The last rays of the setting sun dyed the training ground blood-red.
Naruto knelt on one knee, sweat dripping from his chin onto the cracked earth.
He raised his clear blue eyes, staring intently at the silver-haired Jōnin standing on a broken wooden post.
“There are still thirty minutes until dark.”
Kakashi lazily jiggled the bell in his hand, the clanging sound exceptionally crisp in the silent training ground.
“If you don’t get it by then, your punishment will be doubled.”
Hearing Kakashi’s words, Naruto wiped the sweat blurring his vision with his wristband.
However, a stubborn smile, his signature grin, curved his lips.
“Don’t underestimate me! I’m the man who will become Hokage!”
One hour ago, at the edge of the training ground.
Iruka hastily tied his forehead protector and apologetically ruffled Naruto’s blond hair.
“It’s a last-minute mission. I’ve already asked Senior Kakashi to give you special guidance.”
“Special guidance?”
Naruto eyed the silver-haired Jōnin leaning against a tree with suspicion.
The latter was covering most of his face with “Icha Icha Paradise.”
“Iruka-sensei said we were supposed to have a theory tutoring session…”
“Theory class, huh…”
Kakashi closed his book, his exposed right eye curving into a crescent moon.
“How about some practical training? If you can snatch this bell from me before dinner…”
As he spoke, he conjured two bronze bells as if by magic.
“…I’ll exempt you from all punishments and treat you to Ichiraku Ramen.”
As soon as he heard Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto’s eyes lit up.
“Really?”
“Of course,” Kakashi tied the bells to his waist.
“But if you lose…”
“I’m not going to lose!” Naruto had already taken an offensive stance.
They faced each other, Kakashi flipping through “Icha Icha Paradise,” and Naruto not rashly attacking.
Three years of secret training had taught him to observe.
Kakashi, though seemingly casually flipping through the book, had an unassailable stance, and even the rhythm of his page-turning matched his breathing frequency.
“He’s assessing your strength,” Madara’s deep voice echoed in his consciousness.
“Use basic taijutsu. Don’t expose my training.”
Naruto nodded imperceptibly and suddenly shot out like an arrow released from a bow!
Kakashi didn’t even lift an eyelid, evading the straight punch with a sidestep based solely on the sound of the wind.
But Naruto was prepared.
His right leg swept out in a sharp arc, aiming for the lower body!
“Oh?” Kakashi lightly leaped back, the corners of his mouth under the mask curving slightly.
“Your taijutsu has improved quite a bit.”
Naruto grinned, revealing his tiger-like teeth, and his speed suddenly increased as he charged again.
His movements were clean and sharp, each punch carrying a precise angle calculation.
Kakashi still had one hand in his pocket, blocking only with his right hand, but the casualness in his single eye gradually gave way to focus.
“No wasted movements, and the way he exerts force is also…”
After blocking the tenth attack, Kakashi’s pupils contracted.
“This isn’t the school’s teaching style.”
Inside the seal space, the Nine-Tails’ claws rhythmically tapped the iron bars, splashing scarlet chakra sparks.
The Nine-Tails reminded him, “Hey! Spiky-hair! That silver-haired ninja isn’t simple.”
Madara’s phantom flickered in the darkness.
“I know without you telling me. And stop calling me spiky-hair!”
“This person is no weakling…” The Nine-Tails bared its fangs.
“Aren’t you afraid he’ll see through your tricks?”
Madara didn’t respond, but his churning chakra betrayed his wariness.
Kakashi Hatake—Konoha’s Copy Ninja, the Fourth Hokage’s direct disciple.
If he were serious, the current Naruto would have no chance of winning.
In the real world, Naruto was once again thrown into the dust, but he immediately sprang up like a carp, his blond hair speckled with grass.
“Seventeen attacks, still zero hits,” Kakashi finally put away his novel.
“Do you want to continue?”
“Stop nagging!”
Naruto wiped the dust from his mouth and suddenly changed his breathing rhythm.
His movements began to carry a peculiar rhythm, as if each step was taken on an invisible spiral trajectory.
Kakashi’s eyes sharpened.
That wasn’t ordinary taijutsu!
Naruto’s fists, imbued with a spiral gale, actually left faint blue chakra afterimages in the air!
“This is…!”
Kakashi’s crossed arms were numbed by the impact, and his boots scraped two shallow grooves in the ground.
Before he could adjust his stance, Naruto flipped in mid-air, his right leg chopping down like a battle-axe!
“Got it!”
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the bell, Kakashi dissolved into a puff of white smoke.
“Good tactic,” the voice came from behind him.
Naruto felt a numbness spread across the back of his neck.
“But you’re still far from it.”
As Naruto was defeated, in the seal space, the Nine-Tails’ laughter exploded in his mind.
“Madara, look at your good son. He can’t even snatch a bell.”
Madara ignored the other’s mockery.
“The experience gap is too large, and besides, the opponent isn’t weak. For Naruto to achieve this much is already satisfactory.”
“Then why don’t I help him!”
Suddenly, Naruto, who was lying on the ground, dug his fingernails deep into the soil.
Dark red chakra seeped out from his pores like flames!
“You behave yourself too!” Madara’s chakra transformed into black chains, coiling around it.
“You’re harming Naruto right now!”
As the chakra was completely contained by Madara, the red chakra on Naruto’s body dispersed.
The residual energy alone caused the surrounding vegetation to sway as if in a breeze, proving it wasn’t an illusion.
Kakashi stood three meters away, his forehead protector pushed up at some point, a hint of surprise flashing in his scarlet Sharingan.
However, he quickly pulled the protector back down.
“Time’s up,” he said, lowering his hand that had been forming a seal.
The bells glinted coldly in the setting sun.
“You lost.”
Naruto lowered his head in silence for a moment, then suddenly looked up with a smile.
“Tomorrow! I’ll definitely get it tomorrow!”
Kakashi gazed at him for a long time, then said with a smile, “But you must remember, your punishment is doubled!”
“Noooo!!!”
Immediately, Naruto’s screams echoed throughout the training ground.
At night, the light in the Hokage’s office cast a long shadow of the Third Hokage.
Kakashi stood by the window, his silver hair still dusted with dirt from the training ground.
“His taijutsu…” Kakashi chose his words carefully.
“It fuses the essence of some ancient style, and his chakra control precision is completely beyond a Genin’s level.”
The Third Hokage exhaled a smoke ring.
“Who do you think is guiding him?”
“I’m not sure,” Kakashi’s eyes glinted in the shadows.
“But to make a child improve this much in such a short time…” He paused.
“That person is probably not inferior to you.”
Meanwhile, Naruto sat by the river, hugging his knees, skipping stones across the water, making three bounces.
“Dad, am I… still far from good enough?”
Rarely, Madara didn’t mock him.
Ghostly blue chakra enveloped Naruto like a thin mist.
“Today, you forced out fifty percent of his strength.”
“Really?” Naruto looked up sharply, the gloom in his eyes vanishing.
“Then tomorrow…”
“Focus on basic training,” Madara interrupted him, but his voice was gentler than usual.
“Next time, you must make him use his full strength.”
Deep within the seal cage, the Nine-Tails’ lips curled up involuntarily, as if it was enjoying the current environment.
____________________
Update: “Monday to Friday – Update 3 Chapters a Day”
“Saturday and Sunday – Off”