Naruto arrived on the ground exactly on four pm, with Temari in tow. "So just because the asshole tried to hit on you, you almost cut off his dick?" Naruto asked incredulously.
Temari scoffed, rising to her feet. "Honestly, he should have known not to mess with me when I killed all those bandits single handedly, without a problem."
Naruto whistled. "That's harsh. Pity we can't wear our rings in the field."
Temari nodded, completely agreeing with him. "A pity indeed."
"Why weren't you with a team again?"
Temari shrugged. "I discovered that I like working alone. Which is why I refused it when Tsunade offered me a team to lead. As a jonin working alone, I'm much more efficient."
"But being in a team has its advantages, and you know that."
"I do, but working alone is so much better for me."
Naruto shrugged, not wanting to argue with her anymore. Jonin had the choice of either working alone, or with a team. If Temari preferred to work alone, he wasn't going to stop her. And with how formidable she had become, he would have to worry less about her. It wasn't as if there was a bounty on her head, after all. Expanding his senses, he sensed Jiraiya, Shizune and Tsunade in the trees. No doubt they were here to watch the fight. He lowered the gravity on his person to three times that of Earth, feeling significantly lighter.
"Temari, why don't you join our audience in the trees? Better view from there."
"Sure, why not? Just give me a good show!" With that, she jumped away.
He sensed Sakura coming to the ground, and he turned around. She walked up to him with a smile, tightening some gloves on her hands. "Tsunade-sama called you as well, Naruto?"
"Yeah, apparently she wants to test both of us. I can see who the conductor of the test is going to be."
Just as he finished his sentence, a burst of smoke appeared right next to him. Naruto was shaking his head as the figure emerged from the smoke that cleared away. "I saw that coming from a mile away."
"Considering that you can't physically see that far, I find that to be impossible."
"Kakashi, you are the strongest jonin in this village. Why won't Tsunade send you?"
Kakashi gave an eye smile. "Good point, though I don't know about the part of "strongest jonin" anymore, now that you're here. You've gotten quite tall by the way, Naruto."
"And you're still as perverted as ever," Naruto shot back.
"Come on Kakashi-sensei, Naruto couldn't possibly be better than you," Sakura argued, but then she caught Naruto's smirk. "Could he?"
"I suppose all will be proven shortly," Naruto said in a breezy way.
Sakura still looked doubtful, but didn't say anything. Naruto remembered something, his hand going to his hip pouch and pulling something out. "Oh, before we start, have this."
Kakashi's eyes looked at the cover, and went wide with disbelief. "No way! Is it….oh kami, it is!"
Pocketing the other book, Kakashi greedily opened the newest edition of Icha Icha. "The first one in three years! Oh, the smell of a new book….."
Naruto was a little disturbed by Kakashi's enthusiasm, but didn't show it. Everyone had their ways of getting off, and was Kakashi's eye shining with withheld tears?
"Thank you Naruto…..this is the best gift anyone has ever given me."
Naruto waved the thanks away. "Don't mention it."
Sakura on the other hand, was suspiciously looking at Naruto. "And why were you in the possession of that book, Naruto?"
Naruto held up his hands. "Don't look at me like that, ero-sennin gave it to me."
In the forest, Temari whacked Jiraiya across the back of his head, much to Tsunade's approval.
"And you didn't read it?"
"Alright, that's enough Sakura," Kakashi stopped her there. Once Sakura seemed calmed down, he spoke. "Alright. Godaime-sama called me earlier, informing me that I was to test you two. Probably because she is interested in reforming team7, without Sasuke this time."
Kakashi carefully watched his two former students for any reaction. Naruto simply narrowed his eyes a little, but nothing else. It was Sakura that surprised him. He expected her to slump into depression, or show some sign of sadness, but there wasn't any. Instead, her eyes told him something else. Something unexpected.
Sakura no longer felt anything for Sasuke.
Looks like Tsunade-sama did a really thorough job of beating the fangirl out of her, he observed mentally. He had imagined that Godaime would be a tough teacher, but to stomp Sakura's infatuation for Sasuke out of her?
She must be damn vicious.
"I still can't imagine how the bastard escaped from this village," Naruto muttered, looking towards the sky.
Kakashi sighed, "He was taken when he was being transferred to Hozuki castle for his prison sentence. Short version is, the Konoha ninja were ambushed by an unknown party while on the way to the prison. No one was killed, but Sasuke was taken from right under their noses."
"Why would you even transfer him?"
"Because it's the best criminal containment facility in the world? That place has a record of zero prisoner escapes and to be honest, that's a very good incentive to keep a prisoner there. From what I heard, the shinobi council was in favor of it."
Naruto pursed his lips. "Better than our ANBU here?"
"The prison in our village is not much of a prison than it is a holding facility. Plus, ANBU is susceptible to attacks and break ins, as you have so repeatedly proved when you were younger, Naruto," Kakashi reminded him. Naruto scoffed lightly at that, but didn't deny the claim.
"Please tell me at least you know who took him away."
Kakashi sighed, looking unsure of his answer. "There is no official evidence as to who might have taken him, but we know of one person who had shown a disturbing amount of interest in him."
"Orochimaru."
Kakashi shrugged. "That's what many suspect. Bu as I said, we don't have any proof."
"Anyway, back to the test. At first, it was going to be you two against me, but there has been a change of plans by Tsunade-sama."
Sakura looked confused by his words. "Why would she change it?"
Kakashi put his book away, implying that he was serious. "I don't know the exact reason, but I'm not going to speculate. The test is actually quite simple," he said, pulling out not two, but three bells.
"Three bells, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Patience Sakura. Yes, it will be three bells this time, with two for you both, and one for me," he explained, giving the bells to Naruto and Sakura. "The test is essentially a battle royal, with every man for himself. The last ninja to remain standing with all three bells in his possession wins."
Sakura looked like she didn't know what to make of the test, but Naruto had a smirk on his face. Clearly he was excited. "That's actually rather unconventional of her, but I'm not complaining."
He walked towards Kakashi and held out a hand. "Give me your wrist. I'll remove my mark to make this as fair as possible for you."
Kakashi snorted. "So nice of you," he commented sarcastically, but gave him his wrist. Naruto put his hand on the mark and removed it, revealing unblemished skin.
He then turned around and walked away, putting a bit of distance between them, around 40 meters. He put the bell in one of his vest pockets and then faced both of them, waving a hand. "Whenever you're ready, Kakashi."
Sakura too, put some distance between her teammate and sensei, tying the bell to her hip. She tightened her gloves one last time and gave a challenging smile to Kakashi. "On your go, sensei."
Kakashi chuckled, reaching for his hitai-ate. "Even I'm a bit excited about this. But I have a feeling that I shouldn't hold back too much this time," he said, exposing the sharingan.
That eye won't save you this time, Kakashi, Naruto thought as he put his hands in his pockets.
It was then that the atmosphere in the field changed. Kakashi and Sakura simulatneously tensed, eyes darting towards Naruto, who was intensely staring at the two. His posture was still relaxed, but something about him had clearly changed, something that screamed dangerous.
A bead of sweat rolled down Sakura's cheek. Her fists tightened as she gazed at Naruto's relaxed form. What is this feeling? Why does Naruto seem so dangerous all of a sudden? Whenever he looks at me, I feel like he could beat, no, crush me in an instant. Why? Just how much have you improved, Naruto?
Kakashi was much more practical in his analysis, despite being tense. To intimidate by using one's aura is an extremely difficult skill. I'm not surprised Naruto managed to learn it from Jiraiya-sama. A very effective psychological attack if one has a reputation deadly enough.
Kakashi had been informed by Tsunade that Naruto had beaten Jiraiya at his best. Kakashi knew then and there that Naruto was way out of his league. If there was a shinobi that could beat the strongest of the Sannin, he was among the most dangerous in the world.
"I think we all know that this fight isn't an "each person for himself" anymore, is it?" Naruto questioned in a nonchalant tone.
It went unsaid, but Naruto was right. Naruto's sudden change of presence put all of them on edge, even the audience. Even though it was a test, it felt more like a battle for survival. Humans were afraid of those who were stronger than them. Kakashi and Sakura instinctively knew that in order for either of them to win this fight, they would have to knock off the strongest piece off the board. They both knew from their gut instinct that they couldn't beat Naruto on his own.
It was pure instinct that their bodies angled slightly more towards Naruto than each other.
They both flinched, Sakura more heavily than Kakashi, when Naruto suddenly erupted in smoke. They were instantly looking around, trying to find Naruto, but their eyes returned to the smoke that was rapidly clearing. When it cleared, they were looking at two Narutos.
Dammit, now there's no way to tell which one's the real one, Sakura cursed mentally. She still wasn't going to make the first move. She just couldn't. She knew Naruto would only have gotten faster in the past three years. She couldn't match his reflexes then, she couldn't do it now. It was as simple as that.
In her observation of Naruto, she forgot about Kakashi.
Kakashi was keeping a close eye on both of his pupils. With Naruto having cloned himself in dense smoke, he was unable to tell which one was the real one. He knew if he attacked Naruto, he would no doubt be countered. He had no idea what Naruto was capable of now, and he was unwilling to risk himself in order to find out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura turn a bit more towards Naruto, her expression becoming a bit conflicted.
Even if we were about to team up against Naruto, this is still a battle royal.
With that in mind, he changed targets. Kakashi was trained by the fastest man of all time, Namikaze Minato. So it stood to reason that he was no slack in terms of speed. In ANBU, he was among the fastest, his only competition being Shisui and Itachi. Even now, there were few who could match his speed. With that in mind, he moved.
Naruto was carefully watching his opponents. Sakura was concentrating purely on him, but Kakashi was still keeping her in his view. He knew that neither of them were foolish enough to attack him straight on, but only Kakashi was smart enough to account for Sakura along with him as well. If he couldn't attack Naruto, he would focus on the next one.
To be honest, it really wasn't Sakura's fault to focus her entire attention on him. If he had one of the hokage for an opponent, he would do the same. He had his own agenda, and that was to see how strong Kakashi really was. He was his father's best student, so he would no doubt be quite good. Seeing how far Sakura had come was just a bonus.
His danger sense had been activated as soon as they entered the standoff. His perception was heightened, allowing him to see things in relative slow motion. He moved in the next instant that Kakashi did, and he had chosen his target.
Kakashi had moved in Sakura's direction, hoping to catch her off guard and chop her neck, putting her out of the fight. His sharingan allowed him to see her reaction, but unfortunately for her, she was still slower than him.
His eye widened, however, when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him, wrapping his arm around her stomach. It was his flash step, and he was still faster than Kakashi.
Kakashi's chop hit nothing but air as Naruto vanished again in his flash step. Inside, he marveled at how fast Naruto had become. The speed at which he had rushed Sakura was close to his top speed, and Naruto had just casually out sped him.
He landed on his feet and instantly turned towards where Naruto was still standing. It could be possible that this one is the real one, seeing as he probably wouldn't send a shadow clone against an opponent that could easily punch it out of existence. But it's purely speculation at this point, he theorized.
"I'm surprised that you saved her. I was about to spare you the trouble of taking her out," he pointed out.
Naruto smiled, taking his hands out of his pockets. "I have my own reason for saving her. But for now," he pointed at Kakashi, "you are going to show me just how good you really are. No holding back."
"I fear that holding back against you really isn't an option, Naruto," he muttered, readying himself.
XXXXXXX
Sakura blinked as she came to her senses. One second, she was standing in front of Naruto and Kakashi. She had caught a flicker of movement from Kakashi's side and was about to react, when she found herself being grabbed and brought here.
She immediately fell into her fighting stance, facing the blonde in front of her. "Kakashi-sensei attacked me, didn't he?"
"I'm surprised you could tell. I thought we were rather fast," Naruto commented, walking to the side.
Sakura kept her eyes on him the entire time. She smiled wryly, "I might be slow compared to you speed freaks, but I'm not that slow. I was just unable to react to him in time."
Naruto circled Sakura like he was a predator, and she was the prey. "So are you the clone, or the real deal?"
Naruto smiled in the way that gave the impression 'I know something you don't' and replied. "Why don't you find out for yourself?"
Sakura smiled challengingly at this. "Don't mind if I do."
With that, she yelled and punched the ground, her fist sinking into the earth. Only, sink wasn't quite the word for it.
Naruto flipped far back, onto the branch of a tree. He found himself restraining a shit eating grin, because Sakura just rearranged a good portion of the earth around them. Large chunks of rocks flew up into the air, with a gigantic crack and boom. Even a few trees were completely uprooted from their place.
"So Tsunade taught you the secret to her super strength. Consider me impressed," he complimented, clapping in praise.
Sakura grinned. This was the first time she felt that she was worthy of Naruto's compliment. "I've got a lot more."
Naruto grinned. "Show me then."
He appeared behind her in a flash step, kicking her away. Sakura rolled mid-air so that her feet met the bark of a tree instead of her front. She pushed herself off back towards him, a punch ready.
Naruto simply moved out of the way, allowing her to roll on the ground and then come back to him. After that, they engaged in taijutsu, with Naruto simply dodging all the punches she threw at him.
His expression went from smiling to disappointed fast, once he saw that she was just punching him. "That strength of yours is useless if you don't have the speed to back it up," he chided her, dodging her hits as if he had all the time in the world.
Sakura grit her teeth as she increased her efforts. He was mocking her!
"Don't let your temper get the best of you," Naruto said as he saw her frustration increasing. To prove his point, he deflected one of her strikes and landed an elbow right in her gut. All breath left her in just a second as she folded in on herself, hand going to clutch her stomach.
Naruto followed his elbow up with a jump, a knee to her chin. Her head snapped back as she stumbled back, ultimately falling to the ground. Sakura groaned in pain as Naruto stood above her, looking at her with a frown.
"Don't tell me that's all you have. Tsunade taught you how to dish it out, but not take it?"
Sakura grit her teeth as she fought through the pain. Naruto's hits were a lot harder than she expected. He reacted so fast that she didn't have any time to brace herself. She eventually pushed herself onto her feet, still clutching her stomach. Her jaw was still rattled from the knee to her chin. "I'm not done yet," she managed to get out.
Not far away from their spot, Tsunade watched with a frown as she saw how easily Naruto put Sakura down. If Naruto were an enemy, he could have ended the fight right when Sakura fell down. Instead, he allowed her to pick herself up, just so he could see what else she had to offer.
"Nice job teaching Sakura your super strength, Tsunade!"
Tsunade smiled a little at the compliment. "Thanks, but it's clear that she isn't ready for an opponent of Naruto's caliber, isn't it?"
Jiraiya put a hand on her shoulder. "Naruto is in a different league than her, Tsunade. To compare her to him would be unfair to her."
Temari watched with pride at how easily her husband handled Sakura. For the past year, a lot of talk was going on about how Sakura was the strongest chunin. Naruto didn't even look like he was putting effort.
Haruto, who had arrived at some time before the fight started, winced when he saw Naruto driving his elbow into Sakura's gut. Ever since he saw Sakura, he had instantly developed a crush on her. Which was why it hurt him a bit to see her getting destroyed by Naruto.
His hits always hurt.
Back to the fight, Sakura had managed to get up, healing some of the damage caused to her. Naruto was still looking at her without any expression on his face.
"What will you do now?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes. It was clear that Naruto was way out of her league. If she had managed to climb the mountain of improvement, Naruto had just shot up to the clouds. There seemed to be a whole world of difference between them.
Naruto spoke again, walking around her once more. "Well, you proved your physical strength, Sakura. But what about your mental strength?"
"What do you mean?"
Naruto grinned. "You see, I developed the ultimate ero-ninjutsu while I was on my trip. I observed that some perverts are able to resist my Oiroke no jutsu, so I sought to create a variation that was much better than that. I even developed a variation that could weed out women perverts. Would you like to see it?"
Sakura was steadily getting angry as her feminine fury kicked in. She should have known that Naruto wouldn't have been completely spared from Jiraiya-sama's perverseness. As was her reaction to any pervert she spotted, she cocked back her fist and charged towards him, intent on knocking a tooth out. "NARUTOOOOOOOOO!"
Naruto kept grinning as she charged towards him. Just as her punch reached his face, he just tilted towards his left. Grabbing her punching hand, he twisted it to behind her back and used his leg to kick out her feet from under her. In the span of a moment, Sakura was slammed on the ground painfully on her face, with her hand twisted behind her back in a tight grip.
"Ma ma, your temper tantrums have actually gotten worse," Naruto commented in a light tone. When she twisted her head to look at him, she froze. There was not a speck of the grin from earlier. His face was stone cold.
It was a ploy to lure her in.
"Why such a violent reaction Sakura? Was it something I said?"
Naruto twisted her arm a bit more, causing her to wince. "I hate perverts, and you know that!"
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "So your reaction is to punch them? Did it never occur to you that you might seriously injure them with your strength?"
Sakura's eyes went wide at that. "I would never do that?"
"Don't kid yourself. Three years of rigorous training have brought you to the point where you don't need to concentrate on augmenting your punches anymore. You do it unconsciously," Naruto shot back.
Sakura was starting to panic a little. "What's your point, Naruto?"
"My point is, you need to start acting like a shinobi. You are a damn chunin, yet you throw childish temper tantrums and punch someone because you don't like something about them," Naruto snarled.
Sakura snarled back at this, attempting to get out of Naruto's hold. "So I have a temper, big deal! Everyone does, Naruto!"
"Not everyone's temper is augmented by super strength punches that can knock someone's head off," he shot back. "You need to learn to control your emotions, instead of your emotions controlling you. There's a time and place for you to vent you anger, and the field is not it. "
Sakura had no counter for that.
Naruto continued in a softer voice, but didn't let up his grip. "Trust me, if you can master your emotions, you will go far. But you will be held back by them if you allow them to dictate your actions."
Sakura stopped struggling at that. She never really thought that her problem was this bad. In fact, she never really thought it as a problem before because no one pointed it out to her. The behavior of punching perverts in her righteous anger was only reinforced by Tsunade, Naruto deduced.
That woman has no emotional control whatsoever.
Sakura was clearly conflicted in her views by now. "What do you propose I should do?"
Naruto smiled slightly. At least she was willing to change her ways. "The next time you see something perverse, politely tell them not to do so in your presence. If they don't listen, leave. If they don't let you leave, then kick the crap out of them," Naruto sagely advised.
Sakura snorted, having stopped struggling beneath him. "It'll be difficult."
"If it were easy, Tsunade would do it."
Naruto released her from his hold, pulling her up. He grinned at her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "In time, it will be second nature to you. Emotional control will be one thing you will have surpassed your master in."
Sakura laughed at that. "When you put it that way, it's sort of makes sense."
Naruto nodded. "Right? Well, I'll take your leave then. Still gotta fight Kakashi. Come as soon as you can."
Sakura blinked at the sudden change of pace. "But the bell…?"
She checked her hip, and lo, the bell wasn't there. He must have taken it when I was down, she realized.
She smiled as she looked up, seeing no one. Just when I thought that I might have closed some of the gap between us, you drift further apart. Can I ever close the gap between us, Naruto?
Her expression was wistful as she gazed up to the sky, which was beginning to darken. An explosion caused her to turn around, seeing smoke in the distance. A determined expression set across her face, and she took to the trees.
"I will improve, Naruto. Just you watch."
XXXXXXX
The fight on Kakashi's end wasn't going too well, to be honest. As soon as one of the Narutos' had taken off with Sakura, the remaining one had engaged Kakashi by firing off a jutsu.
The power behind the fuuton jutsu was a sight to behold. It was a near hurricane-level gust of wind covering a large area. Kakashi had substituted with a broken branch to avoid being hit head on, but was hit anyways when the wind continued on into the forest. Trees swayed dangerously, threatening to fall, but thankfully held. Kakashi took cover behind a particularly large tree, hid himself as best he could and re-evaluated Naruto's threat level.
He had always known that Naruto was never lacking in power, but he didn't even look slightly winded after throwing such a jutsu. Meaning, Kakashi would have to be extremely careful when throwing jutsu. Because Naruto wasn't one to keep throwing large scale jutsu at his enemy.
While he was contemplating on how to approach this fight, Naruto had snuck up on the tree Kakashi was on and planted a customized level three explosive tag on it. Kakashi had managed to jump of just in time before the tree blew to smithereens.
It was a game of hide n' seek after that. Naruto never confronted Kakashi directly, but he let him know that hiding from him was near impossible. The use of indirect attacks was what tipped Kakashi off that he was fighting a shadow clone. Making a shadow clone of his own, he tried to corner Naruto.
But even that didn't work out. Naruto would either flash step away as soon as he felt something suspicious, or simply flash to a spot that he had previously marked.
Kakashi had dispelled his shadow clone, deciding to just avoid the clone and wait for the original. If the clone was such a hassle, the original was bound to be more, and Kakashi wasn't going to waste his stamina on just a clone.
He didn't have to wait long. Even though he was alert while sitting on a branch high above, he still wasn't fast enough to react when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him, without anything alerting his approach, and kicked him off the branch. Kakashi was able to substitute with a broken piece of wood in time before he hit the ground.
Naruto stood up straight. "Alright, I'm finished with Sakura. It's your turn now, Kakashi."
Kakashi walked out from behind a tree, an eye smile on his face, "Maa Naruto, that was a very good surprise attack. How did you do it?"
Naruto jumped down to the ground. "Now why would I tell you that?"
Kakashi shrugged. "I'm just curious. My senses didn't pick up your chakra, there was no smell from any direction, no sound, no mark on me, and I avoided the places where your clone had been in case he had marked them."
Naruto smirked. "What gave it away?"
"Well, he never directly attacked me."
Naruto nodded. His clone had told him what he had been doing. "Figured. As for how I did it," his smirk widened, "we all have our secrets, Kakashi."
Instead of looking disappointed, there was actually a proud glint in Kakashi's eye. "Good, never give away your secrets. You never know if they might be used against you in the future."
Naruto fell into his stance. "Still giving me lessons, Kakashi?"
Kakashi fell into his own stance. "A teacher is a teacher, no matter how good the student gets."
Naruto scoffed. "Now you're just spouting old man wisdom."
With that, he was in Kakashi's space within a second, his fist being blocked by Kakashi's forearm. Kakashi internally winced at the impact. His blows are too heavy to tank. I'll have to either deflect or dodge.
With that, Kakashi began fighting his former student. The sharingan was good when it came to predicting the opponents, but it could only help so much. Kakashi could see what attack Naruto was going to use, but had a hard time believing that his body was barely reacting in time. He had trained his body for a long time to match the predictability of his sharingan, so that he would be fast enough to not fall behind the eye.
Naruto deflected a jab from Kakashi, then leaned back to avoid the back roundhouse. Kakashi used the momentum of his kick to throw a left punch towards Naruto's ribs. But Naruto saw it coming, and in a lightning fast reaction, slammed his own left hand's fist to the inside of Kakashi's forearm. Kakashi felt his muscles and nerves rattle on the inside by the sharp jolt of pain, sending him back a step.
Naruto took the opportunity to execute one of his favorite kicks, the Feilong roundhouse. He spun on his right foot, his left leg lifting and passing right over Kakashi's head. Kakashi avoided Naruto's leg by ducking, but was not in a position to avoid the follow up. His sharingan picked it up, but he was unable to react in time. Naruto's right foot slammed into the side of his face, throwing him sideways. Kakashi felt the world spinning rapidly as he landed on the ground none too gently.
For the first time in a long time, Kakashi felt that his body was too slow to keep up with his left eye.
And judging from Naruto's smirk, he likely knew it as well.
Jumping back to put some distance between them, he threw several shuriken at Naruto, who simply flash stepped to avoid them. Kakashi's sharingan caught movement to his left and he ducked, Naruto's kunai swipe missing his head. Spinning on his left heel, he launched a side kick which Naruto blocked with his arms.
Instantly, five shadow clones popped into existence, surrounding Kakashi. The copy ninja mentally cursed and made to run away, knowing that there was no way he could take on five Narutos' whose skills were as good as the original. His hand sped through seals faster than the eye could blink.
"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!"
The great fireball that erupted from his mouth sped towards the clones, seeming to consume them, but Kakashi knew better. At least two, if not all, had to have survived.
His thoughts were proven right when a horizontal vortex of fire rushed towards him from his right, while he was mid-air. It was a combination jutsu, of katon and fuuton.
He substituted with a broken piece of wood again to dodge it just at the right time. It was his reflex, to use kawarimi at the last moment to give his enemy the impression that he succeeded. It not only drove them up the walls when they found out that they missed him, but also allowed Kakashi to study their ways of combat.
Just as he appeared where the stick of the wood was, Naruto appeared right beside him. "That's not gonna work anymore!"
Kakashi took his fist right in the jaw, flying back through two trees and burying himself in the third. He just pulled himself out and jumped away, because Naruto was right behind him.
Kakashi went full speed to put some distance between him and Naruto. Hopefully, he'll take the bait and follow me, he thought as he glanced backwards, only to see three Narutos' following him.
This might give me some to come up with a plan.
Just as the clones bounded away after 'Kakashi', the original came out of the ground, having used Earth release: hiding like a mole technique in the moment that he was out of Naruto's sight after breaking through the trees.
His sharingan scanned his surroundings thoroughly, because there was a high possibility that only clones followed his shadow clone. He found nothing in his immediate vicinity, both with his eyes and nose. That, and Naruto was too good to let him hear anything. He tried to sense anything, but nothing came to him. Naruto's prowess as a sensor must have allowed him to hide his chakra from him, he realized.
He was on edge, his sharingan darting around continuously to make sure he didn't get ambushed.
Looks like I can sit for a bit and-
"CHA!"
Kakashi knew that cry too well, and he whipped around to see Sakura driving a fist into the ground. He watched in horror as the ground got ripped apart, chunks of earth flying into the air. To avoid being caught into the devastating shockwave, he jumped far back, sporting a look of petrified alarm as he watched his once weak student completely change the landscape.
Godaime didn't tell me she taught Sakura her super strength!
Sakura smirked as she stood up on her feet, smirking at Kakashi. "I didn't miss much, did I?"
Kakashi nervously laughed. "Not much, Sakura."
Up high in the branch of another tree, Naruto watched as Sakura made her entrance. "She's got a potential, one hit kill in her arsenal. If only she could land it on her enemies," he muttered.
His plan was to lay a trap for Kakashi to walk into, but he would have to account for Sakura now. She wouldn't last long against Kakashi.
He watched their fight, and had to admit, Sakura did fairly well against the borderline S-rank ninja. However, he summoned her to him through Hiraishin as soon as he saw that Kakashi was about to make his move. He slapped a hand on her mouth as soon as she appeared beside him to prevent her from making any noise.
"Ssshhh," he urged her.
Only when she had calmed down did her remove his hand. "You probably shouldn't have attacked him alone," he said.
Sakura blushed a little, standing in such close proximity to Naruto, but argued. "Well, there's little I could have done by hiding against him!"
Naruto tilted his head, acknowledging the point. "That's true as well."
"What do you propose we do?"
Naruto crossed his arms. "I've laid a trap in a small clearing, about a hundred meters to the east. We're gonna drive him to it. You up for it?"
Sakura smirked, slamming a fist into her palm. "Say no more."
XXXXXXX
Tsunade and her entourage were closely watching the fight. Shizune came up to her smiling, "Both Naruto-kun and Sakura have grown tremendously, haven't they Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade had a small smile on her face as she chose not to reply to Shizune's question. She was too busy watching Naruto fight Kakashi and she had to say, Jiraiya was right. Naruto was easily pushing Kakashi into corners, letting him out just so he could see Kakashi's full range of skills.
Jiraiya, who was sitting on a branch above, smiled with pride. He knew very well that Naruto would win, it was just the question of when. Now that Sakura was with him, it was back to teamwork tactics. Three years of working alone, he wanted to see whether Naruto was comfortable working in a team again when he could easily do it by himself.
Temari was starting to get impatient by now. She knew Naruto would want to play with Kakashi a little, by not this much. All she wanted was for Naruto to finish it so that they could spend some time together back home.
Haruto was smiling with enjoyment as he saw his cousin push Kakashi back. From what nee-san had told him, Hatake Kakashi was the leaf's strongest jonin and a feared name across the entire nations. He was also Naruto's teacher at one point. To see the student push the teacher back a second time was highly entertaining.
But his attention soon shifted to Sakura when she arrived with a literal bang. He loved women who had a strong personality, like Hokage-sama, nee-san and now Sakura. The way she arrived sent shivers up his spine at the mere thought of going against her.
Back to the fight, Naruto and Sakura had engaged Kakashi once more. Naruto would send a shadow clone to fight Kakashi, and have Sakura push them in a certain direction with her devastating attacks. Just as Kakashi would land on his feet, a shadow clone would engage him once more.
It was only a matter of time Kakashi figured out their ploy. Naruto was certain of that.
Interestingly, Kakashi had managed to turn them in the direction of the lake that Naruto had previously avoided earlier.
Naruto joined Sakura in the fight as they both came to stand in front of him. Kakashi wasted no time talking as he blazed through seals at a speed that would put his flash step to shame.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!"
Oh no you don't, Naruto thought as he performed his own seals. The dragon that was rapidly forming in the air behind Kakashi fell apart because Kakashi was suddenly pulled inside the water as a whirlpool appeared right underneath him. He was unable to get his footing in time was the water sucked him inside. Sakura looked at Naruto in shock, not knowing Naruto could form whirlpools.
"Suiton: Uzumaki!" (Water style: Whirlpool)
Sakura raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Seriously? Uzumaki?"
Naruto shrugged. "It seemed fitting."
Their attention was drawn to the water that was moving once more. This time, the dragon completely formed and rushed towards them, intent on sweeping them in a tidal wave.
Naruto took a deep breath, formed the tiger sign and breathed out.
Katon: Ryuka no jutsu!
The fire crashed into the dragon, being hot enough to evaporate it completely. Naruto smirked when he saw the steam rapidly spreading. "We have the advantage of a cover now, Sakura. Best make use of it."
Behind him, Sakura seemed ready to react to anything. "How though?"
Kakashi silently crept out of the water, taking stock of the steam that was in the area now. He tensed, ready to react to anything, because the sharingan was defenseless against steams and mists.
He countered my dragon with fire so that a steam cover could be created for him and Sakura, knowing that my sharingan would have difficulty in seeing through this. Nice.
But Kakashi had worked hard to correct this weakness of his, sparring with Gai while being blindfolded. Instincts long refined from being in ANBU and in the war warned him of the person approaching him from behind. He turned at the very last second, catching the hand of the attacker by the wrist.
"Not so easy to sneak up on me, Sakura," he said in a hard voice.
He caught her other fist by the wrist to, when she tried to punch him in the face. He was slightly taken aback though, when Sakura flipped and locked her legs around his neck, spinning to slam him onto the ground. It was her who was surprised when it turned out to be a shadow clone.
"He's starting to annoy me now," she muttered as she got back up. The steam was starting to clear now, so she decided to make her way back to Naruto.
On the other side of the steam, Kakashi smiled as he received the clone's memories. "It should take a while for her to track me," he mused to himself.
He suddenly jumped, and right on time because two hands erupted from the ground, trying to pull at his feet. "You can't get me like that!"
He was unprepared, however, when Naruto appeared right above him and delivered a brutal axe kick to his back, slamming him into the ground and shaking up his ribcage. There was a footprint of Naruto on his back now, not that he could see.
He also didn't see Naruto's Hiraishin mark on his back. Naruto had figured out a way to slap his mark on targets with his foot as well.
Kakashi struggled to ignore the pain his entire front was feeling. Naruto had known he would easily dodge that, which was why he was waiting for him to do it. He pushed himself to his feet, panting heavily as he eyed Naruto standing a few feet away from him.
"I'm surprised you managed to get up from that," Naruto sounded impressed.
Kakashi snorted. "This isn't the worse I've been dealt with."
"Good, because I would hate it for my trap to go to waste."
Kakashi had no time to react when Naruto flashed behind him, put a hand on his back and flashed him to a previously marked location. He blinked, "That was easier than I thought."
"Or maybe you're just that good."
Naruto turned around to see Sakura walking up to him with a smile. "That was really well planned, Naruto."
Naruto returned her smile. "Thanks, now how about we see how he's doing? My trap was designed to cripple."
He grabbed her shoulder, flashing them to where he had flashed Kakashi.
When they appeared on the location of the trap, they found Kakashi on the ground, groaning in pain and clutching his ears, eyes shut tightly.
Sakura looked a bit worried. "What did you do to him?"
Naruto bent down, putting his knee on Kakashi's chest and putting his weight onto it. Kakashi released a grunt of pain and started taking short breaths, but Naruto ignored his pain for the moment. He untucked the bell from his hip and put it in his vest pocket, along with others. "Mission accomplished."
He then stood up. "You can heal him now."
Sakura immediately bent down and gently prided his arms away, and asked in a soft voice. "Kakashi-sensei, can you hear me?"
When there was no response from the groaning ninja, she put her hands over his ears and activated her healing jutsu. "What did you do to him?"
Naruto took a deep breath and replied. "It's a customized stunning seal tag. I designed it to disorient the enemy. It emits a blinding flash and a bang loud enough to cause temporary deafness. Overall effects include flash blindness, temporary deafness and inner ear disturbance, causing loss of balance."
Sakura didn't reply as she continued to heal Kakashi. A noise to their right caused them to see Tsunade, Shizune, Temari and Haruto walking up to them. Tsunade came up to them and asked, gesturing to Kakashi. "What's wrong with him?"
When Naruto repeated what he told Sakura, Tsunade's eyebrows touched her hairline. "That's…..interesting. A very efficient way to take down an enemy."
Sakura finished healing Kakashi's ears and gently put her fingers on both of his eyes. They watched as he slowly relaxed and opened his eyes, boredom back in them. "Ah, I lost, didn't I?"
"Quite badly, if I say so," Jiraiya added bluntly, but with a grin on his face.
Kakashi pulled himself to his feet, covering his eye once more. "Well, can't say I'm surprised."
He turned to Naruto, looking slightly annoyed. "That was a bit much, don't you think?"
Naruto grinned, looking a bit apologetic. "Sorry, but it worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, it did. Very ingenious, those tags. Any chance that the ninjas of the village could have them?" Tsunade asked with a bit of hope in her voice. It would make the ANBU's work a lot easier.
"Take my entire toolbox, why don't you," he muttered, slightly annoyed. "Sure, you know my deal."
Tsunade nodded. "I'll draw up a contract for them then."
"Then are we done here?"
"Not yet. As of now, from what I've seen, you have two choices Naruto. You can either work alone, like Temari," she nodded back at his wife, "or you can remain on Kakashi's team, like Sakura. I would prefer if you chose the latter, though."
Naruto frowned in thought. His eyes found Temari's scrutinizing ones, and they held a conversation with just their eyes.
What do you think?
It's your choice, why do you need my opinion?
Naruto rose an eyebrow. We would make a great team, you know.
Temari shook her head slightly. Maybe an occasional team up, but I prefer to work alone, Naruto.
You break my heart, dear.
I'll make it up to you tonight.
Naruto turned to their audience, who were watching him and Temari with amusement. Working alone wasn't that bad, but it was somewhat monotonic. Boring, without someone to bicker with or exchange ideas with. "I think I'll stay on Kakashi's team," he said at last.
"Good, with your presence, the team won't be unbalanced."
Sure, a team with a borderline S-rank ninja and an SS-rank shinobi, with a barely B-rank chunin is not unbalanced at all, Naruto thought sarcastically.
He turned to Kakashi with a smirk. "So, anything you got to say to us? I'm getting hungry."
Kakashi turned serious, even though his hands remained in his pockets and his posture didn't change. "From now on, we aren't teacher and student anymore. We fight as fellow shinobi. We meet together in the missions office at eight in the morning."
Naruto nodded and pulled something out of his hip pouch. "Before I forget," he tossed the book to Kakashi, "here's the real one."
Kakashi looked confused as he caught the book, taking out the one in his back pocket to check. His eye widened when he saw that the book Naruto gave him previously was indeed a fake. It was empty after seven pages. His head whipped up to stare at Naruto, something akin to betrayal in his eyes. "Why?"
Naruto held up a hand to placate him. "Don't take it personally, man. It was supposed to be my back up plan in case my trap failed."
Kakashi shook his head slowly. "You are evil."
Naruto waved the comment away and was about to walk off with Temari, when he saw something interesting. He saw his cousin eyeing Sakura, who was talking to Tsunade and Shizune about something. He noticed the faint blush on his cheeks as he kept gazing at her. With a snap, he realized that Haruto might have a crush on Sakura.
A truly evil grin manifested on his face. He was going to have so much fun teasing him!
He was about to go up to him and rib him about his crush, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Temari with a deadpan on her face. He shrugged, trying the innocent act. "What?"
Temari didn't let up her deadpan.
You are not going to do what I know you want to do.
Naruto raised an incredulous eyebrow. "What? He's my cousin! I just wanna poke some fun!"
"How about you help him instead? He's your family, isn't he?"
Naruto rolled his eyes, but didn't argue with her. "Spoil my fun, why don't you?"
He went up to Sakura, who had just finished talking with Tsunade. "Sakura, can I ask you to do something for me?"
"Sure, what is it?"
To make sure that Haruto didn't eavesdrop on their conversation, he put an arm around her shoulder and led her away. "Since Haruto is new to the village, can you show him around?"
Sakura looked a bit suspicious at his approach. Her lady senses told her something else was at play here. "Why don't you do it yourself?"
Naruto easily replied. "Trust me, I really want to, but I don't think Temari would forgive me if I avoid her anymore. Plus, he doesn't know anyone else in this village besides me, Temari and you. A familiar face would really help, along with someone he can trust."
To his relief, Sakura looked convinced with his argument. "Sure, I don't mind."
Naruto smiled. "Thanks Sakura." Then he paused, then added. "Don't tell him I suggested this to you."
Leaving Sakura a bit perplexed, he walked back to his wife, who was smiling in a self-satisfied way. Naruto just grabbed her hand and flashed away to their house. Sakura on the other hand, was still confused over Naruto's last statement. There was something he wasn't telling her, that was for sure. But his ulterior motives didn't seem to be anything malicious, or mischievous. She internally shrugged, seeing no harm in showing Haruto around. Besides, she was quite interested in knowing more about him. He was Naruto's family, after all.
Haruto, having seen his brother talk with Sakura for something discreet, was perplexed as to what they talked about. But he figured it was something about team business.
Now that Sakura was alone, he could maybe ask her out for a-
"Haruto-san?"
He was knocked out of his musings by the subject occupying his thoughts. Sakura was looking at him, a bit confused. "Are you alright?"
Haruto shook his head and smiled. "I'm fine. But please just call me Haruto."
"Then you can call me Sakura."
There was a brief, awkward silence between them, which was broken at the same time by both of them.
"Listen, I-"
"I was wondering-"
They both stopped, then chuckled. Haruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, you go first."
Sakura tucked the left side of her hair behind her ear. "Since you are new to this village, I could show you around if you want. I still have some time before I have to go home."
Haruto almost stumbled his words. "I don't- I mean- sure! I would appreciate it!"
"Great, then let's go!"
Haruto just stared at her as she walked past him, towards the exit of the training ground. Only then he pieced it together what Naruto might have been talking to Sakura about.
I owe you one, you son of a bitch, Haruto thought with gratitude as he followed her out of the grounds.