Naruto (SI) Starting With Glint Glint Fruit

"Kakashi-sensei, you can stop acting now. We already figured it out!"

Naruto was walking when he suddenly heard Sakura yelling from behind.

He turned around and looked at her, completely puzzled.

Is this girl crazy?

"What did you just call me?"

"Still pretending?"

Sakura smiled proudly. "We already know this is part of your test, Kakashi-sensei! You're testing our ability to see through things, right? I gotta say, you almost fooled Sasuke and me!"

"But too bad—you missed something important!"

"What?" Naruto asked instinctively.

"That Naruto could never be this strong!"

"..."

Naruto looked down at his hand.

Did I smack her too hard earlier?

Did I literally slap the brains out of her?

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't you going to change back now?" Sakura asked impatiently when she saw Naruto looking at his own hand.

"Change back your damn self, you idiot."

Naruto gave her a side-eye, then turned to Sasuke. "You believed her?"

Sasuke silently stepped a little away from Sakura, trying to show he wasn't with her.

But Naruto could easily tell this idiot must've believed it too—he really thought Naruto was Kakashi in disguise.

"I can't with you two. Why am I on a team with a couple of brain-dead morons?"

"If you're sick, go get treated. If you're dumb, go buy some walnuts for your brain."

Seeing that Naruto didn't turn back into Kakashi and even cursed at them, Sakura was completely stunned.

Did I really get it wrong?

Wait, only that annoying guy would insult me like this!

Kakashi-sensei might not seem like a good person, but he'd never talk to me like that!

Realizing how badly she had embarrassed herself in front of Naruto, Sakura's face turned bright red with shame.

"Looks like there's been a little misunderstanding~"

Kakashi appeared behind them at some point and teased them.

"Kakashi-sensei..."

Sakura felt even more embarrassed when she saw Kakashi show up.

"Alright, the drama's over. You two, come with me."

Kakashi looked at Sakura and Sasuke and couldn't help shaking his head.

They're all Genin, so why's the gap this big?

Oh... come to think of it, I wasn't even as good as Naruto when I was a Genin.

Guess that's the Fourth Hokage's kid for you.

Back at the meeting spot—

Kakashi tossed two ropes to Naruto. "Go tie them up."

Naruto caught the ropes and tossed one to Sasuke. "You tie her up, then tie yourself."

Sasuke: "..."

Kakashi: "..."

Sakura: "?"

A moment later, Sasuke had tied Sakura to a wooden post.

Then he sat down in front of another post, flung the rest of the rope around himself a few times, and tied a knot with the end—locking himself down tight.

Naruto couldn't help but admire Sasuke's flashy rope skills.

Guy really knows how to play with ropes. He might be the best in the entire ninja world at this.

"Alright, time for the mission review."

Kakashi looked at the three of them and said flatly, "This time, except for Naruto, the other two of you failed."

Even though they kind of expected it, both Sasuke and Sakura looked disappointed when they heard it.

Sasuke especially—his eyes were full of frustration.

"You might think you failed just because you didn't get the bells," Kakashi said, noticing their faces. "But that's not really it."

"It's not?" Sakura asked, confused. "Wasn't the point of the test to get the bells? And Naruto... didn't he pass because he got one?"

"Yes, and no."

Kakashi glanced at Naruto. "Naruto did get a bell with his impressive skills, but what really made him pass... was his sense of teamwork."

"Teamwork?"

Sasuke and Sakura both looked at Kakashi, totally confused.

Instead of answering directly, Kakashi asked, "Why do you think we have three-person squads?"

"Three-person squads? What's that got to do with the test?" Sakura asked, still puzzled.

Seeing they didn't get it, Kakashi's tone turned cold.

"Missions are carried out by squads working together. Personal ability is important, sure, but if you ignore everything else, your teammates will be the ones in danger."

"Why did Naruto pass? Because he understood that his teammates mattered."

"And you two? Naruto tried to get you to work with him, and you ignored him. Sakura, all you cared about was Sasuke. And Sasuke, you just wanted to go solo."

Being called out like that made both Sakura and Sasuke lower their heads in shame.

But Sakura quickly noticed something else. "But Kakashi-sensei... there were only two bells. How were we supposed to work as a team if one of us had to lose? Even if we got the bells, someone had to give one up, right?"

"Still don't get it?" Kakashi's voice was cold. "That was a trap on purpose. The whole point was to test whether you'd put teamwork first in that kind of situation."

"Don't you think Naruto knew there were only two bells? But even then, he still came to both of you and asked to team up."

Sakura and Sasuke looked instinctively at Naruto's blank face, their cheeks flushing red.

They hadn't realized just how far behind they were compared to Naruto.

Not just in strength—but in how they thought, too.

Naruto had already shown he was stronger than both of them, but even with that strength, he still chose not to fight alone.

"When you go on real missions in the future, you'll be putting your lives on the line. Now look at this—"

Kakashi walked over to a nearby stone monument and said, "The names carved on this stone belong to ninja the village sees as heroes. But all of them died during missions. One of them was my comrade."

Sasuke and Sakura stayed silent, their faces turning serious.

At that moment, they finally started to understand what it meant to have teammates, and how fragile life really was.

Doing missions… could really get you killed!

"You two, I'll give you one last chance!"

"This afternoon, we'll have one more bell-grabbing test. But since you both failed this morning, you won't get any lunch!"

"Naruto!"

"Hm?"

"You get to eat both lunch boxes. But you're not allowed to share with the other two. That's the rule. If you break it, your result will also be changed to 'fail.' Got it?"

Naruto stared back at Kakashi's dead-fish eyes for a moment and calmly replied, "Got it."

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