"Boom—!!!"
Accompanied by a loud bang and a sky-piercing fire, the "Super Instant Light Brilliant Wind Dragon Flame Heavenly Vortex Roaring Formation" slammed squarely into Kakashi's original position.
The raging fiery tornado devoured everything, turning that area into a scorching inferno, and the hot air currents it whipped up even made Sakura, who was some distance away, feel her skin prickle with heat.
"Waaah! Wait, wait a minute! You guys killed Kakashi Sensei!"
Sakura had been immersed in the shock of her teammates being able to unleash such a destructive attack, and a sense of inferiority and frustration welled up within her.
But when she saw that Kakashi didn't dodge or evade, and was completely swallowed by the terrifying fiery tornado, her shock instantly turned into horror, and she couldn't help but scream.
"You're so loud, Sakura!" Naruto didn't even turn his head, his gaze still fixed on the gradually dissipating smoke and flames. "You're underestimating a Jonin's strength, aren't you? How could Kakashi Sensei be taken down so easily?"
There was a hint of helplessness in his tone, and he grumbled inwardly about how, in this world that had only left the Warring States period a generation ago, people seemed to have no clear concept of the true strength of powerful Ninjas.
Sure enough, as the flames and smoke gradually dispersed, revealing the ravaged scene, four thick earth walls stood prominently around the spot where Kakashi had previously stood, forming a sturdy defensive barrier. Even more striking was that—on the front of each earth wall, a lifelike dog head sculpture was clearly carved.
However, at this moment, these earth walls had been blackened by the high-temperature flames, and their surfaces were covered with spiderweb-like cracks, clearly having withstood a huge impact, but they had, after all, successfully defended.
"Is that Earth Style Ninjutsu?"
Satsuki said with a grave tone. Indeed, a Jonin was not so easily defeated.
However, Naruto looked at the Earth Style Wall, which even in an emergency defense did not forget to maintain its personal style, and couldn't help but inwardly grumble again, "There it is… even though his Chakra isn't particularly abundant, he still insists on making these dog head shapes when performing Earth Style Wall…"
Satsuki tightly locked onto the cracked Earth Style Wall with the dog head carvings, trying to catch any movement through the gradually dissipating smoke.
However, Naruto had already detected the extremely subtle yet unusually rapid Chakra fluctuations coming from the soil beneath his feet!
"Run!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Naruto issued the warning in the shortest possible sound, and at the same instant, he pushed off the ground with his feet, leaping sharply backward and to the side!
Almost at the same moment Naruto's voice rang out, Satsuki, though unable to directly sense the anomaly underground, her unconditional trust in Naruto meant her brain didn't even have time to think, her body instinctively followed the command, swiftly dodging to the other side as well.
Their reaction speed was astonishingly fast; they vacated their original positions almost simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Sakura, upon hearing Naruto's sudden warning, first froze for a moment, and just as she, flustered by this momentary hesitation, was about to imitate her companions and jump away—it was already too late!
A hand, without any warning, broke through the soil beneath her feet and firmly grabbed her ankle! The cold touch and powerful grip made Sakura let out a short shriek of surprise.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!"
The voice came from underground. Immediately after, an irresistible, immense force abruptly dragged Sakura downwards!
"Waaah—!"
Accompanied by a terrified scream, Sakura felt the world spin, her body being pulled headfirst beneath the solid ground.
In just the blink of an eye, all her struggles and cries were swallowed by the earth. When she recovered from the violent shaking, she was horrified to find that, except for her head which was still exposed, her entire body was deeply buried in the ground.
And Kakashi, at his leisure, squatted in front of her, his exposed eye carrying a hint of scrutiny.
"In battle, lacking a clear understanding of one's own strength, and even freezing up when the leader issues an emergency warning…"
Kakashi's tone was calm, yet every word pierced her heart. "How is it? You can't move at all now, can you? This is the price of a lapse."
"How, how can this be…?" Sakura murmured in shock and shame, unable to believe it. "Kakashi Sensei was clearly still over there, protected by the earth wall just now!"
"Using Earth Style for movement and surprise attacks is not a difficult thing for a qualified Jonin."
Kakashi explained faintly, his gaze, however, darting towards Naruto and Satsuki, who had already regrouped in the distance, standing by in full readiness. "Compared to those two, you indeed have a very, very long way to go."
Watching Sakura lower her head deeply in frustration and self-reproach, Kakashi slowly stood up. His gaze once again turned to Naruto and Satsuki in the distance, and his hands began to form a simple hand sign.
"Bang bang bang bang bang…"
A series of faint white smoke explosions suddenly rang out across various parts of the training ground! One after another, Kakashi's figures appeared out of thin air, their numbers rapidly increasing, reaching twenty in the blink of an eye!
What was even more troublesome was that each clone held two jingling bells in its hands!
The next moment, these twenty Kakashi clones, holding bells, scattered without hesitation, swiftly darting into the dense woods on both sides of the training ground.
On the scene, only one Kakashi remained, still standing beside Sakura, who was buried in the earth with only her head exposed.
This Kakashi looked at the two solemn-faced individuals in the distance, as if he suddenly remembered something, and gave a "warm" reminder in his characteristic lazy, slightly annoying tone.
"Oh, right, a reminder—I'm not the real body, you know." He pointed to himself. "The real body is currently holding the bells, hiding somewhere in the woods."
He looked up at the sky; the sun was already nearing noon.
"It's almost noon, and you don't have much time left. I hope that before then, you two can successfully find my real body in the forest and successfully snatch the bells."
"Good luck to you both."