•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•
"Give it up. Not one of the three of you..." Kakashi started as he started. "... will ever be a ninja!"
"What do you mean, give up?!"
I looked over to Naruto, who was livid, Sakura was just in shock, Sasuke was staring at Kakashi with furrowed brows.
"Give me a break! Okay, so maybe one of us got our hands on one of your stupid bells..." Naruto yelled in a fit of rage. "... But why the hell should we quit over that?"
"Because none of you saw the true meaning of the test," I said before Kakashi could open his fat ass mouth to mock them. They all looked at me, some with confusion, others with slight anger since they were still failing. "All of you just focused on obtaining the bells, not what the test means. It's a test for crying out loud! It wouldn't be as simple as getting two balls..."
"then what was the meaning of it?!"
"... you're kidding me, right?" I asked Naruto with a dead ass stare. "Did any of you realise the actual meaning or were you all too busy sticking your head up your asses to notice the obvious?"
Sasuke got mad at what I said and dashed up to attack me. I didn't budge at all and stared at him as he came towards me.
"Huh?"
"Sasuke!!"
I then used substitution to switch my position with Kakashi's. Our sensei reacted and grabbed Sasuke's arm, pushing him to the ground, sitting on his back with his foot placed against his head.
"What you are is a trio of spoiled brats..." Kakashi said. I was them watching from my position. Naruto's eyes widened in shock while Sakura was bawling her eyes out.
"Don't step on Sasuke! get off of him!"
"Are you trying to make fun of the shinobi with your behaviour? Well, are you?" Kakashi asked. "Did you stop to wonder of one minute... why you were divided into teams?"
"Uh... excuse me,"
"As m/n said, you missed the point of this test," Kakashi said. It confused Naruto more than anything, and so was Sakura.
"Well, tell us the point of it already!" Naruto yelled. Kakashi looked over to me to explain.
"Its... teamwork,"
I dung my hand into my pocket, searching for something I had in there.
"But... Naruto somewhat understood that... Since he helped me get this" I said as I took out the bells from my pocket. Kakashi's eyes widened. The bells he had turned into small pebbles with a small piece of vine connecting them, yes I transformed the rocks into the bells, I know I'm so smart.
"Wait... if we were supposed to work together, why are their only three bells?" Sakura asked. "You're preaching teamwork but you're pitting us against each other,"
"That's the point, it caused conflict,"
"What--?!"
"The situation was set up to reveal which of you..." Kakashi started. "... Would set aside your individual interests..."
"And propose to the others you work together for the good of all," Kakashi finished looking down at Sasuke. "The only one that understood that was M/n... Although he screwed up a bit..."
"for the rest of you though..."
"... You, Sakura, ignored Naruto, who was right in front of you..." Kakashi exclaimed bored as he looked at Sakura with a lazy expression. "... While you focused your attention on Sasuke, though you didn't know where he was"
"Naruto, although you worked with m/n to get the bells... you still tried to take the bells single-handedly beforehand," Kakashi continued looking over to Naruto as he spoke.
"And Sasuke had already decided that the other three just got in his way..." Kakashi explained looking down to Sasuke who was still beneath him. "... And he was better at playing solo"
"You are a team! Learn to act as one! Yes, a ninja must have individual skills, but..." Kakashi exclaimed looking at Sakura, Naruto and I. "What is even more important now is teamwork!"
"Making a play as an individual is bad for the team and exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger," Kakashi spoke as he reached into his pouch trying to find something. "You might as well kill them yourself... here's an example..."
"Sakura! Kill Naruto" Kakashi said as he pulled out a kunai and held it at Sasuke's neck. "Or Sasuke dies"
"What!!?"
"The day could come... when one of you may be taken hostage, and you're forced to make such a choice," Kakashi explained as he let go of Sasuke and stood up walking away from the raven-haired boy. "When you are on a mission, your lives will always be on the line"
"Look at the marker.. all the names carved in the stone," Kakashi said as he walked over to the KIA memorial. I looked over to the stone with sadness filling my mind Kakashi was looking at it he knew some people on that rock. "Heros of our village. Ninja"
"That's it! I just decided!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, I looked over to him with a dead expression. "There's where I want my name to go! I will not throw my life away! I want to be like them — A hero!"
"Humph..." Was all Sasuke said as he walked over to where he was sitting before he charged at me.
"Naruto, there is no way in hell I'm letting you go on that stone..." I said in a sad but stern voice as I looked over to the memorial. Naruto looked over at me with confusion and anger.
"What!! why?!"
"Because the ones listed here aren't just any heroes..." Kakashi said before I could say anything, still looking at the memorial.
"Really? what heroes are they?" Naruto asked loudly in anticipation. Kakashi averted his eyes, clearly not wanting to take about this topic. "Come on! Come on!"
"Naruto, This is the KIA memorial... all these shinobi and kunoichi were killed in battle," I said cutting off Kakashi from saying anything as I walked over to the silver-haired man, staring at the stone with dozens of names written on it.
"This is a memorial... like m/n said," Kakashi said looking over all the names engraved into the rock. "It includes the names of my best friends"
'so that's why...'
"... Pay attention...! I'm giving you three one last chance. One that will be far more difficult than our last little game with the bells," Kakashi explained as he looked back at the three ninjas. "If you're prepared to continue, you may eat one of the bento boxes. But no sharing with Naruto. He goes hungry. And m/n, you eat separately from the others since you already passed the bell exercise"
"Why can we share with Naruto?"
"He brought it on himself when he tried to sneak lunch for himself," Kakashi explained as he walked over to us with his usual lazy expression never changing. "If either of you feeds him, you fail and test right there"
"My word is law," Kakashi said as he stared at Sakura and Sasuke with an intimidating glare. "Do you understand?"
And with that Kakashi and I disappeared from their sight. We both reappeared near the trees where they couldn't see. I sat against a tree and looked at the clouds drifting in the sky. Kakashi was observing the three of them to see what they could do.
"You know... your accuracy had gotten worse with ninjutsu, Dog" Kakashi's eyes widened as the name, probably questioning how I knew his codename from when he was in the ANBU. He looked over to me and I just smiled at him before looking back at the clouds.
•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•
"You..."Kakashi said intimidatingly and scarily as he appeared in a poof of smoke in front of the three ninjas scaring all of them to death, Sakura screamed really loudly, Naruto yelled startled and surprised, Sasuke was just shaken up but didn't emote any farther than that.
"... Pass! " Kakashi finished in a completely different tone of voice with a wink, that just looked like a normal blink since he had most of his face covered. It startled all of them more than anything, just staring at the adult deadpanned.
"Eh...?!"
"..."
"Huh?"
"..."
"We pass?!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise with her arms spread out. "But... why?!"
"You three have just taken a giant step forward," Kakashi said. I walked over from my sitting position against the tree to see what was going on.
"Um... how?"
"Until now, All you three have done is listen unquestioningly to everything I say... like mindless, little drones," Kakashi explained as he looked at the three of them. "A true shinobi seeks the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings"
"In a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and cannot follow orders... are lower than garbage," Kakashi continued, it sounded like he's said this plenty of times before, or he was told this by someone since his words were very fluent. "however... those who do not care for and support their fellows..."
"Are even lower than that!"
"Oh!"
"..."
"Hm"
"I now conclude this exercise. You all pass!!" Kakashi said with a thumbs up, everyone was happy to hear those words. "That's all for today, team seven. your duties will start tomorrow!!"
"I... I did it! I did it! I'm a Ninja! Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!"
"Let's go home," Kakashi said as Sakura Sasuke and himself walked off, Leaving me and Naruto. I walked over to Naruto and cut the rope tying him to the stump and we went home.
'we're ninja now... and I'm one step closer to achieving my goal...'
•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•
