I'm Very Disappointed in You!

After returning home, Sakura made herself dinner. Rare for her, she did not go out shopping afterward and instead stayed in the wooden courtyard at home.

"First, gather chakra at the soles of your feet."

Sakura closed her eyes, formed a hand seal, and began mobilizing the chakra in her body.

"If the gathered chakra is too weak, it won't create effective adhesion. If it's too strong, it'll repel me. I need to maintain a certain amount of chakra, balance..."

She silently recalled the key points Sasuke had told her about tree-climbing training that day. Once she confirmed she had them right, Sakura began.

"Huh, this is pretty easy."

After only a few attempts, Sakura was already standing steadily atop the wooden fence in the courtyard.

"Sasuke was right. I really am a genius at chakra control. Hahahaha!"

Sakura could not help feeling delighted, a pleasantly surprised smile appearing on her face.

"Hmph, Ino-pig, you lost to me this time!"

After feeling smug for a while, Sakura turned her attention to the next stage of training. "So next is..."

Although Sasuke had told Sakura that the next stage after tree climbing was water walking, Sakura had mastered tree climbing so easily that she assumed water walking would be no different and skipped it altogether.

Sakura formed a hand seal and gathered chakra in her hand. Moments later, a small transparent, crystal-clear water ball appeared in her palm, and the memories of that day flooded her mind once more.

"Inject your chakra with the nature transformation of 'water,' then shape it into all sorts of forms, even control it to perform all kinds of movements. Once you can do that, your chakra control will have reached a very impressive level."

"By the way, Sakura, what do you like? You can try transforming it into something you like first."

"Something I like?"

The girl froze. Once she understood, her face reddened, and she stammered, "Of course it's... of course it's..."

"Of course it's Sasuke!"

Coming back to her senses, Sakura murmured softly, then tried to control the water ball in her hand and turn it into Sasuke's likeness.

Pop!

The water ball burst, splashing Sakura all over and leaving her looking rather bedraggled.

"Again!"

Sakura said indignantly, gathering another small water ball.

Pop!

The water ball burst again!

"Again!"

Pop...

After failing several times, Sakura could only temporarily give up on forming a human face. She instead tried imitating a kitten and even flowers, but every attempt failed without exception.

"Whew..."

Sakura let out a heavy breath. Repeatedly gathering chakra was no small drain on her at her current level.

Sakura shook her head and rallied herself. "Looks like I really need to start with water walking."

"But there isn't a pond at home..."

Sakura looked disappointedly around the courtyard. It was already late, and she could hardly go to Konoha's riverbank. Besides, if she failed at water-walking practice, a girl falling into the water would look awfully embarrassing.

It was all that useless ninja father's fault for not even becoming a jonin. Hmph!

"I'll fill the bathtub with water and practice there first!"

A few days later, at the Ninja Academy training ground during taijutsu class.

"Next is free practice time. Please form groups freely and practice."

It was another sparring session, but this time it was purely a taijutsu match. Ninja tools and ninjutsu were prohibited.

The moment the teacher finished speaking, Sasuke sensed a gaze fixed tightly on him and sighed inwardly.

This guy again!

"Sasuke, Sasuke, this time I'll definitely..."

Before he could finish, Sasuke cut him off directly. "Cut the crap. If you want a beating, come at me."

"Hmph!" Naruto snorted and clenched his fists, silently steeling himself.

"Watch out. Don't get knocked down in a single move!"

The moment he finished speaking, Naruto charged straight at him, throwing an extremely simple straight punch. Though he was young, combined with Naruto's natural physique, the punch actually produced a faint tearing sound through the air.

By the standards of Earth in his previous life, Naruto's punch was already no weaker than that of a championship-level boxer, at least in terms of raw power.

Smack!

Sasuke merely raised his right hand and blocked it. A dull sound like muffled thunder erupted where fist and palm met.

"Is that all the strength you have?"

A hint of mockery curled at Sasuke's lips as he spoke calmly.

Though he said that, Naruto's punch was not weak at all. Even after more than two months of training and eating all sorts of high-grade supplements, Sasuke's own strength was not necessarily greater than Naruto's.

Naruto was, after all, born of the Uzumaki Clan and the reincarnation of this generation's Asura. He was exceptionally gifted; even if he did nothing, he would one day possess the best physical constitution in the Shinobi World.

The reason Sasuke could block Naruto's punch so easily was that their grasp of taijutsu techniques was worlds apart.

Naruto's punch lost its force, unable to display even half of its full power, while Sasuke had received Uchiha Style taijutsu training since childhood and could bring out far greater strength.

"Damn it!" Naruto's face reddened as he tried to pull his fist back with all his strength. When he found he could not, he gritted his teeth and struck with his left hand in a backhand attack, continuing his assault on Sasuke.

"I've already seen through all your intentions!"

Sasuke gave a light tug while releasing Naruto's right hand. Naruto was like someone who had missed a step on the stairs; his center of gravity tipped, and he instantly lost his balance.

A sweeping kick followed, like an autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, smashing viciously into Naruto's lower body. Naruto's face went pale from the blow, and he was about to crash heavily to the ground.

But before he could fall, Sasuke braced himself with one hand, leaped into the air, and struck Naruto's face with a spinning kick.

With a bang, Naruto cried out miserably and was sent flying by the enormous force. After crashing heavily onto the ground, he kicked up dust and scattered stones everywhere.

"Your backhand is weak, your lead hand is unrefined, your footwork is loose, and your reactions are slow. Not a single movement of yours is decent. And with that, you still dare challenge me again and again?"

Walking over, Sasuke crossed his arms and looked down at him as he spoke calmly.

Who knew what was wrong with this guy? Whenever a sparring class came up, he always found all sorts of reasons to challenge Sasuke, and he never got tired of it.

Like saying that if he defeated first place, he would become first place himself.

Or that he wanted Sakura to see how amazing he was.

Or that defeating Sasuke would make everyone acknowledge him.

Sometimes he did not even bother finding a reason. He just wanted to beat Sasuke up.

To be honest, Sasuke had no interest whatsoever in fighting him now.

But there was no helping it. The other students in the class either did not dare fight Sasuke or simply did not want to.

In the end, only this guy lying on the ground kept challenging him tirelessly.

"Damn it..."

Naruto forced himself slowly to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Rather than charging in shouting like usual, he carefully observed Sasuke's body, trying to find an opening.

"Oh? You've gotten smarter? You didn't charge in headfirst like usual. Looks like the beatings you took this past month weren't for nothing."

"Hmph!"

Looking at Sasuke's still calm expression, Naruto felt deeply annoyed, but he did not act rashly.

Sasuke merely glanced at him before turning and walking away.

Naruto froze, then hurriedly shouted at Sasuke's back, "Bastard, what's with you? I haven't lost yet!"

"I'm not fighting you anymore. There's no point."

"Are you scared of me? Are you admitting defeat, bastard Sasuke?"

"Just consider it my surrender, then."

Sasuke shrugged and said indifferently.

"Damn it, you..."

Naturally, Naruto could not be satisfied with that result. He felt utterly stifled and started to rush forward.

Sasuke suddenly spun around and gave him a cold look. The chill in his eyes made Naruto feel as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Sasuke, you..."

Naruto had never seen Sasuke look at him that way before. For a moment, he did not know what to do, and even began stammering.

"To be honest, I'm very disappointed in you, Naruto." Sasuke looked directly into his eyes and spoke calmly. "For the past month, you haven't improved at all. While I was studying hard, you were sleeping in class. While I was training diligently, you still had the leisure to graffiti Hokage Rock. You have the courage to challenge me, but not the slightest action to prepare for it. In the end, you're just a giant in words and a dwarf in action."

"I..."

Naruto opened his mouth, but did not know what to say. The words reached his lips, only to be swallowed back down.

"When you can spend the time you waste sleeping in and pulling pranks on training, then come talk to me about challenging me."

Sasuke shook his head. Without caring what Naruto thought, he turned and left.