diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/AbstractS3GuardToolTestBase.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/AbstractS3GuardToolTestBase.java
index 4381749d71..2b4381041d 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/AbstractS3GuardToolTestBase.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-aws/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/s3a/s3guard/AbstractS3GuardToolTestBase.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.StopWatch;
 import org.junit.Assume;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -61,6 +62,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractS3GuardToolTestBase extends AbstractS3ATestBase {
   protected static final String S3A_THIS_BUCKET_DOES_NOT_EXIST
       = "s3a://this-bucket-does-not-exist-00000000000";
 
+  private static final int PRUNE_MAX_AGE_SECS = 2;
+
   private MetadataStore ms;
 
   protected static void expectResult(int expected,
@@ -186,24 +189,57 @@ protected void createFile(Path path, boolean onS3, boolean onMetadataStore)
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Attempt to test prune() with sleep() without having flaky tests
+   * when things run slowly. Test is basically:
+   * 1. Set max path age to X seconds
+   * 2. Create some files (which writes entries to MetadataStore)
+   * 3. Sleep X+2 seconds (all files from above are now "stale")
+   * 4. Create some other files (these are "fresh").
+   * 5. Run prune on MetadataStore.
+   * 6. Assert that only files that were created before the sleep() were pruned.
+   *
+   * Problem is: #6 can fail if X seconds elapse between steps 4 and 5, since
+   * the newer files also become stale and get pruned.  This is easy to
+   * reproduce by running all integration tests in parallel with a ton of
+   * threads, or anything else that slows down execution a lot.
+   *
+   * Solution: Keep track of time elapsed between #4 and #5, and if it
+   * exceeds X, just print a warn() message instead of failing.
+   *
+   * @param cmdConf configuration for command
+   * @param parent path
+   * @param args command args
+   * @throws Exception
+   */
   private void testPruneCommand(Configuration cmdConf, Path parent,
       String...args) throws Exception {
     Path keepParent = path("prune-cli-keep");
+    StopWatch timer = new StopWatch();
     try {
-      getFileSystem().mkdirs(parent);
-      getFileSystem().mkdirs(keepParent);
-
       S3GuardTool.Prune cmd = new S3GuardTool.Prune(cmdConf);
       cmd.setMetadataStore(ms);
 
+      getFileSystem().mkdirs(parent);
+      getFileSystem().mkdirs(keepParent);
       createFile(new Path(parent, "stale"), true, true);
       createFile(new Path(keepParent, "stale-to-keep"), true, true);
-      Thread.sleep(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(2));
+
+      Thread.sleep(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(PRUNE_MAX_AGE_SECS + 2));
+
+      timer.start();
       createFile(new Path(parent, "fresh"), true, true);
 
       assertMetastoreListingCount(parent, "Children count before pruning", 2);
       exec(cmd, args);
-      assertMetastoreListingCount(parent, "Pruned children count", 1);
+      long msecElapsed = timer.now(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+      if (msecElapsed >= PRUNE_MAX_AGE_SECS * 1000) {
+        LOG.warn("Skipping an assertion: Test running too slowly ({} msec)",
+            msecElapsed);
+      } else {
+        assertMetastoreListingCount(parent, "Pruned children count remaining",
+            1);
+      }
       assertMetastoreListingCount(keepParent,
           "This child should have been kept (prefix restriction).", 1);
     } finally {
@@ -224,13 +260,14 @@ private void assertMetastoreListingCount(Path parent,
   public void testPruneCommandCLI() throws Exception {
     Path testPath = path("testPruneCommandCLI");
     testPruneCommand(getFileSystem().getConf(), testPath,
-        "prune", "-seconds", "1", testPath.toString());
+        "prune", "-seconds", String.valueOf(PRUNE_MAX_AGE_SECS),
+        testPath.toString());
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testPruneCommandConf() throws Exception {
     getConfiguration().setLong(Constants.S3GUARD_CLI_PRUNE_AGE,
-        TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(1));
+        TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(PRUNE_MAX_AGE_SECS));
     Path testPath = path("testPruneCommandConf");
     testPruneCommand(getConfiguration(), testPath,
         "prune", testPath.toString());
@@ -286,7 +323,6 @@ protected String getLandsatCSVFile() {
    * Execute a command, returning the buffer if the command actually completes.
    * If an exception is raised the output is logged instead.
    * @param cmd command
-   * @param buf buffer to use for tool output (not SLF4J output)
    * @param args argument list
    * @throws Exception on any failure
    */