"Kakashi-sensei…"
"Why does Naruto have so many shadow clones!?"
Sakura couldn't help but voice her confusion and surprise, turning to the person most likely to have the answer—Kakashi-sensei.
Hearing her question, Kakashi paused, then turned his attention toward Naruto. He carefully observed the sheer number of shadow clones and the chakra they emitted.
After a moment of analysis, he responded—not just to Sakura, but also to Sasuke, who had been silently watching.
"Compare it to my chakra," Kakashi began. "Judging from what I see, Naruto's chakra reserves are at least a hundred times greater than mine."
That number—a hundred times—shocked both Sasuke and Sakura into silence.
A hundred times more than Kakashi-sensei, a jōnin…?
No wonder Naruto could produce so many shadow clones with ease.
In that moment, the truth hit both of them hard. Naruto wasn't just lucky or reckless—he was overwhelmingly powerful in terms of chakra capacity.
Sasuke clenched his fists.
He couldn't help but feel the growing distance between himself and Naruto.
How could I ever hope to kill that man, he thought bitterly. What am I even doing? Why am I still so weak?
His eyes locked onto the swarm of Naruto's clones, each moving with purpose and strength. A fierce sense of frustration surged in Sasuke's chest.
But also… a burning desire. A murderous resolve.
Kakashi, ever watchful, caught the flicker of that look in Sasuke's eyes.
That unwillingness… I know it well.
I've felt it too—watching someone of your age race ahead of you, making your efforts feel insignificant.
Even now, seeing Naruto's astonishing chakra reserves, Kakashi couldn't help but think:
Why don't I have that kind of chakra? If only…
But reality was cruel. The shinobi world was never fair.
Ninjas aren't born equal.
The only thing each of them could do—was push themselves to the limit of their ability.
To do their best. That alone was already commendable.
—
After Naruto learned the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu, Team 7 returned to their usual cycle of daily D-rank missions.
What Kakashi didn't expect, however, was Naruto's complete lack of hesitation in using shadow clones for even the most mundane of tasks.
Thanks to the overwhelming number of clones he could produce, Team 7 began clearing their missions at rocket speed.
Four to five D-rank missions per day became the norm.
Compared to the other genin teams—
Like Team 8 with Hinata, Kiba, and Shino, or Team 10 with Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji—
Team 7's efficiency was on a whole different level.
"Wow… Naruto is amazing…" Hinata whispered, after hearing about their progress from her sensei, Kurenai.
Kiba and Shino nodded in agreement.
Even the usually laid-back trio of Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji couldn't help but admire Naruto's work ethic and results.
Despite just graduating, Naruto had already pulled far ahead of them.
Sasuke, meanwhile, watched Naruto complete tasks with ease through his clones and felt an ever-growing pressure.
If this continued… would he really be able to take down that man?
—
One day, after finishing their missions for the morning, Team 7 gathered at the training ground for lunch.
But today felt different.
Sasuke could no longer hold it in.
After they finished eating, and just before the afternoon tasks began, he stood and turned to Kakashi.
"…Sensei," he said, voice low but determined. "Teach me a powerful ninjutsu. One that can help me catch up to Naruto."
Kakashi wasn't surprised. If anything, he had been expecting this moment.
Sakura also looked up at Kakashi, her expression saying the same thing:
Me too, Sensei.
Naruto's use of the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu had left a deep impression on both of them.
It was only natural that Sasuke would feel envy.
And Sakura was no exception.
Kakashi, however, scratched the back of his head, clearly troubled.
He didn't want to expose Team 7 to higher-level techniques so soon…
Normally, they should still be focusing on the basics.
But Naruto... that guy was anything but normal.
Kakashi looked at Sasuke, then at Sakura. After silently weighing his thoughts for a moment, he finally spoke.
"Alright," he said. "But there's a condition."
Sasuke's eyes sharpened. Sakura leaned forward slightly.
"You must first learn to control your chakra properly," Kakashi said, his voice turning slightly mysterious.
"Chakra control?" Sakura asked, puzzled.
"Didn't we already learn that in the Academy?" Sasuke added, frowning.
Kakashi could clearly see the confusion on their faces—but instead of explaining, he simply turned and walked toward a nearby tree.
Without another word, he lifted one foot and placed it on the trunk.
Then the other.
Before their eyes, Kakashi calmly walked vertically up the tree, as if he were on level ground. When he reached a comfortable height, he stopped and glanced back at them, standing sideways on the tree trunk.
"This," Kakashi said, "is what I mean by chakra control."
Sasuke and Sakura's jaws dropped.
They had never imagined chakra could be used like this—to climb a tree straight up, without using hands, like it was nothing!
Kakashi continued his lesson with practiced calm.
"The soles of your feet are the hardest place to emit chakra. You need to release just the right amount—not too much, not too little—and maintain it consistently."
He paused.
"If you can do that, you can walk on surfaces like this... or even upside down on a ceiling."
Then, to drive the point home, Kakashi gave a light kick and launched himself into the air.
He landed gracefully on the surface of the nearby river.
Sasuke and Sakura flinched, thinking he might fall in—but to their astonishment, he didn't sink.
He stood there. Calm. Balanced.
Like he was standing on solid ground.
Their eyes widened even more.
Kakashi nodded.
"Yes. With proper chakra control, you can even stand on water."
As he calmly walked back across the surface of the river, step by step, the awe in his students' eyes only grew.
Once back on land, he looked at them seriously and said:
"If you can master this level of chakra control, I'll teach you more advanced ninjutsu."
"For now, this afternoon's mission is canceled."
"You have the entire afternoon to train."
The moment those words landed, Sasuke's eyes lit up with resolve.
Sakura also felt her fighting spirit ignite—there was no way she was falling behind Naruto or Sasuke.
Without hesitation, Sasuke dashed over to a tree, gathered chakra to his feet, and attempted to climb—just like Kakashi had shown them.
Sakura followed quickly, determined not to be left behind.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Sasuke managed a few quick steps up the trunk—but then lost control.
He fell back, flipping through the air, and landed on his feet with a frustrated grunt.
After landing, he narrowed his eyes at the tree, clearly refusing to give up.
Sasuke looked up toward the spot where he had left his last chakra imprint.
Still far from the top of the tree.
Sakura wasn't doing much better either—she, too, struggled to get far up the trunk.
Meanwhile, Kakashi turned to glance at Naruto, who hadn't moved at all. He seemed confused as to why Naruto wasn't participating.
"Naruto, why aren't you joining in?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto casually replied, "I already know how to climb trees and walk on water."
Both Sasuke and Sakura immediately turned to look at him in disbelief.
He's already mastered that?!
Kakashi blinked, momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected that answer. He didn't know where Naruto had picked it up, but considering the boy's surprising talent in ninjutsu and everything he had shown so far...
Climbing trees and walking on water might really be the least of his abilities.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head, chuckling awkwardly. "You never stop surprising me, Naruto."
Honestly, at this rate, it felt like he had nothing left to teach the son of the Fourth Hokage. Even the Shadow Clone Jutsu—a Jonin-level technique—Naruto had learned it just by glancing at the Scroll of Seals.
He hadn't needed Kakashi's guidance at all.
When he thought about it that way... Naruto almost seemed more like a mentor than a student. Calm, composed, powerful—and oddly reassuring.
Sasuke, still reeling from the revelation, felt something ignite deep within him. A fierce, unyielding will.
He was already behind. And he hated it.
Looking up at the tall tree in front of him, Sasuke gritted his teeth and shouted, "Aaaaaaah!" as he sprinted forward and tried to run all the way to the top in one burst.
But just as he gained height, the chakra at the soles of his feet slipped out of control. He lost traction, and—bam—he dropped down.
Still, compared to him...
Sakura was showing surprising progress.
She had a natural affinity for chakra control.
After just a few tries, she was climbing significantly higher than Sasuke.
By her fourth or fifth attempt, Sakura had reached a thick branch—and sat down on it gracefully.
"Ohhh, Sakura, that's impressive," Kakashi remarked with genuine surprise.
He hadn't expected that.
Despite being preoccupied with thoughts of Sasuke most of the time, Sakura had managed to outperform him in chakra control.
Normally, it took a fresh Genin at least a month to get the hang of this kind of training.
But Sakura had done it in under an hour.
That clearly pointed to her special aptitude—exceptional chakra control.
Uchiha Sasuke had his inherited Sharingan bloodline limit.
Uzumaki Naruto had an enormous chakra pool and the Nine-Tails sealed within him.
If Sakura couldn't find her own path, she'd fall behind the two powerhouses of the team.
But this... this precise control over chakra...
Maybe she could specialize as a medical ninja.
Kakashi made a mental note of it.
He was already beginning to picture the future paths for each member of Team 7.
Sasuke, however, was feeling something very different.
Seeing that even Sakura had succeeded before him, frustration boiled inside him.
He clenched his fists and lowered his head, returning silently to the tree.
He would learn this. No matter what.
That afternoon passed with Sasuke still struggling to get full control over his chakra the way Sakura had.
Even the next day—and the day after that—Kakashi continued assigning them low-level D-rank missions. Pet retrievals, cleaning, grocery runs—the kind of missions every Genin had to suffer through.
But Sasuke? He didn't give up.
Every spare moment during the day, every pause between missions...
He used it to practice.
And after finishing missions for the day, while the others rested...
He trained even harder, all through the evening.
Then one morning, like usual, Kakashi led Team 7 to the mission assignment desk to report the completion of the previous task.
They were ready to receive the next commission.
But none of them expected what came next.
The client for this mission... was someone from the village.
And someone who despised Naruto.
As soon as he saw the team, the client scowled and said with disgust:
"You expect that demon fox to do my mission?!"
"What bad luck!"
"I don't want that demon fox. Give me a real shinobi instead."
The man said it bluntly—to the Third Hokage himself.
As soon as those words echoed through the mission assignment hall, the room went dead silent.
Dozens of eyes turned to the boy standing in the middle of it all.
Uzumaki Naruto.
They stared at him—not as a comrade, not as a fellow leaf shinobi—but as the Nine-Tails, the monster sealed inside him.
Many of them had watched Naruto's life improve over the years. He smiled more. He stood taller. He had comrades now. A team. Missions.
And it gnawed at them.
Why should he get to live like this?
During the attack of the Nine-Tails twelve years ago, they had lost family.
Parents. Siblings. Friends.
All crushed by the fury of the beast sealed within that boy.
And now, hearing someone finally speak aloud the resentment they kept buried...
If not for the presence of the Third Hokage sitting quietly at the center of the room, many of them might have cheered.
But before anything could escalate further—
Sasuke Uchiha stepped forward.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped, glaring directly at the man.
The room seemed to freeze again.
Sasuke wasn't just anyone. He was the last of the Uchiha—a clan of elite shinobi with a name that still carried weight even after their downfall.
And he, of all people, had spoken up in Naruto's defense.
If Naruto were really some demon fox, Sasuke thought coldly, you idiots would've been torn to pieces long ago.
Sakura, who had been standing beside them, felt her heart ache.
She saw the looks—the hate in their eyes—and it hurt.
Spending time with Naruto these past few days, she had seen how seriously he took every mission. Even when he used Shadow Clones to speed things up, he always made sure the task was done right.
He worked harder than anyone else she knew.
And for what? To be treated like this?
It wasn't right.
Without thinking, Sakura stepped up beside Sasuke. "Naruto's one of us," she said. "He's a ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Just like everyone else here."
Kakashi's voice followed soon after, cool and sharp like steel.
"Are you insulting my student?" he asked the man, his visible eye narrowing.
There was no smile on his face now—only the kind of pressure that made seasoned shinobi uneasy.
A killer's pressure.
The kind of presence that belonged to someone who had survived countless missions, who had taken lives, and faced death more times than anyone in the room could imagine.
Kakashi had once been ordered—forbidden—to be involved in Naruto's life, by order of the Third Hokage, out of fear that it would draw too much attention to the son of the Fourth.
But now?
Now he had been given the chance to stand by Naruto's side.
And he would not let anyone, anyone, treat Minato-sensei's son like this.
The villager who had spoken—the so-called "important man"—took a step back.
He felt the pressure from Kakashi's gaze and shivered. He had never been on a battlefield. He had never known the look of a shinobi who had killed without hesitation.
And now, with Sasuke and Sakura standing beside Naruto…
And Hatake Kakashi's bloodlust aimed squarely at him...
Only now did the Third Hokage—so often a steady pillar in times of unrest—seem to truly grasp what had just transpired.
With a composed smile pasted on his face, Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward, trying to defuse the tension in the room.
He approached the shaken man—the so-called big shot—with practiced diplomacy. After all, this man controlled a significant portion of Konoha's economic resources.
He needed to be pacified.
"It's fine, everything's fine. No need to worry," Hiruzen said gently, his smile never fading.
Inwardly, however, the Hokage was displeased with Kakashi's actions.
But on the surface, he played the role of a patient elder, carefully guiding the influential man aside and whispering:
"If you're not satisfied, I'll assign you another ninja."
Those words made one thing clear—
Naruto's feelings were never a factor.
Perhaps Hiruzen had grown too confident, convinced that Naruto had been completely molded by his teachings on the Will of Fire.
Or maybe…
When faced with the pressure of powerful individuals in the village, Hiruzen's true priorities were finally exposed.
Naruto didn't understand all the politics at play.
But what he did understand—what he felt deep in his bones—was the truth.
Right now, standing in the mission hall, he could feel the emotions of everyone present with perfect clarity.
Aside from Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, and Sakura, not a single person stood by him.
No one else was behind him.
Despite everything—the missions he completed, the effort he gave, the growth he had shown—the villagers hadn't changed.
To them, he was still the same thing he'd always been:
A demon. A curse. A walking disaster.
But Naruto hadn't gone on missions to win their approval.
Not anymore.
He had realized the truth not long after arriving in this world—after gaining the memories of another life.
The villagers would never change.
Even now, as he matured and showed the world he was a capable shinobi, their hatred merely went deeper. They masked it better, sure, but it was still there—coiled beneath the surface like a snake in the grass.
And worse…
They had begun to envy him.
Envy that the so-called fox demon was surpassing them.
Envy that he, of all people, was becoming a true ninja.
And in the heart of the Third Hokage? There was no warmth—only the cold calculation of a man chasing the favor of Konoha's elite.
Just then, a voice rumbled within Naruto's mind.
Low. Deep. Ancient.
The Nine-Tails.
"Hey, Naruto…"
"How long are you going to let Konoha treat you like this?"
"You know it, don't you? That old man—the Third—has never truly cared about you."
The voice of Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, rang like a solemn bell through Naruto's mental space.
But Naruto didn't flinch.
No flicker of emotion crossed his face.
Calm. Steady.
His thoughts answered back, echoing across the vast seal that bound the beast.
Yes, Kurama.
It's time.
My plan begins now.
As Naruto's voice echoed through the sealed prison, Kurama found himself shuddering—not in fear, but in something deeper.
Something unfamiliar.
Anticipation.
And maybe, just maybe… a hint of respect.
Because when Naruto finally showed his true face to the fools of Konoha…
Kurama couldn't help but wonder:
What expressions would they wear when the mask finally came off?
...
TN:
Support me on P-com/LordMerlin