The silver haired former truant chuckled and pointed sheepishly over his shoulder, "Well, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around." That had to be the worst lie ever concocted by a human being, living or dead, something that the entire team had no problems frowning at. Clearing his throat of the awkwardness, Kakashi then made his way over to the three large tree stumps standing nearby, "Okay. Let's get started."
Instructing them to set their gear down beside his next to the center post, along with a clock which he primed for noon, he then led the squad back to the middle of the field. With their undivided attention fixed on him, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out two bells, which tinkled loudly when he flicked them.
"Your assignment is very simple; you just have to take these bells from. That's all there is to it," Kakashi exclaimed, glancing down at the items in question before pointing towards the three stumps over where their gear was. "If you can't get them by noon you'll go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you will watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."
Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto frowned all at once, "So that's why…"
"You only have to get one bell," Kakashi informed as he dangled the two goals in front of them. "There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a post by the end of the day. The person who doesn't take a bell will be disqualified for failing to complete the mission and get sent straight back to the academy. But then again… all three of you could cop it and fail. Are there any questions?" He got three hard stares from the trio, which was a response he had no quarrels with as he casually tied the two trinkets to his belt. "Very well; feel free to use any and all means to get the bells from me, weapons, jutsu, shuriken… because if you're not prepared to kill me you won't be able to take the bells."
"B-But sensei," Sakura said with concern lacing her voice, "Are you sure? Those weapons are really dangerous."
"Oh, I can handle it," Kakashi exclaimed before smiling when he saw the glares of determination being directed towards him from the team. "Okay. Now that you're all fired up, let's get going…" Upon seeing all three of them crouch, he then raised his hand and, after a few seconds of allowing the tension to build, dropped it to signal the start of the mission, "BEGIN!" They all broke off and vanished from sight.
OOO
The bell test started off well for the members of Team 7, particularly for the ever collected and experienced instructor Kakashi Hatake, who maintained his position in the middle of the clearing while surveying the surrounding field and woods for any signs of his students. He had given them the chance to put some distance between themselves and him, and now that they were hidden it was time for the real fun and games to start.
With the first twenty minutes passing without a sight or sound, the masked Jonin slipped his hands into his pockets and scanned the tree line of the forest to see if he could pick out any traces of the three.
If they were smart they would have hidden themselves well. The ultimate goal of the mission was obvious, so it was only logical that the teens would stay well within sight of their instructor but act smart enough to find a spot where they couldn't be seen in kind. After a lengthy silence and an even longer time spent searching, the Jonin nodded his head approvingly at the results he could make out thus far.
"The main basic for a shinobi is that he or she will use their surroundings to their advantage, conceal their presence and hide effectively," Kakashi recited as he glanced about, "Nice. They're all hidden well."
Unbeknownst to the team leader though, the rest of the squad had fanned out around the clearing and were watching him carefully from the shadows. Whilst Sasuke had perched himself in a tree on the edge of the clearing, Sakura had managed to squeeze herself underneath a bush on the far side and had gone completely prone. It was obvious that they had chosen their spots based on the feel for the environment and were determined not to give away their positions until they had figured out an effective strategy to use against their teacher.
The only problem at this point was that they had no idea what the man was capable of. His high rank and elite status was one thing, but neither of them had any idea how he fought, how fast he moved, how strong he was, or what kind of techniques he had. Hell, they didn't even know if they were really hiding themselves properly. Maybe he had already found them but was taking it easy on them so to give them a fighting chance.
These were questions without answers that continued to run rampant in their minds as both the Uchiha and his kunoichi teammate opted to keep themselves out of sight and just watch their instructor carefully… for the time being at least.
Naruto on the other hand had just up and vanished. No one, not even the teacher knew where he went… and that was the point.
The other male member of the squad's concern wasn't focused on the jinchuriki's situation though; it was focused on the man standing plain in sight with the goal hanging from his waistline.
"He's standing in the center of the clearing with an open field all around him," Sasuke thought as he scrutinized the Jonin's position and all aspects related to it. "The fact that he hasn't moved since the outset of this test means that he has absolute confidence in his ability to be able to spot and counter any attack from any direction. I bet he's just waiting for one of us to break silence. So… factoring in all the negatives; his advantage: the view of the area, open ground, as well as his superior strength, skill, speed, and experience. Our advantage: we're hidden from sight and his overconfidence."
The Uchiha added all of this together to form one single conclusion; to wait until their sensei's guard dropped and attack him from behind. If he could blindside him, then he'd be able to jump through the opening.
It was all a waiting game now; a test of nerves to see who would break first.
Problem was though that the genius had overlooked one other important factor that, in all likelihood, would be able to swing this contest in their favor. He simply wasn't in the correct frame of mind to backtrack on his current string of thoughts and basically moved forward without any additional concern or feeling. All he was interested in was acquiring the bell. If he got that, he'd be one step closer to his ultimate goal.
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