Examination Failure

Naruto truly felt no sense of crisis about this exercise, just as Kakashi had deduced.

But it was not because he failed to understand the situation.

It was precisely because Naruto understood the true nature of this exercise that he felt no sense of crisis.

"You three are surprisingly good at hiding. I'll give you extra credit for that."

Kakashi said it in all seriousness.

"But if you keep hiding, noon will arrive faster than you expect."

Kakashi remained standing where he was. Though he had said he would go all out, he was holding back from the very beginning.

If he had truly intended to eliminate Naruto and the others, he could have hidden himself as well.

With his stealth skills, there was no way those who had graduated from the Ninja Academy less than a week ago could find him before noon, much less rack their brains trying to steal the bells after finding him.

"Hmm..."

Kakashi applied a little pressure with the limited time, but the three hiding nearby still made no move.

They were fairly composed.

Thinking this, Kakashi reached into the ninja tool pouch at his waist.

Hidden in the shadows, Sakura and Sasuke immediately focused on Kakashi's movements, wary of whatever he was about to take out.

"Th-That is!"

The instant Kakashi withdrew his hand from the pouch, Sasuke activated his One-Tomoe Sharingan and carefully observed it.

"A ninja tool? Or a ninjutsu scroll?"

Sakura was also guessing what method a Jōnin like Kakashi would use against the three of them.

Naruto merely yawned silently, utterly uninterested in whatever was inside Kakashi's ninja tool pouch.

Just like the original story...

A book had appeared in Kakashi's hand.

Its cover bore a conspicuous underage reading prohibited label: Icha Icha Paradise!

Kakashi opened Icha Icha Paradise with one hand.

He actually began reading it right then and there.

It seemed Kakashi did not take Naruto and the others seriously at all.

About a minute passed. After finishing the open page, Kakashi placed his other hand on the paper, ready to turn it.

Now!

The Sharingan saw every movement of Kakashi's hands.

Seizing the rare opportunity, Sasuke sent several shuriken flying at Kakashi at high speed, all of them striking his vital points.

The next moment, the Kakashi hit by the shuriken turned into a wooden log.

"A tactical approach similar to the original story."

Naruto, who had seen everything, reached that conclusion internally.

Because the exercise had a clear time limit, Kakashi had deliberately exposed an opening, one that would inevitably be "seized."

Sasuke's judgment was not wrong. The longer they delayed, the worse it would be for the three of them.

Sasuke, a genius, indeed possessed considerable combat talent, but combat experience could not be made up for with talent alone.

His opponent was Hatake Kakashi, also hailed as a genius, a man who possessed both combat talent and experience and had long since become capable of standing on his own.

Students against a Jōnin.

In truth, anyone who thought about it a little could guess Kakashi's purpose for this test.

But given the cruel nature of the ninja world, Team 7 could not be certain that Kakashi's claim that he "had to eliminate one person" was entirely false.

Team 7 had yet to form bonds with one another, so there was no way they could abandon their own interests to help the other two obtain the bells.

Naruto shifted his gaze from the log embedded with kunai on the ground and looked toward Sakura, who had leaped from the bushes not far away.

The failed attack had made Sasuke decisively choose to change his hiding place.

Sakura, however, was afraid Sasuke might be in danger. Her mind was wholly occupied with worrying about him, and she exposed herself of her own accord.

After pondering for a moment, Naruto, the only one whose whereabouts had not yet been exposed, chose to follow Sakura.

He could keep hiding until noon, then shout, "The rules may be important, but comrades are more important!"

That would let him pass the exercise easily enough.

But hiding in the back and refusing to contribute was completely at odds with the personality Naruto had spent the past two years pretending to have.

"Sasuke, where are you?"

Sakura darted rapidly through the forest, anxiously searching all around for Sasuke, completely unaware that Naruto was following her from neither too close nor too far away.

Suddenly, the leaves in the forest stirred without wind and wrapped themselves around Sakura.

Noticing Sakura's situation, Naruto immediately rushed forward!

"Danger! Sakura!"

Naruto shouted a warning to Sakura.

Sakura had no time to react after hearing Naruto's voice before he crashed into her and knocked her out of the leaves.

Naruto, meanwhile, took her place within the encirclement of leaves.

The leaves that had suddenly risen fluttered down to the ground just as abruptly.

Sakura saw Naruto's dazed expression.

Having scored full marks in theory at the Ninja Academy, Sakura immediately determined that Naruto had fallen under a genjutsu.

She hurried forward, preparing to pull Naruto out of the genjutsu.

But...

"While it is correct to help a comrade trapped in genjutsu and dispel it immediately, remember to watch out for the enemy hiding in the shadows who cast the genjutsu."

Kakashi's voice suddenly came from behind Sakura.

Sakura turned her head back in terror. She had only vaguely made out the outline of Kakashi's head when she felt a sharp pain at the side of her neck.

The next second, Sakura lost consciousness.

Kakashi gently supported the unconscious Sakura with one hand and laid her flat on the ground.

Then he glanced at Naruto, who had collapsed nearby under the genjutsu.

"Only one left now."

He formed the "Release" hand seal with both hands, and smoke spilled from Kakashi's body.

The next moment, Kakashi's figure vanished from the forest along with the smoke.

The one dealing with Naruto and Sakura simultaneously had only been Kakashi's Shadow Clone.

After confirming that Kakashi had dispelled the Shadow Clone, Naruto, who should have been trapped in an illusion, opened his eyes.

Naruto had previously condensed a tiny amount of Nine-Tails chakra inside his body.

When Kakashi's genjutsu struck him,

the Nine-Tails chakra Naruto had been precisely controlling while conscious instantly scattered, disrupting his chakra.

That allowed Naruto to break the genjutsu on his own.

Rising from the ground, Naruto glanced at the unconscious Sakura.

This was good enough. He had saved a comrade and participated in the exercise;

and he would not need to shout, "Don't underestimate our bonds!" and get the three of them, who had not coordinated at all, tangled up with Kakashi, exhausting himself only to waste time.

Naruto looked toward the exit of the forest.

Judging by the time, once Kakashi dealt with Sasuke, it would be about noon.

Then he would "sleep" a little longer.

Thinking this, Naruto did not rush to wake Sakura.

The moment the preset alarm began to ring, Kakashi shut it off.

Replacing the alarm was the crisp chime of the two bells at Kakashi's waist knocking against each other.

"You three have all failed!"

Kakashi looked at the three standing before him and announced the results of the exercise.

"Don't bother going back to school. The three of you should forget about becoming ninja and just live out your lives peacefully as ordinary people."

His tone was stern, filled with dissatisfaction and disappointment toward the three of them.

After receiving such harsh criticism from Kakashi, Sakura was the first to argue.

"W-What do you mean, forget about becoming ninja? We may not have gotten the bells, but Sensei... you don't need to criticize us so severely, do you? We only just graduated from school. We were never going to be a match for a Jōnin..."