Chapter 189: Kakashi’s Discovery

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 189: Kakashi's Discovery

Three days later.

"Yo!" Kakashi jumped over the gates leading to the training field and stood in front of Naruto.

The blonde young man glanced at his former sensei. Today, Kakashi was wearing his usual Jonin attire instead of his ANBU uniform. "Should I still call you Fox, or…"

Kakashi made a dismissive gesture. "No, no, today I'm not working. You can call me Kakashi." His uncovered eye scanned Naruto.

He'd been keeping a watch on him since spotting him casually walking around the village, but if Naruto noticed his presence, he showed no sign of it.

In Naruto's hand was a large bag containing two bowls of steaming-hot ramen, which Kakashi had seen him buy from his favorite place.

"Are you planning to have lunch inside the training field?" Kakashi asked.

He found it odd that Naruto hadn't eaten at Teuchi's stand and had instead brought the food here.

Naruto scratched his head. "I was also planning on getting some training done. I hope you don't mind me using this field. It's one of the best places to practice without a lot of spectators."

Kakashi shrugged in response. "You know I'm no longer a Jonin sensei. I have no team, so I have no authority over this location anymore." He glanced toward the field.

They were standing at the entrance, the path ahead led through a small forest and into the clearing where they used to train. "As long as it's not assigned to someone else, I suppose there's no harm in you using it."

Kakashi was fairly certain Tsunade had purposely left this training field unassigned for Naruto. Otherwise, it wouldn't have remained vacant for two years, given the limited number of fields available for new teams.

"That's great, then." Naruto walked a bit further inside. "Was there something you wanted to discuss?" He was eager to move the conversation along before the ramen got cold and soggy.

"Actually…" Kakashi stared at him for a moment, as if analyzing something. "Can I make a selfish request? Do you mind if we have a quick spar? There's something I'd like to test."

"I could've guessed." Everyone seemed fixated on his progress. Naruto walked to a nearby rock and placed the ramen bag on top. "Very well."

"We could go further inside... there's more room in the clearing," Kakashi suggested.

The passage at the entrance was somewhat narrow, opening up further inside.

Naruto shook his head. "There's not as much room as you think. We'd better do it here. And I'd like it if we hurried… the ramen's going to get cold."

Kakashi tilted his head in confusion. He didn't understand Naruto's comment about the clearing but decided to focus on the spar. "Thank you."

He lifted his headband, revealing the Sharingan hidden underneath.

"Taking it seriously from the beginning, huh?" Naruto commented.

"Yes. I don't think I can take it easy against you anymore," Kakashi replied, adopting a fighting stance. "I hope you don't hold back too much either…"

Naruto smiled. "I'll only hold back as much as necessary."

Kakashi said no more and rushed into action. Moving at tremendous speed, he aimed a powerful kick at Naruto's legs while analyzing every movement with his Sharingan.

Naruto blocked the kick with perfect precision, leaving no openings, so Kakashi promptly followed up with another attack.

The two exchanged several blows using only taijutsu, but neither landed a hit.

Kakashi stepped back, putting some distance between them. He knew Naruto specialized in close-range combat, much like his rival, Maito Gai.

Having extensive experience with Gai, Kakashi didn't expect to win with taijutsu alone. However, he detected something peculiar during their exchange.

Naruto's movements were slower than expected. The only reason Kakashi couldn't land a hit was Naruto's impeccable precision, leaving no openings.

'Is he holding back?...he must be.' Kakashi concluded. He was only moving at maybe sixty percent of his maximum speed and there was no way that Naruto could be so much slower than him.

Performing a series of hand signs, Kakashi launched a fireball jutsu at Naruto. Using the fireball as a distraction, he prepared two shadow clones for an ambush.

As expected, Naruto had already avoided the ball of fire and was getting closer to him. In response, he pulled out a few kunais and threw them at him.

When he saw the blonde boy catching his own kunai and using it to deflect the others, he realized that Naruto had been completely unarmed from the beginning. He was not carrying his sword or any other tool on him.

Ninjas rarely go around completely unprepared, even inside the village. An emergency could occur at any moment.

'Then again…this could be just Nauto's careless attitude. But I cannot shake the feeling that something is off with him…' Kakashi thought.

His former student was now at the offensive and was coming straight for him. Kakashi could not help but scowl slightly at this approach. His sharingan could not detect any hidden traps or anything deception on his part.

"How reckless…"

The ground before Naruto became soft as quicksand and his feet began to sink into the ground.

A pair of hands came out from beneath and tried to grab one of his legs while another one of Kakashi's clones jumped off one of the nearby trees while the real Kakashi held a new kunai in his hand and aimed it at Naruto.

'Is this it?' Kakashi thought, slightly disappointed.

Then Naruto took a deep breath and released a powerful stream of wind, dissipating the quicksand and destroying the clones.

Kakashi recognized the B-rank jutsu but was impressed by Naruto's ability to perform it without hand signs or a verbal cue.

Naruto jumped into the air toward Kakashi, then suddenly propelled himself sideways mid-air at tremendous speed.

"What?" Kakashi was shocked. His Sharingan detected no jutsu or chakra fluctuation.

Noticing movement behind him, Kakashi turned to see Naruto with a Rasengan in hand. The blue sphere of energy promptly changed colors to adopt a greenish tone and he could tell that a lot of wind chakra was being concentrated in that little sphere.

'A wind rasengan…it seems like Naruto had been working hard on improving his father's jutsu.' Kakashi took a brief instant to consider how to tackle this unknown variant of his Sensei technique, when all of a sudden, Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"Oh… I used too much," Naruto said with a pained expression.

"What do you m—"

Puff!

Kakashi stared in shock as Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving no trace. His Sharingan couldn't track him.

There was only one explanation for this. "Have I been fighting a shadow clone the whole time?" Kakashi muttered, stunned.

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