But—
Of course, Naruto doesn't have the Sharingan.
So then...
Was it the power of the Nine-Tails?
Does Kurama have the ability to anticipate enemy movements?
Or—was it Naruto's own power?
Could it be the innate ability of the Uzumaki clan?
Even if—hypothetically—Naruto had the Sharingan,
This level of evasion can't be learned through simple practice.
That's what Kakashi saw.
It takes decades of taijutsu training and battlefield experience to dodge like that.
Otherwise, even if you can track movements with your eyes,
It's useless if your body can't react fast enough.
Kakashi kept analyzing it silently, trying to find a reasonable explanation—
How was Naruto dodging his attacks?
But no matter how he turned it over in his mind,
He couldn't figure it out.
Where is this kid's power coming from?
At that moment—
Naruto locked eyes with Kakashi.
It was time for him to go on the offensive.
"Sensei… you're starting to fall behind,"
Naruto grinned, "Guess it's my turn now."
As he spoke, Kakashi's instincts sharpened.
If Naruto could dodge his attacks…
What would Naruto's attack even look like?
The next moment was like lightning from a clear sky.
Still mid-dodge, Naruto suddenly shifted his weight—
Hands came out of his pockets.
One hand slammed the ground, anchoring him.
He spun suddenly—
Both legs traced a perfect arc in the air.
"Bang bang bang!!!"
A fierce spinning kick swept outward—
Three Kakashis were struck at once!
Two of them burst into white smoke—Shadow Clones, instantly dispelled.
But the real Kakashi reeled back with a stunned thought:
"Too fast…!"
That kick—
It was even faster than Guy's strikes.
And worse—the power behind it was absurd.
Pain lanced through his ribs.
Sakura, Sasuke, and the Third Hokage, watching in secret, were equally stunned.
Naruto hadn't shown a thing before. But when he did move—
He kicked away three Kakashis at once.
But Naruto didn't stop.
Before Kakashi could recover, Naruto pressed his hands to the ground and pushed—
Launching himself into the air like a leaping fish.
He straightened his form mid-air, then came crashing down:
A brutal axe kick.
"Bang!"
Kakashi slammed into the ground—
The impact cracked the surface like a spiderweb.
"Amazing!!!"
Sakura's jaw dropped at Naruto's clean and brutal technique.
Even a jōnin of Konoha was being pushed back.
Sasuke, watching Naruto's airborne form, felt something ignite in him.
A refusal to lose.
But—
Suddenly, the Kakashi in the crater burst into smoke.
A Substitution Jutsu—he had swapped with a wooden log.
Naruto landed lightly, smiling.
"As expected from Kakashi-sensei. A perfect 50-50 match."
Still—he was impressed.
Pulling off a Kawarimi no Jutsu at that speed?
Only Kakashi.
Just as Naruto touched down—
A hand shot from the earth beneath him.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!"
Kakashi's voice rang out just as his hand shot from beneath the ground, seizing Naruto's ankle.
His intent was clear—drag Naruto underground and restrain him with the surrounding earth.
But—
Kakashi's expression shifted.
Despite having a firm grip on Naruto's leg, he couldn't move him.
"W-What!?" Kakashi's eyes widened.
It was like grabbing a stone pillar.
Naruto stood unmoved, his body heavy and immovable, like a statue carved from granite.
From the sidelines, Sakura and Sasuke watched in shock.
Even the Third Hokage, observing quietly from the shadows, furrowed his brow.
Strange… Kakashi's mastery of Earth Style techniques is top-tier. That jutsu should've worked flawlessly.
But what neither Kakashi nor Hiruzen knew—
The chakra pulsing through Naruto's feet was subtly disrupting the Earth Style technique. It grounded him, anchoring him to the terrain like a mountain.
And more than that—
Naruto's raw physical strength already surpassed most jōnin.
Asking Kakashi to pull him down was like asking one man to uproot a cliff.
Impossible.
Naruto looked down at the hand clutching his ankle and smirked.
"Come on out, Kakashi-sensei," he said, voice light but confident.
Then—with a stomp from his free foot—
Boom!
The ground exploded beneath him, dirt and rock erupting upward like a geyser.
And in the middle of it—
The figure of Hatake Kakashi shot out into the air.
But—
As Naruto narrowed his eyes, he saw it.
Puff!
A cloud of white smoke.
Another Shadow Clone…
Naruto's instincts screamed.
He twisted—just as the real Kakashi appeared from behind.
"You're wide open!"
"You little brat," Kakashi muttered under his breath, launching a clean strike toward Naruto's back.
From any angle, it looked like a sure hit.
Even Sakura and Sasuke gasped.
Naruto wasn't even facing him.
He couldn't possibly—
But just before impact, Naruto tilted his head slightly.
The strike missed by inches.
Kakashi's eyes widened in disbelief.
He lashed out again.
Second strike—dodged.
Third—missed again.
Fourth—cleanly evaded without Naruto even turning around.
What the hell is going on!?
"Impossible!" Kakashi muttered, voice sharp.
He didn't even look! How can he dodge with his back turned!?
From his hiding place, the Third Hokage's expression turned serious.
Naruto was evading the attacks of Kakashi—an elite jonin—effortlessly, even with his back turned.
At that moment, in the eyes of the Third Hokage, Naruto's sensory abilities felt nothing short of extraordinary.
But then—
Naruto suddenly stopped evading.
He turned around and threw a straight punch at Kakashi.
Kakashi reacted in time.
He crossed both arms in a defensive block and was pushed back several steps from the force.
Seeing this, Naruto didn't hesitate. He surged forward, delivering a right-leg whip kick toward Kakashi's left shoulder.
Kakashi anticipated the trajectory and deflected Naruto's leg with his left hand, then countered with a right hook.
But Naruto sensed the incoming punch. He ducked instantly and followed up with a rising uppercut aimed at Kakashi's chin.
"Bang!"
Kakashi was knocked airborne once more.
But he gritted through the pain.
Twisting midair, he launched a series of spinning kicks toward Naruto.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Kakashi pressed the offensive with a flurry of taijutsu strikes.
Naruto responded fluidly, shifting to open palms, deflecting each kick with precision and poise.
For a brief moment, the two fought with pure taijutsu—blindingly fast exchanges of fists and feet.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The repeated clashes rang out like drumbeats.
As Kakashi fought on, a sense of awe began to well up inside him.
Naruto's skill… his reflexes… his combat intuition…
It was like facing a bottomless, ancient well—deep and mysterious, with hidden power.
Perched atop treetops and crouched behind bushes, Sasuke and Sakura watched in disbelief, their eyes locked on the high-speed battle between their teacher and teammate. The sheer intensity left them frozen, forgetting entirely that they were supposed to be part of the bell test.
To be honest…
At the level Naruto and Kakashi were fighting now, neither Sasuke nor Sakura could possibly intervene.
Meanwhile, hidden nearby, the Third Hokage—ever the voyeur—never imagined Naruto's taijutsu could rival Kakashi's.
Then, the momentum shifted again.
Kakashi found himself momentarily cornered.
Without hesitation, he drew a kunai and lunged at Naruto.
Seeing this, Naruto's lips curled into a confident grin. Without missing a beat, he pulled out his own kunai.
What had been a taijutsu battle now transitioned into a kunai close-quarters duel.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Steel clashed against steel in a series of harsh metallic shrieks.
Sparks flew as the blades collided again and again.
Then, Kakashi suddenly pulled a shuriken from his pouch and hurled it at Naruto.
Naruto responded instantly, drawing a shuriken of his own and launching it to intercept.
"Ding ding ding!"
The projectiles clashed in midair.
Sparks burst once more,
Then both fell harmlessly to the ground.
Kakashi's eyes widened further.
This wasn't just taijutsu—Naruto's shurikenjutsu was also refined and precise.
He didn't look like a Genin at all.
Just then—
"Shuriken, huh?"
Naruto smiled slightly.
"Kakashi-sensei," he said calmly, "let me show you what a real shuriken technique looks like."
From his ninja tool pouch, Naruto pulled out a sealing scroll.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, curious.
What kind of technique was Naruto referring to?
Naruto quickly unfurled the scroll.
"Bang!"
A burst of white smoke exploded around him.
In an instant, dozens—no, hundreds—of shuriken and kunai materialized, glittering like a swarm of metal birds.
"What!?"
Kakashi's eyes widened in disbelief.
There were too many ninja tools!
Sasuke and Sakura were equally stunned.
Where did Naruto get such a huge number of weapons? And how did he plan to use them?
Even the Third Hokage, watching from the shadows, couldn't hide his surprise.
A smirk tugged at the corner of Naruto's lips.
He spoke calmly:
"Divine Mechanism: Hundred-Armed Arsenal!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Naruto lowered his right hand in a commanding gesture.
In response, a massive barrage of kunai and shuriken erupted from the sealing scroll, launching in a wide arc toward Kakashi like a steel storm.
"BOOM!!!"
The sky darkened with glinting metal as the weapons rained down in a dense, unavoidable wave.
Kakashi felt a chill run down his spine as the storm of projectiles approached.
What the hell!?
He's just a fresh Genin! A Genin! And yet…
The power, the precision—Kakashi was floored.
What he didn't know was that this was still a toned-down version.
Naruto wasn't about to unleash something beyond his current level of control. He had only drawn inspiration from Tenten's scroll-based weapon techniques and adapted them with his own spin using the Divine Mechanism Arsenal style.
With enough tools and seals, the technique could be reproduced.
And while its setup was simple, the visual impact—and destructive power—was absolutely real.
In the next moment, Kakashi seemed to vanish within the storm of metal.
Kunai and shuriken tore into the earth, carving out small craters where he had stood, shredding the ground into chaos.
A thick cloud of dust and smoke billowed outward from the destruction.
"Did it hit…?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes from the treetops, straining to see through the haze.
Sakura, crouched in the underbrush, held her breath, just as anxious for the outcome.
But things didn't go as they hoped.
Suddenly—
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Three kunai sliced through the smoke, flying straight at Naruto with deadly speed.
Naruto drew his own kunai in a flash.
With a spin of his fingers, he flipped the blade into a reverse grip.
"Ding! Ding! Ding!"
He parried all three with practiced precision.
Just as the last kunai was deflected—
Kakashi's form appeared from the smoke behind Naruto.
No one had seen him move.
But Naruto's sharp senses flared.
With a fluid motion, he twisted and struck backward—his kunai stabbing directly into Kakashi's chest.
Sasuke and Sakura gasped in unison.
Even though Kakashi had warned them to treat the test like a life-or-death battle…
…they hadn't expected this.
But a moment later—
Poof!
Kakashi's body burst into white smoke.
A shadow clone!
At that same instant, the three kunai that had clattered to the ground earlier—
Exploded into white smoke as well.
Three Kakashis appeared in their place!
Moving in unison, the trio seized the opening.
They unleashed a full combination of Konoha-style taijutsu against Naruto.
But the moment the first punch landed—
Kakashi's eyes narrowed in confusion.
Naruto's body…
It felt like punching forged iron.
Unyielding. Unmoving. Unbreakable.
What is this…? Kakashi thought, wincing slightly.
He pulled back, only to feel a sudden recoil from his own punch, a jolt of force returning through his arm. It throbbed, his muscles aching from the impact.
Sasuke, Sakura, and even the Third Hokage watching in secret were momentarily speechless.
Then—
Naruto slowly turned his head.
His gaze landed calmly on Kakashi.
There was no tension in his body.
Only a faint, confident smile playing on his lips.
"Ah—sorry,"
Naruto said casually, his tone light.
"I forgot to mention..."
"My body's built a little differently."
And it wasn't a bluff.
Thanks to the compound benefits of the Sixfold Sage Thief Technique, mastery of Total Concentration Breathing, fully developed White Striking Fist Style, and the immense reserves of Sage Chakra,
Naruto's physical prowess now…
Was simply inhuman.
With those calm words spoken, Naruto launched into another smooth, relentless combo.
Kakashi had no choice but to go fully on the defensive.
And this—this was Naruto holding back.
Of course, Kakashi hadn't activated his Sharingan, nor had he used any of his advanced Lightning Release techniques.
This was just a bell test, after all.
He never planned to overwhelm fresh Genin with jōnin-level ninjutsu.
But maybe—just maybe—that attitude came back to bite him.
Because facing Naruto now…
It felt more like punishment than sparring.
After one devastating combo, Naruto stepped back, calm and composed.
Kakashi, meanwhile, stood across from him, panting, sweat beading on his forehead.
Every part of his body that had taken a hit throbbed with dull, internal pain.
What the hell, this brat…
How is his punch so absurdly powerful!?
Not cute at all!
He already knew he'd need a few days off to recover from this.
Kakashi felt battered and a little wronged—but as the teacher of Team 7, he couldn't show it.
Even after getting thoroughly worked over by Naruto, Kakashi had to act calm, like nothing happened.
But then—
Naruto smiled.
"Kakashi-sensei," he said brightly.
"I think it's time to wrap up the exercise."
Kakashi blinked—then his eyes widened in alarm.
The bell!
His hand reached instinctively toward his hip.
But there was no familiar weight there.
Looking up slowly…
He saw Naruto standing confidently, one finger hooked through both bells, swaying them with a cheerful jingle.
Jingle-jingle.
Kakashi stared, then gave a helpless chuckle beneath his mask.
"…I lost."
"I really didn't see that coming."
He scratched his head and exhaled deeply.
In the chaos of that fight, he'd completely forgotten about the bells.
Fighting a monster like Naruto really was murder on the body.
High above, in the treetops—
And hidden in the grass—
Sasuke and Sakura finally remembered why they were even here in the first place.
"Damn it…"
Sasuke clenched his fists, silently berating himself.
He'd been so caught up in watching the fight… he'd missed his chance.
Naruto took the bells all by himself.
That meant—by the rules—Sasuke was out.
Sakura looked down too, visibly disappointed.
She hadn't gotten a bell either.
But—
small mercies.
If Sasuke didn't pass either, at least… maybe they could stay together.
Just then, Kakashi turned to look at the two who'd finally revealed themselves.
But instead of scolding them, he simply sighed.
He understood.
Expecting Sasuke and Sakura to jump into a fight like that?
Against Naruto?
It was just… unrealistic.
Naruto was operating on an entirely different level.
Even Sasuke—a genius from the Uchiha clan—couldn't keep up with him right now.
But still—
As Kakashi looked from Naruto, who held both bells, to Sasuke and Sakura, who held none—
A wry, amused smile crept onto his face.
...
TN:
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