𝐅𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐨 𝐇𝐲𝐮𝐠𝐚 | ᶠᵃᵗᵉ

𝟻 | ʀᴇʟɪᴇғ

-𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙚
chapter 5

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 was unfortunate, yet preordained. Kushina was an elite jounin. And despite being fairly young herself, she had acquired years of experience over the genin. So unsurprisingly, the three of them had managed to drain all of their chakra. Her students were thus unable to continue with the test. It's not that the genin weren't talented; rather, Kushina was simply more experienced.

"Your test is over," Kushina's voice had said from behind them. Kushina's real self then emerged from the shadows surrounding them, who had taken the place of the shadow clone. The genin turned around to face her.

The three of them looked at each other in pure shock and disappointment. They had failed; the well-versed plan that they had managed to come up with had been a waste.

Kushina noticed this, unable to hide a faint smile. "You all don't have to look so dreary, y'a know," she said. "After all, I never said that any of you failed."

The three of them couldn't help but question Kushina's response. The rules of the test were explicit; they had to retrieve the bells before noon in order to pass, which they had failed to.

"What do you mean by that?" Fumiko asked with slight confusion.

"You all," she begun.

Failed?

"...passed."

The atmosphere filled with silence for a moment. The genin just stood there, completely dumbfounded— even questioning if they had even heard Kushina correctly. Perhaps it was merely a mistake.

Kushina let out a devious grin, raising her brows as she noticed her students' utter confusion. Was their sensei really trolling them?

"But I thought we—" Akemi had begun to say.

Kushina sighed. "The purpose of this test was never actually about talent to begin with. Though I did intend to test your combat skills to get an overall grasp on your abilities. So, I had to push each of you harder than what would be normally expected. But anyway, what I really wanted to see during this test was teamwork." She smiled. "And you guys passed on that."

Relief instantly washed over her following her sensei's announcement. Fumiko had managed to pass the bell test, and her status as a full-fledged shinobi had been confirmed. Not only that, but her team had managed to pass as well. Taishiro, the boy who formulated the strategy, was the reason they had passed in the first place. And even Akemi had contributed to the team's success as well, despite his arrogance.

"Don't get too relaxed though," said Kushina as she began to lecture them. "Since you all are now official genin under my squad, you must take your missions seriously. If either of you break the rule of teamwork on an actual mission, there will be consequences— I expect no shenanigans from any of you. Being a ninja isn't easy, y'a know!"

She then side-eyed a certain member of their team. After basically going on a tangent, there was a brief moment of silence before she seemed to have remembered something else.

"Now, you guys are all official members of team 6," she said with a grin. "Isn't that cool?"

"In that case, when does are training start?" inquired Taishiro.