Chapter 3: The Price of a Glance
The morning sun had barely crested the horizon when Team 7 met at Training Ground 3. The grass was dewy, and the air was sharp. Kakashi arrived three hours late, reading his orange book with a bored expression that belied his lethal sharpness.
"Okay," Kakashi said, clicking a timer. "The goal is simple: take these two bells from me by noon. If you don't have a bell, you go back to the Academy. Also... you'll be tied to those posts while I eat my lunch in front of you."
Sakura gasped. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Naruto just watched Kakashi's movements. To Naruto's new senses, Kakashi didn't just look like a man; he looked like a raging storm of blue lightning held behind a dam.
"Start!"
Sasuke and Sakura vanished into the brush. Naruto, however, stayed standing in the center of the clearing.
"You're not hiding?" Kakashi asked, not looking up from his book.
"I can't hide what I am anymore, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said. He dashed forward.
His speed was different now. By absorbing Mizuki's chakra system, he had inherited years of refined muscle memory. He moved with a fluid grace he had never possessed. He engaged Kakashi in a taijutsu exchange—punch, parry, kick.
Kakashi blocked every move with one hand, but his eye widened. He's using Mizuki's signature style, Kakashi realized. The exact weight distribution, the specific snap of the wrist. It's not a copy... it's a transplant.
Suddenly, Sasuke launched a volley of shuriken from the trees. Kakashi flicked his wrist to deflect them, and for a split second, he was open.
Naruto lunged. His hand wasn't a fist; it was an open palm, reaching for Kakashi's vest.
"Don't!" Kakashi barked, disappearing in a blur of Body Flicker. He reappeared ten feet away, his book tucked away, his hand hovering over his headband—the one covering his left eye. "I told you, Naruto. Keep your hands to yourself. If you touch me with the intent to 'pull,' I will have to treat you as an enemy combatant."
"I'm just trying to get a bell!" Naruto shouted, though his heart was racing.
When he had gotten close to Kakashi, his "All For One" ability had hummed with a violent intensity. It wasn't just wanting Kakashi's chakra; it was craving the red eye behind the fabric. The "Singularity" within Naruto—the Nine-Tails—roared in his mind, urging him to take the Sharingan.
Imagine it, boy, the Fox's voice echoed in his soul. A gift of the Uchiha, paired with the void I provide. You would see everything. You would own everything.
"Shut up," Naruto hissed under his breath.
"What was that?" Sasuke asked, stepping out from the shadows, his eyes burning with jealousy. He had seen Naruto go toe-to-toe with a Jonin.
"Nothing," Naruto said, sweating. "We have to work together. He's too fast for one person. If I can just get a grip on him for one second, I can stall his chakra flow. Not take it—just... dampen it."
Sasuke looked at Naruto's hand. "If you can do that... I'll provide the opening. But if you try to take anything from me, Uzumaki, I'll kill you."
The two rivals charged together. It was a beautiful, desperate dance. Sasuke used his Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu to force Kakashi to jump, and Naruto was there, waiting in the air.
Naruto's fingers brushed Kakashi's sleeve.
Just a taste, the void whispered.
Naruto felt a spark. He didn't take the Sharingan, but he accidentally "nipped" a fragment of Kakashi's Lightning affinity. A bolt of blue electricity crackled across Naruto's arm, singing his sleeve.
Kakashi landed, breathing slightly harder. He looked at the bells. One was gone. Naruto stood there, smelling of ozone, holding the silver bell.
"You passed," Kakashi said, though his voice lacked its usual lightness. He looked at his own hand, which was trembling slightly. For a heartbeat, he had felt his connection to his own power waver. "But remember the rule, Naruto. The more you take, the less of 'Naruto' is left. Don't let the collection replace the collector."
The Internal Ledger (Updated)
Current Storage: 1.5 / 5 Slots.
New Fragment: Lightning Affinity (Partial). Naruto can now channel small amounts of electricity, but he doesn't have a specific Jutsu for it yet.
Side Effect: Naruto begins to develop a habit of "reading" people's chakra before he talks to them, making him seem eerily perceptive and distant.
The weeks following the bell test were a blur of "D-Rank" missions—weeding gardens, finding lost cats, and painting fences. For Naruto, it was torture. Every time he touched a common object, he felt nothing. He was hungry for the "hum" of power, a psychological side effect of the void within him that the Third Hokage had feared.
Finally, their first real test arrived: The Land of Waves.