"Um... about what happened yesterday, those people didn't give you any trouble, did they?..."
Naruto and Sakura were standing nearby.
Though Sasuke didn't say outright that he meant the divine punishment brought down by the Sword of Indra yesterday,
Gekko Hayate understood at once. He smiled and said,
"Of course not. Don't forget, I'm a Special Jonin in the Anbu..."
Hearing this, Sasuke finally let out a small sigh of relief.
Better safe than sorry.
His wings weren't strong enough yet, so it was best to play things cautiously...
Just as Su Jian was quietly turning this over in his mind,
there came another sharp whoosh!
A tall, slender figure appeared out of thin air.
"Huh? Gekko Hayate, Uzuki Yugao?"
"What are you two doing here?"
The moment Kakashi appeared, he noticed Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao.
He also stole a discreet glance at Sasuke.
He wondered whether the two had suddenly come here because of yesterday's thunderclap over Konoha...
As the thought crossed his mind, Kakashi felt his heart sink for no reason.
To be honest, Sasuke appealed to him far more than Naruto did.
Not only was Sasuke as handsome as Kakashi had been in his youth,
even his talent was just as remarkable.
With that thought, Kakashi made up his mind!
If those two were here to give Sasuke a hard time, then as his teacher, he'd find a way to help him...
"Uh... heh, Kakashi, long time no see. You probably don't know, but..."
"What?"
"Actually, Sasuke was secretly taken in as my master's disciple a long time ago."
"So even though my master has been gone for the past few years, strictly speaking, Sasuke is a fellow disciple of mine and Yugao's..."
"Fellow disciples?..."
Kakashi could tell from Gekko Hayate and Yugao's expressions that they weren't joking.
Then Sasuke calmly nodded at him, too.
Kakashi's eyes shifted as he asked with a smile,
"Are you two here today to use me as an excuse to see how your junior fellow disciple measures up?..."
"Ha ha ha..."
Gekko Hayate laughed heartily at that.
"Kakashi, you may have been the top genius of our year back then."
"But I'm not trying to put you down."
"If my junior fellow disciple had been born a few years earlier,"
"I doubt you'd have kept your title as Konoha's number-one genius! Cough, cough, cough..."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Kakashi finally stood opposite the three members of Team 7, ready to get down to business.
He said solemnly,
"Before we begin the test, I'll go over the rules one last time."
"The three of you must work together and support one another."
"The rules are simple. All you have to do to pass is ring one of the two bells in my hand."
As he spoke, Kakashi hung the two bells, each about half the size of his palm, from his belt.
"And Naruto!"
"Remember, don't try to be clever!"
"No one will show you mercy on a real battlefield, so I won't go easy on you in this test, either..."
"Huh? But..."
At those words, Naruto's face, which had been fairly calm until then, suddenly fell.
He didn't even know how he'd graduated, let alone how he was supposed to face Kakashi going all out right from the start...
After a pause, Naruto swallowed.
He edged closer to Sasuke and Sakura, furrowed his brow, and whispered conspiratorially,
"I think we should come up with a safer plan, then sneak up on Kakashi-sensei. First we do this, then this, heh heh heh, and finally..."
Naruto went on and on, but Sasuke let every word go in one ear and out the other without listening to a thing.
At some point, he slowly closed his eyes, turned to face the direction where Kakashi stood, and remained utterly still.
The aura around him steadily grew stronger,
like a ninja sword on the verge of being drawn, its edge gleaming with menace!
A gentle breeze brushed the hair at Sasuke's temples, lifting fallen leaves into the air.
An invisible, murderous intent stirred in the air, slowly building.
At a certain moment,
a lone leaf drifted past Sasuke.
The next instant,
as if it were a signal, Sasuke abruptly opened his eyes!
Whoosh!
His figure flickered, then vanished from the spot!
"Sakura, what do you think of my plan? Heh heh heh..."
"I don't think much of it..."
"After all, Sasuke's the only one of us who's both handsome and strong. Maybe we should hear what he thinks first..."
"Sasuke... Hey! Sasuke! Come back! Don't go off on your own!..."
Naruto and Sakura were still huddled together, plotting their ambush on Kakashi.
But when Naruto glanced over, Sasuke had already charged forward alone, his body a whirlwind!...
He wanted to call Sasuke back, but it was too late...
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Sasuke's figure flickered as he charged within range. His hands formed one seal after another, as swiftly as blooming flowers!
His chest swelled, and the next instant, a gigantic fireball, blazing like the sun, burst forth!
"Hmm... Judging by how concentrated his chakra is, he's already at Chunin level. He really is someone I had my eye on..."
The heat surged toward him, but Kakashi remained calm.
He simply formed a few hand seals.
The next instant, boom!
A three-meter-high earthen wall rose slowly from the ground.
Like a folding screen, it blocked Sasuke's Great Fireball completely behind the Earth Wall.
This was one of Kakashi's signature defensive techniques: Earth Style: Earth Wall!
The damp earth and the scorching fireball clashed fiercely.
Before long, the moisture in the soil and the weeds were scorched, sending up smoke and steam!
The distinct scent of grass and trees filled the area, mixed with a foul stench!
But just as thick smoke billowed, obscuring both of them,
several Shuriken suddenly shot out of the smoke, their edges glinting coldly.
"Oh? A feint. So this was your follow-up? Not bad..."
Kakashi chuckled softly and reached to his waist.
The next instant, a Kunai appeared in his hand.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The Shuriken streaked toward Kakashi like shooting stars.
There were plenty of them, but they weren't very accurate.
Only a few hit their mark, and Kakashi easily knocked them aside.
The rest scattered like a disorganized mob,
embedding themselves in the grass, rocks, and tree trunks all around.
"Sigh... To have this kind of combat sense at his age is already impressive."
"But against an elite Jonin like Kakashi, one of the very best, he's still nowhere near good enough..."
Uzuki Yugao sighed at the sight.
Sasuke was only a child, after all.
And yet she hadn't even realized it herself:
ever since the ninja sword had chosen him yesterday,
she'd already begun treating Sasuke as one of her peers, and seeing him as the future hope of the Konoha Style...
Beside her, Gekko Hayate seemed to hear the frustration in his partner's voice.
Instead of getting upset, he smiled and said,
"It's not that simple."
"Perhaps you really have underestimated Sasuke this time..."
Before you continue