The real Naruto still stood on the tree, looking at his clones fighting each other. During the fight with Mizuki, he didn't know the effect of using Shadow clones, since Mizuki had not been able to retaliate.
But when Kakashi destroyed his clones, the memories of seeing Kakashi swinging the kunai and shuriken were transferred to him.
'This is incredible! Now I can create a few more clones and take more books from the library!!' Naruto was getting distracted, but he quickly pinched his cheeks and looked at the crowd of clones he had created.
He didn't know how many there were, but surely the count surpassed 100. He would have canceled the jutsu when Kakashi disappeared since that would only leave the Kakashi that had transformed. But when he considered the possibility of Kakashi using a henge, it seemed rather dumb.
Henge jutsu wasn't something that could be used mid-fight. It was more like a deception jutsu, to trick people.
So Naruto decided to let the clones fight, even if canceling them later wouldn't get him any good information. But letting them be there might get him a chance to roam around and find Kakashi, who was nowhere to be seen. It did drain his chakra faster, and he was also starting to feel tired from all the chakra usage. He had never used it this long voluntarily. But he needed to find Kakashi. Once that was done, he could force his way with more clones again.
Naruto was about to jump away, but suddenly, he felt incredible chakra from the opposite side. He squinted his eyes. He couldn't see anyone, but the chakra was surely building up from that side.
On the opposite side from where Naruto was, Kakashi formed countless hand signs. "Forgive me Naruto, but I think you can survive this much" Kakashi made his final sign, the Bird. With his insane speed, he was able to complete the 44 hand signs in an instant.
Kakashi jumped up, now visible in the air, above the tree. He muttered, "Let's see the real one..." and as he pushed both his hands forward, water formed...out of nowhere.
The water splashed and soon took the shape of a dragon. It kept getting larger until it was huge enough to swallow a whole tree.
-Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu-
And, at an insane speed, the dragon rushed toward all the shadow clones of Naruto. All the shadow clones started to run away, wanting to get farther away or hide.
Just when it was going to ram into them, the dragon shape disappeared and the water flooded the ground, washing away all the shadow clones with it.
One by one the clones started to disappear in smoke. Kakashi landed on the top branch of the tree, waiting like a cunning wolf to spot the real Naruto in the water. But it never happened.
And before he could admire Naruto for his decisions in a fight that had forced him thrice, including the current situation to retrieve and re-evaluate his expectations of him, he was attacked with kunai and shuriken.
He knew this was going to happen since he had revealed his location. The shuriken came from the other end of the ground, right from the tree where Naruto had sent the clones.
'So he didn't attack himself, even with these many clones' Kakashi landed on the ground and started to dash towards the tree where Naruto was. 'He is trying to gauge my strength. Smart,...'
Kakashi was dashing ahead while assessing the surroundings. He hadn't forgotten the other two. But he doubted that they would come out now, when Naruto, the unexpected idiot had done so much in just 10 minutes than they had expected to.
As he neared the center of the ground, an orange blur crashed with him, kunai colliding with each other. And in front of him stood those familiar blue eyes. For the first time, after such a long time he had witnessed that freshness in such bright eyes.
And even his grin was contagious, which he hadn't seen in the past 12 years. Ah, 13, since that guy also had this idiotic grin.
'Is this finally the real one?' Sakura wondered. She had been invested. She never,....like, NEVER in her life expected to see Naruto going head to head with a shinobi. At that, with actual tactics, jutsu and not being a brat or brash.
'He is stronger than me...' Sakura couldn't help but feel a pang in her chest. All the times she berated him about being a weakling in front of Sasuke clouded her mind. But now that she was seeing how strong he was, she felt ashamed and insecure.
'I dreamt of being a strong kunoichi. Someone capable of standing beside Sasuke-kun, who is so cool and strong. But I am not even anywhere near those two...' Sakura could feel a lump of saliva stuck in her throat, threatening to choke her out of breath. She couldn't help but think,...what even was she doing all these years?
But suddenly, her attention was equipped back on the battlefield. Naruto was on the ground, coughing hard. He seemed tired. His hands were shaking and his eyes drooped.
Kakashi stood there, looking at Naruto. "Well, seems you can't stand up anymore. It's no surprise after you wasted your energy on forming that many shadow clones." Kakashi spoke as wiped his pants that had leaves on them.
Naruto, however, was thinking of something else. 'He is gonna mock me soon, isn't he?' Naruto glared back. Kakashi could see the spite in his stare.
For a flicker of seconds, Kakashi's face, though covered expressed more regret and sadness than Naruto had seen on anyone's face except his own.
But soon, it disappeared like he was mistaken. But Naruto understood and felt these emotions of sadness, regret, and fear better than many.
"But you did great. To be honest, I didn't expect you to ever win against me. And I still don't, but I was wrong about one thing. I didn't think you would be able to make me fight back." Kakashi said, and his eye closed, an indication of a smile. And for some reason, he felt like he was looking at Iruka. That type of smile meant the person was acknowledging him.
"Hah,...I haven't won yet." Naruto said, forcing his hand on the ground, trying to stand up. But suddenly, a sharp sound could be heard tearing the air and something sped up towards them.
"Shit!" Kakashi jumped away as he lightly kicked Naruto away. Three shuriken sliced through the waist area of Kakashi,...or at least where he should have been. And the shuriken landed right where Naruto had fallen.
A few meters away, Naruto grunted and glared. Sasuke stood atop a tree, already doing hand signs.
'What? Naruto's an exception. Or else, a Genin shouldn't have enough chakra to perform that.' Kakashi thought as he landed on the ground, the bells still jingling from the impact.
"Did you forget I was here too?" Sasuke looked at Kakashi, as he dashed forward, his hands still doing signs. Sasuke inhaled hard and then, as he blew out, a huge ball of fire rolled towards Kakashi.
-Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu-
The fire landed on the ground, charring the grass beneath it. As the smoke rose in the surrounding, Sasuke slid to a side, to see what happened to Kakashi. Right now, all his eyes could see were the bells, and all his mind was focused on was to defeat Kakashi.
'If Naruto made him fight back, I HAVE to defeat him' Sasuke never liked being bested by others. And never by Naruto.
When the smoke cleared a bit, Kakashi was gone. In his stead, there was a log, burned completely.
'Tsk!' Sasuke cursed and jumped backward, cautious not knowing where Kakashi was.
"Well, well,...that's the Uchiha Clan for you. The #1 strength of Konoha." Kakashi dusted off the dust from his jacket, as he stood in front of Sasuke. "That was surprising. So, let's see how well you can do"
Before Kakashi could finish speaking, Sasuke was at his head level, his left leg rushing in for a kick. Kakashi was startled by the speed at which Sasuke closed the gap between them. 'He is fast. Faster than Naruto' Kakashi grabbed Sasuke's leg with his left hand.
But that was not the end. Sasuke wasn't like Naruto, who fought purely on instincts. Sasuke always calculated his moves and attacked. Even in his rage right now, he didn't risk fighting without a plan.
Sasuke punched immediately when his right hand was caught, but Kakashi caught even his fist with his right hand.
However, Sasuke kicked with his right leg. With both his hands occupied, Kakashi took the blow by blacking it with his right hand's forearm.
Then it clicked him. Both his hands were now busy and he couldn't move because of Sasuke's force in the kick and punch. So, the bells were completely unprotected, and Sasuke's left hand was still free.
So he was ready to move away after releasing Sasuke. But, Sasuke had clicked his hand with the hand that he had punched with. 'He released the punch while fighting!' Kakashi's hand was now grabbed by Sasuke.
He couldn't move unless he threw Sasuke away. But, instead of going for the bells, Sasuke threw three shurikens behind Kakashi with his free hand.
'What?'
'What?'
'What!?'
Sakura who was running out of the bush towards Kakashi from behind to snatch the bells, Kakashi, and Naruto were all confused and startled.
The shuriken flew past Sakura and cut a rope. 'Shit! It's a trap...' Kakashi threw Sasuke away, who now had a crazy smirk on his face. Once the rope was cut, many knives flew out towards where Kakashi was.
However, in between was Sakura, who couldn't respond fast enough despite seeing the shuriken closing in.
Kakashi disappeared, replaced by a log of wood. He dashed towards Sakura and jumped away by grabbing her. The shuriken went straight at the log and jabbed into it.
Kakashi landed on the ground and placed Sakura down. Kakashi checked the bells and sighed in relief when he saw them still attached to his belt.
Kakashi looked at Sasuke, who was glaring daggers at him. He hadn't expected Sakura to be at the place where the trap was. Or that she would try to ambush Kakashi from behind and snatch the bells. He expected her to just sit idly and do nothing.
But even with that situation, he didn't care. All he hoped was for Kakashi to be defeated. And yet, Kakashi was able to escape, pretty easily.
"Hah,...so you really want to kill me and get these bells, eh?" Kakashi said as he looked at Sasuke. He didn't think either of the three would ever think of seriously hurting him.
'Did Naruto's fight trigger him?' Kakashi thought and looked towards the other side, where he had kicked Naruto. But surprisingly, the place was empty. 'Did he hide again?' Kakashi looked around but couldn't sense any chakra in the trees and bushes surrounding the ground.
"Shall we start round two?" He heard a voice. When he turned his head around, Naruto stood there beside Sasuke. 'Did they plan this together?' It was impossible, even Kakashi knew. Before this team was given to him, Kakashi had been informed about Sasuke and Naruto's banters and fights. So he was sure they weren't much of a teamwork duo.
And it was proven right when Sasuke looked at Naruto with utmost confusion and disbelief.
Kakashi had accepted to attend to this team and test them, to see what had become of the last Uchiha. Whether he could help this Uchiha, at least.
'Naruto...' Kakashi felt like Naruto was reminding him of things he had buried deep and forgotten like a prick. And it hurt, but he didn't hate it.