Realizing Training

"We'll be having practical combat training this afternoon!"

Iruka waved his hand grandly and led the students out to the training grounds.

However, Iruka ran into a dilemma when it came time to assign the sparring partners.

Sparring partners were usually matched based on skill level and were generally fixed.

But Naruto Uzumaki often skipped class, so he didn't have a fixed partner.

The few other students who also lacked fixed partners, aside from Sasuke who hadn't expressed an opinion, were all unwilling to spar with Naruto Uzumaki.

They were terrified that they might end up getting themselves beaten into oblivion during the match.

"Sasuke, you don't have a problem with this, do you?" Iruka cast his gaze toward Sasuke.

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and said coldly, "It doesn't matter."

I'm going to win anyway.

Iruka looked at Naruto Uzumaki again, and Naruto Uzumaki nodded in agreement; he would suppress this mere Second Pillar with a flip of his hand.

"Alright then, you two are the first match. Step forward now."

Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke stood facing each other.

"Perform the Seal of Confrontation."

There was no trash talk; in silence, they performed the Seal of Confrontation toward each other.

"Begin!"

Following Iruka's shout, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke charged at one another, beginning an authentic elementary-level taijutsu duel.

Naruto Uzumaki threw a punch at Sasuke, Sasuke kicked at Naruto Uzumaki, fists and feet collided, both sides retreated, and then they charged again.

Iruka praised, "Their fundamentals are quite solid..."

They couldn't compare to him, a Chunin, nor could they compare to other Genin.

But compared to the other students at the Ninja Academy, the taijutsu of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke could be called excellent.

Bang, bang, bang...

After more than a hundred exchanges, Sasuke was panting heavily, while in contrast, Naruto Uzumaki only had a light sheen of sweat on his forehead.

The stamina of the two sides was clearly not on the same level.

No, if this keeps up, I'm going to lose!

At the thought that he might lose to a guy who constantly skipped class, Sasuke's expression darkened, and he shielded his chest with his arms to block a kick coming from Naruto Uzumaki.

Bang!

Sasuke used the force to retreat, his hands moved in a blur, and he took a deep breath.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Due to the limitations of his age and Chakra, the fireball wasn't very large, nor was it very fast, and Naruto Uzumaki dodged it with a simple roll.

Swish, swish, swish...

A row of Kunai flew toward Naruto Uzumaki, who hadn't yet had time to get up.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Kunai hit Naruto Uzumaki with precision, causing the surrounding students to scream loudly.

He killed him!

Iruka reminded them, "Calm down, look closely..."

A puff of white smoke flashed, and "Naruto Uzumaki" turned into a piece of wood.

"Substitution Technique! When did he do that?"

Sasuke was stunned; suddenly, the sound of wind being broken came from his side, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fist closing in rapidly.

With no time to think, Sasuke leaned his body backward to dodge, and the fist grazed his face.

Boom!

The two fell to the ground, with Naruto Uzumaki pinning Sasuke and reaching out to grab his throat.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto Uzumaki's wrist, exerted force with his body, pushed Naruto Uzumaki off of him, and in turn, pinned Naruto Uzumaki underneath him, gritting his teeth as he said, "You're the one who's going to lose..."

"Keep dreaming!" Naruto Uzumaki pulled his wrist free, struck Sasuke's chest with his elbow, and immediately flipped Sasuke over to regain the dominant position.

"The one who should admit defeat is you, Second Pillar."

"This... is... impossible!"

Sasuke used all his strength to push Naruto Uzumaki away, while Naruto Uzumaki exerted his utmost to suppress him.

The two kept swapping top and bottom positions, rolling all over the training ground.

The surrounding students were speechless; it had started off so brilliantly, yet the final result had turned into this.

A student asked curiously, "Teacher, who do you think will win?"

Iruka pondered for a moment and said, "It should be Naruto, his stamina..."

The young girls in the class expressed strong dissatisfaction: "How could he possibly beat Sasuke? Sasuke is the most outstanding one."

The next moment, a boy shouted excitedly, "Look, the result is out! Sasuke lost!"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the throat and asked, "Do you give up?"

"I... cough, cough, cough, I..."

Sasuke was exhausted and unable to resist, his eyes rolling back as he was choked.

"Sasuke has conceded. Naruto, you won. Let go quickly, don't hurt him."

As he spoke, Iruka ran over and urged Naruto to let go immediately.

Inside the Sealing Space, Kushina and Minato also hurriedly said, "Even if you don't want to be friends with Sasuke, don't be so ruthless. You're all classmates."

"Don't worry, I know my limits. I won't choke him to death... Besides, who said I don't want to be friends with Sasuke? It's precisely because I want to be friends with Sasuke that I specifically used such a heavy hand."

Naruto let go, stood up, reached out to pull Sasuke to his feet, and said earnestly, "Although you aren't as good as me, don't be discouraged. Many people aren't as good as me, and you're just one of them. You aren't special."

Iruka was speechless; he hadn't realized before that Naruto was so narcissistic.

Sasuke shook off the hand Naruto had grabbed him with, touched his neck where a red mark had been left, stared at Naruto, and said coldly, "I hope you can still say that when I defeat you next time."

Although Sasuke hated failure, he did not fear it.

After losing to Naruto, he calmly summarized his gains and losses, discovering that his technique was similar to Naruto's, but their stamina differed too much, which was why he had failed.

Sasuke pondered, "Improving stamina requires intensified training, but that takes long-term persistence to be effective. If I want to defeat that guy as soon as possible, I can only start with technique."

Shuriken throwing, ninjutsu execution, taijutsu styles...

Thinking of Naruto's arrogant appearance, Sasuke didn't delay for a moment. He quickly made a training plan for himself and began practicing immediately.

Thus, on the desolate and lonely Uchiha Training Ground, a small figure continued to train until late into the night.

One week later.

Ninja Academy.

Another practical training class.

Before Iruka could even assign opponents, Sasuke stepped forward and challenged Naruto.

"Do you dare?"

"Of course."

The two stood facing each other and turned their heads in unison to look at Iruka.

"Since you are both willing, I won't object, but I have only one request... friendship first, competition second. Don't damage your relationship, and don't cause serious injuries, especially you... Naruto!"

Iruka glared fiercely at Naruto and strictly ordered, "You are not allowed to choke Sasuke's neck!!!"

Just as Naruto was about to explain, Sasuke interrupted, "You're too long-winded. He won't have the chance to choke my neck."

The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and Second Pillar felt he was capable again. Naruto said with interest, "If I manage to choke your neck, then..."

Sasuke said toughly, "Even if you choke me to death, I'll have nothing to say!"

Naruto chuckled lightly, "Iruka-sensei, you heard that. You must testify for me later."

Iruka said with a headache, "No choking the neck!"

Sasuke said impatiently, "Let's start already!"

Iruka repeated "Neither of you is allowed to choke the neck" one more time before saying, "Both sides, perform the Seal of Confrontation... Begin!"

Bang, bang, bang...