Chapter 51: Crippling Kakashi with One Punch
With Naruto's current abilities, he could completely become a Chunin, or even a Special Jonin.
However, Naruto gave the bells back to Kakashi, which made Kakashi find him somewhat unpredictable.
Kakashi held the bells, looked at Naruto, and said, "Are you sure you want to compete with me in Taijutsu?"
"Positive!"
Kakashi smiled and said, "Don't think that just because you frequently do body tempering, your Taijutsu is amazing. I can tell you clearly: body tempering and Taijutsu are two different things."
Naruto smiled, nodded, and looked at Kakashi, saying, "I know! I almost forgot, you should also know the Eight Gates, right? Tell me the Chakracirculation route."
"Are you sure you want to learn?"
"Positive! Just say it!"
After a moment of hesitation, Kakashi looked at Naruto and told him how to open the first six of the Eight Gates.
Naruto listened and pretended to think carefully for a while, then he directly opened the first gate—the Gate of Opening!
Naruto looked at Kakashi with a grin and said, "This is quite simple!"
"With your body tempering condition, being able to easily open the first gate is quite normal."
Just as Kakashi finished speaking, Naruto directly opened the remaining five gates as well.
Kakashi watched in shock as Naruto opened six gates all at once; he now felt a bit of regret for telling Naruto about the Eight Gates.
If Might Guy found out about this, there's no telling how big of a blow he would suffer.
Might Guy cultivates desperately every day, and even now, he can only barely open six gates.
But looking at Naruto now, opening six gates seemed effortless.
In truth, Naruto could only easily open up to the sixth gate. Opening the seventh gate would be no problem, but after exiting the Eight Gates, he would truly be like a dog kneeling on the ground.
Naruto looked at Kakashi and said, "Come on! I also want to test my Taijutsu and see exactly what level it has reached."
After speaking, Naruto performed the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Steps from the Eight Extremes Fist. With the assistance of Chakra and having opened the sixth of the Eight Gates, his speed could be described as incredibly fast.
Even Kakashi didn't see clearly how Naruto got in front of him.
However, Kakashi's combat instincts were still there; he crossed his arms to block the punch Naruto swung at him.
Although he blocked it, the force of Naruto's punch was a bit too great, directly breaking both of Kakashi's arms.
Naruto hadn't expected one punch to result in this; he quickly dispersed his Chakra and looked at Kakashi, asking, "Are you okay?"
Kakashi's arms hung limply as he said, "What do you think? You're trying to kill me!"
Seeing that Kakashi could still joke with him, Naruto knew it wasn't a huge problem. He smiled and said, "You were the one who said it—that I had to come at you with the intent to kill to get the bells. I was just following your own words."
While speaking, Naruto walked up to Kakashi, helped reset his bones, and then performed the Mystical Palm Technique to treat him.
Seeing the green light on Naruto's hands, Kakashisaid in surprise, "You've even learned the Mystical Palm Technique?"
"What else?"
"You really do surprise me! Sealing Jutsu, you've learned the Adamantine Sealing Chains; Taijutsu, you can open six of the Eight Gates; Medical Ninjutsu, you've learned the Mystical Palm Technique. Your combat power is already no less than mine; all you lack is some actual combat experience."
Naruto smiled and said, "I haven't even used Ninjutsu yet!"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and smiled, saying, "That's right! You haven't used Ninjutsu yet! But there's no need to use it; you've already shown off enough today."
Naruto paused, hearing the hidden meaning in Kakashi's words, but he didn't say much and focused on treating Kakashi.
After finishing the treatment, he asked, "Do we need to continue the test?"
Kakashi glanced at the place where Sasuke and Sakura were hiding, nodded, and said, "The time isn't up yet, so naturally the test must continue, but... you can rest now."
Naruto smiled and didn't say much; he picked up a bento and sat to the side, eating slowly.
Seeing Naruto eating the bento, Kakashi said with a smile, "You're really not being polite at all!"
Naruto smiled and said, "What's there to be polite about? Anyway, your survival exercise today has already been ruined by me. Regardless of whether those two can grab the bells, your test should be considered a pass, right?"
Kakashi smiled and said nothing, then went to find Sasuke and Sakura.
In less than two minutes, Sakura was carried and placed in front of Naruto.
Seeing Sakura's state, Naruto knew she had fallen under a Genjutsu. He smiled, shook his head, and continued eating his bento.
After another two minutes, Naruto heard the sound of shuriken piercing into wood.
"Well! Kakashi's use of the Substitution Jutsu is certainly proficient!"
After another three minutes, Sasuke was also restrained and thrown in front of Naruto.
Time was just up; the alarm clock Kakashi had brought out earlier rang on time—it was exactly twelve o'clock sharp.
Kakashi helped Sakura break the Genjutsu. When Sakura saw Sasuke, she was about to speak excitedly.
Kakashi gave a cold snort and said, "Regarding this exercise, Sakura, you were the worst! Then Sasuke, and finally Naruto. If I were to follow my evaluation, none of you three are fit to be Ninjas."
Kakashi's words shocked Sakura and Sasuke quite a bit.
Kakashi continued to stare at Sakura and Sasuke, saying, "Sakura, from beginning to end, you were only focused on Sasuke, looking for where he was. If this were a battlefield during a mission, you would not only be the first one caught, but also the first one to expose your comrade. Your looking around would make Sasuke be exposed even faster."
Sakura lowered her head, knowing what Kakashisaid was the truth. She had been focused on Sasuke the whole time, terrified he would disappear from her sight.
Then Kakashi looked at Sasuke and said, "Although you are a bit better than Sakura, it's only by a little bit. I don't deny that at your age, having your current Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and shuriken jutsumakes you one in a million among your peers. However...!"
After Kakashi finished, he looked at Naruto and said, "You all underestimate Ninjas a bit too much. You probably don't understand yet why a combat assessment is necessary after being assigned to a squad."
Kakashi felt a bit annoyed seeing Naruto's calm expression.
Sakura looked at Kakashi somewhat anxiously and asked, "Why? Is there some kind of reasoning behind this?"
Kakashi let out a 'hehehe' chuckle from his throat and said, "That's right. The purpose of this assessment was never to grab the bells. You haven't understood the true meaning of this assessment at all."
"True meaning?"
"That's right, the true meaning. The true meaning of this assessment is to evaluate your teamwork."
Sasuke and Sakura looked at Kakashi in surprise; they hadn't expected that this was what was being tested.