All Members Pass

The next day, while the sky was still dim and overcast, Sasuke and Sakura arrived at the meeting spot before dawn.

"Morning!" Sakura greeted them sleepily.

Sasuke glanced around and asked, "That dead-last Naruto isn't here yet?"

"No, Naruto hasn't come!" The moment Sakura heard that, she instantly perked up and let her imagination run wild.

Great, I get to be alone with Sasuke now! Naruto, you did well. It'd be best if you never came at all. Sakura's inner personality cackled excitedly.

Time continued to pass. An hour went by, and the sky had brightened, but neither Kakashi nor Naruto had shown up.

Another two hours passed. Sakura, who had initially hoped Naruto would not come, was now getting impatient and even began worrying about him. "Why hasn't Naruto come yet? He didn't oversleep, did he? If Kakashi-sensei comes and doesn't see him..."

"I don't know." It was the first time Sasuke had responded to Sakura all day.

Another hour passed. Sakura was close to losing her mind, and Sasuke was getting impatient too, feeling as though they had been toyed with.

"Hey, Sakura, Sasuke, I'm here." Naruto waved at them, carrying a plastic bag containing two boxed lunches.

"You're too late, Naruto! We agreed to meet at five. It's been over four hours! What were you doing?!" Sakura shouted, utterly exasperated.

"Hey, what are you carrying?" Sakura caught a whiff of something fragrant, and her stomach was about to growl. She had skipped dinner last night to lose weight, and she had skipped breakfast this morning too because she was afraid of throwing up.

Sasuke was staring at Naruto as well.

Naruto smiled and explained, "Besides individual ability, intelligence is another important part of being a ninja. When I was eating at Ichiraku Ramen yesterday, Ino reminded me of that, so I hurried to find Iruka-sensei and ask about Kakashi-sensei."

Having found a convenient excuse, Naruto was quite pleased with himself. He talked about Kakashi's exploits: how he was late for unimportant matters, how he liked reading Make-Out Paradise, and how powerful he was. He especially mentioned that Kakashi had used this same method to deal with previous graduation examinees.

Then Naruto took out the breakfast he had prepared from the plastic bag. Sakura and Sasuke's stomachs were already growling, and both of them stared at Naruto in stunned silence.

Since when did Naruto become so dependable?! Sakura swallowed. No matter how much she doubted her life choices, she did not want to go hungry right now, especially since she had not eaten last night.

Sasuke looked at Naruto as though he were a completely different person. He was shocked beyond words. How had Naruto, that dead-last, changed so much?

His stomach protested, and Sasuke took the food without ceremony and started eating.

Naruto sat down on the grass, zipped up his jacket, opened his arms wide, and said, "Eat slowly, there's no rush. We need to discuss this in a bit. If Kakashi-sensei tests us the same way he did before, we'll need to work together. We have to become ninja together."

"Yeah." Sakura and Sasuke responded softly. Without realizing it, the center of the trio had shifted toward Naruto.

It was nearly noon when Kakashi finally arrived. Seeing Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke glaring at him with unfriendly expressions, he smiled and scratched his hair.

"Good morning, everyone. Sorry I'm late. A black cat crossed in front of me this morning, so I was delayed."

"What kind of lousy excuse is that?! Kakashi-sensei, you liar!" Sakura pointed at Kakashi, the first to disbelieve him.

Kakashi coughed lightly, then placed an alarm clock and two boxed lunches on a wooden stump. "Ahem... don't sweat the small stuff. Enough talk. I've set the alarm for noon. You need to take two bells from me to pass."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto exchanged glances. Sure enough, it was this test.

Seeing the three of them remain silent, Kakashi continued, "The failures who don't get a bell will be tied to the stump and forced to watch us eat lunch."

Good thing Naruto had the foresight! Anger flashed in Sasuke and Sakura's eyes. Otherwise, we would have been in for it.

At Kakashi's command, Sasuke and Sakura each scattered, though they did not go far from one another. Naruto, however, remained where he was.

Naruto zipped up his jacket, crossed his arms over his chest, and flashed a confident smile. "Come on, let's settle this fair and square!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and lazily pulled out his copy of Make-Out Paradise, clearly not taking Naruto seriously at all. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong with you?"

"I think the problem is your hairstyle." Naruto threw a punch as he charged at Kakashi, recklessly head-on.

Kakashi's lazy expression did not change in the slightest. He had thought Naruto might have grown somehow, but he still seemed just like the rumors described!

Kakashi easily dodged, seized the opening, and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Naruto. His hands formed the Tiger seal.

"Leaf Taijutsu Secret Technique: Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi struck hard at Naruto's vulnerable area.

Naruto's expression changed. Sure enough, as he was now, he could not even last one exchange against Kakashi head-on before being suppressed.

"Release!" Naruto formed hand seals, and his entire body dispersed like smoke. Kakashi struck empty air.

"What? A Shadow Clone? But when?" Kakashi's eyes were filled with shock. Naruto had remained in his sight the entire time. He could say with certainty that Naruto had never used the Shadow Clone Jutsu!

"Could Naruto have been a Shadow Clone from the very beginning?" As Kakashi considered that possibility, his expression changed. He quietly put away Make-Out Paradise.

"It seems Naruto really has become something else. If that's the case, I can't keep watching from the sidelines." Kakashi's gaze turned wary.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly, Naruto's shout rang out. He created hundreds of shadow clones that charged toward Kakashi, surrounding him from every direction.

"The Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Kakashi praised him. "You can control this many shadow clones? I'm curious, Naruto. Did you know the contents of this test?"

Naruto said smugly, "Intelligence is one of the elements of being a ninja. Of course we gathered information about Kakashi-sensei beforehand! We're definitely going to become ninja! Everyone, charge!"

"I see now!" Kakashi looked at the Narutos rushing at him from all directions and smiled. His eyes narrowed, and his smile was gentle and delighted.

"In that case, there's no point in continuing. Congratulations, you've passed."

Kakashi's sudden words nearly made Naruto throw out his back. Several Naruto shadow clones failed to stop in time and crashed into one another, turning into smoke.

Naruto pointed at Kakashi and asked in disbelief, "What? Kakashi-sensei, what did you just say? We passed?"

Kakashi smiled. "That's right, you passed. All of you passed. Naruto, among all the graduates over the years, no one has ever done this. There's no point in continuing the test."

Poof!

One of Naruto's shadow clones transformed back into Sasuke. Naruto recalled all the remaining shadow clones, while Sakura emerged from a patch of grass in the distance. The three of them excitedly slapped palms, and even Sasuke could not suppress his excitement.

Kakashi gave them a thumbs-up. "You all know the content of the test, so there's no point in it anymore. Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin carrying out missions. Dismissed."