"Sasuke, why don't you just eat some?"
Perhaps out of a sense of guilt, Sakura felt embarrassed letting Sasuke watch her eat. She began to persuade him.
"Kakashi-sensei isn't here, so it doesn't matter if you eat some secretly."
Sasuke glanced at Sakura. Although he was surprised that she would care about him, he still replied coldly, "Don't treat everyone as idiots. Since Kakashi gave us this rule, he won't leave us any loopholes."
"Maybe he left as a trap, just waiting for you two to feed me. He could be hiding in a corner, watching us right now!"
Kakashi: "…"
Both Kazuki and Sasuke are too smart!
This little trick of his won't test their teamwork at all!
Sakura instantly panicked, worried that Kakashi might have seen her almost feed Sasuke.
"Kakashi-sensei is so despicable! He actually set us up like that!"
Kakashi: "…"
Lunch ended unexpectedly.
Sasuke didn't eat a bite, but both Kazuki and Sakura were full.
Kakashi's test could neither be considered passed nor failed. The results and process were unexpected.
After observing for a while, Kakashi walked out. He didn't mention anything about the food, acting as if he had just returned. But no one believed that Kakashi had been gone. From the start, he must have had at least one shadow clone watching them.
"The new trap has been set up. Kazuki and Sakura, you two search first. Sasuke, you're eliminated first, so you'll go five minutes later."
Five minutes late?
Kazuki glanced at Kakashi, sensing something was off.
It could be said that the content of this assessment was completely different from the original. The original assessment should have ended during lunch. But now they had to continue!
By now, Kazuki had guessed that Kakashi didn't hide the bell in the forest at all. This was just a cover-up. The purpose of Kakashi's exercise wasn't to find the bell but to test their relationships.
So why leave Sasuke here specifically? Was this to test Sasuke?
Thinking of this, Kazuki patted Sasuke on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Be careful of Kakashi's conspiracy."
After that, he and Sakura left first.
Sasuke looked thoughtfully at Kazuki's back.
Conspiracy?
Did he guess that Kakashi wanted him to kill Haruno Sakura?
That shouldn't be possible!
Kazuki probably wants to tell me that Kakashi is untrustworthy, right?
As Sasuke was lost in thought, Kakashi spoke.
"You had a good opportunity just now. Neither of them were prepared for you. Why didn't you take action?"
Sasuke gave Kakashi a cold look. "I never agreed to kill anyone!"
Kakashi shrugged. "It's up to you. You can go search for the bell in five minutes, but the bell you find will only be valid if you kill Haruno Sakura. Otherwise, it will be invalid, and you will be eliminated."
Sasuke frowned, hesitating but still remained silent.
Five minutes passed quickly.
Without wasting a second, Sasuke entered the forest again. Kakashi followed closely behind.
Considering their strengths, Kakashi had given up on assessing Kazuki and Sakura any further. He also felt that the two performed well in this assessment.
Only Sasuke was a concern!
As Sasuke moved forward, he activated his Sharingan, searching for any suspicious signs, regardless of chakra consumption.
But since Kakashi hadn't hidden the bell in the forest at all, Sasuke's search only led him to more traps, without finding the real bell.
Half an hour passed quickly.
Sasuke was still searching for the bell and showed no signs of attacking Sakura. This made Kakashi a little anxious.
If Sasuke doesn't make a decision soon, the assessment time will end quickly. The other teams must have already finished their exams by now; their team, Team Seven, is the only one still testing.
"Are you planning to find the bell first?"
Kakashi thought for a moment and decided to hide the real bell in Sasuke's path. He didn't place it in a very conspicuous spot, as that would make it too obvious, like he was going easy on him.
He found a tree with a bird's nest at the top, placed the bell inside, and set some traps nearby. However, the traps weren't meant to prevent Sasuke from getting the bell but to alert him to its presence so he wouldn't miss it.
After a while, Sasuke passed by.
Click—
A crisp sound triggered a trap.
The grass beneath Sasuke's feet suddenly gave way, revealing a pitfall.
This was clearly a trap!
Sasuke reacted quickly, using the Body Flicker Technique to jump to a tree.
Standing on a branch and looking down, Sasuke saw the pit filled with explosive tags, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Is that bastard Kakashi trying to kill us?"
"Damn it!"
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke was about to leave, but a golden flash caught his eye.
Another fake?
Sasuke looked up and saw two flashes of gold inside a bird's nest.
"Two?"
This was the first time Sasuke saw two bells.
At this point, he doubted that he could find the real bell and began to suspect that the bell didn't exist and everything was a lie in Kakashi's assessment.
But just in case, he sent a shadow clone to check.
The bells might not be real, but the traps certainly were. Explosive tags, shurikens, kunai traps, poisons—each could cause serious injury or even death.
It was also these traps that made Sasuke realize Kakashi wasn't joking about killing Haruno Sakura to pass the test.
This was a life-or-death assessment!
The shadow clone carefully removed some invisible strings and uncovered a wooden cage. He found several explosive tags placed around the bird's nest, ready to detonate at the slightest touch.
Inside the bird's nest were two real bells!
"Shuriken. Cloud-detecting hand!"
Sasuke didn't approach the bird's nest directly. Instead, he used his shuriken to knock it out of the tree.
The egg inside was shattered by the shurikens, and the yolk and shell dirtied the bells.
Sasuke's shadow clone stepped forward, picked up the bells, and wiped them clean with his clothes.
"These are real!??"
Sasuke couldn't believe it. He didn't expect to be the first to find the bell.
And there were two of them!
"Now all I have to do is kill Haruno Sakura…"
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+30 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg
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