Chapter 14: Two Bells
"What's that idiot Naruto spacing out for at a time like this!" Sakura whispered anxiously from the grass, her face full of worry.
The test had already started, so why was he just standing there, not moving?
Sasuke stood on a branch in the dense canopy, frowning as he observed. For the moment, he couldn't figure out what Naruto was planning either.
Kakashi, on the other hand, watched Naruto with an amused expression and asked,
"Are you planning to just snatch the bells by force?"
Naruto didn't answer. The options on his panel—neither of them worked.
To take the bells from Kakashi, he would at least have to demonstrate the skills of a Special Jōnin. And to do that, he would inevitably have to use the Nine-Tails' power.
If the rule were that as long as he got a bell the whole team would pass, then maybe he could give it a try. But Naruto already knew that wasn't Kakashi's intention. Kakashi wanted to see them value their comrades and work together as a team before they could pass.
Even if he managed to grab the bells, how would they divide them?
They'd still have to put on some hypocritical show of self-sacrifice—like that old story about sharing pears—a chore that was all pain and no gain.
But if he just gave up outright, that'd be too obvious. He might really get sent back to the Academy for another year due to "lack of motivation." Even with Wood Release, that would be a complete waste of time.
He shook his head. Doing nothing was pointless. He'd just pick the first option.
The system's "do nothing" choices weren't always ideal; he figured he had to use his own judgment. He could choose not to pick at all this time, but there was no avoiding that staged self-sacrifice in the end.
Since that was the case, he might as well go all out!
Sooner or later, he'd have to use the Nine-Tails' power anyway.
After all, what the Third Hokage and the other higher-ups valued in him was the Uzumaki clan's chakra reserves and his status as the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. They wanted to brainwash him into becoming a loyal supporter of the village.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have deliberately set him up to steal the Forbidden Scroll. The Multi Shadow Clone Technique had practically been prepared for him alone.
[Nine-Tails' Approval: 2.2%]
"Take the bells!" Naruto bent his knees slightly, ready to spring. "All I have to do is take the bells, right?"
"Of course." Kakashi flicked the bells at his waist with a smile. "Get even one, and you pass."
"Then I'll take both!"
For a moment, Kakashi felt as though Naruto had become a different person. A strangely familiar aura surged from him.
Red chakra flared, obscuring Naruto's features.
His small body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. In the instant Kakashi's pupils widened, the ground beneath Naruto's feet exploded, sending grass and damp soil flying.
Naruto's speed was overwhelming. With the Nine-Tails' chakra empowering him, his movements were shockingly agile.
In almost the blink of an eye, Naruto's fist shot forward—Kakashi dodged with a quick tilt of his head. Missing, Naruto twisted violently midair, swinging an elbow, then brought his left leg down in a heavy axe kick.
"Naruto! He—!" Sakura's jaw dropped open in the grass.
A thought flashed through her mind—she suddenly realized something crucial. Trying to snatch the bells from a Jōnin was impossible without Naruto.
Now that Kakashi's attention was locked on him, she had to do something!
Just the thought was enough—her body moved on its own. As she sprinted in a wide arc around Kakashi, her hand went to her pouch.
Meanwhile, Sasuke from above had already thrown six shuriken. They whistled through the air in six arcing trajectories, cutting off Kakashi's escape routes.
"Not bad," Kakashi said casually, suddenly accelerating to slip past Sasuke's shuriken.
A shrill whine split the air—three kunai followed. Sakura had matched Sasuke's rhythm, despite her poor positioning being far too close to Kakashi.
Thud, thud, thud—the kunai sank into a nearby tree trunk, all missing.
"Genjutsu!" Sakura cried as Kakashi closed in, hastily forming seals.
"Genjutsu!" Kakashi's fingers blurred faster, turning her technique against her—not that it was anything advanced.
He simply applied an illusion of the same level before she could cast hers. Under its influence, Sakura froze in place, then collapsed stiffly onto the grass.
"Too slow," Kakashi commented, tilting his head to evade Naruto's spinning kick without even looking.
In that same moment, he caught Naruto's leg and swung him hard into the ground.
Naruto hit with a crash—but instead of the expected scream, there was a puff of smoke.
Kakashi blinked. A substitution?
He hadn't even realized it was a clone. Sure, he hadn't been going all out, but he had felt the leg he grabbed—the realism was flawless.
For a mere academy flunky to pull off a Substitution Technique on par with a seasoned Jōnin…
"Not bad," Kakashi said, genuinely impressed.
Then it hit him—he glanced down. The Sakura who'd been under genjutsu was gone, with Sasuke now carrying her off.
"Caw!"
A crow swooped overhead, its blood-red eyes taking in the entire scene below.
Kakashi now stood alone in the clearing. The place had gone utterly silent—no sign of the three anywhere.
"So that was just to distract me? The real goal was for Sasuke to extract Sakura." He rolled his neck, the joints cracking, then unhurriedly pulled a copy of Make-Out Paradise from his pouch.
After a glance at the pages, he drawled lazily,
"Now that's more like it."
With that, he strolled toward the river, calling out casually,
"Well then, if you want these bells, you'd better show me what you've really got."
In the bushes, Naruto turned to Sasuke with an annoyed look.
"Why're you staring at me? I can't dispel genjutsu."
Before he could say more, Sakura's eyes fluttered open. Her pupils dilated, then contracted sharply. Only when she saw Naruto and Sasuke did she finally relax.
"Kakashi-sensei's hand seals were too fast," she said, still shaken.
Noticing both boys staring at her, Sakura blinked and glanced behind her. Seeing no one there, she asked in confusion,
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"How'd you wake up on your own?" Naruto asked.
"Genjutsu can be broken," Sakura explained. "I'm good at it, so I managed to dispel it myself."
"Mainly because Kakashi-sensei held back and didn't go all out."
Naruto stayed quiet. Sakura really was the peak of what an ordinary person could achieve. She had no special bloodline, and yet she'd made it this far purely on skill and intellect.
Maybe it was because of yesterday's blow to her confidence, but she seemed steadier now. There was a forced smile on her face and fatigue in her eyes.