COTE x Naruto: New Beginnings

Chapter 18: Unforeseen Factors

There was a peculiar new development in Class D. On the third day of the special exam, a student from Class C was taken into their camp after having been found beaten up near their camp. Instantly, Sakura was on guard.

"Class C is really cruel to do that to one of their own..." Nene muttered, looking at the girl from Class C, Ibuki, sympathetically.

'I don't trust her,' Sakura thought, but didn't tell Nene that. She didn't want to be judged for distrusting other people so quickly. She understood that her classmates weren't that wary of the school quite yet. Perhaps they'd get there eventually.

After having returned with Hirata, it was agreed by the class that they should buy the toilet after all, which had cost them 20 points. They'd almost bought a water filter as well, but in the end, they agreed to drink boiled water for the time being.

After eating breakfast, which was basically a mango and a banana, Sakura packed up her bag. She'd packed up her food and water for the day and a little extra in case something happened, and then she left the camp. She didn't care if Ibuki figured out she was the leader or not, she had better things to do. After all, her goal for the day was getting 22 points if possible, and she'd need to go fast before the other classes occupied any more spots.

As she trekked across the island once more, first trying to steal the spots relatively close to the camps of the other classes before heading further north, she stopped by the beach to check up on Class C.

They were all gone. Huh?

Puzzled, she continued on with her day, just barely managing to take the spots she'd planned to take for the day. The other classes were getting competetive at last.

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Kakashi added more wood into the fire so that it'd burn for longer. Then, he took a few empty food cans he'd gotten from his camp and threw them around, some into the fire. He was currently in a spot occupied by another class (Class D, much to his surprise), and he was littering, so that should get Class A some points deducted.

It was almost midnight now if he had to guess, and he had to get back to his camp before Katsuragi noticed he was missing. He could at least tell Katsuragi about this spot sometime in the future, which was reasonably close to their camp, which meant that Class A would be able to claim it once Class D's claim on it expired, which would be happening in 6 hours. Honestly, why Class D had even gone for a spot so far away from their camp was completely beyond him.

He got up to go back to the camp, when a faint rustle disturbed him. It came from a bush, and Kakashi wondered if it wasn't just a bird. Probably not, that would have to be a particularly huge bird.

Out of curiosity, he looked behind the taller bush, only to reel back in surprise. There, on the ground, not even sleeping in a tent or anything, was Haruno, asleep in her sleeping bag, a large backpack next to her.

'What the fuck is she doing, sleeping outside like this? Why isn't she at her camp?'

The possibility of her being the Class D leader had just increased to 98%. After all, the spot they were located in had been claimed only two hours ago.

Quietly, so that he wouldn't wake her up, he crawled closer to her backpack. He unzipped it and went through her backpack. Nestled under some fruit was a bright green keycard with her name on it.

"How careless," he muttered, wanting to laugh out loud. She was the leader, alright. And particularly careless at that. He could see what her strategy was. She probably wanted to occupy as many spots as possible, which was why she was traveling alone and sleeping outside, not even bothering to go back to her camp. It was a very solid strategy, but would backfire greatly if anyone discovered she was the leader, which was highly probable.