The Bell Test (Naruto Fanfic: Sakura)

“I can’t believe it!” Naruto shouted.

It was nine-thirty, only one half of an hour after their new sensei had told Squad 7 to meet him. Sakura was determined not to respond to him. She stood a few feet away from where Naruto stomped his feet and Sasuke leaned his back against one of the three posts in the center of the training yard. Sakura wouldn’t even look at Naruto. She just kept staring at Sasuke. Unless he looked at her too, in which case Sakura would hurriedly look anywhere else. The sky. The ground. Her hands. She didn’t want Sasuke to catch her staring.

The raven haired Uchiha was attractive with his coal black eyes, lips turned downwards into a scowl, hands in his pockets, and shoulders hunched in the most relaxed of poses. Sasuke’s pose might have been relaxed but every one of his muscles were tense. Sakura thought that he looked like a cornered dog about to spring at any moment. She wondered if it had something to do with his dream of revenge but Sakura wasn’t going to ask. She didn’t want to disturb the perfection of his picture.

Even though Sakura knew that Sasuke was very attractive, she didn’t quite feel it in her chest. Sometimes, Sakura thought that she only liked Sasuke because the rest of the class did and she felt like that was what she was supposed to do. He was attractive so what was wrong with Sakura?

“Hey there,” a soft voice called as the gray haired jonin lazily strode towards them.

Sakura jumped out of her haze of thoughts and glanced up at the sky. The sun was now on its downward descent. Naruto was sleeping on the ground between them and Sasuke hadn’t moved. Of course he hadn’t, in his perfection.

“Sensei! It’s afternoon!” Sakura shouted, letting pent up anger flare at Kakashi-sensei.

“One o’clock, actually,” Kakashi-sensei responded. He walked forward and nudged Naruto with the toe of his sandal. “Final test time.”

“Huh? Wah?” Naruto grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Sakura’s stomach rumbled. I missed breakfast and now I missed lunch, she thought. Actually, she hadn’t even had dinner last night.

“You!” Naruto shouted, jumping to his feet. “Where have you been?? You’re sooo late!!”

“Oh, you know, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way,” Kakashi-sensei shrugged. “Now listen. I brought lunch for you guys. But, in order to get some, you’ll have to take one of these bells from me.” Kakashi-sensei held up a pair of silver bells as he spoke.

“But, sensei, there are only two bells,” Sakura said.

“Well, this is the first test,” Kakashi-sensei said. “Only two of you will get a bell and that means the third one is guaranteed to fail. You have two hours to get a bell. Whoever doesn’t have a bell at the end of the allotted time, will be tied to a post to watch while the rest of us eat. You may use jutsu, ninja tools, and anything else that comes to mind.”

“I’m going to get one of those bells, believe it!” Naruto proclaimed as Kakashi-sensei walked over to the posts and set down the timer.

“Time starts . . . now!” Kakashi-sensei announced.

I have to hide! Sakura thought and rushed off. She wasn’t surprised to see that Sasuke did the same thing. He was no longer casually leaning on the post but she couldn’t tell where he had gone off to.

Kakashi-sensei paced back into the center of the clearing. His one visible eye darted around as if looking for something. Sakura could only hope she was hiding well enough that he didn’t see her. As Kakashi-sensei half turned around, Sakura could see Naruto just standing there in the open. Is he stupid? Sakura thought even though the answer was obvious.

“You know, you could go off and hide,” Kakashi-sensei suggested.

“Nuh uh,” Naruto said. He dashed towards Kakashi-sensei then, kunai knife at the ready.

Sakura watched intently as Kakashi-sensei reached into his pouch. She wondered what sort of weapon a jonin would pull out. When Naruto was only a few feet away, Kakashi-sensei pulled out an orange bound book. He held it before him, eye dropping as though he was reading it.

Make Out Paradise? Sakura thought, reading the title. Even Naruto can hit him like that!

Naruto was on top of Kakashi-sensei then and Kakashi-sensei flung him easily aside. Naruto came at the jonin again and again, each time with the same result. Sakura lost track of how many time Kakashi-sensei thwarted him. At one point she saw Kakashi-sensei jab Naruto’s rear with his finger. The next thing she knew, Naruto’s head was sticking out of the ground a few feet away.

Then Sasuke was in the clearing. Sakura tried to focus on this fight but she was unable to. Sasuke was too fast. Kakashi-sensei was too fast. Sakura noted with glee that Kakashi-sensei was not reading his book as he fought Sasuke.

Now’s my chance, cha! Sakura thought. While Kakashi-sensei was distracted by Sasuke, she decided to make her move. Sakura hurtled kunai knives at the two. Sasuke was suddenly gone and Kakashi-sensei whirled around, glaring his single eye at her.

Sakura screeched and leapt through the trees trying to escape. She stumbled into a clearing on the other side of the training yard, breathing hard. Gotta hide again, she thought, looking around.

Sasuke.

Sasuke was bleeding on the ground and gasping for air. Sakura screamed and ran towards him. “Sasuke! Don’t die on me!” she cried. She hadn’t realized that Kakashi-sensei had injured Sasuke that badly. “Hold on, I’ll get you help!”

“Sa. . . kura,” Sasuke gasped before collapsing.

Sakura screamed again and ran out into the clearing. “Sensei!” she cried. “It’s Sasuke! I think you killed him!”

Kakashi-sensei turned around lazily to face her. “I did?” he asked with a chuckle. “Maybe he should’ve been stronger.”

“That’s not funny, sensei!” Sakura shouted. “You gotta help him. Please.”

“Sasuke, why don’t you show her that you’re okay?” Kakashi-sensei sighed.

A black form darted across the clearing between them. “He’s . . . okay?” Sakura managed. “But I saw—”

“A genjutsu,” Kakashi-sensei replied.

Now Sakura was really mad. “A genin dying is not funny!” she shouted. “This is serious. Do you have any idea what you just did? It’s despicable!”

Kakashi-sensei was no longer laughing. Instead, he turned a glaring eye to Sakura. “You don’t have a clue what it is that you are saying.” He narrowed his gaze and pointed an angry finger at Sakura. “You don’t get any lunch. You will be tied to the post.”

“What?” Before Sakura knew what was happening, her back was pressed against the post and ropes held her arms to her side. Sasuke sat on the ground on one side of her and Naruto was on the other, each held a bento box.

“Eat up,” Kakashi-sensei said. “Part two will commence afterwards. And whatever you do, don’t feed Sakura.” Then he was gone.

Sakura wondered what had caused Kakashi-sensei to get so crazy over the dead genin thing. He had been the one to pull the genjutsu after all.

No sooner did he leave did Sakura’s stomach rumble. “Ah, man,” she said, dropping her head. “I’m so hungry. I didn’t have dinner last night.”

She felt Sasuke glaring at her. “Why not?” he asked in his low voice.

“I thought it would help me be extra prepared,” Sakura said.

Sasuke held up his bento box to her. “Here.”

“Sasuke?” she asked.

“If we’re going to pass this test, we’re going to need to work together,” Sasuke said. “You’ll need your strength.”

“Mine too!” Naruto said. “Eat mine too.”

Sakura struggled against the ropes for a moment before Sasuke and Naruto stood before her. Each took a bite and then fed her a bite. Sakura couldn’t help but smile.

“I told you not to feed her,” Kakashi-sensei growled as he appeared behind the boys. “And now you’ve all . . . passed.”

“Sensei?” Sakura asked.

“That’s right, you passed the test,” Kakashi-sensei said. “Congratulations.”

“Alright!!” Sakura shouted.