After saying that, Tsunade turned around decisively and neatly. With a few leaps, she disappeared into the forest at the edge of the training ground, leaving the heavy atmosphere and the difficult problem entirely to the boys and girls present.
Standing where he was, Minato's gentle smile also faded somewhat.
He looked at the three students of his own team, then glanced at Team Ten opposite them, and spoke: "Alright, the rules have already been made very clear. There are only two bells, while there are six of you. How to formulate a strategy—whether to cooperate first and seize the bells from me or from Tsunade-senpai, or try some other approach—you may discuss and decide for yourselves."
He paused, then deliberately reminded them: "However, pay attention to Tsunade-senpai. Her strength is far beyond what you can imagine at your current level. Any rash frontal assault will have absolutely no chance of success. Make good use of this final preparation time."
Having said that, his figure also flickered, and he used the Body Flicker Technique to leave the spot, completely giving the space to the six young shinobi from the two teams.
For a moment, in the center of the training ground, the two teams stood facing each other. Six gazes crossed one another, and a subtle silence settled over them.
Obito was the first to lose his composure. Grabbing his messy black hair, his face was filled with anxiety and struggle.
"Th-this rule is way too cruel, isn't it?! You have to grab a bell to pass, but there are only two! We're not even from the same team! I—I don't want to attack my comrades, but I also don't want to go back to the Ninja Academy and start over! That would be way too embarrassing!"
Nohara Rin stood beside him, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, her eyes equally full of worry.
She looked at the members of Team Ten across from them, then at Kakashi and Obito beside her. Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere or offer a suggestion, but in the end she only sighed softly and swallowed the words.
Kurenai and Shizune exchanged a glance, each seeing the same gravity in the other's eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Kurenai stepped half a step forward and spoke in as calm and clear a voice as possible: "Minato-sensei is right. The two sensei' strength far exceeds ours. Acting alone gives us almost no chance of success. I think the most rational choice for our two teams right now is to cooperate temporarily. First, we should concentrate our strength and find a way to seize the bells from the two sensei. As for who the bells will belong to afterward, we can then—"
A cold, indifferent voice cut her off.
"No need."
Kakashi stepped forward. His gaze was sharp as a blade, fixed straight on Shinichi.
"Higashino Shinichi." Kakashi spoke without the slightest probing, going straight to it. "The rules are clear: whoever gets a bell passes. Wasting time on pointless cooperation and tug-of-war only lowers efficiency and increases the risk of the sensei picking us off one by one."
"They can't keep up with your pace or mine. In front of Tsunade-sensei and Minato-sensei, they're nothing but dead weight that distracts and an obvious weak point to exploit. If the two of us join forces, the odds of getting the bells are highest. Everyone else is just dead weight that will drag us down."
"Bastard, Kakashi! Who are you calling dead weight?!" Obito instantly bristled. His face flushed bright red as he pointed at Kakashi and shouted.
Kurenai and Shizune didn't look any better, and Rin looked at Kakashi anxiously, coaxing in a low voice, "Kakashi, don't say that…"
However, Kakashi ignored Obito's shouting and his companions' ugly expressions as if he didn't see them at all. At this moment, his eyes had room for only one person.
"Kakashi, I won't abandon my comrades."
Shinichi shook his head and refused bluntly.
Kakashi's brows knit together. His voice turned cold and hard as he said, "I thought you were already a chūnin now. You've been on missions—you should understand reality more clearly. In the face of an absolute gap in strength, meaningless bonds and burdens only lead to total defeat. I didn't expect you'd still be clinging to that naïve Ninja Academy thinking."
His gaze swept over the other four again, his tone indifferent. "These freshly graduated genin—in a confrontation at this level—they're dead weight. Letting feelings get in the way will only—"
"That's enough, Kakashi!"
Shinichi's voice rose sharply, cutting him off.
"The test hasn't even started, and you're already here, can't wait to shake morale, wreck any possible cooperation, and demean your comrades until they're worth nothing!" Shinichi stepped forward, his eyes sharp as he pressed Kakashi. "You don't even understand the most basic principles of a team. Are you really a qualified shinobi? Looks like graduating too early didn't make you grow up—if anything, it made you lose your way."
"You say they're burdens? I say the one creating internal rifts is the biggest destabilizing factor in the team—the real dead weight! The one who should go back to the Ninja Academy for a few more years and properly learn how to be a shinobi is you, Kakashi."
"What did you say?"
Kakashi's eyes suddenly turned cold. The air around him seemed to freeze, and a suppressed yet sharp aura spread from his body.
The shadow of his father Hatake Sakumo's suicide was like the heaviest set of shackles—and also his most obsessive driving force.
He had graduated early, carried out missions desperately, abided by those cold rules, and suppressed every emotion he considered weak.
Everything he did was to prove that his father had been wrong—to prove that putting the mission first and efficiency above all was the correct path of a shinobi, and to prove that he himself would not repeat the same mistake.
And now, Shinichi was actually rebuking him to his face, saying he was not a qualified shinobi, calling him the real burden, and even telling him to return to the Ninja Academy and study again?
This was not merely a conflict of ideals—it was a complete denial of all the struggles, all the persistence, and all the beliefs he had relied on to support himself over the past three years.
"What, you don't accept it?"
Shinichi stepped forward as well, refusing to yield in the slightest.
"Kakashi, if you think your reasoning is the truth, if you think strength is the only standard…" Shinichi's gaze grew as sharp as a blade, his voice ringing clearly across the silent training ground. "Then settle it in the way you acknowledge the most."
A challenge!
Kurenai, Shizune, Obito, and Rin all held their breath, staring in shock at the sudden turn of events.
No one had expected that before the test had even begun, internal conflict would erupt between the two teams—and that it would be a direct confrontation between the two core chūnin.
"Kurenai, let me borrow your sword."
"Ah? Oh—okay!" Kurenai froze for a moment before reacting, quickly unfastening the sword at her waist and handing it over.
Her sword was different from the commonly seen, slightly curved katana. It was a straight, double-edged longsword. The blade was slender and long, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.
Shinichi took the sword. It felt slightly heavy in his hand. The grip was somewhat different from the tachi he usually used, but for him it posed no hindrance.
"I remember very clearly. Four years ago, at the Ninja Academy's combat examination ground, you once said that the next time we crossed blades, you would definitely defeat me."
Shinichi flicked his wrist. The longsword let out a clear ringing hum as the blade lifted and pointed straight at Kakashi.
"Then let it be now. Let me see just how much you've improved over these past four years."
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