Akamaru's Secret Treasure

When they first met, Kakashi was undoubtedly an annoying jerk who made people dislike him.

With half his face and one eye covered, he seemed shrouded in mystery. But in truth, that single exposed dead-fish eye completely ruined Kakashi's entire aura.

Combined with Kakashi's half-dead attitude and feeble tone of voice,

it plainly said: I look down on the three of you.

Naruto might have been a little foolish and unreliable in what he did, but there was one thing Hinata thought he had done brilliantly, and she swore she would learn from him.

That night, Hinata replaced her Gentle Fist training bag with one shaped like Kakashi and beat it mercilessly until late into the night.

It was rare for Hinata to be so dedicated to training. If she kept beating up that Kakashi-brand punching bag in the future, she believed her Gentle Fist skills would improve rapidly.

The training exercise Kakashi had arranged was set for five in the morning.

Hinata did not dare be late. She climbed out of bed shortly after four, washed up at top speed, then ate a hearty breakfast. She also packed meals for Sasuke and Naruto.

Those two simple-minded fools had surely believed Kakashi's nonsense.

At 4:55, Hinata arrived at Training Ground Seven on time. Naruto and Sasuke had already gotten there before her.

"Yo! Morning!" Hinata greeted them sleepily, set the breakfasts on the ground, and asked, "You two haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"Here! I brought these for you!"

"Morning, Hinata!" Naruto grinned shamelessly as he sidled up to her and said with a lecherous smile, "Hinata, you actually brought me breakfast. I'm so touched!"

Hinata shoved Naruto away and snapped, "Stay away from me!"

Naruto had long been starving. Just as he opened the lunch box, he suddenly remembered Kakashi's warning from yesterday and could not help asking, "Hinata, didn't Teacher Kakashi say we weren't allowed to eat breakfast yesterday?"

Sasuke sneered. "Idiot!"

Naruto raged, "What did you say?"

Hinata explained, "Teacher Kakashi only said we'd throw up if we ate breakfast. He never said we weren't allowed to eat it!"

Naruto claimed both lunch boxes for himself, clearly having no intention of sharing with Sasuke.

What a childish brat!

Bang!

Hinata punched Naruto hard and snapped, "The other one is for Sasuke! If you don't eat your fill, you won't have the strength to take part in Teacher Kakashi's survival exercise later."

Sasuke glanced at Hinata and said flatly, "I've already eaten!"

Hinata was a little surprised. Had Sasuke gotten smarter, or was he just putting on a brave face for the sake of pride?

While Naruto was eating, Hinata beckoned Sasuke over, took out some trap-setting tools from her backpack, and said, "Sasuke, let's set some traps!"

Sasuke asked doubtfully, "Traps?"

Hinata nodded and explained, "There are two parts to these traps. The first part is for the exercise later. The second part is punishment for Teacher Kakashi being late!"

As Konoha's Elite Jonin and Team 7's assigned Jonin, Kakashi could naturally show up late whenever he pleased, then casually make up some insincere excuse to brush it off.

But as a rookie ninja, even if Hinata knew Kakashi would definitely be late, she still had to arrive at the meeting point on time.

Otherwise, Kakashi only needed to write, 'Hinata is a ninja who lacks punctuality,' in her ninja report, and it could affect her future promotions.

That was far too unfair!

As Sasuke helped Hinata set the traps, he suddenly turned and asked, "You figured out what the survival exercise is about?"

Hinata gave an "Mm," tied up a steel wire, and explained, "It's probably some kind of battle. I think it'll be the three of us against Teacher Kakashi!"

Sasuke's expression darkened. Fighting a Jonin?

After working for more than ten minutes, Hinata and Sasuke emerged from the woods.

Hinata walked up to Naruto, then took one step, two steps, three steps... After walking around ten steps, she stamped her foot on the ground and huffed, "If we're standing where Naruto is, Teacher Kakashi should stand here, right?"

Naruto asked curiously, "Hinata, what are you planning to do?"

Hinata took a mousetrap and a strange little bag out of her backpack.

"This is a specially made mousetrap. We can hide it in the grass, and it'll be hard to spot."

Sasuke complained, "He's a Jonin, after all. A little trick like that won't work on him."

Hinata sneered, picked up the strange bag, and said through gritted teeth, "Of course I know a petty trick like this won't work on a Jonin, so I specially prepared another gift for Kakashi. What's inside this bag is something I specifically asked Kiba for yesterday. It's Akamaru's Secret Treasure."

"No matter how well we hide the mousetrap, we definitely won't be able to fool Teacher Kakashi's eyes."

"But I've already figured out Teacher Kakashi's personality. In order to mock us, he'll definitely stand beside the mousetrap on purpose, while making sure not to step on it."

"So as long as we put Akamaru's Secret Treasure beside the mousetrap, Teacher Kakashi will definitely fall for it."

Naruto and Sasuke: "..."

Sasuke would not do something so boring, but Naruto was very interested. He helped Hinata set the mousetrap, placed Akamaru's Secret Treasure beside it, and carefully covered everything with grass to make sure no one would notice.

When a person's eyes were focused on one thing, they often unconsciously overlooked everything else.

If Kakashi noticed the mousetrap, he would definitely overlook Akamaru's Secret Treasure beside it.

Besides, Akamaru's Secret Treasure was only meant to disgust people. It was not dangerous at all, so even a Jonin's vigilance would never pick up on it.

Kakashi was indeed terribly late. Hinata and the others waited from five in the morning until after ten before Kakashi finally strolled in.

As he approached the three of them with his backpack slung over his shoulder, Kakashi's exposed dead-fish eye swept up and down, immediately noticing something unusual about the grass ten steps away from Hinata and the others.

What three childish brats.

The corner of Kakashi's mouth lifted slightly beneath his mask. Just as Hinata had predicted, Kakashi deliberately walked over to the mousetrap, yet carefully avoided stepping on it. He even waved to Hinata and the others. "Yo! Morning!"

None of the three replied. Their gazes were fixed tightly on Kakashi's right foot.

Hm?

Kakashi was a little puzzled. Had he stepped on something?

"Eh? This smell..."

Kakashi, who claimed his nose was even sharper than Akamaru's, finally realized something was wrong.

He kept dogs too, so he naturally knew exactly what that smell was.

"Wahahaha—"

Hinata and Naruto laughed without a care in the world. Hinata was even laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath as she said, "Teacher Kakashi, we've decided that if you're late again in the future, we'll give you a gift every time you're late!"

Naruto chimed in, "That's right, that's right!"