Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Akira watched carefully as their jōnin-sensei landed lightly on the field, a few meters from them.
The twins exchanged a look as they fell into battle-ready stances, a bunch of Naruto’s shadow clones popping into existence and surrounding them.
“Do you really think that’s going to work better now than it did before?” asked the man appearing amused by them.
“You’re going to regret underestimating us, dattebayo!” shouted Naruto. “I’m Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage! And I’m going to pass your stupid test!”
“You like to brag, but I’ve yet to see anything that gives you the right to.” threw back the jōnin, going back to his book.
Akira’s eyes narrowed as the man seemed to dismiss him completely. He could play that to his advantage, if it was true. But would a jōnin shinobi really dismiss someone as no threat without having tested their abilities? Granted, they weren’t even true genin yet, but it was still possible they’d trick him, right? Was he really that confident in his abilities?
So it all came down to whether he really was dismissing him as a threat or feigning it.
‘I’d go with the second option, but only one way to be sure.’ Thought the redhead. ‘And it will also confirm if my theory about the whole purpose of the test is correct.’
“Naruto, can you create more clones?”
“Didn’t I already say that wouldn’t help?” sighed the jōnin.
“How many?” asked the blonde without hesitation, and Akira saw their sensei’s eyes narrow.
“Enough for a cover.”
Naruto smirked, understanding, and his hands formed the required seals before a cloud of smoke covered their entire area and formed a ring around the silver-haired man.
“You’re going down.” Shouted all the Naruto’s simultaneously, the added loudness providing cover for any other noises.
The orange-clad clones all charged forward, not even waiting for the smoke to clear, and Kakashi-sensei used a Kawarimi Jutsu to change places with the ‘real’ Naruto, ending up right next to Akira.
Meanwhile, the redhead pressed his lips together as half the clones vanished when they didn’t have time to stop their momentum and crashed against each other in the middle of the ring.
“You know, if the one who calls the shots makes himself so obvious, they’re usually the first to be brought down.”
The child before him gave a smirk that was purely Naruto’s before speaking; in Naruto’s voice.
“Oh, we were counting on it.”
Kakashi’s only visible eye widened as both the henge and the shadow clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before he had time to react, a bunch of the clones still around were on him. he’d barely taken a step back when Akira ―the real one this time― dropped the henge disguising him as one of the blond’s clones and launched himself, kunai in hand, towards the jōnin’s middle. At the same time, the real Naruto and one of his clones sent a handful of shuriken spinning towards him.
‘I almost have them. Was I wrong?’ thought Akira, his kunai slicing through the thread holding the bells.
Nearly faster than he could follow, Kakashi-sensei dropped his book and stopped the shuriken. A second later, he collided against his brother and felt his hand close around…
…empty air.
“Ow.” Complained Naruto, rubbing his head where Akira’s elbow had hit him.
“Sorry.” Muttered Akira, rubbing his elbow and his die where he’d hit the ground.
“It’s fine. You got them?”
“No, he was too fast.” Admitted Akira.
Naruto jumped up immediately and started looking around.
“Where did he go!?”
“I cut through the cord so he’ll have to restring the bells and there’s another two he’s got to test.” He replied absently looking around, eyes stopping on the three nearby posts.
He had thought it was strange from the very beginning.
First that came to mind as to the test’s purpose was teamwork. After all, no sane person would actually expect a genin alone to get the drop on a jōnin, right?
But it still didn’t really make sense. There were two bells and only the two that got them would pass, so that would mean they had to work as pairs. Yet as his brother and he had just proved, that wasn’t enough either.
There were three posts. A seemingly inconsequential detail to most, but it helped him focus his thoughts.
His theory hadn’t been wrong. The Bell Test was designed to pit them against each other and see if they could put aside their differences and self-interests ―in this case securing a place in the team― and work together towards a common goal ―getting the bells despite the chances of not all of them reaping the benefits.
He also knew with certainty that Konoha teams operated in units of three. The only exception to this rule were certain high-ranked missions that couldn’t be carried out as a team and, as far as he knew, only the shinobi elite ―the ANBU―were tasked with them.
Therefore, it made no sense to be told only two of them could pass. His conclusion? They were all supposed to work together as a team to pass the test.
There was only one catch: their team was an anomaly because they were four instead of the usual three. And that, if he was actually right, meant three of them would pass……and one would fail.
“Come on, Naruto. We’ve got what we need.”
HPNHPNHPNHPN
Kakashi watched the brothers from the tree he’d hidden in after using the Kawarimi Jutsu to change his place with the real Naruto, making both boys collide against each other and getting away with the bells, having had to snatch them right out of the air.
He was ashamed to admit they’d caught him by surprise. They worked well together, Naruto showcasing a good enough ability in using his recently acquired B-ranked Jutsu and following orders; Akira demonstrating good leadership skills and quick thinking, maximising the use of his brother’s abilities to their advantage.
Looking at the bells in his hand, he kept an ear out for the twins’ conversation and restrung the bells. It had been too close a call for his taste.
He was even more miffed because, whilst he’d been able to evaluate the blonde’s skills at taijutsu, shurikenjutsu and ninjutsu, the only things he’d got out of Akira were that he was fast, crafty and had good command of at least two of the basic Academy ninjutsu, those being the henge ―disguising himself as Naruto’s clone― and the Kawarimi ―he failed to see any other way he could have traded place with the clone henged as him under the smoke’s cover; the kid was fast, but not that fast.
He needed a bit more than that if the idea that had been taking shape in his mind for a while already ―solidifying more and more with each detail he noticed― was to work.
“Come on, Naruto. We’ve got what we need.” He heard Akira say in a quiet thoughtful voice.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
‘So he wasn’t really expecting to get the bells, eh? His attack had another purpose, but what?’
Things were sure getting interesting.
Unfortunately, he had another two children to tor- evaluate, and the clock was ticking. Thirty more minutes.