Chapter 300 - Ch300. Genin Test 3

Kakashi slowly stood up, gritting his teeth in anger. He was no longer willing to be accommodating towards his new genins. No matter how impressive their performance was so far... Naruto went too far with this last stunt.

Contrary to what Kakashi shouted, he wasn't going for the kill. Enraged he might be, but tight emotional control was a necessary skill for a ninja. Nevertheless, he was going to make damn sure he beat some respect into Naruto!

Summoning four shadow clones, Kakashi decided to take a small breather as they dashed into the foliage, intent to find the three wayward genins. These clones would no longer treat them as genins. No... since Naruto was so adamant to make him serious, the fight was on.

A bit further in the forest, Naruto heard Kakashi's enraged shout, causing chills to jump up to his spine while he briefly wondered if he went too far before his pride as a prankster quickly squashed these feelings down. After all, it was just a harmless prank, no? Kakashi wouldn't get too mad... right? He didn't even use anything lethal or permanent, dattebayo!

Turning on his sensory abilities to the extreme, Naruto 'watched' Kakashi like a hawk. Even after five whole minutes, Kakashi seemed to stay in the same spot, greatly puzzling Naruto.

'What is he doing?' Naruto pondered in confusion, 'He couldn't be traumatized enough to give up. He is supposed to be a jonin!'

Naruto was aware that Kakashi was working on a time limit. There were barely thirty minutes remaining until the alarm bell announced the end of this exercise, yet, the 'hunter' was still taking it easy.

If it was his old self, Naruto would rush out to engage Kakashi but... training with Anko has beaten these bad habits out of him. This Naruto preferred to stay hidden if he had the option. After all, why bother fighting when you could just laze around?

The bush near Naruto suddenly shifted, causing Naruto's guard to rise, only for Hinata to rush out, making him feel relieved.

"Naruto! Watch out!" Hinata exclaimed in-between her gasps for air, the veins around her eyes bulging out.

In the next instant, a few things happened at once. Naruto's mind halted for a second when he saw Hinata's urgent expression. He didn't know why she was so distressed because his sensory abilities didn't alert him about anything nearby. It was only then he saw her Byakugan activated and registered what she said.

Naruto's eyes widened as he pushed himself off the ground into a roll, only barely dodging a downward kick from Kakashi that spread many cracks through the place where Naruto's chest was just a second ago.

'That would have cracked my ribs for sure!' Naruto thought with a bit of fear creeping into his mind.

Hinata, without really thinking, sprang forward, intending to make Kakashi busy in order to give Naruto a second of a much-needed breather so he could find his balance and rejoin the fight. Unfortunately for her, Kakashi wasn't having it, and as the girl stuck with her fingers towards Kakashi's chest in the initial move for the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, she found herself gasping for air as her eyes bulged while the air was forced out of her. Only when she was flying back did her mind distantly realize Kakashi used his superior reach to deliver a strong kick to her stomach, stopping her technique before she even started.

Naruto watched as Hinata's body uncontrollably rolled on the ground after Kakashi delivered his brutal kick to her abdomen. He quickly stood up, creating two Shadow Clones, one going to engage Kakashi while the other went to check up on Hinata. As for the original, he knew Kakashi would target him so he decided to keep his distance for now.

Kakashi, however, surprised Naruto by just standing in front of him, not engaging again despite his apparent momentary advantage. Before the original Naruto could think up a reason for that, he felt something grab his ankle, and his world spun before he felt a tremendous impact from his back brutally colliding with a tree, cracking its bark.

Spitting some blood, Naruto felt his assailant prepare to swing his body again so he kicked down with his free leg, trying to hit whoever held him.

Hinata regained her bearings and saw second Kakashi succeeding in a sneak attack on Naruto. Before she could jump at him, a kunai flew from the treetops to the right, aiming at the head of this second Kakashi who just leaned back a bit, letting it harmlessly sail past him. The kunai was just a distraction though. Sasuke was already mid-kick, heading towards Kakashi's head. With his previous leaning back, the guy shouldn't have enough balance to dodge...

Except, a third Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Sasuke who was mid-air and couldn't dodge as the third Kakashi drove his fist into his stomach. That was not the end of it. After the first punch, Kakashi delivered the second. Then third. Then fourth. The combo continued, keeping Sasuke stationary in the air before Kakashi put a bit more strength into his tenth punch, sending the Uchiha's body flying back into the foliage.

Knowing she had to intervene, Hinata dashed at the second Kakashi who held Naruto by his ankle with one hand while blocking his kick with the other, preparing to swing his body again... She threw some shurikens at him, trying to prevent him from doing it.

That was the extent of the help she could provide to Naruto as she suddenly found her body being driven into the ground when the fourth Kakashi suddenly showed up out of nowhere, kicking her between the shoulder blades. Hinata had only an instant to curse herself for being too focused on Naruto and Sasuke that she didn't pay enough attention to her surroundings before she realized the fourth Kakashi intended to land on her back with his knees.

Widening her eyes, Hinata realized that would break bones and quickly pushed her body to the side, evading the fourth Kakashi by an inch, causing him to pop in an explosion of smoke when his knees impacted the ground so heavily it spread cracks through it.

Both Sasuke and Hinata were prevented from helping Naruto but he didn't count on them much, considering their opponent. The Shadow Clone that engaged the very first Kakashi that appeared was already done for, as was the one Naruto created to check on Hinata. Ten more Naruto's shadow clones rushed into the fight as Naruto recalled them from their job of placing traps around the forest. Five went towards the original Naruto who still tried to get out of Kakashi's vice-grip by thrashing his body. Three went towards the Kakashi who used Sasuke as his impromptu punching bag. And the last two went towards the first Kakashi to delay him since Hinata's opponent already popped out of existence.

The five shadow clones managed to force the second Kakashi to release Naruto's ankle but not before he delivered a bone-shattering kick into his chest, cracking multiple ribs in the process. Only Naruto's superior constitution prevented his ribcage from resembling a broken window. The second Kakashi then engaged the five shadow clones, instantly dispatching three with taijutsu before the remaining two managed to embrace him in a suicide attack with explosive notes attached to them. With a loud boom, both the second Kakashi and the two Naruto's disappeared, leaving behind only a scorched ground.

The three clones that engaged the third Kakashi weren't so lucky. The first of them experienced how it felt to have kunai enter his head through the eye before popping out of existence. The second managed to deliver a punch to Kakashi's side... unfortunately it was just a glancing blow as most of the force behind the punch was mitigated by Kakashi backhanding the clone, turning it into an explosion of smoke. The third clone of Naruto deviously went for a low blow, hugging one of Kakashi's legs. It would have been a great tactic too if Kakashi didn't already deal with the other two clones.

As the third Kakashi was about to swing his kunai down at the head of Naruto's clone who was hugging his leg like a koala, his eye pupils dilating in realization it was over... a huge fireball appeared, engulfing both of them.

A few feet away, panting Sasuke fell onto his knees, holding his chest that was full of broken ribs.

The first Kakashi already dealt with his two opponents, looking at the three kids in an appraising manner. Naruto and Sasuke had broken bones while Hinata had a few bruises at most. Nodding to himself he spoke, "And that, kids, was the ninja lesson number one. Taijutsu. Now it's time for lesson number two..." He eye-smiled while pulling his headband up. Sasuke's red eyes widened in alert and he opened his mouth to warn his two teammates but he was too late as his world spun. "Genjutsu."

Three screams resounded through the forest, making the real Kakashi, who still rested in the place where his dogs attacked him, genuinely smile as the nice symphony entered his ears.

Alas.... it was time to move.