The Ninja Life Officially Begins

Kakashi stared at Sakura, his voice growing lower. "So what you're saying is that your mission failed because the enemy was too strong?"

Kakashi usually seemed easygoing, and he would even come up with absurd excuses for being late.

But once he became serious, Sakura could not withstand Kakashi's imposing presence at all.

"Sakura, do you think being a ninja is some kind of childish game? In your introduction yesterday, every other word was Sasuke. Did you naïvely think that as long as you chose to become a ninja like Sasuke, he would play house with you?"

"I..."

Sakura had wanted to argue, but faced with Kakashi's oppressive gaze that seemed able to see through her immaturity,

she ultimately chose to remain silent.

"Have you never thought about why Ninja Academy graduates are assigned to teams led by Jōnin?"

"And why, after finally graduating from the academy, you still have to take this exercise, where failure means starting all over again?"

Kakashi swept his gaze over Naruto and Sasuke in turn before finally stopping on Sakura. "Sakura, you said it yourself. The three of you are merely students who just graduated, and you are no match for a Jōnin like me... Faced with an exam that was doomed to fail from the very beginning, couldn't you figure out its real purpose?"

"Its purpose...?"

Faced with Kakashi's question, Sakura repeated his words blankly.

"It's 'teamwork'!"

Kakashi did not hesitate to give the three of them the answer.

"This exercise is ultimately just a test. If the three of you had attacked together, you could at least have taken one bell from me."

Hearing Kakashi's words, Sakura looked confused. "But there are only two bells, and you want the three of us to fight over one. That makes cooperation impossible—we'd just start fighting among ourselves!"

"That is the real question." Kakashi answered, "The result of fighting for the bells does not matter. What matters is the process."

"When ninjas carry out real missions, they often have to choose between sacrificing themselves or their team—protecting, abandoning, sacrificing, fighting together..."

"Sakura, you already made such a choice without realizing it."

Sakura froze. Before she could fully think it through, Kakashi gave her the answer.

"You chose to abandon Naruto... and yet your choice did not make the mission succeed."

Kakashi's tone shifted from instruction to reproach.

"Sakura, you never considered Naruto's position! After Sasuke's attack failed, your mind was filled with Sasuke, who knows where. You even exposed yourself because of it. Although you wanted to make up for your mistake after Naruto saved you, it was already useless."

He was not criticizing Sakura alone.

Kakashi turned his gaze toward Naruto. "And Naruto, you only cared about playing the hero and saving the girl! You could have waited until I had not noticed you, then found an opportunity to save Sakura after she fell into the genjutsu trap. Instead, you directly took the genjutsu in her place, leaving me, the enemy, with no worries at all."

After criticizing Naruto, Kakashi finally fixed his gaze on Sasuke. "As for you, Sasuke. You never thought about Naruto or Sakura. You treated them as burdens—you based every action you took during the exercise on the assumption that you alone were fighting against me."

Kakashi's sharp assessment plunged the three of them into silence.

"I'll give you another chance. Rest for an hour, and we'll resume the exercise at one in the afternoon."

Seeing their current expressions, Kakashi's attitude softened slightly.

"But the punishment for this morning's exercise still stands. Sasuke is not allowed to eat. Of the three of you, his actions had nothing to do with 'teamwork.' The two of you are not allowed to give him your lunches either!"

"Anyone who breaks this rule need not participate in the afternoon's exercise. I will directly judge them unqualified."

Without giving them any chance to argue or plead, Kakashi ended his speech and vanished in an instant with the Body Flicker Technique.

It was clear that Kakashi's earlier round of scolding had earned him enough authority as the leader of the ninja team.

Even though Kakashi had already left, Sasuke and Sakura remained motionless.

Naruto, on the other hand, did not care. He was the only one who had known the correct answer from the beginning of this exercise.

So Naruto had not been intimidated by Kakashi at all.

The moment Kakashi left using the Body Flicker Technique, Naruto immediately went to look through his lunch.

After a long while, Sasuke finally spoke to Sakura. "Sakura, go eat."

"But..."

"I probably won't have much strength for the afternoon exercise, so you and Naruto need to eat your fill at noon. I'll serve as the bait this afternoon... The two of you must at least make sure to take one bell from Kakashi."

Sasuke shook his head to stop Sakura from speaking and analyzed the situation rationally.

"I understand..."

Holding back the tears that were about to spill, Sakura rubbed her eyes and slowly opened her lunch box as well.

Seeing that Sakura had been persuaded, Sasuke turned his gaze toward Naruto.

"Naruto."

Sasuke called out, "Sakura is somewhat weaker in taijutsu, but her ninjutsu is pretty good. You are the exact opposite, so the two of you should cooperate and make up for each other's weaknesses. While you and Sakura eat, listen carefully to my plan."

"Hmm... You said you don't like sweets, so which do you prefer, salty or sour? Oh, I'm eating the spicy one, so you can't choose that."

But Naruto ignored Sasuke completely. Naruto's lunch consisted of three kinds of rice balls.

A spicy wasabi rice ball, a salty bonito rice ball, and a sour pickled plum rice ball.

"Hey! Naruto! Stop messing around and listen to me!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto angrily, his voice rising without him realizing it.

"D-Don't fight..."

Sakura, who had just picked up her chopsticks, hurried over to ease the tension.

But Naruto ignored both Sasuke and Sakura.

He hesitated between the bonito rice ball and the pickled plum rice ball for a while. What kind of rice ball had Sasuke liked in his previous life again?

Unable to remember, Naruto casually chose one based on his own preferences.

He took out the bonito rice ball and, under Sasuke's astonished gaze, stuffed it into Sasuke's mouth.

"Mm! Cough, cough!"

Swallowing such a large rice ball in one gulp made Sasuke feel as though he were suffocating from the blockage in his throat.

"Here!"

Naruto casually handed Sasuke a cup of cold tea to help wash it down.

Sasuke had no time to worry about anything else. He snatched the cold tea and used it to swallow the rice ball completely.

"Ah..."

Once Sasuke realized what had happened, he froze in place.

"Naruto! What did you do?! Didn't that break the rules?"

Sakura asked worriedly.

"But we're teammates in the same class. Compared to our companions, rules don't matter at all."

Naruto smiled at Sakura.

This exercise was completely like answering an open-book test for him.

Without the slightest concern, he screwed the lid back onto the cold tea.

It was about time he came—

—Sure enough, Kakashi suddenly reappeared using the Body Flicker Technique.

"You three!"

Kakashi shouted furiously at them.

The next second, his expression became incomparably happy and gentle.

"You pass!"