Kakashi walked along the dirt path leading to the training field.
The orange book rested open in his hand, though he wasn't turning the pages.
More than reading, he held it out of habit.
The sun was still low. Training Ground Seven waited ahead.
"You're cutting it close," Toph said.
Kakashi didn't stop.
"On time is on time."
Toph stood off to the side of the path, barefoot, the band covering his eyes. The ground around him remained perfectly still.
"The genin are already there," he added.
"Good."
A brief silence.
"Another test?" Toph asked.
"The usual one."
"Good luck."
Kakashi stopped then.
"Is that advice?"
"It's a warning."
Kakashi tilted his head.
"I don't usually break them."
"No," Toph replied. "But you don't really listen to them at first either."
Kakashi didn't answer.
"See you later," Toph said. "Same place as always."
Kakashi nodded once.
He kept walking.
The training field came into view.
Three figures waited.
Kakashi kept the book open as he approached, partially hiding his face.
Naruto spotted him first.
"You're late!" the boy shouted the moment he saw him.
Kakashi stopped in front of them, in no hurry. The orange book remained a barrier between him and the world.
"Good morning," he said calmly.
Sakura frowned.
"It's not a good morning! You're late!"
Kakashi closed the book gently and looked up at the sky, as if searching for something among the clouds.
"An old lady needed help carrying her groceries," he explained.
Naruto clenched his fists.
"That's a lie!"
"No," Kakashi replied with complete seriousness. "It was one old lady… then another. And then a black cat crossed my path."
Sasuke said nothing, simply watching him, measuring.
Kakashi finally lowered his gaze to the three of them.
"Anyway," he continued, "the road ended up longer than expected."
Naruto opened his mouth to protest again, but Kakashi raised a hand.
"That said… let's begin."
He slipped the book into his vest pocket and placed his hands together in front of him.
"This isn't an ordinary test."
The three looked at him with varying degrees of attention.
"In fact," he said, "it's very simple."
He paused briefly.
"If you don't achieve the objective…" a faint smile formed beneath the mask, "you fail."
Silence fell over the field like a shadow.
The test had begun.
Two bells gleamed in Kakashi's hand.
"Get one of these by noon," he said, "or no lunch. And the one who doesn't get a bell… goes back to the Academy."
Naruto grinned with overconfidence. Sakura glanced nervously at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes burned with quiet determination.
Kakashi tied the bells to his belt.
"Come at me with the intent to kill. Otherwise, you'll never touch them."
The fight was chaotic from the start—exactly as he expected.
Naruto charged head-on, loud and reckless. Sakura hesitated, trying strategy from a distance. Sasuke vanished into the trees, striking only when he thought no one was watching.
None of them worked together.
Kakashi moved between them effortlessly, deflecting, disappearing, reappearing. The bells jingled mockingly.
From somewhere beyond the clearing, the earth remained quiet. Too quiet.
He remembered a younger voice, dry and sharp:
The ground holds everyone—or no one.
First attempt ended in failure.
The three genin lay tied or exhausted on the ground, lunch boxes placed just out of reach.
Kakashi stood over them.
"You failed."
Naruto struggled against the ropes. Sakura looked down. Sasuke glared.
"Because you acted alone," Kakashi continued. "In this world, those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades… are worse than scum."
The words tasted familiar. He had heard them before, long ago, spoken not by Minato, but by someone sitting barefoot on blood-soaked earth.
The earth remembers the ones we leave behind. Don't abandon them.
He looked at the three faces in front of him.
Naruto, defiant even when tied.
Sakura, uncertain but trying.
Sasuke, closed off, carrying weight too heavy for his age.
Second chance.
The alarm clock ticked toward noon.
This time, something shifted.
Naruto shouted something stupid and brave. Sakura moved to support. Sasuke—reluctantly—joined.
They didn't get the bells.
But they tried to feed each other.
Kakashi watched from the memorial stone shadow he'd chosen as vantage point.
A faint tremor ran through the ground—barely perceptible. Approval, perhaps.
He stepped forward.
"You pass."
Three stunned faces turned toward him.
"Because you finally understood what matters most."
He untied them.
"From now on, you're a team. Don't forget it."
The sun was higher now.
Kakashi turned to leave.
As he walked the same dirt path back, he felt the earth shift slightly beneath his steps.
Not restless anymore.
For the first time in a long while, it felt… steady.
He knew where he was headed next.