a hearty breakfast for himself.
'Like hell I'll go there on an empty stomach,' Sasuke thought as he ate the juicy omelette which he had prepared for himself.
A while later, he grabbed a few Kunais and left for the place which was mentioned in the instructions that were given to them.
"Sasuke, you're here!"
Sakura, who had arrived early, was waiting there in nervousness when she saw Sasuke's figure approaching from a distance and exclaimed in relief. Her nervousness seemed to have vanished just from a glance at him.
"Yes, good morning, Sakura," Sasuke nodded at her and sat on a rock beside her.
'Sasuke wished meeee!' Sakura's inner self was dancing in delight as she too sat down beside him while clenching the ends of her top from bashfulness.
'Should I ask him about that?' Sakura had been thinking about Sasuke's declaration the previous day. Yesterday, when she returned home, her mind kept on being diverted by that thought, and she was unable to revise much of what she knew.
Yesterday, when she heard those words from Sasuke's mouth, she was filled with exhilaration. However, with time, doubts started to surface in her mind as Sasuke had not told those words to her directly.
'If I ask him about it, what will be his answer? He'll not deny his feelings, right? No! I must ask him out. This is a golden opportunity to finally get closer to Sasuke. Finally, making up her conviction, Sakura decided to confront Sasuke.
"Uhmm S-sasuke?" she called out hesitantly.
"Yes?" Sasuke turned to look towards her.
"I-I wanted to ask something..." She hesitated a little when she met Sasuke's deep gaze.
"And what is that?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"D-do you have fe-"
"GOD I'M HUNGRY AS HELL!" Naruto exclaimed loudly in irritation when he reached the meeting point, and Sakura's light voice got submerged under his voice.
"Good morning," Sasuke nodded towards Naruto as he wanted to build a good relationship with him. He believed he would have realised by now that Hinata had feelings for him.
"Yeah yeah..." Naruto said in annoyance and sat next to Sakura.
"So what was it you wanted to ask?" Sasuke turned towards Sakura and asked.
"A-ah it's nothing important. Don't mind! Haha," Sakura gestured in an embarrassed manner and looked away.
'Just what is going on in this girl's mind?' Sasuke couldn't help but think to himself as he shrugged his shoulders and looked away.
When Naruto's gaze fell on Sakura, he couldn't help but be taken aback.
'Why the hell is glaring at me like that?' He thought with a frown and couldn't help but shudder because of how devilish her gaze looked.
'Is she really the girl I liked?' Naurto thought to himself. Little by little, the fondness he had for Sakura was wearing away after what Sasuke had told him yesterday.
Time passed by and forty five minutes had already elapsed from the disignated time.
Kakashi's figure appeared all of a sudden, and he said in a cheerful manner with a wave, "Good morning! It's good that you guys are not late."
"IT'S NOT US BUT YOU WHO'S LATE!!" Sakura couldn't help but let out her pent-up rage towards Kakashi the next moment.
Kakashi, however, ignored those words and continued nonchalantly, "Alright, then let's go to the place where your test would be conducted."
They soon arrived at an open field with three wooden stumps buried in the ground, and Kakashi began explaining the rules to them.
"You see these two bells in my hand?...."
Everything happened exactly as in canon. Naruto lost his cool and acted out, and Kakashi used him to set an example.
"Test Begins!" Kakashi finally declared, and the three of them rushed towards their hiding spot.
'I have no way of beating Kakashi right now, so I'll just pass time hiding, and when Naruto is caught like earlier, I'll exchange some blows with him and call it a day,' Sasuke formulated a plan in his mind as he hid under the thick foliage of a tree.
A while later.
"Ah!" Naruto was caught by the booby trap that was set up by Kakashi.
"Next time, don't fall for such obvious traps, you fool," Kakashi teased him while showing some opening in his stance.
'Hm? They didn't fall for it,' Kakashi thought as he soon went on a lookout for them.
'What should I do...What should I do...' Anxiety had taken over Sakura's heart after she had witnessed Kakashi's fight with Naruto a few moments before. If she didn't secure the bell, then she wouldn't be able to pass the test. All the hard work she had poured into the past few years would go to waste.
'No! I can't let that happen. I must give it my all,' Conviction formed in her eyes as she sneakily crawled through the bushes to find an appropriate ambush spot.
She suddenly felt a presence on her right, and she turned around only to see Kakashi's head popping inside a bush and looking straight towards her, "Next time, make sure to make less noise while sneaking through the foliage."
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura shouted out from surrpise and was soon caught in Kakashi's genjutsu and collapsed.
"She easily fell for my Genjutsu," Kakashi muttered and looked around him to find traces of Sasuke, who was hiding nearby. "He sure is hiding well, but he will be forced to come outside eventually."
With that thought, Kakashi decided to go and check up on Naruto.
Sasuke glanced at Sakura's unconscious figure in the bushes and thought, 'After this exam is over, I'll help her out.'
He then discreetly jumped from one tree to another and soon overtook Kakashi to rush towards the spot where Naruto was.
"Hehe, I get to eat all of this by myself," Naruto said in delight as he was about to open up the lunch boxes which were preapared for them.
"So are you going to eat them?" Kakashi's voice came from above him, and a chill ran down Naruto's spine.
"Haha, I was just joking, joking...why would I eat the lunch when I've not yet caught the bell..." Naruto tried to defuse the situation, but it was already too late for that.
Kakashi took out a rope and tied Naruto around a dead tree's bark.
"That's what you get for trying to cheat," Kakashi lectured as he was finishing the knot, but just then, a Kunai was aimed at his waist, and he was forced to dodge.
'He's sneakier than I thought,' Kakashi thought to himself in an impressed manner as he dodged the kunai, only to realise that the actual target was not his waist but the bells.
The Kunai cut through the threads that were securing the bells, and they fell towards the ground.
Just at that moment, Sasuke's figure rushed out from a nearby bush a few feet away and reached for the bells. Seeing that his trick had worked, Sasuke couldn't help but become excited and rush to attempt what he had considered impossible a few moments ago.
'At this rate, I might succeed,' Sasuke thought in delight as his hand was about to grab the two bells. However, the next moment, a kick came right towards his face, and when he opened his eyes the next moment, he was tied next to Naruto on a tree bark.
"I failed..." He sighed in disappointment.
"Good try," Naruto couldn't help but praise Sasuke as he was greatly impressed by Sasuke's attempt earlier.
"Your shadow clone usage was also no joke," Sasuke returned the praise as a wide grin formed on Naruto's face, "You bet it wasn't!"
'Hmm, there's a sense of camaraderie amongst them at least, I thought they hated each other,' Kakashi, who was observing them from a nearby shade, thought to himself while reading his book.
Sakura soon regained consciousness and started looking for Kakashi once again, but when she noticed that Sasuke was bound by a tree bark, she rushed to help him and, with Kunai freed him.
"Thanks!" Sasuke said with gratitude.
"Me too! Free me too!" Naruto exclaimed from the side. Sakura was about to do the same for him, but suddenly Kakashi appeared in front of them and declared, "Time's up! All of you have failed!"