The moment Son Goten finished speaking, even the wind in the woods fell silent for an instant.
Kakashi tightened his grip on his kunai and lowered his center of gravity, his exposed Sharingan fixed on the space ahead.
Despite his casual words, every muscle in his body was sounding an alarm.
"Sensei, are you ready?"
Son Goten tilted his head. The turf beneath his feet sank soundlessly, leaving two deep footprints.
"This isn't some make-believe game at the Ninja Academy."
Kakashi spoke in a low voice.
"I know."
Son Goten grinned.
"That's why I told you to stay farther away."
The next second.
The figure in the training clothes vanished into thin air.
Only a ring of dirt surging up from the spot proved that someone had stood there.
So fast.
Kakashi's Sharingan spun frantically, trying to track his movement.
But all his motion-tracking vision could make out was a blurry afterimage.
Left?
The thought had barely flashed through Kakashi's mind when a fierce gust struck his face.
It wasn't the left.
It was face-to-face.
Son Goten's mischievously grinning face suddenly appeared beside Kakashi, barely a foot away.
"Sensei, your eye spins too slowly."
The boy's voice reached Kakashi's ears with perfect clarity.
Then a not particularly large fist appeared before his eyes.
At this distance, at this speed, his body couldn't keep up with his brain's commands.
"Substitution Technique!"
Kakashi bit the tip of his tongue, forcibly squeezing out his body's potential as chakra surged wildly through his pathways.
Just as the fist was about to touch the tip of Kakashi's nose.
Bang!
A cloud of white smoke burst out.
Son Goten's fist passed through the smoke and slammed unhindered into a huge boulder behind Kakashi's original position.
It was a block of granite a full two people tall, normally used by Chunin to practice Earth Release defenses.
Boom!
An earth-shaking blast rang through the entire training ground.
The incredibly hard granite didn't break into chunks.
It turned straight to powder.
Stone dust filled the air, a blanket of white obscuring everything.
The violent wind from the punch didn't stop after shattering the rock. Instead, it formed a visible shock wave that spread backward in a fan.
Crack, crack, crack.
Trees within a dozen or so meters behind it were effortlessly uprooted or snapped in half.
Dust billowed, and debris flew everywhere.
The entire training ground looked as though a rampaging Tailed Beast had torn through it.
On a large tree several dozen meters away.
Kakashi appeared.
He crouched on a branch, gasping for breath, the forehead protector on his brow already soaked with cold sweat.
His Sharingan was wide with horror.
He glanced down at his hand. It was still trembling slightly.
If he had been a tenth of a second slower just now.
Even just a tenth of a second.
What had turned to powder would probably have been his head.
"Is... is he even human?"
Kakashi swallowed, his throat dry.
Pulverizing granite with physical strength alone?
Even Lady Tsunade's Monster Strength required precise chakra control and release.
What on earth was this kid made of?
Could Ichiraku Ramen have put some banned substance in its noodles?
In the distant bushes.
Sasuke Uchiha's entire body went rigid.
He stared at the ruins, his eyes bloodshot, his nails digging deep into his palms.
That power...
That despair-inducing power.
This was the dead last who normally did nothing but eat, drink, and sleep?
The Uchiha bloodline he took such pride in was utterly helpless before such brute force.
"Impossible... this is absolutely impossible..."
Sasuke's lips trembled as he muttered to himself.
He had always thought Naruto and Goten were idiots.
But now it seemed the real idiot was him.
If Goten had used that kind of strength when he flicked his forehead on the rooftop that day...
Sasuke shuddered, not daring to think any further.
Elsewhere, Sakura Haruno was so frightened that she covered her mouth, forgetting even to scream.
She stared at the figure standing amid the ruins, her mind completely blank.
Was that really Goten?
That seemingly harmless little pervert who spent all day talking about building a harem?
If that punch had hit a person...
Sakura felt her legs go a little weak.
The dust gradually cleared.
Son Goten stood in the ravaged clearing, still holding his punching stance.
He drew back his hand and brushed the stone dust off his clothes in distaste.
"Tch, the Substitution Technique again."
Son Goten curled his lip and turned, his gaze locking straight onto the large tree where Kakashi was hiding.
"Kakashi-sensei, is this how Jonin fight?"
He planted his hands on his hips and shouted.
"Just hopping around like a flea? That's pretty boring."
Crouched in the tree, Kakashi gave a wry chuckle.
Anyone who went down now would be an idiot.
Fight him head-on?
Did he have a death wish?
"Sensei, if you don't come down, I'm going to flatten this whole forest."
Seeing no response from Kakashi, Son Goten bent down and picked up a fist-sized stone.
He tossed it in his hand.
"I'll count to three."
"Three."
"Two."
Kakashi's eyelid twitched.
This kid was serious.
Judging by his stance, that stone would probably hit harder than an Explosive Tag.
"All right, all right, I surrender."
Kakashi raised both hands and leaped down from the tree, landing more than twenty meters from Son Goten.
He had to maintain a safe distance.
That was Kakashi's only thought now.
"Done playing hide-and-seek?"
Son Goten casually tossed the stone aside. It struck the ground and left a crater.
"I'm done."
Kakashi sighed and pushed the forehead protector that covered his Sharingan a little higher.
"It seems I need to write Lord Hokage a new report assessing your strength."
"I don't care about that stuff."
Son Goten dusted off his hands and pointed at the bells on Kakashi's waist.
"Right now, I just want to get that bell and then go eat barbecue."
"I'm hungry again."
Kakashi looked at the monstrous student before him, weighing his options.
Matching him in Taijutsu would absolutely be suicide.
As for ninjutsu...
Before Kakashi could work out a strategy.
Son Goten moved again.
"Since you won't attack, Sensei, I won't hold back."
"This time, I'm not hitting rocks. I'm going straight for the bells."
Before he finished speaking, that suffocating pressure bore down again.
Kakashi's nerves stretched to their limit.
How was this teaching a student?
This was clearly surviving a heavenly tribulation.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Kakashi rapidly formed hand seals and slammed his hands against the ground.
A thick earthen wall rose from the ground, blocking the space between him and Son Goten.
But.
"Who's a flimsy wall like this supposed to stop?"
With a disdainful chuckle.
The earthen wall carved with dog heads proved utterly defenseless and was smashed to pieces.
Son Goten burst through the wall, his hand reaching straight for Kakashi's waist.
"Got you."
Before you continue