The longer Sakura had to walk, the more she came to hate her sensei …

  After being blasted in the face by a flash tag, her team now had to go on a wild goose chace trying to find clues for where their sensei would be holding their test …

  Jay's initial idea to check on the training grounds reservations bore fruits … but their stint of paranoia concerning their sensei was still running high after the meeting, as the training ground was currently empty they went to check on the place …

  Trapped, everything was trapped … and with layered bullshit, like an obvious trip wire that looked hastily made … only when you tried to jump over it, you would step on a hole filled with manure … Like Sakura came to discover …

  Jay's complaints at this point were almost an insightful look on Konoha's policies she didn't know about … Like the fact that leaving a training ground trapped was a receipt for punishment and that that could only be done if the Training ground was actually already ‘in use’ … Which meant Kakashi had the training ground reserved not just for the next morning as they assumed, but for the whole freaking day …

  They went back to report the traps for the clerk, only for said clerk to inform them that Kakashi did reserve the training grounds for the day not only for the dawn like Sasuke asked … Technically no lie was said and the information was given, they just didn't ask the right questions … Jay's commentary of the clerk probably being paid by Kakashi now gave the Uzumaki menace another reason to say “I told you …”, Sakura could only mutter to herself “like Jerkashi wasn’t already bad enough” …

  … But besides the traps, they did find some clues spread out in the training ground … Sakura's hobby of trivia and cryptography came in hand to get a phrase out of the scattered and badly written poetry on the post it notes … it only ended up saying “Nice try, keep going” with a random string of numbers after it …

  … Sakura and Sasuke were learning that anything involving Kakashi sensei should be doubted on principle, where they would roll their eyes at Jay’s paranoia, now they would actually think it through because sure enough, their sensei was probably messing with them …

  … At least Jay once more provided them with somewhere to go, he remembered seeing a merchant map of Konoha's roads and buildings … But in the end Sasuke saved the day by vaguely remembering the numbers as a telephone from a teashop his mother liked to visit …

  After that random set of clues, Sasuke decided to keep his sharingan active for as long as possible to make sure they didn’t miss any extra clues that could be basically anything … He would get a killer headache and probably forget a lot of it after he slept, but it was worth a shot …

  They went there on the teashop and got another set of clues from a waitress that made them go to another place … on and on, never quite sure they had the right place, never quite sure they would actually reach an end … at some point they were sure Kakashi was actively fucking with them …

  It came to a point where Jay had to fight with Sasuke over stopping to sleep … Sakura got in the middle of them before they came to blows … Sakura wanted to agree with Sasuke, that they should do an all nighter to get to the end of their chase … but she was also so tired … they were getting nowhere and she wanted nothing but sleep and try to tackle that problem later … Sakura’s tired face probably said it all despite her unwillingness to take a side …

  [Jay] - … shut up … please just … shut up … we are not getting anywhere. Jerkashi is probably just over the corner under a genjutsu or some bullshit waiting for us to figure out the next set of ‘clues’ he left us before plating the next set by using some other random thing he saw on the way … we are playing his game, we are playing the opponents game and not getting anywhere, so it’s time to know we ain’t beating him at it and give it a rest … Think of it as a tactical retreat, how about that hmm ? That’s a tactically sound reason isn’t it ? … -

  Thankfully, Jay convinced Sasuke by appealing to the logic they came to learn during the day … Kakashi was probably being a jerk and giggling as he watched them run around like headless chickens …

  Sasuke didn’t want to lose, but when Jay framed it that way, the Uchiha Prince had to grunt in agreement that they were probably being played …

  … The unhelpful clues were probably to keep them running around Konoha, exhausted for the actual text on the next day … and Jay was right, this wasn't even the actual test … showing up to a mission without rest was probably as much of a bad idea as not showing up …

  And this is where Sakura's day ended, packing up her frustrations and trying to sleep, thinking over the day she just had, how Kakashi-sensei led them around the Village with the power of bad poetry and unhelpful post it notes …

  Sakura could only try to swallow her anxiety of having already failed before she even started …

  *** *** ***

  Kakashi observed his team just outside their perception … they had a good head on their shoulders, they went to check on the training grounds pretty much immediately which surprised him …

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Keeping ahead of them and a few ryous slipped to the chunin clerk made sure they had the ‘right’ lead …

  At this point, most teams would pat themselves on the back for discovering the right place and would then go on with their days, never checking on it to make sure the intel wasn’t bad …

  But once more, the team surprised Kakashi by going straight to the place to guarantee that it was the right place and that no extra ‘clues’ were hidden …

  Not wanting to disappoint his cute little genins, Kakashi made sure to plant his ‘clues’ for them to find, hastily scribbled post-it notes, misremembered pieces of poetry, the telephone number of a cute waitress from a one night stand …

  That was becoming an actually fun little game of Kakashi planting some bullshit clues just vague enough for them to guess at something and then waiting for them to arrive at whatever answer they could draw from it, giving Kakashi his next place to plant the next set of vague clues … they were actually giving less and less time for Kakashi to think of new creative ‘clues’ before they went to the next location … Probably a result of their frustrations that only made Kakashi giggle harder …

  Too bad Kakashi’s fun ended when they decided to give it a rest …

  … That was another pleasant surprise for Kakashi, they knew when to give up and retreat … Well, Jay knew it and made sure Sasuke had to follow the advice … Kakashi was even going to overlook the nickname he was given … Jerkashi … such a lazy nickname …

  But Kakashi was also enthusiastically waiting to see where they would go tomorrow, would they go to the training grounds ? Would they look for extra clues ? … Would they know that Kakashi would in no way shape or form ‘be there’ on time ? …

  Kakashi giggled as he turned another page on his orange ‘adult’ book … How else could he mess with that team ? Their work already proved they were mature enough to be genins and could perform as a team, but Kakashi wanted to see how far they could go … Maybe it was time to dust off the bell test after all.

  *** *** ***

  Kakashi got his shadow clone to monitor the ‘team’.

  Sasuke and Jay were a bit harder to keep track of without being noticed, the former had the whole of the Uchiha looking out for him, and while Kakashi did outrank most of the military police, their reactions would probably alert Sasuke that something was up … Same thing with Jay and his host of ‘handlers’ that kept track of his daily life …

  Case in point, it didn’t take long for the boy to notice Kakashi’s clone keeping track of him after he separated from the team and went home, a cheeky little wave in the clone’s direction said it all …

  Kakashi made sure to see what the boy was doing in his apartment … That’s where Kakashy saw that Jay had one of his long lasting clones of his actively living with him … one with a completely different personality that was apparently a poor roommate … Kakashi wasn’t sure what to make of this, but this recent development wasn’t his business yet … The exasperated and tired chunin keeping watch of the Boy-Clone interaction was enough for Kakashi to not want anything to do with it.

  After this, Kakashi sure wasn’t buying that the Uzumaki jinchuriki didn’t notice his handlers giving Kakashi some subtle glances throughout the day confirming he was an ally … but he would let Jay off the hook for making the day fun with the fruitless pursuit …

  Sasuke on the other hand, went straight to his brother to complain … which netted Kakashi having a midnight tea with a slightly pissed off Itachi, having to promise his Kouhai that he would give his little brother a ‘Fair Shot’ … The spoil sport, ruining Kakashi’s possible fun …

  Sakura on the other hand was the easier to keep track of, civilian parents, no extra protections, Kakashi’s clone had no difficulty seeing what the girl did after waking up and where she would wait for her teammates, Kakashi didn’t catch where they would go at the end of their conversation as Jay made sure to whisper it, the cheeky bastard.

  Lo and behold, the three of them gathered together to eat breakfast and wait at the training grounds … Now, Kakashi had a tough choice to make … What excuse would he give for arriving three hours late ? … Probably put the blame on them this time …

  Kakashi smiled satisfied in the tree he was hidden in, reading the new edition of his book over the next few free hours he had.

  *** *** ***

  [Jay] - … I told you he wouldn’t show up on time … -

  [Sakura] - … Maybe we are on the wrong place, we should probably spread out and … -

  [Jay] - No … Stop being anxious, he will be here, just eat your meal and let’s do a warming up set … What gear did you guys bring ? -

  *** *** ***

  After finishing up with the chapter, Kakashi took a look at the time, three hours on point … Getting to the ground, Kakashi made his way towards his cute little genins that were productively warming up before the test … Minato’s son sure has a head on his shoulders … It reminded Kakashi a little bit too much of himself, but somehow more ‘sure’ of himself …

  [Kakashi] “ … I guess that’s a perk of not having seen your own dad hang himself … “

  Kakashi smiled through the memories of Sakumo Hatake’s death, letting that piece of history waste away back at a forgotten corner of his mind …

  Kakashi did have some fond memories of his own father but as an adult, Kakashi did come to see that despite how ‘strong’ his father was … he was a man unable to deal with the consequences of his own actions, leaving that burden to Kakashi to carry alone … But his choice also made sure Kakashi had a fighting chance in a world that would condemn him with his father for choosing the …

  Kakashi shook his head and plastered a smile on his face, thinking what he could teach his cute little genins today … Especially Jay, for his unwanted remembrance …

  Walking closer to them, Kakashi saw their ears perk up in attention.

  [Kakashi] - Well, hello there my cute little genins … I’m glad you’re here … I was afraid I would have to look all over Konoha for you … Because you see, when I got home yesterday I saw that I gave little pinkie there a flash tag instead of the note … -

  Kakashi put his hand on his heart, putting up the act.

  [Kakashi] - But when I went back to find you guys, you weren’t there … And when I went to your homes, you also weren’t there … I was worried you wouldn’t know where to go, so I was waiting for you guys at the academy until now so I could tell you where the test would be … But then I saw the time and decided to at least check on the training grounds before the reservation was up … So, how did you guys find out ? -

  Kakashi gave his now FUMING little genins an eye smile …

  [Kakashi] - Now now, don’t be mad at me for your mistakes, but as we are all a bit late, I won’t be able to give you all time to prepare nor give you all the explanations about the following test, but hey, I’m sure you’ll manage just fine … -

  Kakashi took two small bells out of his pocket and a winding alarm clock that looked like something Kakashi would have at his bed side instead of an actual prop for a test …

  [Kakashi] - See the bells ? When this clock rings, whoever has one passes, simple enough right ? … -

  [Sakura] - … There are only two bells, sensei … -

  [Kakashi] - Really ? … I must have forgotten the other one at home, well, what can you do right ? No more free tips, the test BEGINS … -

  Kakashi said, waiting for his genins reactions … generally, this would be the time they went into hiding and sure enough, Jay took out a smoke bomb out of his pouch and smashed it into the ground …

  Kakashi could still hear them dashing away into the threes …

  [Kakashi] - Not bad … Well, time to get back to my reading … -

  Pulling up his fabled orange book, Kakashi stayed on the same spot, waiting as the clock winded down …