"Guy-sensei, why are you here?!" Lee clutched his bump.
"Lee!"
He pulled Lee into a tight bear hug, turning Lee's face bright red as tears gushed from his eyes.
"This is youth!"
Guy roared, his volume so great that a few birds at the end of the corridor fluttered away from the windowsill.
"Guy-sensei!"
Lee extended his right hand from Guy's embrace and used his last bit of strength to fist-bump Guy.
"Lee!"
"Guy-sensei!"
Naruto watched this "This is Youth" drama performed by the master and student, the corner of his lips twitching slightly, but he was thinking about something entirely different.
Guy's Eight Inner Gates.
The speed Lee displayed just now was the foundation built from the training system of Eight Inner Gates.
He had seen this technique countless times in his past life. After opening all Eight Gates, Guy could nearly go head-to-head with Six Paths Madara, nearly ending the series with a single kick. As for how close it actually was, who knows.
Could he learn this set of Taijutsu?
Nine-Tails Chakra had extremely great self-healing abilities, so the backlash of the Eight Inner Gates on the body could be cyclically complemented by the recovery power of Nine-Tails Chakra.
Coupled with the speed foundation under Kurama Chakra Mode, his speed and power after using Eight Inner Gates would be amplified many times over. This combination was a pairing that had never appeared in the entire history of the Ninja World.
And more importantly, when confronting the Ōtsutsuki Clan in the future, the Rinnegan could give one immunity against the vast majority of Ninjutsu, but Taijutsu was not included in that.
When facing the Ōtsutsuki, having or not having a pure Taijutsu ultimate move made a lot of difference.
However, that was the future. There was plenty of time to slowly train, there was no rush.
Sasuke stood up from the ground and straightened his crooked headband. Then he walked straight toward the staircase, his black hair obscuring most of his face, making his expression unreadable.
"Sasuke, wait for me!"
Sakura shouted at Sasuke and then quickly chased after him.
Naruto smiled at Guy and Lee, who were still hugging and crying, then stepped forward to follow Sasuke and Sakura.
"That child..."
Guy looked at Naruto, his expression turning serious.
The three of them turned the last corner of the stairs, and the view suddenly opened up.
At the end of the corridor was a huge double door, with a plaque reading "301" hanging above the lintel.
In front of the wooden door, a silver-haired ninja had been leaning against the doorframe, waiting for a long time.
Hearing the footsteps, Kakashi shoved the book into his ninja tool pouch, and looked up.
His gaze first fell on the face of Sasuke, who was walking in front. Sasuke's expression was heavier than usual and there were a few patches of dust on his clothes.
Then he glanced at Sakura. Her breathing was a bit rapid, clearly having been quite frightened just now.
Finally, his gaze landed on Naruto and he paused.
A white windbreaker, a black high-collar bodysuit, yellow hair a little longer than before, hanging down from both sides of his headband.
'Sensei...'
An image uncontrollably surged up from the depths of his long-sealed memories.
Many years ago, on the roof of the Hokage Building, a young man with yellow hair and blue eyes, wearing a white Hokage haori, smiled at him.
Minato, the Fourth Hokage, and also his Jonin leader.
"Kakashi-sensei, why are you here?" Sakura's voice pulled Kakashi back from the image.
Kakashi blinked rapidly, pushing those surging old memories back down.
"I'm waiting for you. The Chunin Exams require a three-person squad to register. If one person is missing, you cannot enter. So I am here to confirm if all three of you have arrived."
"Naruto, your new look is quite nice."
This was not just polite talk. When Kakashi said this, he stared at Naruto's face for several seconds, scanning from his yellow hair down to the hem of his white windbreaker.
"Although it is a bit late, I feel I should say this to the three of you."
He put away his lazy expression, and looked at Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto in turn with his right eye.
"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, you are the team I am proud of. Good luck with the Chunin Exams."
After saying this, he stepped aside to clear the path in front of the door.
Sasuke nodded slightly to Kakashi, then pushed open the wooden door.
Sakura took a deep breath and followed Sasuke inside.
"Naruto, stay safe during the Chunin Exams."
As Naruto passed by Kakashi, Kakashi said this in a volume that only the two of them could hear.
Naruto tilted his head slightly to look at Kakashi, nodded, and then walked into Classroom 301.
After the three figures disappeared, Kakashi leaned against the doorframe and closed his eyes.
'Sensei...'
'Naruto has inherited your genes, whether it's the hair, the gaze, or the posture he takes when standing in front of his teammates. He is becoming more and more like a mature ninja now.'