Chereads / Grace: A Naruto Fanfiction (Book 1) / Chapter 23 - CHAPTER 23: OUTCOME

Chapter 23 - CHAPTER 23: OUTCOME

Chapter 23: Outcome

~~~

The team rushed right towards Kakashi. It seems like he was going to take this fight just a tad more seriously than Kakashi had expected or even anticipated at all.

"You all have under 10 minutes to get these bells from me." Kakashi was still lax, but was ready to fight these 3 child-turned-genin. Naruto was the first throw a move at Kakashi.

A punch? He thought, ducking down slightly to avoid the punch. But before he could give a counterattack, two kicks were directed at him at a simultaneous rate.

Kakashi dodged by leaning away just a tiny bit so the kick would miss a direct hit. He then countered with grabbing Sakura's leg due to her being the weakest in the team.

Kakashi then pinned her foot on the ground and used that as leverage to regain his balance. He was about to go for another attack but had to stop from advancing once he saw a kunai get thrown straight towards him.

He replaced himself with wood log.

"Be on the look out," said Satsuki, glancing around the area for any potential movement that could be caused by Kakashi. Naruto soon noticed a shadow looming right over Satsuki.

"Satsuki! Move out the way." Satsuki couldn't react in time and was about to by hit Kakashi's fist. Naruto slightly gritted his teeth summoning a shadow clone right next to himself.

The said clone threw him right towards Satsuki. Naruto looked right over at Sakura.

"Throw a kunai," said Naruto, just low enough to where Sakura could hear his voice.

She nodded, pulling out a pair of kunai from her holster. Sakura then threw the kunai right towards Kakashi.

Naruto managed to get Satsuki out of there due to this distraction.

"Shit, thanks. I guess. Actually, I didn't need your help." Satsuki huffed.

Naruto just shrugged, putting her back on the ground. Sakura walked up right beside the two and waited for the next step of the plan that was on their list.

"Lesson 3: Ninjutsu."

Kakashi looked at them, waiting for the 3 to make their next move.

Naruto internally huffed slightly, analyzing the environment just incase they need to improvise on their current plan.

"Satsuki, we need to do a jutsu." She nodded, knowing what exactly the two needed to do to pass this survival exercise. The two started to weave a set of hand seals.

Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger

Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger

The two inhaled. "Fire Release: Great FireBall Jutsu." Then they simultaneously exhaled and shot out a large fireball from both of their mouths. Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

So Satsuki can also use elemental ninjutsu. Kakashi thought, also weaving a set of hand seals.

Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog

"Earth Release: Mud Wall" A large wall suddenly started to rise up from the ground.

It appeared very quickly and shielded him from getting potentially hurt from the two fireballs that Naruto and Satsuki had shot and aimed right towards him

Large amounts of smoke started to cover the area as the mud wall was still up and running.

Kakashi suddenly heard them start to run right towards him. But the real question that needed to be ask was: Which way were they running?

Suddenly, the clouds of smoke started to tear apart as 3 people emerged from different sides and angles. Sakura appeared on his left, Satsuki appeared on his right and Naruto appeared right on top of the mud wall.

Kakashi stopped crouching and jumped back slightly to dodge the punch that they all tried giving to him.

He heard a noise emerge from behind. Kakashi had to react quickly by using on of his legs to twist and redirect himself.

He brought his foot up and destroyed a clone that was coming from Naruto.

The rest of the smoke had cleared and revealed Naruto, Satsuki, and Sakura standing right beside the mud wall that was slowly crumbling down back to the ground. Kakashi stood right back up to regain his balance.

Their teamwork is quite impressive. Naruto alone was able to put pressure on me with our fight quite awhile back. This team. . . it has a lot of potential even though it's not balance at all. Kakashi thought, going right towards the trio.

Naruto looked at the two of them and nodded.

"Go at him, but remember, time your attacks with each other's." They nodded, readying themselves for another brawl.

Satsuki and Sakura went first while Naruto kept on analyzing.

After a few more seconds, Naruto followed right after them. He looked at the two before suddenly rushing in and taking the unexpected kick that was aimed right towards Kakashi.

Ah, so they wanted to throw me off by having those two to make it seem like they were going to attack first and not Naruto. Almost caught me by surprise. Kakashi thought, using his forearm to block the attack from Naruto.

From the corner of his eye he saw Satsuki and Sakura aim a kick right at the nape of his neck. Kakashi reacted by tilting his head to the back so he could fully dodge it.

The two missed and withdrawn their legs back to themselves.

"Watch out, sensei," said Naruto, bringing his feet up and kicking him away. Kakashi suddenly heard the bells clang as he was being pushed back. He looked down and saw Sakura reach out towards the bells to attain them for the team.

Sadly, Kakashi managed to lightly kick the arm and hand away.

He landed back and saw Sakura get up from the ground right after the blow to her arm had subsided to a substantial degree. Sakura's eyes looked further beyond.

Kakashi did the same and saw Satsuki reach right towards the bells by his pockets.

He looked right beside and saw Naruto also reach for the bells. He was about to do his counterattack, but soon saw that the Naruto and Satsuki right behind him were merely just shadow clones.

Naruto created two shadow clones and henged one to look like Satsuki. Kakashi thought.

There was barely 30 seconds left on the clock now. He looked right behind him once more.

God, they don't want an old man like me to take a break, do they? Kakashi thought, seeing as all 3 of them leaned in and jumped for the bells. Though, since they were all clustered up, it was easy for Kakashi to kick them away just in time.

They had 20 seconds left.

"Just do what you have to do," said Naruto, getting a pair of nods right next to him.

They launched themselves right towards Kakashi with the intent to get those bells away from him.

Naruto glanced at the clock for a moment.

11 seconds left. Better make this count. Naruto thought, jumping in the air and throwing a pair of kunai right at Kakashi's head. He looked up and blocked the kunai with a kunai of his own.

8 seconds left. Naruto thought, glancing at the clock once more.

He wondered if he could do another fireball jutsu in time. No, there was no way he could do that in time.

5 seconds left. Naruto thought, summoning a shadow clone right beside him. The said shadow clone threw him almost immediately at Kakashi right before Satsuki and Sakura jumped from the front and back for the bells.

It was almost like time had stopped for them as a whole. The timer had less than 2 seconds left until it was noon, but it felt much longer than just 2 seconds.

Kakashi had two choices at hand: Either get hit by Naruto and get tackled to the ground or risk losing the bells.

Shit, he was now cornered.

I'll have to lose the bells. Kakashi thought, throwing a kunai from his holster. And right after that split moment, everything was over with.

RANG!

The redirected Naruto sat up, a satisfied look right on his face as he looked at both Satsuki and Sakura. Naruto then laid back on the ground, looking up at the sky that just turned noon.

He sighed, tired of with the amount of fighting that he had to do.

Naruto now finally understands the huge difference between him and Kakashi — whom was a very strong jonin — it was a very large gap between him and Kakashi that he will have to reach.

The only real reason they managed to take the bells was being they worked as a team and overcame the challenge with teamwork. Though could they have had managed to get the bells without the planning of Naruto's?

Probably not.

Whoever that could have been placed on this team will most likely not listen to Satsuki unless they were a fanboy or. . . Naruto himself. But even if they weren't a fanboy, Satsuki wouldn't listen to them due to her dislike of people.

She also would refuse to work with Sakura unless they manage to look underneath the underneath.

Naruto heard the two slowly get up from the ground and walk towards Naruto with silence looming between the two as they made their way towards Naruto's location.

"Here," they said in unison as they had the two bells hanging right off of their hands. Naruto looked at them from the ground and raised an eyebrow right at them.

"Why?"

"Because you were the reason we go these bells in the first place. Every moment the past, you were already many moves ahead of the game while we all fought him." Naruto heard Satsuki say with actual envy.

"To think you would actually praise a lowly person like me," said Naruto, yawning as he looked back at the sky that had many clouds that illuminated the world.

"Tch, you're far from being a lowly person." Naruto shrugged, not caring how much Satsuki was wanting to slap in the face for ignoring her with just a simple shrug.

"I agree with, Satsuki-san."

"Ah, well, there really isn't much importance in the bells, you know." They raised an eyebrow at Naruto, seemingly confused at him with the words that came out of this mouth.

"What do you mean by that?" The two asked, gazing at the the laid-down Naruto right in front of them.

"I have already figured out the hidden motive of the survival exercise quite awhile ago now. Why do you think I even asked for your help?" This seemed like an obvious question.

"To get the bells. What else?"

"We had to work as a team to defeat Kakashi-sensei. The bells had very little to no importance whatsoever because they were only there to split us apart and drift us away from the thought of using teamwork."

"And you figured this out because?" Sakura asked, curious on Naruto's mindset when thinking about these things.

Naruto had a slight pause to just gaze at the sky for a moment or two.

"Kakashi sort of gave it away," said Naruto, making them raise an eyebrow.

"How?" They asked, wanting to learn more about Naruto's mental capabilities as a shinobi. Naruto sighed, knowing this will take time to explain.

"Well, the first thing was when he talked about the bell test that we all were doing. Kakashi-sensei had said that the person that does not have a bell gets dropped and goes back to the academy. But this did not make much sense."

"What the hell do you mean? It makes perfect sense. He literally said that the person who doesn't have one of the 2 bells will be sent back to the academy." Satsuki narrowed her eyes down at Naruto.

"I mean, that doesn't make sense if you don't look even closer." Oh, Naruto was doing his weird thingy where he now says what went through his brain and the amount of mental thinking he has done while observing everything.

Though Naruto did mention on how this doesn't make sense and even explained it earlier ago. Did they forget about it? Maybe.

"It made sense, but it also didn't make sense at all. If only 2 people had passed this survival exercise, then that means they will be lacking a member of the team. If they lack a member in their team, the team will slowly crumble." Satsuki sighed, knowing what Naruto is going to say.

Full of brains and power but doesn't know how to act like a normal person.

"The Manji Formation is a very basic that is used by many. But here's the thing, it needs 4 people to work. If there is 1 genin missing, then then only 3 people will be left. The Manji Formation would soon fail due to them being unable to protect 4 sides." The two nodded, wondering where this was all going to lead to.

"2 genin and a sensei would only work if the 2 other genin were very strong from the start. But even then, there is limitations that they have that will hold them back. I would rather not explain with more detail, but you get the idea. Teamwork was the only true requirement to pass this survival exercise."

The 3 suddenly heard a clap from afar.

Naruto sat up and turned his head alongside the others to see who was person that was clapping right at them.

It was Kakashi. He had an eye-smile form with his right eye.

"Correct, Naruto. You know, if you had a fully black hair, you practically could almost pass as a Nara. By this I mean, you're a very smart individual." Naruto nodded, not caring for the praise that he had just been given.

"Anyway, yes, this whole entire survival exercise that I have given you was to simply. . . test your teamwork. The other jonin senseis did something similar, but was probably not as hard as the one that I gave you." Satsuki was puzzled at that.

"Though, it was almost expected you 3 would pass. But, even then, this variant of the survival exercise is much harder than the exercises that the other teams might have gone through." This brought up a question from Satsuki.

"Why? Why was this survival exercise made to revolve around the use of teamwork?" This causes Kakashi to lose his eye-smile that was right on his face.

"Ah, well, that is quite the simple question to answer if I'm being honest," said Kakashi, bringing his head up and looking up at the sky that loomed right over their heads.

"In this world, those who break rules are scum. Yes, that is true. But. . ." There was just a minor pause to Kakashi's words. "Those who abandon their comrades are worst than scum." Satsuki and Sakura slightly widened their eyes.

But just after that, Kakashi eye-smile once again.

"But, anyway, you all have passes the bell test." They nodded, satisfied at the words that had just been told to them.

"Our first mission is tomorrow. Get ready and meet me at this exact Training Ground once again in the morning. I'll see you here tomrrow morning." Kakashi walked away.

Hm, liar. You're going to be hours late I bet.

~~~