Naruto : Monsters: Chapter 33

Naruto looked startled at that and shot me a glance of pure panic. However, despite me wearing my best Hyuuga poker face, Naruto must have seen through my facade because she quickly calmed down and relaxed. She might have not known why I was so calm but trusted me enough to believe I must have had a good reason for it.

Really, this girl trusted me far too much.

...

I spared a quick glance at Naruto's opposite side to Shikamaru, who was coolly watching our Sensei. Despite the man's attempts to rile us up, the Nara was as calm as ever. He must have either figured out the true meaning behind the test already or was simply too lazy to get worked up over it.

He must have felt me watching him because he turned to look at me, his eyes jumping to Naruto for a second before returning back to mine. Then he rolled his eyes, snorted and let out a large yawn before closing eyes as if everything happening was too troublesome for him to bother with.

I felt a tiny smile brush on my lips. Good, everything is going well. With this, the exam is as good as won-

"Just kidding~" Kakashi called out in a sing-song voice, derailing my thoughts, before his hand blurred.

The concrete steps behind me shattered, kicking up a small cloud of white dust just as something whizzed past my head.

Huh?

I slowly turned around to look behind me, only to find myself staring in disbelief at the now deformed bell which was buried deep inside the concrete steps. When I turned to look back at the thrower in question, Kakashi just smiled cheerfully at me.

"Really, you guys just keep making things more difficult for me." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, "There's no point giving you an exam you're guaranteed to pass."

"What?" Naruto looked between the damage steps and Kakashi with wide eyes, confusion written all over her face. "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

Kakashi pointed at me and Shikamaru, "These two, they figured everything out. Well, I guess it is a pretty obvious test. The only people who can't figure the trick behind it are idiots..."

"But…but…but I haven't figured it out." Naruto whined, then stopped to think about what she just said. "HEY!"

"There's no point in carrying on." Kakashi just carried on as if Naruto hadn't spoken up. "I can already predict what's going to happen. You," he pointed at me.

"Already know about the bell test. Either you've stumbled upon the information when researching about me or overheard someone talking about it by chance. Well, it's not as if it was a big secret anyway, the tale of how the Third gave the Sannin the bell test used to be pretty popular back in the day." Then he pointed to Shikamaru.

"You probably puzzled everything out and would have willingly dropped out and allowed the other two to get the bells without fighting, knowing that was the correct answer." Then at Naruto, "And you're so desperate to avoid fighting your friends that you would have followed any plans those two proposed if it meant there was even the smallest chance of all three of you passing."

Kakashi shrugged, "Like I said, this test is now pointless. Besides, even if none of you figured it out the results would have been obvious. The Nara is too lazy to bother fighting over the bell and would have happily dropped out of the running. 

The blonde is more loyal than a puppy and would never betray her teammates, and since she has her little pet Hyuuga completely whipped she would have no trouble convincing him not to fight."

"Hey!" I objected, sitting up, "Who the hell are you calling whipped?"

"You obviously." The man rolled his eyes – well, an eye - "To others, it might appear like Naruto is the one following you around, but to me, it looks like you're the one following her. Tell me, if I had been serious about the exam and she was the one out of the three of you to fail, what would you have done? Would you continue on without her or stayed back at the Academy for another year with her?"

"I…I…" I felt my cheeks colour slightly as I realized just how easy it was to answer that question. "That doesn't mean I'm whipped!"

"It doesn't, does it? Then tell me, do you cook for her?

"Of course I do, have you ever tried Naruto's cooking? The last time she tried boiling water she somehow managed to set it on fire."

"Clean up after her?"

"No! I force her to clean up any mess she makes after herself…I just tend to lend a hand sometimes …and end up doing most of it myself, but that's only because I enjoy cleaning."

"Help her with her shopping?"

"Have you seen what she wears? If I let her choose her own clothing she'd dress up like an orange, and I mean the fruit not-"

Kakashi didn't even bother waiting for me to finish. "Alright, maybe I was wrong. You're not just whipped, you're practically a housewife." He made a whipping motion, "A whipped one."

...

I will kill this man.

Shikamaru – the traitor - actually snickered at me while Naruto had this wide beaming grin plastered on her face.

"Ohh~~ don't worry Hikaru," She patted my head condescendingly, clearly not meaning a single word she said, "I don't think you're whipped …much." She added the last part quietly but just loud enough for me to hear it.

I levelled my best glare at her, trying and failing to banish my embarrassed blush. "You-are-dead."

"Sure I am." She snickered happily.

"Ok, enough of that ducklings." Kakashi clapped once to gather our attention. "Now that my original plan is ruined, I'm going to have to modify the rules a bit."

"What do we have to do?" Naruto asked, suddenly back to eyeing the man suspiciously.

"Simple." He held up the remaining bell and jiggled it. "You still have to get the bell off me but this time it's an all or nothing deal. If you succeed, you all pass. If you fail, then all of you will be sent back to the Academy."

"Great!" The blonde cheered, grinning fiercely, "That's just what I wanted."

I, on the other hand, was nowhere near as excited as she was. From what I remembered of the bell test we weren't supposed to actually succeed in stealing the bells. All we had to do was demonstrate some teamwork and we'd pass, but now it sounded like Kakashi actually wanted us to steal a bell. Which made this test so much worse. It was almost as...

A stray thought entered my mind.

"...Sensei, I just want to confirm something." I spoke up, eyeing the man-child with a growing sense of suspicion. "Are you sure you're not using this test as an excuse to beat us up just because you're sore we spoiled your original plans?"

Kakashi gave me an offended look, "Do you really think I am the kind of person who would do something as shallow as that?"

"Yes." All three of us nodded our head unanimously.

Kakashi just smiled, eye twinkling, "Well, that's all I have to say. Be sure to get some rest." He rose up from his seat and gave us one final warning before leaving, "Remember, be there at 08:00 sharp. The exam won't start until all of us arrive."

Then with a quick application of Shunshin, he flickered away.

The rooftop felt oddly empty now that he was gone. All of us that remained fell silent as we contemplated our new Sensei and what our new test would hold for us.

"Well, that was annoying." Shikamaru broke the silence, aptly summarizing what we all were probably feeling. Standing up, he dusted his pants off and gave us a quick wave over his shoulder as he walked towards the exit, "See ya."

He had barely managed to take a single step before he was yanked back as I snagged the back of his collar. He glanced over his shoulder, staring blandly back at my face.

"And where do you think you're going?" I asked.

Shikamaru gave me a bored look, "Home. Where else?"

I shook my head, "No, you're not. We got a test to prepare for remember? If we want even the slightest chance of passing then we need to start planning right now."

"Correction. You have a test to prepare for." Shikamaru shrugged my hand off him. "I, however, have some much-needed sleep to catch up on." He gave us another wave and started to walk away. "See ya."

"Don't take another step," Shikamaru paused mid-step, shooting me an annoyed look, "You are going to stay and help prepare, or else."

"Or else what?"

I smiled, "I'll make you."

"How?" Shikamaru snickered, "We're not students anymore and this is not the Academy. You heard Iruka, we're legally adults. That means you can't even touch me unless you want to get in legal trouble." He gave me a condescending look, "So what are you going to do? Tell my mum on me or something?"

The smile I gave him in return was something pure evil.

"As a matter of fact…"

...

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