The Exercise Begins: Point-Blank Assault!

Kakashi's pupils shrank to their most dangerous pinpoints, reflected in Naruto's arrogant grin!

So fast!

This was definitely not speed a genin should possess!

No, it had even surpassed the range of most Chūnin, even elite jōnin!

This was no longer speed. It was teleportation!

The instinctive terror of death surged through his body like an icy current. Kakashi's mind went blank. His body had no time to think, relying entirely on battle instincts honed through countless trials as he bent backward to the absolute limit!

A textbook iron bridge!

"Whoosh—!"

That iron fist, carrying devastating force, whistled past, nearly grazing the skin on the bridge of his nose!

The savage wind from the punch made the cheek beneath his mask sting as if countless steel needles were stabbing into it!

A bead of cold sweat slid quietly down Kakashi's silver temple.

He could even smell the faint, masculine scent carried by that fist, like sun-drenched grass!

Dodged... he dodged it?

No!

Before Kakashi could recover from the relief of surviving that near-death encounter, Naruto's enlarged face ghosted right back in front of him!

That smile held a trace of cat-toying-with-a-mouse cruelty beneath its amusement.

"Not bad reflexes, Kakashi-sensei."

Along with that casual taunt, another fist became an afterimage and drove straight toward his abdomen from an exceptionally tricky angle!

Damn it!

Kakashi cursed inwardly. In his haste, he could only pull his bent waist back, cross his arms, and brace them firmly before himself!

"Bang!"

The dull crash was like a battering ram smashing into castle gates!

An irresistible and terrifying force surged wildly through his arms. Kakashi felt as though both arms had been struck head-on by a speeding truck, instantly going numb and losing all sensation!

His whole body was blasted off the ground and sent 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 once again closed in on Kakashi, who had lost his balance in midair!

Elbow strike!

Knee strike!

Roundhouse kick!

Knifehand strike!

The endless stamina and monstrous explosive strength bestowed by the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body were displayed in full at this moment!

Naruto's attacks were like an unceasing golden storm. There was not the slightest trace of ninjutsu, not half a ripple of chakra—only the purest, most primal, most savage aesthetic of violence!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Dull, rapid sounds of flesh colliding echoed densely across the silent training ground, making one's heart pound in fear!

Kakashi was completely stunned by the beating.

He was forced to put away his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. His hands became afterimages as he did everything he could to block the storm-like assault.

Every blow weighed a thousand pounds!

Every punch made the bones in his arms groan beneath 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 strength 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 behind a dense thicket. His scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan was opened wide, the veins around his eyes bulging from being pushed too hard!

In his vision, the entire world seemed to have slowed down.

He could see falling leaves fluttering through the air. He could see dust floating in the wind.

But damn it...

He was about to lose sight of Naruto's movements!

He could only barely catch a blurry mass of golden light, like a violent bolt of lightning, completely suppressing their legendary elite jōnin instructor—Kakashi Hatake!

That was not sparring. That was not practice!

That was... a one-sided beating!

Kakashi-sensei, a godlike figure in the legends of the Ninja Academy, could not even launch one decent counterattack from beginning to end!

"This... this is impossible..."

Sasuke's lips trembled slightly, his face as pale as paper.

His Uchiha bloodline, his awakened Two-Tomoe Sharingan, his reputation as a genius far beyond his peers—all of it was smashed to pieces by the miraculous sight before him!

Yesterday in class, Naruto had said he would stuff him into a trash can like Neji.

At the time, Sasuke had only considered it an enormous humiliation.

But now...

Those words echoed madly through his mind like an icy curse.

An unprecedented sense of humiliation and 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 bushes on the other side, Sakura Haruno covered her little mouth, her green eyes filled with terror and confusion.

Her brain had completely crashed.

Her growling hunger and fear of being eliminated had both been swept clean away by the unbelievable scene before her.

That... was Naruto?

That perennial dead last who followed her around every day and whom she had rejected countless times?

He... he was pinning Kakashi-sensei down and beating him?!

Sakura rubbed her eyes hard, thinking hunger had made her hallucinate.

Yet the heavy impacts that boomed like war drums and Kakashi-sensei's utterly bedraggled figure told her without question—this was all real!

Naruto's domineering figure from yesterday, blasting through a wall, gradually overlapped with the golden storm before her.

"Being in the same class as me is beneath you."

That cold, arrogant declaration rang in her ears again.

At that moment, Sakura's heart began pounding uncontrollably. A strange emotion quietly took root within her, mixed with fear, shock, and a hint of unusual fascination.

Kakashi was completely stunned by the beating.

He was forced to put away his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. His hands became afterimages as he did everything he could to block the storm-like assault.

Every blow weighed a thousand pounds!

Every punch made the bones in his arms groan beneath unbearable strain!

He groaned inwardly.

The Third Hokage had instructed him not to go for the kill. He had only intended to test the brat's limits with pure taijutsu first, so he had deliberately suppressed his chakra and refrained from using any ninjutsu or his Sharingan.

But who could have expected that this brat would reach such a horrifying level with physical strength and speed alone?!

"Boom!"

Another heavy roundhouse kick!

Kakashi blocked with both arms, but his entire body was slammed brutally 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.

Meanwhile, that golden figure suddenly stopped.

Naruto Uzumaki slowly landed on the ground, not even breathing hard on the surface.

Yet a trace of 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 kicks.

That was a deliberate tactic.

Kakashi's Sharingan could copy any ninjutsu, but it could never copy the innate physical gifts of a Sage Body.

Reveal all his trump cards before that shrewd old fox?

Only an idiot would do that.

More importantly, while the Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body granted him terrifying Monster Strength and recovery, this all-out burst of extreme cellular activation did not come without a price.

If high-intensity physical output continued for more than ten minutes, his cells would enter a brief period of weakness due to excessive stimulation.

He had to keep his burst within a safe threshold, leaving room to deal with Kakashi's ninjutsu counterattack.

Still, this alone was enough.

He wanted to tell this elite jōnin 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 crackles, as if that furious barrage had truly been nothing more than an insignificant warm-up.

The training ground fell into dead silence.

Kakashi leaned against the broken tree, his chest heaving 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 immensely dangerous smile spreading across his lips.

His gleaming white teeth shimmered beneath the sunlight, almost dazzling to the eye.

"Kakashi-sensei."

He spoke slowly in a tone so relaxed it was nearly cruel.

"My taijutsu warm-up is over. Next, it's time for you to use ninjutsu, isn't it?"