A Deadly Lesson, Overwhelming Strength

Blood sprayed everywhere like watermelon juice bursting in the height of summer.

Mixed with chunks of flesh and bone fragments, it refracted a grotesque, nauseating beauty beneath the brilliant sunlight.

"Ahhhh—!!!"

The string called "sanity" in Sakura's mind snapped the instant she witnessed Kakashi being dismembered!

A scream sharp enough to tear eardrums echoed through the silent forest!

Her eyes rolled back, her mind went blank, and only that unbearably bloody scene kept replaying.

Teacher... Kakashi-sensei... that man who was always so lazy yet somehow made everyone feel safe, had just... been torn apart like a rag doll!

With a thud, Tazuna's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.

He trembled like a sieve, and a familiar warmth spread uncontrollably through his pants once again.

It was over... It was all over!

Even a Hidden Leaf elite jōnin had been dismembered in a single exchange. An old man like him, helpless as a chicken, was definitely going to die here today!

One of the Demon Brothers wore a cruel grin as he shook the bloody flesh from his chain and sneered hoarsely, "A Hidden Leaf elite jōnin? That's all? What trash!"

Before his words had even faded, the two figures flickered and vanished from where they stood like hunting hawks diving upon their prey!

The next second, they appeared ghostlike behind the terrified Tazuna!

"Second one!"

Their poison-coated claws gleamed with an eerie blue light as they tore through the air toward Tazuna's vulnerable neck!

This was a true fight to the death!

The thick stench of blood and that icy killing intent snapped Sasuke Uchiha out of his dazed state!

His pupils shrank to dangerous pinpoints!

He saw it!

He clearly saw those poisoned claws about to reap a life. He saw every hair on Tazuna's neck standing upright in terror. He could even smell death in the air!

Move!

Move already!

Sasuke roared madly inside his mind. He wanted to rush forward, draw his kunai, and use the Philosophical Iron Fist he had just comprehended to protect the client!

But his body felt as though it had been filled with lead, so heavy he could barely breathe!

His mind could keep up with their speed, but his body... his body had betrayed him!

Too fast!

Their Body Flicker Technique as Chūnin, along with that battle-hardened murderous aura, was like an invisible mountain pinning him in place, leaving him unable to move!

This was the first time he had faced the cruelty and bloodshed of the ninja world so clearly!

This was not a drill, nor was it a spar!

People died here!

Just as Sasuke's consciousness was about to be swallowed by the abyss of fear, at the very instant those poisoned claws were about to touch Tazuna's skin—

An orange blur shot forward from behind, like thunder and lightning tearing through the night!

That figure moved so fast it did not even stir a trace of wind, ignoring the distance through space and appearing abruptly beside the Demon Brothers!

Bang!!!

A heavy, teeth-grinding thud rang out, like a battering ram slamming into a leather war drum!

No one's eyes could keep up with that orange blur!

All they saw was one of the arrogant Demon Brothers, his vicious grin still frozen on his face, arch backward like a boiled shrimp!

His eyes bulged, his mouth fell open, and a mouthful of blood mixed with shredded organs erupted like a fountain!

Boom! Crack! Bang!

The Chūnin did not even have time to scream before his body shot away like a cannonball, smashing through three thick trees before splatting into the trunk of a fourth. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out instantly!

The entire world seemed to have been muted at that moment.

The other Demon Brother's smug cruelty was instantly replaced by boundless horror!

Without a second thought, he abandoned Tazuna, spun around, and wildly slashed his other poisoned claw at the orange figure!

"Looking to die!"

But what met him was a hand that was unimaginably fast, yet utterly steady.

Naruto could not even be bothered to lift his eyelids. His face was full of impatience.

Without even looking at the poisoned claw reaching for him, he casually raised a hand and gripped the other man's toxin-covered wrist with perfect precision.

Then he squeezed lightly.

Crack!!!

A sharper, more scalp-numbing sound of breaking bone rang out!

The Demon Brother's wrist was twisted into a pretzel by Naruto's grip!

"Urghhhh—!"

The agonizing pain made the Demon Brother howl like a slaughtered pig.

"You're too loud."

Naruto frowned and casually chopped downward with his other hand.

Thud!

The hand strike landed precisely on the back of the man's neck.

The Demon Brother's scream stopped abruptly. His body went limp, collapsing onto the ground like a heap of mud.

From the moment Naruto acted to the moment the two Hidden Mist Chūnin were completely incapacitated—

The whole process had been smooth, violent, and utterly one-sided.

It had not even taken three seconds.

Sasuke was still frozen with his right hand just touching his kunai pouch, like a weathered stone statue.

Was this... Big Brother's true strength?

No... this was not a matter of strength at all. This was... absolute suppression on the level of life itself!

Like a human crushing an ant, there was no need to think, no need for tactics. All it took was raising a foot, then bringing it down.

Sasuke-the-Enlightened became Sasuke-the-Withdrawn once more.

He stared at Naruto's back, the boy not even breathing hard, then looked at his own trembling hand, which had failed to even fully draw a kunai. An emotion called despair flooded his heart like icy seawater.

Damn it, he could not even see Naruto's taillights!

Just then, leaves rustled.

A familiar figure lazily jumped down from a nearby tree, still holding that little orange book in one hand.

It was Kakashi Hatake, back from the dead.

Seeing Sakura and Sasuke looking utterly terrified, as if their souls had nearly fled their bodies, his uncovered eye curved helplessly.

"Well, looks like this lesson was a little too realistic."

Kakashi patted dust that did not exist from his hands and explained in a relaxed tone, "That was the Substitution Technique. The Substitution Technique. To let you brats experience firsthand what happens when a mission fails, I layered a little genjutsu onto the wooden substitute and simulated some bloody effects. Judging by your reactions, it worked pretty well, right?"

Sakura and Sasuke: "..."

Pretty well? This was outright psychological trauma!

After explaining, Kakashi finally turned his gaze toward Naruto, the two unconscious unlucky men on the ground, and the distant tree that had nearly been snapped in half.

There was no emotion in his tone, but his eyes held a trace of unconcealed shock and... exhaustion.

"Nicely done, Naruto. Your reaction speed and strength have already surpassed those of an ordinary Special Jōnin. Looks like my worries were unnecessary."

He had originally planned to wait until Sasuke and Sakura were pushed to the brink before stepping in, putting on a heroic rescue and teaching these brats a proper lesson.

But instead—

Before the lesson had even officially begun, before the teacher's "corpse" had even gone cold, the proctor—Naruto—had torn up the test paper and beaten the question setters—the Demon Brothers—into pulp while he was at it.

This class was really hard to teach.

Kakashi let out a deep sigh. Then his single eye suddenly shifted, and his blade-sharp gaze locked onto the trembling Tazuna, still collapsed on the ground.

The atmosphere instantly changed from the ease after a lesson to an icy interrogation.

"Now then..."

Kakashi's voice no longer carried even a trace of laziness.

"Chūnin from Kirigakure came to assassinate you. These are no ordinary bandits."

"This has already gone far beyond the scope of a C-rank mission."

"Shouldn't you... give us an explanation?"