#15 - Chapter 15 Golden Flash? Kakashi's Worry

Looking at the aggrieved Sakura Haruno, a hint of disgust flashed in Naruto's eyes.

"You wanted to hit me, so you hit me; you wanted to scold me, so you scolded me. I just retaliated, and you feel wronged?"

Although he didn't have those twelve years of memories, he could see a thing or two from Sakura Haruno's unbridled attitude.

What's more, he was a transmigrator, so there was no need to doubt what terrible things Sakura Haruno had done to his original body!

Hearing Naruto's words, a trace of confusion flashed across Sakura Haruno's face.

Was she being too much?

But shouldn't Naruto hate her?

Should he talk to her like that?

She wanted to argue with Naruto, but Naruto had no intention of talking to her any further and left while she was still confused.

.....

The next day, at four thirty in the morning, Naruto rubbed his sleepy eyes and got out of bed.

He knew Kakashi would be late today, but he didn't plan to go late himself.

What if Kakashi was just deliberately testing them and had actually arrived early?

Naruto didn't want the exercise to fail because of something like that.

For a bit of money, he was willing to inconvenience himself.

Fortunately, he had gone to bed early yesterday, so he wasn't actually that sleepy.

He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and glanced at the instant noodles in the corner.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided not to make himself a bowl.

He had freeloaded off Konohamaru again last night, so skipping a bowl of instant noodles didn't matter.

"Yata Mirror!"

Early in the morning, there wasn't much light in Konoha.

The sun hadn't risen yet, and the villagers hadn't woken up.

But Naruto didn't need any other light to perform long-distance teleportation, only objects that could reflect light.

Glass windows, dew, even shiny tiles would do!

As a golden light reflected from Naruto's house, Naruto instantly disappeared from the spot.

And just after Naruto left as light, Kakashi walked out from behind his house.

"Golden Flash?"

"Could it be that Naruto inherited the Fourth Hokage's ninjutsu?"

"That kind of speed is quite troublesome!"

Kakashi scratched his head, feeling a bit of a headache about the exercise assessment in a few hours.

If Naruto used that power, it would be difficult for him to protect the bells.

And as a Jonin instructor, being defeated by a Genin in one second would be pretty lame, right?

Naruto didn't know that Kakashi had come to his house early in the morning to secretly observe him for the exercise.

Nor did he know that Kakashi was thinking of ways to counter his abilities by observing them.

Not long after,

Naruto arrived at the training grounds.

Sasuke and Sakura arrived almost at the same time.

"Good morning, everyone~"

Sakura squinted her eyes and walked over as if sleepwalking.

Sasuke and Naruto, on the other hand, looked quite energetic.

The two exchanged a glance, and as if by tacit agreement, neither replied to Sakura.

Faced with such coldness, Sakura woke up a lot from her daze.

She looked at Sasuke, then at Naruto, hesitated, and finally could only shut her mouth in displeasure.

If she talked to Sasuke, Sasuke wouldn't respond.

If she talked to Naruto, Naruto would retort.

Then it was better not to talk!

Time passed by, little by little,

The sky turned from dark to cyan blue.

The sun hung high in the sky, and it was then that Kakashi finally arrived late.

"Yo, morning, everyone!"

Kakashi looked at the three and smiled with narrowed eyes.

"You're too late, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted, pointing at Kakashi in dissatisfaction.

"Sorry, sorry, it's because a black cat walked in front of me and blocked my way..."

"Who would believe such a lame excuse!"

Sakura felt that Kakashi was treating them like idiots, but Kakashi was very good at playing dumb.

Seeing that Sakura and the others didn't believe him, he didn't continue to explain and directly took out an alarm clock, skipping the topic.

Kakashi placed the alarm clock on top of a wooden stake next to him and pressed it.

"Today, your mission is to snatch the two bells in my hand before twelve noon."

"Oh, right, those who don't get a bell won't get lunch!"

"Not only will you not get lunch, but you'll also be tied to the stake and watch me eat my bento~"

"How could this be!"

Sakura's face fell as she let out a sorrowful wail.

Sasuke looked resentful.

So, the reason we were told not to eat breakfast was for this!

Too much!

Kakashi smiled, very satisfied with Sasuke and Sakura's reactions.

But when he saw Naruto, he was still a little surprised.

Aside from the pink-haired fangirl, was there really nothing that could stir his emotions?

"Kakashi-sensei, why are there only two bells?" Sakura asked, holding up two fingers.

"Because at least one of you has to be tied to the stake."

Kakashi smiled with narrowed eyes, "And that person will be disqualified for failing the mission."

"At least one of you, at most all of you, will be sent back to the ninja academy to retake the course."

Naruto didn't believe in the so-called disqualification.

After all, their ninja files had already been collected by the Third Hokage. What was the point of collecting files if they were going to be disqualified as ninjas?

And why not collect them after passing the Jonin instructor's assessment?

Moreover, if Konoha only produced nine ninjas each year, would that really offset the ninjas who died on missions each year?

Where did Konoha's ten thousand-plus ninjas come from?

All things considered, Naruto felt that Kakashi was purely bluffing them.

But that's not to say that everything Kakashi said was a lie.

Maybe if they failed the assessment, they might really go back to the ninja academy to retake the course, but they could still become ninjas next year.

They just lost the opportunity to be on a team led by a Jonin.

After all, Konoha had a limited number of Jonin, and not all ninjas were qualified to follow a Jonin to learn for a year or even several years!

"You can use shurikens and kunai. Remember to snatch the bells with the determination to kill me, or you won't be able to get them." Kakashi said, looking at the nervous Sakura and Sasuke.

"But wouldn't that be very dangerous?" Sakura said somewhat naively.

"There is no such thing as a non-dangerous ninja. If you are not prepared to kill and be killed, you should go back to the ninja academy as soon as possible."

Kakashi discouraged Sakura, "On missions, enemy ninjas won't wait for you to be ready before killing you. So you better be aware of that now!"

Sakura's originally smiling expression froze on her face, and a sense of grievance welled up in her heart.

Why hasn't anything gone smoothly since graduation?

The class heartthrob Sasuke ignores her.

The simp Naruto doesn't simp for her anymore.

Even the Jonin instructor doesn't seem to like her.

Kakashi didn't give Sakura time to resolve her emotions. After informing them of all the rules, he announced the start of the assessment!

Sasuke quickly found a place to hide.

Although Sakura was a bit emotional, she only took half a beat longer to find a place to hide herself.

Only Naruto... didn't move!

Sakura and Sasuke, watching Naruto standing still, thought that Naruto didn't even know the most basic ninja knowledge, and cursed Naruto as an idiot in their hearts.

Sakura was even secretly pleased in her heart.

Thinking that after Naruto was eliminated, she and Sasuke would each get a bell.

However, they didn't notice the serious look on Kakashi's face!