"Rasengan!"
At the Training Ground in the woods, Naruto held a spinning ball of energy in his palm. With a muffled thud, he slammed it into a fairly thick tree. Cracks immediately spread across the trunk, and with a loud crash, the tree toppled.
Though it was still early morning, Naruto had already been training alone for some time.
Before long, Sasuke appeared beside him.
Perhaps because he'd gone to bed late the night before, Sasuke, who usually arrived early, was on time for the first time.
"Sasuke, the earlier you start training, the better!"
Seeing that Sasuke had only just arrived, Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow and stopped training, then said with a smile.
"Kakashi-sensei and Sakura haven't arrived yet?"
Sasuke nodded with a smile, then asked.
"Kakashi-sensei and Sakura got here early today, but a masked ninja came and took Kakashi-sensei away, so he told us to make our own arrangements!"
"Sakura wanted to wait for you, but you still hadn't shown up after a while, so she went to the hospital!"
Naruto slowly explained in response to Sasuke's question.
"Kakashi-sensei was called away?"
Sasuke furrowed his brow and murmured, already beginning to wonder what was going on.
Could Kakashi-sensei be taking part in the mission to hunt down the Uchiha Clan, too? Given his strength, the Third Hokage would indeed assign him to such a mission.
"Don't worry about them. We can train on our own!"
Seeing Sasuke fall silent, lost in thought, Naruto called out to him.
Looking at Naruto, Sasuke suddenly smiled. Then he laughed and said, "Naruto, didn't you say you wanted to challenge me? We've got time today, so let's spar!"
At midnight tonight, Sasuke would leave with the Uchiha Clan. Before he went, he wanted to help Naruto fulfill this wish, in case they never got another chance.
"Come on, Sasuke! Let's see how much of a gap there is between us."
Naruto trained so hard every night because he wanted others to acknowledge him. Of course, defeating Sasuke was also a goal he'd set for himself. He clenched his fists excitedly and laughed.
Sasuke smiled, then pushed off the ground with his toes and darted away, stopping in an open area. He raised his head and fixed his gaze on Naruto.
"Let's begin, Sasuke!"
"Multi Shadow Clone Technique!"
Facing Sasuke, Naruto held nothing back. He used the Shadow Clone Technique to summon more than a dozen clones, then sent them charging at Sasuke.
"Great Fireball Technique!"
Seeing that only shadow clones were rushing at him, Sasuke quickly formed Hand Seals, puffed out his cheeks, and spewed a scorching fireball.
"Ah!"
Amid more than a dozen cries, the moment Sasuke's fireball struck Naruto's shadow clones, they vanished in clouds of white smoke.
"Boom!"
After wiping out the charging clones, the fireball completed its task by exploding against the ground. It broke apart into countless flames and kicked up a cloud of smoke.
Seeing the smoke now blocking his view, Sasuke prepared to use it to launch a counterattack.
The instant the thought crossed his mind, Sasuke's expression changed. Naruto suddenly appeared beside him.
"Sasuke, you're too careless!"
The moment he appeared, Naruto laughed loudly, clenched his fist, and swung it at Sasuke's chest.
"How is that possible?"
Sasuke hadn't expected Naruto to move so quickly. Stunned, he could only take Naruto's punch.
"Thud!"
But before Naruto could celebrate, the Sasuke he'd punched flying suddenly turned into a log.
"Damn Sasuke, he used the Substitution Technique!"
Naruto yelled angrily at the log lying on the ground.
"Heh... Naruto, didn't I tell you before? A ninja needs to stay calm when fighting an opponent!"
As Naruto fumed, a light chuckle came from behind him. His eyes suddenly narrowed as he saw Sasuke holding a Kunai against his back.
"Heh, of course I remember!"
The sudden laugh startled Sasuke, because it had come from beyond the smoke.
Before Sasuke could react, the Naruto in front of him vanished in a cloud of white smoke. That Naruto had been a shadow clone, too.
"Sasuke, I'm not that clueless Naruto anymore!"
The smoke that had blocked their view cleared. With the help of one of his shadow clones, Naruto had gathered a spinning ball of energy in his right palm.
Seeing the confidence radiating from Naruto's face, Sasuke took a deep breath of the slightly warm air and called out, "Naruto, let's settle this with one move!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sasuke rapidly formed Hand Seals. With a series of sharp, crackling sounds, brilliant lightning flashed around his right hand.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing Sasuke use Chidori, Naruto charged forward with the Rasengan already formed. It spun in his palm, making a series of whistling sounds as it cut through the air.
"Careful, Sasuke!"
As he closed in, Naruto warned him, then thrust the Rasengan toward Sasuke.
"Phew..."
Sasuke looked up at the Rasengan rapidly growing in his eyes and let out a soft breath. His expression remained calm and composed as he raised his lightning-wreathed right hand and slammed it against the Rasengan.
"Boom!"
The two powerful energies collided. A pair of curved energy shields formed in front of Sasuke and Naruto as their forces met in a deadlock.
But as their energy waned, the lightning around Sasuke's hand grew weaker and weaker. The Rasengan pushing against it was fading, too, but it clearly had the upper hand.
"Ah!"
When the Rasengan and the lightning remained locked in a stalemate, Naruto shouted and put more strength into his arm. The nearly dissipated Rasengan broke through the lightning and finally struck Sasuke.
Though the Rasengan had lost much of its power, its fierce force still sent Sasuke flying like a kite with its string cut. He crashed heavily to the ground.
"I actually won..."
Faced with this dreamlike outcome, Naruto could hardly believe it.
"Sasuke..."
Sparring was bound to involve a few bumps and bruises, but seeing Sasuke get back up with a pale face still worried Naruto, so he hurried over.
"Naruto, congratulations on winning!"
Sasuke rubbed his aching chest and smiled at Naruto as he approached.
Sasuke didn't feel the slightest bit disappointed about losing to Naruto, because the outcome had been planned all along.
The Chidori Sasuke had just formed was only two-thirds as powerful as usual. He'd done that so Naruto could defeat him with the Rasengan.
Sasuke had deliberately lost to Naruto for one reason: before he left, he wanted Naruto to gain more confidence and keep working toward his goal of becoming Hokage.
(Thanks for all your support, everyone! If the weekly recommendation votes top 500, I'll add another chapter as promised!)