Chapter 7: Bell Test
It was 7 AM and Naruto Uzumaki was currently knitting his sweater. It was the same sweater he wore yesterday from when he fought Rock Lee and the reason he was knitting it was rather personal.
'Jiji made this sweater for me with his own hands and I've been wearing it since I was six' he thought to himself while continuing to knit it. 'It is dear to me and I won't let it go to waste no matter what.'
To specify, Naruto was given the sweater by the third Hokage when he was six and despite it being way too big for him at that time, he still always wore it. It would reach all the way past his kneecaps when he was that little but he didn't care and would still always wear it. He was so happy when it finally looked like it would fit him that he wasted no time putting it on.
Similarly the same day he received it, he also asked his grandfather figure to teach him how to knit, so he could repair it for whenever it gets damaged. His grandfather agreed and even gave him his own knitting station to help him.
Now here he was, repairing that sweater of his with the time he had left before he had to meet with his team.
"There you go" he said after finishing the final touches and lifting it up, holding it in front of his living room's light to see for any holes. "Perfect" he added before putting it on. It was ironically at that moment that he looked down at his watch to see that it was time to leave. "Alright, time to go" he said before getting back up and running out the door.
(With Ino)
Ino woke up early as well and was just spending that time laying on her bed and thinking about how today was gonna go, since none of her friends were awake at this point in time.
'I can't think of what Kakashi-Sensei has in store for us' she began to think. 'What could be so bad that we wouldn't be allowed to eat?'
She then spotted something from her peripheral vision and decided to get out of her bed and check it out.
When she finally got there she could see what it was clearly, it was a picture of herself and her former best friend Sakura Haruno.
Out of pure nostalgia, she picked up the picture with one hand and looked at it.
She let out a deep breath before thinking
'It's a shame it ended how it did Sakura, but it is what it is I guess.'
She then noticed that the picture was actually laying on top of a photo album she had with Sakura.
Out of nostalgia, she picked up the album and started going through the photos, just reminiscing about the good old days.
She was having such a fun time looking through the photos that she didn't notice her stomach rumbling till eventually, the sound of her alarm ringing out loudly woke her from her musing.
'Oh damn' she thought before putting the album down and running out of the house.
(Training Grounds 7)
The training grounds were misty and all three Genin were making their way there.
As soon as they were all standing side by side, Naruto knew that he was the only one of his teammates that ate breakfast, the reason being that he could hear both their stomachs rumbling.
'Well would you look at that' he thought while looking up at the sky. 'This is gonna be...' he began to think as a goofy smile began forming in his face 'Hilarious.'
Whilst Naruto was thinking this, very different thoughts were coursing through the mind of Ino.
'When is he gonna show up?' She began to think before the sound of her empty stomach rumbling could be heard. 'I'm starving.'
After waiting for about two more hours which only made the sounds of growling from Sasuke and Ino's stomach that much more audible, Naruto was beginning to think
'Maybe I should've warned them after all.'
As soon as he thought this though, one big swirl of leaves appeared and out came their Sensei, Kakashi Hatake.
As soon as he appeared, Ino was the first one of the Genin to speak.
"It's about time, what took you so long!?" She asked in a slight yell, slight because she was starving and couldn't form the right amount of energy to yell fully.
"Sorry sorry, I guess I just lost track of time" he said with a comedic smile.
"Lost track of time, YOU'RE TWO HOURS LATE!" Ino yelled.
'An elite Uchiha like me shouldn't have to wait this long for some gaddamn training!' Sasuke thought.
"Just teach already before I die of hunger" Ino said, out of energy.
"Okay, let's get started" Kakashi said before clapping his hands once to get his point across.
All three Genin perked their heads up at this and listened to what their Sensei was gonna say.
"We're gonna do something called..." he trailed off while digging his right hand into his right pocket before eventually bringing out a pair of small silver bells "The Bell Test."
'I knew it' Naruto thought with a sigh and his arms folded.
"How does it work?" Ino asked.
"Well you see, I have two bells, and somewhere else in the field there are two lunch boxes" Kakashi began to explain. "In order for any of you to eat, you either have to beat me or take these bells away from me."
'I take it that whoever doesn't get a bell eats nothing' Ino inwardly priced together before asking. "Is there any other punishment besides not eating that the Genin without a bell will have to endure, if so what?"
"You'll see" was Kakashi's response.
'Should be easy enough for an Uchiha like me, I'll be the first one to get a bell before either of these two losers' Sasuke inwardly mocked with a cocky grin.
"When do we start?" Ino asked.
"In one minute, so find a place to hide and strategize" Kakashi said.
Ino was the only one of the three to respond to Kakashi by saying
"Hai Sensei" before vanishing, leaving a big cloud of dust where she decided to leave from.
Sasuke vanished too afterwards, just wanting to get this over with, leaving another cloud of dust to be seen.
As soon as those two left the scene tho and the dust cleared off, Kakashi got ready to count to sixty, but right as he was getting ready to count, the dust cleared and he saw Naruto right there, with his arms folded, staring at Kakshi with a smile.
"You're still here?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah" Naruto said with a head turn, cracking his neck in the process.
"You know, I kinda expected this from you."
"Is that so?"
"You're the prodigy of the Third Hokage and from what he's told me, you're always ready to fight."
Naruto simply nodded his head in agreement with what his Sensei said.
"You know you're kinda weird" Kakashi pointed out,
"I know" Naruto said before turning his head to the other side and cracking it before stretching. "I am curious to see just how strong you are tho."
"Me too" Kakashi said before beginning to stretch too. "It always intrigued me to know that there was pretty much a Fourth Sannin in training, and when I found out that he was gonna be on my team, I was curious to find out how good you were too."
"Well then you're about to find out" Naruto added as the two continued stretching.
As the two were stretching, Ino and Sasuke, who were watching from afar, were studying the two.
'Is he really gonna fight him all alone?" Ino thought while looking at them.
'The dobe is out of his mind, he's gonna get destroyed by that Jonin and when he does, I'm gonna take the bells away and have both lunches' Sasuke thought cockily while watching the two continue to stretch.
Eventually, after five whole minutes of stretching and cracking bones, they each took off a piece of clothing.
Naruto unzipped his sweater and then light placed it on the ground, ready to fight Kakashi in his plain mesh shirt and orange cargo pants.
Kakashi took off his Jonin vest and tossed it on the ground, ready to fight Naruto in his dark blue long-sleeved shirt and dark blue pants.
Naruto and Kakashi looked each other in the eyes, twenty feet apart, and smirked.
'I'm gonna enjoy this' they both thought before assuming a fighting stance, and then charging at each other.
Naruto Vs Kakashi
They started the fight off by locking hands and grunting at each other.
"Grr!" They both grunted.
Eventually though, Kakashi with his superior size was able to push Naruto down to the ground.
As soon as this happened, it elicited a reaction from Sasuke and Ino who were watching from afar.
Sasuke, being as pessimistic and cocky as ever just thought
'That idiot, he should've realized that something like that was bound to happen, strong or not, you're no Uchiha, and even I am hiding' he thought.
Ino though, was way more optimistic.
'He's not gonna stay down' she thought. 'If there's one thing I know about him, one thing that everyone in our academy should know about him, it's that he doesn't quit.'
Sure enough, she was right, because seconds after thinking this, Naruto got back up. Once he got back up, he said
"Screw the tangling!" Before running at Kakashi and then throwing a punch.
Kakashi parried the punch and went for a front kick which Naruto blocked.
After the two reacted to each other this one time, they began a battle of pure taijutsu.
Naruto went for a front punch but Kakashi parried it and went for his own, which Naruto dodged and retaliated with a headbutt which landed squarely on Kakashi's nose.
"Ahh!" He groaned while stumbling back in pain.
'He hit him!?' Both Ino and Sasuke thought in shock.
Naruto on the other hand, just took a step back and clutched his forehead with one hand.
'Damn, that actually hurt me too' he thought while rubbing his forehead.
Kakashi and Naruto managed to shake off the pain from the initial headbutt and when they did, they looked each other eye to eye again and Kakashi spoke first.
"I'll admit, you're stronger than I anticipated."
"I can say the same to you" Naruto replied. "My Jiji always told me about you."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, he told me about all your peers, but you especially."
"What exactly did he tell you about me?"
"How you became a jonin at age 12 and were one of the genin in the Third Great Ninja War."
This intrigued Kakashi to hear, so much so that the next question he just had to ask was
"Why did he tell you so much about me specifically?"
"Yeah" Naruto began to speak. "He told me that I remind him of you with how much progress I've been making the last few years and he even said that with my current power, he wouldn't be surprised if I also became a jonin at the age you did."
"Neither would I" Kakashi responded before assuming his fighting stance again. "But we should probably get back to fighting."
"Oh yeah" Naruto forcefully dragged out loudly. "It's not like I prolonged this conversation for some people to grab the bells!"
It hit Ino like a brick.
"Sorry!" She shouted.
Sasuke though, refused to acknowledge this and simply huffed before shouting
"When you're at the level I am, you can tell me what to do!"
"But that'd be multiple levels down from where I am now!" Naruto shouted a sarcastic smile.
This pissed Sasuke off so much that he glared angrily at Naruto and clenched both his fists so hard that blood began to seep out of them.
While this reply from Naruto may have pissed Sasuke off, it made Ino almost break down in tears from humor.
'Damn, he got him with that!' She thought with a hand over her mouth to try her hardest to not bust out laughing and give her spot away, forgetting she already did.
Once all that was said though, the two fighters stared each other down one more time before running at each other.
Kakashi went for a wheel kick but Naruto slipped underneath it by falling to his back with his knees tucked, dragging his knees through the ground while laying his body down on to the back of his legs, effectively dodging the kick and allowing for him to slide through the ground till eventually, he was safe enough to place his hands on the ground right above his shoulders and kip back up to his feet.
Once he got back up to his feet, he went for a backfist to the jaw of his opponent, his opponent caught the backfist by the wrist and using his superior strength, pulled Naruto to him and kneed him three times in the gut before punching him in the face, sending him back down to the ground.
After the first knee, Ino was cringing at how painful the knee looked, but the two that followed were so brutal that she actually covered her stomach as if she too could feel the pain that Naruto went through at the hands of their sensei.
'Oomph, I feel bad for you Naruto-Kun' she thought while cringing.
Sasuke was ecstatic at what he was seeing and was thinking
'There you go, hit him harder, show him what he gets for disrespecting an Uchiha!'
After all these thoughts left the two other Genin's minds though and Kakashi delivered that final punch, Naruto got back up to his feet, wiped some blood off his lip and said
"Nice" before running at Kakashi and going for a right hook.
Kakashi counter attacked with a front kick that struck Naruto on the chest and forced him to take multiple steps back before eventually unleashing a barrage of attacks onto the eleven year old boy.
The barrage began with four front punches that all landed squarely on Naruto's chin rocking him back multiple steps, followed by six right hooks to each side of his body successfully bruising his ribs, and then he ended it with one big knee to chin, sending Naruto flying back multiple feet and then crashing to the ground.
"Is that it kid?" Kakashi asked in playful mockery. "Well if it makes you feel any better, fighting your own sensei on your own is something that none of my other failed Genin ever tried."
"Not even close!" Naruto shouted before getting back up to his feet. "I'm just getting started!" He yelled out before running once more.
Kakashi got ready again, but this time, things didn't go as planned.
Kakashi went for a front kick to stop Naruto on his tracks, but Naruto moved his body to the side and went for a roundhouse kick, but Kakashi caught it between his wrists, which resulted in Naruto jumping two feet into the air, bringing his free leg out, spinning, and then landing the heel of his free foot square on Kakashi's jaw.
Kakashi broke the hold he had on Naruto's other foot as a result of the kick, which allowed Naruto to land on his feet the moment his feet touched the ground and the second he saw his sensei stumbling, Naruto went for his own combination.
He went for four separate straight rights and straight lefts to each side of Kakashi's chest, pushing him eight steps back. After the punches, Naruto followed it up with a side kick to the gut, pushing him further back while also taking the gas out of Kakashi and making him clutch his stomach in response. After the side kick, Naruto used the moment of weakness that Kakashi gave him to deliver eight quick and stiff roundhouse kicks, four to each kidney of Kakashi, effectively making him cringe and flinch in response to the pain, allowing for Naruto to finish it off with one last brutal knee to the liver of Kakashi.
Little did Kakashi expect, this last knee was powered up with chakra from the blonde haired ninja, so when it made contact, it sent him flying through the air and to the ground.
"Oomph!" Kakashi screamed in pain before his face and body crashed to the ground.
The pain was beyond anything Kakashi could've anticipated and it was so bad that even after landing on the ground and rubbing the spot for over thirty seconds, he was still in pain.
Naruto however, was just trying to catch his breath fifty feet away from his sensei, still hurt from Kakashi's own attacks.
Speaking of his sensei, Kakashi managed to get up to his knees and while on his knees he looked his student in the eyes and asked him
"How do you know about that, more importantly how are you able to do it at all?"
"I know of this because my Jiji told me about one of his students, Tsunade Senju, and how she was able to add chakra to her attacks to maximize the damage she was able to deal. As for how I'm able to do it, he decided that maybe he could teach me how to do it since he thinks it requires someone with a lot of chakra in order to pull off, and I definitely have lots of chakra, and surprise, he must've been right because I am certainly able to do it" Naruto explained.
"Well..." Kakashi groaned out as he began to pick himself back up. "It's nice to know that you can do that now-" he added before actually standing on his own two feet. "Since I know that now, the next time you hit me like that it won't hurt as badly."
"I wouldn't count on it?" Naruto said cockily with an even cockier smirk.
"And it also means" Kakashi added before lifting his headband up and showing off his...
'Sharingan?' Ino and Sasuke thought in shock.
"I also don't have to hold back anymore" Kakashi finished with what he was saying before looking Naruto eye to eye.
"It's about time" Naruto commented.
'He knew?' Ino and Sasuke again thought simultaneously.
"I was wondering when you'd stop holding back" Naruto added to his original comment.
"Now let's see how good you really are" Kakashi said before the two ran at each other and swapped blows again.
Naruto went for a front punch but Kakashi dodged it and went for a right hook, Naruto blocked the right hook and went for a front kick, but Kakashi took one step back and avoided the kick.
After avoiding the kick, Kakashi went for a crescent kick to Naruto's head but Naruto blocked it and then went for a front punch only for Kakashi with his sharingan active to grab him by the arm and perform a shoulder throw, slamming him back-first as hard as he could into the ground.
Naruto immediately kipped back up, intentionally kicking Kakashi in the face in the process and getting him to back away from him so he could land on his feet.
Once he landed on his feet, he immediately went for a running knee to the chin of Kakashi, but Kakashi looked as though he was gonna catch him mid-air, so at the last minute, Naruto began lacing his knee with chakra for extra damage, thanks to his sharingan though, Kakashi saw this happening and was able to brace for it.
It took less than a second for Naruto's knee to come crashing against Kakashi's hands, and make no mistake, it certainly did damage Kakashi, as one could see by how Kakashi was seemingly dragged fifty feet away from this running knee that he still caught and managed to brace for.
The knee by itself did more than just push him back though, Kakashi could feel the fabric of his gloves tearing into pieces, blood seeping from his hands as well as some bones from his hands cracking and breaking in response to this knee, but he grit his teeth and pushed through it by pushing Naruto five feet away.
Naruto landed on his back, but got back up shortly afterwards and began looking Kakashi in the eyes again before looking down at his hands and being impressed with the damage he dealt.
After basking in the pain he caused his sensei though, he just realized how much pain his whole body was in from the constant abuse his sensei was laying on him. The pain caused by his sensei seemingly just kicked in out of nowhere and was coursing through his body, which resulted in him getting down to one knee.
"Uh oh, are you reaching your limit by any chance kid?" Kakashi jokingly asked.
"Limit?" Naruto mocked before getting back up. "Hell no!" He shouted with a joyful smile before running at his sensei and throwing some more attacks.
'Wow, Naruto-Kun really isn't giving up' Ino thought, impressed at Naruto's performance so far.
'I could totally do better' Sasuke arrogantly thought.
Back to the sensei and student fight though, Naruto was throwing multiple consecutive straight punches at his sensei and Kakashi was now just parrying every punch that Naruto was throwing at him, but he didn't realize that that was exactly what Naruto wanted.
'Yeah that's right, continue to parry and keep hurting your own hands, that way when I've got one good opening, I'll unleash my specialty' Naruto thought while continuing to throw multiple of the same kinda punches.
Meanwhile Kakashi was having a very different thought process while continuing to parry each and every punch thrown at him.
'Damn it, I understand what he's trying to do here, but I don't see what I can do to get out of this' Kakashi thought in panic while continuing to parry and as a result, hurting his hands.
To the two genin watching this fight in the sidelines, it looked as though Kakashi was just toying with Naruto, since Naruto was throwing numerous punches and kicks and was visibly giving it everything he had yet Kakashi was still able to react to and parry every attack coming his way. In actuality though, it was Naruto who was toying with Kakashi, cuz while Naruto was giving these attacks everything he had, it was all a part of his plan.
Eventually though, after more punches were thrown, the pain became too much for Kakashi to bare and this was clear in his facial expression, so Naruto took advantage of it by taking one big jump back, which Kakashi absolutely didn't mind, as it gave his hands time to heal.
The time didn't last too long though as Naruto performed one hand sign that Kakashi was all-too aware of, and called out
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Instantly summoning one hundred more of himself into the field, and without so much as a gesture, they all ran in to attack Kakashi.
As soon as the clones came into view, Ino's initial thought's were
'Wow, I had no idea he could do that! Get him Naruto-Kun!'
'Not impressed' Sasuke thought with a head turn.
Back to the fight though, all one hundred Narutos were rushing the one eyed jonin together, while the original just looked on.
'Let's see what he does' Naruto thought.
Kakashi was already in terrible shape because of the onslaught of attacks Naruto unleashed on him, but he still fought on nonetheless.
He defeated the first clone with a swift right hook to the gut, instantly making it disperse and then back kicking an incoming one from behind, making that one disperse before front kicking another.
Kakashi continued attacking and attacking till eventually, there were none left, however because there were none left, that meant that the entire place was filled with smoke from all the clones that dispersed.
This was bad, because it meant Kakashi wasn't able to see the blonde boy he was fighting with initially and as a result, when the young boy shouted
"I'm here!" He turned to the source of the sound only to get decked from behind by a chakra enhanced fist from the boy, which landed right on the core of his back, and sent him flying out of the giant cloud of smoke.
"Oomph!" Kakashi wheezed out before falling face-first into the ground.
'Oh shit!' Ino and Sasuke thought in shock.
'D-did Naruto-Kun just win?' Ino wondered.
'N-no, there's no way, just no way that that dobe did something I couldn't even do' Sasuke inwardly denied.
Sure enough, Kakashi wasn't out yet and proceeded to get back up to his feet as the smoke began settling. Once he was back up to his feet, the smoke dissipated and the young blonde boy who was hiding inside of the dome of smoke could be clearly seen for everyone in attendance.
"Not gonna lie, I thought I got you with that one" Naruto admitted.
"You almost did" Kakashi replied with a smile.
Sasuke in the sidelines, just let out a sigh of relief that their sensei wasn't beaten.
'Good, for a second there I actually thought that loser one upped me' he thought.
Ino on the other hand, was confused and impressed at the same time.
'How hard is Naruto-Kun gonna have to hit sensei in order for him to win?' She inwardly asked herself.
Back to the fight though, Naruto and Kakashi stared each other down one more time before Naruto said
"I don't know about you, but I am tired of pure taijutsu Kakashi-Sensei."
"Couldn't agree more" Kakashi replied.
With that being said, the two brought their hands together, their next move clear for the two watching.
'You can't be serious' Ino thought in amazement.
'No, there's no way, there's no way he's really gonna-' Sasuke began to think before Naruto cut him off and killed his dreams by forming multiple hand signs and then shouting
"Fūton: Daitoppa!" Followed by Kakashi who shouted
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
The clash of these two attacks resulted in the fireball being extinguished, along with the large gale.
After the two attacks disappeared, the two simply began sprinting and calling more attacks.
"Suiton: Mizu Shuriken no Jutsu!" Naruto called before fifty shurikens made of water all rushed at Kakashi from all angles.
Kakashi managed to dodge each and every shuriken, regardless to how fast and big they were, thanks to his sharingan.
He dodged the first ten by side flipping to the left, the next ten by side flipping to the right, the next ten by dropping to his back, the next ten with a kip up, and then the last ten with a spin.
After dodging all the shuriken coming his way, Kakashi made some more hand signs before calling
"Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu!" Sending multiple bolts of electricity toward the target.
There were a total of five lightning blasts and Naruto dodged them all.
He dodged the first one with a head turn, the second one with a body turn, the third by twisting his body into a 90 degree angle, the fourth with a split, and the fifth by pressing his hands onto the ground when he was still in the split position so hard, that he was propelled up into the air, and avoided the final lightning bolt.
Once the bolts of electricity subsided and he finally landed on his feet from the initial hand jump, he instantly began making more hand signs.
"Doton: Katana no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted before creating a large sword made of the ground right in front of him and then throwing it at his sensei.
His sensei was able to make his own hand signs before the sword made contact with him and then called out
"Deido Tama!" Before spitting out a large ball made of mud at Naruto.
The sword and the ball made contact and instantly dissipated as a result.
'Damn' they both thought before once again, bringing their hands together and performing more ninjutsu.
"Katon Hidora no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted before summoning and shooting a giant hydra made of fire at Kakashi.
Kakashi saw this hydra coming and in retaliation made some defensive hand signs and called out
Doton: Doryūheki!" Summoning a huge wall made of the earth to protect himself from the incoming hydra.
The hydra made huge impact on the wall and as a result, even the ground beneath it was crumbling from the sheer force it was exerting.
'Whoah!' Ino thought in shock at the power she could feel and see the two were letting out.
'Not impressed' Sasuke said with an arrogant head turn.
'W-wait no!' Ino shouted in anger and frustration because it didn't take long for her to realize that the collision between the hydra and wall were beginning to cover her field of vision.
The reason why is because the flames, dirt, sand, and stone were flying everywhere, and covering the land with ash and dust clouds in the process.
It took a whole minute before eventually, the hydra and the wall were gone, but the huge clouds of dust and ash were most certainly not.
The clouds spread all throughout the field and Ino and Sasuke were both coughing and hacking extremely loud.
"What the?" Ino wheezed out between coughs as she opened one of her eyes and saw that the clouds were clearing and a pair of feet were clearly visible. As soon as she saw those feet, only one name came to her mind 'Naruto-Kun?'
However, she was wrong, as when the cloud settled she could see Kakashi Hatake standing on his feet, breathing in and out deeply, seemingly unaffected by the clouds of dust and ash surrounding the place.
'Well then where's-?' She thought before turning her head another side and seeing more clouds clear up and another pair of feet in the clearing. 'N-N-Naruto-Kun?'
This time, she was right, as when the clouds settled, she could see the body of Naruto Uzumaki standing on his own two feet, breathing in and out deeply just like his sensei, also seemingly unaffected by the clouds of dust and ash surrounding the place.
Something instantly caught Ino's attention though, and it was the fact that while the two were desperately trying to catch their breaths, they each had a hand sign already formed.
'They have that much chakra?' She thought in amazement before eventually all the clouds dissipated and the two figures were clear for everyone to see.
Once the clouds dissipated, the two wasted no more time and instantly got to work on completing their desired hand seals.
Naruto was the first to finish his hand signs and when he did, he brought out his left hand, spread his fingers out, and called
"Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu" resulting in three kunai made of pure lightning being summoned between four of his fingers, and of course, Naruto wasted no time flinging all three of them right at his sensei.
Kakashi saw this, finished his own hand signs, took a deep breath, and inwardly called out
'Kaze Gyorai no Jutsu!' Before releasing a giant torpedo made of wind at the blonde genin.
Naruto's three lightning kunai were all aimed for different areas of Kakashi's body.
One was aimed for his throat, another was aimed for his heart, and the final one was aimed for his right foot.
The torpedo made of wind by Kakashi allowed for him to fight the kunai that were coming his way back and eventually, the lightning from the kunai ended up merging with the torpedo and it resulted in one loud explosion that disintegrated both attacks.
After the cancelling out of both attacks, Naruto and Kakashi looked each other eye to eye before Kakashi spoke.
"That's pretty impressive" Kakashi said while covering his face with his left forearm. "A kid as young as you already knowing and being able to use all five elemental ninjutsu."
"And it's all thanks to my Jiji" Naruto responded cockily. "Enough with the chatting though"
"Agreed" Kakashi responded.
Naruto assumed his famous hand sign and Kakashi shut his right eye, leaving only his sharingan eye visible.
'Let's see how you do now kid' Kakashi thought inquisitively while getting ready to use his first genjutsu.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called out before two hundred of himself appeared.
As soon as those clones appeared, Kakashi released his first genjutsu, but before he could, Naruto shouted
"Close your eyes!" Before all two hundred clones and the original all closed their eyes.
The sharingan didn't affect Naruto or any of his clones as a result of them all covering their eyes, but Kakashi didn't give up there.
'Smart, but all I have to do now is force you to open your eyes kid" Kakashi thought while dashing to the right, performing some hand signs, and then shouting "Katon: Karyuu Endan!" Sending a huge dragon made of fire towards Naruto and his clones.
Naruto and his clones were easily able to hear what Kakashi called out and thanks to the the smell of steam and fire, as well as the sound of fire cackling, they knew exactly where it was coming from and where it was being shot at, so they spread out to avoid it.
The dragon struck the ground and none of Naruto's clones dispersed as a result.
After seeing his attack fail, Kakashi formed Naruto's favorite hand sign while running and called out
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Before summoning two hundred clones of himself. 'I don't have as much chakra as he does, but I still have more than enough for this many clones.'
As Kakashi did this, Ino was thinking
'Whoah, both of them are using clones to fight, are they really that strong?'
Sasuke was arrogantly thinking
'Come on, you may not be an Uchiha but you at least have a sharingan, you shouldn't be struggling this much to this loser. If you should be struggling to anyone, it's me, an Uchiha.'
Away from the two spectators though, Naruto and Kakashi continued on with their battle.
'I have just as many clones and we seem to be about equally matched when it comes to power and speed, but I don't know if he's smart or not' Kakashi began to ponder. 'I'll use that to my advantage.'
After losing this thought, Kakashi instantly began looking around while his clones looked on at Naruto's.
It didn't take too long for Kakashi to figure something out and when he did, he wasted no more time and put it to use.
He nodded at his clones, they nodded back, and then they split paths.
'Thankfully, Naruto can't see me and with the amount of footsteps he's gonna hear, he shouldn't be able to decipher where I'm at' Kakashi thought while continuing to run.
On the other hand, Naruto along with his clones were getting ready to take down every clone of Kakashi that came their way.
One hundred of Kakashi's clones engaged the army of Naruto in hand-to-hand combat which obviously wasn't going their way due to the sheer numbers advantage of Naruto.
As they were having fun taking them all down though, the original Naruto heard the sound of air whooshing from the sky and instantly realized something.
"Above!" Naruto shouted but it was too late.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The other one hundred Kakashi clones all shouted before spitting out one hundred huge fireballs at Naruto's army.
Since the clones were all busy dealing with the one hundred Kakashi clones that were challenging them to taijutsu, they completely forgot about the other one hundred, so they had no idea that those one hundred were in the air ready to blast them all away with fireballs till it was too late. And blast them away they did, as while some did manage to escape, a whopping one hundred clones were destroyed because of this.
"Damn" Naruto muttered in anger, but boy oh boy it wasn't over yet.
The reason why is because as soon as the one hundred remaining Naruto all evaded the fireballs and landed safely on the ground, something else came their way
"What's that sou-?" One clone began to think before something hit it and made it disperse.
You probably wouldn't believe it, but the thing that him was a tree and when the tree hit him, it kept going till eventually taking out an additional nine.
'Whoah, where'd that come from?' Ino thought before looking at the direction from where the tree came from and saw that it was from of course, her sensei, Kakashi Hatake, who was breathing in and out deeply.
"Whoah, what was that!?" Fifteen more of Naruto's clones shouted before accidentally opening their eyes out of confusion and startlement.
"No!" The original shouted before those fifteen got caught in a genjutsu and were easily dispatched of five seconds later by the remaining Kakashi clones.
Now with only seventy-five Naruto clones left, Kakashi decided to make his clones attack.
"Get them!" He shouted as all one hundred of his clones ran forward to attack.
Kakashi's clones were obviously overwhelming Naruto's because of their number advantage and it seemed like one of Naruto's clones were going down every five seconds till eventually, with seventy clones left, Naruto came up with an idea and shouted
"The ground!"
The clones understood exactly what he meant by that and so they all leapt back once more before all seventy clones along with Naruto himself, hit the ground as hard as they could with chakra enhanced punches, causing the earth around them to shake.
The force itself was so good that even Ino and Sasuke who were watching from afar were also affected.
"Whoah!" Ino, Sasuke, and Kakashi muttered while losing their balance.
This was perfect for Naruto and his clones though, because it gave them the opening they needed to charge in.
Naruto's clones went for the Kakashi clones whilst Naruto himself went for the original Kakashi.
Naruto's clones were able to dispatch of all of Kakashi's easily and as a result of the ground shaking, Naruto was able to locate and land one good chakra enhanced punch on the original Kakashi.
Kakashi was sent flying twenty feet away, and when he landed, Naruto didn't stop, he jumped on top of him and whaled on him till eventually, the ground beneath them stopped shaking, and as a result, Kakashi was finally able to separate himself from Naruto by headbutting the blonde boy as hard as he possibly could, forcing the boy to fall back, and clasp his forehead in pain. Kakashi used this moment to do a backwards kip up and land twenty feet away.
"Gah!" Naruto shouted in pain before getting back up and out of pain, looking Kakashi in the eyes.
"Oh n-!" Naruto began to shout before beginning to get caught in the genjutsu of the sharingan, only for one of his clones to punch him in the stomach and knock him out of it. "Toh" Naruto wheezed in pain.
"Close your eyes remember?" The clone angrily asked.
"Right, my bad" Naruto said with his eyes now closed.
After the blonde closed his eyes again, he just cracked his neck, rhetorically asked Kakashi
"Now where were we?" And then he and his clones all listened closely to where Kakashi could be.
Kakashi who was watching this all go down had an idea of what else he could do and was doing it as they were speaking. Now he was just running with some kunai out, ready to throw.
Naruto and his clones could hear the footsteps and immediately went for an attack.
Ten of Naruto's clones jumped high, made some hand signs, listened for the sound of where Kakashi's footsteps were heading before calling
"Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu!" And then releasing ten huge sharks made of water towards his sensei with their mouths open, ready to crunch him.
Kakashi saw and heard this happen and all he could think was
'Impressive' before leaping to the left side to avoid the sharks. 'Alr-' he began to think before getting decked across the jaw by another clone planted on the ground. "Toh!" He gasped out as the punch delivered by the clone sent him flying back.
Once he landed on the ground he sat up with his hands on the ground, and with a cocky smile asked Naruto
"Taking a few tips from me are y-" before the feeling of ten large sharks crashing their bodies onto him and biting him as hard as they could interrupted him. He screamed, but the loud explosions that resulted from the ten large sharks after the biting and crashing muffled it.
Speaking of which, the explosions that resulted from the sharks also left one big crater on the ground and of course, Kakashi was buried inside of it.
When Naruto and his clones heard the explosions, they all opened their eyes and the ones in the sky fell back down and the ones who were already on the ground walked closer to it.
There they saw Kakashi, lifeless, numb, stiff, and just laying inside the crater, as if he was dead.
"I guess now I shoul-" Naruto began to say to himself before eventually, the Kakashi they saw turned into a wooden log. "Substitution?"
It was then that Naruto heard punches and kicks being thrown and turned around to see the original Kakashi picking apart each of his clones.
He managed to destroy ten before the original Naruto threw a kunai at him and forced him to back away.
After making him back away, he and his clones closed their eyes to protect themselves from the sharingan and then began fighting Kakashi again.
One clone ran up to Kakashi and tried to punch him, but Kakashi caught him by the wrist and was about to toss him only for another clone to come out and deck him across the face.
Kakashi stumbled after that clone's punch connected with his jaw and as he stumbled, another clone came from behind and sweep kicked him, making him drop to the ground on his back.
As soon as Kakashi's back hit the ground all the Naruto's got ready to stomp him out, only for Kakashi to catch himself mid-fall and kip back up to his feet.
'Whoah, great reflexes Kakashi-Sensei' Ino thought, impressed with her sensei's flexibility and athleticism.
With that being said, when Kakashi landed back on his feet he immediately threw three kunai at Naruto and his clones.
Naruto and his clones stepped back to avoid the kunai and ended up giving Kakashi the opportunity he needed to run in and land a strong right hook to the original Naruto's body.
"Oomph!" Naruto wheezed out in shock induced pain from the punch, before all his clones began pulling Kakashi off of him.
Once they successfully separated Kakashi from their leader, they all rushed him.
Due to the pain that Kakashi inflicted on the original though, the clones were far weaker, and as a result, Kakashi was able to defend himself better.
One clone threw a punch but Kakashi caught it by the wrist and kneed him as hard as he could in the gut, instantly making it disperse.
Another tried attacking him from behind but Kakashi easily dealt with it with a back kick.
One came in front of him but he front kicked it away and followed it up with a crescent kick to another's face.
After making those two disappear, Kakshi planted his hands on the ground and did a ten second long spinning kick (Sanji Style), successfully taking out forty-nine of the clones and making them turn to puffs of air, whilst the ones that he didn't get took multiple steps back to avoid the incoming flurry of lightning fast feet.
Once Kakashi stopped spinning and stepped back on the ground though, the five remaining clones of Naruto ran at Kakashi again but after taking five steps forward, they each took a big hop back.
This confused Kakashi, but he didn't let up and took one step forward though.
Right as Kakashi took that step forward though, the original Naruto came out from above and landed a sharp chakra enhanced backwards axe kick to the top of Kakashi's head and brought him to the ground.
"Tooh!" Kakashi groaned in pain as his body slammed to the ground and created a miniature crater on the ground.
"I'm not done yet!" Naruto shouted before he and his remaining five clones all kicked Kakashi across the sides with brutal chakra enhanced soccer kicks.
All five kicks resulted in Kakashi being sent flying one hundred feet back before slamming into an additional fifteen trees and then getting embedded in the sixteenth tree.
As he pulled himself out of the tree, Kakashi just groaned in pain from the damage this young boy was inflicting on him.
'How is he doing this?' Kakashi thought while looking at the ground before the boy in question jumped right in front of him. surrounded by clones. Kakashi lifted his head up, saw the boy with his eyes still closed, and asked him "How are you doing this?"
"Did you seriously think my Jiji didn't prepare me for in case I ever needed to fight a sharingan or hell just a plain as day genjutsu user?" Naruto asked cockily. "He taught me how to fight without sight so that I wouldn't need to open my eyes and get caught in them."
"He really prepared you for everything didn't he?" Kakashi asked.
"Yep" Naruto replied before asking "So, do you give?"
"Never" Kakashi said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
'That was a clone?' Ino thought in shock.
Naruto instantly identified the sound as a shadow clone being dispersed as he's been using them all his life and instantly turned his body back and told his clones
"Keep your guard up, that wasn't him!"
It however was too late, because as Naruto was turning around, the original Kakashi was using that time to pick apart every last clone that stayed by the blonde's side.
By the time Naruto finally turned his body back, he could hear from the sound of five puffs of air that he was now all alone.
He could also hear the sound of a fist making its way through the air right behind him and reacted to it by placing his right hand over his closed left fist, pushing it back, and as a virtue, bringing his left elbow back full force.
The elbow instantly crashed with the fist and thanks to the fact that Naruto's elbow was naturally stronger than Kakashi's fist, as well as the fact that Kakashi was bigger and as a result, naturally stronger than Naruto, the two ended up in a dead-lock, trying desperately to get the upper hand over the other.
"Grhh!" Kakashi growled in determination.
"Cahh!" Naruto yelled in retaliation.
'They seem so even right now' Ino thought while looking on.
'Come on, use your sharingan, just because his eyes are closed doesn't mean you can't still place him in a genjutsu' Sasuke thought in anger towards Kakashi. 'It should be easy!'
Away from these two though, the two combatants were still struggling really hard to get the upper hand. One whole minute had passed since the clash started and they were still trying to overpower the other.
It didn't take long before Naruto, who was still giving this clash all he had, said
"We're not gonna get anywhere like this!"
"I agree!" Kakashi replied before both pulled their arms back and took one step back.
After the step back, Naruto turned around so his body would face Kakashi's, even if he wasn't gonna look him eye to eye.
After letting out deep breaths the two brought out their fists and got into a no-holds barred battle.
(Ten Hours Later)
After ten long hours, the sun was falling and as it was, the sounds of battle cries, punches, kicks, ninjutsu, and genjutsu being used could be heard in the training grounds of Team 7, as Naruto and Kakashi were still fighting with everything they had.
"Gahhh!" Naruto shouted as he performed a running front punch, only for Kakashi to catch it and easily slam Naruto to the ground with a shoulder throw.
As Naruto's back slammed into the ground though, Naruto wasted no time in making some hand signs before calling
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" And releasing a huge fireball straight up, aimed for his sensei.
His sensei managed to evade the attack but as soon as he did, Naruto got back up to his feet with a kip up the second his fireball dissipated and then threw a roundhouse kick at his sensei.
His sensei was struck in the chest by the kick but walked it off and hit Naruto in the face with a front kick.
Naruto stumbled back a bit before finding his footing and throwing a right hook at his sensei's left ribs.
His sensei managed to avoid the attack by bobbing and then weaving with a front punch to the face.
The front punch landed right on the chin and sent Naruto flying five feet back before crashing back to the ground.
'Dammit, he's losing his edge, we have to help him' Ino thought in worry before looking around the field for someone else. 'There you are' she thought before carefully making her way to the third genin in their team.
Back to the fight between Naruto and Kakashi though, Naruto was currently playing defense against Kakashi, and Kakashi was all offense.
'Damn it, he's too strong, and I'm getting tired' Naruto thought in panic.
The reason Naruto was getting tired was because he hadn't slept a wink since his fight with Rock Lee, he just spent that entire time knitting his sweater back to the way it was before their fight.
He's been awake for over twenty-four hours and as a result, he was struggling to keep up with Kakashi because of it.
'Thankfully, Jiji's made me go days training without any breaks, so I'm not completely out of this yet' he thought while continuing to defend against Kakashi's attacks.
Kakashi was throwing everything he had at Naruto and the damage it was dealing was clearly evident by the way Naruto squinted his already closed his eyes in pain after every block and parry.
'I can feel it, he's getting weaker and weaker, just a little more and I've got him' Kakashi thought while continuing to fight.
While the two continued with their attack and defend routine, Ino finally made it to the side of her other teammate and told him
"Sasuke-Kun, we have to help him" in a quick but quiet whisper.
"Forget it" he said relatively loudly.
"What?" She asked in confusion.
"I said forget it, I'm not helping him and that's final" Sasuke retorted.
"Why not?"
"Because he's going to lose anyways, unless he's a master of the sharingan, he can't beat Kakashi, it's as simple as that."
Ino in anger and frustration just gnashed her teeth at the Uchiha and said
"Fine" before turning around and saying "I'll help him myself."
Back to the fight between Naruto and Kakashi though, Naruto was parrying more and more of Kakashi's attacks before eventually losing his footing and being forced down to one knee, even then though, he was still desperately trying to parry every attack that came his way.
Eventually though, Naruto stopped parrying and instead, using the last bits of his physical strength and speed that he could muster, caught the punches by the fists.
"Huh?" Kakashi gasped in shock before Naruto pulled both hands and as a virtue, Kakashi's body closer in order to land a devastating knee to the gut. "Oomph!" Kakashi wheezed in pain before Naruto headbutted him and finally created space between the two.
When Naruto finally created some distance between the two, he just opened his eyes and looked at Kakashi's sharingan directly before saying
"I haven't had to try this hard since last week."
"What happened last week?" Kakashi asked curiously.
Naruto simply smiled before stating
"That was the last time I sparred with my friends."
"Your friends?" Kakashi said in confusion, not because of the fact that he had friends, but because from what he's saying, he has friends that are on his level of power. "You mean to say you have friends that are near your level in power?"
"Yeah" Naruto stated. "Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga, we've been training ever since the day we all met."
"How long ago did you all meet?"
Naruto just smirked before answering with
"Three years ago."
This intrigued Kakashi and it made him ask
"Are they as strong as you?"
"Yeah, unlike me they actually have talent and potential, so yeah it's no shock that they got so close to my power in the span of just three years."
"I see."
"We're not just strong on our own though, we also know how to work with each other."
"Seriously" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah" Naruto responded. "When they work together they're able to take me down in mere seconds."
This shocked Kakashi so much so that he widened his normal eye and asked Naruto
"Are you serious?" To which Naruto just nodded. 'Didn't those two actually end up with the same sensei?' Kakashi wondered before sucking his teeth and thinking 'Poor Kurenai.'
As those two were conversing though, in the sidelines of the field both Sasuke and Ino were watching on.
As they were watching on, they couldn't help but notice that the shirts of Kakashi and Naruto were in tatters from their harsh battling, resulting in both Kakashi and Naruto's upper body being very visible to the two of them.
As a result of eighty percent of their upper body being completely visible and the other twenty being somewhat visible because of the mesh shirts they were both wearing, both Ino and Sasuke noticed how in shape the two were.
Naruto had an extremely visible and tight six pack which was very impressive given his 95 lbs and 4'11 stature. Kakashi also had very visible and tight six pack abs, but also wide pecs, tight obliques, strong arms, and an insane v-taper, all in a 150 lbs and 5'11 stature.
These two especially stuck out because of how sweaty they both were, which just further highlighted their bodies and how in shape they were.
'I had no idea how in shape Naruto-Kun was till now' Ino thought with her mouth wide, shocked at how in shape he was.
Back to the fight at hand though, Naruto, who was breathing in and out deeply, looked Kakashi in the eyes and asked him
"We're both at our last bits of strength aren't we?" Kakashi just nodded and so Naruto continued. "Well then how about we settle this with one final jutsu?"
Kakashi liked the sound of that cuz truth be told, he was getting tired and didn't wanna fight anymore, so he agreed.
"Alright, deal."
Immediately after he agreed they both made their own hand signs and when they finished, they had a couple final words.
"You better put everything you have into this Naruto-Kun, you're not gonna get another shot" Kakashi warned.
"I'm fine, quit underestimating me?" Naruto replied.
After this quick exchange of words, they each shouted the name of their jutsu.
"Fuuton: Furyuu no Jutsu/Raiton: Rairyūdan no Jutsu!" They both shouted before each sent a dragon, one made of wind and another made of lightning at each other.
Naruto's dragon was of course the one made of wind and Kakashi's was of course the one made of lightning, and both were rushing each other fast and when they finally collided, so began a struggle of ninjutsu (Dragon Ball Z Beam Struggle Style).
The dragons were trying as hard as they could to push the other back and harm the opposing person but they seemed evenly matched.
"Damn!" They both shouted as they tried getting the upper hand over each other.
'Holy shit!' Both Ino and Sasuke thought in amazement at what they were seeing.
The ground beneath the two attacks were rising and crumbling, the two ninja's veins were pulsing, their blood was boiling, and their voices were getting louder and louder.
"Ahhh!" Naruto shouted.
"Gahhh!" Kakashi shouted.
The two seemed equally matched and neither dragon was prevailing over the other but eventually, after five minutes passed, Kakashi's dragon started gaining the upper hand and was pushing Naruto's wind dragon back.
Naruto could feel his feet dragging through the ground and his dragon being pushed back, but he still didn't relent.
"I will never quit!" Naruto shouted before trying even harder and within seconds, gaining the upper hand.
Now Kakashi was the one being pushed back as his lightning dragon was being overpowered by Naruto's wind dragon.
'What the... damn it!' He angrily thought as he could feel Naruto start overpowering him. 'No, not yet!' He inwardly yelled before clenching his fists as tightly as possible till every vein in his forearm and hand started popping out and then outwardly yelled "Never!" Before releasing more power into his dragon.
This extra power was actually enough for Kakashi and his dragon to start overpowering and pushing back Naruto and his dragon.
'I can't lose, not like this!' Naruto inwardly shouted in frustration before gnashing his teeth in frustration till blood oozed out and then inwardly shouted 'Stronger, stronger, strongerrrr!' While flexing every muscle in his hands, arms, and legs.
As Naruto shouted this he began to push the dragon of Kakashi back again, he didn't gain the upper hand this time though and instead pushed it back to the center of the field, back to where the two started this jutsu struggle to begin with.
'Damn it, I really have to stop underestimating this kid, whenever I think I have the upper hand he just finds a way to get even stronger' Kakashi thought before eventually, his dragon made of lightning began to get pushed back to him. 'I refuse to lose to one kid, even if he is the protégé of the Third Hokage.' With these thoughts taking over Kakashi's mind he tried desperately to look inside himself for more power. Eventually, after taking in a deep breath and then letting it out, he yelled "I refuse to lose a little kidddd!!!!" Before tightening every last muscle in his body screaming "Gahhhhhh!" And adding more power to his dragon.
This worked to great success because Naruto's dragon was indeed being overpowered, but he still didn't relent and kept trying.
'No, no, no!' Naruto shouted in panic at the situation that was presenting itself.
As Naruto could feel himself and his dragon being pushed back, he began to freak out mentally.
'Damn it, I don't have anything else to give it, well I could...' Naruto began to ponder before shaking his head and thinking 'No, this isn't an emergency that calls for that.' As the dragon made of lightning got closer and closer to Naruto though, he just closed his eyes and thought 'This is gonna hurt' before the dragon grew closer and closer.
However, right as the dragon was just inches from his body, Naruto heard
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Before the dragon of Kakashi halted.
"W-w-what?!" He stammered in shock before turning and seeing Ino Yamanaka performing her clan's signature mind transfer jutsu to swap bodies with Kakashi, holding him in place. They then noticed her turn her attention to Naruto and shout "Naruto-Kun, now's your chance!"
To which Naruto took to heart.
"Right!" He shouted before tensing his muscles one last time, shouting "Haaaaaa!" And taking advantage of the opening his teammate gave him.
'No, no, damn iiiitttttttt!' Kakashi inwardly trailed off before Naruto's dragon easily overpowered Kakashi's and then collided with Kakashi's body mere seconds later.
Winners: Naruto and Ino
The collision resulted in both a big boom and a big cloud of smoke covering the field.
Ino, who let go of her jutsu the second Naruto's dragon got too close, fell to the ground and began coughing and hacking from the smoke that began entering her mouth and throat.
After coughing and hacking a grand total of fifteen times in a row, Ino opened her now very red eyes and looked around for the boy she thought she saved.
"N-Naruto-Kun!?" She shouted in question.
She looked on and eventually, once the smoke had dissipated just enough, she found him.
"Naruto-Kun!" She shouted in disbelief.
Naruto was approximately fifty feet away from her but even though he was that far away, she could still see that he was in terrible shape. His shirt was completely torn off his body, his entire body was drenched in sweat, blood, dirt, and covered in bumps and bruises, along with one big black eye on his right side.
"Naruto-Kun, a-are you o-" she began to ask before Naruto, as if succumbing to the exhaustion, rolled his eyes to the back of his skull and then fell to the ground face-first. "Naruto-Kun!" Ino screamed in worry before running to Naruto's side and tending to him.
She turned his body around and when she did, she immediately placed her hands on his chest and performed CPR.
"Naruto-Kun, wake up, wake up!" She screamed in worry while still pressing.
She kept pressing and pressing till eventually, even more of the smoke vanished and when it did, she temporarily stopped and turned around to see Kakashi Hatake, their sensei, in even worse shape than Naruto was. He was out like a light and wasn't even moving, just laying on the ground, flat on his back.
After seeing the defeated form of her sensei, she turned her attention back to Naruto and kept pressing on his chest.
After a while of this, Naruto actually began coughing out dust which immediately elicited a reaction from Ino.
"Naruto-Kun!" She shouted before stopping her pressing.
As soon as she stopped her presses, one loud gasp came from Naruto who began slowly, but surely, opening his eyes.
As he was opening his eyes, his vision was blurred, but he could still make out the face of Ino and asked
"Ino-Chan?"
"Yeah, it's me Naruto-Kun" Ino responded.
"Did, did I-?" Naruto began to breathe out, weak and lacking energy.
"Yes Naruto-Kun, you beat him" she responded.
"Thank Kami" Naruto replied. 'If that didn't work, then I'd have been forced to use -that-' Naruto then looked at Ino and told her "But no Ino, I didn't beat him."
"What do you mean?" Ino asked in confusion.
Naruto tried his hardest to smile, looked at Ino, and said
"We did."
Ino looked down at Naruto and smiled back at him.
"You're a good guy Naruto-K-" she began to say before she heard someone else shout
"I win!"
Both Ino and Naruto turned around to see the entire cloud of dust that covered the area dissipate and saw Sasuke Uchiha standing in front of their fallen sensei's body, holding both bells in the air.
"That's right, I won, you guys lost!" Sasuke shouted in cockiness.
Naruto just rolled his eyes, reached his hand out, picked up the nearest rock, and threw it over his shoulder at Sasuke, never moving from where he was initially.
"Oomph" Sasuke gasped in pain as the rock hit him in the forehead and brought him to the ground. "What the hell!?" He yelled in anger while rubbing the gash in his forehead.
"Won what, you didn't do shit?" Naruto asked in mock.
Sasuke did not take too lightly to this retort by his 'subordinate' and so he got back up and with gnashed teeth spoke back.
"I was waiting for the right moment, you guys just kept getting in my way" Sasuke responded. "If I was alone I'd have won so much easier."
"No, you'd have coward away just like you did today" Naruto corrected.
"Why you?!" Sasuke angrily muttered while clenching his fists. "Either way, I have the bells, I win, you lose and I'm not giving either box to you."
"You don't have a big enough appetite to eat two lunch boxes" Naruto pointed out.
"I'll throw it out" Sasuke responded. "I'd rather throw one out than let you have one."
"It's not up to you" the three genin very faintly heard.
Ino and Sasuke were turning their head in every direction to see where it came from only for Naruto to say
"Sensei?"
That was when those two turned to right beside where the last Uchiha was standing and seeing their sensei with both eyes open, breathing in and out deeply, his clothes torn to pieces, his body covered in cuts and bruises, just looking up at the sky as he spoke to his students.
When Kakashi was sure that everyone's attention was on him, he continued on.
"Sasuke-San, don't you remember what the rules to this were?"
Sasuke couldn't recall and was about to say he couldn't till Naruto interrupted him and said
"He said we either had to beat him or take the bells away from him to earn the boxes."
"Yeah, and I took the bells from him" Sasuke responded.
"You didn't beat me though" Kakashi said before looking at Ino and saying "She did."
Sasuke then looked at Kakashi in confusion and asked him
"Are you crazy, no she didn't?"
"Yeah she did" Kakashi admitted.
"H-?" Sasuke was about to ask before Naruto interrupted him and answered his unfinished question.
"Ino entered my fight with Kakashi, though it was brief, she was at least a part of it, you never were."
"Precisely" Kakashi started. "Ino was the only one of the three of us who was still standing, she won the fight, so before you even grabbed the bells, she won it, so it's up to her, not you."
"Seriously!?" Sasuke shouted in anger.
"That's how it works Sasuke-San" Kakashi replied.
So begrudgingly, Sasuke walked over to Ino and handed her the bento boxes.
Right as Ino was about to hand the second box over to Naruto, he stopped her by putting a hand on her wrist and shaking his head. Right as she was about to ask him why, he just turned his eyes to look at Sasuke and Ino instantly knew what he meant.
So she lightly picked up his head from her lap and gently placed it on the ground before getting up and walking over to Sasuke.
"Here" she said while handing him the second lunchbox.
Right as Sasuke got ready to snatch it away, Kakashi said
"Not so fast."
The two then turned to Kakashi and asked him
"What do you mean?"
Kakashi just let out a deep breath before continuing on.
"Since the two of you have a lunchbox and Naruto doesn't, that means that other than just not being able to eat, he must endure another penalty while you two eat" he said before reaching into his pouch and pulling out a chakra pill. "That punishment will be being tied to the nearest stump and unable to move while you two eat your lunchboxes" he added before plopping the pill into his mouth, chewing, swallowing, and then slowly being given small portions of his chakra back. With that increase in chakra, he got back up to his feet and said "I don't have the strength to do it myself right now tho, and neither does he, so you two will tie Naruto to the nearest stump, and only then will you be allowed to eat your food."
"Really?" Sasuke and Ino both asked, Ino out of shock and Sasuke out of excitement.
"Yes really" Kakashi said seriously. "You're both also restricted from giving Naruto any food too, and if you do, there will be dire consequences."
The look on their sensei's face let the two know that there was no room for debate with what their sensei was telling them.
'I get to tie up the dobe and eat in front of him? This is gonna be good' Sasuke thought with a smug grin.
Ino just turned to look at Naruto and was about to offer him the other lunchbox but Naruto laid firm and said
"It's okay Ino-Chan, go ahead."
So Ino put both boxes down and begrudgingly helped Sasuke pick up Naruto and tie him to the nearest stump.
After they finished tying him up, Ino picked up both lunch boxes from off the ground and handed one to Sasuke
Sasuke just snatched the lunchbox away from her and wasted no time opening it and eating it in front of Naruto, who was exhausted, tired, and hungry.
Naruto wasn't affected by this at all, but Ino was. She felt lots and lots of sympathy towards Naruto since he was the one doing all the work and they were the ones being rewarded for it. Not just that, but she was slowly seeing more and more of Naruto's true personality, and as a result, was gaining more and more respect towards him. So after opening her lunch box, she brought out the chopsticks, used them to grab a piece of meat and brought it to Naruto's mouth.
"What are you doing?" Naruto and Sasuke asked in confusion.
"It's only cuz of you that Kakashi was beaten" Ino admitted. "Plus, you've saved my life before as well, it's only fair I at least try to make up for it."
Naruto just smiled at her and said
"Thanks" before opening his mouth and getting ready to bite on the meat till their sensei appeared again in a swirl of leaves.
Ino and Sasuke instantly assumed fighting positions when they saw their sensei and that same sensei asked the two
"Were you two about to hand over food to Naruto when I specifically told you not to?"
Sasuke immediately said
"I didn't she did" while pointing his thumb at her.
"Is that true Ino-San?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah, it is Kakashi-Sensei" Ino admitted.
Kakashi then walked closer and closer to her before leaning his face five inches away from her's and saying
"Well then" with an angry glare.
'What's going to happen now?' Ino thought nervously while sweating.
She then noticed the death glare her sensei was giving her turn into a warm smile and heard him say
"You three pass."
"Huh?" Ino and Sasuke said in confusion.
"This was all a test?" Naruto asked afterwards as even he was confused.
"Exactly" Kakashi responded.
"But why?" Ino asked.
"Yeah they broke the rules, shouldn't they be penalized for it?" Sasuke added.
Kakashi smiled at this, looked up at the sky, and said
"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are regarded as scum, that's true" he then paused and looked at his team before continuing on. "But those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum."
These words hit Naruto and Ino deeply.
"I... never thought of it like that" both said at the same time.
Kakashi, the one who told them this, then looked at them and said
"Come back tomorrow, that's when this team gets its first mission" before turning his back and walking away. Mid-way through though, he turned his head around to look at them all one more time, smiled, and said "Till then rest up and eat well, you're gonna need it" before continuing to walk away.
As Kakashi was walking away, Ino put the box down and began trying to untie Naruto from his stump. As she was doing this, she turned to Sasuke and asked him
"Do you mind?"
"Of course" Sasuke said before tossing the bento box on the ground which caused both Ino and Naruto to turn their heads to him, just out of confusion as to why he would waste such perfectly good food. "No" he added before turning his back on his teammates and walking away.
Naruto and Ino just rolled their eyes at this.
'We are still kids, I doubt most of the class wouldn't have done the same thing' Ino thought while continuing to untie Naruto.
Eventually, she managed to untie Naruto and when she did, he looked her in the eyes and thanked her.
"Thanks" he said.
"It's nothing, you would've done the same thing for me wouldn't you?" She replied with a question of her own at the end.
Naruto just smiled, gave her a thumbs up, and said
"Dattebayo" before both he and her nodded and walked away.
Today was hard, but they knew it would only get harder from here on out.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note:
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I apologize that it took me so long to make it, life just kept getting in my way and I couldn't get it out faster.
Also I'm gonna need to clarify a couple of things for you guys just to avoid any confusion or conflict.
First things first, Ino still does not love or even have a crush on Naruto, she respects him and grew even more respect towards him because of everything he has done and everything he did in this chapter, but that's it.
Second of all, Ino still has a crush on Sasuke but it's getting weaker and weaker the more she starts seeing how Sasuke really is. If you're wondering why she still has a crush on him tho it's because they're still really young, only eleven years old, so she thinks this is just some stupid and cocky phase he'll eventually grow out of.
Thirdly, yes Shino and Hinata are also strong in this story and that's gonna come into play in the future.
Lastly, I'm taking things very slowly this time, I'm not trying to rush anything like I did last time with this story and with Young/Old Heroism. I've learned my lesson because while I am not very proud of what Young/Old Heroism turned out to be, I'm still trying my hardest to make the best of it. It was my first story so I refuse to give up on it or delete it, and I'm excited to see if I can or can't save it in the end. I knew I couldn't save Yellow Thread though which is why I started over.
That's all for now though, if there's any other questions you want answers to let me know in the comment section and I'll answer it in the next chapter, or if you want, send me a DM and I'll answer it personally.
Also before I end this chapter completely, I just wanted to pay my respects to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. I promise you all, this is not for attention or anything like that, this is just my way of paying my respects to him and thanking him for everything he's done and everything he created as it greatly impacted my life and the life of the entire anime community as a whole. So in the deepest parts of my heart, I wanna say thank you to Akira Toriyama, may he rest in peace.
