Was this really Uzumaki Naruto standing before them?
The same dead-last who used to flunk every exam, who turned every single training drill into a running joke?
How could he have suddenly become this strong?
Shunshin no Jutsu wasn't exactly considered a high-level technique. In terms of training difficulty, it was about on par with the Clone Technique and the Substitution Technique.
But the simpler the jutsu, the more it relied on the user's raw ability—turning the gap between two practitioners into a chasm.
If Sasuke hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it even in a dream.
The Naruto he knew, the so-called dropout, displaying such an astonishing move?
In the years Naruto had been gone… where had he been, and what had he been doing?
"...Naruto…" Sasuke gritted his teeth, his voice low and heavy.
"Is that really… Naruto?" Sakura, hidden at another position, was equally stunned.
In her memory, Naruto had been awful in every possible way. Calling him simple-minded with underdeveloped limbs was almost too generous.
And when it came to chakra control, Naruto was without a doubt the worst person she had ever met.
The title of "dead-last" had suited him perfectly.
In fact, Sakura had always thought he lacked even the barest talent to be a shinobi.
The only reason he'd been placed in Team 7 at all must have been to balance the teams out.
But in that single instant just now… her entire understanding of Naruto had collapsed.
That Shunshin—so fast, so precise—even she couldn't execute it.
"Could it be… that Naruto has already surpassed me?"
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously, then she shook her head furiously, as if trying to rattle the very idea loose.
No, it had to be a trick of perception. She must have been so focused on watching Kakashi-sensei that she hadn't noticed Naruto's movements until too late, and only imagined it had been an advanced Shunshin.
Yes—that had to be it.
"Mm-hm. Mm-hm." She kept repeating excuses to comfort herself, nodding rapidly as though to force herself into denial. There was no way she'd admit that Naruto—the dropout—had surpassed her.
But even Kakashi himself was shocked by Naruto's use of the technique.
"A freshly graduated genin… pulling off a Shunshin at this level…"
"This is almost exactly like Minato-sensei…"
Kakashi's lone eye widened. For a moment, in Naruto's movements, he saw the silhouette of his own teacher, Namikaze Minato.
"So this… is the result of his training on Mount Myōboku?"
"It seems I underestimated you, Naruto."
Kakashi muttered silently to himself. That single move was enough to make him snap his book shut—reading Icha Icha while testing them was no longer an option.
At Naruto's current level, if Kakashi let his attention wander, the boy could very well snatch both bells on his own. That would defeat the entire point of this survival exercise.
"But… thinking about it, Naruto now really reminds me of myself back then."
Kakashi's gaze sharpened.
Back when Minato had tested him with this very same bell exercise, he too had charged in alone, trusting no one's strength but his own.
And if, at that time… Minato had truly recognized how badly Kakashi lacked a sense of teamwork—
Perhaps Obito and Rin… would never have died.
No—he could not allow Naruto…
…to repeat his mistakes.
That thought brought Kakashi's expression into focus as he lunged, his hand snapping to grip Naruto's wrist.
Just as Naruto's fingertips brushed the bells, Kakashi seized him with precision, halting his forward thrust. In the same motion, Kakashi slid one foot back, yanking the bells out of reach. Then, twisting with sudden torque, he spun his entire body and flung Naruto outward in a clean throw.
From their hiding places, Sasuke and Sakura locked eyes on the exchange.
Especially Uzumaki Naruto—both were torn between disbelief at his growth and anticipation for what he would do next.
Their hearts twisted with complicated emotions.
But no matter what they felt, Kakashi had countered Naruto's opening strike flawlessly.
"So this is the strength of a jōnin…"
Once again, Sasuke's heart shook. The speed of Naruto's Shunshin, the precision of his landing, the timing of his strike—there had been no visible flaws.
If their positions had been reversed, Sasuke wasn't sure he could have done better.
For a moment, he had nearly believed Naruto would succeed.
But then, at the decisive moment, Kakashi not only reacted in time—he had the composure to shut down Naruto's offense completely, severing his chance at victory.
As expected of a jōnin of Konoha.
"Hmph, just as I thought. Naruto only got lucky just now," Sakura muttered in relief as she watched him go tumbling back, tracing a parabola through the air.
For her, admitting Naruto had genuinely become capable was not an easy thing.
Yet in that clash, both Naruto and Kakashi had, in their own ways, acknowledged one another.
"Kakashi-sensei is even stronger than I thought…"
Naruto landed, eyes sharp, studying his teacher.
Just a moment ago, he had been certain he'd succeeded.
To be blunt, he even felt Kakashi's strength surpassed Jiraiya's when the latter wasn't using Sage Mode.
"But… now that my sneak attack with Shunshin has failed, trying the same move again won't work. Not against someone like him."
He murmured the assessment under his breath.
His opening gambit had revealed too much—his speed, his skill with Shunshin. And Kakashi, without even preparing, had adapted and shut him down.
Now that he was on guard, using Shunshin again would just waste chakra.
"In that case… I'll just use that jutsu."
Naruto inhaled deeply. Still flying back, he pressed his hands together in a familiar seal.
In the blink of an eye—puff, puff, puff—more than a dozen Narutos appeared, solid shadow clones lining the training ground.
"Wait—that's… the Shadow Clone Jutsu?!"
Sakura froze where she hid, her mind blank.
If his Shunshin could be dismissed as luck, this… this was undeniable proof of real power.
Every single clone was tangible, sharing Naruto's chakra. And to split into over a dozen at once meant his reserves were massive.
"Even with the normal Clone Technique, I can barely manage three…" she whispered, her breath trembling. "And wasn't Naruto the worst at clones? Since when did he—?!"
"…Naruto…"
Sasuke's gaze stayed locked on him, his emotions tangled in knots.
First Shunshin, now Shadow Clones.
How many jutsu had this idiot mastered in the years he was gone?
"Kakashi-sensei! I'm coming again!"
Naruto's real body hit the ground, braced himself, and shouted at his teacher with blazing determination.
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