“Yo, good morning!”
From six in the morning until the sun was high at eleven, Kakashi finally made his smiling appearance.
“You’re late!” Sakura snapped, her temper flaring after waiting so long that she was already starving.
“Alright.
I’ve set the deadline for twelve o’clock.” Kakashi spoke casually.
“I have two bells here.
Your task is to take them from me before noon.”
Sakura immediately glanced at Naruto and Sasuke.
Just as Naruto and Sasuke predicted…
“Anyone who fails to get a bell before the time limit won’t be qualified to eat lunch.” Kakashi smiled as he pointed at the three wooden posts nearby.
“And they’ll be tied to one of those while they watch me eat.”
“Damn it…
So that’s why we weren’t allowed to eat breakfast.” Sakura was filled with regret.
If she’d known, she wouldn’t have turned her nose up at Naruto’s nearly expired food.
Just as expected.
This unreliable jonin was already late yesterday during team assignments, and I thought he’d at least show some restraint today.
Instead, he got even worse.
If not for Naruto…
But Naruto prepared so thoroughly…
could it be he even predicted this?
There’s no way this guy was really the Academy’s dead last.
He definitely hid his true abilities while he was there.
Sasuke cast Naruto a sidelong glance, his vigilance rising slightly.
“You only need one bell.
But there are only two bells in total.” Kakashi continued in a threatening tone, deliberately increasing the pressure on the three of them.
“That means someone is guaranteed to end up tied to that post.
They’ll fail the test and be sent back to the Ninja Academy.
In other words, at least one of you won’t pass.”
Naruto remained completely calm, looking utterly unconcerned.
Sakura, on the other hand, stared in shock.
Naruto and Sasuke were right again!
Sasuke simply looked at Kakashi coldly, inwardly sneering.
I’ve already seen through your little game.
“You may use shuriken if you want,” Kakashi said calmly as he observed their reactions.
“Without the resolve to kill me, you won’t be able to take the bells.”
Yet that calmness only made the pressure even greater.
After all, he was openly allowing them to attack with lethal weapons.
That could only mean he was completely confident they posed no real threat.
Sometimes, restraint was far more intimidating than outright aggression.
“But that’s too dangerous!” Sakura exclaimed.
She wasn’t just worried about Kakashi—she was worried about themselves as well.
Using real weapons was genuinely dangerous.
“Relax.
For you three…” Kakashi said with his trademark dead-fish eyes, “…there’s no danger at all.”
“Can we begin?” Sasuke asked coldly, showing no intention of exchanging any more pleasantries.
“Very good.
Looks like Sasuke has already steeled himself.” Kakashi smiled faintly before looking toward Naruto and Sakura.
“What about you two?
Ready?”
“Of course.” Naruto smiled, a faint killing intent leaking from him.
“I think you’re an excellent teacher.”
“Oh?” Kakashi’s interest was piqued as Naruto’s smile blended seamlessly with his killing intent.
“You approve of me enough to want to kill me?”
“Well, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto replied with a grin, “that’s what you asked for.”
“My request, huh?” Kakashi chuckled.
“I’m starting to like you kids.”
His expression turned serious.
“Get ready…”
“Begin!”
In an instant, four figures shot away like bolts of lightning, vanishing from the field.
A soft thud echoed as Kakashi landed back in the open clearing.
Looking at the now-hidden trio, he nodded in satisfaction.
“Not bad.
Concealing your presence and hiding are the most basic skills of a ninja.”
Meanwhile, concealed within the bushes, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura communicated through thin steel wires using Morse code to coordinate their tactics.
Yes—Morse code.
In this world, it had likewise been invented by someone named Morse.
Wireless communication technology here had already advanced beyond World War II levels, reaching something comparable to the 1970s or 1980s.
Otherwise, why would Naruto—a modern-day office worker—know Morse code just because he had once used a smartphone?
He had learned it all at the Ninja Academy.
Thinking about it that way…
Maybe the Academy wasn’t completely useless after all.
It didn’t take long for the three of them to finalize their plan.
Immediately afterward, Sakura, dressed in pink, burst from her hiding place.
“There!”
The moment she emerged, Kakashi immediately spotted her location.
Without hesitation, he rushed toward her.
“Now!”
Just as Kakashi entered Sasuke’s attack range, Sasuke sprang from concealment.
With a sharp flick of both hands—
Several shuriken and kunai flew toward Kakashi like streaks of lightning.
Kakashi’s dead-fish eyes widened slightly as he turned toward Sasuke.
A series of dull thuds followed.
Every single shuriken and kunai struck Kakashi squarely.
He collapsed to the ground, seemingly unable to believe what had happened.
Through their earlier discussion, Sasuke already knew that there was no way such an attack could actually kill a jonin.
Without hesitation, he leaped out, grabbed Sakura’s wrist, and shouted,
“What are you standing there for?
Move!
That’s the Substitution Jutsu!”
Sure enough—
With a puff, the fallen Kakashi transformed into a wooden log.
“Heh.”
Since you’ve already come out…”
Kakashi’s voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
“Where do you think you’re going, Sasuke?”
Sasuke spun around.
Kakashi was casually leaning against a tree trunk.
“Damn it.”
Sasuke clenched his teeth.
“Looks like there’s no escape for you now,” Kakashi said with a smile.
“Who said we were running?”
To Kakashi’s surprise, Sasuke suddenly smiled as well.
There wasn’t a trace of his previous frustration left.
Kakashi froze for an instant.
A hand had silently reached the bells hanging from his waist.
“Go, Naruto!” Sakura cheered excitedly.
“What?!”
Kakashi was genuinely shocked.
He hadn’t sensed anyone approaching him at all.
He immediately sprang upward, landing on a nearby tree branch.
But the instant his feet touched the branch—
Smack!
A hand seized the bells.
Naruto’s calm voice rang out.
“Kakashi-sensei…
we’ll be taking these bells.”
Snap!
The cord holding the bells was forcibly torn apart.
Naruto immediately leaped backward.
“What?”
Kakashi hadn’t expected the real Naruto to be lying in ambush up in the tree.
Then the one below…
He looked down.
The Naruto standing on the ground suddenly dissolved into an illusion and disappeared.
“A Clone Jutsu?”
Kakashi was genuinely surprised.
Naruto landed beside Sasuke and Sakura.
Kakashi was straightforward enough to simply jump back down.
“You win.”
Then he asked,
“But how did you know I’d jump into that tree?”
“We didn’t know for certain,” Naruto replied calmly while holding the bells.
“But after calculating the possibilities, there was roughly a sixty percent chance you would choose that tree.
A sixty percent success rate is already high enough to make the plan worthwhile.”
“Oh?” Kakashi’s curiosity deepened.
“How did you calculate that?”
“It’s simple,” Sakura began.
“Naruto said—”
“Wait.”
Kakashi looked at the Naruto holding the bells in surprise.
“You’re not Naruto?”
“I am.”
The voice came from Sasuke standing behind him.
At the same moment—
Poof!
Poof!
The two transformed back into their original appearances.
“You actually transformed into each other?”
Kakashi was visibly astonished.
“We calculated that switching identities would increase our chances of success,” Sasuke answered evenly.
“Go on,” Kakashi said, his curiosity growing even stronger.
“I never expected even your identity swap to be part of the calculations.
It seems I didn’t lose unfairly this time.
So…
tell me how you arrived at that calculation.”
ADD TO COLLECTION.