8 007 - The Bell Hunters {PT. II}

KONOHA

It had been thirty minutes and Kakashi still hadn't found any trace of his missing student. It was as if the boy had disappeared into thin air. After a while, the Jōnin stopped searching for him though. There was no need to he remembered. Sasuke still needed to retrieve one of the bells to pass the test, and given both bells were currently on his person the young Uchiha would eventually have to come out of hiding to steal one.

Kakashi glanced at the Naruto clone that made its way towards the trap he had set under a tree a short distance away. The Jōnin could not be sure if it was intentional or not, but using the clone to retrieve the bell which was serving as bait was a stroke of genius as far as the airhead, Naruto, was concerned. As expected, the clone bumbled towards the bait with zero regard for the trap lying beneath it. Moments later the Genin clone found himself summarily caught and hoisted up by a foot into the air.

"Ack! What the heck?" Not-Naruto exclaimed, dangling from the booby trap. Seeing this, Kakashi revealed himself, sauntering towards the careless Genin. "To be caught in such an obvious trap, Naruto… Stupid."

"Hey!" the orange-haired boy exclaimed in protest as he struggled to reach for the bell just outside arm's length of his fingers. Kakashi shook his head as he bent over to retrieve the item. Purposefully, he left his back exposed in hopes of luring Sasuke out of hiding. His attention panned around in search of the stealthy genin as he rose to regard Naruto's clone once more and continue his lecture.

"Shinobi read the hidden meanings within the hid—" For the second time that day, Kakashi found himself frozen. Dangling in the air across from him was a clone of Naruto staring at him with a pair of Sharingan spinning in its eyes. Kakashi lept back a few dozen meters, ripping away the headband concealing his own Dojutsu. With a few sporadic bursts of chakra, the Jōnin dispelled the Genjutsu the Genin was skilfully trying to worm into his psyche.

"Useful, isn't it," Not-Not-Naruto said as he fluidly slid out of the booby trap suspending him in the air, the sole of his feet soundlessly hitting the forest litter. "That Sharingan serves you well. I can see now why the Hokage remains adamant about not returning it to my care for proper disposal. It would be a great loss to the village if you ever lost it."

"...Sasuke."

The Genin didn't respond, simply reaching into the pouch by his thigh to retrieve a handful of shurikens, arm blurring as he lobbed them at Kakashi. The Jōnin dodged the barrage before raising his forearms to block the flurry of kicks that were launched at him from mid-air. Kakashi leapt back another handful of steps as the Uchiha scion reached for the bells by his waist. Behind him, he heard a rustling in the leaves. Leaping up into the canopy Kakashi dodged the kunai trapped he inadvertently triggered during his retreat.

Predictably, another flurry of kunai shot out in the canopy above, their trajectories intersecting in a skilful attempt to cut him off. Kakashi subconsciously formed a tiger seal, launching himself out of the way at superhuman speed as chakra imbued his muscles. He hit the floor skidding, eyes flickering to meet Sasuke's. The boy's Sharingan remained active even as he lobbed another barrage of kunai in the Jōnin's direction. Kakashi twisted out of the way, nearly missing the explosive tag wrapped neatly around one of the projectiles.

An explosion rocked the forest the next moment and Kakashi found himself tumbling through the air, only just barely avoiding the detonation. He hit a tree feet first, arms swinging out to lobbed cords of wire strings that immediately attached themselves to trees, creating a screen of booby traps between himself and the younger ninja. Hopping back a few dozen meters and leaving a minefield of traps in his wake, Kakashi glanced back at the aftermath of Sasuke's assault. A pillar of smog rose from the location where his explosive tag went off. Immediately, Kakashi scanned the forest for his students' locations; Naruto and Sakura were a distance away from their battleground, thankfully, with Sasuke again, lost to the void. The Jōnin cast a glance at his waist, relief flooding his chest at the sight of the bells still attached to his person. It would have been a rather embarrassing ordeal to find them missing.

"...This was a terrible idea," Kakashi sighed, whispering to himself.

***

Periodically cycling his chakra, Kakashi watched the young Uchiha standing across from him. A stiff wind blew by, tossing the boy's long silken hair around. "Tired?" Kakashi asked, one hand resting on his hips. The Jōnin himself was starting to feel a bit fatigued as a result of the Genin's relentless assault. He was well aware of his status as a non-Uchiha and how that would translate in regards to how he would utilize his Sharingan. The strain from keeping it active for the past few hours was starting to get to him, but he had little choice in the matter. Either that or risk falling victim to the boy's own Sharingan. A dreadful thought indeed.

"Yes," the Genin replied. "You? Keeping your Sharingan active for so long must not be very chakra-efficient for you either, Sensei."

"Cheeky brat." Sasuke smiled in response but did not move from his spot. "Aren't you going to going to try to steal a bell from me again?" Kakashi asked. "Or is it that you have given up?"

"I might in a moment. If I deem it necessary."

Kakashi's right brow rose in curiosity. "Necessary? What are you waiting for?"

"Naruto."

"...Naruto?" Kakashi repeated, baffled. "Why are you waiting for him?"

"He hasn't found his bell yet."

The silver-haired Jōnin froze, then sighed, cycling his chakra again to dispel any Genjutsu that might have been cast on him. At the same moment, Sasuke's Sharingan faded out and the bells that rested by Kakashi's hips disappeared from his perception.

"...You bypassed my Sharingan?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I am better at using the Sharingan than you are, Sensei."

"...Since when?"

"A while ago. It was harder than I expected even taking into account your Sharingan. Troublesome thing that habit of yours is; always cycling your chakra. But after the Genjutsu took hold, the matter of distracting you, while I knocked the bells off for the others to gather, proved much easier."

"...But you have no bells of your own. You've failed the test. I hope you remember the consequences of failing the test."

"I do," Sasuke said, nodding. "I might have failed the test, but the overall objective was achieved regardless so it matters little. A moot point you might say."

"...You had breakfast before coming today, didn't you?" Kakashi said, squinting at the Genin suspiciously. "Even though I warned you not to."

"...Yes?"

"And of course, you aren't worried about being sent back to the academy … You were never worried about being sent back to the Academy."

"..."

"Well then," Kakashi sighed as he trudged away in the direction of Naruto and Sakura's auras, "let's go."

"...This was a terrible idea," the Jōnin sighed to himself again. "A terrible idea I tell you."