It's better to be a rebel ninja than to be a Hokage

Kakashi stared at Sakura, his voice becoming even deeper: "So you're saying that the reason you failed in your mission was because the enemy was too strong?"

Kakashi usually seems very approachable and would even make up some nonsensical excuses for being late.

But once he got serious, Sakura couldn't withstand Kakashi's momentum.

"Sakura, do you think ninja is a game of house? When you introduced yourself yesterday, you mentioned Sasuke all the time. Do you naively think that if you choose to become a ninja like Sasuke, he will play house games with you?"

"I……"

Sakura wanted to refute, but faced with Kakashi's intimidating gaze that could see through her immaturity.

Sakura finally chose to remain silent.

"Have you ever thought about why the graduates of the Ninja School are grouped into Ninja Teams led by Jonin?"

"Why do we have to participate in this exercise where we have to start all over again if we fail, even though we have finally graduated from school?"

Kakashi scanned Naruto, Sasuke, and finally stopped at Sakura: "Sakura, you also said that you three are just fresh graduates, and you are no match for a jonin like me... Facing an exam that you will fail from the beginning, can't you figure out the real purpose of the exam?"

"Purpose……?"

Faced with Kakashi's questioning, Sakura blankly repeated Kakashi's words.

"It's 'Teamwork'!"

Kakashi was not stingy in telling the three people the answer.

"This exercise is just a test after all. If the three of you come together, you can at least take one bell from me."

Hearing Kakashi's words, Sakura showed a confused expression: "But there are only two bells, and you want the three of us to fight for one bell together. It's impossible to cooperate, and we will start fighting among ourselves!"

"This is the real test question." Kakashi replied: "The result of fighting for the bell is not important at all, what is important is the process."

"When a ninja is carrying out a real mission, he often has to face the choice of sacrificing himself or his team - to protect, to abandon, to sacrifice, to fight together..."

"Sakura, you have already made this choice invisibly."

Sakura's expression froze, but before she could figure it out, Kakashi had already given her the answer.

"You chose to abandon Naruto...and your choice did not make the mission a success."

Kakashi's tone shifted from instruction to accusation.

"Sakura, you didn't consider Naruto's position at all! After Sasuke's attack failed, all you could think about was Sasuke, who was nowhere to be found, and you even exposed yourself for this. Although you wanted to make up for your mistake after Naruto saved you, it was of no avail."

He wasn't just blaming Sakura.

Kakashi looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto, you are just trying to be a hero and save the damsel in distress! You could have found the right moment to save Sakura from the illusion trap without me noticing you, but you used the illusion on her behalf, leaving me, the enemy, with nothing to worry about."

After criticizing Naruto, Kakashi finally fixed his eyes on Sasuke: "As for you, Sasuke. You never thought about Naruto and Sakura, and regarded them as a burden. All your actions in the exercise were based on the assumption that you were the only one fighting against me."

Kakashi's pointed comment caused the three to fall into silence.

"I'll give you one more chance. Rest for an hour and start the drill again at 1 p.m."

Seeing the look of the three people at this moment, Kakashi's attitude softened a little.

"But the punishment for the morning exercise is still in effect. Sasuke is not allowed to eat. Among the three people who participated in the morning exercise, only his behavior has nothing to do with 'teamwork'. You two are not allowed to give him lunch!"

"Anyone who violates this rule will no longer be required to participate in the afternoon drill. I will directly judge him as unqualified."

Without giving Kakashi a chance to explain or plead, he finished his monologue and instantly left using the body-flickering technique.

It can be seen that Kakashi's accusations as a genius have instantly accumulated enough authority for himself as the captain of the ninja squad.

Even though Kakashi had already left, Sasuke and Sakura remained motionless.

Naruto didn't care, as he was the only one in this exercise who knew the correct answer from beginning to end.

So Naruto wasn't scared by Kakashi at all.

As soon as Kakashi used the instant body movement technique to leave, he immediately went to look for his lunch.

After a long while, Sasuke finally said to Sakura: "Sakura, go eat."

"But……"

"I probably won't have much energy for the afternoon drill, so you and Naruto should eat a full meal at noon. I will be in charge of being the bait in the afternoon... You and Naruto must work together to make sure you grab at least one bell from Kakashi."

Sasuke shook his head to stop Sakura from saying anything and made a rational analysis.

"I see……"

Sakura held back the tears that were about to flow, rubbed her eyes, and slowly opened her lunch box.

Seeing that Sakura was convinced by him, Sasuke turned his gaze to Naruto again.

"Naruto."

Sasuke shouted, "Sakura's taijutsu is a little weak, but her ninjutsu is pretty good; you're just the opposite, so the two of you should cooperate and complement each other - while you and Sakura are having dinner, listen carefully to my plan."

"Well...you said you don't like sweets, so which do you prefer, salty or sour? Oh, I want spicy food, so you can't choose."

But Naruto ignored Sasuke at all. Naruto's lunch box was a three-color rice ball.

Spicy wasabi rice balls, salty bonito rice balls and sour plum rice balls.

"Hey! Naruto! Stop messing around and listen to me!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto with some annoyance, and his voice unconsciously became louder.

"Stop... stop arguing..."

Sakura, who had just picked up her chopsticks, hurried over to ease the atmosphere.

Naruto however ignored Sasuke and Sakura.

He hesitated for a while between the bonito rice balls and the plum rice balls. In his previous life, what kind of rice balls was Sasuke's favorite food?

I can't remember clearly, but Naruto finally chose one at random according to his own preferences.

He took out the katsuobushi rice ball and stuffed it into Sasuke's mouth under Sasuke's surprised gaze.

"Ugh! Cough cough!"

Sasuke felt suffocated by the huge blockage in his throat after swallowing such a large rice ball in one breath.

"Give!"

Naruto handed Sasuke a cup of herbal tea to help him swallow.

At this time, Sasuke had no time to care about anything else. He took the herbal tea and swallowed the rice ball completely with the tea.

"what……"

Sasuke was stunned when he finally reacted.

"Naruto! What did you do! Aren't you breaking the rules by doing this?"

Sakura said worriedly.

"But aren't we partners in the same class? Compared to partners, rules are not important at all."

Naruto smiled at Sakura.

This exercise was completely an open-book test for him.

He screwed the lid of the herbal tea back on without any worry.

It’s almost time—

——As expected, Kakashi suddenly appeared again using the instant body stunt.

"You guys!"

Kakashi yelled at the three people angrily.

The next second, he became extremely happy and gentle again.

“Passed!”