“Is that so? As long as you’re not slacking off, it’s fine. I’ll be checking the results of your training later. If you can’t extract chakra within a week, just wait and see.”
“I-I-I-I… I’ll work hard!”
Afraid that sword might end up cutting him instead, Naruto quickly picked up the scroll he had just thrown aside and began reading it.
[A small lack of patience ruins great plans! Naruto, keep it up! As long as I extract chakra, I can continue slacking off. Damn Kakashi, just you wait. Once I learn Sage Mode and activate Nine-Tails Mode, I’ll beat you until you call me Daddy!]
Naruto beat Kakashi up in his mind once again, but on the surface, he obediently began extracting chakra.
Kakashi didn’t think much of Naruto’s inner thoughts and continued swinging his long sword beneath the waterfall.
Time gradually passed, and before they knew it, the sun was already high in the sky.
Naruto had originally been following the method written on the scroll to extract chakra with the attitude of merely going through the motions.
He hadn’t expected to achieve any results today.
After all, going from having no chakra to extracting it was an extremely difficult process.
He had never extracted chakra before, so no matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible for him to succeed.
However, the first wisp of chakra appeared.
The moment the chakra appeared, Naruto suddenly opened his eyes.
With a thought, a very faint but genuinely existing blue glow emerged from his palm.
[I succeeded? Damn! I actually succeeded in extracting chakra? Could it be that I’m a genius?]
Naruto’s sudden inner thoughts caused Kakashi, who was swinging his sword beneath the waterfall, to pause.
He looked at Naruto in shock.
Extracting chakra in just half a day—there were only a few geniuses from the great clans with such talent, yet Naruto had accomplished it.
He had never expected Naruto to extract chakra today.
In fact, even whether he could succeed after a week was uncertain.
After hearing Naruto’s inner thoughts, Kakashi knew that Naruto wouldn’t seriously devote himself to training.
He would definitely take the opportunity to slack off, but Kakashi didn’t particularly care about that.
His main purpose in keeping Naruto by his side was to get more information about Obito and Rin.
As for training, as long as Naruto wasn’t the dead last in his class, that would be enough.
However, at this moment, things were different.
Naruto being able to extract chakra from nothing in just half a day was enough to prove that Naruto himself was a genius.
More importantly, he had accomplished this while only half-heartedly training.
If he devoted himself wholeheartedly, he might need even less time.
If Kakashi had such a genius in his hands and still allowed him to become the dead last, he felt that he might be struck by divine punishment.
Not to mention that this was his teacher’s child.
Thinking of this, Kakashi’s expression became determined.
Only then did Naruto notice that Kakashi was looking at him.
Startled, he quickly dispersed the chakra in his hand and sat cross-legged in a fake, proper manner, pretending to still be extracting chakra.
In reality, he was simply resting with his eyes closed.
[Ah~~ this feels great, this feels great. Sure enough, slacking off is the greatest productivity. Maybe heaven heard my prayers and let me extract chakra so quickly, so I can slack off for six whole days.]
Thinking of this, Naruto’s mood greatly improved, and a smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of his mouth.
However, Kakashi had somehow already arrived in front of Naruto.
Since Naruto had his eyes closed, he had no idea.
“Naruto, how is your training going?”
Kakashi suddenly asked, startling Naruto so badly that he jolted and abruptly opened his eyes.
“Ah! Huh? Oh! I-I still have no idea what I’m doing. Just understanding that scroll is already difficult enough. As for extracting chakra, I don’t even know where to begin.”
Naruto scratched the back of his head while looking at Kakashi with a bitter expression.
However, Kakashi pulled up the forehead protector covering his Sharingan and slowly opened that crimson-red eye.
“Oh? Is that so? Then why can I see that chakra has already formed inside your body?”
The moment those words came out, it was as though a bolt of lightning had struck Naruto.
His mouth opened slightly, yet he couldn’t say a single word.
[Damn! How did I forget about that?! The Sharingan can see chakra! If I get mistaken for a genius, wouldn’t I be completely screwed?]
Naruto completely panicked.
He was afraid that Kakashi would report this to the Third Hokage, who would then reveal it to the teachers at the Academy.
Once school started, the teachers would definitely give him special attention.
If that happened, his plans to slack off and sleep during class would probably be ruined.
Moreover, being dead last by nature and falling from being a genius to becoming dead last were fundamentally different things.
[What do I do? What do I do?! This is serious. I have to come up with a convincing excuse!]
Naruto still appeared relatively calm on the surface, but his heart was already in complete chaos.
Kakashi, however, was full of confusion.
Being a genius should be a good thing.
He couldn’t understand why Naruto was not only unhappy but also so panicked, as though he had committed some kind of crime.
“Naruto? Hey! Naruto!”
Kakashi first called out to Naruto softly.
When he received no response, he raised his voice.
Naruto immediately jolted and came back to his senses, then put on an innocent expression, spread out his hand, and released chakra once again.
“So this is chakra. Big Brother Kakashi, I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told me. Actually, I’ve had it since two years ago.”
Although he knew Naruto was lying, Kakashi didn’t expose him.
He wanted to see what Naruto was really up to.
“Oh? Two years ago? You started extracting chakra two years ago?”
“No. I had it after I had a dream.”
Kakashi narrowed his eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
However, because he was wearing a mask, Naruto couldn’t notice it.
“A dream? What kind of dream?”
Naruto slightly raised his head and pretended to think before saying, “In my dream, there was a very large fox locked inside a cage. Oh, right, that fox had nine tails. It said to me, ‘You’ve finally arrived,’ and then I woke up. After that, I had chakra.”
If it had been anyone else, they would have believed this explanation.
However, Kakashi knew that it was all fake.
Naruto simply didn’t want others to think he was a genius.
At first, Kakashi had thought Naruto would come up with a very far-fetched excuse.
After all, Naruto’s inner thoughts had been completely panicked just moments ago.
However, he hadn’t expected Naruto to calm himself down so quickly and even come up with a reasonable explanation.
This meant that Naruto was not only a genius, but also possessed an extremely mature mind and an exceptional ability to adjust his mentality at such a young age.
These qualities were all extremely rare.
As a result, Kakashi became more and more satisfied with Naruto.
He became even more determined to train him and even more convinced that Naruto would one day become a powerful ninja.
“Is that so? I understand. It seems I was mistaken. Since you already possess chakra, there’s no need for you to continue extracting chakra.”