Kakashi the Invincible Falls

"Is this the power a C-rank Wind Style can possess!?"

Amidst the gale, Kakashi lowered his center of gravity as much as possible, shielding his front with one hand while his feet clung to the ground to prevent being blown away.

He pulled up his forehead protector with his other hand, the three tomoe in his left eye rotating slowly to reveal the sight of the abundant, bottomless chakra surging within Naruto and his many shadow clones: Is this what happens when his chakra is split into hundreds of parts? Just how much total chakra does he have?? What on earth did Kushina give birth to???

Before Kakashi's shock could subside, he spotted a figure charging straight at him through the storm.

"That left eye—Kakashi-sensei, are you finally getting serious?"

Naruto did not rush to attack, stopping at a certain distance from Kakashi. "I tried team combat with Sasuke and Sakura earlier, but I couldn't grab the bells. Next, I plan to try solo combat to defeat Kakashi-sensei and then take the bells."

"I can give you one bell."

Kakashi said suddenly, "But you aren't allowed to make a move after this."

"That sounds nice, but I refuse!"

Naruto flashed a brilliant smile. "Get ready, Kakashi-sensei, I'm coming for you!"

"I admit, you have a lot of chakra. However, you haven't forgotten the conditions for passing the test, have you?"

Kakashi struck a pose meant to stall for time. "It'll be noon soon. Can you snatch the bells from my hands before then?"

"I don't know."

The smile on Naruto's face didn't fade. "But I have to try!"

The air carrying his voice was still vibrating when Naruto, relying on astonishing speed, surged toward Kakashi with overwhelming momentum and threw a punch.

"So fast!"

Kakashi tensed his nerves, concentrated his chakra, and shifted his body, preparing to dodge Naruto's attack—considering the current gap in their chakra levels, the risk of taking such a full-force punch head-on or even blocking it was far too high.

However, just as Kakashi was about to dodge, the momentum on Naruto's body suddenly vanished. He unclenched his fist, splayed his fingers, rotated his wrist half a turn, and grabbed Kakashi's shoulder.

Kakashi felt a force rapidly intensifying at the point of contact. Before this power could erupt, Kakashi barely managed to finish his hand seals.

Bang!

Accompanied by a muffled explosion, the left side of Kakashi's shoulder was crushed.

"The feel is wrong."

Naruto turned his head to look around; the Kakashi with the shattered shoulder had turned into a piece of wood with a crushed section.

"He's not above, and he's not around me, so he must be below."

Naruto made his judgment, but he didn't waste time searching carefully. He lifted his right foot a few centimeters and stomped down—as his sole touched the ground, it was like a meteorite impact. The shockwave spread from the point of contact, rippling out over thirty meters. Wherever it passed, the ground caved in, and the shattered earth and stone were compressed by the immense force, bulging upward.

"This is... Taijutsu!?"

Kakashi burrowed out of the ground just before his body could be crushed by the earth and stone, his wide eyes filled with confusion. "The power even exceeds Lady Tsunade's Heavenly Foot! Where on earth did Naruto learn such a technique, and from whom?!"

When he accepted the responsibility of being the jonin leader of Team 7 from the Third Hokage, Kakashi had spent time specifically looking into the three members of Team 7.

All three were born and raised in Konoha and had never left the village until now; Kakashi quickly learned of their pasts.

Afterward, he only had questions regarding Naruto—about five years ago, Naruto's performance at the academy suddenly began to improve, his grades rose steadily across the board, and even his conduct improved every single day.

This was very strange.

Kakashi couldn't help but recall the conversation he had with the Third Hokage three days ago when he accepted the mission:

"Kakashi, I hope you can become the jonin leader of Team 7."

"Team 7... the child of the Fourth?"

"That's right, the child Minato and Kushina left behind. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki? I recall that the Fourth shouldn't have married into that family."

"He is very much like Minato. If he shared the same surname, it would be easy for people to suspect his relationship with Minato and subsequently deduce his status as a jinchuriki."

"Is it really just that?"

"At least for now, it is."

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"In the past, Naruto loved to attract attention through pranks. But one day five years ago, he suddenly stopped, and his grades began to improve steadily, as if someone were secretly teaching him. But the Anbu responsible for surveillance confirmed that Naruto had never been in contact with such a person."

"Since the Anbu didn't find anything, I don't think I'll have any luck."

"It doesn't matter if you don't. The point is your left eye. With you accompanying them, certain people can rest easy."

"Including you?"

"Including me."

"I understand. However, I have my own methods and principles. I hope you can understand that."

"On that point, I think those three children, especially Naruto, will satisfy you."

I am indeed satisfied, but isn't this a bit too dangerous, Lord Hokage!

Looking at the fist inches from his face and feeling the pain of his skin being torn by the wind pressure, Kakashi was certain that if he were hit, even just a glancing blow, he would be severely injured on the spot. I can only see Naruto's movements by relying on the Sharingan, and my body needs to be stimulated with Lightning Style chakra just to keep up with his speed. I must find a way, otherwise, I won't be able to hold out!

At this moment, Naruto suddenly spoke up: "Kakashi-sensei, you're about to reach your limit, aren't you?"

"?!"

Kakashi was startled, but thanks to his formidable self-control, he didn't let it show, maintaining the same leisurely tone in his voice as before: "Your taijutsu is indeed stronger than I anticipated, but if that's all you have, you won't be able to get the bells before the alarm rings."

"I suppose so."

Naruto suddenly stopped, but Kakashi clearly saw the flow of chakra within him accelerating: "So, let's add some sealing jutsu to the mix."

The dozens of Shadow Clones Naruto had split off earlier, which had scattered into the surroundings at some unknown point, appeared simultaneously to surround Kakashi.

Watching as hundreds of golden chains wove together into an inescapable net, the light faded from Kakashi's eyes...

Once subdued, the bells were naturally taken, and Kakashi announced with a blank expression that all three had passed, before beginning to explain the true purpose of the survival exercise in detail (omitted).

"If Naruto had gone all out from the start, even if you had managed to get the bells in the end, I wouldn't have declared you qualified."

Kakashi said solemnly, his expression softening slightly afterward: "But you didn't do that. Especially you, Naruto. I'm not one to boast, but among jonin, I belong to the stronger tier, yet I was still no match for you."

"That's because Kakashi-sensei didn't use your full strength."

Naruto replied calmly: "In this exercise, Kakashi-sensei, you didn't even use a single ninjutsu capable of dealing lethal damage."

Hearing Naruto say this, Sakura and Sasuke also took note of the fact.

Kakashi was momentarily at a loss for words, finally letting out a soft sigh before instructing: "We begin official missions tomorrow. Gather at the Hokage Building, then we'll find the Hokage to accept our assignments."

With that, Kakashi vanished on the spot.