Naruto : Chapter 14
"Sure. It will give me something to do until my clones tell me if they managed to get the two idiots to work with me."
"So you know what my test is about?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, teamwork. I just have problems to see them listening to me." Naruto said and went into the cheetah style opening position.
...
Kakashi was ready and the two started with taijutsu. Naruto tried to confuse Kakashi with his speed, but the experienced jonin blocked all his attempts to land hits.
"That will be hard to work against me. After all, my sensei used the same style of taijutsu, Naruto." Kakashi said.
Naruto knew that, but he had some surprises in his style. He finally got close enough for a grazing hit on Kakashi's lower thigh. He used his chakra in his hands to damage a muscle slightly.
Kakashi jumped back.
"I see, not completely your father's style then. You included elements of your own." He pondered.
Naruto followed Kakashi, trying to press a slight advantage. But Kakashi decided it was time to include ninjutsu in the fight. He changed positions with a log, which was hit by Naruto's overhead kick.
Naruto was on guard. He knew Kakashi could attack from everywhere. Then he jumped up and grabbed the branch of the tree when Kakashi shot out of the ground. Naruto circled the branch and used the momentum to attack again. He unsealed his bo staff from his glove and started attacking.
The greater reach of the staff enabled him to press Kakashi into defence. But Kakashi decided he needed to up his game.
"Fire release: phoenix flower." He said and shot some fire balls at Naruto.
Naruto reacted immediately, putting the staff on his back while jumping back and flying through his own handseals.
"Water release: water bullet." He shouted and shot a water-bullet from his mouth against the fire jutsu.
The water overpowered the fire. Naruto shot a flurry of senbon at Kakashi, which only hit another log.
In the bushes Sasuke was fuming from envy. Naruto was giving Kakashi a hard time in the fight. It seemed like Naruto was a lot better than he had thought.
"Are you now willing to listen?" The Naruto clone behind him asked.
"What do you want?" Sasuke jeered.
"The whole damn test is about teamwork. We pass if we work together. I don't like you anymore than you like me and we both detest the banshee. I only want you to push that aside and show Kakashi that we can work together if the situation requires it.
The whole getting a bell is setting us up against each other. That's why he told us to look underneath the underneath. You see my original fighting out there. Kakashi is one of the strongest ninja we have in the village, a former ANBU captain.
Do you really think we have a chance against him alone? If you really want to reach your goal you need his training, so we need to play by his rules. Nobody demands that we like each other, we only need to reach the mission goal." Naruto said.
Sasuke thought about what the clone had said. He hated to admit it, but it was true. He couldn't get a bell from Kakashi, he had tried. And now it seemed that his sensei had even held back. He would have to push his pride aside until he could go after Itachi.
"Okay, we do it. Do you have a plan?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, you order Sakura to distract him with thrown weapons, then attack him with your fire jutsu. I will increase the strength of your jutsu with my own and hide a few weapons in it." Naruto said relieved that Sasuke had finally seen sense.
"You can use fire jutsus?" Sasuke asked surprised. He had thought Naruto to be a water element.
"No, but a wind jutsu. The water jutsu you saw is my defence against fire users. Wind is weak against fire, but can also be used to increase the strength of a fire jutsu." Naruto told him.
Sasuke nodded. They didn't have time to discuss this.
"Where is Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
"About five hundred metres away at two hundred forty five degrees." Naruto answered.
"Be ready in five." Sasuke said and went to order Sakura to do her part. The clone made another clone and dispelled it to inform the original.
The real Naruto was now on defence and tried to avoid Kakashi's attacks. Damn, his sensei was really good. He replaced himself with a log when Kakashi shot another fire attack at him. He then got the message from his clone.
Thank god Sasuke's ambition was strong enough to override his pride for short periods of time. Naruto went to hide again and waited for the signal.
Then several kunai were thrown from the bushes. They were not very fast, but they were on target. Kakashi deflected them without problems.
Then Sasuke shot his fireball and the Naruto clone strengthened it with a wind jutsu. The real Naruto waited at the side, expecting Kakashi to replace himself with a log. He knew which log he would probably use, so he aimed a bunch of coated senbon at the place.
Kakashi managed to deflect all but one of them and quickly pulled it out of his arm. Kakashi attacked Naruto's position with a flurry of shuriken, forcing Naruto to move. Kakashi made a shadow clone of himself that got him out of danger.
Naruto followed, but had to fight the shadow clone.
"Sasuke, get the bells, you have two and a half minutes." Naruto shouted.
The shadow clone of Kakashi managed to keep his original safe for one and a half minutes. Then Sasuke closed in on their position and tried to grab the bells only to be stopped by a weakened Kakashi. Kakashi still defended the bells and then the alarm rang.
"Damn." Naruto said. "We were so close."
Kakashi ordered the three genin to the starting point. He tied Sakura to the post.
"Nice try, but you all didn't get the bells." Kakashi said.
"No, but that wasn't the intention of the test, wasn't it, Kakashi sensei?" Sasuke asked.
He had realized while they fought together, that their chance to get the bells had increased, so Naruto was probably right.
"So you also understood it. Sakura, do you also know the true meaning of the test? The secret to pass?" Kakashi asked.
'Huh? A true meaning?' She wondered.
"Obviously not. But you still helped your team-mates in the last attempt to get the bells. Why?" Kakashi asked.
"Sasuke said I should." She answered.
Naruto shook his head. The girl was so stupid and was praised as the smartest kunoichi in their class.
"Naruto, tell her." Kakashi said.
"The true test was if we could work together as a team. Alone none of us would have had a chance against an elite jonin like Kakashi sensei. Together we had a chance, like you saw in the end." Naruto said.
"Correct. I wanted to test if you could put your own interest aside and work for the overall goal of the mission, getting the two bells. I am happy that you in the end did it, even if not all of you understood the meaning of the test. Therefore you all pass."
All of the genins' faces lit up, even Naruto's a little bit.
"In our line of work, teamwork is the most important factor for the success of a mission. You have to always remember that rules and guidelines are not absolute.
If you followed the rules and fought on your own to get a bell you would have overall lost, even if you would have managed to get one.
Those that break the rules are trash in the ninja world, but those that abandon their comrades, are lower than trash. Always remember that. Konoha became the strongest of the five great shinobi villages by following this mentality.
We fought in three wars and came out victorious because we cherished our comrades. Individual strength of a ninja is important, but without teamwork even the strongest can be brought down. Believe me, I have experienced it. Look at this stone." Kakashi pointed at the memorial stone.
"On this stone the names of those we call heroes in Konoha are engraved. All those ninja died in the line of duty.
They are never forgotten because their comrades keep their memories alive. Right, we are done for today.
Tomorrow we will start our training. Be at this training ground at six in the morning for physical training." Kakashi ordered.
Naruto nodded and walked away after hitting Sakura's binds with a shuriken to free her.
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