Practical Training

Having finished their introductions, Sasuke quietly shared his dream, using it to conceal his true strength.

Sasuke already had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and he was close to awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, too. When he took the ninth Uchiha Bloodline Crystal, his eyes had burned with an intense heat. The last crystal would probably awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan.

Listening to Sasuke's dream, Kakashi instinctively touched his left eye—the Sharingan Obito had left him.

Looking at Sasuke before him, Kakashi fell silent. Sasuke was supposed to be a genius, too! Why hadn't he awakened his Sharingan yet?

"All right. Tomorrow morning at seven, meet me at Training Ground Three. I'll give you a practical exam. If you can't pass, you'll have to return to the Ninja Academy. And don't eat beforehand, or you'll regret it!"

After getting their basic information, Kakashi stood up and vanished in a flash.

"See you tomorrow!"

After Kakashi left, Sasuke waved to the other two and slowly headed home.

"Honestly, what can you do?" Once Sasuke was gone, Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes before heading home, too. Naruto went home as well.

Back home, Sasuke opened his inventory and looked at the last Uchiha Bloodline Crystal, his expression complicated. The ninth crystal hadn't brought him any tangible improvement, nor had it raised the upper limit of his Sharingan proficiency.

"I've got training tomorrow. Now's not the time." After staring at the crystal for a long while, Sasuke decided not to take it. He couldn't afford to reveal his strength yet.

Putting away the crystal, Sasuke looked at Impure World Reincarnation on his status panel. After thinking it over, he decided not to increase its proficiency either.

"I can sleep well tonight!" Sasuke glanced outside, thought for a moment, then went out for a stroll. There was still plenty of time. After enjoying a delicious dinner, he went home and went to bed.

The next morning, Sasuke got up but didn't head straight to the training ground. Instead, he went to a restaurant and bought Itachi's favorite, Three-Color Dango.

"Not bad." As he ate the dango and sipped his morning tea, Sasuke decided Itachi had pretty good taste.

After eating his fill, Sasuke wandered over to the training ground. Naruto and Sakura, who had arrived early, were already starving.

"What took you so long?" Naruto asked weakly when Sasuke arrived.

"What's the rush? He's not here yet." Sasuke smiled casually at Naruto, who didn't know what was going on, then sat down and waited.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura had plenty of questions as she watched him sit there so calmly, but her pride kept her from asking.

"Yo, good morning!" The sun was almost at its zenith when Kakashi finally arrived, carrying two lunchboxes.

"You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura complained. Naruto, meanwhile, had been staring at the lunchboxes in Kakashi's hands the whole time. He was starving.

"All right, gather around!" Ignoring their looks, Kakashi set the lunchboxes on a wooden post and took out two bells.

Hearing Kakashi, Sasuke slowly jumped down from the tree and walked over to join the two who were already worn out.

Kakashi glanced at Sasuke, who looked unusually refreshed, and seemed surprised. This guy had eaten breakfast? What a pain.

"There are two bells and two lunchboxes. Whoever gets a bell can eat. The one left without a bell will be tied to that post." Kakashi jingled the bells in his hand, fastened them to his clothes, then strolled over to an open patch of ground.

"Oh, I forgot to mention: whoever doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the Ninja Academy." Kakashi casually pulled out a copy of Make-Out Paradise and spoke without a care.

"What?!"

Naruto shouted at Kakashi's words. That rule was just too cruel.

"You're kidding, right?" Sakura looked at Kakashi in disbelief. Going by their abilities, Sasuke definitely wouldn't be eliminated. That meant the most likely candidates were her and Naruto.

"Let's begin." Sasuke wasn't interested in Kakashi's mind games. He knew how the story ended, so there shouldn't be any major surprises—or rather, someone in Konoha wouldn't allow any surprises.

"All right, then. Begin!" Kakashi announced the start of the battle as he watched the three of them, each with a different expression.

"Whoosh!"

As soon as Kakashi called the start, Sasuke hurled a specially made kunai at him.

"No need to rush, Sasuke!" Kakashi dodged the kunai with ease and went on reading his "scripture" as if nothing had happened.

"Too bad he missed!" Sakura sighed when Kakashi dodged Sasuke's kunai, then slipped into the woods to hide.

"Can't you do any better? Let me handle it!" Naruto teased Sasuke after his attack missed, then charged at Kakashi with a kunai.

After messing with Naruto for a while, Kakashi appeared behind him and formed a hand seal.

Sasuke watched Kakashi's hand seals from where he stood and sighed. Then he focused his mind and vanished.

The kunai Sasuke had thrown earlier had been transformed using Shadow Secret Technique: Clone. That let Sasuke switch places with it whenever he wanted.

After switching places, Sasuke hadn't even had time to dispel his Shadow Clone when he heard a bloodcurdling scream!

"Ah..."

"Konoha Secret Finger Jutsu: 1000 Years of Death truly lives up to its reputation!" Hearing the scream, Sasuke wiped the sweat from his brow and continued running deeper into the woods.

Sasuke thought the technique was a little "evil," but that didn't make it any less powerful. There probably wasn't anyone who could tank that jutsu, right?

Maybe after developing Chidori Sharp Spear, he could try an enhanced version of One Thousand Years of Death and see if it could inflict irreversible damage.

After Kakashi used One Thousand Years of Death to stab Naruto into the water, he turned his gaze toward Sasuke.

"I'm curious how you became top of the class. That girl's approach was much better than yours!"

Kakashi stared at Sasuke, who was still standing right where he was, looking astonished.

Practical exam underway: Konoha's secret One Thousand Years of Death!

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