Two Bells

"Naruto, why was that guy spacing out at a time like this?!" Sakura lay prone in the grass, her face full of anxiety.

The test had already begun. What was he doing just standing there?

Sasuke stood atop a tree thick with leaves, watching with a frown. For the moment, even he had no idea what Naruto was trying to do.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and smiled as he stared at Naruto, then asked,

"So, you're going to forcibly take the bells?"

Naruto said nothing. Neither of the two options the panel had given him would work.

If he wanted to forcibly take the bells from Kakashi, he needed at least the strength of a special Chunin. That meant he would inevitably have to use the Nine-Tails' power.

But if the condition for passing was that the entire team passed as long as one person got a bell, then it might be worth trying.

However, Naruto had long known that Kakashi's intention was not that. He needed to see them cherish their comrades and display unity and cooperation before he would let them pass.

Even if he took the bells from Kakashi, how would they be distributed?

Give them to his teammates? There were only two bells.

And with Kakashi's personality, if he just lay around and did nothing, he really might be judged to have failed because of his negative attitude.

He had mastered the rare Wood Release Kekkei Genkai. If things went badly, it could bring him a whole series of problems. Danzo would not let him go, and neither would the Third Hokage.

In that case, he would use everything he had! Sooner or later, he would have to use the Nine-Tails' power anyway.

After all, what the Third Hokage and those higher-ups valued was his Uzumaki Clan chakra constitution and status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. They wanted to brainwash him into becoming a staunch supporter of the village.

Otherwise, they would not have deliberately set things up before, intending for him to steal the Book of Forbidden Jutsu and even preparing the Multiple Shadow Clone for him.

This technique was not very useful to others anyway. Without enough chakra, it was no different from an ordinary Shadow Clone.

Nine-Tails' Recognition: 2.2%

This was the power he could use right now.

"Get the bells!" Naruto bent his legs slightly, ready to spring. "As long as I get the bells, that's enough, right?"

"Of course." Kakashi flicked the bells at his waist and said with a smile, "Get one, and you pass the test."

"Then I want both!"

Kakashi felt that Naruto had suddenly become like a different person. An extremely familiar feeling surged from his entire body.

Red chakra wrapped around Naruto, obscuring his features.

His small body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow the instant Kakashi's pupils widened. The grass beneath his feet was blasted upward, sending fresh, moist earth flying.

Naruto was too fast. Empowered by the Nine-Tails' chakra, his body had become nimble to an astonishing degree.

In almost the blink of an eye, Naruto threw a punch, which Kakashi avoided with a tilt of his head. Missing the blow, Naruto swept his elbow sideways, his body twisting violently through the air.

Even as the elbow strike missed, his left leg came crashing down.

"Naruto! He..." Sakura was stunned, her mouth hanging open in the grass.

A thought flashed through her mind, and she suddenly realized something. If they wanted to snatch the bells from a Jonin, it would be even more impossible without Naruto.

Now that Kakashi's attention had been drawn to Naruto, she had to do something!

It was only a thought, yet her body sprang up on its own. As she circled around Kakashi, she reached for her ninja tool pouch.

At the same time, Sasuke on the tree had already thrown six Shuriken. The six spinning projectiles sliced through the air at high speed, sealing off Kakashi's possible evasive paths from six curved angles.

Kakashi looked utterly relaxed as he suddenly accelerated, swiftly dodging the six Shuriken Sasuke had thrown.

With a piercing whine, three kunai came flying at him again. Sakura had followed up on Sasuke's attack rhythm, though her positioning was still immature and she was far too close to Kakashi.

Thud, thud, thud. The three kunai embedded themselves in the trunk of a large tree, all missing their target.

"Genjutsu!" Sakura looked at Kakashi closing in and hurriedly formed hand seals.

"Genjutsu!" Kakashi formed hand seals before her, returning the move in kind. Of course, it was not particularly sophisticated Genjutsu.

He merely cast the kind of Genjutsu Sakura herself could use on her first. Caught in it, Sakura froze and fell stiffly onto the grass.

"Too slow," Kakashi remarked. At the same time, he tilted his head and dodged Naruto's spinning kick without even looking.

Then, in that instant, he grabbed Naruto's foot and flung him away with a backhand throw.

Naruto did not let out the expected cry of pain when he landed. Instead, with a bang, he turned into a puff of white smoke. Kakashi froze. A Substitution Technique?

He had actually failed to notice it was a Substitution Technique. Though Kakashi had not been too serious just now, he had indeed grabbed Naruto's leg—and that sensation had fooled him!

The Substitution Technique used by a brat who was not even a Genin yet was so perfect it could rival that of a battle-hardened Jonin.

"Not bad." Kakashi felt somewhat gratified.

But he quickly realized something. Looking down, he saw that Sasuke had already carried the unconscious Sakura away.

"Caw!~" A crow swept overhead, its blood-red eyes looking down at the grass below and taking in everything that had just happened.

Kakashi stood alone on the grass. The surroundings were silent; Naruto and the other two were nowhere to be seen.

"Was it just to divert my attention? The goal was to let Sasuke save Sakura." Kakashi rolled his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks, then unhurriedly pulled out a copy of Make-Out Paradise from his ninja tool pouch.

After glancing at it, Kakashi finally drawled lazily,

"Well, that's more like it."

With that, he walked toward the river while calling out to his surroundings.

"Well, if you want the bells, you'd better show me what you can really do."

In the grass, Naruto looked at Sasuke and said irritably,

"What are you looking at me for? It's not like I can dispel Genjutsu."

Before he could finish speaking, Sakura opened her eyes on her own. Her pupils first widened sharply, then contracted. Only when she saw Naruto and Sasuke before her did she finally relax.

"Kakashi-sensei formed his hand seals too quickly," Sakura said, still shaken.

Seeing Naruto and Sasuke looking at her, Sakura blinked, then looked behind herself. When she saw no one there, she asked in confusion,

"Why are you looking at me?"

"How did you wake up by yourself?" Naruto asked.

"Genjutsu can be dispelled," Sakura explained. "I happen to be good at it, so it took me a little time to undo it myself."

"More importantly, Kakashi-sensei held back. He didn't use his full strength."

Naruto fell silent. Sakura truly was the limit of what an ordinary person could achieve. Without any bloodline, she had reached this point solely by having a sharp mind.

Perhaps yesterday's blow had affected her. She seemed much steadier now. Her smile carried a trace of strain, and her face was full of exhaustion.