Two months passed in the blink of an eye. The winter sun hung high in the sky, its gentle light blanketing the earth. In the silent, frigid woods, several squirrels darted and leaped between the trunks and branches of towering trees, foraging one moment and playing the next, free and carefree.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures suddenly flashed past, then came to a stop on opposing tree trunks, facing each other.
A squirrel that had just picked up a pinecone with its forepaws immediately flicked its tail and scurried into the lush canopy. The other squirrels vanished as well.
The next moment, the two figures lunged at each other simultaneously.
Bang!
After a dull thud, one of them was smashed straight to the ground.
"Damn it! The left cheek again!"
The figure that had just landed sprang nimbly to his feet. As he raised his head, a pair of scarlet eyes were revealed. He angrily started forming hand seals, but disbelief suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he abruptly changed the seal in his hands.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, a massive palm the size of a door slammed down, shattering the ground beneath it.
A few breaths later, as the giant palm rapidly shrank, the blond-haired figure muttered, "That Body Flicker Technique was well-timed. Still, this Yang Release Chakra nature transformation is pretty interesting."
"What kind of ninjutsu is that?"
Sasuke emerged from behind a large tree, his scarlet Sharingan fixed intently on Naruto's hand, which had returned to its normal size.
Naruto had brought him to the deepest part of the Forest of Death early that morning to train. Yet Sasuke had used every ninjutsu Naruto had taught him and still failed to hurt him, which left him deeply dissatisfied.
Naruto dusted off his hands and said, "The Expansion