Fire Release: Great Fireball!!
Sasuke inhaled sharply and unleashed a blazing sphere of flame. The fireball roared across the field, heat distorting the air in its wake.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Naruto casually tossed Samehada aside and thrust his palm forward.
A violent gust exploded outward.
The gale struck the fireball mid-flight—twisting it, warping it—
—and sending it roaring back toward Sasuke.
Sasuke vanished just before the flames swallowed him. He reappeared in a burst of chakra, sprinting forward, Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning.
Genjutsu: Unknown Fire!
His eyes pulsed.
Invisible waves of mental force rippled toward Naruto.
For the briefest instant—
Naruto's vision blurred.
He dispelled the Genjutsu immediately.
But even an instant was enough.
To someone with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan—
An instant was opportunity.
Lightning surged along the Thunder God Sword as Sasuke thrust forward with ruthless precision.
The blade was about to pierce—
When—
A surge of dark-red chakra erupted from Naruto's body.
It split mid-air—
Like two demonic hands.
And clamped down on the blade.
"What—?!"
Sasuke froze.
He had never seen chakra behave like that.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Naruto's eyes snapped clear as Kyuubi shattered the Genjutsu from within. He spun and kicked.
Sasuke ripped his sword free and leapt backward, barely avoiding the strike.
Distance.
They reset.
Naruto did not chase.
He stood still.
The dark-red chakra spread across his body like living flame.
And then—
A tail formed behind him.
"…What?"
Sasuke's expression blanked.
Around the Training Ground, the Genius Class erupted.
"Why does Naruto have a tail?!" Tenten rubbed her eyes furiously.
"He's showing his true form! I knew he wasn't human!" Kiba blurted.
"Woof!" Akamaru barked nervously.
"That chakra…" Karin's voice trembled. "It feels… evil."
They didn't need her to say it.
The aura pressing down on the field was violent.
Ancient.
Predatory.
Chino swallowed. "Is he… really not human?"
"Of course he is!" Ino shot back. "He's the Fourth Hokage's son!"
Shikamaru's eyes sharpened.
"…It's a Tailed Beast transformation."
"Tailed Beast?" Sakura echoed.
"Remember Yagura Karatachi?" Shikamaru said quietly. "The Fourth Mizukage. Three-Tails Jinchūriki."
That battle had been the beginning of Kitazawa's legend.
Every student knew the story.
"…Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?" Ino whispered.
Neji. Shino. Yakumo.
All of them stared in stunned silence.
Not far away, the teachers were far calmer.
They had known for years.
Iruka included.
He had lived through the Nine-Tails' rampage.
"Has Naruto already learned to borrow Kyuubi's chakra?" Hiruzen asked, surprised.
He knew Kitazawa had been taking Naruto to the Forest of Death.
But this level—in just two months?
"His relationship with Kyuubi is good," Kitazawa replied lightly.
Hiruzen raised a brow.
"…Then he may one day become a Perfect Jinchūriki?"
The Nine-Tails was the strongest of all Tailed Beasts.
Yet no one had ever fully mastered it.
Even Yagura, though terrifying, had only been the Three-Tails.
Cloud Village had once shown the world what a Perfect Jinchūriki looked like.
The power was overwhelming.
But—
It was extraordinarily rare.
"Hard to say," Kitazawa answered calmly. "Naruto's still young. Whether he can reach that level depends on the future."
Hiruzen nodded slowly.
"Still… this is an excellent beginning."
Kosuke frowned slightly. "Now that he's revealed Kyuubi's chakra, his identity won't stay hidden."
"We'll need tighter protection."
"Of course," Hiruzen agreed. "But Konoha is not what it once was."
Years ago, he would have worried.
Now?
Konoha stood at its strongest point in decades.
"With Kitazawa here," Kurenai said proudly, "Naruto will be fine."
She smiled faintly.
"After all… he's mastered the Flying Thunder God."
"What?!"
Hiruzen. Kakashi. Kosuke.
All three stiffened.
Kitazawa scratched his cheek.
"Just a little talent," he said casually, producing a marked kunai.
The Flying Thunder God formula gleamed faintly.
He had only told Tsunade and Kurenai.
Not because he meant to hide it—
But because he simply hadn't needed it yet.
The silence that followed was heavy.
On the battlefield—
Naruto's single crimson tail swayed slowly behind him.
And across from him—
Sasuke tightened his grip on the Thunder God Sword.
The real fight—Had only just begun.
"Now there's truly no need to worry about Naruto," Kosuke sighed. "With the Flying Thunder God , Kitazawa can reach him instantly, no matter where he is."
He paused, eyes distant.
"I never imagined the Yellow Flash of old would appear in Konoha again."
At those words, Kakashi stiffened.
His thoughts drifted to Minato Namikaze.
As Minato's student, he had once tried to learn the Flying Thunder God himself.
He had failed.
Not from lack of effort—
But from lack of talent.
"He shouldn't be called the Yellow Flash," Chen corrected thoughtfully. "Black Flash would suit him better."
"Titles," Hiruzen said calmly, "are given by enemies. With Kitazawa's strength, the world will name him soon enough."
A shrill, piercing chirp split the air.
Conversation ceased.
All eyes snapped back to the battlefield.
Sasuke had no time to dwell on Naruto's transformation. Overthinking in combat meant death.
Lightning flared brilliantly around him.
He vanished—and reappeared before Uzumaki Naruto.
Lightning Release: Chidori Nagashi!
Crackling bolts burst outward like a nest of furious serpents, devouring the ground as they surged toward Naruto.
Sasuke followed, Thunder God Sword raised for the finishing strike—
Then his breath caught.
The crimson tail behind Naruto whipped sideways.
Lightning shattered.
The tail didn't slow.
It smashed forward like a warhammer forged of pure chakra.
Sasuke crossed his blade in defense.
BOOM.
The impact blasted him backward, boots carving trenches into the earth.
But he did not panic.
He steadied himself.
Locked eyes with Naruto.
Konoha Style: Willow!
The Thunder God Sword flashed, leaving layered afterimages meant to trap and immobilize.
"Wind Release: Shuriken!"
Naruto moved freely—completely unaffected.
He flicked a single shuriken.
Sasuke's pupils shrank.
He aborted Willow instantly and twisted aside.
The shuriken struck the ground—and detonated.
The earth fractured. A deep crater split the Training Ground.
Sasuke stared.
How is that power possible?
Wind Release had never hit like that before.
That dark-red chakra—
It wasn't just amplification.
It was something else entirely.
His first instinct had been that Naruto had mastered something akin to Yang Release Chakra Mode.
But—
Tails?
What technique grows tails?
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted.
Naruto grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
"Next comes the real result of my training!"
Sasuke tightened his grip.
'That wasn't the result of your training?'
What kind of training produces chakra like this?
Was this even fair?
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto formed seals.
Sasuke frowned.
Shadow Clones? Now?
Then—
The field exploded.
Shadow after shadow after shadow—
In an instant, the Training Ground was flooded.
Two thousand Narutos.
Green jumpsuits as far as the eye could see.
Sasuke froze.
"…That's absurd," Kosuke muttered under his breath.
Kakashi's eye twitched.
'That chakra…'
Was it a hundred times his own?
"Jinchūriki truly are born different," Kurenai murmured in disbelief.
"Not all Jinchūriki are like this," Hiruzen corrected gently.
He thought of Senju Hashirama.
Naruto already carried that same overwhelming vitality.
'If he could use Wood Release as well…'
Konoha would stand unmatched.
—
Silence.
Then chaos.
"Did I fall under a genjutsu?!" Kiba yelped. "Akamaru, bite me!"
"Woof!"
"OW—OW—IT'S REAL?!"
"Can someone count them?!" Ino cried. "All I see is green!"
"Definitely over a thousand," Shino said stiffly.
"I'm starting to think Naruto really isn't human," Tayuya muttered.
Karin nodded weakly.
"This… is the terror of a Jinchūriki."
Shikamaru exhaled slowly.
Before, Sasuke. Neji. Yakumo. Sometimes they could win.
Now?
That possibility was evaporating.
Neji clenched his fist—Then slowly released it.
He had once believed his World-Destroying Arrow could rival Naruto.
Now he understood.
Against a Tailed Beast Ball?
It was naïve.
Jūgo stared, stunned. "That chakra… even surpasses the full Curse Mark."
Kimimaro fell silent.
From this moment on—
He abandoned any thought of defeating Naruto.
It was impossible.
Shion thought of Mōryō.
Compared to a true Tailed Beast—
Mōryō was nothing.
"SASUKE, COME ON!"
Two thousand voices roared in unison.
The sound crashed like a tidal wave.
Sasuke's ears rang.
His head throbbed.
But those weren't the real problem.
The real problem was—
Despair.
For the first time, looking at Naruto—
He felt the urge to surrender.
The gap between them was no longer subtle.
It was visible.
Tangible.
Overwhelming.
Yet—
The pride of the Uchiha would not allow him to kneel.
Not yet.
Sasuke's eyes hardened.
He refused to kneel to despair.
Without hesitation, he formed hand signs, dragging every last thread of chakra from his coils.
Lightning Release: Chidori Nagashi!
A violent surge of chakra burst outward, exploding into savage lightning. The battlefield became a storm of blue-white arcs.
Nearby Shadow Clones were swallowed by the electricity, bursting into smoke amid startled cries.
Sasuke's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly.
He searched.
Found him.
"There!"
"Wind Release: Shuriken!"
Naruto moved first, hurling a wind-infused blade straight at him.
Sasuke vanished—and reappeared directly before Naruto's true body.
No hesitation.
No retreat.
Yin Release: Rasengan!
A swirling sphere of emerald chakra bloomed in his palm as he thrust forward.
"Yang Release: Rasengan!"
Now empowered by Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto formed his own spiraling sphere with frightening ease. The crimson aura around him pulsed wildly.
After all—
The Kyuubi sealed within him was the Yang Nine-Tails.
The Yin half still slumbered within the Shinigami's stomach.
BOOM!
Yin and Yang collided.
The impact detonated in a violent cyclone of clashing forces. Wind howled. Earth cracked. The air itself screamed.
For a heartbeat—
They were equal.
Then the balance broke.
Naruto's vast chakra overwhelmed Sasuke's.
Dark-red power devoured the green Rasengan like wildfire consuming dry grass and surged forward in a tidal wave.
Sasuke retreated instantly.
But there was nowhere to go.
The Training Ground was a sea of Narutos.
The moment he landed, fists and kicks rained down from every direction.
"Chidori Nagashi!"
Lightning erupted again, shredding the nearest clones into smoke.
Sasuke inhaled sharply.
He couldn't drag this out.
He couldn't create distance.
One shinobi versus two thousand?
Impossible.
"Lightning Release: Double Chidori!"
Thunder screamed from both hands as he launched himself toward Naruto's true body, moving with reckless resolve.
This was his only chance.
A final, decisive strike.
Birdsong split the sky as he slashed from both sides—
"Konoha Dragon God!"
Naruto spun.
A massive dark-red dragon roared into existence around him.
Sasuke's pupils shrank.
Too late to stop.
He drove both Chidori forward.
Lightning and crimson chakra collided in a blinding explosion.
The shockwave blasted Sasuke backward.
He crashed into the ground.
Before he could rise, the surrounding Shadow Clones swarmed him, fists and feet striking mercilessly.
"Enough. The match is decided."
Kitazawa appeared instantly before Sasuke, halting the assault.
Naruto scratched his head sheepishly and dispelled the clones.
Smoke cleared.
Silence fell.
Sasuke lay on the ground, bruised and swollen.
But the emptiness in his eyes was worse than any injury.
Kitazawa knelt and extended his hand. Soft green light flowed from his palm.
The bruises faded. The swelling vanished.
Within seconds, Sasuke's body was restored.
But Kitazawa knew—
The true wound wasn't physical.
Since entering the Genius Class, Sasuke and Naruto had competed shoulder to shoulder.
Rivals.
Equals.
Today—
The gap had become undeniable.
"Do you know why you lost?" Kitazawa asked quietly.
Sasuke's gaze flickered.
"…Because he's stronger."
"Because he's the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."
Sasuke froze.
His understanding of Jinchūriki came from one name—Utakata.
So that was it.
The reason.
The explanation.
He could accept losing once.
He could not accept losing forever.
"…Can I ever defeat him?" Sasuke asked, voice low.
Kitazawa didn't answer directly.
Instead, he asked:
"Do you know what the Nine-Tails fears most?"
Sasuke looked up.
"…What?"
"Mangekyō Sharingan."
The words struck like lightning.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
Mangekyō.
His father, Fugaku, had once mentioned it.
He had seen it, too—
In his brother's eyes.
"That's right," Kitazawa continued calmly. "In the past, Uchiha Madara used it to control the Nine-Tails and battle the First Hokage at the Valley of the End."
Sasuke's breathing quickened.
"Then how do I awaken it?"
He had asked before.
The answer was always the same—
You're too young. You'll understand when you're older.
But Kitazawa smiled faintly.
"Through special training."
His voice carried absolute confidence.
"If you can endure it, I guarantee you will awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan."
Sasuke's lifeless eyes reignited.
"I can endure it."
No hesitation.
No doubt.
"Good," Kitazawa said, patting his shoulder. "We begin during winter break."
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Sasuke clenched his fists.
He would engrave this humiliation into his soul.
The helplessness.
The despair.
The sight of two thousand Narutos.
And one day—When his Mangekyō awakened—He would return this defeat.
With interest.
Kitazawa watched him quietly.
Comforting Sasuke had never been difficult.
Especially this version—
The one whose clan still lived.
The one who still had something worth protecting.
And something worth surpassing.
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