Teacher Kakashi, You Wouldn't Want To

"Have you talked to him?"

"I did. Nine-Tails Comrade expressed a profound understanding of the importance and urgency of his work. From now on, he'll earnestly fulfill his duties, strengthen collaborative cooperation, and form a united force..."

"Stop. Speak like a normal person."

"Sorry, I used to write speeches for leaders all the time, so it became muscle memory... In short, I bluffed him, but if I want to milk his Chakra, I'll have to take it slow."

"So are we still following the procedure today?"

"No rush. I'll toy with him a little."

Konoha, training ground.

Sakura and Naruto were chatting away, completely ignoring Sasuke, who was standing off to the side letting the wind blow over him. This made him look at the two of them with an increasingly strange expression.

"Are you really that playful?" Sakura asked Naruto, her brows furrowing slightly.

"I didn't even kill an ant in my previous life. To survive in the cruel Hokage World, I naturally need to seize every opportunity to train."

"There's no need to rush to farm experience points. Kakashi is an important NPC. Going against the plot could easily lead to complications."

"...Actually, I've wanted to ask for a long time. Do you usually like playing Soul Games that much?"

"Why?"

"You use a ton of gaming terminology when you talk."

"...Okay."

Sasuke grew more and more confused as he listened from the side.

Soul Games? Terminology? NPC?

What did any of this even mean?

But his tsundere pride made him force down his curiosity. He merely turned his head aside and calculated when Kakashi would arrive.

Before long, Kakashi arrived late amid a burst of sound and white smoke.

"Yo, morning, everyone." Kakashi greeted them lazily.

He had originally thought the three of them would indignantly demand to know why he was so late.

Who would have thought Naruto would step forward and say, "As expected of the boss. You gave us such a vivid lesson on our very first day."

Sakura asked, "What lesson?"

"Slacking off! The boss has a Jonin Position and still spent half the morning idling around without batting an eye. It's worth learning from."

As he spoke, Naruto even winked and grimaced at Kakashi, leaving Kakashi's emotions somewhat scrambled.

"Ahem, I ran into an old woman on the way here..."

"Right, right, it was exactly that!" Naruto said with a grin. "Tell me which street it was on next time. I'll go help her too."

Kakashi was instantly rendered speechless.

He scratched his brow helplessly, then began explaining the rules to the three of them.

"...In short, unless you're prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."

With that, Kakashi swept his gaze over the three of them.

Sasuke looked tense and appeared the most normal.

Naruto and Sakura wore deliberate expressions, but there wasn't the slightest trace of fear in their eyes.

Especially Naruto. The excitement in his eyes was obvious.

What an interesting guy, Kakashi thought. Let's see what you're really capable of.

"Then, the exercise begins!"

The moment he finished speaking, Sakura and Sasuke retreated explosively. Naruto, however, did the opposite. He lunged toward Kakashi in a single stride, moving like thunder!

He smoothly drew a kunai from his ninja pouch and thrust it straight at Kakashi's throat. Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly, swiftly catching Naruto's thunderous strike and seizing his wrist in the same motion.

Naruto wasn't annoyed. Instead, he turned his body sideways and kicked at Kakashi's waist, only for Kakashi to catch it with his elbow. Naruto took the opportunity to shoot Sakura a glance. Understanding immediately, she concentrated her Chakra in her fist and smashed it hard into the ground.

"Bang!"

A muffled boom came from the ground. Then a dense rain of kunai shot from the woods nearby, stabbing fiercely toward Kakashi.

The entire process took less than five seconds.

Naruto, whose wrist was still caught, flashed a cunning smile. He completely ignored the incoming kunai and instead began exerting his muscles, trying to keep Kakashi pinned in place.

The high-speed kunai arrived, piercing the two of them with countless holes... More precisely, they pierced Kakashi's substitute log and Naruto's Shadow Clone.

Naruto's real body slowly emerged from behind Sakura.

He looked at Kakashi's subtly strange expression and praised him. "As expected of the boss."

From the very beginning, Naruto's real body had been hiding in the forest. He created two Shadow Clones—one as bait, while the other had gone ahead to Sakura's home, allowing her to cooperate with him in carrying out the plan.

This was a battle plan Naruto had hastily devised the previous night.

He hadn't expected it to succeed in one attempt. He merely wanted to quickly adapt to the rhythm of ninja combat through their clash.

Judging from the feedback, he could clearly feel how lacking his combat skills were. The transitions between his close-combat movements also relied mostly on instinct.

Kakashi nodded slightly. "Not a bad attempt. Looks like you took my words to heart."

With that, he rummaged around in his ninja pouch before brazenly pulling out Icha Icha Paradise.

Here it comes, here it comes.

Naruto smiled inwardly.

The biggest difference between him and the Naruto of the original story was that he knew the plot and had social experience of his own. Because of that, there was no way Kakashi's trick could anger him.

However, Icha Icha Paradise could also become Kakashi's weak point.

"Boss, you're not reading the recently super-popular Icha Icha Paradise, are you?"

Naruto strode over.

"Huh?" Kakashi raised a brow. "Minors aren't allowed to read this kind of book, are they?"

"I haven't read it." Naruto shrugged. "But a few days ago, I met the author of this book. He had long hair reaching his waist, like some kind of immortal, and he even talked to me about what happens later in the story."

Naruto said cheekily, "Teacher Kakashi, you wouldn't want me to spoil the rest of the story, would you?"

Kakashi's Dead Fish Eyes finally lost their calm. "Wait, how did you happen to meet the author...?"

"Then I'll tell you the ending of Icha Icha Paradise..."

"Wait!" Kakashi cried out in alarm, instinctively covering his ears.

Sakura, hiding in the bushes nearby, giggled and immediately understood Naruto's intentions.

On the other side, Sasuke's heart tightened when he saw this scene.

What a great opportunity!

He swiftly drew a Shuriken and hurled it fiercely in Kakashi's direction!

At the same time, Sakura quietly circled behind Kakashi, waiting for an opening to appear.

Without realizing it, the three of them completed a coordinated attack.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The Shuriken shot precisely toward Kakashi, but he seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He lowered his body and dodged the attack. The Shuriken flew past Kakashi and stabbed toward Naruto instead.

"Haha, you could've given me a warning!" Naruto glanced toward Sasuke, then suddenly threw himself sideways, narrowly dodging the Shuriken. At that moment, Sakura closed in on Kakashi and thrust her hand straight toward the bell at his waist!

At that moment, Kakashi, still covering his ears with both hands, chuckled.

"One of the fundamentals of ninja tactics: taijutsu."

Naruto's scalp went numb. He instinctively shouted, "Sakura, get out of there!"

At the same time, a storm of thoughts erupted in his mind.

He did it on purpose. This guy absolutely did it on purpose!

He deliberately exposed an opening, waited for Sasuke and Sakura to attack, then instantly locked onto their positions before launching a counterattack.

In just a few seconds, he neutralized the assault and seized control of the battle.

Going back and forth like that, Naruto finally experienced Kakashi's fame firsthand.

Although he possessed the memories of his previous life, with his current strength, forcibly dealing with Kakashi would still be like trying to fill the sea with a cup of water.

But forcibly cooperating with the Nine-Tails was not what Naruto wanted either. He didn't want to fight Kakashi to the death.

Perhaps I should try a different approach.