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Naruto: The Art of Deception 05
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 13:40:21 +0000 UTCChapter 05: Predator and Prey
Naruto met Sakura on his way to the Hokage’s office. He was fully prepared, his gear checked, every weapon in place. They walked together in silence, heading straight for the building.
Upon entering, they found Tsunade seated at her desk with Shizune standing nearby. Shizune’s cheeks turned pink at the sight of Naruto, but he ignored her, his focus immediately shifting to Kakashi.
Naruto’s expression softened for the first time that day. He smiled warmly at his old sensei and nodded.
“Yo,” Kakashi greeted lazily.
Tsunade leaned back in her chair, eyeing Naruto with interest before speaking. She explained the test just as she had in the past: a full evaluation of his skills. The objective was simple—obtain the bells from Kakashi.
They arrived at the training ground, the same place where their journey had begun years ago. Kakashi smiled at them before tugging his forehead protector up, revealing his Sharingan.
He dangled the bells between his fingers. “Same as before,” he said. “You get the bells, you pass.”
He tilted his head. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Naruto and Sakura answered in unison.
Kakashi’s posture shifted subtly. “Lesson One – Taijutsu.”
Naruto and Kakashi moved at the same time.
Sakura blinked in surprise as Naruto rushed to meet Kakashi, their fists colliding mid-way. A loud thud echoed through the forest, and the impact sent a pulse of energy rippling through the air.
The clash was brutal. Naruto’s fist cut through the air, aiming for Kakashi’s face, but the older shinobi dodged at the last second. The counterattack came instantly. Kakashi twisted, feinting a punch before shifting into a sharp elbow strike aimed at Naruto’s temple.
Naruto barely moved, tilting his head just enough to avoid the blow.
He refused to give Kakashi space. Closing the gap, he drove his knee into his opponent’s ribs, forcing Kakashi to retreat a step. But instead of resetting, Kakashi countered,a swift kick aimed at Naruto’s shoulder. The hit connected, but Naruto didn’t hesitate. He caught Kakashi’s leg mid-motion, twisting him in the air and forcing him to land on one knee.
Kakashi immediately jumped back, pulling a kunai in the process. Without missing a beat, he hurled it at Naruto. In response, Naruto reached for his belt, but instead of a kunai, he produced a senbon,a thin, deadly needle used by ANBU for precise assassinations.
Naruto dodged the kunai with a sidestep and, without hesitation, hurled a senbon straight at Kakashi’s Sharingan eye. Kakashi barely had time to react, forced to deflect the senbon with a quick strike of his kunai. He narrowed his eye in mild surprise. “Senbon?” he muttered under his breath. “Didn’t expect that from you, Naruto.”
Sakura didn’t wait. Using the brief distraction, she lunged forward, chakra-enhanced legs propelling her like a bullet. The ground beneath her cracked as she struck the spot where Kakashi had been a second ago. But he had anticipated her and repositioned himself instantly, leaving her open.
Naruto was already there.
As Kakashi analyzed his next move, Naruto capitalized,his fist launched forward with precision. Kakashi blocked, but the force of the strike pushed him back. In the same motion, Naruto twisted and delivered a brutal kick to Kakashi’s ribs, forcing him off balance.
Kakashi landed smoothly, but before he could recover, Naruto was already following through,an elbow strike cutting through the air. Kakashi barely ducked in time, but his Sharingan caught another movement, Sakura closing in from the side, her fist aimed at his blind spot. Forced into an immediate decision, he reacted in an instant.
A smoke bomb erupted.
Naruto and Sakura instinctively jumped back, bracing for another attack. As the smoke cleared, Kakashi emerged a few meters away, straightening up as he pulled out another set of kunai.
He pointed a finger at Naruto, eyeing him carefully. “You’re experienced,” he noted, his tone almost analytical. A small smirk tugged at his lips. “Let me guess, Jiraiya spent the last three years beating you into the ground in sparring matches?”
Naruto gave a simple nod. “Yeah, that would be correct.”
Kakashi hummed in acknowledgment before shifting his gaze to Sakura. He took a moment to assess her, then nodded approvingly. “And I can see why you’re Tsunade’s student. Those chakra-loaded hits.. nice. One clean shot, and I’m done.”
Sakura grinned, cracking her knuckles. “Yeah, so you better be careful, Sensei.”
Kakashi smiled.
“Lesson Two – Ninjutsu.”
His hands blurred through a rapid sequence of seals,faster than the eye could track.
“Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!”
A deep, guttural roar filled the air as a torrent of water erupted from his mouth, surging forward like a tidal wave. The sheer force ripped through the clearing, uprooting trees, snapping branches like twigs.
A massive wave swallowed the battlefield.
From the ridge above, Tsunade and Shizune watched.
Shizune’s arms tensed. “That’s a high level Suiton.”
Tsunade didn’t react.
“It’s not even his main element,” Shizune continued, glancing sideways at her. “He’s always been skilled, but this is..”
“Kakashi’s Kakashi.” Tsunade’s voice was even, her focus elsewhere. “What matters is them.”
Shizune frowned slightly. “Can they counter it?”
Tsunade’s arms remained crossed, but there was something unreadable in her expression.
C’mon, brat.
She wanted to see what Naruto would do.
What did Jiraiya teach you?
The roar of rushing water filled his ears.
Naruto’s gaze locked onto the incoming wave, a wall of crushing force, ripping through the battlefield.. He had seconds.
“Sakura,behind me.”
Sakura didn’t question it. She moved, planting herself behind him,looking between the incoming flood and Naruto’s stance.
A medic’s priority was survival. He wasn’t going to let her get swept away.
He dropped into a firm stance, fingers curling into a seal. Tension coiled through his body like a lifter about to push past his limit. He exhaled slow, deep breath.
This had to work. They didnt have that much time to focus on ninjutsu, beside mastering couple usefull jutsus across all elements.
“Doton: Doryūheki!”
The earth trembled beneath his feet. A deep rumble, an eruption.
The ground in front of him rose violently, a thick wall of stone bursting upward, slamming into place just as the wave crashed into it.
For a moment, the world was nothing but water hammering against rock.
Naruto knew the wall wouldn’t last.
It was never meant to.
A jutsu like this,a single earth wall against a wave that could swallow a battlefield? Impossible.
But it didn’t need to stop the water.It just needed to buy them time.
The cracks spread, fractures splintering through the stone, water forcing its way through.
No more time.
Naruto snapped his head toward Sakura.
“Jump now!”
Tsunade’s eyes narrowed as she watched Naruto and Sakura launch into the air just as the wall crumbled beneath them.
Her arms remained crossed, but her mind was already processing.
He had accounted for it. The failure of the jutsu wasn’t a mistake. It was part of the plan.
He measured the threat, executed a counter, and prioritized his teammate.
That was not the Naruto she remembered.
“Unbelievable…” Shizune murmured beside her, eyes still fixed on the fight. “I didn’t expect him to handle that so well.”
Tsunade exhaled slowly. Neither did she.
The moment their feet left solid ground, Naruto knew they were in a bad position.
And Kakashi knew it too. A sharp crackle split the air as Kakashi’s hands blurred through rapid seals.
“Raiton: Kangekiha.”
Lightning surged through his palms before he slammed them downward—straight into the water.
Electric currents raced across the surface, splitting into jagged branches of white-blue light. The entire battlefield below them turned into a death trap.
Sakura’s breath hitched. If they fell now.. They were done.
Shadow loomed above her. She looked up.
Kakashi dropped from the air like a blade, kunai aimed straight for her throat.
She gritted her teeth, eyes blazing.
“Enough of this!”
Her fist shot forward. She caught Kakashi straight in the shoulder. Crack.
His arm twisted at an unnatural angle, his shoulder joint dislocating from the sheer force.
But it didn’t stop him.
Kakashi barely reacted to the pain. His grip on the kunai never loosened, his body already twisting with the momentum. His dislocated arm hung useless at his side, but his other hand adjusted,the blade now angled for Sakura’s chest.
She saw it too late.
Naruto didn’t.
A shadow clone burst into existence behind her.
Strong hands gripped her waist and yanked her backward.
Kakashi’s kunai slashed through empty space. For a split second, their eyes met.
Naruto’s gaze was steady, unreadable behind the mask. Kakashi’s Sharingan burned, tracking every twitch of his muscles.
Naruto created three clones mid-motion, their hands gripping his and Sakura’s arms as they twisted through the air, shifting their trajectory.
One clone kicked off another’s back, launching them forward while the last clone pulled Sakura higher, keeping her clear of Kakashi’s reach.
Kakashi’s kunai sliced through the chaos, tearing into Naruto’s shoulder, blood streaking across the air, but he didn’t slow, using the momentum to flicker toward the tree line.
Before the first drop of blood hit the ground, they were gone, swallowed by the forest’s shadows.
