COTE x Naruto: New Beginnings

Chapter 17: Class D = Dumb?

Kakashi was walking through the forest with Hashimoto, the two of them having formed a search group to search for a few checkpoints located around the island so that they could tell the class leader about them when they noticed something peculiar.

In a larger clearing, there were two other students. Quickly, Kakashi signalled to Hashimoto that they had to hide.

"... And that's why I wanted to be the class leader. Nobody will find out if you carry the keycard around instead!" A feminine voice said, talking to her companion. Almost immediately, Kakashi recognized the two of them.

It was Haruno and a guy from Class D who was especially popular amongst the girls, Hirata Yousuke. Next to him, Hashimoto was looking especially smug at having found out the leader of Class D already. Kakashi, however, was more on guard. It could just be a ploy by Class D. He wouldn't believe it unless he saw the keycard himself.

"Can you give it to me now, Sakura-san? We're getting further away from the camp, I would rather we go unnoticed," Hirata spoke, their voices sounding close now.

"Sure!" Haruno agreed, and took out a bright green card that Kakashi recognized as the leader key card instantly. "I finished scanning it already, so you can have it," she said.

For a while, Kakashi was afraid that they'd notice them hiding in the bushes, however, the two of them kept walking, until eventually, their voices were barely audible.

"This might be a ploy," Kakashi warned. "We'll only know if there really is a spot here that's been scanned by Class D."

Hashimoto nodded. "That's true, I didn't consider that. Let's check."

The two of them got out of the bush they'd been hiding in and went to check the strip of forest for any scanning devices. Almost instantly, they found one in a tree trunk. However, it was claimed by none other than Class D a mere minute ago.

Hashimoto started chuckling. "That was too easy. What morons, talking about these things in the open where anyone could hear them! There's even two pairs of footsteps, meaning that the class leader must be one of them."

Kakashi privately agreed that it was a bit ridiculous. Whether Haruno truly was the class leader or not, they now knew for sure that either she or Hirata were the leaders as there wasn't anyone else around.

"Should we even bother guessing the class leaders?" Hashimoto asked.

It was true that their aim wasn't to win at all. Guessing the leader for Class D would only give their class more points and might put them in the lead.

Then again, with Class C's Ryuuen's ingenious plan which they'd overheard via Hashimoto's listening device, Class C would likely be the winner anyway with 150 class points while Class D and Class B would have 100 deducted from their scores each.

The agreement between Ryuuen and Katsuragi was interesting indeed. Class A would get to buy anything they wanted from Class C's points and Class C would provide Class A with photo evidence of the keycards of Class B and Class D's leaders.

In exchange, Class C would receive a hefty sum of private points from Class A every month. It was an extremely risky deal that would backfire terribly if Class A didn't win. It was exactly the deal that would end Katsuragi's class representative position and give the leadership over to the Sakayanagi faciton.

In the end, Hashimoto and Kakashi knowing Class D's leader didn't matter. Class D's leader would be found out by Ryuuen anyway, whether they liked it or not. And seeing how careless Class D was being, they were bound to end up last.

That meant that they had to aim for third place - not fourth since Class D's final points would probably be so low that getting even less would be risky for them as Class A, but not second as that wouldn't really drive the point home that Katsuragi had signed an agreement that would tunnel their points to Class C while the deal didn't even get upheld.