Think It Through, Sasuke, Think It Through / Small and Fragrant... (Please Add to Favorites!)

Some of the lines really were memes. If you caught them, it wasn't your imagination, haha.

After the animated wedding arc, Naruto's childhood story really was added.

Currently gathering material on Naruko...

You Need to Think More, Sasuke

"Basically, this counts as a test."

"The school curriculum is just following the usual routine, and Sparkle led the two of you through yesterday's test as well."

"So when Sparkle proposed this plan to me, I agreed."

Once everything was over, Kakashi Hatake began evaluating the two of them.

"Hehe, then I must've done great!" Naruto had subdued the wild boar and was now practically bursting with excitement.

"Naruto, you have no understanding of stamina management. Your recovery ability may be good, but if the wild boar had attacked around noon, you wouldn't have had enough strength at all."

"Uh..." Naruto was left speechless.

If it had come at noon, he would have basically been lying on the ground. If the wild boar had really shown up, he could only have lain there and waited to get run over by a pig.

"Well, your final tactic was a highlight. You noticed the cliff was unstable beforehand, then lured the wild boar over and used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to increase the weight and drag it down." Kakashi still praised Naruto's later strategy.

"Hehe, hehe~" Naruto immediately cheered up again.

"That idiot definitely didn't think that much at the time." Sasuke spoke while looking toward Sparkle.

This "test" had been aimed at him and Naruto. In Teacher Kakashi's eyes, that meant Sparkle had no need to undergo it...

Even this test had been suggested by her.

A subtle feeling boiled within him.

Was it jealousy? Admiration? Longing?

Even Sasuke himself did not understand.

"Alright, that's enough for today," Kakashi said.

"Then what about our mission?" Naruto was still concerned about the mission.

"My Shadow Clone Jutsu has already finished the patrol," Sparkle said.

Kakashi went to turn in the mission, and Team 7 disbanded for the day.

Sasuke, deeply aware of his own shortcomings, continued training.

"A genius?"

Sasuke had heard it ever since long ago.

The Hyuga Clan's genius.

A true genius.

If only her Byakugan were still intact...

Before this, Sasuke had never cared about it. Even as classmates, he and her had never interacted much.

But today, Sasuke understood.

She was someone fully capable of standing at a higher level, training and assessing him.

Just like the day he had seen that destroyed training ground.

"Pant, pant." Sasuke finally stopped only when he could no longer move at all.

Perhaps because he had thought of that destroyed training ground, Sasuke unknowingly came here again.

"Hmm?"

Someone was there.

"Sparkle."

It was Sparkle.

She was still wearing the same clothes from daytime, but she had pulled up her skirt hem and tied her sleeves back with tasuki cords—arm straps used to secure sleeves.

"Is that... bandages?"

Sparkle's hands were wrapped in bandages, with blood seeping through them.

In Sasuke's memory, Sparkle's hands had seemed flawless and fair, completely different from what he saw now.

"Good evening, Sasuke."

Sparkle turned around.

"Your hands..."

"Ah, these? Please don't mind them," Sparkle said. "I have a constitution where I don't develop calluses, so I'm more easily injured when training Taijutsu. It's fine. They'll be better by tomorrow."

It had not mattered much before, since Sparkle always trained at home. But as she grew older, scraped skin and bleeding became common, and Natsu Hyuga, the maid, became terribly worried every time she saw them.

That was also why Sparkle no longer trained at home.

"Calluses..." Sasuke looked at his own hands.

Not developing calluses sounded like good news for a girl. But delicate skin was always easily injured.

And she was blind in both eyes.

What kind of motivation had kept her going all this time?

At that moment, Sasuke suddenly realized that perhaps calling her a "genius" was actually disrespectful.

Sparkle was far more than some flimsy label like "genius."

"Fight me," Sasuke said.

But Sparkle shook her head.

"Why? Are you looking down on me?!"

Sasuke became agitated.

But when two warm fingers touched his neck, Sasuke immediately calmed down.

"Because there's no point."

The voice came from behind him. At the same time, the "Sparkle" before his eyes dissolved like mist.

The battle ended before it even began.

"What kind of technique was that?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Mirror Flower, Water Moon." For some reason, Sasuke felt that Sparkle's voice was full of amusement when she said its name.

"Then at least let me see your ninjutsu." Though he had failed, Sasuke still wanted to witness Sparkle's strength instead of having his Genjutsu broken so effortlessly.

"I'm afraid that still isn't possible," Sparkle said.

"What do I have to do to become as strong as you?" Sasuke pressed.

"Train. Didn't you do well during the day?"

"I'm not talking about that childish stuff!" Sasuke finally lost it. "Only Naruto would get so excited over something like that!"

"I see." Sparkle understood. "Then first, learn to see yourself clearly."

"See... myself clearly?"

Sasuke had not expected that answer.

"Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going?" The three great questions of life sounded simple, but they could trouble someone for a lifetime.

"I'm an avenger. I want to restore my clan. I want to kill that man..." Sasuke said.

"If that's all, then I can only say that your capacity amounts to no more than that," Sparkle said.

"You must know about the Uchiha Clan."

If she even knew Kakashi's information, then Sparkle definitely knew about his family.

"If it were you—"

"You need to think more." Sparkle interrupted Sasuke. "Sasuke, you need to think more."

Think more?

Think about what?

"Where exactly was the problem? Were the facts truly as they appeared? Why did everything turn out this way?"

As she spoke, Sparkle had already untied the bloodstained bandages.

She tossed them onto the ground, and they immediately burst into flames.

"Fire Style..." Sasuke instantly recognized it as Fire Style ninjutsu, and its mastery far surpassed his own.

"Why did all this happen? How could one person accomplish all this without a sound? When someone makes a choice, what exactly is that person thinking? Don't let hatred blind your eyes. Sasuke, you need to think more."

"And after I think?" Sasuke asked.

"Bury it in your heart. Don't say anything." Sparkle straightened her clothes and walked ahead.

"Don't say anything?!" Sasuke vaguely sensed something.

"If you can truly figure it out, if you can truly awaken to it—" Sparkle turned back. "Then I'll let you see my technique. My true technique."

As she spoke, Sparkle's figure gradually vanished like fireworks.

Watching the place where Sparkle had disappeared, Sasuke fell into deep thought.

"Does she really know something?"

Sasuke fell silent.

But he remembered Sparkle's instruction firmly.

Bury it deep in his heart. Do not say anything.

Think more.

It could not really be said that Naruto had no conspiracy theories at all.

For example, Danzo, Danzo, and Danzo...

You could say that of all the blame in the Naruto World, Danzo took one tenth, while everyone else owed him another two tenths. Even in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Danzo still had blame left to shoulder...

Lastly, Gimestolanti's Love from C3 Cube, which someone mentioned in a private message, really was pretty good. But I rarely check private messages. I made a prop post instead—if there are random items, I'll pick interesting props, abilities, and characters and add them through a roll-based Anko method~

So just post them there. I might not see private messages.

Small and Fragrant... (Please Bookmark!)

OP1/ED1 filming complete

Ninja Path Anime Series Version now online

After several days passed in training and missions, the filming for the stage's opening and ending themes was completed ahead of schedule.

Having just returned home from a mission, Sparkle received a notification from the stage.

"That's earlier than the time set by the stage."

Based on experience, the bonus during the first episode's broadcast was much greater than in later episodes. She did not know whether the Anime Series Version would be the same.

"It's already available to watch."

Opening the stage interface, Sparkle found that a playlist had been added. The first episode of the Anime Series Version had already been uploaded.

The contents of the first episode were more or less the same as during the Live Broadcast.

But Sparkle noticed that some scenes had added BGM during playback, while some edits and shots had also been changed.

During the "official broadcast," the stage had clearly given the Anime Series Version a round of "fine polishing."

[Long admired your name]