Unfortunately, the two who had arrived on time were doomed to waste their time just as they had in the original story—and to wait at the training ground on empty stomachs. The clock hands ticked slowly past five. Not only was their assigned Jonin instructor, Hatake Kakashi, nowhere to be seen; their other teammate, Naruto Uzumaki, hadn't shown up on time either. And as if that weren't enough, time continued to slip away.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Sakura Haruno and Sasuke had been waiting on empty stomachs at Training Ground 2 for hours, and still, neither Naruto nor Kakashi had appeared.
Sakura looked like a well-behaved girl on the outside, but more than an hour ago, she had already started cursing them out in her head.
And she wasn't just furious at Kakashi for being late two days in a row.
She was also mercilessly roasting her teammate, Naruto, in her mind.
Yesterday's lateness was bad enough! Why are you late again today? You said five o'clock, and it's already eight! And it's not just Kakashi-sensei—why hasn't Naruto shown up either? Did something happen to him? No, no, that can't be it, right?
Sakura was practically unraveling in the wind. Hunger and sleepiness had left her in a decidedly abnormal state of mind.
Even Sasuke, who had initially leaned against a tree and calmly rested with his eyes closed, had grown more and more impatient as time passed. By nine in the morning, with no sign of Naruto or Kakashi, the impatience on his face had turned to confusion.
This made no sense.
They'd been told to meet at five in the morning.
And now it was already nine.
A full four hours late.
There was no excuse that could explain it.
Could Naruto have been serious yesterday?
Only now did Sasuke and Sakura recall what Naruto had said to them before leaving the day before.
And when they considered that possibility—
It wasn't just Sakura.
Even Sasuke's mouth twitched despite himself. Meeting at five didn't mean they could leave at five. They had to prepare their ninja tools and other equipment beforehand if they wanted to arrive on time, and Sasuke had gotten up before four to wash and get ready. If Naruto really hadn't been joking, if his warning had been genuine, then that meant the four hours they'd spent waiting here—or possibly even longer—had been nothing but a stupid waste of time!
The thought that surfaced—
Made Sasuke's expression darken a little.
Wasting time was one thing.
But being toyed with like an idiot—
Proud—or, more accurately, arrogant—Uchiha Sasuke couldn't put up with that. Yet he had no way to vent his anger, and he still had to stay here until Kakashi and Naruto arrived. The two emotions twisted together inside him, leaving him with an indescribable sense of frustration and suffocation.
"Tick, tick, tick, tick..."
Time continued to crawl by.
At last, when the clock hand pointed to around ten in the morning—
Naruto finally appeared in the distance, entering Sasuke and Sakura's field of vision. He was still wearing his usual orange outfit—he didn't have the money to buy anything else—and his face wore his customary gentle smile. When Sasuke and Sakura saw him, they didn't realize they had both inwardly let out a sigh of relief. If no one had shown up by now, they really would have started questioning their sanity.
Naruto approached the girl with a resentful expression and the boy with a slightly darkened face.
"Yo, Sasuke, Sakura. Good morning!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow slightly and greeted them in an even tone.
"It's not morning anymore, Naruto! It's already ten o'clock! You're five whole hours late!"
Sakura tried to hold back, but Naruto's calm expression made her lose control. Her face was caught between forced restraint and outright fury, a combination so jarring that Naruto nearly laughed. Fortunately, he managed to stop himself. Who knew whether Sakura might actually fly into a rage otherwise?
"Huh? Five hours? You two really got here at five? No way!"
Though he already knew the answer, Naruto couldn't help asking when he saw them. He'd made a point of warning them yesterday, after all. Even if they didn't believe him, surely they'd have asked someone in the village once they had doubts? As a Jonin of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi was one of the village's most talked-about figures. Some aspects of his personality were famous throughout Konoha.
But judging by the looks on their faces, the two of them had simply assumed he was joking and dutifully arrived at five in the morning?
Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he looked at Sakura and Sasuke in apparent disbelief.
As soon as Naruto finished speaking—
Sakura's expression instantly turned painfully awkward.
Sasuke's already dark face grew black as the bottom of a pot.
"Um, that's not it. I just wanted to ask..."
Sakura twisted her fingers together, as if trying to find a tactful way to ask something.
"Why did you tell us yesterday that it'd be better to show up late today?"
Sasuke spoke first from where he leaned against the tree. His words held not a trace of warmth, only a chill that filled the air.
Naruto didn't mind at all. He already knew what this Uchiha was like.
"Huh? You mean that? Kakashi-sensei is famous in our village, and in all sorts of ways. As a Jonin of Konoha, he's one of the best when it comes to strength. But he's famous in another way, too—his personality. Especially his lateness. It's not that everyone in the village knows about it, but plenty of people do. I'd heard a little about it before, so when I saw Kakashi-sensei yesterday, I knew it was perfectly normal for him to be late. Or, to put it this way, unless it's something very important—like yesterday's meeting, or today's Survival Exercise, which only concerns our little team—he might show up early, late, or even put it off for two days. Kakashi-sensei is definitely going to be late. And we're not talking a few minutes or a few dozen minutes. He could be at least two or three hours late, or even four or five. It's not especially famous, but if you pay a little attention, you can find out. After all, this isn't the first time Kakashi-sensei has led a team."
Naruto set down his backpack and explained it casually.
None of this was a lie.
Kakashi really did have that kind of unique "reputation" in Konoha.
That included, among other things, being late, reading dirty books, and repeatedly failing to lead his previous teams successfully!