The training ground was quiet. Mist clung to the grass, birds scattered at the edges of the clearing.
Three brats stood before me — restless, uncertain, and completely unprepared.
Naruto was bouncing on his toes, fists clenched. Sasuke stood still, arms folded, eyes locked on me with sharp suspicion. Sakura swallowed hard, adjusting her gloves like that would stop her hands from shaking.
Perfect.
I pulled two bells from my pouch and let them jingle on my hip. Their eyes followed the sound.
"The rules are simple," I said. "Take these from me before noon. If you fail, you go back to the Academy. Oh — and there are only two bells."
Naruto blinked. Sakura's mouth opened in protest. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"That means at least one of you fails," I added lazily, letting silence stretch. "Possibly more. Begin."
"Yaaahhh!"
It didn't take a second but Naruto charged like a cannonball, no hesitation. His fist swung wild and clumsy. I tilted my head, letting it brush air.
A single chop to the back of his neck, and he faceplanted into the dirt.
Sakura gasped, useless as a tiny twig. Sasuke snorted, arrogantly measuring for a chance. Naruto groaned, lied down with his butt arched like a mountain.
"Pathetic," I muttered. "If that's all you've got, you might as well quit now."
Naruto's face went red. "Shut up! You just caught me off guard! I'll show you, believe it!"
His hands blurred into seals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Dozens of orange-clad brats burst into the field. They roared as one, charging from all directions.
"Better," I admitted. But chakra control was sloppy. The clones were thin, their strikes uncoordinated. I slipped between them, a blur of motion. One kick, one chop, one sweep of my kunai, and another clone vanished in smoke.
Naruto grew desperate, sending them all at once. The clearing filled with fists and shouts.
I sighed. Reckless, predictable, and loud.
One hand formed a seal. I appeared behind the real Naruto, fingers stiff, striking upward.
"Secret Leaf Taijutsu…"
Naruto's eyes went wide.
"…One Thousand Years of Death!"
"GYAAAAAHHHHH!"
Naruto screeched, propelled through the air like a rocket, arms flailing wildly before he crashed headfirst into the nearby river with a splash.
Sakura slapped one of her hands over her mouth, eyes puffed like a toad, then proceeded to clench her butt while protecting it with her other hand. Sasuke's lips twitched, almost a smirk, but he couldn't hide sweat racing down his forehead.
I shook my hand out, utterly calm. "Taijutsu lesson: never leave yourself open. Or someone might decide to attack your most vulnerable parts."
Naruto burst from the water, face scarlet. "Y-YOU PERVY CYCLOPS BASTARD!"
"I deny those allegations," I answered, already flickering away from sight.
Naruto floundered. Sakura froze. But Sasuke… 'Emo' Sasuke moved.
He slipped into the trees, shuriken whispering through his fingers. Smart. Quiet. Patient.
Good.
I parried the first volley with a kunai. Another came from behind, perfectly angled to cut my retreat. Not bad. He'd studied.
But still predictable.
The rustle above warned me before the strike — Sasuke dropping from the branches, kunai poised. My eye twitched, Sharingan reflexes screaming even behind the seal suppressing them.
I twisted, letting his blade scrape my vest, and shoved him back with a kick.
Sasuke landed, eyes burning. His hands blurred into seals.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The roar of heat washed the clearing. Flames engulfed where I stood. Sakura gasped, shielding her face. Naruto cheered, "Yeahhh! He got him!"
When the smoke cleared, Sasuke froze. A charred log smoldered in my place.
My voice came from behind him, low and calm.
"Not bad. But fire alone won't save you."
A kunai pressed against his throat. One flick. He was mine.
"You're dead," I whispered.
Sasuke's teeth ground together. Rage, humiliation, but also — acknowledgment. He'd seen it.
She hadn't moved. She clung to the tree line, trembling, eyes darting between her teammates' humiliations.
My shadow fell over her. She froze.
"You froze," I said flatly.
Her breath hitched. "I-I—"
"On the battlefield, freezing means death. You can be the smartest in the room, but intelligence is worthless if you can't act on it."
Her lip trembled. Her fists clenched, white-knuckled.
I leaned closer. "Wanna prove me wrong, in that case lets do this again in 10 minutes, perhaps you will find the meaning of this test"
Then I vanished, leaving them with the weight of the words.
Time stretched like madara's glaze hashirama. Naruto tried again and again — traps, clones, brute force. Each attempt ended with him in the dirt or tied upside down from a tree. He was becoming sharper by the minute with his dubious and unpredictable knuckle head ninja ways.
Sasuke grew sharper, but impatience gnawed at him. His attacks lost precision. Pride burned into frustration. He was like a moth to a flame.
Sakura's attempts were cautious, hesitant. She tried hiding, tried assisting, but her fear leaked from every motion.I wonder if I should send her back to academy or perhaps exchange her with Hinata.
I let them suffer. I watched them crumble. But most of all enjoying their perils , also further planning how to torture them through D rank missions.
By noon, they were exhausted. Naruto's clothes were torn, his hands bled. Sasuke's hair clung to sweat, sticky and greasy. Sakura's eyes were red, trembling on the edge of tears.
I appeared before them, bells still jingling on my hip.
"You failed," I said. Their faces fell. "Not because you couldn't take these," I continued, flicking the bells. "But because you fought alone."
They blinked.
I tossed the bells into the dirt. "Eat lunch. But Naruto, you don't get any."
Shock. Guilt. Unease. Naruto slumped, stomach growling. Sasuke frowned at his food. Sakura bit her lip.
Slowly, reluctantly, Sasuke pushed his meal toward Naruto.
"Eat."
Naruto blinked up at him. "What?"
"Eat," Sasuke repeated, not looking up. "Don't slow us down."
Naruto's eyes widened, blue and uncertain.
"…But Kakashi-sensei said—"
Sakura hesitated, voice trembling. "Why?"
Sasuke's fingers tightened around his chopsticks. His jaw flexed.
"Because we can't beat him alone."
The words hit the air like steel.
Sakura stared at him for a heartbeat — and then nodded.
"Sasuke-kun…" she whispered softly. "You're right."
She pushed her bento toward Naruto, hand trembling just a little. Naruto froze, eyes wide as tears threatened to break. He looked between them — the boy who called him dead last, the girl who once called him annoying — and couldn't speak.
So he did the only thing he could. He ate. Greedy, messy, grateful bites. And for the first time that day, no one laughed at him for it.
The world seemed to still be around them. Even the wind stopped moving.
And then—
Flick.
The air cracked. A blur appeared in front of them, silent as a shadow. Kakashi stood there, mask hiding everything except the gleam of his single eye. They froze. Sakura's breath caught. Sasuke's muscles tensed. Naruto nearly dropped his lunch.
"You disobeyed me," I said quietly.
My voice cut through the silence, colder than steel. No birds. No wind. Only three tiny heartbeats in a sea of dread. They didn't speak. Even Naruto, reckless as he was, stayed still.
I let the moment drag, the weight of fear thick around them — until I saw it. Naruto's trembling hands.
Sasuke's tight fists. Sakura's shaking shoulders.
But beneath that… there was no quitting.
So I smiled.
"Good."
Their eyes widened.
"A shinobi who abandons his comrades…" I stepped forward, boots crunching against the dirt.
"…is worse than trash."
Naruto blinked, confusion overtaking fear. Sakura gasped. Sasuke's gaze locked on me.
I stopped in front of them. The sun broke through the clouds, rays cutting through the mist and catching the edge of my hitai-ate.
"But…" My eye softened — just barely. "…trash who stand together… might survive."
The words hung there — and then something cracked inside them.
Naruto's mouth trembled into a grin, messy and bright despite the dirt on his face. Sasuke's smirk tugged at the corner of his lips — subtle, but real. Sakura's eyes shimmered with relief, her shoulders finally easing.
They looked at one another — three broken, tired kids — and for the first time, they saw a team.
I lifted the bells between my fingers.
"Team 7…"
The breeze carried the jingle, soft and clear.
"…passes."
Silence again. Then—
Naruto shot up, fists in the air. "YESSS! We did it!" Sasuke turned away, muttering, "Hn." But his smirk gave him away. Sakura wiped at her eyes, pretending it was just sweat.
I turned my back to them, mask tugging into a grin they couldn't see.
' This time, they won't stumble into destiny blind.I'll make predators out of them yet.'
The wind picked up again, rustling leaves and stirring the grass. The bells jingled at my hip one last time as I vanished in a flicker of motion, leaving only the whisper of chakra in the air.