Bab 10: Passing the Bell Test!
After realising they had been found out, the duo stopped attacking simultaneously.
They instead instead switched positions.
Kakashi was previously having to handle the kids that both had different strengths overall.
Naruto was a reckless slugger, while Sasuke was an infighting tactician. The former had the strength and endurance, while the latter kept him on his toes with more complicated Taijutsu techniques.
It was the difference between a siren alarm and a musical melody. Their rhythms completed split.
But since Sasuke was using Naruto's appearance and weaving between the clones, it took a while before Kakashi realised he'd been tricked. The subtle Genjutsu had delayed his realisation.
But who could have done such a thing?
Perhaps it wasn't a particularly strong illusion, but planting a suggestion that delayed a person from thinking of something was monstrous. If it was anyone else, they would have lost to the duo.
Naruto and Sasuke's skill-set complemented each other just that much. They were too consistent.
Like they'd trained with each other for a while.
Sasuke went completely on the attack, while Naruto was in charge of not letting Kakashi get away. Keeping him within a certain range by threatening him with chakra enhanced punches.
Their unfortunate sensei was feeling a little troubled right now. Especially with how they were complementing each other while not getting in each other's way. Keeping track of each other.
Which idiot trained them to be so good…?!
In fact, an impulsive youth like Naruto was the type to always make plans go awry, so how was it possible that he suddenly felt like listening to his teammates? Sasuke too. He was actually listening.
Different from what he'd heard.
Sasuke seemed the type to be too eager to prove himself. Irritable, and rushing forward blindly.
But now, he showed a basic level of patience.
Keeping track of when Naruto couldn't keep up and holding back when necessary. Even after being found.
He seemingly tried to catch his teacher's attention.
Becoming bait.
Kakashi decided to let them lead him to where he assumed would be multiple traps. However, what he saw instead was a pink-haired girl. She seemed to be leisurely leaning on a tree up above.
Sakura cut a string, and the traps set up activated in a chain reaction. One activating after another.
Normally, this would be the time that a ninja would retreat to make sure they weren't caught up into their own traps, but both Sasuke and Sakura instead advanced. Keeping track of the changes.
The was the greatest opportunity they could get to stealing the bells. Even as logs, needles, darts, and arrows were flying everywhere, the two of them tag teamed Kakashi. Seamlessly weaving through them.
Naruto was keeping the parameter checked.
He also wanted to jump in, but knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with them. So he just rested.
Keeping his eyes sharp.
'They really are amazing...' Naruto was entranced by the scene that happened before him.
It was like watching a dance rather than actual combat... Both Sakura and Sasuke had calculated movements due to knowing of the traps beforehand, but Kakashi was still able to keep up with his reflexes and intuition alone.
He didn't need his experience at this point.
'These two are no longer on the level of just regular Genin.' Kakashi thought with certainty.
As they pressured him to such an extent, even his Taijutsu was failing to keep up.
Sakura acted as a more perfect foil to Sasuke than even Naruto. They were like-minded and in-sync.
The kunoichi using her Power Fist was slower than Naruto, even if her attacks were more dangerous.
But she was smarter.
Able to do combination manoeuvres with Sasuke on the fly. Even without practicing beforehand.
She threw her 'dance partner' at their sensei, who was met with a drop kick with impeccable aim.
Being almost thrown into a passing log.
One that brushed his hair as it whizzed by.
Sasuke landed a few clean hits on him. Chaining his attacks by moving from one strike to another.
Completely making use of the momentum.
It was at that moment time seemed to stop.
The free hand of an upside-down Sasuke brushed the bells on Kakashi's waist. It made him alert.
Waking the prideful sleeping dragon.
'Time to end this!' Their sensei no longer felt like assessing them anymore. Play time was over.
They had already proven impeccable teamwork...
Now, all that was left was to check their adaptability. He could tell that that this seemed to be a plan of their's that was going along smoothly, but what will they do after their plan fails?
In just a small moment, he caught Sasuke's arm.
Only to be interrupted by a bone-breaking kick that almost landed on his hand. Sakura swiftly flew by.
The falling Sasuke made some hand-signs.
'Fire Style- Fireball Jutsu!' He thought to project a clear image, then got ready let loose some flames.
Since Kakashi was still in the air, he had no way of dodging. With his limited options, he took the bait.
'A teacher never loses…' Not unless it was on purpose, anyway. This thought lingered in him.
Because no matter how cool he acted, there was an innate pride and childishness deep within him.
Just waiting to be let out.
He became inspired by how this particular team were doing so well using only basic techniques.
It made him suddenly remember that he too had something like that. A specialty of his own.
Although he wasn't going to die from a mere Fireball Jutsu, his life flashed before his eyes.
Losing to kids in such an 'uncool' way WAS death.
Moreover, if he was hit by this fireball, his mask would burn. Which was even more important.
'I have to protect it!' Adrenaline pumped through Kakashi's body. He held his palm forward.
Directly where Sasuke had managed to land, just past the raging fireballs going in his direction.
'Earth Release!' This was the most basic application of natures. Turning chakra into them.
He used this in tandem with his hidden chakra reserves. The power he'd always left unused.
Mostly because he didn't have any 'motivation'.
'Wind Release!' Kakashi thought.
After catching the fireballs with clumps of rocks and dirt, he pushed them down with an air push.
Gravity did the everything else for him.
The burning piles of 'Earth' dangerously fell in Sasuke's direction, causing him to dodge away.
It was at that point Kakashi saw Naruto had jumped into the fray. Lunging like a tiger towards him.
But this became an opportunity.
Their teacher saw the overpowering fist, then place his hand pointing upwards under Naruto's face.
Wind Release was used to throw him away!
And the momentum threw him down to where Sasuke was. His one revealed eye was vigorous.
The man's fighting spirit awoke.
'Like hell you will…!' Sakura ran to where their sensei would land. Her fist ready to intercept.
However, her hand hit air…
The swing was too slow. Just when her fist almost made contact with Kakashi when he landed on the ground, his body suddenly dug into the floor. It was a familiar scene. One Sakura had a tactic for.
However, the man was acting with way too much speed. The moment he'd dug into the ground, and Sakura was about to open the floor up with a seismic punch, two hands already grabbed Sasuke.
A familiar scene of being grabbed by the ankles.
'Dammit!' Sasuke knew he was screwed.
His body was suddenly electrocuted by a Lightning Release, which was when Sakura's punch dropped.
Creating a crater that revealed their sensei.
Sasuke became paralysed while being held up.
Sakura knew what was going to happen next yet could do nothing. Kakashi broke their coordination by throwing the kid into her. The chain reaction of traps were still ongoing, so her choice of action was follow the force of being pushed back.
She used the momentum to retreat out of the area where she set up her traps.
Sasuke also recovered quickly, but their plan had completely failed.
"What are you guys going to do now?" Their sensei spoke curiously. He agilely jumping out of the chain reaction of traps.
It was only a few seconds later did the traps stopped activating… Everything had turned silent.
"Plan B." Sakura saw the fierceness in Kakashi's eye and realised that they needed to step up.
"What was Plan B?" Sasuke had only heard of the initial plan.
His eyes turned to where Naruto had landed. That knucklehead wasn't hurt in that brief exchange.
"Run!" Sakura grabbed Sasuke and booted it out of there. Of course, how could their pursuer let them get away?
Kakashi tried putting Sakura under a Genjutsu to mess with her sense of direction, but found that it had been broken the same instant he used it. From what he could tell, it was as if she expected him to take such an action.
No, that she analysed what he'd do and break it the moment of activation.
'No wonder they put her in the team. Her ability to lead the group is better than I expected.' An honest praise came into his head. Their sensei pursued them like a vulture hunting its struggling prey.
The fact they had pushed him to use Elemental Releases said wonders about their synergy as they were fighting him in close combat.
The duo ran towards Naruto before disappearing using Body Flicker once again.
"What do we do now?" The knucklehead Ninja asked.
"One last time, we'll go at him all once. Naruto, I want you to take the opportunity once it presents itself."
She didn't want to give Kakashi any time to counter strategies against them, so she decided to go all out.
Once again, the duo of Sakura and Sasuke ambushed him once he let his guard down with their strongest moves.
Sasuke expertly weaved hand signs while Sakura finally decided to display the height of her physical strength.
"Cha!" Instead of using a log for substitution, she summoned one… before throwing it in Kakashi's direction. The speed of the projectile ripped through the air and made a whizzing noise.
Sasuke also used his Fireball Jutsu again.
The flames covered the wooden projectile she threw and barely managed to graze their sensei's shoulder, who was retreating in full force. From the ash scattered about appeared Naruto.
He speedily caught up to the retreating figure and finally grabbed the bells with his entire hand.
'I got the bells!' Naruto felt excited but was taken off guard by the pain felt after grabbing them.
Lightning Release was applied on his body...
Even as Naruto was being electrocuted, he endured the pain while throwing the two bells to the teammates behind him.
"Okay, Survival Training is over." Kakashi spoke after capturing Naruto, but his next words killed their enthusiasm.
Sakura and Sasuke sighed while grabbing the bells in midair. The pink-haired girl looked at Kakashi.
Even though he had only slightly revealed the potential he'd always had, it looked like it'd take a bit of time for their sensei to clean away his rust and reach top-tier. He'd held himself back.
It seemed like seeing the way they fought had inspired a new style of fighting from the man, but his lack of experience from not having went all out in a while stopped him. Letting Naruto grab the bells.
If not, Sakura was sure he would have dropped an elbow on his cranium and stopped Naruto earlier.
Even when they won, Kakashi decided to go through with what he'd intended earlier.
His eyes looked darkly at the youth, then spoke:
"But Naruto, you're don't have a bell... So you're not getting lunch today!"
"What?!!!" The knucklehead felt it was unfair.
But before he was tied up on a log, two hands grabbed each arm of Kakashi simultaneously.
"We won't agree on that." Sakura spoke on both their behalf.
"I'm you're instructor and the one who gives you your orders. You must know... those Ninjas who violate orders are scum of the Hidden Leaf." An invisible pressure bore down on them as he spoke.
Intense enough to cause them to feel frightened.
This was the weight of his power and authority.
Even Naruto felt like it wasn't worth it.He didn't want his comrades were to lose their qualifications to become Ninja over him. The optimistic youth truly believed that he'd be able to become Hokage…
…even if he doesn't get lunch for one day.
Although he'll be hungry for a few hours, that was a small price to pay.
"We still refuse to budge." Sasuke was the spearhead. They'd grown quite close lately.
"You're going to outright go against orders? I can have you sent back to the Academy with a word."
Even Sasuke was started to feel pressured now.
"Orders mean nothing if they mean abandoning a friend." To these words, both Naruto and Sakura found the pressure on them lessen. They truly felt the same way... and looked defiantly at Kakashi.
"..." The man let go of Naruto. They expected harsh reprimands, but were instead greeted with a smile.
At least, from what they could tell.
"You all pass. I guess I underestimated you." And on this day, Team 7 had finally formed as a unit.
"Pass what?"
"If you had abandonment him for even a moment, I would have sent you back to the Academy. Your words reminded me of a friend of mine… One day, I hope you grow up to be Ninja who'll remember those words." He brushed Sasuke's hair.
Reminisce started to cover his eyes. He saw the comrade he failed to save in the youth's eyes.
Moreover, this kid was also a black-haired Uchiha.
But realising he might have shown too much intimacy too early, he coughed and pulled away.
Pretending he didn't let his feelings slip a little.
The trio realised that this one moment should probably not be brought up. Even Naruto, the most dense of them, felt that Kakashi wouldn't react well if they went deep into his past so early on.
They kept the person questions for later.
Leaving only one thing:
"What do we do now?" Sasuke asked. Now that they were a team, there must be something… right?
"You can partake in missions and show merit. What you do as a official team from now is up to you." After leaving behind those words, Kakashi vanished into a puff of smoke. Going to sort out his newly awakened heart, which was feeling delayed pain.
All the suffering he'd put to the back was rushing out at once, so he needed some time alone.
Leaving the trio to their own thoughts.
Sasuke thought back to how they fought and decided it would be best for him to train some more.
"We'll split up today and do missions tomorrow." The boy spoke to his teammates before leaving as well.
"Hold up!" But before Sakura could follow him, she felt Naruto grabbing onto her wrist to keep her back.
"What's wrong?" She turned to see him frowning.
Did he get injured? No, Kakashi was the type who could meticulously control his strength if needed.
The jinchuriki before her could also self-heal on his own.
"Firstly, why didn't you let me use the 'Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu'? I could have had him if I used it!" He thought back to that moment Kakashi was in the air. If only he used more shadow clones.
"Even if you have a lot of Chakra, it's best not to be wasteful with it. I've already told you that we of right now can't match sensei if he got serious." She shook her head while taking his hand off her wrist.
"Okay, then... Lastly, what happened?"
"I'm not sure what you're saying." Sakura found it strange. She never let slip anything on her face.
"You've been feeling sad since yesterday."
"Have I?" Sakura touched her face. She was sure there was never a time she expressed negativity.
"Don't think you can hide anything from me! Did Sasuke say something? I'mma beat him up...!"
"He didn't say anything to me..."
"Then why are you sad?" Naruto didn't get it.
This was probably all on Sasuke then. It's always Sasuke's fault. That guy needed a licking.
But not of the smooth variety.
"..." Sakura looked Naruto, before stopping herself from saying anything. There was no way he'd believe her.
"Do you believe in destiny?" She tried to make it more vague. So that he wouldn't say she's crazy.
That the memories from the future were real.
The feelings he future self gave her along with those memories were real. She could sense it.
This wasn't an illusion.
"...What?" Naruto didn't get it.
"I said, if destiny preordained something, would you follow it?" She asked again with a deeper meaning.
"Depends if I like it or not, ya know. If destiny was to say I can't be Hokage, I'd beat the hell out of it!" These fiery words of determination couldn't help but make her smile. This was the Naruto she knew, confident about himself no matter what obstacle was before him.
"I guess your right..." She scratched her head.
"Back to the point, now... Is Sasuke being cold to you again? You should be my girlfriend! I'd never treat you as cold as he does!" Naruto confessed once again.
He patting his chest abruptly, but Sakura knew she couldn't accept these words since... she wasn't worthy.
Naruto would one day get with Hinata, a sweet girl who cared about him a lot and was brave enough to fight for him even when she was outmatched.
Someone who couldn't even bring herself to him like her doesn't deserve his affection like this, it was just immaturity...
"Why, are you getting sadder? Okay, I won't confess to you anymore. Don't cry! I was just joking, alright?"
"Who's crying?!" She got a little angry at how this knucklehead was overreacting about her emotions.
"But I don't get you. Why go after Sasuke if he doesn't make you happy? What's wrong with being with me instead? Is it the looks? Trust me!
My handsomeness when I grow up will get all the girls attention! You'll be missing out in the future if you don't accept." These narcissistic phrases was a first from him.
Naruto tried to lighten up the mood, and found he succeeded when he saw Sakura was trying her best not to laugh at him.
He didn't mind being the class clown… if it meant the girl he liked could laugh a little… instead of being so stoic.
For some odd reason, though she seemed happy on the surface, he couldn't tell why she would force herself to smile even when it was unnecessary. His liked to a genuine smile from her than a faked one!
Sakura's thoughts wondered as she realised that Naruto had always been 'faithful' to her just as she had been to Sasuke over the years. Not even outright rejection seemed to stop him from telling his father in the Fourth Great Ninja War that she was his girlfriend.
On the other hand, she confessed to Sasuke three times and got attacked him in response every single time... Although her love bore fruit in the end, wasn't their relationship a little tragic with how it went along?
"You can only say things like that because you haven't met Hinata yet," Her thoughts leaked out, surprising him.
Naruto was confused since he couldn't remember who she was referring to, which had to do with how his isolation made it so he couldn't interact with her.
"She's someone you'll fall for. This… Destiny will say so." Since she couldn't take her words back, all she did was say some cryptic words before leaving.
The knucklehead was even more confused after being unable to follow. What did she mean?
"I choose my own destiny!" In the empty testing ground where they fought side by side, he declared heavily.
HE WAS NARUTO UZUMAKI!!!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone