Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sharp, persistent sound of the alarm clock on the wooden post was like a sentence. It cut through the tension, broke the spell of the combat, and declared with metallic finality that time was up.

The silence that followed was almost louder than the alarm.

Naruto slowly let go of Kakashi and took a couple of steps back, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. a smile of pure, absolute triumph spread across his dirty, sweaty face.

“WE DID IT!” His shout echoed in the clearing, so full of explosive joy it seemed to shake the leaves on the trees. “WE DID IT, SAKURA-CHAN! YOU GOT THE BELLS! WE’RE THE BEST! BELIEVE IT!”

Sakura, standing on the other side of the field, barely heard him. The world had shrunk to the weight of the two small bells in her hand and the hammering of her own heart in her ears. She had done it. Against all odds, against an elite jōnin, she—the one who had always felt a step behind—had been the one to secure victory. A wave of adrenaline, pride, and exhaustion washed over her, leaving her trembling, but standing.

On the ground, Sasuke pushed himself up on his elbows, his face a mask of disbelief and a humiliation so deep it was almost a physical wound. He had been defeated, buried, and reduced to a spectator while the two teammates he considered dead weight executed a plan and won. The logic of his world, where genius and individual power were everything, had been shattered.

Kakashi stood up, dusting himself off with an exasperating calm. The laziness had returned to his posture, but his single visible eye wasn’t on his book. It moved between his three students, analyzing, assessing. An almost imperceptible smile formed under his mask. They really did it, he thought, a hint of genuine surprise coloring his amusement. Not the way I expected, but the result is the same. Interesting.

He walked calmly over to Sasuke. With no apparent effort, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and plucked him from the ground as if he were a simple carrot. Sasuke scrambled to his feet, pulling away from him with a growl. He brushed the dirt off with a silent fury, refusing to look at Naruto or Sakura.

“Well, well,” Kakashi said, his drawl breaking the silence. “The bells. You have them. I’m impressed. You passed the challenge and demonstrated the value of cooperation against a superior enemy. You’ve learned the first lesson of teamwork.”

Naruto puffed out his chest with pride. Even the weird-sensei admitted it!

“But,” Kakashi continued, and that single word made the air freeze again, “there’s one small problem.”

He turned to Sakura, who was still holding the bells in her trembling hand.

“Sakura. You were the one who got the bells. The victory is yours. You made the decision to set a trap, and Naruto trusted your judgment. On this mission, you acted as the leader.”

Sakura looked at him, confused. What was he getting at?

“However,” Kakashi said, his tone turning clinical, devoid of all warmth, “you only have two bells. And you are a team of three. According to the rules I established, that means two of you pass and one returns to the Academy. Forever.”

Sakura’s heart stopped.

“Naruto failed to get a bell. And Sasuke failed spectacularly. You, as the winner and the de facto leader of this operation, have the burden of the decision.” Kakashi stared at her, his eye as dark and deep as a well. “Choose, Sakura. Who do you give the second bell to? Who among them moves on with you, and who among them sees their dream of being a ninja end right here, right now?”

The question landed in the clearing like a granite slab. It wasn’t a test. It was torture.

Sakura’s mind went blank. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears. She looked at Sasuke. She saw his tense face, his clenched jaw. She saw the last of the Uchiha, the brilliant, mysterious boy who had filled her thoughts and dreams for years. His dream of avenging his clan… a dream she knew consumed him, that it was the only reason he was still breathing. How could she be the one to stand in that way? If she chose Naruto, Sasuke would hate her. He would hate her forever. And that thought was an abyss of terror that threatened to swallow her whole.

Sasuke-kun… He’s a genius. He deserves to be a ninja more than anyone. If I choose him, it’s the logical decision. He’s the strongest. A team needs the strongest.

Her gaze shifted to Naruto. He was watching her, but not with the expectation of a competitor. There was concern in his blue eyes. Concern… for her. She saw the dirt on his face, the scrapes on his arms from the clones he had created. She remembered his desperate shout as he clung to Kakashi, buying her the time she needed.

But… did Sasuke fight for the team? she asked herself, and the answer was a painful no. He attacked on his own. He was defeated on his own. He called us losers. He didn’t even want to hear our plan.

Naruto, on the other hand… The sequence of events replayed in her mind with crystal clarity. Naruto trusted me. Without hesitation. He created an army to give me a chance. He sacrificed himself to protect me. He threw himself at a jōnin just to buy me three seconds. Without him… without his trust, without his distraction, without his sacrifice… I wouldn’t have these bells. This victory isn’t mine. It’s ours.

She understood the truth in that instant. Being a teammate wasn’t about who was the most talented or the strongest. It was about who fought with you. About who was willing to fall so you could keep standing.

She looked at Sasuke, and for the first time, she didn’t see the boy of her dreams. She saw a stranger, a loner consumed by his own pride. Then she looked at Naruto, and she didn’t see the class idiot. She saw a comrade.

She took a deep breath, a decision forming in her heart, as terrifying as it was liberating.

Sasuke watched her, his face a mask of arrogance, but there was a flicker of uncertainty in his black eyes. He expected her to choose him. It was the obvious thing. The logical thing. Naruto watched her too, and seeing the agony on her face, he was about to shout “Choose him, Sakura-chan! It’s okay!” but he bit his tongue. He had trusted her plan. He had to trust her decision.

Sakura took a step forward. Then another. She walked right past Sasuke, who watched her, stunned, unable to believe she hadn’t stopped in front of him.

She planted herself in front of Naruto.

Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet, but every word resonated in the silent clearing.

“Sasuke-kun. You’re a genius. You’re probably the strongest genin of our generation, and no one doubts you’ll become an incredible shinobi.”

Sasuke looked at her, confused by the praise.

“But…” she continued, and her green eyes met Naruto’s, “…a teammate doesn’t abandon the plan to fight on his own. A teammate doesn’t call his teammates ‘losers.’ And a teammate doesn’t stand by and watch while another fights for everyone.”

She raised the hand holding the second bell. The sun glinted off the metal.

“This victory… it wasn’t mine. It was ours. Your clones were the perfect distraction. Your final tackle was what bought me time. You fought with me. You trusted me when no one else would have.”

She held out the bell to him.

“This belongs to you, Naruto. We pass. Together.”

Naruto’s world stopped. He looked at the bell in Sakura’s outstretched hand, and then at her face. He saw the resolve in her eyes, the sincerity. She… had chosen him? Him, over Sasuke? The idea was so revolutionary, so absolutely unexpected, his brain couldn’t process it. She chose me? he thought, pure, overwhelming astonishment filling him. But… why?

Sasuke, behind them, froze. The rejection was so brutal and so public it was like a slap in the face. Not only had he been defeated by Kakashi; now, he had been publicly cast aside by his biggest admirer in favor of the dead last. His pride, already wounded, shattered. He clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his skin, his body trembling with a silent rage.

Naruto, however, felt no triumph. He took the bell, its cool touch on his warm hand. He looked at Sakura’s face. He saw the relief in her eyes, but he also saw the pain it had cost her to make that decision. He saw the way she avoided looking at Sasuke. He saw Sasuke, vibrating with rage.

And he understood. He understood Kakashi’s real trap. The test wasn’t getting the bells. It was what you did afterward. A victory that broke the team wasn’t a victory at all. It was a failure.

“Thanks, Sakura-chan,” he said quietly. “That… means a lot to me.”

Then, to the astonishment of Sakura and Kakashi, he walked over to one of the training posts. He placed the bell on the wood. He took out a kunai.

“Naruto! What are you doing?!” Sakura yelled.

With a swift, decisive motion, he struck the bell with the handle of the kunai. The metallic crack of parting metal was sharp and final. The bell split cleanly in two.

He picked up the two halves. He walked to Sasuke, who was glaring at him with an expression of pure hatred. Naruto didn’t look back with condescension or triumph. His face was serious. He held out one of the broken halves.

“Here.”

Sasuke looked at him as if he were being offered poison.

“Sakura-chan was right. You acted like an arrogant jerk,” Naruto said, his voice calm and steady. “But a team doesn’t leave anyone behind. Not even an insufferable teme. If we pass, all three of us pass. Or none of us.”

Sasuke stared at the broken half of the bell in Naruto’s hand. Then he looked at Naruto. He saw a sincerity in his eyes he couldn’t comprehend. With a sharp movement, he snatched the piece of metal from him.

Kakashi watched the entire sequence unfold. He saw Sakura’s difficult, brave decision. He saw Naruto’s even more difficult, wiser solution. And he understood.

He gets it… He understood the true lesson. It’s not just about working together to win. It’s about staying together after the victory. This kid… he’s no idiot.

A slow smile, this time genuine and full of pride, formed under Kakashi’s mask. He walked to the center of the clearing.

“Well, well.”

The three genin turned to look at him.

“Those who put the needs of the team before the rules, who understand that an individual victory is a failure for the group, and who are willing to sacrifice their own success for a comrade… those are the only ones truly qualified to be shinobi.”

His single visible eye curved into a warm smile.

“You pass. All of you.”

The relief that washed over Naruto and Sakura was so immense it almost made them collapse.

“Team 7,” Kakashi announced, “begins its first mission tomorrow.”

They stood there, the three of them, in the quiet training ground. Sakura, with a proud and relieved smile. Sasuke, clutching the broken half of the bell in his fist, his face a mask of rage, humiliation, and a confusion he didn’t know how to process. And Naruto, in the middle, smiling, the true, quiet leader of his fractured, dysfunctional, but now, officially formed team.