Obviously either Kirigishi or Bakusuta had taken his warning to heart and was trying to take the bells from his cold dead body. Equally obviously, Nara was helping them. Teamwork, in other words. It was tempting to simply declare the test was over, since the three of them had all demonstrated the traits that Kakashi was looking for. What was even more tempting, however, was to let the game play out. To see exactly what else they could pull on him.
First things first, he thought, uncovering his left eye.
It was fortunate that he had managed that, he concluded, dashing for cover inside the woods. The swarm of shuriken that had descended upon him were not a problem - he was able to pick out which were real and which were bushin with relative ease, but that had only been a diversion from the real attack and not much short of Sharingan would have detected the lethal ripples in the air behind the shuriken - someone had been studying into kamaitachi jutsus, he noted, and wondered which of the three had ties to Sunagakure.
He flipped a few senbon in the most likely direction for whoever was using the Sand's jutsu to be evading and was rewarded by a shout of: "Gami no Yoroi jutsu," from 'Nenai, wrapping himself in a layer of paper that shed the needles with relative ease.
What the hell? Who used paper like that?
Kakashi had no time to ponder the event, or his failure to get a look at the jutsu for his Sharingan to record as he once again had to Kawarimi away from Neshan's naginata and found himself directly in the path of Katsu. Blocking the combination of strikes - most of which would have been crippling or even mortally wounding had the landed, held him in place long enough for Shikanenai. still wearing his paper covering, to grapple him. Countering that - the kid's taijutsu was definitely up to the level of the others, let Katsu land a kick that would have cracked a knee cap if he hadn't turned his leg _just_ right. And then One of them tried to snag him with a genjutsu, which he broke just in time to get distracted by a pair of Bushin that looked _exactly_ like Mitarashi and that punk sensei of the kids' (what was his name, Irupa?) getting it on behind a bush.
The jounin blinked, fended off a pair of snatches at the bells and regretfully chucked a couple of shuriken through the bushin - any entertainment now would be more than counterbalanced by the later pain should Anko find out about it.
Then silence.
He was all alone in a forest glade, quite deep into the training ground, with no sign of his prospective students.
Kakashi looked around and both eyes widened appreciatively as the Sharingan revealed parts of the intricate web of traps around him. And that was only those that had been concealed solely with genjutsu. There were three obvious routes, but they were far too obvious for Kakashi to risk - given the skill used to lay out these traps, the routes had to be even more cunningly trapped. Anyone who broke the genjutsu and bolted impulsively for supposed safety would regret it only briefly, Kakashi suspected - he could see slight signs of other, very well concealed traps that would close the routes and turn them into literal deathtraps.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Kakashi knelt and scooped up the small scroll that rested invitingly on the floor of the forest. The three genin wouldn't have gone to such lengths to trap him if they planned to use such an obvious trigger.
The message was short.
'Bells, balls, what's the difference?'
Kakashi paled behind his mask. They were kidding - right?
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
First things first, he thought, uncovering his left eye.
It was fortunate that he had managed that, he concluded, dashing for cover inside the woods. The swarm of shuriken that had descended upon him were not a problem - he was able to pick out which were real and which were bushin with relative ease, but that had only been a diversion from the real attack and not much short of Sharingan would have detected the lethal ripples in the air behind the shuriken - someone had been studying into kamaitachi jutsus, he noted, and wondered which of the three had ties to Sunagakure.
He flipped a few senbon in the most likely direction for whoever was using the Sand's jutsu to be evading and was rewarded by a shout of: "Gami no Yoroi jutsu," from 'Nenai, wrapping himself in a layer of paper that shed the needles with relative ease.
What the hell? Who used paper like that?
Kakashi had no time to ponder the event, or his failure to get a look at the jutsu for his Sharingan to record as he once again had to Kawarimi away from Neshan's naginata and found himself directly in the path of Katsu. Blocking the combination of strikes - most of which would have been crippling or even mortally wounding had the landed, held him in place long enough for Shikanenai. still wearing his paper covering, to grapple him. Countering that - the kid's taijutsu was definitely up to the level of the others, let Katsu land a kick that would have cracked a knee cap if he hadn't turned his leg _just_ right. And then One of them tried to snag him with a genjutsu, which he broke just in time to get distracted by a pair of Bushin that looked _exactly_ like Mitarashi and that punk sensei of the kids' (what was his name, Irupa?) getting it on behind a bush.
The jounin blinked, fended off a pair of snatches at the bells and regretfully chucked a couple of shuriken through the bushin - any entertainment now would be more than counterbalanced by the later pain should Anko find out about it.
Then silence.
He was all alone in a forest glade, quite deep into the training ground, with no sign of his prospective students.
Kakashi looked around and both eyes widened appreciatively as the Sharingan revealed parts of the intricate web of traps around him. And that was only those that had been concealed solely with genjutsu. There were three obvious routes, but they were far too obvious for Kakashi to risk - given the skill used to lay out these traps, the routes had to be even more cunningly trapped. Anyone who broke the genjutsu and bolted impulsively for supposed safety would regret it only briefly, Kakashi suspected - he could see slight signs of other, very well concealed traps that would close the routes and turn them into literal deathtraps.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Kakashi knelt and scooped up the small scroll that rested invitingly on the floor of the forest. The three genin wouldn't have gone to such lengths to trap him if they planned to use such an obvious trigger.
The message was short.
'Bells, balls, what's the difference?'
Kakashi paled behind his mask. They were kidding - right?
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.