Tree Climbing and Water Walking Training, Uchiha Sasuke's Mentality Collapsed

"Not climbing a tree with your hands and feet."

Kakashi shrugged. "How could Tree Climbing training possibly be the way you imagined it?"

"Watch carefully. I'll demonstrate once. When you train afterward, pay attention to controlling the Chakra beneath your feet."

"Use a Kunai to mark your position every time."

After briefly explaining, Kakashi stepped onto the Big Tree.

Then, as though defying gravity, he walked up the trunk.

Holding Little Royal Uncle, Kakashi stood upside down on a branch.

"Tree Climbing training is mandatory."

"Sakura, you should train too, but as for ninjutsu... don't consider that for now."

"Just as Naruto said, your Chakra reserves are indeed too low. After you complete this training, I'll have someone take you for special training. Once your Chakra reserves have improved, then you can consider learning ninjutsu."

Sakura gave a bitter smile.

"I understand."

When Naruto had said it before, she had been too focused on searching for some hidden meaning.

Subconsciously, she had ignored and avoided the obvious meaning.

Now that Kakashi had said it outright,

her emotions were naturally complicated.

"Don't worry. After special training, you can become an outstanding... genin."

"Yes!"

Sakura could only find joy amid the bitterness and rally herself.

A genin?

So what if she was a genin?

Her teammates were Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke!

She could still get by gathering intelligence and slacking off.

"Hmph!"

Uchiha Sasuke remained reliably himself. After snorting coldly, he urged, "Then hurry up and start. Once we finish this training mission, we can learn ninjutsu."

Kakashi glanced at him, hoping he would still be this arrogant later.

Whoosh— x3

Kakashi took out three Kunai from his Ninja Tool Bag and flicked them toward the three of them.

"Begin. Use the Kunai to record the height you reach each time you climb."

With that, he jumped down from the branch.

He found a suitable place to lie down, sprawled out like a salted fish with Little Royal Uncle in hand, though he had no idea how many times he had already read it.

"Hmph, it'd be better to get this boring training over with quickly."

Uchiha Sasuke naturally took the lead. He picked up a Kunai first and charged toward the trunk.

Step, step, step... Bang—

"Damn it!"

Uchiha Sasuke stared at the mark he had carved with the Kunai when he fell. It was only about three people's height off the ground.

With a howl, he charged again.

"Why... damn it!"

The second attempt was even shorter than the first.

Watching him, Sakura's thoughts stirred. Sasuke seemed to be doing something wrong.

Then she looked at Naruto beside her.

She found that Naruto was not charging recklessly like Sasuke.

Instead, he walked up to the trunk, extended a foot, and controlled Chakra to adhere to the sole of it.

After stepping against the trunk a few times, he found that there really was a pulling force.

Then he closed his eyes and focused on controlling his Chakra.

I've got it!

Sakura-bro shouted in her heart.

Immediately afterward, Sakura put it into action.

Imitating Naruto, she carefully controlled her Chakra before stepping onto the tree trunk.

"Maybe it isn't that difficult... or maybe my Chakra reserves are too low, so controlling it doesn't put as much pressure on me... but at least I still have an advantage!"

Completely focused, Sakura closed her eyes. Every step she took was extremely careful.

She constantly tested how much Chakra to use and how little was needed.

In the blink of an eye, she had climbed to the fork in the tree.

Overjoyed, she nearly fell.

So she jumped onto a branch and sat down.

"I did it!"

Kakashi: "Mm... as expected."

Uchiha Sasuke: "???"

He looked at the mark he had carved. His highest point was still only around four meters.

"Tch! I actually lost to Sakura!"

On the other side, Naruto could not suppress the slight smile curling at his lips.

He had completed this training who knew how many years ago.

Just now, he had merely been putting on an act.

After all, he had supposedly never learned or trained it before.

Naruto immediately began trying as well.

The first time, he fell after one step.

"Hmph!"

With someone to compare himself against, Uchiha Sasuke smiled.

The second time, Naruto fell after five steps.

Uchiha Sasuke was still smiling. Naruto had not even reached two meters.

The third time, Naruto did not fall until his thirteenth step.

Uchiha Sasuke could no longer smile.

Because he could not see even a trace of impatience or anger on Naruto's face.

On the fourth attempt, Naruto staggered through around twenty steps and successfully matched Sakura's result.

This time, Naruto had not fallen. He had jumped down on his own.

At that moment, Uchiha Sasuke's mentality collapsed, especially when he saw the Kunai Kakashi had thrown before them.

He was the only one who had picked one up.

Kakashi had also put down Little Royal Uncle. His dead-fish eyes widened as he watched Naruto climb step by step, his footsteps becoming steadier and his control over his body improving.

For a moment, he did not even realize that he had already stood up.

Sakura's eyes shone even brighter. He was amazing!

From now on, she absolutely had to follow Naruto without wavering.

Even if there was no meat to eat, there would still be soup to drink, right?

Her second personality, Sakura-bro, silently nodded in agreement.

"Damn it!"

Uchiha Sasuke grew anxious and copied Naruto's method of climbing.

The first time, he also fell after one step.

He did not lose heart. Instead, he felt as if he had gotten the hang of it!

But when he fell after one step again on his second attempt, his face went completely dark.

Meanwhile, although Naruto occasionally had an unsteady step,

he could still firmly keep his feet adhered to the trunk.

"Worthy of being the top student of the Ninja Academy for six years."

"My little trick could only fool those who were impatient. Sakura wasn't bad either. She noticed it right away, but she lacked Naruto's courage to try."

"To succeed at Tree Climbing so quickly on your first training session, with your Chakra reserves... this talent is truly astonishing."

Kakashi praised him without reservation.

Naruto wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead and responded with a smile.

Sakura stuck out her tongue. After secretly glancing at Naruto, she jumped down and continued training.

With Naruto demonstrating, and since she was not bad at this to begin with, she quickly grasped the essentials.

Only Uchiha Sasuke lay motionless on the ground.

He closed his eyes, his cheeks unusually red.

Only the impatient would be fooled... wasn't that him?

He looked at Naruto, who was already moving across the tree trunk as if walking on flat ground, then at Sakura, who could only sigh helplessly after exhausting her Chakra.

The pressure suddenly soared!

Especially because the talent Naruto had displayed completely surpassed his in every aspect.

They were not even on the same level!

He knew very clearly that the gap between him and Naruto might only grow wider. Unless he experienced explosive growth someday, he would be doomed to spend the rest of his life looking up at Naruto's back.

"Obviously, I have the advantage. I have the Sharingan!"

"I need to calm down! My talent isn't much worse than anyone else's!"

Uchiha Sasuke calmed down. He suddenly remembered that Naruto liked meditating in his spare time, so he imitated him and meditated for a while.

Sure enough, once he calmed down and tried again, he no longer fell after one step.

Instead, he fell after three.

"The improvement is obvious... the key is controlling the Chakra attached beneath my feet. I need to keep experimenting with how much or how little to use... I see!"

"Naruto, wait for me. I'll catch up to you soon!"

On the other side, Naruto knowingly asked, "Kakashi-sensei, we should be able to learn ninjutsu now, right?"

"There's more training, and I won't be the one teaching you. Once you finish, I'll go report it."

Kakashi said with a light smile, "Sakura has completed this training too. Follow me, and I'll teach you your next exercise."

Then he turned back, his dead-fish eyes returning. "Sasuke, stay here and continue training first."

Those words dealt Uchiha Sasuke a heavy blow.

He had just taken one step before falling again after one more.

Lying on the ground, he breathed heavily and hurriedly forced himself to calm down.

Kakashi took one look, then waved for Naruto and Sakura to follow him.

"It seems Sasuke won't take too long either. Still, if you two hadn't provoked him, this training would probably have taken him at least a week to complete."

"Ninja must not judge information solely by its outward appearance."

"Sakura, you've improved greatly."

Sakura immediately smiled at the praise, but soon shook her head. "Kakashi-sensei, I only noticed my shortcomings because Naruto reminded me."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, thinking, He perfectly inherited Teacher Minato's ability to pick up girls, and may have even surpassed Teacher Minato from back then.

Teacher Minato at least only had Kushina. This kid Naruto... well, who wasn't like that back then?

Boiling Earth: "???"

I refuse to acknowledge a world without Beautiful Sheep!

Soon, Kakashi brought the two of them to the side of a small river.

"Well, although it may be a little early for you to master this, that's only for ordinary newcomers."

"I think you should be able to quickly master the ability to walk on water."

"Sakura, don't worry if you feel your Chakra reserves are insufficient."

"Once you complete this training, I'll take you to find a teacher suitable for giving you special training."

Reassured once more, Sakura immediately revived at full health.

"I'll definitely work hard in my special training!"

"Naruto, I won't hold you back!"

Thinking of what happened at the Hokage's Office, Sakura finally found the courage to respond.

"Keep it up."

Naruto encouraged her with a faint smile, then continued acting.

This time, Sakura was noticeably slower.

Naruto also controlled his pace, not moving as quickly as he had during Tree Climbing.

But Kakashi's heartbeat still accelerated.

This talent was unlike anything he had seen in his life.

When he compared Naruto to Uchiha Itachi, who had utterly shocked him back then,

he found that Naruto's talent seemed even greater!

The only shortcoming was the lack of specialized training... No, it should be because of his identity!

If Teacher Minato and Kushina were still alive, even if only one of them were.

With Naruto's talent, he might have been able to graduate early in his first year.

He might even have become stronger than Kakashi had been back then.

There were only two people who moved Kakashi: Filial Son, and Snake Aunt, who had defected back then.

"Kakashi-sensei, I've completed the training!"

Not long after, Sasuke arrived.

He was disheveled, with several holes in his clothes.

Yet there was a faint smile on his face that even he had not noticed.

Then, at a glance, he saw Naruto staggering across the water, and his mentality nearly collapsed.

Fortunately, after seeing Sakura sighing beside him, he regained a little confidence.

However, before long, Sakura stood up and stepped onto the water.

Her steps were steady, but after only five or six steps, she fell into the water.

Sasuke could tell at once that she had run out of Chakra.

A genius Uchiha?

He closed his eyes and spent a quarter of an hour steadying his emotions before finally calming down.

By the time he opened his eyes, Naruto had already climbed ashore, dripping wet.

"Kakashi-sensei, I've completed the water-walking training too. There shouldn't be any more training, right?"

Kakashi nodded slightly. "Well done. I'll report to the Third Hokage now. He'll definitely be very surprised."

After saying that, Kakashi secretly gave Naruto a reassuring look, then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

He would help cover for him.

He had just secretly moved his forehead protector aside to take a look.

He discovered that Naruto's Chakra control beneath his feet was extremely precise.

In other words, he had probably already grasped the key points by his third attempt at walking on water.

The reason it had taken him so long to complete it was entirely because he had been putting on an act for Kakashi.

"Sasuke, you completed the Tree Climbing training too?"

"Yeah."

Sasuke nodded slightly. Over the past two days, Pink Hair had not bothered him.

He did not have to keep acting so cold toward his teammates.

He glanced at Naruto, who had immediately sat cross-legged to meditate without wasting any time.

Taking a deep breath, he silently walked toward Sakura.

"Sakura, are there any tricks to controlling Chakra while walking on water? Or rather, how is it different from Tree Climbing?"

Sakura's mind went blank.

A moment later, Sakura-bro's second personality burst into laughter within her consciousness.

"Just Sasuke? I can take him down with one hand. Boring, so boring."