Sasuke glanced at the marks Naruto had carved into the tree trunk.
They were already several times higher than his own.
His face darkened as he walked away.
That idiot dead-last... Who knew he'd be this efficient after using Shadow Clones!
I'm an Uchiha!
Thinking that, Sasuke returned to his spot and decided to give it a try, too.
But... he suddenly realized he didn't know the Shadow Clone Jutsu...
Sasuke only learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu later, after he could freely activate and deactivate his Sharingan, by copying it from Naruto.
On the night of the Uchiha massacre, he had already awakened a one-tomoe Sharingan in a fit of rage.
But he'd never noticed it.
And his emotions hadn't been intense enough to trigger it again.
As a result, his Sharingan had remained dormant.
"Hey, Sasuke, want some tips?"
"I've got advice that's even better suited to you than Sakura-chan's~"
Naruto deliberately sent a Shadow Clone to distract Sasuke.
Sasuke ground his teeth in anger and snorted.
"Idiot, get lost!"
"Hahaha~"
"Hey, Sasuke, look! I can already walk nearly five meters without falling."
"And you're still stuck at the starting line. Tsk, tsk, tsk~"
The more Sasuke reacted, the more excited Naruto's Shadow Clone got.
With his pride getting the better of him, Sasuke nearly attacked.
Unexpectedly, right in front of Sasuke, the Shadow Clone left a mark about four-point-eight meters up Sasuke's tree.
"Hey, Sasuke, look closely. This is your next target."
"Try to beat it~!"
Bam—!!!
Just as expected.
Sasuke punched at him, eyes blazing red.
But the Shadow Clone dispelled itself a moment earlier.
Sasuke's fist hit nothing.
"Idiot!"
"Bastard!"
"Dead-last!!"
As soon as Sasuke finished yelling, another of Naruto's Shadow Clones showed up.
"Hahaha~"
"See? You're getting worked up again~"
As he spoke, he wiggled his hips at Sasuke, pinched his voice, and mimicked Sasuke's way of speaking.
"I'm an Uchiha, you know~"
"Just watch. I'll surpass you in no time~"
"Damn dead-last~"
"Unbelievable... How can the dead-last be better than me?"
"Sorry, Lord Naruto. I've been such a show-off. I'm sorry. Please teach me~"
Sasuke: "..."
He turned away, his shoulders trembling.
This was too much~!
He charged forward with a punch.
Naruto's Shadow Clone had seen it coming and made him miss again.
But this time, Sasuke didn't give up.
Eyes red, he stared at the group of Narutos nearby.
When he got closer, he saw Naruto's real self crouched in a circle with a bunch of Shadow Clones.
"Shh~!"
"Keep your voices down. Don't let that show-off Sasuke hear what we're talking about!"
"Sure, sure... Heehee, that idiot's definitely still stuck at the starting line. Once we climb to the top of the tree, we can really tease him~"
"Yeah~!"
Sasuke: "..."
Hmph! I'll put up with it!
Mother had told him never to interrupt people while they were talking.
So Sasuke quieted his breathing, stood behind the tree, and strained to listen.
After listening for a while, Sasuke finally understood.
"So? Was that helpful?"
"Show-off Sasuke, shouldn't you thank Lord Naruto for his advice?"
Sasuke stiffened all over and froze in place.
His face visibly flushed.
"Hmph, idiot~!"
He snorted and ignored the Naruto Shadow Clone that had suddenly appeared behind him.
Then he turned and left.
As if he'd made up his mind about something.
But when he looked up, he noticed the pink-haired girl resting in the tree.
An unreadable smile still lingered on her face.
In that moment, Sasuke was overwhelmed by embarrassment.
He had no idea Sakura hadn't noticed what was going on below.
All she wanted was to recover enough chakra to keep training.
After all, whoever finished first would get another lesson from Teacher Cangwu.
It was a chance to be alone with her perfect boyfriend... Sasuke-kun... It was fine. There'd be plenty of time later!
Thinking of that, Sakura was filled with renewed energy.
Time flew by.
Cangwu wrapped up the day's special training.
He had also grown more familiar and proficient with the Glint-Glint Fruit's abilities.
He sat up and looked at the three children nearby.
At some point, Sakura had already climbed to the top of the tree.
Aside from some dust on her clothes, she didn't even look disheveled.
But by then, she'd fallen asleep with her arms around the trunk.
"Didn't expect this girl to work so hard, too."
He chuckled softly.
Then a streak of golden light flashed by.
Cangwu appeared in the tree and scooped Sakura into his arms.
"Teacher Cangwu..."
Unexpectedly, Sakura woke up at once.
Cangwu looked down and saw that her eyes were closed tight.
If not for her trembling eyelashes, he might have thought he'd imagined it.
"Her head's full of romance... but she's a little pervert, too."
Sakura: "???"
Whoosh—
The next moment, Cangwu carried Sakura back to the boulder where he'd been reclining earlier.
He gently set her down.
"Looks like you've completed this part of your training."
A warm smile played on Cangwu's lips.
Sakura was so embarrassed and annoyed that she didn't know what to do with herself.
A little pervert? What kind of comparison is that? Teacher Cangwu is so mean~!
"Hmph~" Sakura gave a little snort and turned her head away, though she was still a bit proud of herself.
Cangwu tapped her on the head. "Your chakra reserves are small, so controlling them is relatively easier for you than it is for Naruto and Sasuke."
"Don't get complacent. Having a small amount of chakra can be a real disadvantage."
"Got it~" Sakura stuck out her tongue.
Only then did Cangwu turn his attention to Naruto and Sasuke.
The sun was already setting.
Naruto's clothes were tattered, and he was covered in dust.
He lay sprawled on the ground.
He looked at the mark he'd left, then glanced at Sasuke's mark.
"Hey, Sasuke, what do you think?"
"I won, right?!"
"Hmph... You idiot dead-last... Take a good look. Mine's clearly higher."
Sasuke leaned against the tree. He could still keep up appearances, at least.
But he looked about as bad as Naruto.
"You lost and still won't admit it..." Naruto forced himself to sit up and grumbled.
Sasuke only smiled faintly and said nothing.
They were already close to the top of the tree.
"The loser has to treat the winner to ramen!"
Naruto still wouldn't let Sasuke off the hook, and charged at him.
Sasuke tried to dodge, but he was too exhausted to move.
"Get off me... idiot!"
In the end, Naruto fell right in front of Sasuke.
"Damn you... You're not getting out of buying me a deluxe Ichiraku ramen~!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes at him. "Idiot."
"Is that so?"
"So you two were planning to get ramen?"
Cangwu's voice came from farther away.
Naruto and Sasuke looked up.
They saw Sakura standing behind Cangwu, waving at them.
In an instant, the two boys looked at each other.
Sakura-chan came first... I'm second!
Damn... that annoying ugly girl... Looks like she'll move on to the next stage of training tomorrow...
"Then go get ramen," Cangwu said, waving a hand as he turned to leave.
Under Naruto and Sasuke's puzzled gazes, Sakura hurriedly explained:
"Teacher Cangwu said he's inviting us to his place for dinner tonight!"
"Hurry up and come along!"
With that, Sakura staggered over to Cangwu and grabbed one of his legs.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other.
Grrr—
Thinking of the lunchboxes from earlier, they both swallowed instinctively.
Then they stood up at the same time.
"Wait~!"
"I don't want ramen anymore. I want to eat Teacher Cangwu's cooking~!"
"Hmph... What a pain..."
Father had said that when asking someone for a favor, you had to be sincere... and you couldn't go empty-handed... I'm going to bring him a few gifts!
Sasuke was still trying to look cool, and wanted to keep his hands in his pockets.
But when he saw Naruto running faster than him, he hurried after him.
Their legs were wobbly, though... In the end, they suppressed their nausea and had to put their arms around each other's shoulders to catch up.
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