Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 4: The Bell Test Once More!

Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7 at eight, only to find Sakura and Sasuke, whose faces looked like zombies, glaring at him.

"Where the heck have you been, you idiot?" Sakura growled.

"Ichiraku's, of course," Naruto answered. "You don't expect me to go to war with an empty stomach, do you?"

"Kakashi-sensei told us not to have breakfast!" she screeched. "And we're not going to war; this is just a training session!"

"Well, the 'no breakfast' part was not mentioned in the leaflet he gave us, right?" Naruto shrugged. "Besides, he said this training was a test. I don't know about you, but I need my body at the top level before taking any test."

Hearing that, Sakura didn't ask anymore. She just sat down and rubbed her growling stomach, trying her best to calm it down.

"Here."

She raised her head and widened her eyes when she saw a meat bun in front of her face.

"Eat up. I don't have much money, so I could only buy these. It's not much, but still better than an empty stomach, right?" Naruto grinned while throwing another one to Sasuke. "You didn't have breakfast too, did you? Eat up!"

Sasuke scowled. "I don't need your pity."

"Oh come on, this is not the time for empty pride," Naruto snorted. "If Kakashi-sensei is anything like I've heard about him, then we must throw everything we have at him if we want to have a chance against him."

Those words finally got Sasuke's attention. "What do you know about him?" he demanded.

"Well," Naruto started, "Kakashi-sensei was well known all over the Elemental Countries as 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' due to the fact that he has a Sharingan hidden under his hitai-ate," Sasuke's body stiffened against this information, "and he had used it to copy over a thousand jutsu of his enemies. He is one of the very famous shinobi who brought victory to the Leaf in the Third Great Shinobi World War, together with the Fourth Hokage himself."

"No way," Sakura gasped. "Our sensei is that strong?"

"But how did he have the Sharingan? He's not an Uchiha," Sasuke questioned.

"Dunno," Naruto shrugged. He felt that it's better not to tell Sasuke about Obito yet. "But we can already tell that Kakashi-sensei is not someone we can afford to underestimate."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a while. Then, he grabbed the bun and devoured it in one gulp.

"Sorry guys, I got lost on the road of life."

Naruto deadpanned when his teacher arrived at the training ground at 9.

"You know, that was the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life, sensei."

And by that, he meant 'still the lamest excuse'.

"Is that so?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Then I promise next time you won't hear it anymore."

"You're not gonna be late again?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"No, I'll make a different excuse," the cyclops eyesmiled.

The three genin groaned.

"You have until noon to take these bells from me," Kakashi started while pulling out an alarm clock and two small bells. "Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch, and will be tied to one of those stumps while I and your teammates eat right in front of you. And the one who doesn't have a bell fails, and will be sent back to the Academy."

"But sensei, in the pamphlet you said that we're allowed to use weapons. Isn't that dangerous?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, you won't be able to touch me if you don't come at me with intent to kill," the jonin waved her off. "Now, start when I say..."