What Naruto Wanted to Say

On the other side.

Naruto's real body raced through the woods, moving so fast that only afterimages remained in his wake.

In no time, he returned to the patch of grass where he'd left his Shadow Clone.

The clone saw him return and didn't waste words. With a poof, it vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto himself emerged from the grass looking refreshed, even dusting off his clothes for show.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna were sitting beneath a large tree, taking a break.

Kakashi spotted Naruto at once and couldn't help grumbling, "You're... so... slow, Naruto!"

"Sorry, sorry..." Naruto came over with a grin and shrugged without a hint of sincerity. "I got lost on the road of life again."

Kakashi: "..."

For a moment, he was at a loss for words. He felt a subtle, stifled irritation that someone else had copied the Copy Ninja's signature line.

"Anyway, now that we're all here, let's get going."

Kakashi clapped his hands and stood up, resigned.

The group set off again, heading toward Tazuna's house.

Everyone had their own thoughts.

Tazuna was in the best spirits. He swung the nearly empty bottle in his hand, happily thinking, I only paid for a C-rank mission, and I got such an incredible team of ninja. What a bargain! Now there's hope for the bridge!

Sakura sneaked a glance at Sasuke beside her, her cheeks faintly pink as she schemed away. When we get to Tazuna's house, should I find a chance to ask Sasuke-kun to take a walk with me? Maybe it'll bring us closer...

Naruto walked with his hands clasped behind his head, looking relaxed and carefree as ever, as if he'd just gone for a stroll rather than single-handedly subdued two formidable rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist.

Sasuke still wore an expressionless face, his hands in his pockets, looking like a cool, handsome young man. But his eyes kept sweeping sharply over their surroundings.

Teacher Kakashi was so tense earlier. That means there have to be more enemies than just those two. When will the next ones show up...?

Teacher Kakashi, the one Sasuke was silently thinking about, was indeed on guard the whole way.

One hand was in his pocket. The other held Icha Icha Paradise, though he was ready to fight at any moment.

The title of Konoha's top technician wasn't just for show. Kakashi's years of experience told him that Gato couldn't possibly have hired only enemies at the level of the Demon Brothers.

The real danger was probably still ahead.

And yet...

Nothing happened along the way.

At last, an old but spacious wooden house appeared in the distance. Tazuna stopped and pointed. "Everyone, we're here. That's my house."

Kakashi froze and asked instinctively, "We're here already?"

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Tazuna looked back at him, puzzled.

"No, nothing..." Kakashi turned away, still surprised, and muttered under his breath, "That can't be right..."

This was going a little too smoothly.

By Kakashi's estimate, quite some time had passed since the Demon Brothers' attack.

Gato should have organized another powerful ambush by now.

Had he really just been overthinking it?

Sasuke frowned as he watched Kakashi scratch his head and mutter, "Something's not right," and "That's impossible." He silently scoffed. He must have read too many trashy novels. They've made him weird.

When they entered Tazuna's house, his daughter came out to greet them.

She was a gentle-looking, plain woman.

She thanked the Konoha ninja for escorting her father home and explained that Tazuna's grandson, Inari, had gone off somewhere to play and wouldn't be back for a while.

After the long journey, Tazuna decided they would rest for the day and start building the bridge first thing tomorrow morning.

That meant they had plenty of free time that afternoon.

Sakura's eyes lit up when she heard that. This was her chance!

She took a deep breath, her cheeks flushing as she prepared to gather the courage to ask Sasuke beside her if he wanted to go explore the area.

But Sasuke walked right past her and stopped in front of Naruto, asking briskly, "Hey, Naruto, we're going to keep training now, right?"

Naruto seemed to have expected this. He gave Sasuke a meaningful look. "Yeah... As it happens, I have something to talk to you about, too."

"Something to talk to me about?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, feeling a little confused.

What else could there be between us besides training?

"Teacher Kakashi."

Naruto turned and called to Kakashi, who was still wondering why no enemies had shown up. "Sasuke and I are going out to train. We'll be back before dinner."

"Huh? Oh..." Kakashi opened his mouth automatically. He was about to tell them to be careful, but forced the words back down.

Be careful?

With Naruto's unfathomable strength and Sasuke's incredible progress...

They probably didn't need to be told to be careful.

Kakashi swallowed his words and merely waved a hand. "Be back early."

As he watched them leave, one after the other, Kakashi couldn't help feeling that he was a little unnecessary as their Jonin Instructor.

But that wasn't a bad thing.

At least they wouldn't cause him trouble, and he didn't have to worry about them getting into trouble.

Most importantly, they could handle their own training problems.

It was such a relief.

He barely had to worry about anything.

On the other side.

Sasuke followed silently behind Naruto as they left Tazuna's house and headed toward a remote grove in the distance.

The deeper they went, the quieter it became. The only sound was the faint crunch of their footsteps on the fallen leaves.

Naruto knew this grove better than anyone.

In his first life, he and Sasuke had practiced tree climbing here day after day, training their control over Chakra.

But now...

Tree climbing and Water Walking were both easy for Sasuke.

Just as Naruto was overcome by a complicated feeling he couldn't quite explain—

Sasuke finally couldn't hold back any longer and broke the silence. "Naruto, you said you had something to tell me. What is it?"

Naruto didn't answer right away. He led Sasuke to a somewhat open area before stopping and turning around.

"Answer one question first. Why do you think I'm willing to spend time training you?"

Naruto's expression was as calm as before. Instead of answering, he'd asked a question of his own.

Sasuke trusted him completely now, much more than he had at this point in the previous cycle. So it was time to bring up the most important question.

"This..."

Sasuke was momentarily at a loss for words.

He really hadn't given it much thought.

When had he and Naruto gotten so close?

Before this, they hadn't even been friends.

If there was one thing they had in common, it was that they had both experienced profound loneliness.

Ever since the Uchiha Clan had been wiped out, Sasuke had lived in its shadow,

until he met another "kindred spirit" who was just as lonely—Naruto.

The only difference between them was this:

One had gone from having everything to having nothing, while the other had gone from having nothing to having something.

Even so, that wasn't a reason for Naruto to teach him everything he knew.

After thinking it over, Sasuke finally shook his head and answered honestly. "I don't know."

"The reason isn't complicated. I do consider you my best friend, but that's not the main reason I'm teaching you."

Naruto's tone was casual, but then he abruptly changed tack. "The most important reason I'm teaching you to get stronger is Itachi Uchiha."