Chapter 192: A Playful Spar

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 192: A Playful Spar

"Water Release… Raging Water Dragon!" Kakashi used the nearby pond to call upon a water jutsu potent enough to disperse the fire.

As he landed back on the ground, Kakashi noticed it was softer than normal.

"Toad Sage Arts… Swamp Binding Formation."

As he heard Naruto's voice, the dirt beneath him turned into mud, and he felt himself being dragged into it.

Kakashi hurried to jump away, but tentacle-like appendages shot out from the swamp and grabbed onto his limbs.

"Mmm… that's an annoying jutsu." Naruto ignored the figure of Kakashi being dragged into the swamp and focused on the real one that had just escaped into the forest using a 'substitution jutsu' he'd previously set up.

"Toad Sage Arts… Stamp!" A cloud of smoke appeared above the forest, and from within the smoke, a colossal toad's foot descended, crushing everything in its path.

Kakashi had to hurry and move away from his hiding spot before being crushed.

'He's not giving me time to breathe…' Kakashi thought as he endured a barrage of attacks from Naruto.

'It's like he's trying to show me his arsenal of Sage Arts…' Kakashi thought again.

His Sharingan picked up a shift in the air around him, and he knew his opponent was about to attack again.

Naruto saw Kakashi return to the clearing while he floated above it. He snapped his fingers, aiming in Kakashi's direction. "Sage Arts… Wind Blast." Pressurized air shot out like a cannon.

Kakashi raised his arms in defense but was sent flying by the impact. "Urgh!"

When he managed to regain his balance and glance up, Naruto had already disappeared again and was reading the next attack.

Kakashi then felt a wave of heat behind him.

"Sage Arts… Flaming Maelstrom."

"That's…!" Kakashi recognized the technique that was bein directed at him. It was the Rasengan, but completely composed of fire.

This version was different from the iteration Naruto had used against Tsunade. He had learned to avoid keeping it close to himself to prevent self-injury.

Once the fiery Rasengan was on target, Naruto released it, letting it move forward on its own like a projectile.

Kakashi had no more substitutions prepared and immediately understood how difficult it would be to avoid. The spinning motion of the Rasengan created a wind current that pulled him in while intensifying the flames in the process.

With only a moment of hesitation, Kakashi pushed his Sharingan to its limit. The three tomoe shifted into a shuriken-like shape with three tips.

"Kamui!" Kakashi called.

Naruto's fiery Rasengan was pulled into the dimension created by Kakashi's ability and disappeared completely.

"Oh?" Naruto stopped in his tracks upon seeing this. His curiosity always got the better of him when witnessing unfamiliar techniques.

As the smoke and dust cleared, Naruto noticed Kakashi's Sharingan had taken a different form.

"The Sharingan has another stage? How interesting." Naruto's intrigue grew.

'Maybe I should use the wind one next and see how he handles it.' He began to consider. Wanting to experiment some more with that technique and try to understand it.

"W-wait!" Kakashi finally called. "Let's stop here."

"You want to stop now? I still have a few more jutsu to show you," Naruto replied.

" To be honest … for a moment, I thought you were trying to kill me," Kakashi said while using his headband to cover his left eye again.

Naruto noticed Kakashi looked pained but was certain none of his jutsu had caused significant damage. He also seem to be extremly tired, despite the fact that they just fought for like a minute. "Side effects?" He concluded that it was the last technique he used.

Kakashi nodded. "The Mangekyō Sharingan is the ultimate technique of the Uchiha clan, but it doesn't come without drawbacks."

"Then you shouldn't use something like that during a playful spar. You take things too seriously," Naruto shook his head and sighed.

"Playful spar…" Kakashi flinched.

"Yes, I was just showing you some Sage Arts. I even called their names out loud and performed them slowly so you could examine them," Naruto explained.

"Wait… what do you mean by calling their names out loud?" Kakashi didn't notice anything strange in Naruto's movements or actions.

"I mean this." In an instant, Naruto snapped his fingers. Kakashi felt something whiz past him like a bullet, followed by a loud cracking noise.

When he turned back, he saw several trees with the top halves of their trunks missing.

"Normally, I'd use it like that."

"That's… not how ninjutsu works," Kakashi muttered. Ninjutsu required circulating chakra, performing hand signs, and chanting names to shape techniques before releasing them.

"What you just did, is skipping several steps."

"It's not ninjutsu," Naruto told him. "I'm just releasing some of the energy stored in my body and shaping it as it's released." He lifted his palm, and a mass of chakra began spinning, forming a Rasengan. "Like this."

The blue sphere took on a green hue as a current of wind formed around it.

Kakashi observed closely as a wind-elemental Rasengan took shape in Naruto's hand.

Naruto threw it into the air, and it floated for a moment before he caught it with his other hand. He moved the wind sphere around while steadily increasing its potency.

The wind current grew strong enough that Kakashi had to exert effort to avoid being pulled in.

Naruto played with it like a toy, but Kakashi could tell that if any living being came into contact with that sphere, they'd be torn apart.

Eventually, Naruto grew bored and tossed the Rasengan into the air, where it exploded, creating a powerful gust of wind.

"Something like that," Naruto said. "I can use other elements, but wind is the easiest for me to manipulate."

"So it's true… you can keep Sage Mode active the entire time…" Kakashi muttered. If he told anyone, they'd call him crazy, but he couldn't deny what he'd seen. Naruto was using Sage Arts one after another without any apparent strain or change in appearance.

At that moment, the Naruto clone that had been sent away returned carrying two large containers.

"Let's leave it at that for now. It's ramen time!" Naruto said with a wide grin on his face.

Kakashi sighed. "At least something hasn't changed..."

A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.

You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters.-.com/Kriogenix