Disguise

Early the next morning, Naruto hurried to Sasuke's home to ask him to go practice shurikenjutsu together. Itachi opened the door, and upon seeing Naruto, he smiled and said, "Naruto, are you here so early to ask Sasuke to go train?" Naruto replied politely, "Yes, Brother Itachi. I promised Sasuke yesterday that I would come find him to train together."

Itachi nodded with a smile and called into the house, "Sasuke, Naruto is here for you." "Alright, coming!" Sasuke's voice drifted from inside. Before long, Sasuke hurried out to Naruto and Itachi's side.

It was clear he was nervous, but after reaching Naruto, he feigned composure and said, "You're here. Let's go then." With that, he acted cool and walked out of the house first, not even greeting Itachi.

Naruto looked on helplessly before turning to Itachi and saying, "We're leaving now, Brother Itachi. Goodbye." Itachi smiled and replied, "I'll leave Sasuke in your care, Naruto." Naruto walked away while looking back, saying, "I will, Brother Itachi. Sasuke, wait for me!" Itachi watched them walk away with a smile.

In truth, Itachi knew that his brother Sasuke rarely interacted with anyone other than him. It was only natural for Sasuke to be nervous and excited about suddenly having a friend, so he didn't blame Sasuke for his lack of manners. In Itachi's eyes, as long as Sasuke was happy, nothing else mattered.

After Naruto and Sasuke arrived at the woods, they began their shuriken training.

Naruto watched as Sasuke leaped onto a tree branch, threw three shuriken simultaneously from three different directions, then jumped down from the tree, continuously adjusting his body in mid-air to throw another six shuriken before landing. Only the sounds of thwack, thwack, thwack echoed incessantly. Every single shuriken hit the bullseye.

Seeing this, Sasuke looked at Naruto with pride. His expression was as if he were telling Naruto, "Look how impressive I am."

Naruto played along, saying, "That's amazing, Sasuke! I didn't expect your shuriken skills to be this good." Hearing Naruto's praise, Sasuke proudly lifted his chin.

Naruto also took out his shuriken and said, "I can't lose either." He then leaped high into the air, flipping continuously while throwing his shuriken. After Naruto landed, the same thwack, thwack, thwack sounds echoed through the air, and his shuriken also hit the bullseye. Sasuke was slightly surprised and said, "I didn't think you could do it too. I underestimated you. Let's continue." Sasuke was not the type to admit defeat; seeing that Naruto could match him, his competitive spirit was ignited.

Naruto was not one to fall behind either (mostly because he had lived two lifetimes and didn't believe he would be outdone by a five-year-old Sasuke, even if Sasuke was a true genius. Losing to a brat would be embarrassing).

The two practiced in the woods for a long time before finally lying down on the grass to rest. Sasuke said, "I didn't think you were this good, you guy." Naruto replied, "You're the one who's impressive; you're a true genius." Sasuke smiled happily upon hearing this and said, "You're not bad yourself." Shortly after, he fell fast asleep.

Naruto looked at the sleeping Sasuke and sighed inwardly, What a terrifying brat. He's only five and already this strong; he truly lives up to being the reincarnation of Indra. Although I'm also only five, I have the life experience and mental fortitude of two lifetimes. Yet, setting aside bloodline limits, I'm currently on par with Sasuke.

Naruto closed his eyes to rest for a while, and seeing that Sasuke had rested enough, he said, "Sasuke, let's have a sparring match." Sasuke replied happily, "Sure, as long as you aren't afraid of getting hurt." Naruto said arrogantly, "It's not certain who will be the one getting hurt, brat."

Without waiting for Sasuke to reply, he took out a shuriken and threw it at him. Sasuke hurriedly jumped into a tree, threw a few shuriken back at Naruto, and then launched a kunai at him, saying, "You're a brat too, and you're using a sneak attack—how despicable."

Seeing Sasuke charge, Naruto took out his own kunai, and the two began to clash. They traded blows, evenly matched.

Sasuke realized he couldn't gain an advantage in taijutsu, so after another clash of kunai, he leaped backward to create distance. Naruto tried to pursue, but Sasuke threw the kunai in his hand.

Naruto deflected the kunai with his own and looked at Sasuke, only to see him quickly weave a few hand signs, place his hand to his mouth, and say, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball flew toward Naruto. Naruto was startled that Sasuke could already use the Great Fireball Technique, but his hands moved quickly to weave his own signs. He swept his right hand forward and shouted, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto's Great Breakthrough and Sasuke's Great Fireball collided in mid-air and canceled each other out.

Sasuke was stunned that his Great Fireball had been countered, but Naruto didn't give him a chance to recover. He spat out a kunai he had been holding in his mouth and threw it at Sasuke, who accidentally got his arm grazed by the projectile.

Seeing this, Naruto ran over nervously and said, "Sasuke, are you okay?" Naruto took Sasuke's arm to inspect it, then quickly pulled cotton, antiseptic, and bandages from his ninja pouch.

He used tweezers to hold the cotton, wiped the blood from Sasuke's arm, tossed the bloody cotton into a sealable bag, applied the antiseptic, and wrapped the wound in bandages. He looked at Sasuke and asked, "Are you alright? Does it still hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital?"

Sasuke had already recovered by the time Naruto ran over. He was about to speak when he saw Naruto busy stopping the bleeding, applying medicine, and bandaging him, so he just stared at Naruto in a daze.

Seeing how nervous Naruto was, he felt a little bit of happiness. It wasn't until Naruto asked him again that Sasuke snapped out of it. He turned his head away awkwardly and replied coldly, "It's nothing. What's a small scratch like this? You're making a big deal out of nothing." With that, he shook off Naruto's hand and walked away with a haughty air.

Naruto scratched his head and followed behind Sasuke with a grin, saying, "Sasuke, I'll walk you home." Sasuke replied coldly, "Suit yourself," and walked even faster. Naruto jogged to keep up.

When they arrived at Sasuke's home, they were greeted by Itachi, who wore his perpetual smile. Seeing the bandage on Sasuke's arm, Itachi asked with concern, "Sasuke, how did you get hurt? Are you alright?" Sasuke said, "It's nothing, Brother. I just got a scrape while training. This idiot Naruto is just too nervous and insisted on bandaging me."

Itachi turned to Naruto and said, "Thank you, Naruto. My brother here just doesn't know how to take care of himself. It's good that you're here." Naruto said embarrassedly, "It's nothing, no need to thank me. It's my responsibility; if it weren't for my mistake, Sasuke wouldn't have been hurt."

Seeing them chatting endlessly, Sasuke said impatiently, "Alright, I said it's fine. Naruto, let's continue tomorrow." He then walked into the house.

Itachi apologized to Naruto, "Sorry about that, Naruto. He's just like that. See you tomorrow." Naruto replied politely, "Alright, see you tomorrow, Brother Itachi." With that, Naruto headed home. Once Naruto disappeared from his sight, Itachi turned and went back inside to check on Sasuke.

On his way home, Naruto ate a bowl of ramen, returned to his house, and lay down on his bed for a nap.

Meanwhile, far away in the Hokage Office, the Third Hokage watched Naruto eating and sleeping through his crystal ball. He shook his head helplessly and said, "Eating and then sleeping—that's not very good for your health. I'll have to find time to talk to him about it. This child really doesn't know how to take care of himself."

Watching the sleeping Naruto and thinking about his sparring match with Sasuke, he muttered, "Both of these are great seedlings for the future of Konoha and are worth cultivating well. They will be two great trees supporting Konoha in the future. I'll have them both go to the Ninja Academy to study properly in a few days." After watching for a moment longer, the Third Hokage ended his surveillance of Naruto.

Just as the Third Hokage ended his surveillance, Naruto, who had been fast asleep on his bed, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. He muttered, "It seems it's over. I hope it won't disappoint me."

As it turned out, from the moment he and Sasuke went to the woods to train, Naruto's powerful spiritual energy had allowed him to sense that he was being watched. He knew it must be the old man Third Hokage peeping with his crystal ball.

To avoid drawing the Third Hokage's attention and to put his mind at ease, he had pretended to be friendly, caring for his friend and protecting his companion. He ate and slept as he should, displaying the innocence a five-year-old child ought to have.

The sparring match with Sasuke also let the Third Hokage know his talent, which would help him gain more affirmation from the Third. This would ensure the Third Hokage would fight Danzo to the end regarding his affairs and not back down; otherwise, it would be troublesome if the old man had a lapse in judgment and compromised with Danzo, even if the probability was pitifully small. He only woke up once the Third Hokage ended his surveillance.

Naruto closed his eyes to sense his surroundings again, and finding that no one was watching him anymore, he said, "White Eye, activate." His forehead's White Eye opened, and the veins around his eyes bulged.

A spatial rift slowly formed in front of the White Eye. Naruto flicked his hand in front of the rift, and a bag appeared in his hand—the very bag he had used to store the cotton used to wipe Sasuke's blood.

After taking out the bag, Naruto deactivated the White Eye. He quickly took out various medical instruments from under his bed, placed the cotton stained with Sasuke's blood into a glass bottle with many small holes, and used a glass rod to forcefully squeeze out the blood until every drop was extracted.

Then, Naruto took a needle, pricked his own finger to get a drop of blood onto a glass slide, and used a dropper to mix a bit of Sasuke's blood with his own. Under the microscope he had stolen, Naruto saw his blood and Sasuke's blood fuse perfectly without any signs of rejection. Moreover, the cells seemed to have become even more active.

Naruto knew he had already succeeded halfway. His blood and Sasuke's were not incompatible. The next step was careful observation; once the cells were stable, he could boldly inject Sasuke's blood into his own body, thereby allowing himself to possess both Asura and Indra's chakra, which would enable him to awaken the Rinnegan to resurrect his parents.

Naruto looked at Sasuke's blood and clenched his fists, saying, "Mom, Dad, I will definitely resurrect you. No matter what I have to face, I will not take even a single step back."