"Talked yet?"
"Talked. Comrade Nine-Tails expressed a profound awareness of the importance and urgency of his work, and stated that he will henceforth conscientiously fulfill his duties, strengthen coordination, and form a joint working force..."
"Stop. Speak human."
"Sorry, I used to write speeches for leadership all the time, it's become muscle memory... Anyway, I bluffed him, but extracting his chakra will still have to be done step by step."
"So we're still following the protocol today?"
"No rush. Let's mess with him a bit."
Village Hidden in the Leaves, training ground.
Sakura and Naruto were chatting animatedly, completely ignoring Sasuke who was left standing in the wind, which made the looks he cast at the two of them increasingly peculiar.
"Are you really in the mood to play around?" Sakura looked at Naruto, her brow furrowing slightly.
"In my past life, I never even killed an ant. To survive in this cruel world of the Hokage, I naturally need to seize every opportunity to train."
"There's no rush to grind for EXP. Kakashi is an important NPC; straying from the plot will only make things go wrong."
"Actually... I've wanted to ask for a long time, do you happen to be really into Souls-like games?"
"Why?"
"You talk in a bunch of gaming jargon."
"Hmph."
Sasuke, standing to one side, became more and more confused the more he listened.
Souls-like? Jargon? NPC?
What on earth was all this?
But his innate pride made him swallow his curiosity, and he simply turned his head away, calculating when Kakashi would arrive.
Soon, accompanied by a sound and a puff of white smoke, Kakashi arrived fashionably late.
"Yo, morning everyone," Kakashi greeted lazily.
He had originally expected the three of them to be filled with righteous indignation and interrogate him about why he was so late.
Who would have thought that Naruto would walk up and say, "As expected of the boss, giving us a vivid lesson on day one."
Sakura: "What lesson?"
"Slacking off! The boss used his Jonin status to effortlessly goof off for half a morning, well worth us studying."
As he spoke, Naruto even winked repeatedly at Kakashi, throwing off Kakashi's emotional rhythm entirely.
"Ahem, on my way here, I ran into an elderly woman..."
"Right, right, exactly this!" Naruto said with a cheeky grin, "Tell me which street next time, I'll go help her cross too."
Kakashi was instantly struck dumb.
He scratched his eyebrow in some helplessness, and then proceeded to explain the rules to the three of them.
"...In short, unless you are prepared to kill me, you won't be able to grab the bells."
With that, Kakashi glanced over the three of them.
Sasuke's expression was tense, looking the most normal.
Naruto and Sakura wore deliberate expressions, yet no trace of fear could be seen in their eyes.
Especially the former—one could distinctly sense the excitement in his eyes.
"An interesting fellow," Kakashi thought to himself, "let's see what you're really capable of."
"Now then, the exercise begins!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sakura and Sasuke leapt backward, but Naruto did the exact opposite, taking a fierce stride forward and charging straight at Kakashi with the speed of thunder!
He smoothly drew a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and thrust it straight at Kakashi's throat. Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly as he swiftly caught Naruto's lightning-fast strike, grabbing him by the wrist.
Naruto didn't get flustered; instead, he swung his body sideways and kicked toward Kakashi's waist, only for Kakashi to block it with his elbow. Taking advantage of the opening, Naruto exchanged a glance with Sakura. She instantly understood, concentrated her chakra into her fist, and smashed it fiercely into the ground.
"Bang!"
A muffled sound came from the ground, followed immediately by a barrage of kunai flying out from the nearby woods, stabbing fiercely toward Kakashi.
The entire process took less than 5 seconds.
The captured Naruto flashed a sly grin, completely ignoring the incoming kunai as he began straining his muscles, trying to pin Kakashi in place.
The high-speed kunai arrived, piercing countless holes through the pair... or to be precise, through Kakashi's Substitution log and Naruto's Shadow Clone.
Meanwhile, Naruto's true body slowly walked out from behind Sakura.
He looked at Kakashi, whose expression was subtle, and praised, "As expected of the boss."
Right from the start, Naruto's real body had been hiding in the forest. He had created two shadow clones—one to act as bait, and the other to rush ahead to Sakura's house and have her cooperate with him on the maneuver.
This was a battle plan Naruto had hastily put together last night.
He wasn't counting on succeeding on the first try; he simply wanted to use the clash to adapt to the ninja combat rhythm as quickly as possible.
Based on the feedback, he could clearly feel his own lack of combat skills, and most of his close-quarters combat transitions still relied heavily on instinct.
Kakashi gave a slight nod. "Not a bad attempt. It seems you actually listened to what I said."
With that, he rummaged through his ninja tool pouch and brazenly pulled out Make-Out Tactics.
Here it comes.
Naruto smiled inwardly.
If there was one major difference between him and the original Naruto, it was that he knew the plot inside and out and possessed his own social experience, meaning he could never be provoked by Kakashi's little tricks.
However, Make-Out Tactics could also become Kakashi's weakness.
"Boss, you aren't reading that super hot bestseller Make-Out Tactics, are you?"
Naruto strode over.
"Huh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Minors aren't supposed to read books like this, you know."
"I haven't read it," Naruto shrugged, "but the other day I ran into the author of this book—long hair down to his waist, looked just like an immortal—and he even chatted with me about the plot later on."
Naruto said wickedly, "Kakashi-sensei, you wouldn't want me to spoil the rest of the story for you, would you?"
Kakashi's deadpan eyes finally lost their calm. "Wait, how on earth did you manage to run into the author by such a coincidence..."
"Well, if I tell you, the grand finale of Make-Out Tactics..."
"Wait a second!" Kakashi was startled, instinctively covering his ears.
Sakura, hiding in the bushes nearby, let out a soft giggle, instantly grasping Naruto's intention.
On the other side, Sasuke's heart tightened at the sight.
"Good chance!"
He quickly drew a shuriken and hurled it fiercely toward Kakashi!
At the same time, Sakura quietly slipped around behind Kakashi, waiting for an opening to appear.
The three of them had completed a coordinated maneuver without a word.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The shuriken flew with pinpoint accuracy toward Kakashi, but he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, dropping low to duck the assault. The shuriken soared past Kakashi and sped toward Naruto.
"Haha, a little warning would've been nice!" Naruto glanced toward Sasuke's direction and threw his body violently to the side, narrowly dodging the shuriken. Just then, Sakura closed in on Kakashi, thrusting her hand straight toward the bells at his waist.
At that moment, Kakashi—still covering his ears with both hands—let out a light chuckle:
"Ninja tactical rule number one: taijutsu."
Naruto felt his scalp tingle and instinctively shouted, "Sakura, dodge!"
At the same time, a storm of thoughts raged in his mind.
He did it on purpose—this guy definitely did it on purpose!
He deliberately left an opening, waited for Sasuke and Sakura to make their move, instantly locked onto their positions, and then launched a counter-offensive.
In just a few short seconds, he had neutralized the assault and seized control of the battle.
Through this back-and-forth, Naruto had truly experienced Kakashi's formidable reputation.
Even with the memories of his past life, using his current strength to forcibly take on Kakashi was still like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a single cup of water.
Yet forcing a cooperation with the Nine-Tails right now wasn't Naruto's intention either; he had no desire to fight Kakashi to the death.
Why not try a different approach?