Steal the Bells, Thousand Years of Death! Root's Brazen Attack

Team 7's bell-stealing test at the training ground had felt ridiculous from the start.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the clearing, holding three bells. His half-lidded eyes looked lifeless, and his voice sounded as lazy as if he had just woken up.

"The rules are simple. Take a bell from me before dark and you pass. There are three of you... Oh, no, four. But there are only three bells, which means at least one of you goes back to school."

As he spoke, his gaze lingered on Naruto for an extra second.

Naruto bristled. "Hey! Kakashi-sensei, did you just look at me? You think I can't get one, don't you?!"

"No, no." Kakashi waved a hand, his eye curving into a crescent. "I treat all my students equally."

"Then why won't you look at me when you say that?!"

"Because I'm reading Icha Icha Paradise."

Sakura's mouth twitched. She turned toward Sasuke, only to find that he wasn't watching Kakashi at all. He was watching his older brother.

Zuo Hao crouched on a stump at the edge of the field, chin propped in both hands, looking ready to enjoy the show.

"Brother, aren't you going in?"

"What's the rush?" Zuo Hao yawned. "Let Naruto test the waters first."

Before he finished speaking, Naruto charged with a howl, swinging his fists fiercely.

Kakashi didn't even put down his book. He leaned aside to dodge Naruto's punch, turned with the motion, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and jabbed them at a vicious angle straight between Naruto's buttocks.

"Konoha's secret technique: Thousand Years of Death."

Naruto's scream rang across the entire training ground.

He sprang up as though electrocuted, clutching his backside with tears streaming down his face. He scrambled more than ten meters away before stopping, curled up like a shrimp, and pointed a trembling finger at Kakashi.

"You... you, you... you, you, you, you, you!!!"

"A ninja must guard against attacks from every angle." Kakashi withdrew his fingers with a solemn look. "If I'd used a Kunai just now, you'd be dead."

"Who stabs someone in the butt with a Kunai?!"

Zuo Hao laughed so hard he nearly fell off the stump.

Sakura's face went scarlet, half from embarrassment on Naruto's behalf and half from anger.

Sasuke's mouth twitched. He silently turned away and decided to pretend he didn't know his teammate.

"All right, all right." Kakashi dusted off his clean hands and finally tucked Icha Icha Paradise into his ninja pouch. His tone grew a little more serious. "The jokes are over. Now show me what you can really do."

His gaze swept over the four of them and paused briefly on Zuo Hao.

"The real ninja test starts now."

Sasuke and Sakura moved almost the instant Kakashi finished speaking.

Five years of training together had paid off.

Sasuke attacked head-on, flinging three Shuriken in a triangular formation and forcing Kakashi to dodge sideways.

Sakura had already circled around him. She swept her Kunai across his escape route.

The angles were tricky, the coordination precise.

Surprise flashed through Kakashi's eye. Chakra burst beneath his feet, and he leaped backward, narrowly escaping their pincer attack.

"Good teamwork." He landed on a tree branch and studied them with interest. "Sasuke's feint and Sakura's follow-up were well timed. Have you practiced together?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He merely adjusted the angle of his Shuriken.

Sakura stood two steps behind him. Her breathing was slightly quick, but her stance was steady. She was ready for another attack.

Kakashi nodded to himself.

As expected of a genius of the Uchiha Clan.

But it still wasn't enough.

He was about to comment when his brow furrowed.

Something was wrong.

An unfamiliar chakra signature was approaching fast.

More than one.

Several dark figures emerged like ghosts from the shadows along the edge of the training ground.

Black cloaks, white animal masks. Standard Root ninja attire.

"Orders from Lord Shimura Danzō." The leader's voice was cold as ice. "Target: Sahiro Uchiha. Kill anyone who interferes."

Sasuke hadn't reacted yet, but Zuo Hao was far quicker.

The figure on the stump vanished almost the instant the Root ninja appeared.

The Body Flicker Technique.

In the next instant, Zuo Hao appeared beside Sasuke. He struck his younger brother's shoulder with one palm, pushing him toward Sakura with just enough force to move him out of the attack range without knocking him over.

"Take Sakura and get back."

"Brother!!!"

"I said get back!"

Zuo Hao's voice rose sharply.

As he shouted, four Root ninja attacked from four directions at once.

Wind Release: Wind Cutter.

Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet.

Phoenix Flower Fire.

A thrown Kunai.

Four attacks sealed off every escape route.

Kakashi appeared in front of Zuo Hao a heartbeat before the attacks converged.

His silver hair flew as the Kunai spun between his fingers so fast it became a blur.

He twisted aside from the Wind Blade and flicked his Kunai upward, knocking the incoming Phoenix Flower Fire out of his path.

Sparks scattered. His left hand had already formed the hand seals, and an Earth Flow Wall surged from the ground, stopping the Earth Dragon Bullet three feet away.

He caught the last Kunai between his teeth.

The whole sequence flowed without pause. In the space of a breath, he had completely neutralized the four Root ninja's combined attack.

Zuo Hao's pupils contracted. Kakashi had countered all four attacks in an instant. He truly deserved his reputation as the Head of Konoha's Four Elite Jonin.

Kakashi slowly raised his head. For the first time, there was no trace of laziness in the exposed eye above his mask. Only bone-deep fury remained.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

The Root ninja leader didn't even blink. "Kakashi Hatake, these are Lord Shimura Danzō's orders. Our target is Sahiro Uchiha. This has nothing to do with you. Move aside."

"Move aside?"

Kakashi repeated the words, then suddenly laughed.

"You attack my student on a Konoha training ground, then tell me to move aside?"

"Is this how Root protects Konoha?!"

The leader was silent for a second. Then he pulled a scroll from inside his cloak and unfurled it.

Shimura Danzō's personal seal was stamped on it. The crimson mark looked especially stark in the moonlight.

"These are Lord Danzo's written orders. Root is carrying out a top-secret Konoha mission. Anyone who interferes will be considered an obstruction and may be killed on the spot."

"A secret mission?" Kakashi gave a cold laugh. "You barge into my lesson and try to kill my student in front of me, and you call that a secret mission?"

"Kakashi," the Root ninja said threateningly, "you're one of Konoha's elite Jōnin. You should know what it means to defy Lord Danzo's orders."