Chapter 24 - The Bell Test: 100% Spontaneity!
Impossible.
That was what Sarada thought right away. A jonin, an elite ninja who's skill had been honed through years of training and experience, was someone far above the capability of a trio of genin. Even in a three-on-one, the odds avalanched in Konohamaru's favor. With a hand behind his back, he could still decimate them.
Sarada understood this, and she knew Hana did as well. There was just one noisy, hyperactive element she couldn't account for.
"Bolt, listen we need to-"
When Sarada looked to her side, her blonde teammate was already gone. He was sprinting at full speed for his sensei, who seemed to be rubbing his temple in light of his new pupil's stupidity.
"Watch me! I'll get both of those bells by myself!" Bolt exclaimed while digging his hands into his shuriken pouches.
Still running, he flung a dozen spinning stars at Konohamaru's face. All were caught with relative ease, but that didn't kill Bolt's vigor. He jumped up and tried delivering a kick to Konohamaru's face, and the latter caught it with the shurikens still in his grasp; the tips pricking through Bolt's pants.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Bolt yelped when hit the ground, hugging where his pants now had small holes.
Konohamaru sighed while he watched the foolish genin rub his leg pitifully.
He wanted to lecture him, but before could open his mouth, Bolt shot him a devious glance. The woods around them rustled, then suddenly, six other Bolts literally jumped out of the woodwork.
Konohamaru could tell at a glance that these Bolts were no illusion. They were 100% authentic shadow clones. He was honestly impressed, and wondered when Bolt had the time to make and hide all of them. His thoughts were cut short as Bolt got up and rushed him just as the clones were raining down on top of him. Konohamaru wondered just how absent-minded Bolt was. He had already forgotten about the shurikens in his sensei's hands.
With a series of flicks that were too fast for Bolt's eyes to register, all of the six clones hurling through the air were hit by shurikens and poofed away in puffs of white smoke. This left a shocked Bolt, still in the middle of attacking Konohamaru, by himself.
He saw his sensei's leg coming for his hip and knew that, between the two, his fist was slower. He braced himself for impact when a sharp "swish" was heard, accompanied by a glint Bolt caught out of the corner of his eye.
Konohamaru barely pulled his leg away from Hana's sword in time. Making sure his first motion carried on into his next, Hana reversed the grip on his sword as soon as his foot touched the ground and swung up as his sensei. Another dodge\ was followed by a kunai being pulled out of one of his Konohamaru's pouches. Before he could even use it, Bolt was in the air again with his fist wound up.
Deciding Hana's attack was the more immediate threat, Konohamaru ducked the punch and parried Hana's third slash. While still low, he spun around preparing to sweep both boys feet when Bolt landed.
The young Fujikaze was a step ahead, however. He jumped just as Bolt descended, and held his position by putting a hand on the blonde's back.
Just before Konohamaru's leg came in contact with Bolt's feet, Hana used his technique. 'Windmill Style: Merry-go-round Step!'
Hana and Bolt disappeared then reappeared behind their sensei. He looked back, eyes widened, as Hana's sword came down over his head. A "thunk" was heard. When Hana's feet touched the ground, it was now he and Bolt who were surprised.
Somehow, Hana's sword had slashed into a log instead of Konohamaru. "Wha... What happened?"
"A substitution, of course," a voice said from behind them.
The boys were stuck from behind with something thick that made them tumble forward. Massaging the back of their heads, they peered back and saw their sensei holding a wooden log in one hand, with the other stuffed in his jacket. He held the log toward the
"This is how a substitution works: you replace your body with a object the moment an attack connects to escape unharmed," the jonin explained. "This allows you get to safety or launch a surprise attack on a now confused enemy. Geez... you don't even know what a substitution is, Hana?" the jonin asked while resting the leg on his shoulder. "Just how many days has Bolt been keeping you out of class?"
Hana laughed softly while pulling his sword from the log. "Uh... I think I lost count after the twenty-ninth time."
"Wha!? There's no way, I kept you out that long!" Bolt snapped. "Why do I keep getting blamed for your crappy grades?!"
The duo kept on with their discussion, apparently forgetting that they were in the middle of a test. Konohamaru, though bit irked by this, was still amazed by the prowess Hana and Bolt showed. He was extremely impressed to hear Bolt had mastered the Rasengan on his own, and felt the same about his mastery of the Shadow Clone jutsu. He was sure Bolt has been spending quite a few late nights training by himself.
Also, Hana's mysterious Windmill Style still curious to him. He didn't know it could be used on other people. What surprised Konohamaru the most, though, had to be the pair's teamwork.
'These two have only been on the same team since yesterday, but they're already showing a level synchronization that takes months; hell, even years to achieve.' Konohamaru watched Hana put up his hands while Bolt pressed further and further into his personal space. 'Just what have these two been through together?'
Konohamaru kept thinking up until he felt a sweltering heat at his back. He heard flames and looked back to see a giant fireball was spiraling his way. He jumped away from it in time, but the boys were still standing in its path. The fireball didn't keep mowing forward, however. It's trajectory changed, and itcoasted skyward at the last moment. Upon reaching twenty feet, it exploded like a firework into several smaller flames that shot randomly in every direction
"Fire Style: Scorching Sunflower Jutsu!"
Konohamaru dodged the falling flames. 'The Scorching Sunflower Jutsu, eh? There's only one genin among these three who could know that technique.'
After using the log he held bat another flame away, Konohamaru glanced over, and saw Sarada guiding Bolt and Hana into the woods with her. He realized that the flames were never meant to harm him, but to keep him busy while the genin escaped. He wouldn't have followed them anyway. The point of the test is for them to come him; not the other way around.
When the scorching shower finally ended, he checked his blue scarf to see if it had been burned.
'Sarada... she's a little extreme, isn't she?' he wondered.
Sarada finally stopped running once she and the boys reached a river. Bolt dropped down beside it and frantically splashed some water onto his jacket's burning sleeve.
"What the heck, Sarada?! Were you trying to get us along with Konohamaru sensei?!"
He blew at his sleeve after the fire was extinguished.
"I think that jutsu got me too..." Hana said while holding the fizzled end of his ponytail in his hand.
"Whatever. Your hair is too long anyway." Bolt turned his eyes back to Sarada who busy picking up a fallen tree limb. "Hey, are you listening to us?"
"No," she said flatly while breaking a twig off the limb.
Bolt growled. "What type of four-eyed jerk are you?!"
"What type of stupid idiot are you; rushing a jonin like that. Had it been a real fight you and Hana would both be dead!"
After hearing this, Bolt's eyes widened a bit, while Hana silently averted his eyes.
Sarada sighed. "Let me try to make this simple for you two."
She drew a line a dirt with her twig nearly a foot in length. Then she drew a smiling Hana face and grinning Bolt face beside it.
"This line represents you two's strength," she said. She drew another line beside it, this time six inches longer and with her own face by the side. "This line is my strength."
"Hey, why is your line longer?" Bolt asked, annoyed.
"Isn't it obvious? Did you already forget why we're on the same team, Mister 'absolute worst?'"
Bolt made an agitated sound. He kept silent, but only by grinding his teeth. Hana was less focused on his own strength than he was about the line's themselves.
"So how long is Konohamaru sensei's line?" he asked Sarada.
"I was getting to that."
She stuck her twig in the dirt again. From there she moved along with it until it skimmed the edge of the river. She walked back and put Konohamaru's face, his mouth hidden by his scarf, into the dirt.
"This is Konohamaru sensei's strength...?" Hana asked, amazed.
"The river stopped me a few inches short, but yeah. Just about," the Uchiha answered.
"Wow... Jonin are amazing, Sis."
"Stop calling me 'Sis,' and of course they are. They're the strongest shinobi in the village. The fact that they get put in charge of teams of genin proves as much. Now, before I forget..." Sarada made one more line, and put all of Team 49's faces beside it. "This is how strong we are when combine our strength."
Bolt stared at the ground. "It's not even half as long..."
"Exactly. Even if we all attacked sensei together, it would still be impossible."
Hana wondered about that. He was squatting, looking intently at the lines.
"Hey, Sis."
"Don't call me 'Sis!'"
"How high would our combined strength have to be to get the bells?"
Sarada paused. She adjusted her glasses then touched the twig to the dirt next to Konohamaru's line. After a moment of thinking, she made a scratch in the line and put a picture of two bells beside it. It was ten inches above Team 49's line.
"So nearly a entire foot, huh?" Hana said was standing. He smiled. "If it's only that much, then it's no problem."
"Even if it was three feet, it'd still be no problem!" Bolt added.
He and Bolt got fired up off of each others adrenaline.
"Wait a minute. If you two just jump in head first like you did before, all you're going to get is the same result," Sarada told them.
"Alright then. What's the plan?" Hana asked her.
His teammates paused.
"...why are you asking her?" Bolt asked.
"Because she's the leader. We already decided in the classroom, remember?"
Hana put two fingers and repeatedly opened and closed them like scissors. Suddenly recalling the rock-paper-scissors match, Bolt's head slumped. After a moment, it jerked back up.
"...fine then! Sarada can be the leader!" he exclaimed while pointing scissor fingers at her. "Now, hurry up, and come up with a plan!"
Sarada paused before pushing up her glasses. "Alright... but you two better listen."
Konohamaru watched the clouds from the height of a tree. It had already been an hour and Team 49 still hadn't come for the bells again. He wondered if they had just counted their losses and given up.
"It's going to be a pain to explain to Naruto, if that's the case," he said to himself.
A breeze played with the ends of his scarf as he continued waiting. Then he noticed someone underneath him; a lot of someones. Jumping up from the forest underneath and landing on top of the surrounding trees where fifty Bolts, each looking more eager to fight than the last.
"Looks like you finished your lunch brea, but are sure about coming at me alone again, Bolt? More clones isn't going to change anything," Konohamaru warned.
Bolt gave a response with actions instead of words: he clamped his hands together than stuck up a finger. "Byakugan!"
Bolt's pupils disappeared with his irises nearly following. The veins around his eyes bulged. Konohamaru was a bit surprised, but Bolt wasn't done yet. Everyone of his forty-nine clones followed his lead. "Byakugan!" they all exclaimed, as their eyes changed.
Konohamaru's brow raised. 'Surrounded by fifty opponents, and none of them has a single blind spot... Bolt... you must have been working your tail off.'
Before Konohamaru could praise him further, the army of Bolt's attacked en masse. Fifty was quite the number, but only when you factored in quality. If fifty genin alone could defeat a jonin, there would be no need for the Chunin Exams.
The sensei ducked a punch aimed at his head, grabbed the Bolt who attacked by the back of his collar, and threw him at three others; two of which were able to get out of the way thanks to their all-seeing sight, but one fell with the clone that was thrown. Both poofed away in a cloud of white smoke.
Konohamaru kicked a third in a face, then grabbed hold of a fourth and used him as shield when a fifth threw a kunai at him. Both clones vanished. Their numbers kept steadily decreasing, usually one-by-one, but occasionally in pairs. After the twenty-third "poof," Bolt realized something – Konohamaru hadn't move from his spot on top of the tree yet. This one fact made him so furious, he jumped after Konohamaru's back.
"Stop underestimating me!" he shouted.
The jonin glanced back and flung something dead into Bolt's head: a twig. Still, it hurt like hell, and sent Bolt back flipping through air as he fell into the forest below.
"It's hard to not underestimate you when you're doing dumb things like yelling at an opponent who has his back facing you," Konohamaru yelled down to Bolt.
He turned his attention back to the remaining twenty-six clones. From their expressions, Konohamaru could tell they had become a little more humble when confronting him. There was one, however, who kept staring the jonin down intensely. He didn't have the Byakugan active either.
Konohamaru hummed. 'Bolt having a weird clone isn't all that surprising, but-' Before he could finish his thought, the odd clone jumped up by himself. Konohamaru sighed. 'That really is Bolt's clone. Only a clone of his would jump in by itself. Aw well...' Konohamaru pulled out a kunai and flung it at the clone. 'Sorry, but that's it for you. Nobody can dodge in midair.'
Then Konohamaru heard the clone yell "Windmill Style: Satellite Step!" It disappeared and the kunai knife kept flying through the space it was just in. Konohamaru's eyes widened. He noticed a presence manifest behind him; the clone's. It reached for the bells hanging from his pocket, but was only able to make them jingle as Konohamaru quickly jumped away from him. The clone, having nowhere to stand, fell down into the forest, though it succeeded in its mission.
For it was when the jonin left the treetop that the remaining clones jumped into action. Konohamaru recalled his own words 'Nobody can dodge in midair' and clicked his tongue as the army of Bolt's proceeded to pummel him.
The beating inadvertently caused the bells to fall from Konohamaru's pocket onto the forest floor below. Sarada, who was hiding until now, walked up to them. She paused when she heard some bushes near her rustle. Bolt's head poked out them, his leaf-styled hair now filled with leaves itself. Descending more gracefully from a tree, but with just as much foliage in his hair was another Bolt.
Sarada could tell which one was real from what the latter Uzumaki did: he smiled at her. In a puff of white smoke, Hana regained his normal appearance and said "Your plan worked like a charm, Sis."
"I keep telling you to stop calling me, 'Sis.'" Sarada scolded while adjusting her glasses. "...and thanks."
"Why does she get all the credit?" Bolt asked while pulling himself from the bush's grasp. "All she did was sit back while we did all the work."
"The plan only needed you two to make it work. Why add an unnecessary third element? Besides, if the plan didn't work, I would have to jump in and help anyway."
"That's right, Bolt. Sarada didn't jump in because we pulled the plan off so well," Hana added.
Bolt's blue eyes darted back and forth between the two before snorting and landing his eyes on the bells. "Fine. Sarada gets credit for coming up with the plan..." He walked up to them. "But I'm going to be the one to get the bells!"
Right as Bolt got within a foot's distance of the bells, a rope that was hidden within the grass and the above tree's shade, swooped up his legs and hoisted him eight feet upside-down from the ground. His teammates were surprised enough by trap. Konohamaru coming out from behind the tree where it was sent them into a world of disillusionment.
He picked up the bells and juggled them in his hand. "I have to hand it to you three, you really had me just then. My attention was misdirected three times in less than twenty seconds. Too bad I set up a second substitution beforehand." Konohamaru scratched the back of his head. "Didn't actually think I'd end up using it through..."
The looks on each of Team 49's members all symbolized what the team was currently going through: shock for Hana, disappointment for Sarada, and frustration for Bolt.
"Sensei, let me down!" Bolt demanded.
Konohamaru twirled the bells on their strings. "Don't wanna." He stepped toward Sarada and Hana, but the pair quickly flickered off into the woods. "Well that's no fun... I guess it's just you and me then, Bolt."
Drops of sweat fell from the blonde's head, along with leaves.
The constant ticking from the clock above Bolt's head was close to driving him crazy. He was tied to the wooden stake it sat on, while, a few feet in front of him, Konohamaru squatted and watched clouds go by.
"Hey, Konohamaru sensei. ...how long until the exam ends?" the blonde asked nervously.
"About four minutes."
Bolt groaned. He was on the brink of being shipped back to the academy, and there was nothing he could do about it except sit and pray that the brunettes on his teams would act quickly.
His groans slowly evolved into growls. "Hana! Sarada! Will you two hurry up and get your butts out here?!"
On cue, a kunai, which Konohamaru nimbly flipped away from, came from the forest. Hana and Sarada revealed themselves, following the failed sneak attack.
"I was wondering when you two were going to show up. Bolt was a lot quieter than I expected him to be," Konohamaru jested.
Hana drew his sword, while Sarada pulled out six kunai that she fit between her fingers like claws.
Konohamaru pointed two fingers at the clock. "You've only got three minutes. Better make them count."
Sarada sharpened her eyes much like her father would, and flung the kunai at Konohamaru all at once. Obviously, Konohamaru dodged with ease, but as he weaved out of the kunai's way, he saw Sarada make hand signs: Tiger → Snake → Hare→ Horse.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Artillery Jutsu!" Sarada exclaimed.
Right before soaring past the stake Bolt was tied to, the kunai were suddenly electrified with lightning style chakra, and abruptly changed trajectory. Eyes widening, Konohamaru dodged the kunai a second time when they came for his back, but with guidance from Sarada's fingers, they changed direction again.
They never curved. The electric knives always turned in abrupt angles. This made it harder for Konohamaru to predict when their path. Things got even worse once Hana got thrown into the mix, slashing his sword with a precision Konohamaru didn't have the current luxury to appreciate. He couldn't believe that Sarada had already mastered her second Nature Transformation; and what's more, created such a unique jutsu with it. Sasuke Uchiha's daughter seemed to be even more a genius than he was as her age.
Two minutes.
"Windmill Style: Windmill Step!" Hana exclaimed.
Konohamaru turned around to counter, but he realized Hana had reappeared at his side. Apparently, the Windmill Step didn't just move at 180 degree angles. It's operative area was anywhere in-between.
Thankfully for Konohamaru, Hana was the shortest of the team and thus had the shortest reach, making his attacks easier to move away from. The Lightning Artillery Jutsu was another story. The electric kunai zipped around at such dizzying speeds, it was amazing that Sarada could manipulate by herself. It was also a hassle.
Barely weaving past one of the kunai, Konohamaru hopped away from Hana and threw two shurikens at Sarada. While still maintaining her jutsu, she maneuvered between the two spinning pieces of steel, but she noticed something with her dark eyes: two wires. Konohamaru tugged at them, and the shurikens changed direction, looping around Sarada's legs. With a second tug, the jonin managed to pull her legs together, and a third caused her to lose her footing.
One minute.
Before hitting the ground, Sarada clapped her hands together, causing all the energized kunai to stop and aim themselves at Konohamaru. They homed down on him, though none of the knives actually hit him. They planted themselves in the grass around him, charging it with their lightning.
Konohamaru made an alarmed face. '...I can't move! Is this because of the kunai?!'
Konohamaru could still swerve his head around. When he did, he saw Hana dashing his way, his hand stretched out for the bells at his sensei's waist.
Bolt watched the scene, his eyes squinting incredulously. "Hey... what are you guys doing?!"
With a befuddled face, Hana looked at Bolt. Oddly, he was much lower than he thought he was. It was almost like he was on the ground. After a while, Hana realized that was exactly the case, and also that he couldn't move.
Sarada was just as confused as he was. Why was Hana trapped in her jutsu instead of Konohamaru, who was standing outside of the jutsu's lightning field? She caught on faster than her foster brother did.
'Genjutsu! But when did he...?' Her eyes froze when recalled the moment when Konohamaru pointed at the clock with two fingers. "You put us under genjutsu as soon as we arrived...?"
Konohamaru adjusted his scarf. "You aren't the only one who knows how to use misdirection."
Sarada's eyes lowered, and her lightning field waned. Hana could move again, but he did was look at the clock.
Fifteen seconds.
The bells at Konohamaru's side jingled. "I guess that's it, huh?" He looked at his dispirited pupils. He wanted to go ahead and tell them that they all passed, but he had to wait another ten seconds.
"Hey, cheer you guys! At least you can say you gave it your best sh-"
Konohamaru stopped when he felt something tug his leg. He looked down and saw Hana had clutched "...Windmill Style: Merry-go-round Step!"
Five seconds.
He and the genin disappeared, then a reappeared in front of the stake where the clock was barely a second later., having pulled a 180 degree rotation. Konohamaru heard a 'chomp!' When he looked down, Bolt was dangling both bells out of his mouth.
Then the clock rang.
Konohamaru blinked slowly, and looked toward Sarada who was unwinding the wires binding her legs.
"Sarada...was all of this just a plan?"
"Nobody can plan that well, sensei," she responded. "Everything that happened just now – it was 100% spontaneous."
He blinked even slower.
"So, Konohamaru sensei... did we pass?" Hana asked while still on the ground.
"Uh... Yeah." He laughed to himself. "You all passed with flying colors."
Hana buoyantly jumped up, his joy so abundant it was almost physically visible. Even while still tied up, Bolt cheered just as much as Hana did. Sarada was more reserved about her celebrating, but she was smiling much more broadly than usual. Konohamaru was undeniably glad for his students, but his pride had taken a somewhat serious blow.
He wondered how much Naruto would laugh at him when he found out that Konohamaru was the first since his grandfather, the Third Hokage, to actually have both bells stolen from him. He shrugged.
"Anyway, congratulations, you three. Hey, how about we celebrate with some Ichiraku?" he proposed.
"Oh~ I love Ramen Ichiraku!" Hana declared. "Master and I went there once, and Bolt wouldn't stop dragging me there when he made us miss class."
Sarada dusted herself off as she approached. "We packed our own lunches... but I guess going to Ichiraku's won't hurt."
Konohamaru nodded. "Great. Come on. I'm buying."
Hana and Sarada fetched their things and hurried behind their sensei as they left the Training Grounds together.
"...hey! Where are you guys going?!" Bolt hollered. "Untie me first, dammit!"