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There was no doubt about it: he needed to take the initiative and strike first. Getting Sasuke or Naruto to work as a team would be quite challenging. He considered Sakura to be ineffective, so he didn't even factor her into his plans. He knew that Kakashi wouldn't take the fight seriously from the start, and if he could catch him off guard and maintain the offensive in that timeframe, he might be able to grab one of the bells or create an opportunity for either Naruto or Sasuke to make a move.
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Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all arrived at Training Ground 3 at the same time, but they were surprised to find Masagaki already there. He was busy practicing his shurikenjutsu.
"Masagaki, why are you practicing so early? You worry too much! This will be a piece of cake, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, his iconic large grin on his face.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Masagaki replied, continuing to throw a barrage of shuriken at a nearby training log.
Sasuke watched Masagaki's training, a hint of jealousy and envy visible on his face. He observed how Masagaki's shuriken pierced right through the training log. Deep down, Sasuke didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't achieve that kind of piercing power. Seeing Masagaki training so early to prepare for Kakashi's mysterious "survival exercise" motivated him to start training as well. He took a few shuriken out of his pouch and angled them carefully. When he threw them toward a tree, they bounced off and redirected toward a random training log.
Each shuriken pierced the log with pinpoint accuracy. "Hey, don't forget about me!" Naruto shouted as he joined the training session, creating three shadow clones. Sakura sat down on a nearby log and waited for Kakashi-sensei to arrive. He had said he would be there by 5 AM, so he shouldn't be long, right?
As the first hour passed, Kakashi was still not there, and Sakura began to feel impatient. Naruto and Sasuke both took a break from their training, unable to keep up the pace any longer. Masagaki continued to train, but he wasn't putting in as much effort as he had before.
As time passed, the sun rose fully over the horizon. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood next to each other. Naruto yawned, feeling tired after a restless night of sleep. He had also skipped breakfast, as Kakashi-sensei had instructed them to do the day before, leaving him low on energy. He was amazed that Masagaki never stopped practicing. First, Masagaki worked on shurikenjutsu, then switched to kenjutsu, and then returned to shurikenjutsu again. Unlike the rest of them, he seemed to have an endless supply of energy. Naruto couldn't help but respect his tenacity.
[ Detected a change in relations with Naruto Uzumaki. He respects the host's commitment to training and your tenacity to never give up.
Reward: 30 points. ]
"Morning, everyone," Kakashi said as he arrived at the training grounds. He glanced at the three students sitting on the ground, half asleep, and then turned to Masagaki, who was still practicing with a few shuriken. Masagaki walked over to collect his shuriken, placing them back into his pouch before turning to face Kakashi-sensei. "Ready for your first day?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto all shouted in unison, "Hey! You're late!" Sakura even stood up, pointing accusingly at Kakashi.
"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way to get here," Kakashi said, defending his late appearance. Naruto merely grumbled as he couldn't think of a proper retort to what Kakashi just said.
"Well, let's get started," Kakashi said as he walked towards the training field. All four of them now stood together as they looked at their sensei, who was now holding up three bells. "Well, it's pretty simple, you just have to take these bells from me," Kakashi said, holding the three bells between his fingers as he lightly jiggled the bells. "That's all there's to it."
"If you can't get it by now-"Kakashi's speech was interrupted when Masagaki activated his Byakugan and swiftly threw three shuriken at him. Kakashi easily dodged the projectiles, but he was taken aback by their speed. Just as he was about to respond, he sensed something approaching from behind.
Kakashi looked behind him and noticed the three shurikens changing directions, aiming directly for his back. He jumped backward just as the shurikens flew past him. Suddenly, the shurikens altered their trajectory again, now moving upward towards Kakashi. He had to draw a kunai to deflect one of them. Despite his best efforts, the shurikens kept coming back, no matter what he tried. He attempted to catch one, but it nearly resulted in a deep gash in the palm of his hand. If he hadn't acted quickly, he would have surely been hit. Deflecting and dodging were ineffective; nothing seemed to work. Kakashi considered using a jutsu that would destroy the shurikens upon contact, but he decided to hold back for the time being. After a while, he noticed that the shurikens were beginning to slow down as their momentum deteriorated.
The shuriken flew past again, but this time they fell to the ground. Each one had run out of its stored chakra reserves simultaneously. Kakashi was preparing to launch a counterattack, but just as he looked back, another shuriken sped towards him. This one was incredibly fast. Kakashi attempted to block it with his kunai, expecting to deflect it, but that didn't happen. Upon contact with the blade of the kunai, the shuriken began to accelerate even more. It began to slice through the kunai's blade as sparks flew.
If Kakashi didn't act soon, the situation would become problematic. The shuriken had nearly sliced through his kunai. He quickly grabbed another kunai from his pouch, ready to catch the shuriken when it eventually broke through. Just as he reached for an extra kunai with his other hand, he noticed a new shuriken coming from his right side. He positioned the extra kunai to intercept it like he had with the first one. But then he realized—this shuriken had an explosive tag tied to it. Before he could react, the shuriken closed the distance, and the explosive tag detonated.
A small localized explosion erupted. The shuriken tied to the explosive tag was destroyed in the blast, but it had fulfilled its purpose. The other shuriken, having depleted all of its reserved chakra, had fulfilled its purpose as well. It exerted pressure on Kakashi as it collided with his kunai.
Dust covered the area of the explosion, but Masagaki knew the fight wasn't over. A shinobi like Kakashi would never be truly injured by something like this; experienced fighters always had tricks up their sleeves. Masagaki could see Kakashi unscathed in the dust as he brushed himself off. Just as Masagaki prepared to launch another attack, Kakashi suddenly vanished. Using his Byakugan, Masagaki realized that Kakashi was now behind him.
Masagaki tried to deliver an attack with a kunai, but his arm was grabbed, and then he was pushed to the ground. Before he hit the ground, he managed to cast a substitution jutsu with his one free hand. Masagaki had specifically practised his one-hand substitution just seals incase something like this were to occur. Kakash was now holding a log against the ground. He looked around but couldn't find Masagaki.
Kakashi also took this time to see that both Sasuke and Sakura used this time to hide; Naruto, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of the field. Kakashi heard a faint sizzling sound as he turned the log over. There are clear as day were three explosive tags attached to the log. Kakashi used the substitution jutsu to get outside the blast radius. He appeared on a nearby tree branch.
"He combined substitution jutsu with explosive tags... He really thought this through, but how did he manage to attach the explosive tags so quickly?" Kasashi thought. He quickly searched for Masagaki's location and found him within a few seconds. It seemed that Masagaki was quite skilled at hiding for a genin. Kakashi decided to focus on Naruto, who didn't even attempt to use stealth like the others.
Kakashi jumped down from the tree branch and began to walk towards Naruto.