"So it's teamwork!"
Neither of them had expected that Naruto—who had been dead last in both grades and combat ability at the Academy—could analyze the situation so thoroughly.
Sakura, in particular, was stunned. She had been so worried about being eliminated since last night that she hadn't even thought about analyzing the assessment itself.
Sasuke had done some analysis, but even he hadn't connected everything to the final point of teamwork.
"That explains why we're in three-man cells."
After exhaling slowly, Sasuke turned and fixed his gaze on Naruto.
"That person inside you told you all this, didn't they?"
"He's powerful and clever," Sasuke continued calmly, "but I suggest you don't rely on him too much. He's dangerous."
"Ah!?"
Naruto, who had been laughing smugly just a moment ago, froze.
Caught red-handed, he immediately put on a stubborn expression.
"How do you know I didn't think of it myself?!"
"You're just jealous that I'm smarter than you and analyzed it better!"
Sakura crossed her arms, the shock in her eyes fading as she sided with Sasuke.
"You couldn't even properly analyze problems in the Academy's theory classes, and now you're suddenly making perfect sense right after graduation?"
"Naruto, who are you trying to fool?"
She still vividly remembered Lock taking control of Naruto's body.
Powerful.
Cruel.
A Jonin-level enemy was eliminated in moments.
If it was Lock who had provided the analysis, that made perfect sense.
"Lock is my sub-personality to begin with," Naruto retorted stubbornly.
"So whatever he says is the same as me saying it!"
"Lock?"
"Sub-personality?"
Sakura and Sasuke repeated the words at the same time, looking at Naruto with curiosity.
They had both vaguely guessed there was something inside Naruto, but neither had asked outright.
Every ninja had secrets. Digging too deeply into someone else was a fast way to earn resentment.
Naruto, however, didn't seem to care.
They were going to be teammates from now on—there was no reason to hide it.
"That's basically it," Naruto said.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Lock—both are me. Two sides of the same coin."
After listening, Sakura sighed softly.
She finally understood Naruto's past better and felt a deeper sympathy for him.
Sasuke, on the other hand, felt a flicker of envy.
If he also had such a powerful sub-personality…
Maybe it wouldn't take long before he could personally kill Uchiha Itachi.
"Two sides indeed," Sasuke said dryly.
"One side is dead last, and the other is the leader."
After the jab, he changed the subject and became serious.
"Let's set Naruto's issue aside for now. We need to discuss how we'll divide roles within the team."
Since they had already identified Kakashi's assessment criteria, they needed to act accordingly.
Poor role distribution would only lead to fighting alone and guaranteed failure.
"How should we split it?" Naruto asked, looking at them expectantly.
This kind of thinking wasn't his strong suit.
"Main attacker, feint/support, and one person to oversee the overall situation," Sakura replied quickly, reciting what she'd learned in class.
Sasuke nodded, then looked at Naruto.
"Will your sub-personality, Uzumaki Lock, take action?"
"No," Naruto waved his hands immediately.
"I'm trying to let him fight as little as possible. It's terrifying every time he comes out."
He really didn't want his team leader beaten half to death.
"Then your Multiple Shadow Clones," Sasuke continued,
"Can you always make as many as you showed before?"
"I could before, but not now. About ten is the limit."
Naruto pulled a bitter face.
"That fake teacher yesterday slapped my stomach. After that, it feels like I have way less chakra."
"But!" Naruto added quickly, perking up.
"I can finally perform the Three Basic Jutsu properly now!"
Because the Five Elements Seal interfered with the Eight Trigrams Seal's conversion of the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto's usable chakra pool had dropped, limiting his clones.
Under normal circumstances, the clash between chakra types would cause severe instability.
But Lock's fully dominant Nine-Tails chakra—obtained through absolute control—had subtly influenced Naruto's body.
As a result, Naruto's system no longer treated residual chakra as foreign.
Less excess.
No disorder.
Much smoother control.
"That explains it…" Sasuke muttered.
"Then I'll be the main attacker. Naruto, you'll act as feint and support. Sakura will oversee coordination and provide backup."
The plan was simple and flexible—perfect for a first mission together.
"As expected of Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, swaying slightly.
"You assigned roles so fast—so cool!"
Naruto immediately bristled.
"Why are you the main attacker?! I want to be the main attacker!"
"Fine," Sasuke replied indifferently.
"Then you attack, and I'll be the feint."
He didn't care. Teamwork mattered more than position.
Just as the sun climbed toward its peak—
Kakashi finally appeared, carrying a bag.
"Yo. Good morning!"
"You're late!"
All three glared at him.
They'd arrived at six in the morning.
It was almost noon.
If Naruto hadn't brought food, they would've been starving by now.
"Sorry," Kakashi replied casually.
"I'm not late. I just got lost on the road of life."
He was absolutely not going to admit he'd lost track of time reading Young A-Ming.
"Alright," Kakashi continued, pulling out an alarm clock and two bells.
"I'll set this for noon."
"You have one hour to take these two bells from me."
"Anyone without a bell won't eat lunch and will be tied to those posts to watch me eat."
He pointed to three wooden stakes nearby.
"So that's why you told us not to eat breakfast," Sakura muttered.
Before their relief could settle, Kakashi added with a grin:
"There are only two bells."
"One person will fail."
"And that person goes back to the Academy."
The three exchanged glances—
—and smiled.
Exactly as expected.
Kakashi was trying to force them to betray one another from the start.
If they fought alone, none of them would succeed.
"Tsk," Kakashi clicked his tongue.
"Not a single one of you panicked. I'm starting to look forward to this."
"Alright," he said lazily.
"Let's begin."
---
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