The explosion echoed through Training Ground Three, sending birds scattering into the sky as smoke slowly drifted between the trees.
Kakashi stood calmly in the center of the field, his orange book held lazily in one hand.
To anyone watching, he appeared completely relaxed.
But beneath the mask, his expression had changed.
The first attack had been exactly what he expected.
A loud distraction.
A reckless move.
A genin revealing their position without thinking.
Except this time…
Something felt different.
“Sakura Haruno,” Kakashi muttered quietly.
He looked toward the smoke-covered area where the attack had come from.
“Too obvious.”
A shadow suddenly moved behind him.
Kakashi’s eye narrowed.
A kunai flashed toward his back.
He turned effortlessly, catching the weapon between two fingers.
“Too slow.”
A disguised Naruto grinned before exploding into smoke.
A shadow clone.
Kakashi sighed.
“Still starting with clones.”
The smoke cleared.
Except this time, the real Naruto was nowhere nearby.
Kakashi glanced around.
Interesting.
Most Academy graduates would immediately rush in after creating a distraction.
They would rely on numbers, hoping to overwhelm an opponent with surprise.
But Naruto had not followed up.
He had disappeared.
He’s waiting.
Kakashi’s expression became slightly more serious.
Meanwhile, hidden deep within the forest, Naruto watched from a branch.
“He’s noticed.”
Kurama hummed.
“Of course he has. This is Hatake Kakashi we’re talking about.”
Naruto nodded.
The man in front of him wasn’t simply a lazy jonin reading books all day.
He was the Copy Ninja.
A veteran of countless battles.
A survivor of the Third Great Ninja War.
The student of Minato Namikaze.
The man who had inherited Obito’s Sharingan and carried the weight of his friend’s final gift.
Naruto knew every detail of Kakashi’s life.
But knowing someone and facing them were two different things.
“What now?” Kurama asked.
Naruto smiled.
“Now we stop playing his game.”
Back on the field, Kakashi casually looked around.
“Interesting.”
He could feel it.
The difference.
Naruto Uzumaki was acting strangely.
The boy who was known for charging forward without thinking was now observing.
Analyzing.
Waiting.
It reminded Kakashi of someone.
His old sensei.
A blond-haired ninja who believed impossible things could become possible.
Kakashi’s eye softened briefly.
Then he shook the thought away.
“No.”
He focused again.
“This is just a genin.”
The next instant, the ground beneath him exploded.
A chain of hidden traps activated.
Kunai flew from every direction.
Kakashi calmly jumped between them, avoiding each attack with minimal movement.
“Not bad.”
He landed on a tree branch.
Then his eye caught something.
A wire.
Connected to a series of traps.
A setup designed not to hit him…
But to control his movement.
Kakashi looked toward the forest.
“Someone planned this.”
A blur appeared.
Sasuke.
The Uchiha moved with perfect timing, striking from Kakashi’s blind spot.
His kick connected.
Or at least…
It should have.
Kakashi disappeared.
The kick struck a tree instead.
“A substitution.”
Sasuke landed, immediately turning around.
Too late.
Kakashi appeared behind him.
“Predictable.”
Before Kakashi could counter, another attack came.
Naruto.
The blond launched forward with a spinning kick.
Kakashi blocked it.
The force pushed him backward several meters.
His eye widened slightly.
That was not normal Academy-level strength.
Naruto landed beside Sasuke.
For a moment, the two stood together.
Kakashi stared.
Interesting.
“You two are working together already?”
Sasuke remained silent.
Naruto smiled.
“Isn’t that what teammates are supposed to do?”
Kakashi’s expression remained hidden.
But those words struck something.
Teammates.
The same word that had once meant everything.
The same word that had been taken away from him.
“You understand the assignment quickly.”
Naruto shrugged.
“I had a good teacher.”
The answer caught Kakashi off guard.
“Teacher?”
Naruto looked at him.
“Yeah.”
His voice softened.
“Someone who taught me that abandoning your friends is worse than breaking the rules.”
For a brief moment, the world went silent.
Kakashi’s visible eye widened slightly.
That phrase.
Those exact words.
The words of the person who had changed his life forever.
Obito Uchiha.
But Naruto couldn’t possibly know that.
Could he?
Before Kakashi could question it, a loud scream interrupted them.
“Naruto!”
Both turned.
Sakura stood frozen in place.
A shadow moved behind her.
Kakashi.
The real one.
The Naruto and Sasuke they had been fighting…
A clone.
Sakura’s eyes widened.
“I… I didn’t even notice.”
Kakashi appeared beside her.
“The battlefield doesn’t care whether you notice.”
He tapped her forehead lightly.
“You need to learn to observe.”
Naruto watched quietly.
In his previous life, Sakura had spent too much time chasing after Sasuke and too little time believing in herself.
This time would be different.
“Sakura.”
She looked at him.
“Get behind us.”
The words surprised her.
Not because of the order.
Because of the tone.
Naruto wasn’t treating her like a burden.
He was treating her like a teammate.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto.
“You trust her?”
“Of course.”
Sasuke looked away.
“Hn.”
But Naruto noticed.
A small change.
A tiny crack in the wall around Sasuke’s heart.
It was enough.
The three genin regrouped.
Kakashi stood opposite them, bells jingling softly at his waist.
No more tricks.
No more individual fights.
The real test was about to begin.
Kakashi lowered his book.
“Very well.”
His eye sharpened.
“Show me what kind of team you are.”