"What's Naruto doing, spacing out at a time like this!" Sakura crouched in the grass, her face full of anxiety.
The test had already started. Standing there motionless—what was he thinking?
Sasuke, perched on the dense branches of a tree, frowned as he observed, unsure of what Naruto intended.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes with a smile, watching Naruto.
"Are you planning to snatch the bells head-on?"
Naruto didn't answer. Neither of the two options given by the panel were easy.
If he wanted to take the bells from Kakashi by force, he'd need at least a tokubetsu jōnin's level of strength, which meant he'd have no choice but to draw on the Nine-Tails' power.
But if the pass condition was that only one person needed to grab a bell, then maybe it could work.
Naruto, however, already knew Kakashi's true intention: he wanted to see them value their comrades and demonstrate teamwork before passing them.
And even if he did get a bell, how would it be distributed afterward?
If he gave it away to a teammate, there were still only two bells.
And knowing Kakashi's personality, if he simply lay down and did nothing, there was a real chance he'd be judged as failing due to a lack of effort.
Mastering the rare Wood Release bloodline might also bring trouble. Danzo would never let him go, and the Third wouldn't leave him unchecked either.
If that was the case, then he'd better go all out! He would have to use the Nine-Tails' power sooner or later anyway.
The Third and the higher-ups cared about his Uzumaki chakra reserves and his status as the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, hoping to brainwash him into a loyal supporter of the village.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have set him up to steal the Forbidden Scroll and conveniently given him the Multi Shadow Clone Technique.
That jutsu was useless to most—without enough chakra, it was no different from ordinary clones.
[Nine-Tails' approval: 2.2%]
That was the power he could use now.
"Get the bells!" Naruto bent his knees, ready to spring. "As long as I take the bells, right?"
"Of course." Kakashi touched the bells on his waist with a smile. "Get one, and the test is cleared."
"Then I'll take both!"
Kakashi felt a sudden shift in Naruto's tone. In that instant, an aura rose from him that felt disturbingly familiar.
Red chakra flared around him, blurring his features.
His small body shot forward like an arrow, exploding into motion the instant Kakashi's pupil widened. The grass beneath his feet tore up, dirt spraying into the air.
Naruto's speed was incredible. With the Nine-Tails' chakra, his agility had reached shocking levels.
In almost the blink of an eye, his fist lashed out—Kakashi tilted his head, dodging. Missing, Naruto swung an elbow, twisting violently in midair.
Even as his elbow missed, his left leg chopped down hard.
"Naruto! He—!" Sakura gaped from the grass, mouth wide open.
One thought flashed through her mind. She suddenly realized: trying to take a bell from a jōnin would be impossible without Naruto.
Now that Kakashi's attention was on Naruto, she had to act!
With just that thought, her body sprang up. Circling around Kakashi, she reached for her pouch.
At the same time, Sasuke on the tree unleashed six shuriken. They whistled through the air, cutting six arcs to seal off Kakashi's paths of evasion.
Kakashi's expression stayed calm. His body blurred with speed, dodging all six effortlessly.
Then came the whistle of kunai—three more, Sakura following up on Sasuke's rhythm. Her position wasn't great; she was too close.
Thunk, thunk, thunk. The kunai sank into a tree trunk, missing entirely.
"Genjutsu!" Sakura cried as Kakashi closed in, hurriedly forming seals.
"Genjutsu," Kakashi said first, returning her move in kind—though it was a simple illusion.
Using the same level of genjutsu Sakura was attempting, he cast it back onto her. Caught in the illusion, she froze and collapsed stiffly onto the grass.
"Too slow," Kakashi commented, tilting his head to easily dodge Naruto's spinning kick.
In the same instant, he grabbed Naruto's leg and hurled him down hard.
But Naruto didn't scream on impact. Instead, he burst into smoke with a bang. Kakashi blinked—Substitution Jutsu?
He hadn't realized it was a clone. True, he hadn't been taking it seriously, but he had felt Naruto's leg in his hand. The sensation had fooled even him!
A substitution this perfect, pulled off by a rookie not even officially a genin yet, rivaled that of a seasoned jōnin.
"Not bad," Kakashi said, somewhat impressed.
But then he realized something. Looking down, he saw that the entranced Sakura had already been lifted and carried off by Sasuke.
"Caw!" A crow swept overhead, scarlet eyes glinting as it watched the scene below, recording every detail.
Kakashi now stood alone in the field. Silence surrounded him; Naruto and the others were nowhere to be seen.
"Just a diversion to grab my attention? So the real goal was for Sasuke to rescue Sakura." Kakashi rolled his neck until it cracked, and without hurrying, pulled out a copy of Icha Icha Paradise from his pouch.
After glancing at it, he drawled lazily,
"Well, that's more like it."
Then, as he strolled toward the riverbank, he called out,
"Come on now. If you want the bells, show me some real skill."
In the grass, Naruto looked at Sasuke with irritation.
"What are you staring at me for? I can't dispel genjutsu."
Before he could finish, Sakura's eyes snapped open. Her pupils dilated, then contracted. Only after seeing Naruto and Sasuke in front of her did she calm down.
"Kakashi-sensei's hand seals were too fast," Sakura said, still shaken.
With both boys staring at her, she blinked and glanced behind, finding no one there. Confused, she asked,
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"How did you wake up on your own?" Naruto asked.
"Genjutsu can be broken," Sakura explained. "I happen to be good at it. It just took me a little time to dispel it myself."
"Mainly, Kakashi-sensei held back. He didn't go all out."
Naruto stayed quiet. Sakura really was at the peak of what an ordinary person could achieve. With no bloodline, she had gotten this far purely on brains.
Maybe yesterday's blow had steadied her. She seemed more composed now, though her smile carried strain and her face showed exhaustion.
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