Chapter 4: The Bell Test... Once More!
Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7 at eight, only to find Sakura and Sasuke, whose faces looked like zombies, glaring at him.
"Where the heck have you been, you idiot?" Sakura growled.
"Ichiraku's, of course," Naruto answered. "You don't expect me to go to war with an empty stomach, do you?"
"Kakashi-sensei told us not to have breakfast!" she screeched. "And we're not going to war; this is just a training session!"
"Well, the 'no breakfast' part was not mentioned in the leaflet he gave us, right?" Naruto shrugged. "Besides, he said this training was a test. I don't know about you, but I need my body at the top level before taking any test."
Hearing that, Sakura didn't ask anymore. She just sat down and rubbed her growling stomach, trying her best to calm it down.
"Here."
She raised her head and widened her eyes when she saw a meat bun in front of her face.
"Eat up. I don't have much money, so I could only buy these. It's not much, but still better than an empty stomach, right?" Naruto grinned while throwing another one to Sasuke. "You didn't have breakfast too, did you? Eat up!"
Sasuke scowled. "I don't need your pity."
"Oh come on, this is not the time for empty pride," Naruto snorted. "If Kakashi-sensei is anything like I've heard about him, then we must throw everything we have at him if we want to have a chance against him."
Those words finally got Sasuke's attention. "What do you know about him?" he demanded.
"Well," Naruto started, "Kakashi-sensei was well known all over the Elemental Countries as 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' due to the fact that he has a Sharingan hidden under his hitai-ate," Sasuke's body stiffened against this information, "and he had used it to copy over a thousand jutsu of his enemies. He is one of the very famous shinobi who brought victory to the Leaf in the Third Great Shinobi World War, together with the Fourth Hokage himself."
"No way," Sakura gasped. "Our sensei is that strong?"
"But how did he have the Sharingan? He's not an Uchiha," Sasuke questioned.
"Dunno," Naruto shrugged. He felt that it's better not to tell Sasuke about Obito yet. "But we can already tell that Kakashi-sensei is not someone we can afford to underestimate."
Sasuke didn't say anything for a while. Then, he grabbed the bun and devoured it in one gulp.
"Sorry guys, I got lost on the road of life."
Naruto deadpanned when his teacher arrived at the training ground at 9.
"You know, that was the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life, sensei."
And by that, he meant 'still the lamest excuse'.
"Is that so?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Then I promise next time you won't hear it anymore."
"You're not gonna be late again?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"No, I'll make a different excuse," the cyclops eyesmiled.
The three genin groaned.
"You have until noon to take these bells from me," Kakashi started while pulling out an alarm clock and two small bells. "Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch, and will be tied to one of those stumps while I and your teammates eat right in front of you. And the one who doesn't have a bell fails, and will be sent back to the Academy."
"But sensei, in the pamphlet you said that we're allowed to use weapons. Isn't that dangerous?" Sakura asked.
"Oh, you won't be able to touch me if you don't come at me with intent to kill," the jonin waved her off. "Now, start when I say…"
With a flick of his hand, five shuriken flew from Naruto's place towards Kakashi. Then without any pause, Naruto pulled a kunai out from his shuriken pouch…
…only for his arm to be bent around, the point of the kunai aimed at his neck.
"Hasty, eh?" the voice of Kakashi rose behind him. "I haven't said 'start' yet."
Too fast, Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help sharing the same thought. I can't even see him moving.
Just like old time, Naruto grinned. "You'd better look at your back, sensei."
The tip of another kunai touched the back of Kakashi's flak jacket.
"You used the shuriken as a distraction not only to pull out a kunai, but also to create a shadow clone to ambush me," Kakashi said with an eye smile. "Pretty clever, I must say. Well then, now it's time to start."
He burst into smoke, and the genin leaped away from the clearing.
'I don't understand what you're thinking anymore, Naruto.'
'Oh, chill out, Kurama. It's been a long time since I last challenged Kakashi-sensei. Besides, Sakura and Sasuke need a little time to figure out the meaning of the test, right?'
'Then why don't you just tell them already?' the vixen asked. Naruto grinned.
'Because it's no fun!' Kurama face-pawed.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei, I challenge you!"
Kakashi lifted his eye from his Icha-Icha Paradise. "Well, aren't you a little bit off?"
Naruto didn't say anything. He lowered his body into his taijutsu stance.
00000
(Flashback)
"Ow! How did you even do that?" Naruto screamed, holding his bruised left eye after receiving a vicious punch from Goku.
"Your problem lies on your fighting stance, Naruto." The ape in his human form answered, surprisingly calmly comparing to his usual loud voice. "Your battle style is just like that of a brawler, only consists of attacking blindly while leaving you with a lot of dangerous openings and no way to defend yourself if your opponent counterattacks."
"But I've defeated many powerful enemies with that style!" Naruto protested with a pout.
'And you were nearly dead in most of the cases,' Kurama chided from inside his head. 'Do I need to list them out? Having your body impaled by hundreds of ice needles, letting a fourth of your tenketsu sealed, your heart being damaged to the point that even I and that Tsunade lady together almost failed to repair…'
"Alright alright! I get it!" Naruto growled in frustration. "So what can I do now? It's not like I have the time to think of a new style!"
Goku scratched his cheek. "I don't think I can teach you a completely new style in only one day, but I think you can try this…"
(End flashback)
00000
With a kick to the ground, Naruto launched himself towards Kakashi like a bullet. He threw a flurry of punches and kicks at Kakashi; but the jonin blocked every hit with only one hand.
He was fast… but attacking recklessly like this won't do him any good.
'Damn it…' Naruto thought when breaking away from Kakashi. 'He's too good!'
'Remember Naruto, Kakashi was not a jonin in name only.' Kurama said.
'You're lucky he didn't just punch your head off,' Goku dryly noted.
'Right. Attacking directly is out of the question… time to try some new thing.'
He threw another quick punch at Kakashi's chest, only for the jonin to stop it with his empty hand easily.
"Is that all you got? How disappointing."
Poor Kakashi. He didn't take his eye off his Icha-Icha Paradise, so he couldn't expect Naruto to quickly grab hold of his wrist mid-punch.
"What the…?"
With a loud cry, Naruto pulled the restrained arm towards him and elbowed Kakashi on the stomach. With his other hand holding his precious Icha-Icha, Kakashi couldn't do anything to block the incoming attack in point blank range. The hit almost knocked the air out of Kakashi's lungs.
'Hey, it worked!'
'I told you.'
The sudden attack also proved to be quite a distraction as a shadow clone of Naruto rushed in from behind and tried to grab the bells on his belt.
Damn!
With a quick spin, Kakashi kicked the clone, making it dispersed and threw the real Naruto away a few feet. The genin landed on his feet, and grinned.
"How's that, sensei? So shocked you cannot even speak a word?"
He turned my strong point into a weak point, and exploited it so well he could land a hit on me while using it as a distraction, Kakashi thought, reckless, but quite effective. Naruto really is full of surprises.
"I'm surprised. I must admit, I've underestimated you," Kakashi said, snapping his book closed. "It seems I can't keep reading Icha-Icha while fighting you." And he put the book back into his shuriken pouch.
"Finally decided to play seriously, huh? Then let's see how good you really are, sensei!"
Kicking the ground again, Naruto once more closed the distance between them and launched another punch at Kakashi. The older man immediately caught it, and also blocked the other punch aiming at him from the left.
"One trick won't work twice, Naruto."
"Oh yeah? Then how about this?"
Locking Kakashi's hands with his own, Naruto focused chakra to his feet and released it, using the force to flip over Kakashi's head like jumping from a spring. On the air, he spun, and delivered a rolling kick to the jonin's head.
Still haven't quite got it yet… But this is enough!
"You're going down!"
SLAM!
The Kakashi in front of him exploded into splinter.
"What the? Substitution?"
"Shinobi lesson number one: Taijutsu."
"Huh?"
Naruto turned his head, and saw Kakashi behind him, his eye gleaming.
"Hidden Leaf Secret Taijutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!"
Being on the air, Naruto had no way to avoid the deadly fingers of the Cyclops aiming at his ass, and was propelled into the stream nearby.
Just like old time.
"Daaaaaaammmmmnnnnn iiiiiiiittttttttt!"
'And that's a lesson for you,' Goku choked out while everyone in Naruto's head were busy laughing their asses off. 'Never use an airborne attack when you cannot make sure you get a hit.'
'All those time… and I still get struck by that stupid technique,' Naruto growled. 'But I'm not done yet!'
Three shuriken flew out of the water aiming at Kakashi, but he only tilted his head lazily to the side, and the three throwing stars only struck the tree behind him.
With a battle cry, Naruto burst out of the water.
"You think I'm out of trick yet? Think again!" Naruto rushed towards his teacher, and aimed a low sweep at his leg. "Take this!"
"I said it won't work." Kakashi chided him while jumping up to avoid the kick. But Naruto just smiled.
"Gotcha! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Two clones appeared on the air. One launched a punch at Kakashi's midriff and the other aimed a kick at his head. Naruto smirked.
"Ha! On the air you cannot evade! I've learnt that from you!"
"I cannot evade… but I can strike back!" Kakashi answered calmly, kicked the two clones away and sent himself backward a bit.
Unfortunately, he didn't see the faint smirk on Naruto's face.
Kakashi was suddenly grabbed from behind by three pairs of arms. One grabbed his back, one restrained his arms, and one locked his legs.
No way, Kakashi' visible eye widened in horror, the shuriken from before… they're shadow clones?
"The bells are mine!" Naruto shouted triumphantly, leaping at the jonin who was now bound helplessly to the ground by his three clones…
…only to crash into a log, proof of Kakashi's substitution.
"Oh man! Substitution again? No fair!"
There was no sign of Kakashi on the clearing anymore.
Sakura was speechless.
No way… How can Naruto be so good? He almost got Kakashi-sensei!
"Looking for someone, Sakura?"
The girl screamed and jumped back when the voice of Kakashi rose next to her ears.
"Shinobi lesson number two: Genjutsu." And the man faded away in a storm of cherry blossom petals.
After a minute, Sakura's mouth foamed, and she fainted.
"Okay, that was anticlimactic."
Sasuke was angry.
Naruto, the loser, had fought Kakashi Hatake, their jonin sensei, the man who was known as "Kakashi of the Sharingan", according to him, to a stand still. Somehow, that dead last even seemed to have forced the jonin to run away.
Since when had that loser become so strong?
Then maybe, that Kakashi might not even be as strong as Naruto had said… If that dead last could hold his own against the jonin, there's no way himself, the Rookie of the Year, an Uchiha, couldn't do it.
He jumped down from the tree he was hiding, facing Kakashi on the clearing.
"So the mighty Uchiha finally came down to face me," Kakashi drawled. "Such an honor."
"You're weak," Sasuke snidely remarked. "Couldn't even beat a dead last like Naruto."
"Oh? But can you do anything better than him?" Kakashi eyesmiled.
The question seemed to touch Sasuke's ego. He snarled.
"I'm nothing like those losers."
"You can only say that after you get the bell." Kakashi said, the bells on his belt rang as if taunting Sasuke.
Without another word, Sasuke sent three shuriken at Kakashi. And just like with Naruto, the jonin easily sidestepped the projectile weapons. The shuriken flew past the jonin, cutting the rope hidden behind him, and a bunch of knives were launched in the direction of the older man.
Hidden trap… Good idea, but not enough.
Kakashi jumped aside, and the knives lodged themselves on the bark of a tree behind him. Sasuke took the cue and jumped towards the retreating man, and delivered a kick on Kakashi's head.
The jonin blocked the kick easily with his arm.
"You know, Naruto did try this, and failed."
"Don't compare me to that dead last!" Sasuke yelled, and using Kakashi's blocking arm as a mount, he spun and delivered an axe-kick towards Kakashi's face, upside-down. The bells were right in front of him; he lashed out his hand, trying to grab them…
Only for Kakashi to grab his extending arm and throw him away like a ragdoll.
Sasuke's back slammed into a tree. He grunted in pain, struggling to get up.
Damn it…
"It seems the last Uchiha is not as powerful as rumored," Kakashi taunted, and Sasuke snapped. Weaving his hands through familiar hand signs, he performed the jutsu the Uchiha clan was famous for.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A huge ball of fire blasted out of his mouth, aiming at Kakashi who seemed to be too shocked that a genin could perform such a chakra-wasting technique to avoid it.
Sasuke smirked when the raging inferno engulfed the jonin.
The flame died down, leaving… nothing. Not a charred corpse, not a burning flak jacket, not a jonin rolling around in flame… nothing.
He's gone… but… where…?
"Shinobi lesson number three: Ninjutsu."
Sasuke couldn't even turn his head around when a pair of hand grabbed his legs and pulled him underground.
"Well, the last Uchiha really was head above the others," Kakashi said sarcastically, walking away.
Damn it… the difference in power was too much… Sasuke gritted his teeth while glaring at the jonin's back, which was getting farther and farther away.
"Hey, Sakura… Sakura, wake up!"
Sakura groggily opened her eyes, and saw Naruto kneeling right above her face. She screamed and punched the boy on the chest, making him stumbled back a bit.
"Whawhawha…. What the hell did you do you pervert!?" She demanded, her finger pointed shakily at Naruto, who was now wincing and rubbing his chest.
"Just want to wake you up, princess. There's only one hour left until the deadline."
Sakura's eyes widened.
One hour left. There's no way she could get a bell from Kakashi-sensei with only that amount of time. It meant she would be sent back to the academy, and she wouldn't be with her Sasuke-kun anymore.
"Then what… what can I do…" she stammered, tears started welling up in the corner of her eyes.
"We'll think about it later. I have some suspicion, but it will have to wait until we dig Sasuke up."
"I said I don't need your pity," Sasuke scowled again when Sakura and Naruto finally dug him up from his burial hole.
"Will you just spare me your dramatic brooding, Sasuke?" Naruto snapped. "If you don't pull that huge stick out of your ass soon, it will some day get you killed, maybe even before your so-called ambition comes true."
"It's not a so-called ambition!" Sasuke protested angrily. Naruto ignored him.
"You said that you have some suspicion about the test, right Naruto?" Sakura asked. Since Naruto gave her the donut in the morning, she had felt a new strain of respect towards the blond boy.
"Well… I don't know if it's true, but I suspect the true meaning of this test is not whether we get a bell or not." Naruto stated, while scratching his cheek.
Both Sakura and Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean? Kakashi-sensei said that we need to get the bells from him," asked Sakura.
"And how in the world can we do it?" Naruto asked back. "We're all newly-graduated genin, our skill and experience in combat is nothing compared to a jonin like him. This makes no sense at all. They'd never set a task that didn't have a solution."
"I nearly got it last time," Sasuke denied stubbornly. "The next time I'll get it for sure."
"Like that's gonna happen," Naruto snorted. "Did you realize that during your fight Kakashi-sensei almost didn't use any damaging move?"
Sasuke's eyes widened. He gritted his teeth, and nodded reluctantly.
"But you almost got the bell too," Sakura blinked. Naruto shook his head.
"That's only because I caught him off guard with my Shadow Clone jutsu. I'm sure if I didn't know the jutsu, I would suffer even worse than Sasuke. And he won't fall for that trick again."
"Wait a second," Sakura said slowly. "Maybe you're right. Maybe each of us does not stand a chance against him… but if we work together, just like you did with your clones, we can catch him off guard…" Then she frowned. "But that can't be right… There're only two bells… unless sensei wants to trick us into believing that we have to fight each other…"
'Took her long enough to realize it,' said Chomei snarkily in Naruto's head.
Silence filled the air as everyone, no, Sasuke and Sakura digested this.
Finally, it was Sasuke who commented.
"That does make some sense. But even if we work together, there is little chance that we'll be able to overpower him. Even Naruto couldn't do it with his clones before. We need a clear and thorough plan for it to work."
Naruto sighed in relief. He had thought Sasuke would be too stubborn to listen to any of his words. He smiled.
"Yeah. And to do that, I think we should know what each of us can do. Right now what I can do is taijutsu and Shadow Clone. What about you Sakura?"
"Well," Sakura scratched her cheek. "I can do the three basic academy jutsu quite well, my taijutsu was adequate, and I can use some simple genjutsu too, but cannot maintain them for a long time. And I have to touch him for the genjutsu to work. I still cannot cast them effectively from afar."
"And you have your monstrous punches," Naruto added helpfully.
"What did you say?" Sakura screeched hysterically, and threw another punch at him. Naruto ducked, and the fist hit the tree behind him, making the bark flying everywhere. Her eyes widened.
"See," Naruto gave her a foxy grin. "I wasn't kidding." Sakura grumbled unhappily.
"And I'm good at taijutsu, shurikenjutsu and some Fire Style ninjutsu," Sasuke concluded. "Very well, I got a plan…"
"Prepare to hand over the bells, Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi lifted his eyes off his book. "You again? Haven't you learnt anything since the last time?"
"It will be different!" Naruto grinned confidently, his index finger pointing at Kakashi. "This time we got a plan that will surely take you down! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
We? Kakashi thought when the Naruto clones charged him and unleashed a relentless barrage of punches and kicks. Just like before, Kakashi easily blocked all the attacks, but there was something that didn't seem right. Naruto's attack was different from before: reckless and full of opening. Could it be…
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
A blizzard of fireballs appeared in the sky above the jonin and rained down his head, intending to set the whole clearing on fire. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed.
So Naruto did convince Sasuke to work with him?
Kakashi spun, kicking all the Naruto clones away, and he flashed through a series of hand signs.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
The wind technique blew the fireballs away, revealing… a rain of kunai and shuriken hidden inside the fireballs.
Shit!
Pulling out a kunai himself, Kakashi quickly deflected the deadly weapons falling down at him. In about five seconds, the clearing was littered with shuriken and kunai. Wasting no time, Naruto rushed in with his clones, and started attacking Kakashi with his own taijutsu again.
"I told you, this will not work," Kakashi stated when fending off the relentless attack of the boy.
"We don't need it to work," Naruto grinned, "because we already won!"
The punches of Naruto and the clones suddenly turned to grapples, locking Kakashi's hands in place.
Just like before? Then I will just repeat what I did… Kakashi silently melded his chakra, readying himself for a Kawarimi…
Only for a bone-shattering punch to land on his back.
Kakashi's eye widened. He was pushed into the weapon field at what moment he couldn't know, and Sakura was right next to him, her fist cocking back.
What the…?
"SHANNARO!"
With her favorite battle cry, Sakura launched another devastating punch at Kakashi's exposing back. At the same time, her free hand reached out at the bells on his belt.
Using substitution to switch with a shuriken on the field and trying to grab the bells when the boys distract me with their jutsu… Kakashi chuckled under his mask. They actually figured it out. This team has great potential… if they are able to pass!
Kakashi spun, and used the momentum to throw Naruto at Sakura. The blond boy slammed hard into the poor girl and fell on the ground.
Kakashi glanced at his belt. The bells were still there. Good.
Right on cue, the ringing from the bell on the alarm clock echoed through the field.
"Well, what do you know," Kakashi said in amusement. "Time's up. And you three didn't get any bell."
"Who said we didn't get any bell, sensei?" The voice of Sakura rose from the human pile. She pushed himself up, and lifted her hand.
She was holding two bells.
"What the… When did you…?" Kakashi looked down in panic. The bells, which were both on his belt just a few seconds before, had gone.
"Right at the time Sakura's punch connected with your back, she put you in a simple genjutsu to trick you into seeing the bells still being on your belt," Sasuke, who was walking out from his hiding place in the woods nearby, explained with a smirk. "And she only had to swipe the real ones from there when you were still thinking that you got us."
"Very good Sakura, you got the bells," Kakashi sighed in defeat. "And I must say, the teamwork of you three during that last attack was, by far, one of the most impressive I've ever seen in a genin team. You even landed a clean hit on me, which no team had ever managed to do before. But now you have two bells, Sakura, so which of your teammates will you choose to pass with you?"
"Hell yeah! Of course I will choose…"
But Sakura faltered when she looked at Naruto.
She hated to admit it, but during this test, the one who did the most was Naruto. He was the one who gave both of them their missed breakfast in the morning. He was the one who faced Kakashi-sensei first. And without Naruto, they could never have figured out the true meaning of the test. If there was anyone who deserved to pass the test the most, it would surely be Naruto.
Meanwhile, the only thing she managed to do was fainting. If she and Sasuke passed the test and Naruto didn't… it would not be fair for him.
But if Naruto passed… it would mean either her or Sasuke failed. Sakura's hand trembled on the thought. She couldn't decide it. Of course she couldn't let her Sasuke-kun failed. But she didn't want Naruto to fail, either. Should she just be a heartless ungrateful bitch and kick Naruto out of the team, or abandon her dream and let Naruto and Sasuke fulfill theirs?
"If you cannot decide, then I will!"
Sakura jerked when Naruto plucked the two bells out of her hand.
"Hey!" she protested.
Naruto split the bells, and threw each of them to Sakura and Sasuke, shocking all the other three people in the training ground.
"Now each of you has a bell. Guess I'll go back to the academy, then."
"But… why?" Sakura stammered in shock. She couldn't understand why the blond did that.
Naruto gave her his trademark foxy grin.
"Well, I have failed the graduation exam three times, so I guess a fourth time would not be that bad. And who knows? Maybe this time I can even be Rookie of the Year with my Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Guilt twisted Sakura's stomach. Naruto was giving himself up just for her and Sasuke to pass…
Images of the times she did horrible things to him flashed through her mind.
"Then I will go back to the academy too."
"Huh?" Naruto blinked.
"During the test I couldn't do anything but fainting, and without you I could never figure out the trick of the test," Sakura inhaled sharply, and continued. "If there is anyone who doesn't deserve to pass this test, it is me."
Silence filled the air again. And finally, Sasuke said.
"If it comes to that, then it means I shall go back too, right? There cannot be a team with only one member."
Kakashi couldn't help but smiled under his mask. He managed to change both Sakura and Sasuke in such a short time… You really are the most surprising shinobi of the Leaf, Naruto.
"So that's it, huh?" Naruto stretched his back, and yawned. "Well then, do you guys want to go to Ichiraku's with me? This time I'll treat!"
"Really," Sakura chided him. "Is the only food you know in this world ramen, Naruto?"
"Hey, it's delicious!" Naruto defended his favorite cuisine. Sasuke just 'hn'ed.
"Where do you think you're going?" The voice of Kakashi suddenly rose behind them. "I haven't announced the result of the test yet."
The three genin stopped on their trail.
"I hereby announce Team 7… passed the test!"
A/N: That's all for the bell test. Naruto, with his infamous "Talk no Jutsu", has finally managed to gain respect from Sakura and Sasuke!
Again, thanks everyone for all your positive reviews.
About Sakura, in my opinion, I don't believe that she was completely useless at the start of the series. In fact, if you take a look at her match against Ino during the Chuunin Exam, you can see her send Ino flying a few meters with a punch. To be fair, Sakura is not weak; it's just her infatuation with Sasuke that makes her a worthless fangirl in canon. So in my story, I decided to buff her up a little bit.
And I have to apologize in advance if I couldn't update the story regularly.
So then, until next time, please rate and review!