Mao Spiritual Arts Academy Hand-to-Hand Combat

Early the next morning, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura arrived at the training ground near the Konoha Heroes Memorial Monument, all with dark circles under their eyes and their stomachs growling with hunger.

To their surprise, Kakashi had not arrived yet.

"What the heck? Don't tell me Kakashi-sensei is late again!"

Naruto let out a miserable howl as his stomach protested with a loud growl.

Sasuke looked around, frowning as he muttered, "I didn't expect Su Bai to be so unpunctual too."

Sakura forced herself to perk up, but she could not hide her exhausted expression.

Just then, a cool voice called out, "You all came quite early."

The three turned around to see Su Bai strolling over leisurely, without the slightest sign of fatigue or hunger on his face.

He stood in stark contrast to the haggard state of everyone else.

"Su Bai, how come you don't look tired at all?"

Naruto asked in surprise.

Su Bai smiled faintly and replied calmly, "Because I ate breakfast and slept well."

"What?!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "But Kakashi-sensei clearly told us not to eat breakfast!"

Sasuke also shot him a probing look.

Was this guy not afraid of being punished by Kakashi?

Su Bai said composedly, "Kakashi-sensei wasn't here, so strictly speaking, I wasn't late."

"But... but..." Sakura hesitated. "Didn't Kakashi-sensei say today's test would be dangerous? Won't you get in trouble for doing that?"

"A qualified ninja must possess basic intelligence-gathering abilities."

Su Bai said coolly, "The test began the moment Kakashi said those words."

Sasuke and Sakura froze, seeming to suddenly understand.

Naruto was still utterly confused, but he vaguely felt that Su Bai made sense.

Su Bai continued, "Besides, according to the intelligence I gathered, today's test isn't actually that dangerous. Kakashi was just trying to scare us."

"R-Really?"

Sakura was doubtful.

Sasuke snorted. "What intelligence source could he possibly have? He's just putting on an act."

Su Bai was not annoyed and remained calm.

The truth would be revealed soon enough.

Just then, Kakashi leisurely appeared before them.

"Yo, everyone's here."

The silver-haired teacher greeted them with a smiling expression, as though he had not realized he was late at all.

Naruto jumped in fury. "Kakashi-sensei! Why are you late again?! You made us wait here for so long!"

"Sorry, sorry." Kakashi scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "I ran into a black cat on the way, so I took a detour..."

"Liar!"

Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison.

Sasuke watched coldly from the side.

Su Bai merely smiled, wearing an expression that said he had known this would happen all along.

Kakashi glanced at Su Bai, a flash of surprise and contemplation passing through his eyes.

In truth, Kakashi had arrived at the training ground long ago.

He had hidden in the shadows, carefully observing every move the four students made.

It was one of his bad habits.

Su Bai... Kakashi's gaze fell on the calm black-haired boy.

This kid was no simple matter. He had actually seen through the test I deliberately set up.

His intelligence-gathering and analytical abilities seem pretty good. Combined with his exceptional talent with the blade, he might become a great asset to Konoha.

At that thought, Kakashi suddenly began looking forward to the upcoming test.

Perhaps he would really encounter some interesting talents this time.

The silver-haired jonin then turned to the other three students and said seriously, "Today's exercise is extremely important. It concerns whether you can become genin, so I hope you'll all give it everything you have."

Naruto froze for a moment, then shouted defiantly, "Hmph, a test like this can't stump the great Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

Sasuke snorted, folding his arms with an expression that said a test of this level was beneath his notice.

Though Sakura was somewhat nervous, she secretly glanced at Su Bai and Sasuke. She silently resolved that she had to pass the test and make Su Bai look at her in a new light!

Su Bai, meanwhile, remained perfectly calm.

He knew Kakashi was about to announce the contents of the test, so he stayed silent and waited quietly.

Sure enough, Kakashi pulled three bells from his pocket and shook them in front of everyone. "The test is simple. If the four of you can take a bell from me before noon, you pass."

"Just taking bells?" Sasuke asked again.

"That's right."

Sasuke received confirmation once more.

Damn it, Su Bai was right again. There really isn't much danger.

"Only three bells?" Sakura covered her mouth in surprise.

Did that mean...

Kakashi nodded, his smile unfathomable. "That's right. One of the four of you is destined to be eliminated. And whoever fails to get a bell will have to watch the others eat their lunchboxes at noon."

Naruto and Sakura's stomachs growled right on cue, and both of their faces turned ugly.

"What?!"

Naruto clutched his rumbling stomach, looking utterly miserable. "That's way too cruel, believe it!"

"Hmph, they're just bells."

Sasuke snorted, folding his arms.

"Then the test begins now!"

The instant Kakashi finished speaking, he vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a puff of smoke.

Naruto froze for a moment before shouting and charging out in a single stride.

Sasuke sneered and found a place to hide.

Sakura stood still for a second before choosing to hide as well.

Su Bai remained where he was, a playful smile curling at the corner of his lips.

It seemed a good show was about to begin.

He had long known from the story that the true purpose of this test was to examine their teamwork.

Teamwork really was important, and Su Bai agreed with that.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura also needed to understand the importance of teamwork.

Especially while their strength was still insufficient.

After all, being in the same class as him meant they would encounter many dangers.

For example, they would meet Orochimaru later on.

I have to make them understand the importance of teams and comrades now.

That way, if I'm ever in danger, they'll risk their lives to save me.

This is also a layer of insurance for my personal safety.

Su Bai sat to one side, quietly considering his next strategy.

After thinking for a while.

Su Bai finalized his plan of action.

Once Kakashi officially announced the start of the test, Naruto would definitely be the first to rush out and show off.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to easily gain a considerable amount of experience points then.

In addition, Sakura and Sasuke would inevitably receive a beating from Kakashi.

There probably would not be much experience from Sakura's side, but Sasuke's fight against Kakashi should yield some experience points.

However, merely watching them fight was clearly not enough.

If he wanted to rapidly increase his strength, he had to personally enter the fray and show what he could do.

After all, facing an expert like Kakashi, it would be a terrible waste to miss such a rare sparring opportunity.

Aside from Naruto charging out recklessly as usual, the other three hid with a tacit understanding, observing the situation from the shadows.

Su Bai concealed himself behind a large tree and watched Naruto's performance coldly.

Sure enough, the impulsive fellow was soon baptized by Kakashi's signature finishing move, Thousand Years of Death. He screamed as he was sent flying, then fell into the river with a splash.

That must have hurt.

Su Bai secretly laughed to himself.

However, Naruto, as the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, was not someone who would surrender so easily. He soon climbed out of the water with the aid of chakra.

At last, he used his signature technique, Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Naruto created dozens of clones in one breath and launched a fierce attack on Kakashi.

Seeing this, Su Bai could not help sighing inwardly. He really is a guy with cheats enabled.

At that moment, the system's notification sound rang out repeatedly:

[ Ding! Ninja combat detected nearby. Obtained 2000 experience points. ]

[ Ding! Ninja combat detected nearby. Obtained 2000 experience points. ]

[ Ding! Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto template fusion progress: 2%. Current experience points: 3000/50000. Successfully unlocked "Mao Spiritual Arts Academy Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat". ]