Slowly, only Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were left in the classroom.
As time passed, the anxiety on their faces grew.
"Seriously, why isn't he here yet?"
"Being late isn't a good habit."
Inside the classroom, their impatience grew with the wait.
Naruto felt the most bored, so with a flash of inspiration, he ran to the podium, grabbed the blackboard eraser, stepped on a stool, and wedged it between the door and the frame.
Sakura: "Naruto, what are you doing?"
Naruto grinned. "Hehe, he only has himself to blame for being late."
Sakura: "Really, this is your prank. I'm not getting involved."
Inner Sakura: Hell yeah! I love pranks like this!
Sasuke: "How could a Jonin fall for such a simple prank?"
Sakura: "Exactly, exactly. Naruto is so lame."
A moment later, footsteps approached.
As the classroom door was pushed fully open, the blackboard eraser wedged in mid-air fell, landing squarely on a head of white hair.
Sasuke: "(;￢д￢)"
This Jonin is so lame.
He's way worse than Big Bro Musashi.
Naruto pointed at the newcomer and laughed loudly: "Hahahaha! Look at him! Look at him!"
His laughter was unrestrained, showing no concern that the other person was a Jonin.
Sakura hurriedly apologized: "I'm sorry, Sensei. I tried to stop him."
Inner Sakura: Nice job, Naruto!
Kakashi Hatake took in their behavior with a dead fish eye.
"How should I put this... My first impression of you guys... I hate you."
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura: "..."
---
Ten minutes later, on a rooftop terrace in Konoha.
Kakashi asked the group to introduce themselves first.
Sakura: "Introduce ourselves? What should we say?"
Kakashi: "Likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, things like that."
Naruto: "Hey, you're the teacher, why don't you introduce yourself first?"
Kakashi: "Hmm... I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you. Dreams for the future... Hobbies... I have lots of hobbies. Now it's your turn."
The trio: "..."
He basically said nothing.
Naruto: "Me! Me! I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What I like is ramen. What I like even more is the ramen Boss and Iruka Sensei treat me to. What I hate is the three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cook."
"My dream is to become Hokage and make everyone in the village acknowledge me!"
Sakura: "I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like... um, or rather, the person I like... kya... My hobbies... My dream is to become..." As she spoke, she frequently glanced at Sasuke next to her. Finally, she turned into a tea kettle. "Kyaaa!~"
Kakashi: "(￢_)... And what do you hate?"
Sakura instantly calmed down: "Naruto."
Naruto: "(ｷ｀ﾟДﾟ´)!!"
Sasuke: "I am Sasuke Uchiha."
"I don't have anything I particularly like."
"As for my dream... or you could call it an ambition... I want to restore my clan, and I must kill a certain man."
Naruto: (゜ロ゜)... He's not talking about me, is he?
Kakashi: "Yosh, you're all very unique."
"Soon, we will officially execute a mission."
Naruto: "Awesome! What mission? What mission?"
Kakashi: "Survival exercise."
The three were puzzled.
Survival exercise? What kind of mission is that?
Kakashi: " simply put, all graduates in your batch have to undergo a survival exercise."
"This is an exercise, or rather an assessment, with a failure rate of over 50%."
"Those who fail cannot form a team with a Jonin."
The three were dumbfounded.
Naruto knew this news in advance, but he was still scared by the elimination rate of over 50%.
He comforted himself in his heart.
It's fine. An exercise sounds different from usual exams. With my strength, there will definitely be no problem.
Besides, there's also the equipment Boss secretly prepared for me.
Kakashi enjoyed the changes in their expressions and smiled with squinted eyes.
"Alright, gather at the training ground then. A piece of advice for the exercise: don't eat breakfast."
---
A training ground in Konoha.
The three who arrived early waited for a long time before Kakashi arrived late.
Facing their complaints, he only gave a perfunctory explanation, then took out an alarm clock and two bells.
"Before the time is up, snatch the bells from me."
"Those who don't get a bell will have no lunch and will be tied to the log to watch me eat my bento."
The trio: "(;￢д￢)"
So that's why you told us not to eat.
"Those without bells will be sent back to the Academy."
"Don't blame me for not reminding you. Shuriken, ninjutsu, anything goes. Attack with the intent to kill me."
Sakura: "That... that's too dangerous."
Naruto: "Yeah, yeah, Sakura is right. And someone who couldn't even dodge a blackboard eraser shouldn't talk big."
Kakashi: "Don't act tough just because you're the dead last."
Naruto: "(╬￣皿￣)"
"Alright, when I say start, you..."
Whoosh!
Before Kakashi finished speaking, Naruto charged forward!
Gripping a kunai tightly in his hand, determined to let the guy in front of him taste his power.
Bam!
The sharp attack was instantly intercepted.
In the blink of an eye, the kunai attacking the opponent had been twisted back, aimed at his own neck.
Naruto didn't even have time to react. By the time he came back to his senses, he was already restrained.
"S-so... so fast!"
Kakashi released Naruto.
"Really, I haven't finished speaking yet. Even if you're in a hurry to die, don't be so impulsive."
"Alright, I now announce, officially start!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sasuke and Sakura quickly left their spots.
Having witnessed the speed at which Naruto was subdued, they didn't think they would be a match for Kakashi in a frontal confrontation.
Concealment, ambush, sneak attacks.
Perhaps that was the only way to win.
Kakashi waited quietly for the two to leave without stopping them.
What surprised him was the little blond guy standing arrogantly in front of him.
Naruto: "Come on! Let's have a fair and square showdown!"
At this moment, three of the four people present thought Naruto was a big idiot.
Kakashi was blunt: "Um, you... is there something wrong with your head?"