Read More, Use Your Brain More

Facing Sasuke's challenge, Naruto did not refuse.

Aside from beating up the three brats who had bullied Hinata last time, he had never seriously fought anyone before.

Sasuke came from the Uchiha family and was usually taught by his parents and older brother. His Taijutsu should have been quite good, making him a worthy opponent.

Then the battle began, and Naruto realized he had overestimated Sasuke.

Although Sasuke had decent combat experience, without activating his Sharingan, his physical condition and Chakra reserves were far inferior to Naruto's, who trained hard every day.

During the high-intensity Taijutsu battle, Sasuke's Chakra and stamina were quickly exhausted, while Naruto's breathing had not even become uneven.

Other than Sasuke gaining a slight upper hand at the start, Naruto suppressed him throughout the entire fight.

In the end, Naruto punched Sasuke in the stomach and KO'd him, claiming his first victory.

Although Naruto had held back on that final punch, it still made Sasuke dry-heave for quite a while.

Naturally, Sasuke was unwilling to accept this. He was a genius born into the Elite Uchiha Clan—how could he lose to an ordinary civilian child?

After resting for a while, he challenged Naruto again.

Naturally, the outcome was no different. Sasuke was still KO'd in the end, and because Naruto began applying more of the Taijutsu experience he had learned in daily training to actual combat, Sasuke lost even faster.

Sasuke was not someone who gave up easily. Defeat only made his fighting spirit burn brighter, and he challenged Naruto again and again.

Naruto had no reason to refuse a sparring partner who came to him willingly.

And so, Sasuke got beaten up for an entire day.

Other than when they ate, rested, and recovered their strength, they never stopped!

By dusk, the two ended their training.

Naruto did not make Grilled Fish today. Instead, he cooked a pot of fish soup with wild vegetables and roasted the three rabbits he had caught.

The two sat beside the campfire for dinner, each holding a rabbit and feasting heartily.

At that moment, Naruto was merely a little dirty, but Sasuke's fair and handsome face looked rather terrible, covered in bruises and swollen patches from the beating.

Of course, even after being beaten up like that, Sasuke did not resent Naruto.

After all, he had been the one to challenge Naruto first, only to lose because he was not strong enough.

This outcome stirred Sasuke's fighting spirit and gave him even greater motivation to train.

"It hurts a little, but I can clearly feel that my Taijutsu has improved a lot," Sasuke said to Naruto beside him as he wolfed down his food.

The pressure Naruto exerted had brought out Sasuke's potential, making his movements increasingly nimble during their Taijutsu fights. He had even pulled off many brilliant maneuvers he normally would never have thought of.

"I feel like I've gained a lot too," Naruto replied with a grin.

Then, his eyes darting around, Naruto added, "I heard the Uchiha Clan is great with Shuriken. Teach me how to practice with Shuriken tomorrow, and in return, I'll teach you a training trick."

"All right."

Sasuke did not think much about it and agreed immediately.

Today, they had only fought with Taijutsu. Naruto had not used Shadow Clones or Wind Release Ninjutsu, or Sasuke would have lost even more miserably.

They were clearly about the same age and did not practice anything particularly special, yet the other boy's overall strength surpassed his by so much. There had to be some special training method behind it.

Seeing Sasuke agree, Naruto did not keep him in suspense. After finishing his meal and wiping his hands, he began explaining carefully.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but when we were fighting with Taijutsu, every time you lost, you'd rest briefly to recover your strength, then rush right back at me and challenge me again."

Hearing Naruto say that, Sasuke thought about it and realized it really had been that way.

Then he asked, "What's wrong with that? Whether it's Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, or combat experience, don't you turn them into physical instinct through sparring and real combat, battle after battle? That is how your strength improves.

"The facts also prove that this is correct. Both your Taijutsu and mine improved during this process."

Sasuke's father, Fugaku, had taught him this principle. It was also the training method used by most ninjas.

Naruto nodded. "You're right. Diligence is one of the most basic conditions for success. I'm not questioning that."

"What I'm saying is that you haven't learned to consciously summarize and reflect on something. Instead, you're relying on instinctive, unconscious summary and reflection, just like with the Taijutsu earlier."

"Although your Taijutsu will improve through diligent training, if, while practicing it, you deliberately summarize the strengths and weaknesses in your Taijutsu and identify the essence of Taijutsu training—

"Then improve it, discard the dross and preserve the essence, you can achieve twice the results with half the effort.

"Thinking and summarizing may seem like they waste time that could be spent training Taijutsu, but the increased efficiency can completely make up for the time spent thinking.

"This principle does not apply only to Taijutsu training. The same is true for Ninjutsu training.

"Take this Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. According to professional statistics, excluding those who simply cannot learn it at all, an average Genin needs a month to master this Ninjutsu, while even those with high Ninjutsu talent need at least three days.

"But after carefully thinking through the principles behind how this Ninjutsu is activated, I can learn it after practicing it once. That is the result of thinking and summarizing."

As he spoke, Naruto formed the hand seals for Wind Release: Great Breakthrough in a movement Sasuke could barely follow, then exhaled a fierce gust into the sky to make his words more convincing.

After a pause, Naruto concluded, "In short, use your brain more."

Aside from innate factors, intelligence was largely built through acquired training, study, and accumulation.

At that moment, Sasuke fell into deep thought.

He recalled his father teaching him Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu not long ago. When he had first learned it and tried using it, he had only barely managed to spit out a tiny flame.

Yet when his brother Itachi practiced it for the first time, he had been able to spew out a massive fireball several meters in diameter in one go.

Beyond talent for practicing Ninjutsu, the greatest reason for that gap was probably what Naruto had said: thinking, summarizing, and finding the essence of Ninjutsu.

And from what Sasuke knew, his brother Itachi truly was someone who liked to think.

As he analyzed Naruto's words through his own experiences, he found them increasingly reasonable. From the bottom of his heart, he began to accept the idea of thinking more and summarizing the essence of things.

Still, he did not know how to put this idea into practice.

Facing Sasuke's expectant gaze, Naruto smiled and spoke three words: "Read more books."