Naruto: BELIEVE IT

"...Not bad,"

Said Kakashi as he looked around.

'All of them are quite well hidden... except for one.'

Hidden in their own positions, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke silently observed Kakashi.

Then, they saw Kakashi disappearing from his position—under their eyes, in an instant.

'?!'

"Oh,"

Naruto instantly turned around and saw Kakashi holding onto a rope.

"A trap? Nice try, I guess."

Throwing it away, he looked at Naruto who got into a stance for the upcoming hand-to-hand combat.

"...Let's test your taijutsu skill then."

Kakashi dashed toward Naruto.

At the last second, Naruto suddenly lowered his guard and let Kakashi hit him.

Poof!

"Shadow clone?"

For the first time, Kakashi was surprised as the smoke greeted him. Just then, the hands suddenly popped out of the ground, grabbed him by his ankles, and pulled him into the ground.

Pulled deep down the ground, Kakashi saw that on the nearby earth wall, there was an explosive tag attached.

'Kai.'

As Naruto from some distance away formed a hand seal, the loud explosion occurred with a boom.

Hidden in her position, Sakura winced in shock.

"That... wasn't bad."

And from Naruto's back, Kakashi spoke.

With a grim expression, Naruto turned around and faced the man. This time around, there was no more deceit prepared.

"To set up a fine trap in a short time given and intentionally leak its position... you have my praise for that. However, what about the other skills?"

Flipping out two shurikens, Naruto threw them at Kakashi and began running toward the latter at the same time.

As Kakashi caught them by hand and threw them away, Naruto, now holding onto a kunai, jumped, kicked his feet off the bark, and propelled himself at Kakashi.

Raising his hand, Kakashi blowed the attempted stab of Naruto by swatting the latter's arm away.

Having expected this, Naruto immediately lowered his position and sweeped his foot, trying to trip Kakashi. Kakashi hopped lightly, and Naruto quickly sprang up, attempting to kick Kakashi right above him.

Kakashi, reaching his hand out, blocked Naruto's kick. Then grabbing Naruto by the ankle, he threw Naruto toward a nearby bark. Immediately regaining his balance, Naruto landed on the bark by his feet. For a brief moment, Naruto stood on the bark, attached vertically.

Kakashi found himself surprised.

'He's already able to...'

Naruto suddenly utilized the replacement jutsu, swapping his position with a fallen kunai nearby Kakashi—one that he left intentionally.

With his hand clenched into a fist, Naruto threw it at Kakashi who swatted it to the side with his hand.

Opening his fist, Naruto rotated to avoid Kakashi's incoming strike and grab Kakashi's outstretched arm. Kakashi felt his body being yanked by Naruto, who seemed to have his fist cocked back, ready for a punch.

"But there still are improvements to be done."

Then, as Kakashi spoke calmly, Naruto found his vision spinning. By the time he realized, he was fallen on the ground with Kakashi still unscathed.

"Theory and reality aren't the same, Naruto."

Naruto saw Kakashi dashing at him. Clicking his tongue, he quickly took out a smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it to the ground.

Poof!

Then, in Kakashi's perspective, there were multiple Narutos—a mix of the original and shadow clones—dashing out of the smokey region, all running in a different direction.

Unable to distinguish which is which, Kakashi stood still and allowed Naruto get away, having assessed enough of Naruto.

'Taijutsu at the level of a standard level, and a superb ninjutsu that consists of shadow clone and ability to utilize replacement jutsu with something as small as a kunai...'

And when coupled with the the ability to set up traps and play mind game such as intentionally revealing his position,

'...With enough experience, he may as well as be considered a chunin.'

Honestly speaking, Naruto managed to impress Kakashi.

And seeing Kakashi in a deep thought, Sasuke believed that he finally found the opening.

Multiple shurikens suddenly came in flying at once as Sasuke revealed his position. Those shurikens, flying at a rapid speed, struck Kakashi whose guard was lowered—

—or so it seemed, until Sasuke realized that he hit a tree stump instead.

"He deliberated acted like he was off guard...!"

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke quickly dashed back while observing his surroundings.

At the same time, Sakura began moving as soon as she saw that Sasuke was in a potential danger.

'Sasuke-kun...! Kakashi-sensei might have... no, no way!'

In panic, Sakura didn't notice that she has become noticeable, and therefore vulnerable. What she did see with her tunnel-vision, however, was Kakashi standing, reading a book all of a sudden.

Holding her breath instinctively, Sakura brought herself into a bush nearby,

'Great, he hasn't seen me—'

"Behind you!"

Turning around, Sakura let out a silent scream as Kakashi was there, staring at her.

Then, she found herself getting drowsy as Kakashi disappeared from her sight, and appeared, the storm of leaves that blew around her.

Sakura's eyes then widened. Realizing that she was in a genjutsu, she quickly formed a hand seal to dispel it,

"Kai!"

The storm of leaves disappeared and Sakura took a breath of relief.

"Sakura..."

Then, the familiar voice was heard to her.

'That's...!'

Sakura smiled,

"Sasuke-kun!"

In her sight was a gravely injured Sasuke, bleeding with the sharp weapons embedded in all areas of his body.

"Sa... Sakura... help... me..."

Sakura's smile froze. Having witnessed such a terror, she screamed at her lungs,

"KYAAAA!!!"

and along the way, she lost her consciousness.

"Hm... maybe that was too much."

While Kakashi said to himself from some distance away, Naruto and Sasuke turned to the location of the scream.

"That scream I just heard..."

Sasuke whispered to himself, but didn't have the time to think more of it.

"Genjutsu, the art of illusion. Sakura fell for it."

Once again, Kakashi revealed himself in front of Sasuke, flipping through the pages of a book.

"...I won't however. I'm not like her."

Staring at Sasuke's darkened expression, Kakashi closed the book and placed it back in his pocket.

"Save your boasts until you've got a bell, Sasuke."

Sasuke then began rushing forward, and the two of them clashed.

__________

"You alright?"

"...Huh?"

Upon regaining her consciousness, Sakura saw Naruto crouching down in front of her.

'...!'

Sakura then remembered what happened just before,

'Sasuke was dying... and when I saw that, I—'

"SA—"

Sakura was about to let out an outburst, but with her mouth closed by Naruto's hand, it was prevented.

"Shh..."

Putting his index finger in front of his mouth, Naruto whispered to her,

"It was just an illusion. Sasuke is fine."

"H-He is?"

"That isn't the most important right now though."

"What do you mean by that—"

"Just hear me out for now, will you?"

Sakura closed her mouth, knowing that she was being far too emotional. Nodding slowly, she let Naruto speak.

"We're running out of time. Kakashi-sensei is surely going easy on us, but not easy enough for us to be able to get those bells by ourselves."

After his face-off against Kakashi and observation of his interactions with Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto deduced that there was a hidden criteria of this test.

"Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu—Kakashi-sensei assessed us in numerous aspects in a short span of time. However, think about it. We are just the academy graduates and requires teaching. Sure, talents matter, but do you really believe that we are expected to perform great here?"

"...Then what? What does he want us to do?"

"Konoha values 'will of fire'. It can be interpreted in many ways, but I'd say that the way Konoha adopts this value is through 'teamwork.'"

"...! Come to think of it..."

Sakura too noticed now, of what Naruto was trying to say.

Two bells presented. One left out will receive all the disgrace and demerits. It was as if Kakashi was trying to make them compete against each other, when they are supposed to be one team altogether...

"...What if you are wrong though?"

"I may be wrong. Even if we snatch two bells, one may have to give up. But that's for us then to think, not us now."

Sakura gulped, knowing that Naruto was right. Taking a deep breath, she asked eventually,

"...What should I do?"

Naruto grinned.

__________

"I admit it."

Sasuke, bruised and beaten on the ground, huffed heavily as Kakashi exclaimed,

"You... and Naruto, are certainly different. So the confidence wasn't for nothing, it seemed. However—"

Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw Sasuke undergoing a particular sequence of hand seals,

'That skill is beyond the capacity of academy graduates... his chakra shouldn't have developed enough for the nature transformation!'

'Fire Style, Fireball Technique!'

A blast of notable-sized fire ball was breathed out from Sasuke's bellowed mouth, incinerating whatever lied ahead.

When the fire cleared, Kakashi was gone from the site.

'He's gone...!'

Sasuke quickly looked around,

'Behind me? Above? Where'd he go—'

"Below."

A hand broke through the ground below Sasuke and grabbing him by the ankle, pulled him down into the earth.

Now, with only the head peaking out of the ground, Sasuke glared at the crouching form of Kakashi who jokingly said,

"Earth Style, Groundhog Jutsu!"

"You..."

"Well, that's ninja lesson number three, ninjutsu for you."

Straightening up his body, Kakashi put his hands in his pockets.

"Get it? Groundhog. One that's sticking up gets hammered down, haha!"

"Damn it!!"

Sasuke wriggled his body, but the hole was too tight. With his hands immobilized, he couldn't attempt to form any hand seal. In addition, due to his fireball technique, there was no material nearby for him to perform the replacement jutsu either.

"Hm, time's almost up."

Looking at the timer that wasn't too far away, Kakashi commented as he turned away from Sasuke, walking.

Then,

"Sasuke-kun!!"

Sakura, as if unable to keep her devastation suppressed, ran at Sasuke without caring for Kakashi right next to him.

"...Really?"

Kakashi initially deadpanned before he noticed,

'...A genjutsu?'

Feeling a disturbance in the flow of his chakra, Kakashi quickly dispelled it. Sakura, who was the cue of the genjutsu, remained the same, but Sasuke was no longer buried.

Instead, he stood next to Naruto, confused. The sole intention of genjutsu was to buy a second of time, enough to get Sasuke back on his feet.

'Poor use of genjutsu, but not too shabby I guess.'

Kakashi hummed.

"...Why are you helping me."

"There's barely any time left, and admit it,"

And to Sasuke who asked, Naruto stated,

"There is no way for us to seize those bells if were to do it by ourselves. At this rate, it won't be just one of us who goes back, but all of us."

Kakashi mentioned that only one would be sent back to the academy, but Naruto intentionally spoke as. if everyone will be sent back. By mentioning that there wasn't much time beforehand, he was trying to make Sasuke cooperate with them.

'...Ho.'

Without making a movement, Kakashi watched their interactions.

"Let's do it together. Seize the bells, and then we'll decide who takes them."

Sasuke bit his lips. Looking at Sakura, he exhibited that of distrust, which shocked her. Snorting, he turned to Naruto and thought briefly before finally replying,

"...Fine."

"Great! Now we start!"

As soon as Sasuke agreed, Naruto snapped his fingers.

Then, hundreds of Narutos revealed themselves from everywhere, much to Sasuke and Kakashi's disbelief.

"What is this number—"

'Multi Shadow Clone jutsu?! No, Hokage-sama indicated that Naruto learned the standard one... ah, I see. He simply performed the jutsu multiple times and had them waiting.'

In a way, Sasuke's fire ball jutsu served as a great merit in this scenario, for there was no nearby material for Kakashi to replace with—or so Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke believed.

Kakashi, unlike what they believed however, could do perform the replacement jutsu with one of Naruto's clone. But... Kakashi decided not to, seeing that the three of them were trying to work together.

"Hmph!"

Sasuke revealed eight shurikens, four in each hand. Throwing them with a terrifying accuracy, the shurikens bypassed all the clones of Naruto, straight to where Kakashi was.

Kakashi, with the lightning reflex, caught those shurikens and threw them back at Naruto's clones. After, he engaged himself in hand-to-hand combat against the remaining clones who were rushing at him chaotically.

However, Sasuke's shurikens had wires attached to them. Though they struck the clones and destroyed them, the shurikens flew in circles around Kakashi, elusive under the smoke produced by the destroyed clones of Naruto.

"...!"

Kakashi's eyes widened as he finally noticed through the smoke, the wire-tied shurikens that continued to spin around.

In no time, he found his body tied by those wires, and just then, all Naruto's clones exploded into smoke simultaneously.

Though his vision was impaired due to the smoke, Kakashi's sense of hearing told him that two individuals were currently holding onto these wires to keep him restricted: Sakura and Sasuke.

Then, there were footsteps right ahead of Kakashi.

Naruto was running with his fist clenched.

'Mold chakra. Augment the hand. The excess chakra will be expelled for the further amplification of the damage.'

It was the fruit of Naruto's years of training. The technique that broke a wall in his home 5 years ago, one which he could proudly call it his original.

Though subtle, Kakashi's instinct screamed danger. He could tell, the huge influx of chakra into a singular point, and as Naruto revealed himself, Kakashi saw the fist that was blazing in vivid, blue-coloured chakra.

"Chakra—"

As Naruto blasted his fist, Kakashi's view brightened, and then, with a boom, a huge explosion occurred.

"—Overload!"

The wind blew from the sheer force, causing Sakura and Sasuke to shield their faces with their arms.

With the wind blowing away the smoke in an instant, they came to see Naruto standing, huffing with his fist outstretched.

Kakashi wasn't present. The wires were cut.

As Naruto dropped his arm, Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto with hope and expectation.

Grinning, Naruto opened his hand and revealed—two bells sitting on his palm. Out of joy, Sakura yelped. Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.

From the back, the claps were heard. Turning around, they saw Kakashi, completely unscathed, giving them a round of applause.

"I won't lie to you, now that was quite impressive."

In his same impassive look, he stared at Naruto,

"Congratulations on completing the task. However, there are only two bells, Naruto. What will you do now?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto with a demanding gleam in his eyes. Sakura, on the other hand, looked down, as if she knew that she barely did anything.

Naruto looked at the bells in his hands for a moment, undergoing numerous thoughts.

'Look underneath of the underneath.'

With a mischievous look on his face, he threw two bells at Sakura and Sasuke. Sasuke huffed as he caught onto one, while Sakura seemed surprised.

Then, as Sakura took a closer look at what she caught, she noticed,

"Wait, this is... cut in half!"

Naruto severed one bell into two.

"Half a bell is, nevertheless, a bell. This way, all three of us have a bell of our own, Kakashi-sensei."

Wigging half a bell by its string, Naruto boldly asked Kakashi,

"So, do we pass?"

Watching Naruto in his confident form, Kakashi felt as if he was staring at the image of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato who was Naruto's biological father.

'...It looks like they will do better than we did, Minato-sensei.'

Kakashi stared at Naruto intently for a while, enough for Sakura and Sasuke to grow nervous again. Then, suddenly throwing out the serious demeanour, he lightly claimed,

"You all pass!"

At the same time, the timer behind them ringed loudly.