Chapter 10: Pranking the Test
Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto
"Naruto what are you doing?" asked Sakura as he placed the most basic part of the prank in place.
The eraser stuck between the wall and sliding door. This was the distraction.
"Pranking our teacher" he said naturally. He then took some Nina wire and trapped the bottom of the door to trigger the number of soft fruit that would be fling at the door when it opens.
It took him a minute to set this up quickly.
"Naruto-baka! You shouldn't do that!" Sakura shrieked again.
"Hn. Our teacher is a Jonin, Elite of the Village. A trap like that will never work" Sasuke stated which made Sakura swoon at him…again. Exactly the same as well which caused Naruto to sigh at their behaviour which didn't change at all.
Naruto then got a good thought and said to both of them, "Then help me make this a trap that can catch a Jonin. I bet it will score good if we manage it."
"Shut up Baka! Are you trying to get us kicked out of being a Ninja already?!" she screamed at him and then went to hit him. Instincts moving before his mind kicked in, Naruto dodged the strike; which while was strong as predictable and slow and then kicked the back of her knee in one go.
Sakura fell to the ground; holding the place he kicked and shouted, "Ow!" with some tears already coming out of her eyes.
'What the hell did I see in this person?' he asked himself, 'She's so…weak. Weaker than the me when this all started as well.'
Naruto turned to look at Sasuke who didn't really care much aside from Naruto moving a bit faster and precise than he remembered. Raising an eyebrow to the Teme; Naruto asked, "You going to help me?"
"Hn."
Sasuke-teme looked away as if there was nothing interesting enough for him to pay attention to. Naruto simply sighed ignoring the cries of Sakura trying to get Sasuke to pity him and went to add onto his trap for Kakashi.
2 Hours later, the door slid open on the one eyed, masked Jonin appeared.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
All at once along with the eraser falling, fruit were flung at the Jonin, a bucket of water which was suspended into the air was tilted to drop water down at him and several pellets of stink bombs were thrown at him at the same time.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Naruto and his team-mates looked to see that the Jonin was hit on every count…until his figure turned into a log and he appeared at the front of the room as if there was nothing wrong at all and he was just attacked.
With a lazy gaze Kakashi looked at him and said, "Not a bad trap. While not good enough against Jonin, most Chunin will fall for that. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes."
With that, the Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke before Sakura could make her excuse and Sasuke to…not really do anything.
After the introduction session which went more or less the same; Naruto didn't bother to change anything he said the first time since that was still his goal; he proceeded to the place which he remembered all those Time Loops ago as the training grounds in which they were going to be tested in.
He had already since the week started stocked up one some food which was much cheaper when he was under his Transformation at his apartment which now had a new lock and some traps in place for those who would dare try to break and enter.
"Let's see….what is a good place to set up traps" he wondered.
He remembered the times he tested out his Taijutsu style which he needed to name on Kakashi with Shadow Clones weaving in and out and with the rest throwing in Kunai and Shurikens precisely.
It wasn't enough against the Jonin and that was due to his speed, power and limited Ninjutsu list which numbered to 3; maybe 5 if you include his distraction Jutsus.
"Now that I think about it; Kakashi reads that perverted book…the Sexy or Harem Jutsu may work" he muttered to himself while bringing out some wires, paint, stink bombs and Kunai.
He was going either all hindrance or lethal on the man this time to get that bell.
Hopefully he could convince Sakura or Sasuke to cooperate with him even by saying that the bells are theirs if they want…Sakura might but the Teme won't until it's too late.
With a sigh Naruto figured he just needed to deal with it in the end.
"Now…should I trap the forest as well or not…?" he wondered before shrugging. It was their fault if they got caught in it especially if he warned them.
The next day Naruto made sure to eat a filling meal before he headed out to the training field which Kakashi booked for them.
He also made sure to get something for the other two to eat…even though they were fruit it wasn't like they were going to deny it if it was that little in total. Kakashi was right in that if they ate a full meal; they would throw it up…he knew that from personal experience.
Upon arriving at the training field; he saw that Sakura and Sasuke were already there. His mind was too tired and tense to bother with honorifics in his mind for now.
"Hey, looks like you two are early" he casually said to the two as he took his place at one of the logs next to Sakura.
Looking at the time, he was technically on time but he suspected the Kakashi-sensei would show up three hours later again.
"Yeah…." Sakura sleepishly replied to him while Sasuke merely let out a, "Hn" which really could mean anything.
He didn't exactly learn how to interoperate the sounds that come out of his mouth. Plus there was no 'kiss' incident in this Loop as well and he would like to keep it like that.
Seeing there was really nothing else to do, Naruto decided to mediate a bit to see his energies flowing around his body. It was actually quite interesting on how his Chakra influences his body to the point that it sustains it more than a normal body.
The second reason why his Chakra reserves shot up to High Jonin levels was that his body did not need to use Chakra to sustain his body to its minimum capacity due to malnutrition or more generally a lack of food to begin with.
Naruto was quite interested in how both his spiritual and physical energies interact with other and combine.
It was an insightful thing to see and made Naruto understand more about Chakra in general. His insight was to the point that sometimes, he was able to tell how much Chakra was left in his body or how much Chakra he just used in a jutsu.
Whatever Sakura and Sasuke thought about him mediating or even just staying quiet; they did not comment and eventually after an hour and half passed; Naruto heard grumbling from both of their stomachs.
In particular from Sakura's who he knew didn't even get dinner last night.
With a sigh Naruto went through his backpack and took out a few apples and threw them a the two with the command, "Eat."
Naruto enjoyed the looks the two gave him. Sakura had the whole look of shock face on with her eyes and mouth in a perfect O shape as well. The Teme however raised his eyebrow questioning him with his gaze that wanted answers.
"Hurry up and eat. You need the energy for the test and I don't think Kakashi wanted you two to starve to death during the test itself" he commented.
"What do you know about the test?! You'll probably fail us because of this!" Sakura shrieked at him before trying to attack him…again.
Smoothly dodging the attack, Naruto snatched the apple from her hand and took a bite in it before allowing her to trip over onto the ground without mercy.
Looking at Sasuke who still had a questioning look at him; he said, "What? Since she wants to starve to death, no need to pull the rest of us down with her."
"Hn."
And so Sasuke actually agreed with him for the first time ever. There were some things that seemed to surprise him once in a while even with the Time Loops going on.
"Before we begin" said Naruto, "I have to say that I trapped the entire forest around us so be careful if a couple dozen weapons are shot at you or you step into a pitfall trap."
"…."
Three people dumbfounded looked at Naruto who just told them of the traps.
Kakashi in particular knew of what the blonde boy did since he spied on him when he was setting up the traps but even he didn't believe that Naruto would just tell the other two about them.
"What?"
Naruto looked around to see the same exact expression on everyone's faces; even Kakashi who had a mask on had the same expression strangely.
"I'm tell you since I don't want you two" he pointed at the pinked haired…girl(?) and the duck butt boy, "To fall for any of the traps there unexpectedly and blame it on me."
"Teme we need to work together" said a Naruto Clone to the surprised Uchiha in the forest.
Right now he was watching his original still get his ass kicked by the Jonin who was casually dodging and blocking attacks from all angles.
Hell it was like he could tell where he was going to attack before he did.
The Clone pointed at the scene and said, "Sensei is messing with my original and he's not even trying! I don't have any long range attacks aside from throwing Kunai and Shurikens and I heard you can do the Grand Fireball Jutsu."
"Hn, what's in it for me?" The Teme asked with a scowl though the clone could tell that the tactics that Original Naruto was using was a bit impressive with Clones being constantly made to attack with other Clones in an outer circle throwing weapons and the Clones themselves using the Transformation Jutsu and Substitution Jutsu to change things up.
And it wasn't even working at all. All Sasuke could think of was, 'So this is the difference between a Genin and Jonin. He's playing with the Dobe and from the beginning as well!'
It was at that exact moment that Sasuke figured part of the hidden message inside of the test. There was no way on beating the Jonin alone so you needed someone else to help you!
'This might be my chance to get a bell, I can just use the Dobe as a distraction to snatch it away when that Jonin isn't paying attention to me' he thought with a smirk not even considering that it was about 'Teamwork' that was the true purpose of the test.
But before the Uchiha could agree or disagree a certain shriek resounded all over the training grounds stopping everyone.
"KKKKYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The Clone sweat-dropped thinking, 'And I even told her about the traps…'
It took a few more moment for Sasuke to compose himself and ignore the pain in his ears before saying, "I'm in as long as I get a bell."
The Clone nodded and said, "Right, I'll make a…big distraction and you will go in with the kill with that Fireball of yours. That will force Sensei to dodge or do something which will be the perfect time to snatch those bells. Oh and make sure you get Sakura in this as well. The more people the better for this plan even if I can split myself into several dozen people at a time" before dispelling with a poof.
Hatake Kakashi was impressed at least of this team.
More impressed compared to all the other teams that he had tested and failed. His team consisted of a pink haired fangirl with no strengths except for a loud voice, a raven haired emo avenger and a somewhat…unpredictable blonde haired boy.
The third seemed to have changed dramatically in the last week since the incident involving the Scroll of Sealing and the Traitor Mizuki.
He supposed that such trauma which included someone you trusted betraying you and revealing the reason why most of the village hates you would change a person.
It saddened the former ANBU that he was not able to help Naruto except by in the Shadows and some gifts on his birthday. He had expected to be faced with…frankly an idiot that would just charge in at him and be beaten up by him.
He was right on one account.
Naruto did face him head on but he didn't expect that he would immediately use the Shadow Clone Jutsu and started controlling his movements through them and the traps around the field which he knew were there.
Furthermore while Kakashi could not exactly attack back without harming the boy too much due to this, he wasn't able to counter attack and kept with looking as if he was playing with him.
What he did not expect was Naruto being able to convince his team-mates into cooperating with him to steal the bells.
Sasuke, the Last Uchiha, the last loyal Uchiha to the village threw a fireball as some of Naruto's clones grabbed onto him and tried to pin him there. A simple Substitution Jutsu with one of Naruto's Clones foiled that plan. The Naruto clones immediately reacted and continued to attack with himself dodging again.
But then Sakura of all people attacked him throwing Kunai where he leaped.
Sasuke went up to snatch a bell but he managed to stop him and Sakura who did the same just a moment later.
In the end, through those distractions Naruto managed to steal both the bells though Kakashi let him for the final test.
"So who are you going to choose as your team-mate and who will be sent back to the Academy?" he asked.
Naruto simply grinned and said, "Both" before tossing both bells to them. Upon questioning the other two; they too seemed to have the same answer.
Therefore he could only say….
"You all….PASS!"
Loop 50 End. Checkpoint Gained. (Total time spent: 50 Weeks, 3 Days)
A/N:
To be honest, this was rather anti-climatic to me. There aren't many ways on making the Bell Test interesting since the purpose of the test is to show teamwork. Furthermore Kakashi is always holding back during these fights. I've only seen at most a handful of series that actually makes the fight interesting and that's due to the fights being over the top.
As for the actual fight scenes...I don't actually work well with them. They either become super long with super details all around or just...like this.
Anyway this Chapter is the last 'Short' one and the following chapters are all much longer in length (pretty much double the length).