The training field was calm.
Too calm.
Birds chirped. A breeze swept over the grass. The sun peeked through the trees like it didn't know a storm was coming.
Michio Kuni stood with his arms crossed, watching Naruto bounce around like a kid on sugar, Sakura nervously fidgeting, and Sasuke doing his usual brooding anime-boy stare.
Kakashi arrived thirty minutes late with a small book in one hand and zero remorse in his eye.
"Good morning, everyone. You all look ready to die. That's perfect."
He reached into his pouch and pulled out two silver bells, letting them dangle from a string with a soft jingle.
"This is your final test. Objective: take one of these bells from me by noon. There are only two… which means one of you will be tied to a stump and sent back to the Academy."
Naruto pointed in horror. "WHAT?! That's so unfair! There's four of us now!"
Kakashi shrugged. "Life's unfair. Ninjas die all the time. This is lightweight trauma."
> System Alert:
New Quest: Bell Test Survival Challenge
Goal: Acquire a bell or survive until noon
Bonus Objective: Perform 200 burpees during combat
Reward: +3 Strength, +2 Reflex, +1 Respect (Kakashi)
Penalty: Emotional damage and mild public humiliation
Michio's eye twitched. "Burpees? During a fight?!"
Naruto was already charging. "KAKASHI! I'M COMING FOR THOSE BELLS!"
Kakashi vanished in a blur, and Naruto slammed into a tree trunk.
Michio blinked. "Okay. He's not holding back."
He looked at Sasuke. "Split up?"
Sasuke didn't reply. Typical.
Sakura squeaked and disappeared behind a bush.
Michio sighed, cracked his knuckles, and dropped into a quick set of burpees while forming a plan.
10 burpees in.
He was already sweating.
---
He sprinted toward the clearing, circling the perimeter, trying to catch Kakashi's movements. When he spotted the jounin perched calmly in a tree, reading Make-Out Tactics mid-combat, he almost forgot the plan.
Michio reached into his pouch, pulled out a smoke bomb, and tossed it.
POOF.
Shadow Clone jutsu. One clone to flank left, one to charge head-on, one to—burpee?
"Go, me. Get swole."
The clones moved. Michio burst through the smoke, hands low, legs firing as he mixed squats into his attacks.
Kakashi deflected the first strike, caught the second clone mid-air, and flicked Michio's forehead with casual ease.
"Good use of distraction," he said. "But you need to be smarter. And probably less… sweaty."
Michio stumbled back, panting.
"Okay… Plan B."
> System Notification:
Burpees Completed: 73/200
Reflex +1
Your lungs feel like they want to quit the mission.
Then—
Naruto came crashing in with a giant shuriken and screamed something unintelligible.
Kakashi vanished again.
Sasuke appeared out of nowhere, sharingan not active yet, but his kicks were clean and sharp.
Still, no bell.
---
Time passed in a blur of feints, fumbles, and faceplants. Sakura screamed when she found Naruto buried underground. Kakashi called it "nin-napping."
Michio was down to his last reserve of chakra.
He took cover, clone by his side, catching his breath behind a tree.
"I have a dumb idea," he muttered.
The clone nodded. "Let's go with it."
They sprinted out—clone throwing punches, Michio weaving through with leg sweeps and fast squats mid-dash, angling toward Kakashi's waist.
The clone exploded in a puff just as Kakashi countered—his hand reached for Michio—
—and Michio slid into a low burpee pop-up, exploding off the ground with both hands reaching.
He touched the bell.
Didn't take it.
But touched it.
Kakashi's eye widened slightly.
"Huh. Not bad."
> System Alert:
Bonus Objective Partially Completed
+2 Strength
+1 Respect (Kakashi)
You didn't get the bell—but you got his attention.
---
By noon, everyone was tied up and exhausted. Except Kakashi, who didn't even look winded.
He stood over them, expression unreadable.
"You all failed," he said.
Naruto groaned. Sakura looked like she might cry. Michio winced, still recovering from his burpee spree.
"But," Kakashi continued, "you also learned the lesson I was really testing."
He set the bells down.
"You didn't abandon each other. You supported each other. Even the weird burpee guy."
Michio gave a weak thumbs-up from the ground.
Kakashi's eye crinkled. "Team 7… passes."
Naruto cheered. Sakura sobbed. Sasuke muttered "hn." Michio just fell back in the grass, victorious.
> New Title Unlocked:
Genin of Konoha
+Team 7 Bond Level: +10%
+1 Future Plot Importance
As the wind rolled over the field, Michio closed his eyes.
He made it.
And this was only the beginning.
<[Wow this one was long.]>