Kakashi wished he'd brought a scroll or book to read since every second that passed and his name wasn't called, was another confirmation of what he had realized half an hour before – Kuma was setting him up to fail. Even if Kakashi's name had been the first to be picked, Kuma was going to call it last. As the last person out the door, he'd have to deal with every other person's traps, as well as setting his own. All the best spots would be taken, so he would either be forced to disable someone else's trap (and face their wrath afterwards) or place his in an unfavourable position.
Even worse, he was so angry at his sensei for his betrayal, he couldn't focus on thinking around the problem. Part of him wanted to throw a giant tantrum, and only the thought that there would be no better way of confirming he wasn't ready to graduate stopped him. Instead, he focused on his sensei. Every time his name wasn't called, his glare became a little colder. He liked to imagine that Kuma was sweating a little under the pressure, but there was no way of telling since Kuma was as calm as always, even if he was deliberately never looking in Kakashi's direction.
It was Ararae, one of Suzame's friends, who saved him. She was third to last and tried to kick his shin as she passed him. Kakashi dodged, and shifted his glare to her. Her startled squeak, and the way she practically ran to the other side of the room pierced through his anger. He took a deep breath. Had he really been glaring at Kuma-sensei for nearly an hour? Chagrined, he turned to study the wall, and considered what he knew of trap setting. There had to be a way around his problem. Some advantage he was missing. Someone always had to be last after all.
Kakashi watched the boy who had gone before him walk into the room and knew he had his answer. Too excited to wait, he ignored his sensei calling his name, and ran over to the door, slipping out and closing it firmly behind him. A quick survey of the training field revealed no one had been intelligent enough to try his idea. He grinned. As the last person, he could lay a trap that was sure to be triggered. He set to work.
He slipped carefully back into the room, just before the three minute mark. "I'm finished, sensei." Kuma nodded his understanding, his per functionary smile dying under the force of his youngest student's anger.
"Everyone out on the field!" Kuma led the way, which is why he was the only one caught in the fine mesh net that had been carefully hidden in the dust right outside the door. Kakashi had used the roof and a nearby log as a counter weight, so their sensei was slammed into the side of the school once before he fell in a tangle of netting and curse words. Kuma was out in seconds, and there was only a slight flush to his cheeks to indicate how embarrassed he was for falling for one of his student's traps.
"Whose was that?" he asked over the stifled giggling.
"Mine, sensei," said Kakashi. He took his words right from their textbook. "Whenever possible, a trap should be placed on the most frequently traveled path, or road in order to assure maximum efficiency. As the last person, the way was clear for me to set a trap in front of the door, where I was sure to catch at least one person. I did expect you to step over the trap, sensei," he finished innocently.
Kuma looked at him suspiciously, but was forced to continue the exam. Everyone wandered the field, under strict orders to spread out and be alert. A number of traps were triggered anyway, showing the skill of this particular class. Afterwards, Kuma-sensei walked around, identifying traps with their owners. Anyone with sloppy or obvious traps was failed, but everyone else passed. Those who had had their traps triggered were graded higher. They were informed that the grades would be used to form their ranking within the class.
Kakashi had taken a seat underneath one of the trees during the final grading, and was deep in thought. Kuma was unlikely to give up on making sure Kakashi didn't pass, but the boy couldn't think of any way for their sensei to sabotage the genjutsu part of the exam. Kakashi could perform all the basic genjutsu flawlessly, and he even knew one or two more advanced genjutsu if he were asked. The taijutsu was more of a problem. Kakashi trained his body as well as he could, but only time would give him the reach and strength he needed to be an expert. There were several boys and even a few girls in the class who could beat him if he had to fight them with only taijutsu, and Kuma was sure to pair him with one of them. Kakashi glanced around at the others in his class as they headed back to their classroom, considering strategies for defeating each one individually with taijutsu, so that he would be prepared no matter who Kuma made him fight.
"Oh, Kuma-sensei! No one knew which training field you were using!" called out Nuriko-sensei in her overly loud voice. It probably helped her when she was trying to teach the eight-year olds in her beginner's class, but Kakashi always found himself backing slowly away from the violet-haired kunoichi in order to protect his ear drums. This time, he flattened himself against the nearby wall along with the rest of his class, and watched Kuma wince at the other sensei's voice. Kuma turned towards the other teacher.
"Hello, Nuriko-sensei. I was wondering if I would have to go looking for you," said Kuma calmly.
"I thought I'd save you the trouble! Besides, the children are anxious for their demonstration."
"I'm sure Kakashi-kun won't disappoint them."
Kakashi started, looking back and forth between both teachers.
Kuma turned to him. "I've lent you to Nuriko-sensei's class for awhile today. She wants to give them a preview of what they'll be learning next year, and she thought they might respond better to someone closer to their own age." He seemed immune to Kakashi's glare, while Nuriko was oblivious.
"What about the exam, sensei?" Kakashi said through clenched teeth.
"Nuriko-sensei will let you go a few minutes before lunch and you can do the test then. I wouldn't have recommended you to help her if I weren't certain of your skills."
With Kuma being so reasonable and complimentary, there was no way for Kakashi to refuse. He had underestimated his sensei's ability to sabotage everything, and now he was paying the price.
"Come along, Kakashi-kun!"
Kakashi followed her. "What will I be doing, Nuriko-sensei?"
"Oh! I should explain! We'll be going through all the basic genjutsu! Just perform whichever genjutsu I tell you to and do it slowly so the other children can get a good look."
"I'm already going to have to do that for my exam today," pointed out Kakashi, trying to sound reasonable. "This demonstration will use up a lot of my chakra."
She made a dismissive noise. "You'll have enough for your exam. Don't worry!" She went to pat his head, and he expertly dodged. He didn't know why adults always wanted to do that, but by now, he was very good at avoiding the attention when he wanted to.
Walking back to his classroom an hour later, Kakashi knew he had been right about his chakra. He was exhausted. Not only had he had to demonstrate henge and bunshin, but Nuriko-sensei had insisted he hold them while she explained the principles behind them in detail. Demonstrating kawarimi no jutsu had been easier since he simply body switched with one of her students, and pretended he was listening while the student he'd chosen squirmed in embarrassment at the front of the class. Kakashi had had to remind Nuriko-sensei to let him go, and now he was simply hoping he had enough chakra to do whatever Kuma insisted on.
When he stepped through the door, he felt a moment of dizziness, but shrugged it off. He could rest at lunch. Kuma-sensei was behind his desk, but there was no one else in the room.
"I sent everyone off to lunch since you're a bit late. I hope you don't mind," said Kuma. His face revealed nothing of his intentions, though he had to have noticed how tired Kakashi was.
"No, I don't," said Kakashi, even though he did. He suspected some other trick.
"All right. Let's see you henge into me first."
Kakashi nodded, forming the sign of the ram, focusing his chakra as he had been taught. He had a clear picture of Kuma in his mind, and he opened his eyes, expecting to see his sensei's chuunin uniform when he looked down at himself. Instead, there was his usual dark blue clothing. He broke into a cold sweat. Was it possible to be that low on chakra without passing out?
"Try again," said Kuma, and Kakashi wanted to scream at the sympathy he heard in the man's voice. This was all his sensei's fault!
Once again he went through the motions, his lips pressed together in concentration. There was definitely energy there. "Henge no jutsu!" He looked down at himself. Nothing.
Kuma took a few steps towards him, both sympathy and triumph in his face, and Kakashi realized what had been bothering him. Before his sensei could stop him, he brought one hand in front of him, and all but shouted, "Kai!"
A/N: The wait for the next chapter will probably be a bit longer seeing as I skipped ahead and wrote the fourth chapter before the third chapter. Oops;) Thanks for the reviews!