Konoha, Third Training Ground.
Two figures, one large and one small, stood confronting each other several meters apart.
"Wind Release: Finger Gun."
Naruto suddenly raised both hands, pointing his index fingers like pistols at Kakashi. Immediately after, wind-natured Chakra gathered and compressed at his fingertips, then fired out like bullets.
This technique looked similar to the Marine Six Powers from One Piece, but it was actually Naruto's improved version of the hand-seal-less Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet. At least he didn't need to attack with his mouth anymore; shooting with his fingers looked much cooler than before.
Naruto started with over a dozen Vacuum Bullets shooting directly at Kakashi, while simultaneously clapping his hands together, summoning several Shadow Clones who began forming Rasengan.
Hand-seal-less Ninjutsu is extremely advantageous in Ninja battles. Not needing hand seals means you can release Ninjutsu faster than your opponent, allowing you to seize the initiative in combat, launch an attack first, and keep your opponent under your attack rhythm.
Seeing Naruto directly release Wind Release Ninjutsu without hand seals, Kakashi's exposed eye narrowed slightly. He had already lost the initiative, and he also needed to cast defensive Ninjutsu to defend himself. One step slow meant every step would be slow.
Fortunately, his hand seal speed was among the fastest in the entire Ninja World, allowing him to release Ninjutsu almost instantly.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall."
An earth wall carved with dog heads immediately rose from the ground, blocking all the Vacuum Bullets before they hit Kakashi, raising a large cloud of dust.
"It's not over yet, One-Eyed Uncle!"
"Wind Release: Rasengan."
In just this short time, Naruto was already standing on top of the Earth Flow Wall, forming a Rasengan, and jumping down directly.
Kakashi's movements didn't stop at all; after releasing the Earth Flow Wall, he had already retreated quickly.
"Boom!"
The Rasengan in Naruto's hand struck empty space, and the violently compressed Chakra directly blasted a huge crater in the ground.
Seeing this, Kakashi's eye twitched wildly. While retreating, he formed hand seals again.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."
Kakashi placed his right hand in front of his mouth and directly spewed fire at Naruto, who had no time to react.
"Bang!"
Facing such a close-range Great Fireball, Naruto had no time to dodge and directly turned into a puff of smoke.
Kakashi showed no surprise at this. His retreating body stomped one foot on the ground, quickly squatted down, and pushed off with force, changing direction again and leaping sideways.
"Boom!"
Four of Naruto's figures simultaneously burst out from the ground, forming Rasengan and striking at the spot where Kakashi had previously landed.
Seeing the spot empty, the four clones stopped their actions, holding Rasengan in their hands, and simultaneously looked up into the air.
Kakashi had finished forming hand seals again, his body leaning back slightly, making an inhaling motion, and then suddenly spewing out several gas attacks.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet."
Dense, wind-natured Chakra bullets directly defeated the four clones.
But Kakashi was not careless, because there was no sign of Naruto left on the scene; he must have used a Ninjutsu to hide.
"Whoosh--"
Kakashi landed directly on the river surface. Standing there, he didn't have to worry about Naruto ambushing him from underground.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
A sudden strong wind came from behind Kakashi. The violent wind made Kakashi unable to open his eyes or lift his head. The wind continued to grow stronger, threatening to directly knock him over.
Kakashi struggled to form hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Wall."
A huge water wall immediately rose from the river surface beneath Kakashi's feet, blocking Naruto's Wind Release.
Standing behind the Water Wall, Kakashi also located Naruto's position through the direction of the Wind Release. He formed hand seals with both hands, and his entire body appeared directly behind Naruto, who was in the midst of performing Great Breakthrough.
Naruto, who was in the middle of blowing wind, suddenly widened his eyes. In his peripheral vision, a large fist was heading straight for the side of his face.
"Bang!"
"Another clone?"
Kakashi looked at Naruto, who had once again exploded into a puff of smoke, and couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
Does this guy have that much Chakra even for a clone?
"Whoosh!"
Kakashi immediately dodged sideways. Naruto's Chakra-wrapped fist landed directly in front of Kakashi's previous position, causing another burst of flying sand and stones, leaving a large pit in the ground.
Kakashi quickly retreated using the impact force. Naruto also rushed out of the smoke area, leaping high into the air, heading straight for Kakashi.
Naruto adjusted his posture in mid-air, bending his right arm at the elbow, preparing to use his elbow bone as the striking point.
Is he going to use Taijutsu?
Kakashi guessed in his mind, standing firm in place, preparing to compete in Taijutsu with Naruto.
Naruto had already leaped to his highest point, his elbow wrapped in Chakra, using all his strength, pressing his elbow down at extreme speed.
"One-Eyed Uncle, take my Uzumaki Elbow Strike!"
Looking at the approaching Chakra-wrapped elbow, Kakashi's gaze suddenly narrowed. He formed hand seals again and pressed them onto the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall."
Another earth wall rose from the ground, pushing towards Naruto, who was in the middle of his elbow strike.
However, to Kakashi's shock, Naruto actually split the rising earth wall in half with his elbow, attacking him with an unstoppable momentum.
Kakashi subconsciously raised his arms and crossed them to block.
But then Kakashi's pupils suddenly constricted. An indescribable force came from his arms where they were crossed.
Kakashi's feet lifted directly off the ground, and he was sent flying by the elbow. His vision blurred, and looking at the dazzling sun in the sky, he seemed to see his deceased father smiling at him.
"Bang!"
Kakashi, who was sent flying by the elbow, directly exploded into a puff of smoke.
Naruto suddenly felt a cool sensation on his neck. He turned his head and realized that the real Kakashi was already holding a Kunai to his neck.
"One-Eyed Uncle, I'm sorry I couldn't make you use your full strength."
"Hahahaha."
Facing the Kunai, Naruto had originally maintained a straight face while saying this, but in the end, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Kakashi gave him a dead-fish eye and retracted the Kunai.
"Your hand-seal-less Ninjutsu is really troublesome, you know."
It was precisely because Naruto's hand-seal-less Ninjutsu directly seized the initiative that Kakashi was forced to use Ninjutsu to block, which caused him to fall into Naruto's attack rhythm and then be continuously pressured.
Fortunately, his Body Flicker and hand seal speed were fast enough; otherwise, he would probably have been embarrassed today.
Kakashi had already dueled Naruto several times this past month. From an initial complete dominance, he was now finding it increasingly difficult to face Naruto; they were almost evenly matched.
Naruto patted the dust off himself and said with a smile, "It's obvious, One-Eyed Uncle, you haven't played enough high-tier games. Who bothers with hand seals, seriously?"
Kakashi's dead-fish eyes were full of speechlessness. "Hand seals allow for better guidance and control of Chakra, which ensures successful Ninjutsu activation and conserves Chakra."
"You just need to use Ninjutsu more times to get good at it," Naruto said nonchalantly, then suddenly showed a mischievous smile, "As for the little Chakra saved, who cares about that little Chakra, seriously?"
"You, even if you have a lot of Chakra, you can't waste it casually. What if there's an emergency?"
"You go practice by yourself for now. When Might Guy arrives, let him teach you Taijutsu."
Kakashi's dead-fish eyes became even more speechless. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, directly pulled out a yellow-covered book from his Ninja tool pouch, and walked under a tree.
Looking at Kakashi like this, Naruto couldn't help but feel like complaining.
"One-Eyed Uncle, you should read less of those perverted books, or you'll get even weaker later."
Kakashi just rolled his eyes and ignored Naruto.
Watching Kakashi engrossed in his 'perverted' book, Naruto could only shake his head in disappointment and start training himself.