Kakashi's pupils shrank to their most dangerous pinpoints, reflected in Naruto's arrogant grin!
So fast!
This was absolutely not speed a Genin should possess!
No, it even surpassed the level of most Chunin—and even elite Jonin!
This was no longer speed. This was teleportation!
The instinct of death shot through his body like an icy current. Kakashi's mind went blank, and before his body could even think, he relied entirely on battle instincts forged through countless trials to lean back to the limit!
A textbook iron bridge!
"Whoosh—!"
That iron fist carrying devastating power whistled past, grazing the skin on the bridge of his nose!
The violent wind from the punch stung his cheek beneath the mask, as if countless steel needles were pricking it!
A bead of cold sweat silently slid down Kakashi's silver temple.
He could even smell the faint, masculine scent on that fist, like grass baked beneath the blazing sun!
He... dodged it?
No!
Before Kakashi could recover from his relief at surviving, Naruto's enlarged face ghosted back in front of him!
That smile carried a hint of cat-and-mouse cruelty beneath its playful amusement.
"Not bad reflexes, Kakashi-sensei."
Along with that lighthearted taunt, his other fist had already become an afterimage, driving straight toward Kakashi's abdomen from an impossibly tricky angle!
Damn it!
Kakashi cursed inwardly. In his haste, he could only pull his bent-back waist upright and cross his arms tightly before him to block!
Bang!
The dull impact sounded like a battering ram smashing into a city gate!
An irresistible, terrifying force surged wildly through his arms. Kakashi felt as though both arms had been struck head-on by a speeding truck, going numb and losing all sensation in an instant!
The force even knocked him off his feet and sent him flying backward!
Yet Naruto gave him no chance at all to catch his breath or widen the distance.
One step. Just one step!
Naruto lightly tapped the ground with his toes, his figure following like a shadow as he closed in on Kakashi again while he was still unbalanced in midair!
Elbow strike!
Knee strike!
Roundhouse kick!
Knifehand strike!
The endless stamina and monstrous explosive power granted by the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body were displayed to the fullest at that moment!
Naruto's attacks were like an unceasing golden storm. There was not a trace of ninjutsu, not the slightest chakra fluctuation—only the purest, most primal, most savage aesthetics of violence!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dull, rapid sounds of flesh colliding echoed densely across the silent training ground, sending chills down anyone's spine!
Kakashi was completely stunned by the beating.
He was forced to put away his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. His hands turned into blurs as he blocked the storm-like assault with everything he had!
Every blow weighed a thousand pounds!
Every punch made the bones in his arms groan under unbearable strain!
His proud taijutsu experience, his Sharingan that had copied thousands of ninjutsu—all of it seemed like a joke at this moment!
Before absolute power and speed, every technique appeared so pale and powerless!
Is this guy... a monster?!
Kakashi felt his worldview being shattered punch by punch.
In the woods at the edge of the training ground.
Sasuke Uchiha knelt on one knee, hidden behind a dense thicket. His scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan were opened wide, the veins around his eyes bulging one by one from being pushed too hard!
In his vision, the entire world seemed to have slowed down.
He could see the falling leaves dancing through the air. He could see the dust motes floating within it.
But damn it...
He was almost unable to see Naruto's movements!
He could only barely catch a golden, blurry streak of light, like a violent bolt of lightning, relentlessly suppressing their legendary elite Jonin teacher—Kakashi Hatake!
That was not sparring. That was not a match!
That was... a one-sided beating!
Kakashi-sensei, that godlike figure from the Ninja Academy legends, could not even launch a proper counterattack from beginning to end!
"Th-That's impossible..."
Sasuke's lips trembled slightly, his face pale as paper.
His proud Uchiha bloodline, his awakened Two-Tomoe Sharingan, his title as a genius far beyond his peers—all of it was shattered by the impact of the miracle before his eyes!
Yesterday, in the classroom, Naruto had said he would stuff him into a trash can like Neji.
At the time, Sasuke had only thought it was the greatest possible insult.
But now...
Those words echoed madly through his mind like an icy curse.
An unprecedented humiliation and sense of helplessness gnawed at his proud heart like countless ants.
So...
He did not even qualify to be taken seriously by that "dead last"?
In the thicket on the other side, Sakura Haruno covered her small mouth, her green eyes filled with terror and confusion.
Her mind had completely crashed.
Her growling hunger and her fear of being eliminated had all been swept clean away by the incomprehensible sight before her.
That... was Naruto?
The eternal dead last who chased after her every day, the boy she had rejected countless times?
He... he was pinning Kakashi-sensei down and beating him up?!
Sakura rubbed her eyes hard, thinking hunger had made her hallucinate.
Yet the heavy drumbeat-like impacts and Kakashi-sensei's battered figure told her without a doubt—this was all real!
Naruto's domineering figure from yesterday, when he had blasted through a wall, slowly overlapped with the golden storm before her.
"Being in the same class as me is reaching above your station."
That cold, arrogant declaration rang in her ears again.
At that moment, Sakura's heart began pounding uncontrollably. A strange emotion, mixed with fear, shock, and a trace of unusual fascination, quietly took root.
Kakashi was completely stunned by the beating.
He was forced to put away his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. His hands turned into blurs as he blocked the storm-like assault with everything he had!
Every blow weighed a thousand pounds!
Every punch made the bones in his arms groan under unbearable strain!
He groaned inwardly.
The Third Hokage had instructed him not to use lethal force. He had only intended to test this brat's limits with pure taijutsu first, so he had deliberately suppressed his chakra and had not used any ninjutsu or Sharingan.
But who could have expected that this brat's physical strength and speed alone would reach such a horrifying level?!
Boom!
Another heavy roundhouse kick!
Kakashi blocked it with both arms, but his entire body was smashed from midair into the ground. His feet plowed two deep furrows through the earth, and he only stopped after crashing through a large tree!
He panted violently, feeling as if every bone in his body was about to fall apart.
And that golden figure suddenly stopped.
Naruto Uzumaki slowly landed on the ground, not even breathing heavily on the surface.
Yet a calm calculation flashed through his deep blue eyes.
Pure taijutsu. No Eight Gates, no Byakugan, not even a trace of chakra coating his fists or legs.
That was a tactic he had deliberately chosen.
Kakashi's Sharingan could copy every ninjutsu, but it could never copy the innate physical gifts of a Sage Body.
Showing all his trump cards before this scheming old veteran?
Only an idiot would do that.
More importantly, although the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body granted him terrifying Monster Strength and recovery ability, unleashing such limit-breaking cellular activation without restraint did not come without a price.
Once his high-intensity physical output exceeded ten minutes, his cells would enter a brief period of weakness from excessive excitement.
He had to keep his burst within a safe threshold and leave room to deal with Kakashi's ninjutsu counterattack.
Still, this alone was enough.
He wanted to tell this elite Jonin in the most savage way possible that even his most basic physical instincts were enough to crush the man's pride.
Naruto rolled his wrists and twisted his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks, as though that violent barrage had truly been nothing more than an insignificant warm-up to him.
The training ground fell into dead silence.
Leaning against the broken tree, Kakashi's chest rose and fell violently. For the first time, the dead-fish eye exposed above his mask was filled with shock and gravity as it stared fixedly at the boy in the distance.
Naruto raised his head and met Kakashi's gaze, a brilliant yet exceedingly dangerous smile spreading across his lips.
His gleaming white teeth dazzled beneath the sunlight.
"Kakashi-sensei."
He spoke slowly in a tone so relaxed it was almost cruel.
"My taijutsu warm-up is over. Next, it's time for you to use ninjutsu, right?"
Before you continue