NOVEL NEXT Start of the Bell Test
Yuna and Naruto were currently on their way back home. Yuna noticed that Naruto wanted to ask something, but wasn't sure how to do it. Yuna could guess that it had something to do with tomorrow's survival training but decided to keep quiet until Naruto asked his questions.
It took a few more minutes for Naruto to finally open his mouth.
"Err…nee-san…I have a question."
Yuna only responded with a light hum, which Naruto interpreted as a "go ahead".
"In the academy most exercise we learned about during classes centered around teamwork, right?"
Yuna only nodded her head even though she had no clue. She spent most lessons zoned out, after all.
"Then why is our first lesson after the academy an exercise that could break apart our freshly created team?"
Yuna nodded in approval. Naruto really has grown up well and started to doubt the things most people would deem absolute truths. For example, their teacher's words.
"Well, Naruto, then what do you think will happen? What will the test be about?"
Naruto ponders for a while and then comes to a conclusion.
"It will probably force us to work together as a team."
"Or…?"
Seeing that Yuna wasn't entirely satisfied with his answer, he kept pondering. Yuna seems to agree that it will have something to do with teamwork, so he only had to think in that direction. A few minutes later he came to a conclusion.
"We will not be forced to use teamwork. There will be no mention of teamwork at all and there might even be circumstances that discourage it. Kakashi-sensei probably wants us to learn the importance of working as a team."
Yuna nodded in approval.
"Well done, Naruto. I also think it will be something like this."
Yuna, of course, had no idea what to expect from tomorrow's test. She only listened to Naruto's explanation and agreed with it.
It was the day of their test and they were supposed to appear at the training ground at 7 in the morning. It was currently 8 in the morning and the trio was lazily eating breakfast. Hinata apparently had a similar test, which would start at 9. Luckily, Yuna did at least some research on Kakashi and found out that he is always at least 2 hours late. As for not eating breakfast? That was just stupid talk. What kind of idiot knows he will have to go through a survival test and not eat properly beforehand? Even if you puke it out somehow, your body would have at least absorbed some nutrition before doing so.
Another 30 minutes passed and the trio left the house at the same time but headed in different directions. After an additional 15 minutes of walking, Yuna and Naruto reached the training ground and as expected, Kakashi was nowhere in sight. Sasuke was currently busy brooding even harder than usual, probably a combination of hunger and anger, while Sakura looked a little bit like a human corpse that starved to death a few minutes ago.
"Yo, you two look like shit. How was your day so far?"
Sasuke and Sakura naturally started glaring at Yuna immediately. They were just about to retort when Yuna tossed them a rice ball each.
"Eat something. Having two people starve on my first assignment isn't exactly a good advertisement for me."
"Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat anything for breakfast."
Yuna could only roll her eyes at Sakura vehemently sticking to the rules when she was close to starving. Yuna hoped she could at least raise Sakura's worth from "useless" to "could potentially be used as cannon fodder", but she guessed it just can't be done.
To Yuna's surprise, however, Naruto pitched in.
"Well, Sakura, breakfast time is already over. Kakashi never told us to not eat any snacks after breakfast. You are not breaking any rules at all."
Yuna could only shake her head at how naïve that logic was.
'There is no way such a childlike logic could convince that stubb…Did she just start eating that f*ing rice ball? Even Sasuke started eating, what the hell.'
Yuna couldn't help but look at Naruto like he was an alien.
'How the hell did that work? What did he do? Wait, this isn't the first time this has happened either. The first time this happened was with Kurama…Or was it? Has he used this on me before? He would occasionally convince me to allow him an extra bowl of ramen despite me being against it at the start. Maybe…'
While Yuna was going through a minor existential crisis, Kurama could only shake his head inside Yuna's mindscape.
[In those situations, you act more like a doting grandmother than a big sister, so I am not surprised you cave in so easily to Naruto's requests.]
It took another half an hour for Kakashi to finally appear.
"Yo."
"YOU'RE LATE!!!"
"Easy, easy, I got stuck on the road of life while getting here."
"…"
"Anyway, here is your test."
Kakashi took out a timer and set it for noon and then took out three bells and bound them to his belt.
"Before the alarm rings, you have to get one of the bells. Everyone who doesn't have one will be sent back to the academy."
"What! But there are only three bells!"
"Correct! One of you will be sent back no matter what. My test, my rules, there is nothing you can do about that."
Sakura and Sasuke clenched their fist, while Naruto and Yuna gave each other a glance. The two of them have become rather experienced at communicating with only their eyes and only a few moments later, they broke eye contact. Kakashi noticed their silent communication as well and couldn't help but get slightly curious at what those two had planned.
"Well, let's begin. The test starts…NOW!"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura immediately dashed away and hid inside the nearby forest. Yuna, however, was still standing in front of Kakashi with a relaxed smile on her face. And her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Aren't you a little off, Yuna?"
"Hehe, not at all. I have done my research after all. I know your weakness and will naturally exploit it."
"Oh? My weakness? Now I am getting rather interested. Let's see what you got. [Shinobi Fighting Lesson #1 Taijutsu]."
After that sentence, Kakashi took a book out of his back pocket and started reading it. Yuna, however, only smirked at him.
"Seems like my theories about you were correct. Then let me show you what I got: [Rich Second Generation Hidden Move: Slapping your Enemies' Face with Wealth]."
Similar to Kakashi, Yuna pulled a small book out of her back pocket. To Kakashi's surprise, it was the very book he was currently reading. Although he was a little surprised by that he didn't care too much about it. Then, however, Yuna turned the book around, opened it, and revealed the last page. The first thing Kakashi noticed was the authors, Red Roses', signature being present. This truly surprised him, since there are only very few signed copies out there. Kakashi, of course, had his own signed book, so he quickly recovered from his shock.
"It seems you have researched me rather well, but this alone won't be enough to shock me."
Yuna's smirk, however, only got bigger when he heard that comment. She was in a rather similar situation a few days ago, after all. Without saying another word, she opened the book on a very specific page and showed it to Kakashi.
Kakashi's one visible eye immediately widened, when he realized that Yuna was implying that she was currently holding one of the review copies of his favorite book. In her hand.
'She said she could guess one of my dreams. Did she know I wanted this book? How did she find out about that?'
Kakashi didn't even notice that he had already revealed his Sharingan to make sure he wasn't tricked by a genjutsu. His Sharingan started spinning with lightning speed and scanned through the two pages, currently revealed by Yuna. He quickly found what he was looking for and couldn't help but be be dazed by it.
'An actual review copy. To think I would see one in my lifetime. If I could get my hands on it, I would place it on top of my shri *cough* collection.'
While Kakashi was sinking further and further into his thoughts, his instincts suddenly flared. He immediately started to pump chakra into his feet and jumped away with all his might. Naruto, whose fingertips were already touching the bells could only click his tongue in annoyance.
"Sorry, nee-san. Seems like he noticed me."
"Haha, no worries, Naruto. I didn't expect this to be over this easily after all. Switch to plan B and start preparing."
"Yes, nee-san!"
Naruto quickly disappeared into the forest again, while Kakashi approached Yuna again.
"I have to admit that it was almost my loss there."
Yuna only shrugged at that.
"Yeah, but as expected, asking a twelve-year-old to sneak up on an elite jonin was a little much to ask for."
"You almost sound like you were hoping for this plan to fail."
"Guilty!"
Yuna's face distorted into a battle thirsty smile as she flared her chakra and caused the ground around her to crack. Kakashi could only sigh at that.
'What kind of trouble have I gotten myself into?'
[Author Hidden Jutsu: Huge A** Cliffhanger]