"The rules are the same as before," said Kakashi, his hand brushing against the twin bells at his hip, which tinkled softly. "You may use whatever tactics you wish to take the bells from me."
Sakura raised her hand, as if she were still a student at the academy.
"If I remember correctly, didn't you say we ought to attack you with killing intent last time?" she asked. "Does that mean…?"
Kakashi had the distinct impression that he wasn't being taken seriously, which made him feel a bit nostalgic for the old days of Team 7. Seriously, these three brats weren't cute at all any more…
"Going easy on your opponent is a sure-fire way to get yourself and your teammates killed," Kakashi explained, adopting the most serious tone he could muster. "That being said… I'd appreciate it if you didn't use that big Jutsu you used earlier."
Sparring was always risky business for shinobi. Even a C-rank Ninjutsu could wreak widespread destruction, yet a shinobi's body remained, for the most part, human. After all, it wasn't as if just anyone could withstand getting punched clean through walls like Naruto.
"Anyway, let's begin," said Kakashi nonchalantly, snapping his book shut.
"Heh-heh," Naruto sniggered, "not gonna read this time, Kakashi-sensei?"
He couldn't wait to show off his new skills to Sakura!
Before Naruto left the village for two and a half years with Jiraiya, Sakura used to nag him to learn new Jutsu, so he was bound to impress her when he revealed to her his brand-new technique: the Big Ball Rasengan. And if that wasn't enough… the Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan was bound to make her knickers moist with her love juices, since she loved Jutsu so much— though he hadn't perfected that one just yet.
Kakashi adjusted his forehead protector, revealing his Sharingan. Sakura and Sasuke activated their Sharingan as well, making Naruto feel quite inadequate as the only person present without a fancy Dōjutsu.
…
Since no one was making a move, Sakura decided to go first.
"Assassination Genjutsu: Breast Illusion!"
She clapped her hands together, trapping her breasts between her forearms. As she released the pose, they sprang back into their usual round teardrop shapes, trembling and bouncing lightly with the movement, releasing hypnotic yin chakra.
Sakura frowned— something was wrong.
"Wait, he swapped places with a clone!" shouted Sakura, as Naruto and Sasuke unleashed a volley of shuriken at Kakashi. "It's not the real one!"
Kakashi must have done it before they opened their Sharingan, or perhaps he had never truly been there to begin with. Otherwise, they would have seen him activating his chakra or caught a glimpse of him moving at high speed with the Substitution Jutsu.
Sakura glanced around. They were in the middle of a clearing in the Third Training Ground, which meant there was nowhere to hide, sooo…
"Underground!" Sakura shouted. "Area Scanning Jutsu!"
Sakura slammed her palms against the ground, sending out a pulse of chakra that echoed back from the bedrock below, confirming her suspicions. Kakashi was indeed hiding in a hole beneath the surface using the Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu!
Once again, Sakura struck the ground, but this time she made her chakra explode much more violently from her fist, pulverising the dirt in a wide area and creating a huge depression in the ground, revealing Kakashi's dazed figure below.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Dozens of columns of white smoke erupted from the ground, quickly dispersing to reveal Naruto's Shadow Clones. Using the smoke as cover while it lasted, Sasuke discreetly took the guise of Naruto with the Transformation Jutsu.
"Transformation Jutsu!"
But to his surprise, Naruto's Shadow Clones all transformed into copies of Sakura in the following instant, making his disguise rather useless.
"Let's use that technique, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto eagerly. "You know, that one!"
"That's a bit inappropriate, Naruto," said Sakura, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Kakashi-sensei is Kakashi-sensei, you know?"
It was one thing to flash your enemies— Breast Illusion could work to a certain extent with her clothes on, but it worked best when her naked breasts were visible. But Kakashi was someone she'd have to keep company with for the foreseeable future. How could she possibly look him in the eye if he thought she was some sort of streaker!?
Naruto's Shadow Clones were sure to bare it all if they used that Cooperative Ninjutsu!
"I wasn't gonna go all out," Naruto insisted. "…hang on, where did Kakashi-sensei go, y'know?"
Kakashi had vanished into the crowd of Sakura lookalikes while they'd been distracted. Sakura scanned them with her Dōjutsu— whether Shadow Clones or Kakashi himself, they were all using the Transformation Jutsu, which made it hard to identify the odd man out. If only Naruto could dispel his Shadow Clones, or at least command them to drop their disguises, she'd have no trouble finding the real one with her Sharingan, even if Kakashi then took Naruto's form.
"Ah!" shouted Naruto, pointing at Sasuke. "There's Kakashi-sensei! He transformed into me!"
Before Sakura could tell him that he had it all wrong, Naruto launched himself at Sasuke.
"You idiot!"
And that's when Sakura felt fingers wrapping around her ankles.
"Eep!" Sakura yelped in surprise as she was yanked underground.
What happened next took place within a fraction of a second:
First, Sakura's descent came to an abrupt halt as the underside of her ample bust collided with the ground, stopping her from sinking any further. She simply couldn't squeeze through the hole that Kakashi had dug out under her!
Then, as her reflexes kicked in, lightning chakra erupted from all 361 of her Tenketsu, covering her from head to toe in a pseudo-chakra cloak… and since Kakashi was holding on to her ankles, he was instantly shocked into unconsciousness, clearly not expecting to be hit by an attack.
After experiencing that harsh training for days on end, her body had ended up learning the Lightning Style Chakra Mode's chakra circulation method properly… but without having finished the training or completed the body modification, she couldn't maintain it for more than a few seconds at a time.
Using Lightning Chakra Mode in this manner was impractical, given the amount of brainpower she had to dedicate to circulating her lightning chakra outside her body, without the chakra metal skin modification conducting it automatically for her.
It was simply too distracting and inefficient to use in most combat scenarios.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura said tentatively. "Are… are you okay?"
No response came.
Sakura wriggled in place, but she was well and truly stuck. Her arms were immobilised at her sides, making it impossible for her to weave hand signs… or use the Rasengan or Chakra Enhanced Strength without blowing up her thighs. But given ten seconds, she was sure she'd be able to extirpate herself without too much trouble.
"Oi, you two!" Sakura called out to her teammates. Naruto's face was black and blue from the fierce blows he had bravely blocked with his own face. "You can stop fighting now! We've already won!"
The two boys froze in place and looked in Sakura's direction. Buried up to her chest in compacted dirt, Sakura didn't look particularly victorious…