CHAPTER 3: THE BELL TEST (PART 2)


(Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. I do own my OC's, however)

"Talking / Jutsu"

'Thinking'

'Flashback'

"Flashback talk"

"Demonic voice"

Letter / Emphasis


Naruto and Sakura were following Shujinko through the forest as they searched for their sensei. Their sprint came to a halt, however, when Shujinko stopped running and raised a closed fist to his teammates, indicating them to do the same.

"What's happening? Why did we stop?" Naruto asked from behind, only to feel a tingling sensation inside his head seconds later. 'Wait a minute, this feels like…'

"… Naruto… Sakura… Shujinko… Please, help me…"

The three teenagers recognized that voice immediately, despite not having heard it for the last three years. Their muscles tensed when a shadowy figure came from behind a tree.

The shadowy figure was none other than Sasuke.

For a brief moment, Sakura held her breath and Naruto's eyes widened. The missing member of their team was standing in front of them with his head hanging low, coughing out blood and groaning intensely. His body was littered in scars, cuts, and open wounds that threatened to end his life in a matter of minutes. There were even a couple of kunais and shurikens embedded into him, as if he had just returned from a ferocious battle. Despite being three years since they last saw him, Sasuke looked exactly the same as before and didn't seem to have grown older since the day he joined Orochimaru.

"… Please, help me…" Sasuke repeated. "I… I managed to escape… from Orochimaru… He's coming after me… Please…"

Shujinko frowned. Kakashi had to be close to their position. He had recognized his sensei's Genjutsu almost as soon as it had been cast, having been inside of them in plenty of occasions during his training with the Copy Ninja. Kakashi was either trying to distract them or putting their mental fortitude to the test by showing them an illusion of Sasuke, maybe both of those things at the same time. Nevertheless, it was clear that Kakashi wasn't just testing their ability to notice and dispel Genjutsu, because if that were to be the case, Shujinko knew for a fact his sensei was capable of casting illusionary techniques of higher level.

He could easily make a hand sign and dispel the cheap Genjutsu, but instead, Shujinko took a step back and placed himself between Naruto and Sakura. The Ozuma wanted to see his teammates' reaction, as those two were more… emotional than him when it came to Sasuke. He just hoped an illusion wouldn't be enough to make them lose control, because if that happened, Shujinko feared how they would react once they saw the real Sasuke.

To his relief, Naruto and Sakura kept their emotions in check. "Nice try Kakashi-sensei, but we're not interested in illusions. Kai," Sakura said, raising two fingers and putting an end to the Genjutsu for the three of them. The Sasuke in front of them vanished into thin air, leaving no traces behind. "It's a shame. I would give everything to speak to the real Sasuke-kun, even if only for just a minute,"

"Come out wherever you are, Kakashi-sensei! We're not gonna fall for your tricks!" Naruto exclaimed.

As soon as he was done talking, a kunai was thrown at Naruto from the side. The blonde knucklehead ducked down, allowing the weapon to get embedded into the ground. However, the kunai released a cloud of smoke only seconds after, and Kakashi appeared behind Naruto's back. By the time Naruto had turned around, Kakashi had already delivered a strong kick to his stomach, sending him back against a tree.

Without thinking twice about it, Shujinko weaved the Rat, Rabbit, and Dog hand signs before taking a deep breath, focusing his chakra in his stomach. "Fuuton: Shinkuudama!" Shujinko aimed at his sensei and spat out a compressed sphere of wind.

In response, Kakashi weaved a couple of hand signs of his own and placed his hands on the ground. "Doton: Doryuuheki!" he exclaimed as a solid wall of earth rose from the ground in front of him. Shujinko's wind sphere crashed against the wall, which was left standing despite suffering several fissures all over its surface. However, the already weakened barrier was blown to pieces when Sakura drove her fist into it, intending to reach the Jounin behind.

Kakashi predicted Sakura's attack and moved out of the way before anything could happen to him. Sakura then proceeded to unleash a barrage of punches and hooks aimed at the silver-haired Jounin, but all of them struck nothing but empty air as Kakashi evaded them one after the other. 'It's no use. Sakura may have amazing strength, but it won't do us any good if she can't touch Kakashi-sensei,' Shujinko thought as he took cover behind a bush. 'If we want to land a clean blow on Kakashi-sensei, we'll have to immobilize him first,'

Shortly after, Tsunade's student attempted a kick, but the Sharingan Warrior grabbed her ankle and threw her away like a ragdoll. Shujinko immediately came out of the bushes and began to fight Kakashi using a pair of kunais. However, Kakashi quickly got behind his back and applied a rear chokehold, forcing him to drop his weapons. "You ought to know by now never to allow your opponent to get behind your back so easily. Have you forgotten our lessons?" Kakashi asked, tightening his grip around his student's neck.

"… The only one… who's forgetting lessons here… is you, sensei…" Shujinko said, his voice raspy. His body was losing strength every passing second as he tried to get Kakashi to unhand him… But just when he was beginning to lose consciousness, the brown-haired youth suddenly pulled his arms back and grabbed his own hands behind Kakashi, restraining the Jounin in return.

"Huh?" Before Kakashi had time to understand what his student was trying to accomplish, another Shujinko jumped out of the bushes and threw four shurikens, each of them attached to ninja wire. The Ozuma waved his arms, controlling the trajectory of the shurikens until Kakashi and the teen he was restraining were both tied up by the wires. 'It's a trap! I'm holding a shadow clone!'

"Now, Naruto! Attack him and my shadow clone!" Shujinko shouted.

"Haaaaaah!" A total of five Narutos approached Kakashi at great speed, each of them holding a Rasengan. One Naruto was coming from the front, another one from behind, one from each side and the last one from above, making it impossible for Kakashi to escape without getting hit. "Let's see how you dodge this! Rasen Tarengan!"

BBBBZZZZZZZZZ

Before Naruto and his shadow clones could thrust their palms, Kakashi suddenly burst into lightning, electrocuting those around him. The shadow clones were reduced to smoke while the original Naruto let out a loud yelp as the discharge of electricity punished his body, sending him rolling across the ground. The lightning left a black spot where Kakashi's clone was standing before evaporating into nothingness.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Shujinko asked as he and Sakura helped their teammate. Naruto gritted his teeth and responded with a grunt, opening one eye and keeping the other one closed. Despite not suffering any external wounds, his body felt wobbly and his skin was aching after being electrocuted.

"What the heck was that?" the blonde asked. Sakura sat on her knees and started applying Medical Ninjutsu on Naruto in order to relieve some of his pain.

"Another one of Kakashi-sensei's techniques, the Raiton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," the Ozuma replied, his brow furrowing. "It looks like Kakashi-sensei wants to step things up a notch. A couple of hours have passed since the beginning of this test and he has seen some of our abilities, so now he wants to repay the favor. We might have to go into defensive mode from here on out,"

Sakura frowned at Shujinko. "Defensive mode? But Shujinko, that wasn't part of our plan. We're supposed to wear him down, not to let him wear us down. I say we should stick to our strategy," she said as her hands emitted a green glow of healing energy. While Medical Ninjutsu usually required a user's full attention, Sakura was so proficient at it that she was able to heal the minor wounds of a patient and still hold a conversation at the same time. Once some of his pain had been soothed, Naruto sat on the ground and gave Shujinko an incredulous stare.

"Yeah, one minute you're telling us to go after Kakashi-sensei, and now you want him to make the first move against us? How are we supposed to complete this exercise if we keep switching strategies?"

"You just answered your own question, Naruto," Shujinko replied, hoping that his teammate would understand where he was trying to go with this. When the Kyuubi Jinchuriki raised his eyebrow, Shujinko let out a sigh of slight exasperation. "Look, Kakashi-sensei is a smart guy, smarter than any of us for that matter. By now, he must've figured out what we've been up to, and he's going to use that to his advantage. If we keep this up, he'll play us like a fiddle and our efforts will go to waste, but if we change our tactics and use a different approach, we might manage to throw him off,"

Naruto and Sakura shared a glance. While their teammate's reasoning was not without logic or sense, they weren't completely sure whether it was the best option or not. The idea of defending themselves against Kakashi was less appealing than the idea of attacking him, for they were aware of the Sharingan Warrior's nearly unlimited bag of tricks. On the other hand, going head-to-head against their real sensei was probably more beneficial to their objective than chasing after shadow clones and getting fooled over and over again.

"… I guess you have a point," Sakura conceded after a minute of silence. "After all, you know Kakashi-sensei better than either of us, and that includes which tactics he likes to use. Still, if we're gonna allow him to attack us, we should be ready for everything. There's no way of telling what he has in store for us,"

At that moment, Naruto stood up and removed the dust from his pants. "To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure if this is a good idea, but if you guys think it'll work, then I'm all for it… So, how are we supposed to go about this?"

"I don't usually say this, but maybe we shoud go out there and improvise. Kakashi-sensei won't be able to guess what our strategy is if we don't have one in the first place. And besides, you're Konoha's Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja, aren't you, Naruto? When it comes to unpredictability, you can outclass anyone, even Kakashi-sensei," Shujinko said, offering his blonde teammate a thumbs-up with a smirk. "So, are we ready to do this or not?"

The grin on Naruto's face was all the answer Shujinko needed.


SWOOOSH

Kakashi landed on the ground, taking the opportunity to catch his breath after running for many miles. His back was facing a small lake, the very same lake where Shujinko had learned how to walk on water when he was preparing for the Chunin Exams years ago. 'This challenge is getting more and more complicated. Those three sure haven't forgotten about teamwork, yet they all possess individual strength. I have to stay on my toes at every moment and be ready to escape at all times,' Kakashi told himself. Several hours had passed since the beginning of the bell test. The sun had already gone down, having been replaced by a majestic moon floating still amidst a cloudless sky.

The wind blew, carrying with it the scent of wet grass that filled Kakashi's nostrils. On a peaceful night such as this, Kakashi would normally find himself walking aimlessly through the streets of Konoha with his nose stuck in his little book, minding his own business just like the rest of the world. Every now and then he would buy two identical bouquets of flowers, leave one of them on Rin's grave and take the other one over to the Memorial Stone, where Obito's name was engraved.

For a fraction of a second, Kakashi allowed himself to reminisce about the past, comparing the members of Team Minato with his own current squad. It was impossible to ignore the resemblance between Obito and Naruto, for example. They shared the same obstinacy, the same loud and outspoken attitude, and the same goal of becoming Hokage. Hell, they were also matched in terms of goofiness and rambunctiousness, but they also had a heart of gold that few people possessed. They were the kind of people that, even if they were prone to making mistakes or acting silly, would gladly break their backs if it meant protecting those around them.

Sakura and Rin had something in common other than their skills in Medical Ninjutsu. They were the link that kept the group together, the bridge between the members of the squad. They were the first to recognize when something was wrong and the first to try to patch things up, at least in their own way. Rin used to gently talk Obito out of doing something foolish while Sakura simply smacked Naruto in the head before telling him to stop being an idiot. One way or another, the two of them cared for each and every single member of their group and nothing would stop them from looking out for those they cared about.

As for Sasuke, Kakashi had seen a shadow of his younger self in him. The same way Itachi had been branded a traitor for the slaughter he brought upon his very own flesh and blood, Sakumo had been branded a traitor as well when he chose the lives of his comrades over the success of a very important mission. Their names became synonyms of disgrace and betrayal. The son of the White Fang then went on to live a life full of regrets and guilt after causing Obito's death, killing Rin with his own hands, and being unable to do anything to prevent the deaths of Minato and Kushina. That was why Kakashi could identify himself with Sasuke and why he had tried to make his student see a different path, because he knew perfectly well what happened to those who harbored nothing but darkness in their heart.

The only comparison left was between Minato and Shujinko, and funnily enough, Kakashi could see certain similarities between those two. Analytical, pragmatic, versatile, all those words could be used to describe his sensei and his student when they were in the battlefield. However, it was outside of the battlefield where the resemblance between those two truly flourished. Shujinko's calm, down to earth attitude was not unlike that of Kakashi's long-deceased sensei. Just like how Minato used to encourage a young Kakashi to open himself up more (a task that had been anything but easy), Shujinko had done the very same thing during the three years they had spent together. By simply talking to him and asking him about his life, Shujinko made it clear to Kakashi that he viewed him not only as his master, but also as a person he truly trusted and cared for.

Kakashi let out a melancholic sigh. Team 7 was startlingly similar to his old squad, possibly more than Kakashi would've wanted. He just hoped things would turn out better this time. Sasuke abandoning the village had been a tough blow for everyone, but Shujinko, Naruto, and Sakura could still have a bright path ahead of them, and the Copy Ninja would do everything in his power to ensure that happened.

ZIIP

ZIIP

ZIIP

'Looks like the time for reminiscing is over,' Kakashi thought upon seeing his students landing several feet in front of him. He glared all three of them with his Sharingan, ready to anticipate and counter their movements with stone-cold precision. "I'm impressed by how you guys have handled this challenge so far. Let's step it up a notch, shall we?"

"Here I go!" Sakura shouted with determination before jumping forward, gathering chakra in her fist. As soon as she landed, Sakura struck the ground with all of her might, sending a devastating shockwave of destruction towards her sensei. The earth began to split apart as the shockwave advanced, ripping the surface of the ground to shreds and leaving the area widely fissured.

The Copy Ninja wasted no time and weaved a couple of hand signs right away. "Doton: Tsuchi Nami no Jutsu!" he shouted, slamming his palms onto the ground. The terrain suddenly became loose and flabby, and similar to a ripple in the water, Kakashi created a ring of wavy earth that expanded itself until colliding against Sakura's traveling shockwave. The impact of the two opposing forces left huge chunks of earth and rock scattered all over the place, deforming the battlefield yet again.

An enormous cloud of dust was raised due to the collision, making it nearly impossible for everyone to see what was in front of them. Shujinko took advantage of this and quickly weaved a couple of hand signs. "Fuuton: Reppushoo!" he shouted, sending a powerful gale of wind from his palms. The gale of wind pushed the dust cloud towards Kakashi, as Shujinko wanted to blind his sensei before attacking him, but once the dust settled down, the Copy Ninja was nowhere to be seen. "What the-"

CRACK

Suddenly, a hole was made on the ground and Kakashi appeared from beneath the surface, already finishing the last hand sign his next jutsu required. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

'Crap!' Shujinko thought alarmed. Both him and Sakura began to dodge, jump, and dive for their lives as the Sharingan Warrior spat a volley of small fireballs at them. Naruto, who was the furthest away from Kakashi, had managed to jump over the incoming projectiles before they could reach him. With much difficulty, Shujinko opened one of the pockets in his flak jacket and took out a thin scroll. As he moved from one place to another, he opened the scroll before tossing it to his blonde teammate while he was still in midair. "Naruto, catch!"

POOF

The scroll released a small cloud of smoke as a fuuma shuriken appeared out of it, one that Naruto grabbed firmly with his right hand. "Haaaaah!" As he began his descent back to the ground, Naruto threw the weapon at Kakashi, who was still spitting mouthfuls of fire. Upon seeing the incoming fuuma shuriken, and not wanting to get sliced in half, the Cyclops Jounin performed a backwards summersault, jumping over the weapon and landing on the lake that used to be behind his back. Shujinko and Sakura were slightly out of breath as they stared at their sensei, wondering what his next move was going to be.

They didn't have to wait long for their answer. Kakashi began to weave multiple hand signs at an incredible speed, to the point where his hands became an indecipherable blur. While Naruto and Sakura were astonished by the speed of Kakashi's hand signs, Shujinko instead grew alarmed. He didn't need to recognize every single one of Kakashi's hand signs to predict which technique he was about to perform. Judging by the number of hand signs and the fact that his sensei was standing on water, the Ozuma had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen, which was why he immediately went to grab his teammates.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!"

The water around Kakashi began to shift until a massive torrent shaped like a dragon rose from the surface. The Sannin students were so awestruck by the sheer size of the jutsu that, for a brief moment, they forgot to react. Thankfully, by the time the Sharingan Warrior had sent the water dragon after them, Shujinko had already wrapped his arms around the waists of Naruto and Sakura. He pumped a considerable amount of chakra to his feet and made use of the Shunshin no Jutsu, gritting his teeth as the weight of his teammates slowed him down. Kakashi's jutsu then proceeded to stomp and sweep everything in its path, flooding the battlefield.

"Kakashi-san sure has no intention of pulling his punches," Shizune commented as she and Tsunade watched the challenge unfold from a safe distance. "I don't even want to think how long it'll take us to repair this training ground,"

"By the time they're done, there might be no training ground left to repair," Tsunade replied, her gaze focused on the Sharingan Warrior. "I asked Kakashi to conduct this test with the intention of making things as realistically as possible for them. With the Akatsuki lurking about, we need to be certain of how much those three have learned so far. I have a feeling we'll be running into problems sooner rather than later,"

Jiraiya remained silent, keeping his thoughts to himself. Even with the limited information he had gathered on Akatsuki, he was more than aware of how dangerous said organization could be when the likes of Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki had joined its ranks. He had trained Naruto with the intention of preparing him for the future, keeping in mind that the boy would eventually run into them again, searching for the Kyuubi and its colossal power.

He had faith that Naruto would pass this test. Not only because the blonde knucklehead was his student, but also because that knucklehead had something special: The guts to keep forging on in the face of adversity. The shinobi who had those guts possessed something more valuable and more unique than any technique or bloodline limit known to man. It was the kind of power that people such as Orochimaru would never understand, much less acquire.


|Sunagakure no Sato|

"Infiltration successful, hmpf," Deidara said to himself, standing on top of one of the tallest buildings in Sunagakure.

Getting into the village had been fairly easy. The guards posted on the wall weren't expecting an attack from the skies, and so they had been quickly taken care off thanks to his miniature clay bombs. After that, he hopped on one of his clay birds and landed close to the Kazekage Tower, where he suspected his target was. Everything was running smoothly so far, almost too smoothly.

His orders were clear. He and Sasori were to use any means necessary to capture the Ichibi Jinchuriki without killing it and then return to the designated Akatsuki hideout that was located in Kawa no Kuni, where the Bijuu extraction process would take place. Deidara, being the passionate artist that he was, asked his partner Sasori to stand back and let him deal with the Jinchuriki. After all, the journey to Sunagakure had been a long and boring one, and now that they had arrived to their destination, Deidara thought he at least deserved to have some fun and allow the people of the village to witness the magnificent beauty of his art.

"Now where can I find you, Jinchuriki?"

"Look no further," a voice behind his back answered. The member of the Akatsuki turned around to see a young man with red hair and the kanji for 'Love' carved on the left side of his forehead. He was staring at him with his arms crossed and had a detached look on his face, as if he'd been waiting for him to show up. "You belong to Akatsuki, don't you? This is as far as you go,"

Deidara smirked. Yup, this was his target alright. His physical appearance perfectly matched the description Akatsuki had given him. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about keeping Sasori waiting. "So, you're Sunagakure's Kazekage, the Jinchuriki they call Gaara. Would you mind telling me what gave my presence way?" he asked, noticing how sand was slowly coming out of the gourd strapped to Gaara's back.

"That bird of yours is a rare sight in Kaze no Kuni. There are no such species here,"

"Heh, you're a smart kid," Deidara taunted him as he reached for some clay. He was surprised to see how young the leader of the village was, as he looked no older than seventeen. Still, he knew better than to judge an enemy by his age, and this individual had the Ichibi sealed inside of him, which by all means made him a threat. "You know, this is a really nice place you have here. It'll be interesting to see how much of it will be left standing by the time I capture you,"


|Konohagakure no Sato, Training grounds|

"I have to admit, this challenge is even harder than I thought it would be, and I already knew it was going to be tough," Shujinko complained loudly, echoing the thoughts of his two teammates. With his back leaning against a tree, Shujinko opened a canteen and took a large swig of water before passing it to Sakura, who gladly accepted it.

The Genin, the Chunin, and the Jounin were hiding in the woods after being forced to retreat. A small demonstration of Kakashi's Ninjutsu arsenal had been enough had nearly overwhelmed them, and it was scary to think how many other tricks the Copy Ninja still had up his sleeve. Not even Shujinko, who had spent more time learning from Kakashi than Naruto and Sakura put together, could tell for sure how big the power gap between him and his sensei was. It was already past midnight and they hadn't made any significant progress. They were running out of options and they knew it.

"Well, it's not like we should be surprised," Sakura replied. "Kakashi-sensei is giving us a lesson in shinobi battle tactics. As long as we are within his field of vision, he'll anticipate all of our moves, and we don't have the means to attack him from a distance. That Sharingan of his sees right through us,"

"But we have to do something about it!" Naruto exclaimed, frowning in annoyance. He was fed up with having to chase after Kakashi over and over again as if they were playing some stupid game of cat and mouse. To make things worse, he was aware that Tsunade and Jiraiya were watching this test, and he felt he was making himself look unprepared and stupid in front of them. "We've worked so hard to get to where we are. I don't care if Kakashi-sensei has an all-powerful eye or whatever, we'll get those bells no matter what," he said, only to hear a short snort coming from his male teammate, to which Naruto frowned at him. "What, did I say something funny?"

"I'm sorry, Naruto. It's just what you said about Kakashi-sensei having an all-powerful eye. The Sharingan is certainly an impressive thing that grants Kakashi-sensei abilities most ninjas could only wish for, but it doesn't make him invincible. That eye is still a human eye in more ways than one,"

"… I don't think I'm following you,"

Shujinko rubbed his chin, thinking of how to elaborate his point. "Let me put it this way. If you stare at the sun, your eyes will become sore. If smoke gets in your eyes, they'll become irritated and you won't be able to see with clarity. The same thing applies to a Sharingan user. In other words, if we can somehow attack or neutralize Kakashi-sensei's sense of sight, his Sharingan will be rendered useless. But as we already know, it's extremely hard to execute such a strategy when our enemy can predict our movements with a single glance,"

But while his sensei's Sharingan was undoubtedly an important factor of the challenge, Shujinko feared their main problem was how to get the bells from him. Had they been challenged to actually fight Kakashi and defeat him in 24 hours or less, while still a difficult and arduous task, it would've at least been a less complicated one. However, getting the bells from Kakashi implicated finding the Jounin, evading a wave of jutsus, getting sufficiently close to him before he could escape and taking the small bells away from him, and all of that while Kakashi was using his Sharingan. It was exasperatingly troublesome, even by the standards of any accomplished ninja.

Rubbing his temple, the golden-eyed teenager tried his hardest to remember every single lesson Kakashi had ever taught him, asking himself how he could apply them against his mentor. There were so many empty choices, so many uncertain alternatives to choose from. Similar thoughts were running through Sakura's mind, who despite her undeniable progress as a kunoichi, had no idea how to proceed after testing one strategy after the other.

"… Wait… Wait, I think I got it!" Naruto piped up. "I think I found out Kakashi-sensei's weak spot!"

Both Shujinko and Sakura stared at him in shock. "What did you just say?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"Don't you get it? We have a golden opportunity to take those bells! I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out, we could've ended this challenge hours ago!"

"Alright Naruto, if this golden opportunity is so obvious, how come none of us thought about it earlier? What's Kakashi-sensei's weak spot, anyway?" Shujinko demanded to know. He had the feeling Naruto had just come up with a ridiculous maneuver that would only make sense to him and him only. After all, if someone was to discover Kakashi's weakness, shouldn't it be him, Shujinko, the one who had spent the last three years training with the Copy Ninja?

A devilish grin grew on Naruto's face. "It's just like you said, Shujinko. Our enemy can predict our movements with a single glance, right?" he asked, to which Shujinko nodded. "In that case, we might not be able to trick the Sharingan, but we can trick Kakashi-sensei by using his Sharingan to our advantage. He won't know what to do, believe it!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you telling us that Kakashi-sensei's weak spot is his Sharingan?" Sakura furrowed her brow, trying to make heads or tails of Naruto's nonsensical suggestion. "Naruto, that's just ridiculous. Kakashi-sensei has been using his Sharingan for years. It's part of the reason why ninjas from other nations know and fear his name. How are we supposed to use his own Sharingan against him when we can't even fight against it ourselves?"

"You got it all wrong, Sakura-chan. I never said Kakashi-sensei's weak spot was his Sharingan, I just said we can use it to our advantage. There's a big difference. Come on you guys, you seriously haven't realized it yet?"

"Naruto, this is no time to be joking around. Just tell us what it is already," Shujinko spoke up, slightly raising his voice as he was starting to get impatient. The way his teammate acted, it was as if the challenge they were in had been little more than a kids' game from the beginning, which was irritating to think about when considering how much time and energy they had spent so far.

Grinning, Naruto took a seat and gestured them to come closer. "It's really simple. All we gotta' do is find Kakashi-sensei. Once we do that, we…"

|A few minutes later|

"… Of course! I get it now! It's so simple and obvious, yet brilliant at the same time!" Sakura said, smiling excitedly. "If we do this right, Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan will backfire on him and we won't have to worry about his hand signs. Naruto, you're a genius!" she told him. The Kyuubi Jinchuriki scratched the back of his head, blushing at the praise he was receiving from Sakura.

"So this is the weak spot you were talking about, huh?" the golden-eyed teen asked with a smirk on his face. "This is the stupidest plan I've ever heard. In fact, it's so stupid it might just work. I say it's worth a shot. It's not like we have a whole lot to lose,"

Naruto quickly got up and dusted his hands off. "It's settled, then. Let's go find Kakashi-sensei. We're all clear on what we have to do, right?"

"Naruto, wait," Shujinko said as he got to his feet. After hearing Naruto's idea, Shujinko had to admit it was a truly ingenious strategy, but he knew how to make it even better. "We only have one chance to pull this stunt off. If Kakashi-sensei sees through our ruse, everything will go to waste and we'll be back to square one, which is why we should modify our plan a little,"

"Modify our plan?" Sakura repeated. "I'm not sure, Shujinko. I feel like this plan can work on its own. Do we really need to change it?"

"Just hear me out, okay? Naruto, Sakura, you two go ahead and stick to what you're supposed to do. I, on the other hand, will…"


'Dear Kami, those three are giving my Sharingan quite a workout,' Kakashi thought as he sat on the grass, leaning his back against a tree.

It was already past midnight and the silver-haired Jounin was already feeling the consequences of spending too much chakra. Despite using the last few years to increase his chakra reserves in order to master his Mangekyo Sharingan and learn how to utilize Kamui effectively, being forced to use high-level Ninjutsu in rapid succession against his students was a quick way to drain his own energy and stamina. If he wasn't more careful, he might end up losing his bells, thus losing the challenge as a result.

'Still, I should be able to hold them off until sunrise. I have plenty of weaponry left to use… As well as Icha Icha Tactics to help me get through the night…' Kakashi thought, absentmindedly reaching for his little book until he forced himself to stop. 'No, I can't give in to temptation. This isn't like the old days when I could fight them and read at the same time… But I'm itching to know what happens next. It's obvious that Iture is about to reveal a dark secret from his past. And what about Muruki? Did Iture truly leave her? How will her father react once he finds out about her daughter's forbidden love? Man, the suspense is killing me!'

Kakashi then heard a sound and raised a kunai out of instinct. His sharp eyes quickly scanned his surroundings until he found the source of the sound. There was an owl standing on a tree branch, casually fluttering its wings before taking off. Kakashi let out a silent sigh and reprimanded himself for getting so distracted, all thanks to the novel inside his back pouch. Knowing that he couldn't afford to make any silly mistakes, Kakashi mustered all of his willpower and swore to himself he wouldn't open that book until the challenge was over, no matter how much he wanted to start the next chapter.

'I won't waste my time pursuing them. Instead, I'll wait here and let them make the first move… Wait, is that…' Kakashi began to sniff the air in a very ninken-like fashion as his nose detected the scent of his students. Despite not being on par with those of the Inuzuka clan, Kakashi's developed sense of smell was nothing to scoff at, and it sure proved itself to be handy during situations such as this one. 'They're coming straight at me. I better be prepared for anything,'

SWOOOSH

Not long after Kakashi anticipated their arrival, he saw Naruto, Sakura, and Shujinko making their way towards him, jumping on tree branches while maintaining a horizontal formation. "We found you, Kakashi-sensei! Get ready to hand over those bells!" he heard Sakura shout.

"A frontal attack, huh?" Kakashi said as he stood up, adopting a fighting stance and focusing his Sharingan on all three of his students. "Don't you think you're getting a little too cocky?"

"Listen to this, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed loudly as they got closer, to which the Copy Ninja raised an eyebrow. "I already read Icha Icha Tactics and I know the final plot twist of the story!"

Kakashi's eyes went wide in utter shock and panic. "W-What?! You know Icha Icha Tactics' final plot twist?!"

"Damn right I do! And as it turns out, the main protagonist of the story ends up getting together with-!"

"No! Shut up! I don't wanna' hear it!" Kakashi vociferated in desperation, pressing his hands against his ears as hard as he could. However, he accidentally gazed at Naruto's face and his Sharingan instantly picked up what Naruto was saying by reading his lips. "… Then she gets pregnant with the child of none other than-"

Kakashi immediately closed his left eye, and as soon as he did that, he saw with his right eye that both Naruto and Sakura were shouting at someone other than himself. By the time Kakashi turned his head to the left, another Shujinko was barely three meters away from him after making use of the Shunshin no Jutsu, and he saw his student sticking his hand out to grab the bells as he approached him.

It had been a distraction all along.

RING RING

… Kakashi opened his eyes. He was sitting with his hands and legs on the ground after having jumped away from Shujinko, who was standing with his back turned to him. Naruto and Sakura were also there, next to a copy of Shujinko that soon became a cloud of smoke. 'A shadow clone?' the Jounin thought as he did his best to understand what had just happened. When he saw Shujinko coming at him from his blind spot, Kakashi had moved out of the way as fast as he could, having only a few seconds to react.

Once he remembered what he was doing, the Copy Ninja immediately reached for his hip, only to sigh in relief when his fingertips touched the bells. By some miracle, Shujinko had missed his chance to snatch them away from him despite coming incredibly close. Kakashi thanked his good luck, thinking how embarrassing it would've been for him had his students' strategy succeeded.

"So you attempted a distraction by spoiling the ending of Icha Icha Tactics for me, huh? I admit it was a nice trick, but you still haven't taken the bells from me. The challenge is not over yet," Kakashi said as he stood up. Naruto and Sakura simply stared at him, smirking mischievously like a pair of kids after getting away with a prank. They weren't even trying bothering to adopt a fighting stance, leaving the silver-haired Jounin confused and at a loss.

"Is that so, Kakashi-sensei? Because I have a feeling this challenge has just come to an end," Shujinko replied, slowly turning around to see his sensei. Once the two of them were face to face with one another, Kakashi saw his student holding a small book with a forest-green cover between his thumb and his index finger, and Kakashi's heart stood still. "Look what I found. Isn't this yours, sensei?"

The Sharingan Warrior gasped. He raised his right arm and looked down at the back of his waist, only to find out his back pouch was gone. "M-My book! You stole my book!"

"Stole your book? I don't know what you're talking about. I simply borrowed it without your permission. It's not my fault you're not careful enough with your belongings, Kakashi-sensei,"

Even with his mask on, Shujinko could still see the scandalized look on Kakashi's face. This had been his addition to Naruto's plan. He told Naruto to create a shadow clone and then have said shadow clone perform the Henge no Jutsu so that it would look like all three of them were coming at Kakashi together. Then, as Naruto distracted Kakashi by revealing the ending plot twist of Icha Icha Tactics, his ultimate weakness, Shujinko made use of the Shunshin no Jutsu in order to approach his sensei from a blind spot.

Once he was close enough, Shujinko tried to grab the bells. However, he also tried to grab Kakashi's back pouch at the same time, as it was a bigger target where the Jounin kept his weakness. This was as good as snatching the bells from him, because the next step of his plan was going to be a piece of cake. "You know, I bet this book must be pretty hard to find. In fact, it must be the only copy available. Naruto, didn't Jiraiya-sama said something about Icha Icha Tactics not having been released to the public yet?"

Naruto grinned. "Yup, that's what Ero-sennin said. It's gonna' take months for Icha Icha Tactics to hit the bookstores, believe it,"

"Well isn't that interesting. In that case, I better be careful with this thing. We wouldn't want anything to happen to it, am I right?"

Then, after building up some tension for a couple of seconds, Shujinko raised his free hand and performed the Kazekiri. All of a sudden, a silver layer of energy shaped like a wind blade was formed, starting from half of Shujinko's forearm and extending itself past his fingertips. The technique released a sound similar to that of swords constantly slashing through air. It took Shujinko three full years to completely learn the Kazekiri, and now, his mastery over it had gotten to the point where he could perform the technique using no hand signs and without cutting himself.

"No! That's my book!" Kakashi shouted. "Give it back to me, you… you thief!"

"You want it back? Hand over those bells first, then you can have the book. If you refuse, I'll rip it to shreds right in front of your eyes. It's your choice, sensei,"

"… You wouldn't… You wouldn't dare to…"

"Is that what you think? Very well then, you asked for it,"

Shujinko then proceeded to slowly move his Kazekiri towards the book, whose pages started flipping uncontrollably. He toned down the potency of his jutsu so that he wouldn't destroy the novel unless he pierced through it. Despite acting otherwise, Shujinko really didn't want to turn his sensei's precious book into confetti. He respected the man far too much to ever do such a thing, but this was the only way to put pressure on him.

Just when the Ozuma was starting to get nervous, Kakashi finally broke down. "Alright, fine! Stop it! STOP IT! The bells are yours!"

With a swift move of his wrist, the Kazekiri faded away, and Shujinko stuck his hand out. After a long, defeated sigh, Kakashi grabbed the bells and threw them to his students, one for each. Naruto immediately began to cheer loudly while Sakura had this triumphant look on her face. As for Shujinko, he threw the book at Kakashi, who caught it with both hands and began to cuddle it against his chest, like a father holding his dear child. The challenge had officially ended.

'Who would've ever thought the legendary Hatake Kakashi would lose to his young students due to his intense taste for erotic novels?' Shujinko wondered as he jingled his bell. He didn't know whether this counted as a victory over his sensei, or if he even wanted this to count as a victory. However, there was one thing he was certain of…

… Team 7 was back, and it felt so damn good.


Aaaaaand that was chapter 3. Hope you all liked it.

Boy, it sure as hell took me a while to upload this. In my defense, I changed almost everything from the original fight in order to give you guys something fresh and more unique. Those of you who have seen my work before know I don't like to include Shujinko in a fight just for the fight to remain the same as it was in the anime/manga.

Did you like how the fight scenes turned out? I think I did a decent job of keeping everything and everyone consistent. It's true that, by the end of this chapter, Kakashi loses the challenge just like he did in the original series, but at least the way he lost the bells was somewhat different, right? If you have anything positive or negative to say, please post a review or send me a PM, and I'll do my best to respond.

If I'm being honest, these last two chapters haven't been as 'Shujinko-centered' as I normally like my chapters to be. After all, this might be a Naruto fanfiction, but Shujinko IS the main character here (Fun fact: I originally took the name 'Shujinko' from the main character of Mortal Kombat: Deception. It wasn't until later that I found out Shujinko literally means 'Protagonist, Main character, Hero', but I guess it's still fitting since Shujinko Ozuma is the main character of his story, lol). Now that the bell test is finally over, I can continue to write the next chapters from mostly Shujinko's perspective, which is what I usually like doing.

Also, I want all of you, both the old readers and the new, to take good care of yourself. The spread of Coronavirus has certainly sent the world whirling into a frenzy as of recently. I believe we'll pull through if we row together and make an effort as a community. Take measures to protect your own health and the health of your loved ones, but don't forget about your neighbors who are in the same boat as you. Stay strong, people!

Glossary:

Fuuton: Shinkuudama – Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets

Doton: Doryuuheki – Earth Style: Mud Wall

Rasen Tarengan – Rasengan Barrage

Raiton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Lightning Style: Shadow Clone Jutsu

Doton: Tsuchi Nami no Jutsu – Earth Style: Mud Wave Jutsu

Fuuton: Reppushoo – Wind Style: Gale Palm

Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu – Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu

Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu – Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu

Shunshin no Jutsu: Teleportation Jutsu

Kazekiri – Wind Blade

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Ja ne!