"Come to think of it, I've never made medicinal meals for Hinata, but my master once asked me to give her a recipe."
Naruto suddenly remembered. "I think Hinata stopped eating so much after that."
"A recipe?"
Kakashi's dazed gaze sharpened. "Do you remember what was in it?"
"I forgot."
Naruto spread his hands, looking as if that were perfectly natural. "Hinata should still remember. If you're interested, Kakashi-sensei, you can ask her. My master said that once something has been given away, what to do with it is up to whoever received it."
"Hmm."
Kakashi nodded silently, thinking he would talk to Kurenai Yuhi about it later.
When they were nearly finished eating, Kakashi spoke again. "Since you all know what you need to do, I can put my mind at ease and go do something I want to do. If you need me, ask Lord Hokage where I am."
"Go ahead and do what you want, Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto said, "I left a chakra mark on you. If anything urgent comes up, I'll come straight to you with the Flying Thunder God Technique."
For a moment, Kakashi didn't know what to say. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke. "I hope you won't abuse the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"Don't worry!"
Naruto said with a grin, "My dad's always watching me from inside the seal!"
Kakashi fell silent again. He didn't speak until they had finished eating and said their goodbyes.
"We haven't done our training today. Are you two coming?"
Naruto asked Sakura and Sasuke. "I have more stamina than you, so I don't really feel anything special. If you're tired, you should rest today. My master said that the better you rest, the better you recover, and the better your training will go."
"I'm going."
Sakura said, "I didn't use much energy in my match with Ino."
"I didn't use much energy either."
Sasuke said, "If possible, I'd like to continue discussing that topic with my master."
"Topic? With your master?"
Sakura was curious. "Did your master teach you some new way to train during the match?"
"No."
Naruto shook his head. "My master said to wait until Sasuke had made up his mind."
"I have a feeling it's something important."
Sakura saw that Sasuke's expression was unchanged, but her intuition told her that something had happened. She turned to Naruto—or rather, his master—and asked, "What about me?"
"I'll ask."
Naruto closed his eyes. Two seconds later, he opened them and grabbed Sakura and Sasuke. "Let's talk somewhere else."
The Flying Thunder God Technique activated, and the three vanished on the spot.
More than a hundred kilometers from the barbecue restaurant, in a forest bordering Konoha, stood a small house with an unusual design.
Naruto appeared beside the house with Sakura and Sasuke, then briefly explained, "This is a secret base my master helped me set up a while ago."
"Did you bring us here because there's something important you want to tell us?"
Sasuke's expression turned slightly serious. "Or..."
"My master asked me to bring you here."
As he spoke, Naruto formed Hand Seals. "Shadow Clone Technique."
The clone looked just like Naruto, but felt completely different. Sakura and Sasuke could tell at a glance that it was his master.
"I've been observing you both for a while now."
The master turned to Sakura and Sasuke. "I asked Naruto to bring you here because I wanted to ask whether you'd like to officially become my students."
"Yes!"
Sasuke answered at once. "Master, teach me how to get stronger quickly!"
The master didn't answer. He simply nodded, then asked Sakura, "And you?"
Sakura took a deep breath, relaxed, and made up her mind. "Please teach me how to become stronger, Master."
"Then from this moment on, you're both my students."
The master raised his right hand. A pale golden light gathered at his fingertip, and he touched it to Sakura and Sasuke's foreheads. "This is your teaching material."
A large amount of information flowed continuously into Sakura and Sasuke's minds.
Neither of them felt any pain, but their consciousness grew hazy, and for the moment they lost control of their bodies.
"Once they wake up, take them back."
The master gave Naruto his instructions, then dispelled the Shadow Clone and returned to the Sealing Space within Naruto.
About an hour later, Sakura and Sasuke staggered to their feet.
"It feels like someone stuffed a bunch of books into my brain... It doesn't hurt, but I feel a little sick."
Sakura looked at Naruto. "Did your master teach you this way, too?"
"No."
Naruto smiled. "My master said you're several years behind me, so this would make it easier for you to catch up."
"Considering the value of this information, we can put up with a little nausea."
Sasuke analyzed the situation calmly. "It seems the information in our heads only comes up when we 'want to read' it."
"It really is incredible."
Sakura nodded. "If the teachers at the Ninja Academy could do this, we could fit all our academic lessons into a single class."
"Don't talk about things that are impossible."
Sasuke tapped his forehead with his index finger. "I found some important information."
"I feel like most of it is important."
Sakura asked, "Which parts do you mean?"
Sasuke replied, "The ranking of 'levels of strength.'"
Sakura didn't quite understand. "Is that important?"
"It is to me."
Sasuke nodded. "Until now, I've only thought about getting stronger. I've never considered how strong I actually want to become. I don't even know exactly how strong the person I want to surpass is."
Sakura quickly skimmed through the relevant information:
Level 1: Ordinary people, with no chakra or other energy in their bodies. (Example: ordinary villagers in Konoha)
Level 2: People with chakra or other energy in their bodies, but not much. (Example: children at the Ninja Academy who have just learned to mold chakra)
Level 3: People with abundant energy in their bodies and considerably greater destructive power than those at Level 2. (Example: Genin who have just graduated from the Academy)
Level 4: A qualitative change in the control and use of the energy within the body. (Example: Jonin)
Level 5: The ability to alter the terrain. (Example: First)
Level 6: The ability to destroy planets. (Example: Sage of Six Paths)
Level 7: Destroying the world with a single strike and breaking through the universe.
"That's too ridiculous."
Sakura found it hard to believe. "I can understand Level 5, but Levels 6 and 7... can people really do that?"
"It should be true."
Naruto stroked his chin thoughtfully. "My master once told me there were Levels 8, 9, 10, and beyond. In short, there's no limit. But our world can only reach Level 6 at most. Anything beyond that is meaningless to us, even if we know about it."
Sasuke couldn't imagine the "power" of Levels 6 and 7 either, but he was certain of one thing: "If I can reach Level 5, I'll be able to deal with Itachi!"
Sakura's imagination was still rather limited. "Altering the terrain might be possible if hundreds or thousands of ninja use their techniques at the same time, but one person doing it alone seems impossible."
"Then I'll show you."
Naruto looked at Sakura. "If I concentrate all my strength and strike with everything I have, flattening a mountain would be difficult, but I should be able to flatten a hill."
Sakura: "!?"
Sasuke's eyes lit up. "Really? Let me see!"
Before you continue