ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

The bell test

"You're late!" Sakura yelled, although a bit more subdued, for a second time that day at Kakashi who just stood there with an eye in a visible U-shape. Naruto on the other hand was having a nostalgic feeling of déjà vu when Kakashi arrived, making the blonde boy quietly chuckle at the silver-haired man's tardiness. Back in his time, Naruto faintly remembered that Kakashi was recuperating from chakra exhaustion after their brawl with Kaguya, and Naruto felt that he had failed the man by letting Kaguya win the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi with his trademark Uchiha glare while Naruko, already forewarned by Naruto, just shook her head in mild amusement at her teammate's reactions. While she understood their frustrations, Naruko was not the least bit sorry for their plight. Not even a little, rather she was enjoying their annoyance as much as she enjoyed spending time with Naruto.

Kakashi had the decency to look sheepish, "Sorry about that, a black cat crossed my path this morning so I had to take the long way around," he explained with an eye smile. The rest of Team Seven, minus the Uzumaki siblings, just face-faulted at the Jōnin's ridiculous excuse, and they couldn't help but be annoyed by the seemingly aloof and laid back man. But, both Naruto and Naruko knew better than to judge Kakashi's character by its cover.

Shinobi Golden Rule Number One: Deception is a shinobi's greatest weapon.

Kakashi coughed into his fist, gaining their attention as he turned serious. "Alright, let's start the test shall we?" he walked over to the three wooden training stumps in the middle of the field as he fumbled for something in his pants pocket, "The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can be rid of you runts . . ." Kakashi said in his usual carefree tone, making Sakura and Sasuke fume, while Naruko had to refrain from twitching her eyebrow as Naruto tried to calm her down, reminding her again that Kakashi's greatest strength was his uncanny ability to rile people up, as a certain Maito Gai can attest to.

After fumbling around for a few more minutes, Kakashi finally pulled out an alarm clock from his pants before placing it on top of the middle stump, setting the timer as he did so. He turned back to face his students as he fished out another object, this time from his flak jacket breast pocket: a pair of bells. Kakashi then proceeded to tie them to his waist as he spoke, letting them hang freely before he looked at his team, his aloofness plain for all to see.

"Now then, see these bells I've got hanging here?" Kakashi asked gesturing towards said bells, earning nods in return, "your objective is simple: take them, and you pass." He explained with an eye smile.

Naruto inwardly smirked. You'd do well not to underestimate Team Seven Kakashi-sensei . . . especially Naruko-chan. He thought.

Sakura looked confused as she raised her hand. "But sensei, there are only two bells, but there are only four of us? . . ." she asked in bewilderment, one that was also shared by Sasuke albeit with an accompanying scowl.

But Naruto and Naruko were anything but bewildered as they kept their guard up.

They had already figured out Kakashi's intentions.

Putting Naruto's memories aside, any shinobi worth his or her hitai-ate would immediately sense that something was wrong the moment the bells were pulled out, and that doubt was further confirmed when their objective was to simply take them from their instructor, a Jōnin-level shinobi. Anybody with enough common sense could clearly see that newly minted Genin could never match up to a Jōnin, no matter how hard they try.

Not by a long shot.

Kakashi's eye smile actually sent shivers of dread down Sakura's spine, "I thought that would be obvious; since there are only two bells, only two of you will pass." Kakashi explained, making Team Seven gasp in shock and dread, but the silver-haired man wasn't done yet as he decided to stir the pot a little more, "Naruto's an exception in this case, since I'm just his retainer and not his Jōnin-sensei. He will pass even if he didn't get the bells . . ." he continued.

The fallout of his statement was immediate and violent, as Sakura immediately yelled, "What?! But that's not fair! Why is he getting special treatment?! He only joined us today!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke just glared bloody murder at the blonde haired boy in hopes that his glare alone could simultaneously combust the blonde he considered the second coming of Itachi.

Kakashi just continued to eye smile, inwardly enjoying the tormented looks on his Genin's faces. "Too bad it's my decision and your unlucky day, so deal with it!" he cheerfully said, earning death glares from two of his team. He was curious though about the reactions of the Uzumaki siblings.

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly at Kakashi's announcement as it just made him 'Public Enemy Number One' in Sasuke and Sakura's eyes and will in turn make working with them become even more difficult than it already was. Naruto was certain that Kakashi did it on purpose to further disrupt their team cohesion so that each of them would then try to get the bells on their own, which they were doomed to fail. Naruto thought that this situation must be one of the so called ripples in this dimension due to his arrival . . .

Nevertheless, even though it's unexpected, Naruto already had backups for these kinds of situations. He was not known as the Number One Most Unpredictable Hyperactive Ninja for nothing.

Naruko on the other hand had crossed her arms in front of her chest, and was tapping her fingers on her upper arm in annoyance. Their sensei's blatant attempt to have her teammates antagonize her onii-chan had unfortunately worked to perfection as Sasuke and Sakura were giving Naruto several dirty looks, and it took all of Naruko's willpower to not snap at those two.

Kakashi cleared his throat as he spoke seriously, "You four have two hours to get these two bells from me, and the ones who fail will be tied to one of these posts," he gestured towards the training stumps as he produced three bento boxes from behind him, "and watch the others eat while they're tied up." He finished cheerfully.

The reaction was not what he was expecting. What he was expecting were rumbling stomachs and petulant whines from his cute little Genin, but that was not the case as Kakashi arched an eyebrow at the silence that greeted him, causing him to narrow his lone eye.

"You guys ate breakfast, didn't you?" he asked bluntly.

Naruto chuckled as Naruko giggled while Sasuke and Sakura were busy being dumbfounded. "Whatever do you mean sensei?" he asked innocently, causing Naruko to hold her hand to her mouth to stop the burst of giggles that were threatening to break out. Albeit, barely.

Kakashi sighed as he put the bento boxes away, "I'll just pretend that you guys hadn't disobeyed a direct order. . ." he said, his mind working to comprehend why had his students disobeyed his orders, as he was sure they would follow them to the letter as fresh Genin would. Kakashi pushed the thought to the back of his mind however, reasoning that he would revisit them after the test.

Kakashi stood in front of Team Seven plus Naruto as he spoke again, "Alright, same as before; two hours, take the bells from me and you pass. If you don't, you fail." The fresh Genin nodded in affirmation as Kakashi continued. "Come at me with the intent to kill. You are allowed to use any weapons and jutsus to take these bells from me, including shuriken . . ."

"B-But sensei!" Sakura said, "Wouldn't you get hurt?"

Naruko rolled her eyes at the pink haired girl's question while Naruto just shook his head in disbelief at her naivety. Sasuke just ignored Sakura's outburst, opting to dig his hands into his pockets and wait for the test to start. Kakashi just eye smiled at her.

"Don't worry about me," Kakashi said, amused. "I'm pretty sure I can protect myself." Although it was faint, but Naruto caught the slight condescending tone he used to answer Sakura's question, and truthfully Naruto couldn't blame the silver haired man.

A moment passed before Kakashi spoke again, "As I said before, come at me with the intent to kill, because if you don't, you won't take these bells from me." The Genin nodded as they turned serious, "Alright then, your two hours starts . . ."

Naruto tensed as he closed his eyes and took a calming breath, feeling the familiar warmth of his chakra coils flaring to life and overflowing his body as he focused chakra into his legs while sending a slight nudge to Naruko who nodded slightly as Kakashi finished.

"Now!"