Kakashi lay on the ground with his hands lightly placed on his abdomen, looking at the three small faces with his dead-fish eye.
"Oh... it's you guys..."
"Did I... fall asleep just now?"
Sakura and Sasuke, who was about to leave, suddenly paused. Both of them had strange expressions, not knowing what to say to Kakashi.
Naruto just smiled brightly and patted Kakashi's shoulder.
"Yes!"
"Kakashi-sensei, why are you sleeping on the floor?"
"The ground's so cold, it's bad for your back!"
Sasuke: "…"
Sakura: "…"
Although he said this, his eyes were all on the powder beside Kakashi.
That powder is the remains of the used Totem of Undying.
Sasuke and Sakura didn't feel too surprised about the totem turning into powder.
After all…
Naruto can even take out steaks that change color, so at this point, nothing about Naruto could surprise them anymore.
Meanwhile, Uzumaki Stark on the side was busy jotting down the changes that had just taken place in the Totem of Undying.
To be honest…
He really wanted to ask Kakashi how it felt to be resurrected from the dead.
"Is that so?"
Kakashi looked at Naruto suspiciously, feeling that something was off.
Thinking of his father he had just met, he began to feel confused.
'Could it be that...'
'It was all a dream?'
Feeling his body's condition again, Kakashi found that he was feeling much better, and even his usual feeling of weakness had disappeared.
'Wait...'
'Did the piece of meat that Naruto took out can allow me to see the person I wants to see in my dream, and also has the effect of healing my injuries?'
Kakashi moved slightly, found a more comfortable position, put his hands behind his head, and looked up at the sky blankly.
'Obito... Rin...'
'Are you doing well in the Pure Land?'
Sakura was ecstatic when she saw Kakashi slip back into his usual lazy demeanor, and she even shouted wildly in her heart.
'Thank god!'
'Kakashi-sensei is alive!'
'Mom and Dad, I don't have to be a Missing-nin anymore!'
After Sasuke was sure that the person lying on the ground was fine, he no longer considered defecting and was ready to leave.
But he specifically walked in the direction of Naruto's clone.
Just now, Sasuke saw this bespectacled and bearded clone scribbling in a notebook...
He was a little curious about what this clone was doing.
Sneaking up to behind Uzumaki Stark, Sasuke squinted his eyes, stretched his neck slightly, and began to peek at the contents of the other party's notebook.
Uzumaki Stark didn't care about the peeping Sasuke. This kid had a history of snooping, and besides, there was no way he'd understand any of it.
Sasuke took a look and saw densely packed numbers and symbols, which made him feel dizzy.
He stared for a full two minutes before finally finding something he could understand.
There was a sentence written on the cover of the book struck Sasuke like a thunderbolt, freezing him in place...
'My life has been like walking on thin ice. Tell me... can I make it to the other side?'
Sasuke carefully pondered the words in his mind, and was utterly stunned. His mind couldn't help but recall the night of genocide he had experienced.
"My life has been like walking on thin ice..."
"Hiss…"
Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath, his lips still muttering the words under his breath.
"Amazing…"
"It's so well written..."
He walked away while muttering to himself, which made Uzumaki Stark, who was taking notes, stop writing and look at Sasuke's back in great confusion.
'Weirdo.'
'How can you, a guy who doesn't even know electromagnetism, understand what I wrote?'
'What's so 'amazing' about it, dumbass?'
After Naruto confirmed that the totem was indeed effective, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Then, he turned around and found a spot nearby. He took out his trusty iron door and began to train his 'Door Style' techniques.
It's better to train more now, so that he won't be unskilled in using his exclusive weapons when it's ready.
Kakashi didn't bother paying attention to the three Genin. Instead, he sprawled on the ground, gazing at the clouds as memories of his old teammates filled his mind.
Eventually, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
And so, the days passed as Team 7 continued their training.
Under Kakashi's guidance, Sasuke not only mastered Lightning Release: Chidori, but also gained some new insights from what Naruto had mentioned about electromagnetism.
Naruto had once said something about using Lightning Attribute Chakra like a slingshot and launching kunai like projectiles...
But Sasuke found that idea too convoluted and hard to grasp.
So instead, he decided to launch himself as the projectile.
By channeling Lightning Attribute Chakra throughout his body, Sasuke boosted his speed several times over, leaving behind afterimages in the process. Combined with Lightning Clones...
Sasuke felt he had finally mastered Three Thousand Lightning Movement and Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body.
The speed of Sasuke's Three Thousand Lightning Movement was insane… so fast that when he used it at full power, Naruto didn't even have time to open his portal.
When Kakashi saw Sasuke using these two new Lightning Release Ninjutsu, his jaw nearly hit the ground.
The speed alone was ridiculous, but those afterimage Lightning Clones...
Kakashi couldn't help but think of Shisui's Body Flicker Technique.
Sasuke's strength had indeed improved dramatically, but...
Kakashi couldn't help but feel like this kid was getting more and more 'crooked'!
'And then there was Naruto…'
'Not only does he spent all day create strange shadow clones, he also stands by the river every day, swinging around a giant door while shouting strangely.'
'He trained for ten to twenty hours straight, brimming with energy and dedication...'
'But, could you please put that energy into something useful?!'
At first, Kakashi was just speechless.
All of this was still somewhat within the realm of comprehension...
Until Naruto swapped his iron door for a multicolored one…
And Kakashi even saw him riding it straight into the sky like some kind of flying platform!
'Uzumaki Naruto!'
'Are you even a Shinobi of Konoha anymore?'
'Why do you start to resemble those Shinobi from the Land of Sky?!'
Kakashi didn't even know what words to use to describe how absurd Naruto had become.
In contrast, Sakura's training seemed much more normal.
Not only had she mastered the two Chakra Control trainings, tree-walking and water-walking, she also learned the two Genjutsu Kakashi had taught her.
Moreover, Kakashi noticed Sakura's exceptional talent in Chakra Control.
He believed she has the talent to be an excellent Medical-nin.
Kakashi decided that once they returned to the village, he'd recommend Sakura for Medical Ninjutsu training.
…
"Main body!"
"Check out my new weapon!"
Uzumaki Stark showed off his muscular upper body, with two bladed gauntlets in his hands.
Naruto, who was training with his trusty iron door, saw this scene and immediately had an extremely strange expression on his face.
"Wait a damn second…"
"Aren't you supposed to be Uzumaki Stark?!"
"Where's your armor!!"
"You're cosplaying as Wolverine right now, right?!"
Uzumaki Stark ignored his main body's complaints, crossed his arms, and shouted with a low growl, "I am…"
"Batman!!"
Naruto: "..."
Naruto was so shocked when he saw him like this that he almost dropped his door.
'Batman!?'
'You're cosplaying as Wolverine, uses Iron Man's name, and shouting Batman's line...'
'What the hell even is this!?'
"Sorry…"
"I suddenly got a little carried away."
Uzumaki Stark casually picked up his clothes on the ground and put them on, then threw the bladed gauntlets to Naruto.
"Here, it's made of Netherite."
"It's stronger than Wolverine's claws, but there's no enchantments yet."
"If I were to enchant it, you wouldn't even be able to lift your arms."
Naruto gripped the gauntlets and felt that his arms were weighed down with lead. Just holding these things was a struggle, and actually swinging them seemed impossible.
"You can use this to stab your enemies when you engage in turn-based battles in the future."
"It's more damaging than your fists."
Hearing his words, Naruto's brain immediately conjured the image of himself grabbing an enemy and stabbing them repeatedly with these things...
'Hiss…'
'A single stab would leave three bloody holes, and it was probably way more brutal than just slitting a throat...'
Thinking of this, Naruto hooked an arm around Uzumaki Stark's neck and chuckled.
…
Kakashi glanced at the three Genin, then up at the sun,
He closed his book, and hopped down from the tree.
"Alright."
"Pack your things. Let's return to the village to hand in the mission today."