Kakashi's wrist was caught in a trap. The twelve-year-old boy's grip proved unnaturally strong, like a steel clamp.
The jonin acted instantly. The book fell from his hand. His other palm met the strike aimed at his waist with a hard block.
Slap.
Kakashi's palm met Naruto's palm. The shockwave reverberated in his bones with unexpected heaviness.
Break distance. Kakashi jumped back. Naruto didn't pursue. He simply adopted a low, fluid stance that the jonin didn't recognize.
"Not bad," the lazy drowsiness vanished from the teacher's voice. He had been forced to use both hands.
Strong and precise for his age, came the experienced fighter's instant assessment. Style fluid as water, but strikes heavy as boulders. This is the complete opposite of the brute force of his clones. The Third's report was not just incomplete—it was erroneous.
Naruto lunged forward. Kakashi met him.
A short, intense skirmish. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto didn't attack blindly. Every strike aimed for the bells, every movement was a calculated attempt to pry open the defense, to redirect a block aside.
The jonin was impressed. But he remained a jonin.
Naruto was fast, but his actual combat experience was zero. A feint to the left, but his right foot froze for a split second, betraying the true vector of the attack. A rookie mistake.
Kakashi ignored the feint. Ducked under the real strike. A precise, hard sweep to the supporting leg.
Balance collapsed. Naruto stumbled, and in that second, the cold steel of a kunai froze at his throat.
"And you're out too," Kakashi said quietly.
The kunai disappeared into his pouch. Kakashi kicked him away, noting with surprise the unnatural heaviness of the boy's body, but inertia did its job—the student flew aside.
...
All three gathered in the clearing.
Sakura, woken from the genjutsu, eyes red from crying. Sasuke, soaked to the bone after climbing out of the river; steam rose from his clothes—the heat of impotent rage. Naruto, dusting himself off. His face remained calm, his brain already analyzing the mistake.
"I... I'm useless..." the girl sobbed.
"Shut up!" the Uchiha barked, looking not at her, but at Naruto. "And you, don't get in my way. I'll handle him myself."
Naruto turned to him.
"He's a jonin, Sasuke. He's playing with us."
"I don't care!"
"Did you see him?" Naruto's voice rang with cold logic. "He defeated you without letting go of his book. Do you seriously think you can handle him alone?"
The words hit harder than the jonin's attack. Sasuke fell silent, fists clenched until the knuckles turned white.
"But how can we defeat him?" Sakura whispered, smearing tears. "He's... he's on a completely different level."
"We can't defeat him," Naruto answered. "But maybe we can take the bells."
A glance at Kakashi, who ostentatiously reopened his book.
"This isn't a test of strength. It's a test of coordination and deception."
Sasuke snorted, but didn't argue. The logic was undeniable.
Naruto closed his eyes for a second. Qi Concentration processed the variables.
"Here's the plan," he spoke quickly. "I create a distraction. Massive."
Gaze on the Uchiha.
"You're the best fighter. Hide among my clones. He'll expect direct attacks from them. Look for an opening when he's busy."
Gaze on the girl. She flinched, not expecting to be trusted with a role at all.
"Sakura, you come with me. When the chaos starts, stay close. We'll approach from the blind spot."
Not waiting for agreement, fingers formed the seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
BOOM!
The clearing exploded in white smoke. Not twenty. Dozens. A hundred. A whole army in black.
"Go!"
"Oh no," Kakashi sighed, hiding the book in his pouch. "That trick again..."
The horde rushed to attack. But now more organized. Coordinated waves. Strikes, blocks, grapples. Kakashi had to dodge, jump back, work seriously. It stopped being just "annoying." It was becoming somewhat difficult.
Sasuke burst out from the thick of the clones.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"
Kakashi leaped away from the roaring flames, barely missing the fists of two clones from the flank.
"So that's how it is..." fingers touched the headband.
The left eye opened. Blood-red. Three tomoe in slow rotation.
Sharingan!
The world became transparent. He saw chakra flows. Saw Sasuke hidden by a wall of doubles. Saw the trajectory of every strike in advance. The methodical destruction of clones began with terrifying efficiency.
The resulting chaos was perfect. Constant attacks, the noise of battle, fire—all the jonin's attention was absorbed by the frontal threat.
"Now," Naruto whispered.
He grabbed Sakura by the wrist and dragged her along a wide arc, bypassing the battle. Qi Sensory sought not the enemy—he already knew where he was—but a blind spot in perception. The Sharingan was focused on Sasuke and the army of clones. The back remained open.
Sakura, understanding the plan, instantly suppressed her chakra to zero—something she did better than anyone in the class. They slipped out from behind the trees. Kakashi, having just repelled another of the Uchiha's attacks, felt the presence too late.
Two hands reached for the belt simultaneously.
Fingers closed on cold metal.
RIIIIIIING!
The alarm clock cut through the air the very second fingers touched the target.
The clones vanished in clouds of smoke. Sasuke was breathing heavily, standing on scorched grass. Naruto and Sakura froze behind the teacher's back, clutching the bells.
Kakashi lowered the headband, hiding the scarlet eye.
Silence. The gloomy look of the three genin.
"Well, well," the teacher's voice was calm as ever. "Time's up."
"But... but we grabbed them!" Sakura protested.
"Technically," Kakashi turned around, "you failed. The alarm rang before you managed to pull them off."
Sakura slumped. Sasuke's shoulders dropped. Failure.
"But..." the jonin continued, and a smile slipped into his voice. "You are the first who understood the essence. You need to work together. You used all your strengths. Even you, Sakura. You played the ambush role perfectly."
The single visible eye squinted merrily.
"Team 7..." a pause for effect. "You pass. Your first mission... is tomorrow morning."