Kakashi’s classic “bell test” in the Naruto anime was changed significantly from its manga source material. From its outset, the anime adaptation of the beloved ninja manga displayed a few key differences from the written volumes, most notably its extended fight sequences and frequent use of flashbacks. The show also dialed back on some of the manga’s gorier moments, which meant that Team Kakashi’s first bell test looked quite different in the anime.
The bell test encompasses the end of the first manga volume and the fourth and fifth episodes of the anime. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura – reluctantly grouped together as Team Seven – meet their sensei Hatake Kakashi for the first time and learn the details of the test that will determine whether or not they will become full-fledged genin. In order to pass, each team member must take one of two bells from Kakashi within a set time limit. The test is intentionally set up to encourage infighting since one student would apparently have to sacrifice their chance to become a genin for the others to succeed.
As Naruto and company eventually learn, the real purpose of the test is to gauge the prospective genin’s ability to cooperate. The Third Hokage used a similar exercise to test Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru, and Minato ran the test with Kakashi’s team in the anime. When it comes time for Kakashi to test Cell Seven, the result is the same in the manga and anime, with the young ninja failing to work as a unit and nearly getting dropped from the Academy program. Only when Sasuke and Sakura disobey Kakashi’s orders and share their lunch with Naruto does Kakashi let them pass, on the basis of supporting a fellow team member. The Naruto anime does make a few noticeable changes to the bell test from the way it plays out in Masashi Kishimoto’s manga. Fundamentally, much more blood is spilled in the manga version, even if the blood turns out to be a ruse on Kakashi’s part.
While Kakashi has Naruto strung up by a trapped rope, Sasuke ambushes his would-be teacher from the shadows, sending a barrage of kunai and shuriken into the side of Kakashi’s head. In the manga, the resulting arterial spray convinces Naruto that Sasuke has just murdered their sensei, but the anime version sees Kakashi knocked out of frame with just a faint stream of blood trailing behind. In both instances, Kakashi escapes using the ninja art of substitution, trading places with a nearby object and fooling Sasuke into revealing his position.
Kakashi continues to pick the team apart by using genjutsu on Sakura, planting the image of a mortally-wounded Sasuke in her mind’s eye. In the manga, Sakura finds Sasuke riddled with shuriken and kunai, his left arm a bloody stump and his left leg grotesquely broken. The anime settled for sticking him full of sharp objects, leaving out the severed arm and twisted leg. Like Sasuke’s attempted ambush of Kakashi, the outcome is the same in both cases. Overcome by the sight of her fatally-injured crush, Sakura passes out, leaving Kakashi to wonder if he overdid his genjutsu illusion.
The episodes where the bell assignment plays out were the first instances of the Naruto anime employing significantly less blood than the manga volumes. This would continue throughout the run of the show since the anime was created with a more kid-friendly approach in mind. But overall, these aesthetic changes to the classic bell test chapters aren’t nearly as important as the lessons Team Kakashi learns in both the Naruto anime and the manga.