Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Before five the next morning, Naruto was already up and getting ready. He put on a new outfit he thought looked good and headed to the training ground Kakashi had told them about the day before.

He knew Kakashi would deliberately keep them waiting. Even so, he intended to arrive on time and make a good impression. If he performed well enough, perhaps Kakashi would agree to give him some individual instruction.

“Good morning...”

Sakura approached from a distance, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and greeted the figure ahead of her.

When she realized it was Sasuke, she immediately woke up. Blushing, she lowered her eyes to her shoes and fidgeted without saying anything else.

Sasuke gave her a puzzled glance, then looked away.

Naruto came running past, drenched in sweat and breathing hard. He gave the two of them an odd, knowing smile before continuing his laps around the training ground.

Even without the five o’clock meeting, he would have risen early to train.

Becoming stronger took more than talking about it. The system could help, but he still had to put in the effort himself and improve a little each day.

Sasuke wasn’t looking particularly rested either. He had trained until around midnight before finally reaching the top of his tree. After only four hours of sleep, he was exhausted.

But seeing Naruto work so hard stirred his competitive spirit. He went to a nearby training post and began practicing taijutsu.

Inwardly, he finally accepted Naruto’s proposal to train together.

As Naruto ran, he noticed that Sasuke’s movements differed considerably from the taijutsu they had learned at the Academy.

It made him even more eager to study the Uchiha clan’s scrolls—and to receive individual guidance from Kakashi.

‘I’ll do well in the test and get a bell. If Kakashi sees what I can do, he’ll have a reason to teach me himself.’

With that thought, Naruto picked up his pace.

The sun was already high by the time Kakashi finally appeared.

By then, Sasuke and Sakura’s stomachs were growling.

Naruto had eaten breakfast before leaving home. He had also slipped in a few rice balls while training, so hunger wasn’t a problem for him.

“Good morning, everyone.”

Kakashi greeted them with his visible eye half closed.

“You’re late!” Sakura protested.

“Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around.”

Kakashi delivered the excuse with a straight face.

No one looked convinced.

He coughed and set an alarm clock on the wooden post in the middle of the training ground.

“I’ve set this for noon.”

Then he produced two small bells.

“Your task is to take these from me before time runs out. Anyone who doesn’t get a bell gets no lunch. You’ll be tied to that post and watch the others eat.”

“What?!”

All three reacted in surprise.

Naruto, who was only pretending, made sure his voice was the loudest.

Sasuke and Sakura’s stomachs growled again.

Now they understood why Kakashi had told them to skip breakfast.

“Wait,” Sakura said. “Why are there only two bells?”

“That means at least one of you will be tied to the post.”

Kakashi’s eye curved in a smile.

“And whoever fails goes back to the Academy.”

He let that sink in before continuing.

“You can use shuriken. If you don’t come at me with the intent to kill, you won’t stand a chance of taking a bell.”

The expressions on all three students’ faces grew serious.

“Ready? Begin!”

At his signal, they scattered and disappeared into cover.

Naruto kept his backpack on. He hadn’t put it down before the test began.

…

“Sasuke, we’ll need to work together.”

Naruto crouched beside him in the bushes, speaking quietly.

Elsewhere, “Sasuke” was crouching in the grass beside Sakura.

“Sakura, we’ll need to work together.”

…

Kakashi didn’t seem concerned about any of them.

An elite jonin, he stood near their hiding places and casually opened a copy of “Make-Out Paradise.”

He was treating the test as though it were an opportunity to catch up on his reading.

The message was clear: he wasn’t taking them seriously.

Suddenly, Sasuke rose from cover with a large, four-bladed fuma shuriken in his hand and hurled it at Kakashi.

“Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!”

The huge blade tore through the air and sliced straight through him.

Then a puff of smoke revealed a wooden substitute, split in two.

Kakashi had used the Substitution Jutsu and vanished into the surrounding cover.

Throwing the shuriken had exposed Sasuke’s position, along with Naruto’s beside him. They immediately moved toward Sakura’s hiding place and took positions from which they could support one another.

Kakashi knew where they were the whole time.

He didn’t need a special sensory technique to track them. Their attempts at concealment simply weren’t good enough to fool an experienced jonin.

He stepped back into view near their hiding places, inviting another attack so he could teach them a lesson.

Naruto nodded to Sasuke.

A moment later, another fuma shuriken spun toward Kakashi.

At the same time, dozens of Narutos burst from cover. Sasuke followed closely behind after releasing the shuriken.

This time, Kakashi didn’t use substitution.

He dodged the spinning blade and met the charging shadow clones with taijutsu.

Exactly as Naruto had hoped.

The clones’ physical skills were no match for Kakashi’s. He kicked them apart one after another, each disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Gradually, the smoke gathered around him and began obscuring his view.

Kakashi’s mouth curved into a faint smile beneath his mask.

“Genjutsu!”

One of the apparent shadow clones had quietly moved close enough to attack.

For an instant, Kakashi seemed to lose focus. His movements paused.

“Now!”

Another Naruto lunged at him with a kunai, launching a fierce series of attacks.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Kakashi recovered and blocked with a kunai in his right hand, still holding “Make-Out Paradise” in his left.

Then he noticed something unusual.

This Naruto’s taijutsu was considerably better than that of the other clones.

Kakashi tucked his book away and used both hands, giving the exchange his full attention.

As they fought, his opponent gradually drew him to one side.

The fuma shuriken Sasuke had thrown earlier was embedded in the ground at his feet.

Even this stronger “clone” was still no match for Kakashi. After a dozen or so exchanges, Kakashi landed a kick and sent him flying backward.

A puff of smoke exposed Sasuke.

He had used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as Naruto.

Nearby, another transformation ended, revealing Sakura. She had been the “Naruto clone” who used genjutsu.

“Now!”

Sasuke and Sakura shouted together.

Poof!

The fuma shuriken at Kakashi’s feet transformed into Naruto, who immediately sprang at him.

At the same moment, Sasuke and Sakura threw a barrage of shuriken.

Some flew directly toward Kakashi. The rest cut off the routes he could use to escape.

Both had been among the Academy’s best at shuriken throwing. At such close range, their aim was precise.