Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Kakashi’s usually sleepy eye widened in surprise.

In all his years of testing newly graduated genin, this was the first team to work together from the very beginning.

The surprise lasted only a moment. Reaching behind him with his left hand, he caught Naruto by the back of the neck as the boy lunged at him, then swung him around to the front.

At the same time, he drew a kunai with his right hand.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He knocked the incoming shuriken aside. In the blink of an eye, he had dealt with their attack and regained control of the situation.

“Heh.”

Yet Naruto was grinning in his grip. Sasuke and Sakura stood in front of him with the same knowing smiles.

Kakashi felt a sudden twinge of unease.

‘Something’s wrong.’

Poof!

The yellow backpack on the captured Naruto’s back vanished in a puff of smoke, and another Naruto appeared in its place.

This was the real Naruto.

Everything they had done until now had been setting up this one opening.

Disguised as the backpack, he had been pressed right against Kakashi’s stomach. The instant he released the Transformation Jutsu, his right hand shot toward the two bells hanging at Kakashi’s waist.

Kakashi reacted immediately, twisting his hips to pull the bells out of reach.

But Naruto had already closed his fingers around one of them.

The sudden movement snapped the cord. The second bell, tied to that same cord, flew free and landed in Sakura’s hands with a bright jingle.

“We did it!”

Sakura jumped up and down, clutching the bell in delight.

Naruto stood in front of Kakashi and proudly shook his own bell, letting it ring right before his teacher’s eye.

“Well, Kakashi-sensei? Does that mean we passed?”

Kakashi let out a long breath. His eye settled back into its usual sleepy look, though he still regarded the three of them with surprise.

For the first time in all those years, a team fresh out of the Academy had actually managed to take the bells from him.

These three were certainly an unusual bunch.

“Alright, alright.” He spread his hands. “But you’re only halfway there. Remember what I said? There are two bells, and three of you.”

Only then did Sasuke and Sakura realize what that meant. They exchanged a glance, then looked at Naruto.

Naruto’s mouth twitched.

He knew what Kakashi was trying to teach them. In fact, he had been waiting for this moment.

He was getting used to putting on an act.

Naruto and Sakura each held a bell. Sasuke had neither, which meant he would be sent back to the Academy.

Naruto clenched his fists, making himself look torn. He glanced down at the bell in his hand as though he wanted to offer it to Sasuke but couldn’t quite bring himself to let go.

Sakura hesitated too.

Graduating wasn’t what mattered most to her. She wanted to stay with Sasuke. But whether she kept her bell or gave it to him, one of them would have to leave.

Her eyes turned toward Naruto.

“Naruto, could you—”

“I’ll go back.”

Sasuke cut her off, his teeth clenched and his hands balled into fists.

Another year before he could pursue his dream. Another year at the Academy, after being sent back in disgrace.

The thought hurt more than he wanted to admit.

But what else could he do?

Ask Naruto to give him the bell, as Sakura clearly wanted?

Impossible.

He wouldn’t accept something handed to him out of pity. Besides, Naruto had come up with their plan and seized the opening at the very end. They had taken the bells because of him.

How could Sasuke ask him to give that up now?

He lowered his head and turned to leave.

Before he could walk away, Naruto held out his bell to Kakashi.

The others stared as he laughed.

“Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura, and I are a team. If one of us has to go back, then we’re all going back!”

“You…”

Sasuke stared at him, speechless.

This was Naruto—the boy who had always been at the bottom of their class.

Had he always been willing to do something like this for other people?

For the first time, Sasuke felt a little of the coldness in his chest give way.

He made up his mind. Once they got home, he would let Naruto read every ninjutsu scroll his family had left behind.

Sakura was just as surprised.

For the first time, she found herself thinking that Naruto wasn’t nearly as annoying as she had always believed.

He looked good in his new clothes. He had beaten Sasuke more than once, and even during their tree-climbing practice, he had shown more talent than Sasuke.

And now he had devised their whole strategy, then taken the bell at the crucial moment himself.

‘Maybe Naruto really has changed. Maybe I’ve been unfair to him…’

Her heart gave a small, unexpected flutter as she looked at him.

Then she shook her head.

‘But I already have Sasuke…’

“Kakashi-sensei, I’ll go back too.” Sakura held out the second bell. “Naruto’s right. The three of us are a team.”

Kakashi had watched the exchange without a word.

Now he asked, “Who came up with that plan?”

Sasuke and Sakura both looked at Naruto.

Naruto scratched his head, looking embarrassed.

“Well, I thought it might work. I didn’t know we’d actually pull it off.”

Once again, Kakashi found himself surprised.

Naruto had changed far more than he expected. Still, this ingenuity wasn’t entirely out of character. The boy had always found unexpected ways to pull off his pranks.

His Sexy Jutsu had even given the Third Hokage a nosebleed.

“Are you sure?” Kakashi asked, his expression unreadable as he looked at each of them. “All three of you are going back?”

“That’s right. We’ll graduate next year, and then we can go after our dreams together.”

Naruto made it sound like an easy decision.

Sasuke and Sakura remained silent, their faces composed. Each had their own thoughts, but neither backed away from the choice they had made.

“I see. Well, since you’re all so determined to return to the Academy…”

Kakashi paused.

Then his eye curved into a smile.

“Congratulations. You pass.”

“What?!”

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stared at him in surprise.

“I said you all pass.” Kakashi smiled at them. “You’re the first team I’ve ever passed. Everyone before you just did exactly what I told them without thinking. A bunch of fools.”

“A shinobi has to see through deception.”

He lifted his gaze toward the sun, the blue sky, and the white clouds drifting overhead.

Memories stirred behind his eye, carrying a sadness that had never truly faded. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet but firm.

“In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.”

Naruto lowered his head and said nothing.

He knew the story. He knew who had first spoken those words, and what they meant to Kakashi.

‘Comrades… Do I really have anyone I can call that?’

Sasuke turned Kakashi’s words over in his mind, glancing thoughtfully at Naruto and Sakura beside him.

Sakura wasn’t dwelling on the lesson. Right now, she was simply happy that she could stay on the same team as Sasuke.

“Alright!” Kakashi announced. “Team Seven starts taking missions tomorrow!”