By the river at the heart of Training Ground Three.
Sunlight sifted through dense leaves, scattering broken flecks of gold across the water's surface. Wild grasses like green wormwood grew along the bank. The stream slid unhurriedly past mossy stones, its murmur thin and gentle.
"Fishing… for the exam?!"
The calm was shattered in an instant. Even the little fish in the creek seemed to understand. They panicked, rippling the surface in rings, flicking their tails and spitting bubbles as they fled.
Naruto stared as Kakashi kept pulling out fishing rods and buckets from a scroll. His whole brain stalled.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not imagine that the final test after graduating the Ninja Academy would not be ninjutsu, not combat, but fishing.
What in the world did fishing have to do with being a ninja?
He racked his mind until it hurt and still couldn't find any connection.
No wonder the pass rate was zero. What ninja trained fishing every day? Naruto grumbled internally, then suddenly a pineapple-headed figure popped into his mind.
If it were that guy, he might actually pass this ridiculous test.
"Is this supposed to test wilderness survival?" Sasuke pinched his chin, thinking. He still found "ninja exam fishing" absurd, but at least this interpretation barely made sense.
But if the goal was simply to catch fish, that was effortless for him and Konome. They didn't need rods at all. If he just kept pouring Lightning Release into the water, everything alive in the stream would float up on its own.
No, this test wasn't going to be that simple.
"Konome, what do you think?" Sasuke turned toward Konome, who hadn't spoken a word since they arrived, wanting her take.
Then he froze.
Her expression was even weirder.
Confusion, regret, blank bewilderment. It looked like all of them, and none of them, at once. Just… strange.
"I have no idea!" Konome shook her head so hard she looked like one of those toy drums that rattled side to side. She had clearly seen the two bells tucked in Kakashi's inner pocket. Yet for some reason, the famous bell test had turned into fishing.
Still, it wasn't like she understood nothing.
She glanced at how much stronger Naruto and Sasuke were now, then at herself, the biggest variable of all. Kakashi not wanting to get beaten into the dirt by three overpowered genin was, frankly, understandable.
"Alright, come get your rod, bucket, and bait. I'll explain the rules," Kakashi called, handing out the equipment.
The three could only suppress their thoughts and take their gear, watching to see what he was really playing at.
Whoosh!
The fishing line cracked through the air with a sharp whistle.
Plop.
The golden-lit water rippled softly. A metal hook, baited and gleaming, traced a clean arc and dropped into the stream. Kakashi shaded his eyes and checked where the line was drifting.
He held the bent rod, lifting and lowering his arm to feel the hook's depth. After a long moment, he found the sweet spot.
He bent down and cleared the weeds at the edge of the bank, then filled half the bucket with creek water. Only then did he sit on a mossy stone with the rod in hand, satisfied, and finally started explaining the rules.
"The rules are very simple.
Starting now, we fish together. Time limit: four hours.
During that time, no one is allowed to use ninjutsu or any chakra-based methods. You can only fish the way I am. If the total number of fish you three catch is greater than mine, you pass."
"That's it?" Naruto blinked. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion too. They had been bracing for something insane, like "catch a hundred fish," but the rule was almost… generous.
Even if Kakashi was more skilled, they had triple the manpower. Numbers alone should cover the difference.
This could not possibly have a zero percent pass rate.
"Sorry. I'm not finished yet."
Kakashi's gaze drifted to the water. He went still, as if sensing something.
A moment later, the vertical line trembled. Rings spread across the surface.
Konome's eyes lit up. Through her Byakugan, she already saw a finger-length fish hanging on the hook.
The sharp tip had pierced its upper lip. The more it struggled, the tighter it got.
Kakashi snapped his wrist and lifted the rod.
The line went taut. The little fish had no chance. It burst out of the water, tail flailing in midair.
"He got one!" Naruto blurted. It was the first time he'd ever watched someone fish. The novelty almost crushed the test anxiety for a second.
"Hah. Not bad luck today," Kakashi said, pleased.
He flicked the rod and the fish traced a neat circle through the air before landing precisely in his hand.
Unhook, into the bucket, rebait, cast.
A clean sequence, smooth and practiced. In seconds, the line was back in the center of the stream. Kakashi's wrist guided the hook up and down, making the bait mimic a little water insect, teasing the fish below.
Not long after, another small fish, shaped like a tiny crucian carp, swam in, circling the bait cautiously, ready to bite.
Sasuke and Konome's expressions tightened.
They didn't know the "ways" of fishing, but Kakashi's effortless flow made one thing obvious: he was not an amateur. Beating him at this would not be as easy as "three versus one."
"Back to the rules. Besides catching more fish than me, the person with the least contribution will be eliminated."
"Wait!" Naruto shot his hand up, cutting him off. "Doesn't that mean no matter what we do, one of us has to fail?"
"Correct." Kakashi snapped his fingers, pleased Naruto understood. "At least one, at most three. Anyone who breaks the rules by using ninjutsu, or anyone who doesn't contribute enough to the team, gets sent back to the Academy for another year. That's the full fishing test."
"Why is it this cruel?!" Naruto clenched his teeth, furious.
They had finally graduated. They were finally stepping onto the path toward their dreams, and now this bizarre test was guaranteed to crush someone's dream.
If they failed because they were weak in combat or ninjutsu, fine. But fishing? Something unrelated to real missions? To let that decide their fate was ridiculous.
"Life is full of choices and trials. There's no such thing as perfect," Kakashi sighed, lifting the rod lightly.
Underwater, the bait rose as if escaping. A small fish hesitated.
Then greed beat caution. It bit and swallowed.
Splash.
The fish thrashed and Kakashi tossed it into the bucket, then recast without even looking back.
Two fish now swam in his bucket.
Konome's team was already behind by two.
"'Perfect is impossible' is just the excuse people make when they don't have the ability to achieve it," Sasuke said quietly, completely rejecting Kakashi's logic.
As he spoke, he looked at Konome, his gaze full of yearning. It wasn't romance, but it burned hotter than devotion.
Same age. Same kind of despair.
On the night the Uchiha were slaughtered, he could only accept it helplessly, lying in a hospital bed drowning in his own bitterness. Konome, however, had been ambushed by elite Kumogakure jonin and killed them instead, earning the title of Konoha's strongest prodigy.
If he had possessed her strength that night, things would not have ended like this.
His parents would not have died by Itachi's hand. The Uchiha would not have been wiped out. Every problem would have been solved in the face of absolute power.
Every tragedy was born from lack of strength.
That was the truth he'd carved into himself under Konome's shadow.
That was why, for five years, he had thrown away his pointless pride and shamelessly begged Kakashi to teach him, so that one day he could reach "perfect" and never compromise again.
"If the lowest contributor is eliminated, then all we have to do is make sure we each catch the same number of fish, and the total is still greater than Kakashi's. Then we all pass, right?"
Sasuke smiled, confident, as if the answer was obvious.
Kakashi's arm paused slightly.
"How do you know that won't result in all of you failing?" Kakashi asked, then delivered something even colder. "But sure. Maybe.
You can gamble.
Gamble one full year of your lives on the hope that your strategy works.
I'll only reveal the result after four hours.
Oh, not four." He glanced at a timer that had somehow already been running. "Three hours and fifty-four minutes."
Then he stopped paying attention to them entirely and calmly pulled out Icha Icha Paradise.
"Damn it," Sasuke snarled, sharing Naruto's fury for once.
His gaze flicked to Konome.
If they wanted to keep their counts equal, whoever caught more would have to hold back.
That could be him. Or it could be Konome.
And if his plan caused them all to fail, then they would all waste a year.
The worst outcome.
Splash!
A red koi launched from the water and slapped into Kakashi's bucket. He recast casually and kept reading, utterly at ease. This stretch of stream was quiet, rich with fish.
Konome watched Sasuke and Naruto hesitate. Then she made the call.
"We do it Sasuke's way. We keep our counts identical. Either we all pass together, or we all go home."
"Yeah!" "Yeah!"
Naruto and Sasuke broke into grins. That was exactly what they wanted. If someone had to be sacrificed, they would rather all be sacrificed together.
They stopped hesitating, hauled their buckets and rods to the bank, and got to work.
Kakashi's page-turning paused for a moment.
A faint smile surfaced.
Konome caught it instantly.
She understood the test now.
Fishing or bells, it was the same exam wearing a different mask. He was still testing teamwork, and whether they would sacrifice for their companions.
He had simply removed the combat portion.
In the original bell test, the fight was Kakashi checking their combat styles, figuring out strengths and roles for future missions.
This fishing version existed because Kakashi did not want to be jumped and beaten by three overpowered genin.
And if you followed the original "solution," then as long as the three of them refused to abandon each other, they would pass even if their total catch was less than Kakashi's.
Having seen the logic behind the question, Konome had no interest in cheating.
She flicked the hook a few times. With her Byakugan's observation and her terrifying fine motor control, she copied Kakashi's casting technique in minutes.
The only problem was force control.
After her hook shattered a few river pebbles, she finally found the correct amount of strength. She pinched the deformed hook back into shape, threaded on bait, and tossed it into the stream.
Sasuke was even faster.
A two-tomoe Sharingan was absurd at copying physical technique. After his cast, he mimicked Kakashi's subtle rod movement almost perfectly, controlling the hook's depth like a mirror.
In moments, the two of them caught fish one after another.
Compared to them, Naruto was clumsy. He couldn't find the rhythm at all, spinning in place and scratching his head as he watched his teammates succeed.
If he kept catching nothing, Sasuke and Konome would have to wait for him to keep the counts equal. They might genuinely lose to Kakashi.
Which meant all three would fail.
"Use your wrist when you cast. Don't brute-force it," Sasuke said flatly, tossing his line.
"And your bait is wrong," Konome added, lifting Naruto's hook. "Don't slide the worm on like a hollow tube. Split it into three folds like this, then skewer it like a kebab."
Naruto's blue eyes instantly shimmered.
"Don't misunderstand!" Sasuke jerked his chin up, stiff and awkward. "I just don't want that guy to win."
Classic tsundere, Konome thought dryly.
Without Sakura as the constant spark, Naruto and Sasuke's relationship over these five years had grown… surprisingly stable.
Not friendly, exactly. But not hostile either.
Half rivals, half friends, and somehow, like family members who had spent too many New Years together to pretend they didn't care.
From there, Sasuke and Konome coached Naruto while quietly handing him some of their own catches to keep the numbers matched.
Slowly, Naruto found the trick.
At last, he hauled up a koi.
And as if the universe loved mocking people, his very first fish was bigger than both Sasuke and Konome's catches combined.
The rules counted quantity, not size, so it didn't help at all.
Sasuke and Konome eyed the massive koi with sour faces anyway.
The four of them sat side by side, lines in the water, letting the rare quiet settle in.
Time slipped away.
The sun sank low. The clear stream gradually stained red with sunset.
"Time's up," Kakashi said, stretching as he checked the clock.
The three, oddly addicted to fishing now, rose with regret. They carried their three buckets over and set them in front of Kakashi, waiting for the verdict.
"Congratulations. All of you pass."
He didn't even look inside the buckets.
Naruto and Sasuke were thrilled for half a second, then immediately annoyed by his casual tone.
"What the heck? We worked so hard and you won't even check?"
"No need." Kakashi's voice turned firm. "No matter how many fish you caught, as long as you kept your numbers equal, I would pass you.
Only those who refuse to abandon their comrades are qualified to be ninja."
Naruto and Sasuke finally understood.
Only Konome nodded like she'd known all along.
Kakashi's true goal had never changed.
The White Fang, Obito, Rin. Those scars had shaped the rest of his life. To Kakashi, comrades mattered more than anything.
"And there's a second purpose," Kakashi continued, looking at the three prodigies before him. The sunset draped them all in a layer of gold, and for a moment his tone grew oddly reflective.
"While we were waiting for Konome in the classroom, I saw Sasuke and Naruto still training. Not just today. For five years, the three of you have been like that, never wasting a second.
Hard work is a good thing, but it has to be measured. A bowstring pulled too tight will snap.
There are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. If you spend three hundred chasing your dreams and doing meaningful things, that's enough. For the rest, I want you to do something meaningless.
Life can't lose meaning, but it also can't be only meaning. You need both to go farther."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Konome exchanged looks, then said in perfect sync:
"So that's why you're always reading dirty books?"
"What dirty books? This is great art!" Kakashi snapped, instantly red in the face.
"I've seen it! It's a dirty book! It's a dirty book!" Naruto raised both hands and shouted, realizing too late he'd exposed himself.
"Did you 'learn' all that philosophy from Icha Icha Paradise?" Sasuke piled on, eyeing Kakashi with a cool sneer. The way he said the title made it sound like he'd read it too.
Konome hadn't, so she couldn't join that specific attack. She just watched Kakashi fluster and felt it was even more entertaining than fishing.
"Art is art. How can it be dirty?" Kakashi argued, voice rising.
Their laughter burst out together, filling the training ground with bright noise as the last light of day bled into the trees.
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