One-on-one Combat and Teamwork

[I don't know why the paragraphs weren't separated, so I'm reposting this.]

"Pfft!" A low, chilling sound came from the azure water shield around me. At the last moment, Kakashi had reversed his Kunai and struck the thin shield with the ring on its end. Despite the tremendous force of his high-speed blow, it only left a barely visible dent in the shield before stopping dead!

A bizarre sight, an incredible contrast! Kakashi could never have imagined that the thin water shield, which looked as though it would shatter at a touch, would prove harder than a steel plate when he struck it!

Kakashi had concentrated all his strength into the Kunai in his hand and launched a lightning-fast surprise attack, only to be stopped completely by the thin azure shield. Going from extreme motion to a dead stop made him feel like coughing up blood!

"Azure Water Release: Water Python Strangulation!"

I quickly formed Hand Seals, and Blue Water turned into a python that coiled around Kakashi's arm. I opened my right hand, then clenched it hard, and the water snake crushed his arm into countless pieces!

In midair, the fragments of Kakashi's arm turned into countless splinters of wood and fell-

"Substitution Technique!"

His sense of danger screaming at him, Kakashi had escaped without hesitation by using the Substitution Technique a moment before my technique activated. This azure Water Release, this kind of Water Release he had never seen before... Kakashi suddenly remembered what the Hokage had said.

"...A super S-rank Water Release stronger than the Water Blade Technique series." Kakashi looked at me, his expression somewhat grave. "Is this what he meant?"

"Huh?" I froze for a moment. "Kakashi-sensei, how did you know? Oh! Did Lord Hokage already guess?"

"I only knew you might be developing another, stronger set of Water Release techniques... I didn't expect you to have succeeded already!"

"No, not yet! It took me a year to make this little bit of special water, and it's a consumable. Once it's used up, it's gone." I sighed. "Still, it's a partial success. You've already seen how powerful it is, haven't you?"

"That's right." Kakashi glanced at his Kunai, its ring completely bent out of shape, and the red marks across his hand. "Amazingly strong. Frighteningly strong..."

I felt a little pleased to receive praise from someone like Kakashi. "If the Water Blade Technique series is my strongest spear, then Azure Water Release is my strongest shield. Once I've perfected Azure Water Release, if I attack my strongest shield with my strongest spear, the Water Blade Technique would have to be a hundred times more powerful!"

"But at my current pace, completing it is still a long way off... Anyway, we can talk after the fight! Kakashi-sensei, what can you do against my strongest spear and shield?"

"Two weaknesses." Kakashi paid no attention to my provocation. "You have two fatal weaknesses."

"Your first weakness is your Chakra reserves. You've used quite a few Ninjutsu since we started, haven't you? Although your techniques don't consume much, that's only in comparison to their power. The Nintaijutsu that combines Water Release and Taijutsu consumes a fair amount of Chakra too, doesn't it? Azure Water Release also takes much more Chakra to control than ordinary water, doesn't it? Otherwise, with your Chakra control, why would you need Hand Seals for a simple strangulation technique?" How frightening. Kakashi could see so much from Ninjutsu he'd encountered for the first time! "You're already breathing a little hard, aren't you?!"

"Hmph, hmph! I still have enough Chakra for at least four or five Water Gun Techniques! More than enough to beat you!"

"Your second weakness is a weakness that isn't a weakness! Compared to its incredible defense against physical attacks, your Water Release is quite ordinary at resisting elemental techniques! I want to know, when you covered your whole body in water, did you ever consider that water conducts electricity?!"

Kakashi quickly formed Hand Seals. "Lightning Release: Earth Flow!" A great mass of blinding lightning gathered in his hands, and he slammed them against the ground. Several bolts of lightning raced toward me underground.

I paid the bolts no mind and formed Hand Seals at the same time as Kakashi-

Pure water doesn't conduct electricity! "Water Release: Super Water Arrow Jutsu!"

The water arrow was launched second but arrived first. With a bang, Kakashi turned into white smoke. The Lightning Release struck my Blue Water without causing so much as a stir!

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Behind me! I turned to see a huge fireball already rushing straight at me. It was too late to use the Substitution Technique or get out of its way!

A large amount of Chakra gathered into Chakra water around my fist and body, and my Nintaijutsu erupted at full power. "Hyah!" I charged at the fireball, punched through the center of the Great Fireball, and burst out of the Fire Style's range. The water protecting my entire body had grown hot enough to boil!

I couldn't worry about wasting it. I immediately dispersed the water I had made, or I'd turn into steamed Sakura!

Moving at high speed, Kakashi seized the opportunity and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind me, then struck with another turning roundhouse kick! Without the Water Release from my Nintaijutsu to protect me, and with the Blue Water just withdrawn to evade the Fire Style, I had only my physical strength to rely on. Even though I raised my arm in time to block, the tremendous force knocked me to the ground, leaving me in a sorry state!

I planted both hands on the ground and tried to spring back to my feet, but Kakashi punched me down again. The Water Release I hastily gathered was shattered the instant it appeared! I no longer had enough Chakra to maintain powerful Nintaijutsu!

A complete defeat!

Having exhausted all my Chakra and powerful Ninjutsu, I had suffered a complete defeat without even touching Kakashi's bells!

For the final blow, Kakashi struck the back of my neck with a knife-hand. A powerful wave of dizziness swept over me...

Ugh, this is so frustrating. In the original story, Sasuke at least touched the bells...

Oh well, I did my best, I guess. That was a really satisfying fight...

With those thoughts, I sank into darkness...

"...So, none of you managed to get a bell, which means none of you passed!"

I had just woken up when I heard that cruel declaration. I actually wasn't worried about passing the test. Compared with the original story, we had done well enough-

But, speaking of which, why was I the one tied to the stump?!

"Wh-what? Then doesn't that mean-?! Kakashi-sensei, that's too much! How could we possibly pass a test that hard?! And, and there were only two bells! We all fought so hard for them, but one of us was bound to fail and have to go back and repeat the year-!"

"Let me finish, Naruto! The passing criterion for this test was never whether you got the bells, but your teamwork! Ah, Sakura, you're awake! Then listen up, all of you!"

Kakashi took two bells out of his pocket. "Sasuke and Naruto, you came to support Sakura as soon as she was exposed, and you worked together to defeat my Shadow Clone. So I believe you're qualified to become ninja! In other words, you two-passed!"

"Yeah! Awesome!" Naruto shouted excitedly, and even the normally composed Sasuke couldn't help smiling!

"As for you, Sakura, you arrogantly tried to challenge me, your teacher, and failed. So I sentence you-to elimination!"

"Wh-what?!" Naruto and Sasuke were too shocked to get another word out!

"I'll leave these two bells here. I'll come back this afternoon, and whoever has a bell when they meet me will officially become my student! There are also two boxed lunches here, and only Naruto and Sasuke are allowed to eat them! One more thing: you're not allowed to untie Sakura! Dismissed!"

The moment Kakashi finished speaking, he used the Body Flicker Technique and left!

Three figures were left standing helplessly in the clearing.

"Come on, you two don't have to be so quiet. You've finally become ninja. Shouldn't you be happy? Let me congratulate you first!" Kakashi's words were full of holes; they could only fool children. But I couldn't very well expose him, since he was definitely still watching nearby. I could only keep following the script!

"Sakura! The three of us worked so hard, but Sasuke and I passed, while you, the strongest one, failed! You led us in coming up with the tactics, and you were the one who told us about teamwork, but in the end you didn't pass the test. That's not fair at all!"

"Whoever has a bell this afternoon can officially become Kakashi-sensei's student..." Sasuke looked at me. "That means Sakura still has one last chance, right? As long as you beat one of us and take a bell, you can become Kakashi-sensei's student! That's what Kakashi-sensei meant, right?"

"No way!" Naruto shouted in disbelief!

"No, that's exactly what Kakashi-sensei meant... Sakura, you saw it already, didn't you?"

"Sasuke, Naruto." I smiled. "Even if you look at me like that, I'm not going to try to take your bells! Because you earned them through your own efforts!"

"But isn't that too unfair to you?" Sasuke said heatedly. "Aren't you even a little frustrated?! Can you really accept failing the test and going back to repeat the year?"

"Of course I'm frustrated, and of course I want to pass the test... But compared to becoming a ninja, you two are more important to me as comrades!" For once, I spoke seriously as I taught them. "Sasuke, Naruto, listen carefully. Comrades are very important...!"

"I get it!" A determined look shone in Naruto's blue eyes. "If comrades are so important, then we shouldn't just give up on any of them! There has to be a way for all of us to pass. If giving up on our comrades is part of the test, then we'll use our fists to smash that unreasonable rule! Never abandoning my comrades—that's my ninja way!"

What can I say? As expected of Naruto... At that moment, I understood a little of why Naruto could achieve so much in the manga. That courage to break through everything and that unshakable conviction were his greatest gifts!

Sasuke froze for a moment. "...That's right! Naruto's right! Sakura, Naruto, since Kakashi-sensei said teamwork is the key to passing the test, these two bells he left behind are just another test for us! Besides, he clearly said as many as nine people could pass, which means there's a way for everyone to pass! Let's share these two boxed lunches first, then come up with a good strategy together. We'll definitely pass his test and become ninja!"

Naruto and Sasuke were just about to untie me when a fierce wind swept up, and Kakashi appeared before us!

"You three!" Kakashi's face was angry. "Are you going to break the rules?!"

"That's right! We'll never abandon an important comrade!" Naruto answered without hesitation! Sasuke also drew a Kunai and stood guard in front of me!

"All right, then, I declare-"

"-you all pass!"

"The exercise is over! Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin taking missions!"

Kakashi gave us a cool thumbs-up!

After passing Kakashi-sensei's test, I had finally and proudly become an official ninja of Konoha Ninja Village. Come to think of it, ninja were a profession that actually recruited children this young. In my previous life, that would definitely have counted as illegally employing child labor!

After becoming a Genin, life actually became more leisurely than it had been at the Ninja Academy. We took missions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and trained on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Sundays, Kakashi either reviewed our progress, gave us pointers, and practiced tactics with us, or gave us the day off to do as we pleased.

My own training was very simple too. Kakashi had absolutely nothing to teach me about Chakra control; if anything, I was better suited to being his teacher. As for Water Release Ninjutsu, I had my own system. Although Kakashi had copied quite a few Water Release Ninjutsu, there weren't many techniques suited to me at present, and with my Chakra control, I could learn established Ninjutsu like those very quickly.

As for producing the ultrapure water for the new Water Release I wanted to develop, Kakashi-sensei couldn't think of a good method for the time being either.

So Kakashi focused my training mainly on practical combat and Taijutsu. More precisely, he sparred with me on the condition that I didn't use the two sets of Water Release techniques I had developed.

"In short, during ordinary sparring, or when you encounter an opponent who isn't strong, you're not allowed to use the Water Blade Technique series. If anyone asks, say it's a move the Second Hokage used, Water Severing Wave."

"Also, uh... Azure Water Release isn't easy to produce, so don't use it casually either. I heard some of it was evaporated by my Fire Style last time?" Kakashi put a hand behind his head and laughed awkwardly. "Ahaha, sorry about that. Have you replenished it yet?"

"As if it'd be that fast!" I glared fiercely at Kakashi. Although I hadn't lost much ultrapure water last time, the loss had pained me for a long time. A month's work had gone to waste again!

My strength had also made considerable progress under Kakashi-sensei's training—or rather, beatings. I had completed Nintaijutsu, the combination of Water Release and Taijutsu, long ago, but this highly flexible form of Taijutsu had actually been in a state of partial neglect until Kakashi-sensei gave me practical pointers-because I had no idea how to control its power properly.

Now, after practicing against Kakashi's Shadow Clone, I was gradually beginning to grasp the trick of regulating my strength. The two roundhouse kicks Kakashi had hit me with before were actually the Konoha Whirlwind, and he taught it to me as well. But compared with my talent for Chakra, my Taijutsu ability was more than a notch or two behind. So after practicing it a little, I didn't pursue such a wide, sweeping move any further, instead putting more effort into close-range Taijutsu based on the little bit of Wing Chun I had learned in my previous life.

As for the source of a ninja's income-missions-after the initial novelty wore off, we quickly began to grow impatient with those utterly undemanding jobs too. They ranged from babysitting, running errands, and farm work to clearing clogged sewers. Ugh, just mentioning that last one was disgusting.

"Finally caught you!" This cat named Tora had already become famous in Konoha!

"I swear, this cat has definitely gotten experienced at escaping! It's so hard to catch!" I complained on the way back to report the mission. "Missions like this are so boring!"

"Exactly, exactly!" Naruto made his declaration to Lord Hokage, who had come to inspect the mission assignment office. "No-don't give us any more of these low-level missions! Our elite team needs a more important mission!"

Lord Hokage gazed at the excited Naruto and puffed out a mouthful of smoke. "All right-since you put it that way, I'll give you a ranked mission... protecting someone!"

"First, let me introduce him to you-please come in."

A scruffy, middle-aged man reeking of alcohol walked out of the adjoining lounge-

"What's this supposed to be... The ninja in charge of protecting me are these brats? Especially that little squirt!"

"Please don't say that." Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's head, stopping his outburst. "My subordinates are very strong...!"

I narrowed my eyes and felt a strange excitement-

The Land of Waves...

Will the "plot" still be the same?

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