The Chūnin Exams had ended, but this was far from the end. It was a beginning.
An undercurrent that few noticed was quietly surging beneath the surface.
Konoha no longer had any other village capable of shaking it. Yet no matter how powerful external enemies were, they stood in plain sight. When problems arose from within, they often eroded things in the most covert ways.
The young Sasuke had not noticed this for the time being. His mind was filled with thoughts of surpassing Naruto.
After suffering another crushing defeat at Naruto's hands, Sasuke found it impossible to accept.
"How could this happen? Why was it that I had finally caught up to him, only to be thrown behind again so quickly?"
Sasuke slammed his fist viciously into the wall, his entire body trembling with extreme unwillingness.
Was he not working hard enough? Was he not talented enough? Or had he not received good guidance?
He had all of those things, and they were among the best in all of Konoha.
Yet he simply could not defeat Naruto!
Just as Naruto had said, if this continued, the gap between them would only grow wider. Sasuke's purpose would become nothing more than desperately working hard to bring Naruto a tiny bit of amusement.
Sasuke was deeply unwilling to accept that.
"Izumi-senpai, if there's nothing else, I'll go train."
As the clan head's youngest son, Sasuke had come to visit Izumi, the newly advanced Kage-level powerhouse, out of courtesy.
News that Uchiha Izumi possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan had begun spreading through the village. Yet the stir it caused this time was unexpectedly small.
What, the Uchiha had another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan? Oh, was that so? That clan already had plenty of them anyway. Between Konoha, the Akatsuki, and the Eye Organization,