5 : You Failed! Kakashi's Final Decision -

The midday sun beat down on the three Genin, but the air felt like ice.

The three kids flinched, but they didn't back down. They stood together—a loudmouth, a stoic, and a girl findng her feet—forming a wall of defiance.

He walked toward the village, not looking back to see if they were following. He knew they were. For the first time in years, the Team 7 memorial didn't feel like a graveyard. It felt like a beginning.

Kakashi Hatake didn't look like a legendary shinobi. He looked like a man reading a bad book. But his mind was elsewhere—tracing the names carved into the polished black granite behind him.

The silence shattered. Naruto yelled, Sakura gasped, and even Sasuke looked stunned.

He felt the shift in the air before he saw it. Sasuke, the lone wolf, holding out a portion of rice to the "dead weight" tied to the post. Sakura, the rule-follower, nodding in agreement.