Naruto: The new beginning

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After submitting their assignment, Team 7 hurried to the training ground.

Kushina joked, "You're on time for once, Kakashi. That's worthy of praise."

Kakashi sighed helplessly, "Is my image that bad in your mind?"

"Hahaha, alright, enough chit-chat! Let's get a match started!" 

Kiba, itching to fight, jumped out impatiently and shouted, "Let's have a showdown, Naruto!"

Naruto couldn't do much but agree. He knew that if he didn't beat Kiba thoroughly, he'd never stop.

"Okay, okay, let's fight." As Naruto said this, everyone heard him, and he signalled that he was ready.

Kushina excitedly stepped into the middle to preside over the match. The others stepped back to make space.

"And now, the first friendly match between Team 7 and Team 8: Kiba Inuzuka vs. Naruto Uzumaki! Get ready—start!"

Naruto and Kiba exchanged the seal of opposition.

Kiba didn't miss the chance to talk tough. "Give it your best, Naruto! This time, Akamaru and I will defeat you!"

"Woof!" Akamaru barked in agreement, wagging his tail.

"Give it my best? Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

Kiba was full of confidence. "Yes, give it your best! I've gotten a lot stronger—don't underestimate me!"

Sasuke, hearing this, looked at Kiba with pity.

Naruto nodded, "Alright, let's do this."

"Akamaru! Get ready!"

"Woof!"

Naruto thought for a moment. 'What's my full power?' He decided to start with 1,000 shadow clones.

Naruto shouted, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

As soon as Kiba and Akamaru got into their attacking stance, they were met with—

"Bang bang bang bang bang..." Countless Narutos filled the field, packed so tightly that even the spectators were nearly drowned in the sea of clones.

"Hey, you stepped on my foot, idiot!"

"My arm's about to be crushed, you jerk!"

"Move over, give me some space!"

"Eliminate yourself"

"Hey! Who touched there, are you gay?"

"Are you a bastard?"

****

The clones were noisy and shoving each other, causing chaos that resembled a crowded marketplace, a packed train during rush hour, or a bus during peak hours.

Looking around, the entire training ground was filled with little blond heads. Anyone who didn't know about the fight would think they were in a sunflower field.

Kiba was completely overwhelmed by Naruto's clones; he couldn't even move, let alone fight.

Akamaru was plucked up by one of the Narutos and passed through the clones back to Naruto.

Kushina, who was closest to the battlefield, had a tick mark on her forehead as she found herself surrounded by the clones.

Kushina raised a hand irritably, "The match is over! Naruto wins. Now get rid of those shadow clones, right now!"

Naruto obediently dispelled the shadow clones. Over 1,000 of them vanished instantly, and the remaining chakra returned to him.

Naruto, feeling a bit drained after having his chakra split into a thousand parts, regained his composure.

Though the sheer number of clones looked intimidating, they didn't have much combat power. 

In the anime, Naruto overwhelmed Mizuki with thousands of clones because he had used the Nine-Tails' chakra in his rage.

But now, Naruto was using only his chakra, so each clone had less than 0.1 of a chakra point.

The issue was that even if you combined Kiba and Akamaru's chakra, they only had about 0.23 points of chakra.

No matter how much Kakashi was mocked for having low chakra, he was still a Jonin. Kiba, on the other hand, was just one of the better Genin, so he was completely out of his league.

After the shadow clones disappeared, Kakashi glanced up at the sky, "Was that necessary?"

Sakura was relieved. She had been squished into Sasuke's arms and apologized weakly, "I'm sorry, Sasuke, I got pushed over accidentally."

Inner Sakura, however, was punching the air, "Nice job, Naruto!"

"It's fine," Sasuke muttered, rubbing his chest, feeling a bit sore.

Hinata's face was red, her fingers twiddling together, and her head was almost steaming. She had been too close to Naruto...

As for Kiba, he was crushed. He slumped to the ground as if he had lost all hope: "What... just happened?"

*Wham!*

Kushina punched Naruto on the head, "That was too much!"

"He told me to do my best... Sorry," Naruto apologized sincerely, realizing he might have overdone it.

Kushina noticed Kiba was feeling down and quickly went over to comfort him, "Actually, in a real battle, you just have to outlast him until he runs out of chakra. This tactic isn't practical in a real fight."

Of course, Kushina didn't mention that there are other ways to counter this, such as using large-scale ninjutsu to clear the field or creating the same number of shadow clones to counter him but With Naruto's growth rate, this move might become useful in the future.

Akamaru jumped out of Naruto's arms, whimpered, and licked Kiba's hand, trying to cheer him up.

Being a hot-blooded kid, Kiba quickly regained his spirit, "Naruto, I lost this time, but next time—next time..."

Sasuke looked at him with pity once again. 'So naive. I thought like you when I was four. Now I'm twelve...'

Naruto and Kiba left the stage after exchanging the seal of reconciliation, and Kushina shouted:

"Next up, Hinata Hyuga vs. Sakura Haruno!"

The two girls walked to the centre of the field, exchanged the seal of opposition, and faced each other.

Hinata didn't know much about Sakura, but she had always envied her for being on the same team as Naruto-kun. She also admired Sakura for having the courage to confess to the one she liked.

'But even though I admire you...' Hinata thought quietly as she glanced to the side where Naruto was watching. 'I want to win!'

Sakura didn't know much about Hinata either. All she knew was that Hinata was a shy, introverted girl. 

She always thought of Hinata as a good person—any girl who didn't try to take Sasuke away from her was a good person.

'But even though you're a good person...' Sakura glanced at the sidelines where Sasuke was watching. 'I don't want to lose in front of Sasuke.'

Hinata assumed her Gentle Fist stance, her eyes firm and determined.

Sakura encouraged herself quietly, feeling the power surging within her.

Sakura made the first move, rushing at Hinata with her fists flying, cutting through the air with surprising speed, and then... she froze.

'What happened?'

'Why?'

'What is this?'

'Is this Hinata?'

Under Sakura's shocked gaze, Hinata's Byakugan activated, the veins around her eyes bulging as she effortlessly dodged Sakura's punch.

Then, like a butterfly flitting through flowers, Hinata's hands slipped through Sakura's defences with ease, striking her in rapid succession, hitting her thirty-two times in an instant!

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