Classic Bell Tests
As said in Shot 53, the older series in the Gallery are currently being revisited. This one, obviously, is set in the Classic Series, better known as the series that consists of Shots 2, 24, and 35. These are the results of the attempts to come up with a plan of action on the parts of Kakashi and Kurenai, with a scene with Asuma planning for the day and a hint to Lee's chosen characterization.
Asuma woke up that morning feeling rather happy. He wasn't going to have to deal with the strange trio that he had been assigned as a team for the day, and all he had to do was report to his father and say he passed them as his team. After that, he'd have to deal with them, but he was sure that he'd be fine. He had to feel bad for Kakashi and Kurenai, though, since he remembered Gai's story of dealing with a Samurai, a Valkyrie, and. . . he actually couldn't remember what the third one was, come to think of it. Something about being youthfully fast and strong. He tended to start tuning Gai out when he started using the word youthfully too often.
Kakashi smirked at the three students standing in front of him from behind his mask. there was no way that he could possibly not succeed in getting them to fail. He'd been developing strategies for any possible eventuality all night, though he evidently hadn't thought to get someone to fix up the clearing, as there were short bushes spread out all over the field and piles of leaves under several of the trees. Nevertheless, he doubted that they would be of much importance, so he took out the two bells and said, "Okay, now the test you're going to take is simple. I have two bells. There are three of you. Anyone who doesn't have a bell by the end of the test will have failed and will get sent back to the Academy. If you want a bell, you're going to have to come at me with the intent to kill."
The next thing Kakashi knew, he was blocking attacks from Sasuke's sword that kept managing to get a good hit on him a good number of times. Something told him that he'd made a mistake, but he wasn't sure what the mistake was.
Elsewhere, Kurenai had just finished giving a very similar speech to her two students that had arrived. She wasn't sure where the one who called herself Kami-sama was, but after waiting a few hours for her to arrive, Kurenai decided to just go on and test the ones who did come.
Predictably, the one dressed in the fur coat and his canine partner were the first to charge at her, brandishing a large double-edged sword that he seemed to pull out of nowhere. She easily stepped out of the way of the sword only for the one in the sunglasses to begin attacking with a sword of his own, this one appearing to be thinner and with an intricate guard for the hand. To her surprise, the two boys and the dog began coordinating their efforts, attacking in unison while some of the Aburame's insects tried to attack her as well. Eventually, though, she had them right where she wanted them. She began moving on the offensive, striking with her own skills at taijutsu, as she wanted to test them before she defeated them.
It was a long and difficult battle for the two genin, but in the end, they were disarmed, both kneeling on the ground with a slightly fatigued jounin standing in front of them, starting an environmental genjutsu. Slowly sinking into the illusion of darkness, Kiba dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together in front of his mouth, giving the appearance of begging, before he asked, "Kami-sama? If you're there, we could use some help."
At that moment, the complete sensory deprivation from the genjutsu took hold of him, preventing further communication.
"I'm here," was all Kurenai heard as she noticed the communicator in the boy's hands. The next thing she knew, she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Reaching to strike what she thought was an insect, she grabbed something from the injured area. As things became blurry, she noticed that the thing in her hand was a dart. To her surprise, the communicator in her hand said, "Pleasant dreams, Kurenai-sensei."
It was at that exact moment that she lost consciousness.
Back at Training Ground Seven, Kakashi was doing better in that he was still conscious. He was not doing better in that Sasuke was not backing down and he wasn't able to get away long enough to keep him off. On the bright side, none of the other members of his team had moved from their locations.
As if the very universe itself had decided to maliciously chastise him for thinking that things weren't so bad, all of the bushes and leaf piles sprang up, revealing several Shadow Clones of Naruto dressed in disguises made specifically to appear like the objects they were disguised as. Once they came out, Kakashi quickly found his situation becoming even less pleasant, as they joined Sasuke in the attack while the one that he'd been certain was the original vanished in a puff of smoke. The next thing he knew, he was swarmed by the mob, which he began dispersing with little difficulty, since Sasuke and his sword were suddenly out of the way.
That departure left him with only having to deal with a group that was simply attacking him with absolutely no apparent strategy. There was one Naruto that was somewhat lingering to the back, which he determined was the original Naruto, who was evidently clever enough to avoid direct combat with a jounin. Having figured out which one was the real Naruto, Kakashi began to move in on his new target, ignoring the clones that weren't between him and the black clad boy. He wasn't sure why Sakura was still standing in one place, fiddling with what looked like a a long metal tube with a long bit of wood at the end, but he could deal with her after he took down the person he was currently fighting. it wasn't like she was going anywhere.
When he finally made it to the real Naruto, the boy threw down some small packet that turned out to be a smoke bomb, which temporarily blinded Kakashi for enough time for the boy to get a few good hits before Kakashi's vision cleared and he struck the boy in the chest to knock him away. Unfortunately, his blow caused Kakashi's target to dispel in a puff of smoke revealing that he'd charged at a clone, rather than the boy, himself.
The next thing Kakashi knew, there was a loud explosion near Sakura and he was struck by something small that hit his hitai ate, bringing his attention to Sakura. Turning to see what she'd done, he watched as she tossed the tool she'd evidently attacked him with to the ground and smirk. Expecting this fight to be short, he rushed at her, as the army of Naruto had seemed to have run off, leaving he and Sakura alone. Unfortunately for the jounin, as he reached for a pair of kunai to get her to go into a defensive stance, she moved her arms faster than he'd ever seen an opponent do, and she pulled the two silver things from the holsters at her side.
While he pulled his arms back to throw the kunai, her hands barely seemed to move before her weapons were pointed at him while his kunai and seemed to be blasted out of his hand and his shoulder was injured before he could even register what had happened. When he finally realized what had happened, he felt a rush of air near his legs, but saw nothing beneath him the moment he looked down. Looking back up, he noticed that Sakura had seemed to have vanished.
A whistle behind him caused the Copy Nin to turn around, only to see Naruto standing beside Sasuke and Sakura, handing them the bells as Sasuke pressed a pick with a cherry red end against the back of a long metal tube pointed at him. Fortunately for him, he managed to leap out of the way of the cannonball that flew out of the cannon. Concerned for his own well-being, Kakashi said, "You all pass! Congratulations Team Seven. Meet me here at noon tomorrow."
When he looked up, he saw that he was alone. Sighing in relief, he wondered if Kurenai and Asuma were having similar problems.
When Kurenai woke up, she watched as Hinata, Kiba, and Shino stood in front of her alongside Akamaru, with the two boys each holding a bell. Before she could say anything, the pair handed their bells to Hinata, who said, "You didn't make it much of a challenge, Kurenai-sensei. You moved so rarely that I could have waited half an hour longer and still shot you with that exact same position, provided the wind didn't change."
"That was your dart?" Kurenai asked, returning to her senses.
"Of course it was," Hinata replied, "I'm the only person in the village that could even attempt a shot from that distance, let alone actually make it perfectly hit the target. Of course, I couldn't have gotten you right where I wanted you if not for the boys."
"Alright, then," Kurenai responded, not wanting to think too hard on the matter due to the slight headache she was feeling, "I guess you three pass, since you got the bells. Meet me here at noon tomorrow."
Eventually, the time came for the three jounin to say whether the teams had passed or failed. Asuma was the first to arrive, well-rested and in a rather good mood. Arriving a bit later, Kurenai came in, her headache mostly cleared as she sat beside Asuma. Kakashi came last, covered in his various injuries from the battle he'd somehow managed to survive.
"So, which teams passed?" Hiruzen asked, an amused twinkle in his eye.
"Team Ten passed," Asuma said, "They'd pointed out yesterday that they've been working together all their lives and knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. They probably won't be another Ino-Shika-Cho combination, though. It seems that they have their own goals in mind."
"Team Eight passed as well," Kurenai reported, "They executed a plan to incapacitate me and did just that. I'd also like to note that I'm not sure how they worked together. Kiba was a surprise, as he didn't seem like the type to follow someone else's plan, but he proved me wrong. Shino, meanwhile, seemed antisocial, but he proved that he really believed in the 'all for one' creed that he was talking about. Hinata, however, was the biggest surprise. To be honest, I thought that she hadn't come at all, but after I woke up from her attack, she revealed that she was the mastermind behind the plan they went with. They just seemed so incompatible that I underestimated them until they won."
"What about Team Seven?" the third Hokage asked, turning to the still injured Kakashi, "How did they do?"
"They were good," he admitted, "They almost killed me with Sasuke's cannon. Even without the cannon, he's skilled with his oddly shaped sword. About half of my injuries were his fault. Meanwhile, Sakura was able to knock my weapons out of my hand with those two things she keeps by her side, and she managed to get one of the projectiles from it into my shoulder. Also, she made a dent in my hitai ate with that bigger version of the things she used. Then there's Naruto. I don't even know if I actually fought him at all, since most of my fight with him was against Kage Bunshin, that had been disguised to blend into the environment without the use of ninjutsu or genjutsu."
"Alright then," Hiruzen smiled in amusement, "If that's all, you three are dismissed. Kurenai, Asuma, could you two bring Kakashi to the medics? He could use some help."
With that, the three jounin left the room, leaving a cheerful Hokage alone to contemplate what these odd children would do next.
