I Am Very Disappointed in You!

Returning home, Sakura finished her dinner and, for once, didn't go out shopping, choosing instead to stay in the wooden courtyard of her house.

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

Sakura closed her eyes, formed a hand seal, and began to mobilize the Chakra in her body.

"If the gathered Chakra is too weak, it won't generate enough adhesive force; if it's too strong, you'll be repelled. You must maintain a specific amount of Chakra, a balance..."

Recalling the key points of the tree-climbing training Sasuke had told her about earlier that day, she confirmed them in her mind and began.

"Huh, that was pretty simple."

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

"Sasuke-kun was right, I really am a genius at Chakra control, hahahaha!"

Sakura couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised, a beaming smile spreading across her face.

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

After basking in her triumph for a moment, Sakura turned her attention to the next stage of training: "So, what's next..."

Although Sasuke had told Sakura that the next stage after tree-climbing was water-walking, Sakura, having mastered tree-climbing so easily, assumed water-walking would be just as simple and skipped it entirely.

Sakura formed a hand seal, concentrating Chakra into her palm. Within moments, a clear, transparent water orb appeared in her hand as the day's memories flooded back.

"Infuse your Chakra with the nature transformation of 'water,' then shape it into various forms, or even control it to perform different actions. Once you reach this step, your Chakra control will have reached a very impressive level."

"By the way, Sakura, what do you like? You could try starting by shaping it into something you like."

"Something I like?"

The young girl froze, her face flushing red as she stammered, "Of course... of course it's..."

"Of course it's Sasuke-kun!"

Coming back to her senses, Sakura whispered, then tried to control the water orb to take the shape of Sasuke.

Splat!

The water orb burst, splashing water all over Sakura and leaving her looking rather disheveled.

"Again!"

Sakura said with a pout, gathering another small water orb.

Splat!

The water orb burst again!

"Again!"

Splat...

After many failed attempts, Sakura had to temporarily give up on forming a human face, turning instead to mimic a kitten or even a flower, yet every attempt ended in failure.

"Whew..."

Sakura took a deep breath; repeatedly gathering Chakra was a significant drain for her at this stage.

She shook her head, pulling herself together: "It seems I really do have to start with water-walking."

"But there's no pond at home..."

Sakura looked disappointedly around her courtyard. It was already late, and she couldn't go out to the river in Konoha. Besides, if the water-walking training failed, a girl falling into the water would be quite a sorry sight.

It's all my dad's fault for being a loser ninja who couldn't even make it to Jonin, hmph!

"I'll just start by filling up the bathtub at home to practice!"

A few days later, at the Ninja Academy playground, during Taijutsu class.

"Next is free practice time. Please group up and practice as you like."

It was another sparring session, though this time it was strictly Taijutsu—no ninja tools or Ninjutsu allowed.

As soon as the teacher finished speaking, Sasuke felt a gaze locked tightly onto him and sighed inwardly.

It's this guy again!

"Sasuke, Sasuke, this time I'm definitely going to..."

Before he could finish, Sasuke cut him off: "Enough talk. If you want a beating, just come at me."

"Hmph!" Naruto let out a short grunt, clenching his fists and steeling his resolve.

"Watch out, don't get knocked down in a single round!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Naruto charged straight forward, throwing a simple, straightforward punch. Despite his young age, his natural physical talent allowed him to throw the punch with enough force to create a faint whistling sound in the air.

If compared to his previous life on Earth, Naruto's punch was already on par with a professional boxer, at least in terms of raw power.

Bam!

Sasuke simply raised his right hand to block it, and the point where fist met palm erupted with a dull, thunderous sound.

"Is that all the strength you've got?"

Sasuke curled the corner of his lips into a mocking smirk and said indifferently.

Despite his words, the force behind Naruto's punch was by no means small. Even after training for over two months and consuming various high-end nutritional supplements, Sasuke's raw physical strength was not necessarily superior to Naruto's.

After all, Naruto was of the Uzumaki clan and the current reincarnation of Asura, gifted with extraordinary talent; even if he did nothing, he would eventually possess the best physical constitution in the ninja world.

The reason Sasuke could block his punch so easily was that the gap between them in terms of taijutsu technique was simply worlds apart.

Naruto's punch lacked focus, failing to exert even half of its potential power, whereas Sasuke had been receiving Uchiha Style taijutsu training since childhood, allowing him to utilize his strength far more effectively.

"Damn it!" Naruto's face flushed red. He tried to pull his fist back with force, but upon realizing he couldn't, he gritted his teeth and launched a backhanded strike with his left hand, continuing his assault on Sasuke.

"Your intentions have already been seen through by me!"

Sasuke gave a light tug while simultaneously releasing Naruto's right hand. Naruto felt as if he had stepped into thin air; his center of gravity shifted, and he instantly lost his balance.

A sweep kick, swift as autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, struck Naruto's lower body with brutal force. Staggered by the blow, Naruto's face turned pale, and he was on the verge of crashing heavily to the ground.

However, before he could hit the floor, Sasuke braced himself with one hand, leaped into the air, and delivered a spinning kick directly to his face.

With a "bang," Naruto let out a miserable cry, sent flying by the immense force. He slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and gravel.

"Your backhand is weak, your forehand is sloppy, your footwork is loose, and your reactions are sluggish. Not a single move of yours looks decent. With just this, you still dare to challenge me time and time again?"

Walking forward, Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at him with a detached expression.

Heaven knows what was wrong with this guy; every time a sparring session came up, he always found various reasons to challenge him, and he never seemed to tire of it.

Sometimes it was that defeating the top student would make him the top student.

Sometimes it was to show Sakura how impressive he was.

Sometimes it was that defeating him would make him someone recognized by everyone.

Sometimes he didn't even bother with a reason; he just wanted to beat him up.

Honestly, the current Sasuke had zero interest in sparring with him.

But unfortunately, the other students in the class were either too afraid to fight him or simply didn't want to.

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

"Damn it..."

Naruto struggled to his feet, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and instead of rushing over with his usual shouting, he began to carefully observe Sasuke's body, attempting to find a flaw.

"Oh? Getting smarter? You didn't rush over like you usually do. It seems the beatings you've taken this past month weren't in vain."

"Hmph!"

Looking at the still-calm Sasuke before him, Naruto felt extremely frustrated, but he still didn't act rashly.

Sasuke merely glanced at him before turning to leave.

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

"I'm done fighting you. It's meaningless!"

"Are you afraid of me? Are you admitting defeat? You bastard, Sasuke!"

"Just take it as me admitting defeat, then."

Sasuke shrugged, saying it with total indifference.

"Damn it, you..."

Naruto was naturally unsatisfied with such a result. Filled with a sense of stifled resentment, he started to charge forward.

Sasuke suddenly whipped his head around and shot him a cold, icy glare that made Naruto feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Sasuke, you..."

Naruto had never seen Sasuke look at him with such eyes before. For a moment, he didn't know what to do, and his speech became stuttered.

"To be honest, I'm disappointed in you, Naruto." Sasuke stared into his eyes and said calmly, "For the past month, you haven't made any progress. While I was studying diligently, you were sleeping in class. While I was training hard, you had the leisure to go graffiti the Hokage Rock. You have the courage to challenge me, but not a shred of action to prepare for it. In the end, you are just a giant in words and a dwarf in action."

"I..."

Naruto opened his mouth, but not knowing what to say, he swallowed his words.

"When you can use the time you spend sleeping and playing pranks to train instead, then come talk to me about challenging me."

Sasuke shook his head, and without caring about what Naruto was thinking, he turned and walked away.