Sasuke gripped the large weapon he had just unsealed.
"A ninja has to stay calm, no matter the situation," Naruto said, his voice sharp. "And you... you're completely disqualified on that front. You really let me down."
Naruto's words brought Sasuke sharply back to reality.
'He's right,' Sasuke thought, his own anger rising to meet his shame. 'Kakashi-sensei didn't even use a genjutsu. He just showed his Sharingan, and I froze. If he had actually used a proper technique, would I have just collapsed? All that training... for what?'
"If you lose this," Naruto's voice turned cold, "we're doing 'Super Intense Training' when we get back."
The words alone made Sasuke flinch. The last time he'd heard that phrase was... well, the last time. It was a memory he fought to keep buried.
'What's so great about his Sharingan?' Sasuke's frustration burned away his hesitation. 'I have two of them. A flash of crimson bled into his eyes, three black tomoe swirling into focus, a perfect mirror of Kakashi's. He refused to disappoint Naruto. And more than that, he refused to go through that training again. It might actually kill him.
"What the..." Now it was Kakashi's turn to be stunned. He stared at Sasuke's eyes, his own widening in disbelief. It wasn't a one-tomoe or a two-tomoe Sharingan. It was a fully matured Three-Tomoe Sharingan, identical to his own.
It had awakened during that last session of 'Super Intense Training'.
A twelve-year-old with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan, whose taijutsu was already on par with a jonin's before activating it... The word 'talented' wasn't enough anymore. Kakashi couldn't find the words to describe what he was feeling. First Naruto, now Sasuke, how were his students this powerful?
However, his shock wasn't over yet. Sasuke began taking off his clothes. It wasn't Sexy Jutsu, of course, but this would definitely have similar effect on Sakura.
*Thud!*
He tossed it backward, and it landed on the ground with enough force to kick up a cloud of dust. Kakashi's sharp eyes immediately recognized this as the same training method Guy used: Weighted Training.. Judging by the small crater the shirt left, the weights were incredibly heavy.
It was a hand-me-down set from Naruto, of course. Sasuke was growing fast, just not quite as fast as Naruto, so he was still using the leftovers.
Then, Sasuke started taking off his pants.
No, it still wasn't the Sexy Jutsu. Those had weights sewn into them as well. Next came the socks, the wristbands, and even the Konoha headband tied to his forehead.
'Just how much weight is he carrying?' A bead of sweat trickled down the back of Kakashi's neck. 'Kids these days are not cute at all.'
What was he supposed to do? The pressure was immense. If he couldn't beat him now, how embarrassing would that be? If Naruto weren't standing over there, glaring at him, Kakashi might have just snuck up and knocked Sasuke out to teach him a lesson about the complicated adult world.
As for Sakura, she had already dashed out from her hiding spot when Sasuke took his shirt off. The moment his pants came off, she collapsed with a spectacular nosebleed, a look of pure bliss on her face. She passed out before she could see that he was wearing a second pair of shorts underneath.
It seemed that Team 7, much like Guy's team often did, had completely forgotten their objective. Bells? What bells? They had no longer cared what the test was.
Or perhaps, one of them still remembered. On Naruto's right hand, held casually behind his back, a pair of silver bells glinted in the sunlight.
Kakashi hadn't even noticed they were gone from his waist.
"Haaah, my body feels so much lighter." Sasuke, having shed all his weights, stretched a few times, making cracking sounds like popping firecrackers, and sighed contentedly. "Are you ready?" Though it was a question, it carried no hint of genuine inquiry. He continued, pulling a scroll from his ninja tool pouch. A new weapon.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
As white smoke billowed from the unfurled scroll, Sasuke shot forward like an arrow.
'So fast!' The three tomoe in Kakashi's left eye spun wildly as he raised a kunai to defend.
Both of them had revealed their trump cards, it was time for a real fight. Sasuke's speed had more than doubled, and Kakashi, who had held a clear advantage before, now found himself struggling to keep up. In an instant, Sasuke was right in front of him. If not for his own Sharingan, Kakashi's eyes would have never been able to track the movement.
'His attack is still too direct,' Kakashi thought, moving to parry with his kunai. As Guy's eternal rival, he understood the effects of weighted training well. When the weights came off, speed increased dramatically, but strength shouldn't receive the same boost. With his Sharingan's predictive abilities, Kakashi was least worried about speed-focused opponents.
It was a good thing his opponent wasn't Naruto, who would have gleefully demonstrated what an 'acceleration-boosted attack' truly felt like. The advantage now was-
The advantage now was...
*CLANG!*
The moment his kunai met Sasuke's weapon, Kakashi knew he'd made a mistake. His entire right arm went numb, and a searing pain shot through his wrist. 'How did his strength increase so much?' he thought frantically. 'And what the hell is that thing? It has so many... spikes.'
He had no time to think. Sasuke's second attack was already coming. A whistling sound cut through the air, and Kakashi instinctively dodged to the side, not daring to block again.
Sasuke wouldn't let an opening like that go to waste. He pressed his advantage, his superior speed allowing him to close the distance instantly.
Then, their eyes met. 'Genjutsu: Sharingan.'
Sasuke froze, his body going rigid for a fraction of a second. It was all the time Kakashi needed to slip out of his attack range.
From the sidelines, Naruto frowned. A Three-Tomoe Sharingan falling for a genjutsu from another Three-Tomoe Sharingan? Even if Kakashi's already had the Mangekyo, it was still an embarrassing display. It was a shame he couldn't use genjutsu himself, or he'd be giving Sasuke a serious lesson in how to counter it.
The illusion broke, and Sasuke, realizing what had happened, immediately gave chase. His face was flushed crimson, though whether from anger or shame, it was hard to tell.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!" Kakashi quickly formed hand signs, enduring the throb in his right hand. The ground beneath Sasuke's feet churned into a muddy swamp, trapping him and slowing his pursuit.
Only then did Kakashi get a clear look at Sasuke's weapon.
He was wielding a massive, brutal-looking spiked club.
'I just got hit by that?' Kakashi thought, completely bewildered. 'What happened to the elegant sword style? Where's your Dance of the Crescent Moon? Why are you using this thing?'
The spiked club had been a gift from Naruto.
When Naruto had first suggested it, Sasuke had refused outright. He wasn't some brute who would swing a club just because Naruto told him to. Besides, the weapon was just plain ugly.
But after trying it once, he had to admit, this weapon was incredibly useful.
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