A/N: Okay, now I know what you're thinking. "Why have you disappeared for three weeks?"

I am very sorry about that, I just got busy with SATs and school starting back up.

Hopefully, I can try to upload more consistently in the future. Enough talk, here's your chapter.

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Chapter 4: Super Creative and Original Bell Test

A bell test? Naruto felt overconfident after hearing what his team would be doing. He remembered the bell test that Kakashi had assigned the original Team 7. He shut his eyes and let the nostalgia rush through him. He would give anything to be back in simpler times like those.

"The goal of the exercise is simple." He reached into his pocket and pulled out three bells. "Just take these bells from me."

"Uh, Sensei?" Naruto interrupted. "Is this different from the bell test that we did as Team 7? You have three bells, but when we did it you only had two."

"I'm glad you noticed, I've decided to add a spin to the original exercise," Kakashi answered. "Each of you must retrieve a bell within five minutes. However, if even one of you fails to get a bell within that time, then all three of you will fail."

Naruto wasn't phased by Kakashi's threat. He's been training with him for long enough to know that nothing will happen if they fail. He was still going to go all out to prove himself to his sensei and new team.

Naruto heard a wince come from Emi's direction. Her eyes were wide and she was fidgeting with her hands. He glanced over at Tenten and noticed that her face hadn't changed since they first met. Her eyes were cold and her expression was unreadable. Naruto didn't know much about his new teammates yet but he found it funny that the Third Hokage placed him on a team with two polar opposites.

"I hope you're ready because time starts now." Kakashi suddenly disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Wait, we're starting now?!" Naruto should've expected this from his teacher but it still managed to shock him.

"Okay, we should come up with a plan," Emi's voice quivered. "We have to think of this strategically. If we only have five minutes that leaves us with about a minute and a half for each of us to get the bells, but that's only assuming we all go separately. Not to mention the time it will take for us to-"

"Do you realize how much time we're wasting by coming up with a plan?" Tenten interrupted. "Here's a plan. I'll go get the bells and give them to you guys."

"What? No, that won't work," Emi replied, "Naruto will get his bell first since he's had the most experience with Kakashi-Sensei, then I'll-"

It was clear that Tenten already stopped listening. She jumped onto a tree branch to scout out Kakashi's location.

Emi growled and turned to Naruto before quickly looking away. Her posture stiffened when it was just the two of them. She looked uncomfortable. He was used to people feeling this way about him, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"I don't think we need a plan," Naruto told her. "Let's just go up and get our bells. As long as we each have one then we should be fine."


Emi opened her mouth to object but Naruto was already running off to find Kakashi. Emi didn't realize how difficult it was to work with new people. She had been with her two other teammates for years, it was hard to imagine training without them. She didn't have time to think about that now. Right now, she had to keep the training exercise on her mind.

Although, it was difficult for her to focus with the manly giggling coming from behind her. As confused as she was, Emi decided to try to find the source of the laughter.

It took her a while to find the tree where it seemed to be coming from. Upon closer inspection, Emi could see white spiky hair with a face hidden behind a book. "Sensei?"


Tenten scanned the area. Leaves flew in front of her face, making it difficult to see. She knew that finding a jonin in the area wouldn't be an easy task. Still, it was just a training exercise, so surely Kakashi wouldn't be too hidden.

A swift blur racing below her caught her attention. Found him, she thought. She jumped down from the tree branch to follow him, but as her feet hit the ground, she realized that the movement had passed. He had disappeared faster than her eyes could follow and she couldn't tell what direction he went in.

"Damn," Tenten muttered to herself.


Naruto sped past the trees. He could've sworn he ran past Tenten but he didn't linger on it. Finding a bell was the only thing on his mind right now. He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if he didn't give it his all in this exercise. Although, he wasn't sure how well it would go. The first bell test Kakashi gave to him was a trainwreck, to say the least. It ended up just barely working out in the end. He only got lucky because of his previous teammates. Thoughts of Sakura and Sasuke filled his head, but he shook them off to focus on the task at hand.


"Emi," Kakashi said in a serious tone. Kakashi was just sitting behind a tree reading his book. Despite his mask, Emi could tell he had a straight face. Is he pretending I didn't just hear him giggle at his book? Emi asked herself. Genma spoke about Kakashi with such high praise, she was expecting an elite ninja who didn't tolerate stuff like this. She was more surprised than disappointed. She was actually relieved that Kakashi wasn't the uptight jonin that she expected him to be.

"May I have a bell?" Emi asked politely.

"Well, if I gave you a bell it would defeat the purpose of the drill." Kakashi put his book down and propped himself up. "If you want it, you're going to have to take it."

"Fine by me." Emi got into a fighting stance and reached for her belt and pulled off the piece of wood that hung off it. She flung it beside her and it elongated into a bo staff. While in her hand, a blue aura began radiating from it.

"Impressive." Kakashi looked at her surprised. "I never would've guessed that your weapon of choice was a bo staff; a chakra infused bo staff nonetheless."

"I guess I'm full of surprises," Emi replied. "I hope you're not planning to just stand here while I take that bell." She lunged forward to grab one of the bells that were hanging off of his clothes. Her hands were so close to touching them, but Kakashi jumped back before she was close enough.

"You're going to have to try a little harder than that if you want these bells." Kakashi tore the bells from his clothes and held them up. "Why don't you hit me with something a little more effective."

Emi took a step back and realigned into her fighting stance. She couldn't help but smile just a little bit. He seems to be unaware of the genjutsu that I used on him, she thought. Emi held the bell in the same hand she held her weapon. The genjutsu she pulled made it look like she missed the bell when she reached for it, but it couldn't be further from the truth. If I keep this up, then maybe I can keep him from thinking that I got the bell.

A kunai with a paper bomb attached flew past Emi's head and landed on a tree, almost hitting Kakashi in the process. Kakashi managed to throw it into the distance before its detonation.

"Finally found you," a voice called from behind. Emi looked over to see that Tenten had caught up to them. Tenten opened a scroll and a plethora of different ninja tools shot out. Kakashi used a substitution jutsu to avoid the attack; the weapons hit a log that took his place.

"Nice try," Kakashi teased from behind them. Tenten took out a single kunai and held it out in front of her.

Emi saw the serious look on both of their faces, she knew that Tenten was determined to get those bells. Maybe I could just go, Emi thought. I already have my bell, so as long as Naruto and Tenten get theirs we should be fine. Emi only managed to take a few steps away from the two shinobi before hearing the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

"RASENGAN"

Emi couldn't help but flinch at the sight of Naruto again. Naruto attempted to plunge into Kakashi with the blue chakra ball but ended up hitting the ground in front of him. The impact caused a small crater in the ground.

"Naruto! This is my battle, not yours!" Tenten scolded. "Don't you remember the plan?"

"Oh, you mean the plan that you came up with and we didn't have a part in?" Naruto retorted. "Sorry, but I wasn't going to sit back while you were having all the fun."

"This could've been so easy if we just stuck to the plan."

"Emi and I never agreed to that plan!"

"Emi already got her bell." Tenten pointed at the bells Kakashi was holding. "Maybe if you weren't so dense, you would know that already."

Emi watched the two go head to head in awe. Did they forget about the time limit of this exercise?

Emi felt something sweep over her feet causing her to fall. She landed on her back, dropping her staff and bell in the process. Kakashi had tripped her over.

"I'll be taking this back now." Kakashi picked up the bell and put it back where it was before.

"How did you-" Emi began to ask but thought about Tenten's earlier words and hit her face with her hand.

"To be frank, part of me realized it was a genjutsu when you smiled after you failed to take a bell from me," Kakashi explained. "Tenten's comment just confirmed it for me."


Naruto couldn't listen to Tenten boss him around anymore. He was just as determined to get a bell as anyone.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled. About ten other shadow clones appeared around him and began running towards Kakashi.

"And that's time," Kakashi announced. "It looks like none of you ended up getting bells."

Naruto and his clones stopped where they were. He sighed and put up a hand sign, causing his shadow clones to dissipate.

"We all failed the exercise." Emi managed to prop herself up from her fall. "What's our punishment, Sensei?"

"Well, nothing-"

Called it, Naruto thought.

"-but you guys failed way more horribly than I expected you to," Kakashi continued. "If you had better teamwork and coordination, then maybe it would have been a little better."

Tenten was looking away. Anger and disappointment clouded her eyes. Emi was facing the ground, nodding every once in a while at Kakashi's words.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a stab of disappointment as well. Not only did they fail the bell test, but this was his new team. It was less than ten minutes they were together and they already didn't get along. They didn't make it through a training drill, he couldn't imagine completing a mission together.

"Not only did you all fail to retrieve a bell, but you completely missed the point of the exercise which was teamwork. Based on how poorly that went, I'm going to give you the rest of the day off." Kakashi pulled out his book and began flipping through. "Why don't you guys spend your time off getting to know each other?"

"That's not a bad idea actually," Naruto said. "How about some ramen?"


Sorry if this chapter seemed kinda anticlimactic, the bell test always seemed kinda boring to me, but it's not Naruto without a bell test. Next chapter will be here next Friday. Thanks for reading!