VS Kakashi

The next day, at Training Ground 3.

Naruto had, gloriously, arrived late.

He had spent all of last night in the Duel Arena.

From Naruto picking fights with Sasuke, from when he was 12 to when he was 32.

Although he had won every match, battles on such a scale were incredibly draining, and Naruto still felt a bit dazed.

What was even more infuriating was that the Duel Arena didn't have the same recovery function as the training spaces.

This trash game probably wanted him to spend money on recovery items, right?

What a rip-off!

Fortunately, he had plenty of money, so he'd buy them if he had to.

But Old Xiong and the Old Man would have to put in more effort from now on.

He still had many opponents he wanted to challenge.

There was also good news: yesterday in the Duel Arena, by consecutively challenging the two main protagonists, Naruto had confirmed: he was invincible!

But being invincible didn't mean he would immediately become the 'Emperor.'

Let alone how tiring it would be to be the 'Emperor.'

Besides Konohagakure, he was completely in the dark. He only knew the names of some strong individuals in the Five Great Nations and almost nothing else.

Social structure, economic structure, population composition, geographical structure...

It was a situation where asking would yield no answers.

If he became the 'Emperor' now, the vast Ninja World would probably become even more chaotic than before the 'Village Era.'

As for management details, it would likely be a case of "it falls apart when you let go, and it's crushed when you try to control it."

He, Naruto, was here to join this world, not to destroy it.

So, he had to take it slow.

At this moment, Naruto suddenly felt that the number of his clones wasn't enough. He really needed more clones to spread his influence and, at the same time, start understanding this Ninja World.

For the first 12 years, his vision had been limited to Konohagakure; he hadn't even left the village.

Since he had decided to change the Ninja World starting at age 16, he needed to start preparing now, actively engaging with the Ninja World and gathering intelligence.

Fortunately, he had already become a Genin, which meant he would definitely be sent out of the village on missions, and there would be many opportunities in the future.

In addition, Old Daddy Fast Food also needed to be expanded worldwide.

This would also require a large number of personnel.

Besides all this, Naruto had many other things he wanted to do, all of which required manpower.

Fortunately, Naruto had recently solved the problem of his clones being discovered. Now, each clone could be a tangible person, leaving behind a body even if they died.

However, there was still a very unexpected problem.

Naruto's clones were not ordinary.

He didn't know if the game had mutated or if his clones had mutated, but each of Naruto's clones had its own thoughts.

The Old Man, the founder of Old Daddy Fast Food, was not an isolated case.

The two new trainees from the last two and a half years, the divine doctor Xiong Fengshan, were also very individualistic.

Xiong Fengshan firmly believed he was a legendary famous doctor from the foot of the Qinling Mountains, an old divine doctor who had been immersed in Chinese medicine for 50 years. He was also some kind of royal physician, firmly believing in the Xiong family's ancient prescriptions.

Fortunately, these clones only had diverse personalities; there were no other drawbacks. They were all diligently completing the tasks he assigned.

However, with all these clones being so unique and individualistic, he hoped they wouldn't implicate their master if they caused trouble in the future.

Returning to the present.

As soon as he looked up, Naruto saw that Sasuke and Sakura had already arrived.

Both were staring at him. Sasuke looked rather indifferent, while Sakura seemed somewhat impatient.

"Sorry, I'm late."

He apologized and joined the team.

"Teacher Kakashi isn't here yet?" Naruto asked, feigning ignorance to shift the blame.

"King of Tardiness!"

Naruto could hear anger in Sakura's tone. It seemed she was upset about this very thing.

Yesterday, he was late because he was peeking.

Today, he was late because he was currently at the Memorial Stone, paying respects to someone, though he didn't know who.

Forget it, why think so much?

Suppressing his thoughts, Naruto scrutinized Sasuke with a critical gaze.

He was extremely curious why this guy would betray Konoha when he was doing just fine here.

Was it for revenge?

A bit strange. I'll have to pay more attention to him later.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Noticing Naruto's gaze, Sasuke asked with some confusion.

"Did you eat?" Naruto asked casually.

"I did. You haven't, have you?"

He was stumped by the question. It seemed he hadn't eaten.

"That's not important."

He blurted out a random answer, and under Sasuke's suspicious gaze, Naruto lay on the ground and closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

In the original story, Sasuke would defect, but in this life, this Sasuke shouldn't defect. He should just be a good assistant in the squad. When Naruto 'ascends to the throne,' he'll make Sasuke a general.

At that time, Shikamaru will be the strategist, and Choji will be in charge of logistics.

Wait, I can't let Choji eat all the supplies.

While Naruto was lost in his boring fantasies, Kakashi finally arrived, late as usual.

Amidst Sakura's complaints, Kakashi offered a sincere apology.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path on the way, and I lost my sense of direction in life."

Sakura really appreciated that excuse. She'd heard it twice yesterday. Did she still believe it?

She complained weakly, "Teacher, you've already used that excuse. Please come up with a new one!"

Huh? Used it before?

Kakashi glanced at the culprit and saw Naruto casually picking his nose, looking like he wanted nothing to do with it.

He awkwardly changed the subject, "Ahem, that's enough. Let's start the combat drill now."

He pulled out two bells from his pocket and said, "Your mission is to snatch these two bells. If you can't get them, you will..."

Without the threat of being sent back to the Ninja Academy, Kakashi wasn't sure how to make them give their all.

"Well, in short, you need to try your best to get them."

Hearing this, Naruto even stopped picking his nose, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Try his best?

Are you sure?

He opened his innocent eyes and asked, "Teacher, you really won't get hurt?"

"No problem. Come at me with the intent to kill."

Naruto nodded, indicating he understood.

He didn't plan to go all out; otherwise, there would be nothing fun about it.

Besides, the ninja world was very insular. Any growth in strength would be traceable, so Naruto intended to reveal his talent and strength bit by bit.

Today was the first step.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto shouted and made the first move.

He threw six Shuriken in quick succession, charging at Kakashi with a Kunai in hand.

This was their first cooperation. He wondered if Sasuke would understand his intentions.

'This guy!'

Sasuke couldn't understand why a Genin like Naruto would charge directly at a Jonin.

But thinking of Naruto's eyes yesterday, he decided to take a gamble.

He threw three Shuriken and charged at Kakashi as well.

Thump, thump, thump~

The Shuriken flew at incredible speed, but the Kakashi they hit turned into a wooden log. It was the Substitution Technique.

'He's here!'

Naruto spun around and thrust forward.

'This!'

Kakashi, who had just appeared behind him for a sneak attack, was instantly pierced as if he had run into the Kunai himself.

Bang~

The clone turned into smoke, its eyes full of shock before disappearing.

'Not enough!'

Naruto began forming hand seals on the spot. He controlled his speed, avoiding startling the others with excessive speed.

It had been several years since he'd performed hand seals, and he felt a bit unaccustomed to it.

Kakashi, who had been hiding in the trees, watched silently.

The sensation from the clone was incredibly real. Recalling how he'd been discovered yesterday, it seemed Naruto must possess some kind of sensory ability.

Looking at this ninjutsu, Kakashi knew that even with his thousands of techniques, he had never seen this particular sequence of hand seals before.

Although he didn't know what ninjutsu it was, his extensive experience told him it was some kind of Fire Release.

Naruto, who had been turning to the side to perform hand seals, suddenly turned and stared at the tree where he was located.

"Fire Style: Firefly Cannon!"

Over a dozen glowing, ping-pong ball-sized orbs shot out, moving much faster than shuriken.

Sensing the terrifying Fire Release chakra contained within these orbs.

Kakashi inwardly thought: This is bad!

Boom boom boom~~~

The intense explosions and high temperatures were so fierce that even from a dozen meters away, Sakura felt like she was almost blown away.

Sasuke also crouched down to steady himself, while Naruto stood firm using his chakra, though the violent blast of air still made the corners of his clothes flutter.

Cough cough~

A cough echoed, and Kakashi emerged from the smoke.

A section of his white hair had been burned off and was still smoking. He looked disheveled, with many holes in his clothes.

Naruto knew that Teacher Kakashi had survived by using Earth Release to hide.

"Teacher Kakashi, I already told you yesterday that I'm a sensory ninja. Underestimating us comes with a price," Naruto said with a smile, a very humble smile.

Hearing this, Kakashi nodded seriously.

Sensory ninjas were indeed a bit tricky. Also, was this kid really a recent graduate from the Ninja Academy?

The Third Hokage had lied to him.

However, this was Minato's child, after all.

A genius? It was only to be expected.

Seeing this spiky yellow hair, Kakashi was reminded of that man who brought such warmth.

Despite his current state, thinking of Minato made him feel unexpectedly comforted.

"I'm going to get serious now!"

ps, New author humbly requests support: follow-up reads, monthly votes, recommendation tickets, investments. Please, the author will do anything.

Thanks to Detective Gin, Don't Eat Breakfast, and Book Friend 20250404151732570 for their monthly vote support. Thanks to Book Friend 20170227200459832 for two monthly votes. Thanks to Koi Ah for three monthly votes. Thank you.