The Third Bell

Bang!

Kakashi Hatake was sent flying sideways by a Naruto Flying Kick, hurtling straight toward the crowd of Narutos.

Jingle...

The two bells tied at Kakashi's waist rang out. The Narutos all reached for them at once, but Kakashi swiftly countered them. The Narutos merely grinned. "You fell for it!"

Bang!

Three Narutos who had not gone for the bells formed a pincer attack and kicked Kakashi heavily into the air. The Narutos below worked together, shouting as they threw five Naruto shadow clones upward, catching up to Kakashi as he hung helplessly in midair.

"Take this! This is the Naruto Uzumaki Barrage!"

The five Narutos swarmed him, joining forces to kick Kakashi, who was unable to move in midair.

This guy... doesn't he think Kakashi-sensei is Wu Yu? Sakura Haruno thought speechlessly from her hiding place. Wu Yu's strange body seems to be reinforced beyond what a normal person could endure, but Kakashi-sensei is still flesh and blood! What an idiot, Naruto!

Bang!...

Kakashi plummeted to the ground at high speed, kicking up a cloud of dust. The Naruto shadow clones on the ground began coughing one after another, waving their hands to avoid the dust.

"A ninja can't even endure a little dust?"

Kakashi's voice quietly appeared behind one of Naruto's shadow clones. Naruto jumped, but the next instant, he was struck and dispersed into a puff of white smoke.

Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!...

The swirling dust had become Kakashi Hatake's best cover. From within it came the successive cries of Naruto's shadow clones, followed by the sounds of the clones being dispelled.

As the dust gradually settled, not a single Naruto Uzumaki could be seen on the ground.

Except for one that looked like a dead man's head lying on the ground...

Sakura Haruno turned pale with fright, but soon saw Naruto's head on the ground yelling in displeasure, "Let me go! Mm~~ I can't move!"

Kakashi Hatake crouched down and used Icha Icha Paradise to tap Naruto on the head. "You made me scramble for a moment, Naruto. Your Shadow Clone Technique and Taijutsu have passed."

"Really? Hehehe..." Naruto's head, the only part of him above ground, grinned foolishly.

I see. When Kakashi-sensei was knocked down by Naruto, he used Earth Style Jutsu to burrow underground the instant he landed. Then, using the dust he kicked up as cover, he took out all of Naruto's shadow clones one by one...

Sakura Haruno broke out in a cold sweat. He made it feel like an assassination. What a damn teacher!

But it's time for me to act too...

Sakura Haruno pushed herself up and quietly changed positions, forming hand seals as she moved and gathering Chakra.

"So Sakura is finally planning to make a move?"

Kakashi Hatake left the novel resting on Naruto's head and glanced from the corner of his eye toward where Sakura Haruno was moving through the forest. How strange. Wu Yu's scent has completely vanished. Did he use the river water to cover it? That can't be... How could he know I was using my sense of smell...

A wave of scorching heat rolled in from behind him.

"Why this move again?" Kakashi Hatake gave a deadpan look. "With your Chakra, how many times can you afford the consumption of a Fire Style Jutsu like this, Sasuke?"

Kakashi dodged the fireball, but at that moment, three shuriken suddenly flew out from within it. Trailing flames, they carved three beautiful arcs through the air and attacked Kakashi from different angles.

"He still had enough room to use Shurikenjutsu while casting Great Fireball?"

Kakashi dodged the three shuriken, only for them to circle around him. Each one was dragging a steel wire behind it! The three wires quickly bound Kakashi tightly.

"Hey! Damn Sasuke! Are you trying to burn me to death too?!" Naruto Uzumaki, with only his head left above ground, cursed furiously at Sasuke Uchiha while struggling with all his might. Sasuke held the other ends of the three steel wires.

Naruto's blond hair had already been singed black in places.

"Ah, what a miscalculation! My newly bought book..." Bound by the steel wires, Kakashi looked speechlessly at the steaming Icha Icha Paradise atop Naruto's head, his exposed eye filled with regret.

Holding the three steel wires, Sasuke slowly walked toward Kakashi. Reaching for the two bells at Kakashi's waist, he smiled. "I'll take these, then."

Just as his fingers were about to touch the bells—

Poof!

Kakashi Hatake, bound by the steel wires, turned into a puff of white smoke and vanished.

"Ah! A shadow clone!" Naruto's steaming head on the ground shouted. "Kakashi-sensei can do that too? That's so unfair!"

"Idiot, he's a Jonin..." Sasuke casually tossed aside the steel wires, his expression grave.

Kakashi, hiding underground, wore a deadpan expression. No. If your strength hadn't exceeded my expectations somewhat, I probably wouldn't have been cautious enough to use a shadow clone... But this ends here, Sasuke.

Earth Style Jutsu: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!

Kakashi Hatake's hand burst from the earth and grabbed Sasuke Uchiha's ankle.

Sasuke smiled faintly. "So you're still using the same move you used on Naruto, Kakashi."

As he spoke, his hands rapidly formed seals.

Those are—Lightning Style Jutsu seals? The instant Kakashi Hatake beneath the ground recognized Sasuke's hand seals, Sasuke shouted and opened his mouth, firing a blue-white ball of lightning at the ground where Kakashi held his ankle.

Boom!

Kakashi had no choice but to release Sasuke's ankle and burst out of the ground. To his surprise, Sasuke had already charged right up to him at astonishing speed.

"Earlier, his Lightning Release grazed his foot slightly... Did he use the current to stimulate the muscles in his feet and temporarily boost his speed? He really was worthy of being the Uchiha prodigy..."

As Sasuke reached for the bells at Kakashi's waist, Kakashi drove his knee up and knocked Sasuke's arm aside.

"Jingle..."

Amid the soft chime of the bells at his waist, Kakashi retreated a short distance and brushed the clumps of dirt from himself. "Mastering two nature transformations already puts you above the level of an ordinary Genin, Sasuke. Very impressive, but..."

"But what?" Sasuke Uchiha remained where he was, relaxing instead.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Naruto's head burst into loud laughter from the ground. "Kakashi-sensei! You lost! Sakura, you're amazing!"

"Sakura?"

Kakashi Hatake froze, then abruptly looked down.

"Jingle..." Sasuke Uchiha raised his hand, holding the two bells he had torn from Kakashi's waist. Smiling, he said, "Third principle of ninja tactics..."

"Genjutsu!" Sakura Haruno said as she walked out from the woods step by step, lowering her hands from their seal.

"..."

Kakashi's waist was indeed completely bare. Where were the two bells that had supposedly been clinking together?

"You used Genjutsu to make me misjudge the bells' location and sound? It was only a very basic Genjutsu, but the timing was perfect. That is precisely the essence of Genjutsu, Sakura."

Kakashi Hatake sighed. "It was an incredible tactic and incredible teamwork. I mean that sincerely."

"So all that before was just you casually brushing us off?" Naruto Uzumaki was speechless.

"The whole battle plan was actually Wu Yu's suggestion..." Sakura Haruno smiled. "I thought this little Genjutsu—the only thing I could learn right now—would be completely useless! Wu Yu, you really are a born ninja."

"..." Sasuke Uchiha looked at the two bells in his hand.

"Alright, alright, Kakashi-sensei should let me out now, right?" Naruto shouted, his lone head still struggling desperately in the ground.

"That's not for me to decide." Kakashi Hatake calmly looked at Sasuke Uchiha. "It's your choice now, Sasuke. There are three people here, but you only have two bells."

"..." Naruto and Sakura both fell silent, watching Sasuke nervously.

No matter what their relationship was like, in this situation, they both wanted to see Sasuke's choice—and feared seeing it... The two stared intently at Sasuke, then watched him casually flick his hand.

Smack. Sakura caught one bell.

Jingle... The other bell rolled to a stop in front of Naruto's face.

"That forehead protector of yours..." Sasuke Uchiha raised a hand and pointed at Kakashi. His black eyes suddenly turned scarlet, black tomoe spinning eerily within his crimson irises. "I'll use that to make up for the third bell!"