The Astounding Sasuke

"Stop looking." Qiushui glanced down at the nearly blank test paper in front of Naruto. "Do the problems you know how to solve first."

Half an hour later.

Qiushui set down his pen and looked at the papers on the desk. The corner of his mouth twitched despite himself.

There were seven papers. He had deliberately picked ones that weren't too difficult—in fact, they were all basic problems. He had thought he was already underestimating Naruto, but it turned out he had still overestimated him.

The best paper had only fifteen points.

The other six added up to a measly eighty.

The seven papers were worth seven hundred points in total. Naruto had scored less than a hundred.

Qiushui looked at Naruto, who was watching him nervously from the side, and said, "Show me your shuriken skills and the Three Basic Techniques."

Qiushui handed him his kunai and shuriken, then led him to a thick tree. He drew a basketball-sized circle on the trunk with a kunai, had Naruto step back ten meters, and said, "Throw them at that circle."

Naruto focused intently, his expression serious.

He threw a shuriken.

Then a kunai.

But it didn't do much good.

Out of ten throws, three hit—and even those three kunai only grazed the edge of the circle, sinking into the tree so shallowly they looked as if they would fall out at the slightest touch.

"Next, the Transformation Technique and Clone Technique," Qiushui continued.

Naruto fell silent for two seconds, then steeled himself and began forming Hand Seals.

The clone he created was a limp lump, sprawled on the ground like a deflated inflatable doll. It even stuck out its tongue and rolled its eyes, looking downright idiotic.

His Transformation Technique didn't look like anyone in particular. It was simply completely wrong. Even if Minato came back to life and stood in front of Naruto, he wouldn't admit that this was a Transformation Technique.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Qiushui. I did terribly," Naruto said, lowering his head.

Qiushui took a deep breath to steady himself, then said gently, "You need my help to improve because your grades are poor. If you already knew everything, you wouldn't need me to tutor you. Besides, look at it this way: you have more room to improve than anyone else."

Naruto's face filled with disbelief. He hadn't expected Qiushui not only to refrain from criticizing him, but to encourage him instead. Having been criticized for everything he did all his life, Naruto was deeply moved. He even felt as if a dazzling light were shining from Qiushui.

Naruto looked as though he had been reignited. "You're right, Teacher Qiushui. I have a lot of room to improve."

Qiushui watched him spring back to life in an instant and silently gave himself a pat on the back.

Naruto was the kind of student who responded well to encouragement. The more you encouraged him, the harder he worked.

Qiushui took a blank scroll from his ninja tool pouch and unrolled it in front of Naruto. "Next, I'll teach you a ninjutsu."

Naruto felt as if he were dreaming. He hadn't been criticized, and now he was even getting a reward?

Qiushui picked up his pen and wrote the four characters for Shadow Clone Technique on the scroll.

He had chosen this technique after careful thought.

The reason Naruto's Clone Technique was so terrible was that it was essentially an illusion technique: it created an intangible image to fool the enemy. That required extremely precise chakra control, and precision was exactly what Naruto was worst at.

But the Shadow Clone Technique was different.

Shadow Clones were real. They were created by dividing up one's own chakra, making copies that could fight, take hits, and work. The technique didn't require precise control; it simply required a vast amount of chakra.

As a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto naturally had more chakra than most people. What's more, he had the inexhaustible Nine-Tails power bank inside him. While others grew breathless after making two or three Shadow Clones, Naruto could make hundreds and still bounce around full of energy.

Qiushui remembered that even when Naruto graduated at the age of twelve, his Clone Technique was still a complete mess, and he couldn't even pass the graduation exam. But after stealing the Scroll of Seals and being pursued, he had easily learned Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, an A-rank forbidden technique even more advanced than the Shadow Clone Technique.

If Naruto could learn the more advanced Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, then the less advanced Shadow Clone Technique would be even less of a problem for him.

"Teacher Qiushui, are you really going to teach me this ninjutsu?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

The previous night, when Qiushui had used the technique at Naruto's house, Naruto had been so envious. If he could learn it, he'd have someone to play with at home. But after doing so badly today, he hadn't felt he had the right to bring it up again. Now he felt even more undeserving.

Qiushui patted him on the shoulder. "I believe in you. You'll definitely learn this technique."

The light shining from Qiushui seemed to grow even brighter, dazzling Naruto until he could hardly keep his eyes open.

He nodded hard and clenched his fist, declaring, "Don't worry, Teacher Qiushui. I won't let you down."

Qiushui first explained the principles behind the Shadow Clone Technique, then demonstrated the Hand Seals.

Naruto followed his instructions. He raised his hands in front of him and began forming the Hand Seals with practiced determination. When he finished the last one, he shouted, "Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!"

Uchiha Sasuke finished practicing his shuriken throws and was about to start training in the Fire Style: Fireball Technique.

He formed Hand Seals and slowly gathered the chakra in his body in his throat. He was just about to forcefully breathe it out in one burst.

Suddenly, a strange, rapid series of sounds reached his ears, as if something were repeatedly tearing through the air.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye.

In that instant, his pupils contracted.

More than a dozen Narutos had appeared out of nowhere not far away. They wore identical clothes, had identical blond hair, and wore identical expressions.

The distraction caused his chakra to go haywire. The flames about to burst from his throat abruptly surged back down.

Sasuke started coughing violently, spitting out a mouthful of black smoke.

But he couldn't spare it a thought.

He whipped around and stared in that direction without blinking.

For the first time, his usually impassive face was filled with undisguised shock.

As a member of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke naturally recognized this as the B-rank Shadow Clone Technique, which in theory was only available to Chunin and Jonin.

If Qiushui had used it, Sasuke would have thought nothing of it. After all, Qiushui's tall build made him look like someone with considerable ability.

But it was Naruto.

The dead-last in their year ever since he started at the Academy.

The idiot who had studied for four years and still couldn't master the most basic Three Basic Techniques.

The class clown who made a spectacle of himself.

The weakling whose every challenge to Sasuke ended with him being beaten in a single move.

The guy Sasuke couldn't even be bothered to look at anymore.

How was this possible?