Preparation!

Naruto's jaw stayed dropped until his eyes finally reignited with that endless, unbreakable fire inside him. His fists clenched, his whole body vibrating like a wind-up toy about to be released.

"We… we need to beat him." His voice was firm, determined, fueled by sheer Naruto-brand stubbornness. "It doesn't matter if he's S-class or not… I'm not going back to the academy!"

Sakura exhaled slowly, tilting her head down, a smirk curling on her lips. The morning light hit her just right.

Silence.

Then, in the coolest, calmest voice possible, she said—

"No."

Naruto blinked. "No?"

"We don't have to beat him."

Naruto's brain visibly short-circuited. He stood there, mouth slightly open, before collapsing into the grass like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He lay there dramatically for a second before leaping back up, flailing wildly.

"BUT YOU SAID WE HAD TO! EARLIER!"

Sakura barely reacted. She just adjusted the strap of her flak jacket in a way that looked effortlessly cool.

"No," she said smoothly. "I said we had to fight him. That's different."

Naruto's whole body twitched like a broken machine. "Huh?"

Sakura lifted a single finger. A gesture of pure intellectual dominance.

"Think about it logically," she said, stepping forward. "Do you really think three Genin, fresh out of the academy, are supposed to defeat an S-class shinobi… in combat?"

Naruto's expression turned from confusion to deep contemplation. His eyebrows scrunched together. He hummed thoughtfully. He rubbed his chin.

Then, he very eloquently said, "…When you put it like that…"

Sasuke, who had been silent this whole time, finally exhaled sharply. "Tch."

Sakura could feel his gaze. His skepticism. His irritation. His confusion. But most of all? His intrigue.

Naruto, still standing there with all the thought-processing power of a brick, suddenly snapped back to full energy. "So what do we do then?! Even in the handout all it said was survival training!"

Sakura took exactly three steps forward, hands tucked into her pockets, tilting her head just slightly—just enough to make the movement look absurdly, unnecessarily cool.

Ding!

[Aura System]

+10 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Walking in a Needlessly Cool Manner.)

Sasuke's eyes flickered, subtly narrowing. He was watching. Evaluating.

Sakura's smirk widened slightly.

Then, in a voice dripping with casual brilliance, she mused, "Survival training… what do you think that means?"

Naruto scratched his head aggressively. "Uh… surviving?"

Sasuke finally spoke up, arms still crossed. "That could mean anything."

Sakura lifted two fingers.

"It means one of two things."

She let the silence stretch. Just long enough.

Ding!

[Aura System]

+7 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Pacing a Reveal Perfectly.)

"One," she said, lifting a single finger. "We have to steal something from him."

Sasuke's expression barely shifted, but Naruto inhaled so sharply it sounded like he got hit with a jutsu.

"Or two," she continued, lifting the second finger, "he's going to hunt us."

Silence.

Naruto gulped. "Hunt us?"

Sasuke's eyes flickered with something just short of unease. "Explain."

Sakura smirked, tilting her head at the exact right angle to radiate maximum cool energy.

Ding!

[Aura System]

+8 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Mysterious Head Tilt.)

"Think about it logically," she said smoothly. "If it was a combat test, we'd have been told to prepare for a battle. If it was a physical test, we'd be running laps or doing drills."

She turned her gaze slightly, looking into the distance like she was in a philosophical samurai movie.

Ding!

[Aura System]

+6 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Gazing into the Distance as If in Deep Thought.)

"This isn't a normal test," she continued. "Kakashi Hatake is a man who has spent his life in combat. He's a hunter. A man with a bounty of 200 million ryo doesn't just hand out quizzes."

Naruto stiffened. Sasuke's jaw tightened.

Sakura flicked a strand of pink hair back over her shoulder.

Ding!

[Aura System]

+9 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Cool Hair Flip.)

"He's either going to make us take something from him," she said, voice calm, measured, "or he's going to track us down like prey."

More silence.

Naruto looked absolutely betrayed by the universe. "THAT'S SO UNFAIR!"

Ding!

[Aura System]

+10 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Making Naruto Have an Existential Crisis.)

Sasuke crossed his arms. "So? What do we do?"

Sakura smirked. "Simple. We prepare."

Naruto frowned. "For what?"

Sakura's smirk widened.

"For a hunt."

Ding!

[Aura System]

+12 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Dropping a Line That Belongs in an Action Movie.)

Sasuke stared at her a second longer before clicking his tongue and looking away. "…Hn."

Ding!

[Aura System]

+5 AP gained.

(Farming Method: Making Sasuke Say 'Hn.')

***

Kakashi strolled into Training Ground 7 at exactly 10:10 AM, radiating the kind of energy only a man who did not care about punctuality could achieve.

His hands were in his pockets. His posture was loose, almost lazy. His visible eye was curved in a way that could be a smile but could also just be extreme boredom.

The three Genin, however, were waiting.

Naruto looked like he was two seconds away from exploding. 

Sasuke was staring at him like he was debating whether or not murder of a fellow shinobi was a viable career path.

And Sakura…

Kakashi blinked.

Sakura was just standing there, looking cool.

How?

How did a 12-year-old manage to exude such an effortless aura of competence? 

She wasn't doing anything particularly impressive. She was just standing. But there was something about the way she crossed her arms, the way the wind conveniently ruffled her hair at the exact right moment…

It was weirdly unsettling.

Kakashi sighed dramatically and scratched the back of his head. "Yo."

Naruto lunged. "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi stepped to the side, letting Naruto eat pure dirt.

"Mm," he hummed, already pulling a tiny alarm clock out of his pouch. He walked past the three of them and placed it gently on top of the wooden post, setting the time for 12:00 PM.

He turned back around.

"Alright," he said, eye-smiling. "Let's get started."

Naruto picked himself up from the ground, sputtering. "Started?! We've been here for four hours!"

Kakashi flipped open his book. "Ah. Is that so?"

Sasuke crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. "Tch."

Sakura smirked. "Expected."

He blinked, deciding to ignore whatever strange feeling just passed through his ninja senses and continued.

"Anyway," he said, "I set this alarm for noon. Your objective is simple."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two tiny silver bells.

Sakura's eyes gleamed.

Kakashi noticed.

Oh?

"Your goal," he continued, dangling the bells, "is to take one of these from me before the clock hits twelve."

Naruto's brain immediately short-circuited. "HOLD ON! THERE'S ONLY TWO!"

Kakashi nodded. "Correct."

Sasuke's eyes sharpened. "So one of us…"

"Won't get one." Kakashi finished cheerfully.

Naruto paled.

Sakura just nodded.

Kakashi twirled the bells between his fingers, letting the tension in the air build. He could see the gears turning in Sasuke's head, the barely contained panic in Naruto's, and Sakura's unnervingly calm expression.

Weird kid.

"Alright then," he said, flipping open his book. "Start."

There was a split second of stillness.

Then they moved.

All three of them sprang into action, leaping back into the treeline with an almost synchronized precision. 

Good. They had the sense to disappear instead of charging in like idiots.

Kakashi strolled forward, hands in his pockets, radiating the energy of a man who absolutely did not want to be here.

"Well then," he drawled, "let's see what my adorable Genin—"

*Click*

Kakashi's foot stopped mid-step.

Oh.

A split second later, the world exploded.

A BOOM shook the training ground as dirt and smoke erupted in a glorious, fiery display. Birds screeched and scattered. A nearby squirrel had a heart attack.

For a long moment, silence.

Then, from the treeline, three very small, very guilty voices whispered.

"…Did we just kill our Jonin Sensei?"

"…He's S-Class. That wouldn't kill him."

"…Should we do it again, just in case?"

The dust settled.

And there, standing perfectly unharmed, was Kakashi Hatake.

His flak jacket was slightly dusted.

His hair? Still perfect.

But his visible eye was twitching.

And somewhere, deep within the bowels of hell itself, a line had been crossed.

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