For some reason, Kakashi-sensei took Neji, Ino and Naruto to a small part of the forest, and stopped right in front of it, on a green lawn.
Then, he took a couple of steps back. Neji became wary.
– "Why are we here? A bit far away from Konoha, don't you think sensei?"
Kakashi began searching for something in his pockets. Then, he took out two small bells and showed them to his students.
– "Look closely. You studied all those years in the academy, and think that you know everything a real ninja should. Well, let me tell you something - no".
– "Now, I will do my own test for all of you."
– "Huh? Sensei, your test has something to do with the bells you got out, right?" – Ino asked, and Naruto just snapped out of his lazy state.
– "Yes Ino, correct. See those bells? Well, that is my task – take those from me, and you can prove that you are good enough to be my team".
On this Neji raised his eyebrow.
– "But you have only two bells. Only means that one of us 100% wouldn't pass you little test, sensei".
Kakashi smirked.
– "No time for babbling. Prepare!" – Said Kakashi.
After those words, all three members of Team 12 immediately forgot about anything else in this world – if Kakashi sensei has such high requirements, then he must have been an amazing teacher!
Neji, Ino and Naruto forgot that they were a team – since this moment, each one of them were fighting only for their benefit.
Naruto ran straight towards Kakashi for the attack, while Ino and Neji ran to the forest for some reason unknown to him.
He started to hit Kakashi, trying to knock out the bells from his hand. But he was dodging every singled of his attacks. Suddenly, Naruto noticed that sensei wasn't even looking at him!
Kakashi was reading a book while blocking Naruto's hits. Naruto tried all taijutsu techniques he could remember, but all was useless.
– "Shadow clones no jutsu!"
Now, 5 exact clones of Naruto begun hitting Kakashi, and hitting him with a couple of kunai in their hands. Suddenly, he hit back with his legs. The kick was so strong that Naruto flew away and hit a tree with his head.
"Hm… Not bad. Still too weak". – Kakashi thought, and started searching for Neji and Ino, while moving deeper into the forest.
Neji himself was hiding on a tree, and saw the whole process of Naruto beatdown with his Byakugan.
The Byakugan made it much harder for him to save up chakra as he wanted, but Neji was forced to keep it activated – he couldn't allow Kakashi-sensei to catch him off guard.
"Okay… Based on sensei's ability, his reflexes are an A level. Even with Naruto's godawful taijutsu, he knew where to hit, and then, he multiplied his attacks by a factor of 5… My tai is much better but still" …
"Now I understand. This man isn't that easy".
Neji began quietly moving between trees. He felt that his Byakugan was burning more and more chakra to keep it activated to its maximum potential.
"No. If I will keep it up for more than 20 minutes, my chakra wouldn't be enough for my 20 touches jutsu. Ugh, when you will come for me, one-eyed sensei?!"
He realized that the first plan A will lead him nowhere, he will only waste all his chakra without doing anything, and not showing what he is capable of.
His first plan was to wait when Kakashi will look for him, dodge his attacks, and hit the sensei by his firm techniques. But now, the situation had to be reversed. Neji detected Kakashi, and aiming, jumped right at his head. The effect was as Neji expected – Kakashi was actually surprised by his move.
He didn't want to lose his opportunity to get the bell, so immediately began to attack Kakashi with his Ultimate Hyuga Taijutsu – Gentle Fist.
Neji noticed that sensei threw his book away – that means he begun to think of him as someone worthy!
And was right – Kakashi actually began responding to his attacks, rather than just dodging, like in a fight with Naruto.
"Hmm… I knew he was considered a genius of Hyuga, but I didn't take into account that his taijutsu was thatgood"
Suddenly, he felt that Neji touched his stomach. He couldn't feel anything for a second, but right after, felt a bit of pain – Neji was aiming at right at his lung. And he reached it, even just touching briefly.
Today, Neji became the first genin who managed to touch and even hurt Kakashi. Neji made smug smile, and prepared to start his 20 Touches Jutsu.
– "One touch! Two, three touches! Four, five, six!" – Neji was screaming while trying to hit Kakashi's chakra off. The bells were dinging right in front of his nose.
He prepared to do another series of hits, even if his chakra was getting more and more weaker.
Then, Kakashi did something Neji did not expect – he grabbed him by both arms and twisted, making Neji unable to move. After this, he took out a kunai, and stabbed Neji in the left hand.
Neji twitched and threw up with blood. What?! His technique was… Blocked?
Kakashi would have done much more to Neji, but suddenly, he was distracted by another kunai, that almost stabbed Kakashi in the head.
– "Hey, old man! Did you forget about me already, dattebayo?!" – Kakashi recognized Naruto's voice.
Naruto ran out and threw a big punch. To hit it away, Kakashi had to let Neji go, who immediately used this move in his advantage.
Neji, despite the pain started to attack Kakashi together with Naruto. They didn't do it to be a "team" – only had the same goal. But ironically, this united those two. Kakashi actually began to see a bit of challenge, and an enormous potential in the two genins.
The only thing he was dissatisfied with was that Ino was nowhere to be seen. Maybe hides in the bushes… Well – expected from this little girl.
Neji and Naruto gave it all in this fight, and it showed – Kakashi actually became more distracted, but still protected the bells.
"Great! We got the attention of the old man! I show him all what I can do now!" – Naruto thought and doubled down. Kakashi threw him away, but 2 of his shadow clones continued to fight for him.
Neji also wasn't resting – still tried to throw off Kakashi's chakra control, or make the 20 Touches jutsu. But, Kakashi already knew all Neji's moves, so was much more focused.
One hit – and Neji flew in the same place as Naruto. They quickly got up, looked angrily at each other and started to run towards Kakashi again.
"NOW!"
Suddenly, both Neji and Naruto felt an immense amount of pain in their heads. The pain was so strong that they stopped running and fell on the ground. Next to them was laying a kunai that didn't belong to any of them.
"Ugh… What the hell is this, dattebayo? My head" …
They regained consciousness after a couple of seconds, and looked at Kakashi, who was standing right in front of them.
Then, Kakashi did something that both of them didn't expect – he took the bells, and threw them far away, deep into the forest.
– "Thank you, dumbasses, for doing all the job for me. Now, you both are laying in the dirt with little chakra, Neji is injured, next to the body of Kakashi-sensei you yourself prepared for me". – Said Kakashi. Both Naruto and Neji became shocked and confused.
Neji looked closely, and realized what just happened.
– "INO?!"
Kakashi's body smirked. Neji's eyes wided. He immediately activated his Byakugan, and began looking around.
– "Your overhyped Byakugan isn't actually that good, Neji – only useless 50 meters. Good luck to find me!" – Said Ino.
Neji was staring at her with his eyes wide open. He couldn't believe that was happening.
"When me and Naruto were busy fighting the sensei, Ino was sitting still. I thought that she was just scared, but I was wrong. She was preparing, waiting for her opportunity, when we are supposed to be helpless".
"Ino wasn't even hiding from the fight – she was stalling the time, while me and Naruto attacked sensei, losing both our own chakra, I allowed myself to get injured, making sensei harder to concentrate. We basically handed his body to her on a silver platter!"
"This loser girl…. Played me?!"
Ino in Kakashi's body smirked to the ears.
"Now you finally understand huh, Hyuga Genius? I knew right away that my attacks can't be matched with yours. So, I hid, waiting for you two monkeys to fight against Kakashi-sensei, and it worked. Because of you attacking at the same time, he lost focus, which was a huge detail of my plan all along. The time also played in my advantage".
"In the end, I threw the kunai, catching you all off-guard, allowing myself to use my Mind Body Switch Technique – the signature technique of the Yamanaka clan!"
Naruto got up a bit faster and prepared to run towards the forest where Ino's body and the bells were.
– "Nope!" – Said Ino, and Kakashi's body attacked him and Naruto flew away again. She prepared to do the same for Neji, but he managed to dodge the attack.
After this, he ran to the forest, looking for the bells, and also, looking for Ino.
"Ugh… My chakra is leaking away. I need to drop the sensei fast if I want to somehow hold up afterwards". – Ino thought, and got out of Kakashi's body, and he fell on the ground.
"Phew. Even with those two constantly attacking him, sensei's body is too much for me".
Ino untied her body from the tree she was hiding on, and climbed down. She began searching, and found the bells in a minute. She smiled while holding them.
"Huh. Too easy. I always was the smartest one in class, even if I'm not a boy. Watch me now, you three: Neji, loser, Kakashi-sensei".
Ino climbed back on tree, and was triumphally looking for her teammates and teacher to show up. Well, good luck with this.
After some time, Neji actually showed up. He saw Ino and prepared to attack, but was stopped by Kakashi. Naruto reached to her as the last one.
Ino was standing, smirking. She took out the bells and began dinging, right in front of Neji's and Naruto's noses, which made them more pissed. Kakashi looked at his student with shock and appreciation - no one expected this.
A girl who seemingly was weak and didn't know anything turned out to be a genius.
– "Hey, Kakashi-sensei! One bell is for me, but for you two not all hope is lost! The test still continues!" – Ino exclaimed, and threw one of the bells to Kakashi.
Neji immediately tried to catch it, but Kakashi did a backflip, almost hitting Neji's hand in the process.
– "Okay, not at all that I planned, but the fight got my attention. One bell left, Naruto, Neji. Now, try to take it from me". – Said Kakashi.
– "Shadow Clones no jutsu!" – Naruto made 20 of them - seemingly his maximum, and ran towards Kakashi, again without any tactic. Neji, seemingly did the same - exactly like in the beginning of the fight.
Naruto began doubling down his attacks, but Neji also made a problem - with his specialised Hyuga taijutsu, he quickly destroyed 5 of Naruto's clones. What kind of a tai monster this guy was?!
Kakashi was still dodging all of his attacks, even with another 15 clones hitting him. Neji used this situation, and tried to damage Kakashi's chakra control again. He was't intended to kill him, but wanted that bell.
Naruto, after he got tired receiving punches from Kakashi began to feel drained out - to support even 15 Shadow Clones, so they be equally durable to a person, he had to open up all his chakra reserves. That is what Neji has been waiting for.
Neji made a couple of backflips, away from Kakashi, which made him raise his eyebrow. But all was going according to Neji's plan. Neji found a great position, and activated Byakugan. Then, he begun throwing shuriken at both Naruto's clones and Kakashi.
"Huh? What the hell is this weirdo doing?" – Naruto thought, but sent a couple of his clones towards Neji. Maybe at least now it is possible to get him out of the game? Said - done. He ran, and focused 75% of his power.
"Naruto. You are an idiot". – Thought Ino, who was watching over their fight.
Suddenly, Neji disappeared when clones just reached him.
– "Huh?!" – Naruto just managed to realise what happened, and suddenly, felt loads of pain in his arms. Turned his head, and saw Neji, who's finders were touching his arm. Naruto twitched from pain, and Neji turned around and kicked him in the stomach with his full force, directing the hit right at Kakashi.
– "Ha, who do you take me for, failure? You actually thought you can mask yourself and dissolve among the clones? Remember - my Byakugan sees everything in 360°. It has no blindspots, so your pathetic attacks don't work at me!"
Naruto was also punched away by Kakashi, he prepared to attack. But, the couple of seconds when Naruto was blocking his view were enough for Neji. Kakashi blinked, and to his surprise, instead of Neji right in front of him, saw a rusty stump - Substitution Jutsu.
Neji turned out to be materialised behind Kakashi's back, and now knew where to hit - he threw kunai at the startled Kakashi, and hit the bell out of his hand. Before it could touch the ground, he jumped over Kakashi and caught the bell.
He handed perfectly, using both his legs and arms, and proudly showed the bell to Kakashi, breathing heavily. Kakashi was looking at Neji, with shock in his eyes - his Byakugan, and tactics were simply something.
Actually, no. Both Ino and Neji were fantastic. It was the first time ever, when Kakashi took his students seriously. Even if they didn't do what he intended them to do, throwing away this potential will be a really dumb idea.
Ino also smiled, and jumped from the tree.
– "Looks like we passed your little test, Kakashi-sensei!" – She said with a proud smile, when standing next to Neji.
They both handed Kakashi his bells back. Then, they turned their heads, and noticed Naruto, who was laying one the ground, knocked out. His jacket sleeve was torn, and they noticed the red dots on his arm. He opened his eyes, and saw his teammates and his teacher looking down at him.
Ino chuckled.
– "Well, Hokage? What are going to do now?" – She said with a layer of teasing sarcasm. Neji crossed his arms, and also smiled, just must more proudly - it didn't even look like his wound was much of a problem to him.
– "Okay. Ino, Neji - you passed my exam. Congratulations to both of you!" – Those words from Kakashi were followed up by exciting screams of Ino.
– "As for Naruto though"... – Kakashi said with a scary tone. He picked the young Uzumaki like a bag of potatoes, and strongly tied him to a tree. Ino and Neji looked at this process and were laughing at him.
Naruto was barely holding up to not ugly cry on his spot. How... How could he lose just like that?! After he gave all of himself to the fight, spending all chakra he had... He still lost to Neji and Ino.