The crack of shattered wood still echoed through the far reaches of Training Ground Number 7.
Kakashi Hatake, his breathing controlled but his heart pounding at a critical combat rhythm, kept his hand on the blue cloth covering his left eye. The air between him and Naruto seemed to have solidified. He was no longer a teacher evaluating a student; he was a veteran of the Third Ninja War facing a lethal anomaly.
Slowly, with his thumb and forefinger, Kakashi slid his forehead protector upward.
When he opened his left eye, the mortal world seemed tinged with a subtle crimson hue. The sclera was pristine, but the iris was a brilliant, blood-red color, adorned with three black tomoe that lazily spun before locking onto their target. The air around him hummed as his chakra network adapted to the immense energy demand of his dōjutsu.
The Sharingan. The eye that copies. The eye that hypnotizes. The eye that sees the truth of energy.
The Hunter's Vision and the Immortal's Analysis
With the Sharingan active, Kakashi's vision changed drastically. He expected to see Naruto's chakra flow running wild, burning with the chaotic fury typical of the demon fox sealed within him, or perhaps pumping frantically to maintain that unnatural physical strength.
What he saw left him frozen.
The blond boy's chakra circulation system was... an abyss of tranquility. Blue energy flowed through his meridians with the slowness and weight of liquid mercury. There was no waste. No leakage. Every drop of chakra was condensed and pressed against the walls of his energy channels, reinforcing his muscles, tendons, and bones to the point that his physical body radiated a terrifying density.
He's not using ninjutsu to enhance his strength, Kakashi realized, cold sweat beading on his forehead beneath his silver hair. That power, the way he shattered that log... it's pure physical modification. His body is the weapon. If I let him hit me one more time, not even the Sharingan will save me from having my bones crushed.
Across from him, Naruto did not recoil at the revelation of the infamous red eye. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, his own blue eyes devoid of any amazement.
A bloodline ocular art, Naruto analyzed within the stillness of his vast mind. In the Immortal World, ocular mutations were common among descendants of mythical beasts or clans cursed by the heavens. Saint Azure's Heavenly Void Eye could predict the collapse of stars and see through dimensional illusions.
Naruto looked at Kakashi's eye and quickly gauged its depth.
Three concentric pupils. It detects energy flow and accelerates the user's temporal perception to read micro-movements in the muscles, the Immortal deduced with surgical precision. A useful tool for a mortal, but inherently limiting. Rely too heavily on the eyes, and the soul's instincts atrophy. If your eyes tell you an attack is slow, but your body lacks the speed to dodge it, you die all the same.
"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan," Naruto spoke, his voice deep and steady, carrying effortlessly across the clearing. "You've drawn your finest sword. Good. Let's see whether your body can keep pace with what your eyes are about to witness."
Naruto bent his knees slightly, lowering his center of gravity by a mere millimeter. The ground beneath his sandals silently cracked under the immense pressure of his initial Body Tempering stage.
Kakashi drew a kunai with his right hand, holding it in a reverse grip, ready to intercept the charge.
But before either of them could close the distance, the temperature in the clearing rose dramatically.
The Prodigy's Breaking Point
Hidden among the thick branches of a pine tree fifteen meters above the ground, Sasuke Uchiha had reached his absolute limit.
His dark eyes, bloodshot from rage and humiliation, were fixed on the silver-haired Jōnin... and on the bright red eye that belonged to his clan. An outsider wielding the Sharingan! That revelation alone was an insult to his bloodline.
But what was truly shattering Sasuke's mind was not Kakashi's eye.
It was Naruto Uzumaki's relaxed back.
Why? screamed the Uchiha's mind, panic and toxic pride poisoning his judgment. He's the dead last! He's a talentless failure! I'm an avenger! I survived the massacre! I'm supposed to be the strongest!
Watching Naruto fight an elite Jōnin on equal footing, forcing him to use the Sharingan, shattered Sasuke's entire worldview. If Naruto was this strong, then what was Sasuke? A child playing ninja in the trees? If he couldn't even surpass the Academy loser, how was he ever going to kill Itachi?
Sasuke's breathing became erratic. His rationality evaporated beneath the boiling fire of his trauma. He forgot teamwork. He forgot caution. He forgot that he was revealing his position. He only needed to prove, right then and there, that his fire burned brighter than anything the blond could do.
His hands moved in a blur of muscle memory, weaving seals with desperate speed.
Snake... Ram... Monkey... Boar... Horse... Tiger.
Sasuke inhaled deeply, gathering every ounce of chakra from his stomach and kneading it within his lungs until his chest seemed ready to burst.
In the clearing, Kakashi's Sharingan spun violently, detecting the sudden and massive accumulation of fire-nature chakra in the trees above them.
Idiot! Kakashi thought, preparing to leap away. The impact zone will engulf both of us!
Naruto did not even turn his head, though his immortal senses had detected the hostile energy flow from the moment Sasuke formed his first hand seal.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu).
Sasuke's hoarse shout echoed from above. A second later, he exhaled.
A colossal sphere of roaring fire, the size of a small house, descended from the pine's canopy like a blazing meteor. Nearby branches withered and turned to ash instantly under the scorching heat. The fireball illuminated the training ground with blinding light, diving directly toward the spot where Kakashi and Naruto stood facing one another.
The air was sucked from the clearing, feeding the roar of the deadly flames that threatened to incinerate everything within a ten-meter radius.