Playing As Gojo Satoru in Naruto

3 p.m.

Sasuke was still standing, but Naruto and Sakura were already sitting against a tree.

They had been standing in the middle of the training field at first, but as the sun got hotter toward noon, they moved to the shade to wait for Kakashi.

Now even the strong noon sun was gone—so why still no sign of Kakashi!?

"Did our teacher forget he was supposed to test us today?"

Sakura looked around. Besides the three of them, there wasn't a single other person in the training field.

Sasuke frowned without saying a word. From being hit by the eraser at the door earlier to now being kept waiting for hours,

his opinion of Kakashi had dropped to rock bottom.

Those two really must be brothers—equally annoying in different ways.

"I'm so hungry. Even if we ate lunch, doing some training now shouldn't make us throw up, right?"

Naruto hung his head, clearly out of energy.

Just as all three of them were full of complaints, Kakashi strolled into the training field, holding *Make-Out Paradise* in one hand and chewing on a dumpling.

"This stuff's really not that tasty… I don't get why he likes it so much."

Kakashi looked at the empty skewer in his hand, as if trying to figure it out, then tossed it into a nearby trash can.

As someone who prefers salty food, it was hard for him to understand Hatake Satoru—who, like the Uchiha clan, leaned sweet.

"You're late."

"Way too late!"

"You're still eating!? Didn't you tell us not to eat anything!?"

As soon as they saw him, the three kids jumped up and started yelling, clearly upset.

"Ah, well, a black cat crossed my path…"

Kakashi squinted and put on a completely fake excuse-face.

But the three kids, hot and hungry, weren't buying it at all. They just kept glaring at him.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Kakashi scratched his cheek awkwardly, then pulled an alarm clock from his bag and set it on a nearby tree stump.

"Alright, let's set the time to five o'clock."

"Your task is to take these bells from me before then."

"But… there are only two bells in your hand?"

Sakura pointed at the two bells Kakashi was dangling.

Kakashi leaned on the stump, resting his face on his hand, and smiled.

"Yep. So even if you all manage to take them, one of you still won't pass."

"Of course. Look on the bright side—maybe this time all three of you will get sent back."

How is that supposed to be a good thing?

None of them wanted to be sent back.

As soon as Kakashi gave the signal, two of them vanished instantly.

That's right—being a ninja means knowing how to hide your presence.

Kakashi nodded in approval, then looked up to see the only one still standing there: Naruto.

"Let's settle this fair and square!"

Sasuke was hiding in the trees nearby, watching Kakashi carefully.

He'd spent enough time with Naruto to know that standing out in the open yelling like an idiot was exactly what he'd do.

"Hey, you okay in the head or something?"

Kakashi tilted his head, confused. Challenging your teacher to a fight? That was just weird.

"You're the one with weird taste in hairstyles!"

Naruto jumped without thinking and charged straight at Kakashi.

His speed and movement were way too sloppy.

Kakashi started to reach into his tool pouch to pull out his favorite book, but something felt off.

"Whoosh!"

A bunch of kunai and shuriken suddenly rained down from above, aimed right at him.

Sasuke's figure flashed through the trees, then quickly disappeared again.

Naruto followed up with a punch toward Kakashi.

"Oh? You two actually know how to work together?"

Not bad for a brand-new team.

Kakashi blocked Naruto's punch with one hand, then ducked to dodge the kunai and shuriken flying in.

He swept Naruto's leg with his foot—Naruto staggered back a couple steps, barely avoiding a fall.

"Huh?! Where'd he go?"

Naruto held his knees and tried to steady himself. When he looked up, only kunai and shuriken were left stuck in the ground—Kakashi was gone.

Sakura had been watching everything from the grass and her eyes went wide.

The Tiger Seal?! For someone like Naruto, was that kind of jutsu really necessary!?

"Naruto! Run! He'll kill you!"

Naruto turned his head, slowly realizing something was wrong.

"Wha—?"

"A ninja should never leave his back wide open, you idiot."

Kakashi's lazy voice came from right behind Naruto.

"Thousand Years of Death."

Naruto shot straight into the air and landed in the river.

"Total idiot. Make that two idiots."

Sasuke sighed, then quickly moved to a new position in the trees.

Kakashi had already seen him throw the shuriken from above—this spot wasn't safe anymore.

Sakura had her full attention on Sasuke. As soon as she heard something nearby, she rushed after it.

Kakashi of course noticed the noise. When Sakura caught sight of him again, a calm voice came from behind her.

"Always chasing after someone else isn't a good habit."

A swirl of leaves dropped down, and right after that, Sakura let out a loud scream.

"You should watch out for genjutsu too. Falling for it that fast is just sad."

Kakashi leaned against a tree, lifted his eyes, and spoke thoughtfully.

But just then, a quick and agile figure suddenly dropped down from the branches above him.

Kakashi paused for a moment, then immediately grabbed Sasuke's arms and pinned him down in one swift move.

One hand held his arms, one foot pressed on his head—completely locking him in place.

Naruto was sitting by the riverbank, soaking wet. Sakura had just snapped out of a genjutsu.

Kakashi smiled and pointed at the three of them, speaking in a smug, almost teasing tone, like he was giving them a lecture.

"Totally not good. You three might as well go back to school and start over."

"At first, Sasuke and Naruto were at least trying to work together a little, but later you just went off doing your own things."

"Sakura was just blindly following Sasuke around. You weren't even trying to fight me."

"So these two bells…"

Kakashi suddenly stopped mid-sentence, hand frozen at his waist.

The bells were gone?!

A playful voice suddenly cut in from the side.

"Looking for this—my dumb little bro~?"

--- 

 Read 30 advanced chapters on my patreon

patreon.com/GustinaKamiya 

---