That answer caught Kakashi Hatake by surprise.
He had expected Chiba to choose Naruto Uzumaki, the one he was closer to.
But Kakashi Hatake had underestimated Chiba's generosity.
"Why did you make that decision?"
The left eye beneath Kakashi Hatake's Forehead Protector fixed on Chiba, trying to put some psychological pressure on him.
Chiba answered the question without hesitation:
"Because they're both my comrades!"
Kakashi Hatake was shaken, but his expression betrayed nothing.
He asked again:
"What if-and I mean what if..."
"You were faced with an extremely difficult mission, one you could only complete by abandoning your comrades?"
"Chiba, what would you choose?"
There was a weight to Kakashi Hatake's voice.
His gaze grew increasingly serious as he looked at Chiba.
Chiba smiled faintly at the question and said:
"If the mission and my comrades came into conflict, then..."
At the crucial moment, he deliberately paused, keeping Kakashi Hatake in suspense.
Only when he saw a flicker of anxiety in Kakashi Hatake's eye did Chiba continue:
"Of course I'd abandon the mission!"
Kakashi Hatake's eye flew wide open.
"Do you realize?"
"Anyone who breaks the rules of a ninja will be considered trash by everyone else!"
"And you'll lose the right to be a ninja!"
His roar rang in Chiba's ears.
Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki stared blankly, unable to react for a moment.
Their teacher had been a laid-back slacker with a perfectly mild attitude.
Then, all of a sudden, he had turned into a raging loudmouth.
It was honestly a little hard to take in.
Chiba had expected this all along, and his expression remained unchanged.
It seemed the events of those years were still a wound Kakashi Hatake could not erase.
"Those who break the rules of a ninja are called trash."
Chiba's expression was remarkably calm.
"But those who don't value their comrades are worse than trash!"
To Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, his quietly spoken words seemed unremarkable.
Perhaps that was a belief worth embracing for ninja.
But in Kakashi Hatake's ears, those words struck like thunder.
For a moment, he seemed to see a familiar figure in Chiba.
Someone who had once been one of his most important comrades.
If he could do it all over again, perhaps Kakashi Hatake would have made a different choice.
"Kakashi-sensei? Kakashi-sensei?!"
Naruto Uzumaki's voice pulled Kakashi Hatake out of his memories.
"Congratulations. You passed the test..."
There was a hint of weariness in Kakashi Hatake's voice.
This should have been a happy occasion, yet somehow, after hearing Chiba's words, his heart had grown heavy.
"Hey, hey!"
Naruto Uzumaki shouted, "I'm not giving up on Big Brother Chiba!"
"If we pass, we pass togeth-"
Before he could finish, Sasuke Uchiha interrupted him.
"Idiot. Kakashi-sensei means we all passed the test."
"That's right. All of you passed!"
Kakashi Hatake tilted his head back to look at the sky, feeling an inexplicable melancholy.
"Why...?"
Naruto Uzumaki still couldn't quite understand.
With his limited brainpower, figuring all this out was asking a bit much of him.
Kakashi Hatake explained:
"Chiba was right. Those who break the rules of a ninja are called trash."
"But those who don't value their comrades are worse than trash."
"The whole point of this test was comradeship!"
Only after hearing his explanation did Naruto Uzumaki begin to understand, however hazily.
Still, there was one thing he hadn't figured out.
"B-but that was all Big Brother Chiba's doing!"
"Sasuke and I didn't finish the test."
Hearing this astonishing statement, Sasuke Uchiha covered his face helplessly.
How did I end up with a teammate like this?
"It's fine. You two count as freebies."
Kakashi Hatake wasn't remotely worried about damaging their confidence.
From his observations over the past several days, both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were tough as hell.
After all, one had endured discrimination from early childhood, while the other had suffered the slaughter of his entire clan.
At such a young age, they had already experienced suffering others could not bear in a lifetime.
That might have been true.
But upon hearing Kakashi Hatake's words, both Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki's faces darkened like the bottom of a pot.
"Damn it!"
"I'll prove myself to you!"
Kakashi Hatake turned and walked away, paying no mind to Naruto Uzumaki's roaring.
He had already looked out for those two enough.
In truth, there was something he hadn't made entirely clear.
They had not passed this test solely because of Chiba.
Part of the reason was Naruto Uzumaki.
After all, he was his teacher's only surviving child!
Before you continue