Kaito took advantage of the approaching lunch hour and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. However, the house was unusually quiet today, and realizing that his parents were not around, he settled for whatever was available in the kitchen. After a quick meal, he headed towards the forest for training, leaving a clone behind to learn fuinjutsu.
Within minutes, Kaito arrived at the forest but was unexpectedly met with Naruto training ninjutsu.
'Hehehe, I'm going to startle him just like my father did to me that day.' Kaito thought mischievously.
He picked up a kunai and threw it at a nearby tree where Naruto was training. Startled, Naruto jumped at the sight of the kunai and quickly scanned the area.
"Who's there?" Naruto called out, his fingers poised to use his Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu at any moment.
Another kunai flew in his direction, which Naruto deflected with his staff, still scanning for the source of the kunai.
"If you won't show yourself, I'll have to force you out!" Naruto declared, and in the next instant, hundreds of clones appeared, all forming hand seals for Wind Release: pressure wind.
Kaito's eyes widened at the sight of the clones and the impending technique.
The gusts of wind were already upon him, causing smaller trees, branches, and leaves to be blown away. Kaito quickly erected a water barrier in front of him to protect himself from being thrown or hit by debris. Although he managed to shield himself, he was spotted by Naruto.
"Haha, so it's you, Kaito, trying to scare me," Naruto chuckled upon recognizing his friend's presence, seemingly unfazed by the jutsu Kaito had launched at him.
"You seem more aggressive than before, Naruto. I thought at most, you'd ask me to leave and inquire who I was," Kaito grinned, scratching his head.
"I can see you've been focused on training your ninjutsu, Naruto. How about a sparring match to test ourselves?" Kaito suggested.
Naruto's eyes sparkled at the proposition, and he readily agreed.
"Let's do it, Kaito. I've been wanting to see how much stronger I've become. This time, prepare to be defeated," Naruto declared as he prepared to fight.
Kaito readied himself too, the two of them watching as a leaf slowly descended. As the leaf hit the ground, they both disappeared.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kaito and Naruto reappeared, colliding head-on, their katana and staff meeting. Kaito attempted to push Naruto back, but Naruto's strength outweighed his, causing Kaito to retract his weapon, forcing Naruto forward, and then kicked him in the face.
Naruto saw the kick coming and successfully defended with his left arm. Kaito smiled and, in the next moment, he jumped and delivered another kick, rotating his body to put more force into it.
This time, Naruto could hardly react and had to take a few steps back to maintain his balance. He winced and shook his arm in pain.
"That really hurt," Naruto muttered, before lunging at Kaito, striking with his staff. Kaito defended with his katana, but the force of the attack forced him to step back. Not giving Kaito any chance to recover, Naruto thrust his staff.
Kaito evaded with his left hand and charged directly at Naruto, swinging his katana. It narrowly missed Naruto's face as he dodged just in time. Taking advantage of the moment, Naruto formed a hand seal and a large gust of wind erupted from his mouth, pushing Kaito back. Kaito somersaulted and landed gracefully.
"Very good, Naruto, very good," Kaito smiled, thoroughly enjoying the fight.
Naruto wasted no time and used another jutsu.
"Jutsu: Wind Blades!" As soon as he finished speaking, he swung his hand, sending several wind blades towards Kaito. Smiling, Kaito generated multiple wind blades as he swung his katana, his water blades clashing with Naruto's wind blades and canceling each other out.
Whoosh!
In that moment, Kaito appeared behind Naruto and attacked with a katana strike. Naruto had already sensed Kaito's approach and, without turning, pushed his staff backward, colliding it with Kaito's blade.
"I've been training hard lately, Kaito. You won't catch me easily," Naruto remarked, as he activated his Clone Jutsu, and hundreds of clones appeared around Kaito.
"This time, I've got you," all of Naruto's clones exclaimed simultaneously as they lunged at Kaito, each attacking with their staffs.
Kaito looked at the scene, swiftly forming hand seals. As the clones closed in on him, a water barrier emerged, causing the clones' attacks to collide with the barrier, splashing water all around, but none of the attacks managed to breach the barrier.
Naruto was taken aback by this but soon ordered all the clones to fall back.
"Get ready, Kaito," Naruto warned. In the next moment, all the clones formed hand seals, and hundreds of wind blades were launched towards the water barrier.
Some blades missed and fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured the view, making it difficult to see the fate of the wind blades that had collided with the barrier.
Naruto watched intently to assess what had happened to the barrier. In the next moment, several water bullets emerged from within the dust, striking all the clones at once. Only the real Naruto managed to defend himself with his staff.
"Hahaha, nice move, Naruto," Kaito deactivated his barrier, now reduced to less than half its original size, and looked around at the marks left on the ground and trees by the impact.
Without wasting any time, Kaito rushed towards Naruto, forming several water bullets and firing them in his direction.
Naruto dodged the bullets, leaping between the trees as he closed in on Kaito. Once again, the two collided, but this time, both were in the air, with no surface to defend against.
At that moment, Naruto saw a massive water bullet heading towards him from the corner of the forest.
"I got you, Naruto," Kaito smiled and pushed Naruto in the direction of the large water bullet.
But at that moment, all Kaito saw was a smile on Naruto's face, and in the next moment, a massive wind blade was coming towards him.
Surprised, Kaito realized Naruto had devised the same plan as him.
'Damn, am I that straightforward, or is Naruto getting smarter?' Kaito, lost in thought, barely evaded Naruto's wind blade, which was about to strike him.
Kaito could have used a Wind Release pressure technique to defend himself, but he decided to rely solely on his katana. Naruto's wind blade wasn't that strong, so Kaito managed to fend it off easily, slicing the wind in two and dissipating it.
Meanwhile, Naruto, who had defended with his staff, was still impacted by the water, which sent him flying directly into a tree.
"You had a really good idea, Naruto. If your wind blade were stronger, it would have been a headache for me," Kaito remarked, showing a slight tear in his shirt where the wind blade had made contact.
"That's why I came here to train. I wanted my wind blade to be as lethal as Hana-sensei's that day," Naruto explained, scratching his head.
Smiling at Naruto's determination, Kaito praised him. "You're on the right track, Naruto, but you need to learn other, more powerful ninjutsu, like the Great Breakthrough Wind Jutsu or the Great Tornado Jutsu. Once you've mastered the ones you already know, you can come to my house and learn from my mother, right?"
"Right, Kaito. As soon as I master this ninjutsu, I'll learn more," Naruto responded eagerly, his eyes shining with the prospect of learning more powerful techniques.
After a brief exchange, they prepared to fight once more.
Naruto summoned multiple clones, which charged at Kaito. Undeterred, Kaito moved fearlessly toward the clones, dodging each attack with minimal movement. Amid the onslaught, Kaito counterattacked whenever he could, causing the clones to disappear one by one. In the next moment, the clones spewed a massive amount of wind.
"Darn it, I knew being surrounded by clones would be trouble," Kaito thought as he was pushed to the ground by the gusts. Seizing the opportunity, several staff attacks landed on Kaito's back.
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise; he hadn't expected that. All the clones rushed forward, trying to check if Kaito was okay amidst the dust that had been stirred up by the attack. However, as the dust settled, Kaito was nowhere to be seen.
In the next moment, they witnessed a large wave descending from the treetops, sweeping and detonating all the clones into smoke, leaving Naruto clinging to a tree for support.
Kaito took advantage and summoned smaller water serpents that attacked Naruto, who could only defend himself with his staff. After a few impacts, Kaito ceased attacking, observing that Naruto was exhausted and still pressed against the tree.
"You've lost again, Naruto," Kaito declared.
Naruto raised his head and nodded, acknowledging that Kaito could have continued to attack as much as he wanted.
"Hahaha, next time, I won't lose, Kaito. You'll see, mark my words," Naruto smiled as always. Kaito approached him, offering his hand to help him up.
Naruto took Kaito's hand, pulled himself up, and the two began to walk through the forest.
"I think it's better if we leave now. Soon, some ninja will come here to see what this commotion was about," Kaito suggested.
"True. Hey, Kaito, what do you think about going to Ichiraku Ramen?" Naruto asked as his stomach growled.
"Haha, sure, let's go," Kaito nodded, and the two set off.
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