Chapter 13: The Bell Test Part 3

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Dialogue

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 13: The Bell Test Part 3

"There she is," Naruto pointed at the unconscious Sakura.

"Mmm…" Sasuke continued to rub his shoulders.

"Come on, I put them back in place. It can't hurt that much anymore," Naruto said.

"Should I dislocate your shoulders to see?" Sasuke spat.

Naruto ignored his complaints and went to check on the girl.

He didn't know what technique Kakashi had used on her but there were no visible injuries on her. "It looks like she is just unconscious. By her scream, I thought she would at least have a few broken bones."

"She was probably attacked with genjutsu…" Sasuke said with a certain bitterness in his voice.

"Genjutsu…" He didn't think of that. The academy books don't go too deep into that branch of techniques so Naruto didn't know much. Just that they were meant to attack the mind instead of the body.

'I'm not good with those kinds of tactics.' In his old world, mental attacks were mostly used by some female practitioners. There were also some demonic beasts who specialized in those but they were rare.

"A mental attack…" Naruto muttered.

"Kakashi must have shown her something very painful. It may take a long time for her to wake up." Sasuke said. He then thought of something. "Will this plan of yours work without her? You still haven't told me what it is."

Naruto frowned. "No… it will not work. We need the full team."

"We only have around ninety minutes. We can't just stand here and wait for her to wake up." Sasuke said.

"Do you have some water? That may help."

"If you want to stay here, that's fine. I'm going back there and fighting Kakashi again." Sasuke had little patience left at this moment. There was too much at stake.

'I cannot fail here…if I'm sent back to the academy for another year… I'm already too far behind him… I'll never catch up.'

Naruto could see the mental stress that Sasuke was under.

"If you go there by yourself… you will exhaust your chakra without accomplishing a single thing and then we will all fail."

"How can you be so sure? Don't underestimate me!" Sasuke was losing his calm again.

"Because the objective of this test is teamwork." Naruto decided to reveal it before it was too late.

Sasuke stared at him without blinking. "Teamwork?..."

"Yes. What else could this test be for? Our individual skills have already been tested in the academy. We graduated so we are good enough, there is no need to prove ourselves again. However, there is still the question if we can work as a team."

"If that is the objective, why are there only two bells? Only two can pass."

"Do you know of any two-man teams?" Naruto asked.

"What do you… hmmm…" Sasuke thought about it but could not come up with an answer.

Konoha teams were always composed of three ninjas.

"He lied to us?" He asked.

"Is it that hard to believe? I think the bells are meant to simulate an emergency situation. What do you do in a situation where you have to choose between completing the mission or saving a teammate?"

Naruto pointed at Sakura.

"We could leave her here and try to get the two bells for us. But I'm sure that even if we could do that… we will fail the test. What do you think is the correct answer, based on Konoha's philosophy?"

Sasuke remained silent for a minute. He then opened a small container on his belt and pulled out a scroll. "I have water stored here."

"How convenient," Naruto said as he saw Sasuke unseal two large bottles of water.

'That is fuuinjutsu… seals. Like the one I have on my body.' He glanced down at his belly. He could not see it now but knew there was a seal there.

'I should learn more about that when I have time.'

"Here." Sasuke handed Naruto a bottle of water.

"How are you going t—"

"Thanks." He said before dunking the bottle on Sakura's face.

Sasuke stared at Naruto with a serious expression. "What happened to the whole 'caring for your teammates' speech?"

Sakura started to cough violently and Naruto removed the bottle of water.

Naruto's eyes turned to meet Sasuke's. "I am an individualist… much like you. But I will play along with the village rules and you should do the same."

'I'll play along for now at least…. once I have regained my strength, we'll have to see.'

Sakura coughed again. "W-wha…what happened?...Sasuke?..." She turned her head around to stare at the boy.

She completely ignored Naruto's presence and just stared at Sasuke with shock.

"You are alive!... but I thought…."

"You were hit by a genjutsu… I don't know what you saw but, none of that was real, it was just an illusion." Sasuke explained.

"It wasn't real… oh thank God… wait!" She looked down at herself. "Why am I all wet?"

"I had to wake you up." Naruto showed her the bottle of water.

Just then Sakura appeared to recognize his presence.

"Na…ru…to…" Her face contorted in anger.

"How dare you throw water at my face?!" She stood up with a jump and lunged at him with her right fist ready to break his face.

"Ahhh!" Sakura let out a yelp of surprise when Naruto grabbed her arm and flipped her around, having her land on her back with a loud 'thud' noise.

"We don't have time for these games… we have a test to pass."

"W-what?! What was that?" Sakura was in shock. This was the first time that Naruto stopped her from punching him. He always took the punishment.

Even Sasuke looked a bit surprised despite knowing that Naruto was very different now.

"Is she always like this?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

Maybe his first impression of the girl had not been that far off.

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