---
In the distance, it was unclear whether it was Kakashi's real body or a shadow clone, but he was kneeling with his hands pressed to the ground, performing a jutsu.
Seeing that there was no way to escape, Ye Dou's expression turned fierce. He spun his sword in a flourish with his right hand, reversed his grip, and stabbed straight down. Unexpectedly, he had miscalculated.
To avoid falling under a genjutsu, he had previously kept his eyes off Kakashi's face, focusing instead on Kakashi's lower body the entire fight.
But now, Kakashi had changed his angle and launched an upward attack from below.
Ye Dou instinctively dropped his head to counter — and was met by Kakashi's Sharingan.
Ye Dou's heart sank. It was too late to avert his gaze. His entire body jolted as the illusion took hold.
"You're finished, Ye Dou."
"You're jumping to conclusions too soon, Kakashi!"
"Nani?!"
An intense sense of danger surged from behind.
Kakashi quickly turned—and saw Ye Dou.
The real Ye Dou.
He was already at Kakashi's side, swinging his blade with a reverse grip for a clean cut.
"A shadow clone?! Was the hand sign earlier just a decoy? My Sharingan should have caught any clone separation! Or… have I been fighting a shadow clone this entire time?!"
The hum of Ye Dou's blade tore through the air as cold, lethal pressure bore down on Kakashi.
Startled, Kakashi immediately abandoned his hold on the Ye Dou in front of him and pivoted to evade the attack.
He had come in person today, wanting to establish his authority in front of his new students—there was no room to lose face now. If this slash had landed, it would have been a huge embarrassment!
Swish!
The blade's brilliant arc sliced the air, its force sharp enough to cut clean through cloth.
Though Kakashi narrowly escaped being bisected, ching!—the sound of a small bell rang out.
"Oh no, the bells!"
Kakashi instinctively looked to his waist—only to find the string cut clean through.
Turning his head, he saw Ye Dou holding the two bells firmly in his hand.
When he landed, Kakashi let out a resigned sigh. "Congratulations… You win."
He had a hard time believing it himself. If he told his old friends what had happened today, they'd think it was a joke.
But the test wasn't over yet.
"There are only two bells," he said, "so how will you divide them?"
At that moment, the panic on Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke's faces returned. The earlier shock of being buried in the ground was now replaced with gloom and unease.
After all, they had never gotten along. In the Academy, they constantly argued or fought. If Ye Dou chose to send one of them back to the Academy for retraining, it wouldn't be surprising.
"Who will you give one of the bells to?" Kakashi asked again.
Of course, the so-called bell test was just a pretense. The true purpose was to drive them into desperation—to see how they would act under pressure.
"I haven't decided yet," Ye Dou said flatly. "When I do, you can send one of them back to the Academy."
It was a typical evasion—he claimed to consider it, but never intended to actually make that choice.
"That's not acceptable," Kakashi said, his voice now dark and cold. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum."
"A guy who doesn't care about his comrades," Ye Dou shot back, "is worse than scum."
With that, Ye Dou tossed both bells to Naruto and Sasuke.
To the others, it seemed like he was sacrificing himself to let the other two pass.
Kakashi's heart was shaken.
As he looked at Ye Dou's back, for a brief moment, he saw the image of Obito Uchiha in his mind.
That poker face of Ye Dou's—it was impossible to tell what he was really thinking.
Naruto, equally stunned, felt his nose sting.
Then, suddenly—
"I don't want your bell! I'll earn it myself… even if it takes a year!" he shouted.
"Hmph. I don't need your pity," Sasuke added coldly. "I'll graduate with my own strength."
Neither of them even looked at the bell at their feet.
"You three…" Kakashi's voice suddenly roared out.
He pulled down his forehead protector to cover his left eye again. In the blink of an eye, his demeanor changed completely—from a stern Jonin to a laid-back teacher.
With a soft smile, he said, "You pass."
Naruto and Sasuke were stunned. Even Ye Dou paused mid-step.
---
[Next Target]
At the Konoha Dango Shop, Might Guy, Sarutobi Asuma, and Yūhi Kurenai sat together, eating skewers of brightly colored dango.
Other than the three of them, the shop was empty.
Not that they minded. In fact, this quiet atmosphere was just what Asuma and Kurenai needed today—they had come to seek guidance.
Unlike Guy, they had only just been appointed Jonin instructors and were both new to mentoring genin. They weren't sure where to start.
"I'm talking to you, Guy—are you even listening?" Kurenai asked with mild exasperation, her red eyes narrowing slightly.
As Konoha's most skilled genjutsu user aside from Uchiha Itachi, she was more than capable in her field.
But the team she was assigned didn't specialize in illusions at all. Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyūga Hinata were all sensory or tracking types.
She had no idea how to tailor her teaching to suit them—so she turned to Might Guy for help.
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