All characters and story belong to Kohei Horikoshi and Masashi Kishimoto
"This thread is made of a chakra-suppressing material. That way there won't be any more surprises. Where was I?" Kakashi asked.
Bakugo glared at him with a sour face. With what little strength he had left, he tried to free himself from the thread, but it was made of a material as strong as his teacher Aizawa's bandages. Finally, he gave up trying and focused on Kakashi.
—Ahh yes... —said Kakashi after thinking for a second.—. I put you in a team so that you would work as a team, not so that each one of you would go about your own business.
"But..." Sakura tried to reason, but a noise from her stomach made her stop in embarrassment.
"Your stomach's growling, huh?" Kakashi said, his arms crossed, watching Sasuke and Sakura on the floor, clutching their stomachs. "What a shame!" he added sarcastically. "By the way, about this test... It's already decided. I'm not sending anyone back to the Academy."
"Huh?" Bakugo raised a confused eyebrow.
"What's the trick, one-eyed?" Bakugo thought, narrowing his eyes in distrust.
—Hmm. —Sasuke smiled.
—All I did was trip and faint. Do they give points for that? —Sakura thought, incredulous.
—What? Does that mean the three of them...?—said an incredulous Sakura.
—LOVE WINS, CHA-CHA-CHA! —her inner self shouted.
"Yes, all three of you..." Kakashi smiled, closing his eye. "All three of you are permanently banned from the program."
The three of them's expressions changed after the jonin's announcement. Sakura was pale. Sasuke and Bakugo, on the other hand, glared at her furiously. They both thought about attacking Kakashi, but Sasuke was the only one who wasn't tied up, so he was the one who went straight for the ninja master. Just like with Bakugo, Kakashi immobilized Sasuke without any difficulty.
—SASUKE! —Sakura screamed, scared.
"I didn't know you were as impulsive as your blond friend, Sasuke," Kakashi said, sitting on top of Sasuke. "Even when your back's against the wall, you're not capable of teamwork. If you had attacked me together, you would have been able to take the bells off me. But now it's too late."
"Grrr." Bakugo growled, powerless due to the chakra thread that prevented him from making any kind of movement.
"Wait a minute..." Sakura thought aloud. "There are three of us, but there are only two bells! If we had worked together and gotten the bells, only two of us would have passed the test and the team would have been split up." The pink-haired girl complained.
"Exactly." Kakashi agreed. "I intentionally pitted you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome this situation and put the team first. A genin must know how to work as a team. That was the goal of the test, and you failed miserably."
Kakashi stood up, walking toward a strange stone, leaving Sasuke free to walk slowly and with a sour face toward where Bakugo and Sakura were. After meditating for a few seconds a few meters from the stone, he turned his head for a second.
"I'll give you another chance. But I'm going to make it much harder. You'll have three hours to get a bell," Kakashi explained, then picked up the lunch Sakura had prepared and tossed it to her, catching it in mid-air. "Eat lunch now to build up your strength, but Bakugo and Sasuke can't eat."
"Why?" Sakura asked, not understanding.
"It's their punishment for breaking the rules. They both attacked me after the alarm went off, and that was forbidden," Kakashi reasoned.
"Ha. You think I care about that, one-eyed?" Bakugo asked arrogantly. "Unlike those losers, I actually ate breakfast."
—Mmmm, in that case... —he picked up Sasuke's lunch and threw it to the dark-haired man who also caught it without any problems. —Since you didn't obey me when I told you not to eat breakfast, you'll be the only one at a disadvantage and only you will go without eating. Even if you ate a lot of breakfast, you've used a lot of chakra, so it would be a real miracle if you didn't faint from the effort without replenishing calories. —
—Grrrr. —Bakugo growled through gritted teeth.
"If either of you feeds him, he'll fail immediately," Kakashi continued. "I make the rules, you follow them. Understood? Okay, I'll give you half an hour to eat." A moment later, Kakashi disappeared, leaving a trail of smoke.
Sakura and Sasuke began eating their lunches. Just as Kakashi had predicted, Bakugo's overexertion and lack of food were starting to take their toll, and he eventually fainted. He wasn't unconscious for long when Sasuke elbowed him in the ribs.
"SHIT! I FALLEN ASLEEP!" Bakugo shouted, scared that the test was already over. Seeing Sasuke and Sakura, he sighed in relief.
—Mmm. You're no use to us like this. Here. —Sasuke offered her his half-finished lunch.
"What? No, Sasuke. You can't do that. You heard what Kakashi said," Sakura tried to explain.
—Kakashi isn't here. We have to get those bells as a team. If Bakugo is like this, he won't be effective.—Sasuke said. —
"Get your food out of my face, Sasuke," Bakugo said, trying to move it with his hand, but he was still tied up, so it didn't work. "I don't need anyone's help."
"I'm not doing this for you. As it is, you're hurting the team and jeopardizing the mission," Sasuke continued.
—Sasuke... —Sakura thought, amazed by the black-haired man's sacrifice.
—I told you I don't need anyone's help! I prefer...!—Nakugo couldn't continue as he received a slap from the pink-haired girl.
Bakugo was stunned for a few moments. He wanted to get angry at Sakura for the gratuitous slap he'd received, but he couldn't. He was too surprised by the pinkette's attitude to feel any other emotion. Bakugo wasn't the only one surprised; Sasuke looked at her out of the corner of his eye, curious about the scene.
—How come you're so stubborn, Bakago? Sasuke's putting himself in danger for the team. Don't you want to pass? Are you so proud that you'd rather keep your ego than accept help and win? —said Sakura.
Immediately, Bakugo was struck by memories of his previous life. Specifically, the first semester exam when he and Deku faced All Might.
DON'T YOU DARE SAY YOU'D RATHER LOSE, KACCHAN!
—Deku... —Bakugo thought out loud, still in a trance.
"Deku?" Sakura repeated, not understanding what Bakugo meant.
—You're just as annoying as that stupid nerd... But you're right, big forehead... The only thing that matters is winning. We have to show that one-eyed guy what we're made of. We'll make him eat his words!—said Bakugo with such a level of confidence that his confidence spread to his two teammates.
—Hmm. —Sasuke smiled internally.
—Very well said. But... —a vein popped on the pinkette's forehead and she unleashed her fury by hitting the blond on the head. —I'VE TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES NOT TO CALL ME BIG-FRONTED, BAKAGO!—
Now the one with a swollen vein on his forehead was Bakugo.
—ARE YOU CRAZY OR WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MACROFRONT? —Bakugo yelled like a rabid dog.
—YOU DON'T LEARN! DO YOU, BAKAGO?—said Sakura, clenching her knuckles.
"Save that energy for Kakashi," Sasuke said, a drop of blood on his neck.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke..." Sakura regretted. "I'll give my food to Bakugo. You've used more chakra than I have. Besides, I'm a girl, so I don't need to eat that much. Here." She offered her lunch to Bakugo. "Eat already, before Kakashi comes."
"I need you to put it in my mouth," Bakugo explained.
—HUH? WHO DO YOU THINK I AM, YOUR MAID?—the pink-haired girl asked irritably.
"Don't you have any brains in that macro forehead of yours? Can't you see I'm tied up?" Bakugo said, rolling his eyes.
"You'll be..." She was about to hit him again but Sasuke's voice stopped her.
"Hurry up, he could come back any moment," Sasuke said uneasily.
—Grrrrrr. Just this once... —Sakura complained, picking up a rice ball and bringing it close to Bakugo's mouth. —Never again! I won't do that again! Is that clear, Bakago?—
"Do you think I like being in this situation, big forehead?" Bakugo said. Then he opened his mouth and swallowed the bite of rice Sakura had offered him.
Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke appeared in front of the three genin candidates. When it cleared, a very angry Kakashi emerged.
"YOU!" Kakashi shouted menacingly. "You've broken the rules. I expect you to be ready..."
—Grrr. —Sasuke se puso en guardia con su kunai.
"Aaaah." Sakura startled.
"Tsk," Bakugo muttered, the ropes making him feel powerless.
"You passed," Kakashi said, closing his eye and smiling.
"Huh?" the three said, stupefied.
"What do you mean we passed?" Sakura asked.
"You're the first to pass my test. The others did exactly what I told them and fell into all my traps. They couldn't think for themselves. In the ninja world, those who break the rules and codes of the ninja are considered trash. That's true, but anyone who abandons a comrade is worse than trash," Kakashi explained, looking up at the sky.
—KYAAAA! —Sakura shouted, jumping up and down.
"Bah," Sasuke said, closing his eyes with a mini smile.
"Heh, maybe I'll end up liking you, one-eyed," Bakugo said.
"The test is over. You've all passed. Team 7 will begin their first mission tomorrow," Kakashi announced with a thumbs-up.
—YESSSSSS! —Sakura shouted, excited.
—Well, it's time to go. Let's go home.—said Kakashi, accompanied by Sakura and Sasuke.
—HEYYYYYY! ARE YOU FORGETTING SOMETHING? —Bakugo shouted, but none of the three paid him the slightest attention and continued walking towards the village. —LET GO OF ME, YOU BASTARDS!—
Bakugo was ignored and had to stay there until the thread binding him relaxed on its own after about two hours.
"What sons of bitches..." Bakugo thought, hands in his pockets as he headed towards his apartment.