Naruto was clearly quite unhappy with Sasuke's sarcasm.
His face immediately fell, and he shot back, "As if you didn't cling to someone stronger! If Big Brother Lin Fan hadn't rescued you back then, you'd probably still be buried in the dirt with just your head sticking out, watching the show!"
"Hmph. That's still much better than you, you idiot dead-last who fell into such an obvious trap."
Sasuke said this with his usual icy expression.
"What? What's there to be so smug about, you smug-face? You wanna fight?"
Naruto flew into a rage, rolled up his sleeves, and challenged Sasuke right to his face.
"Bring it on! I might not be able to beat Lin Fan right now, but taking down a dead-last like you will be a piece of cake!"
Sasuke was just as unyielding, meeting Naruto face-to-face.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan sat on the hospital bed, cracking sunflower seeds as he watched with great interest.
After all, if things followed the original plot, the day the Naruto-Sasuke pair parted ways was drawing closer and closer.
He might as well enjoy it while he could.
"Well, well, you two little brats are pretty fired up."
"Kakashi can't train you today, so how about I, Konoha's proud Blue Beast of the Hidden Leaf, guide your training instead?!"
Might Guy appeared in front of them at once, brimming with fighting spirit.
"Okay, Watermelon Head-sensei! I'll train hard with you, then knock out one Sasuke after another with a single punch!"
"Tch. Whatever!"
Naruto and Sasuke both nodded in agreement.
"Yosh! Let's see who can reach the training ground first. I'll give the winner a reward!"
At the mention of a reward, Naruto and Sasuke vanished from the hospital room with a quick whoosh.
Soon, only Lin Fan and Kakashi remained in the room.
"Lin Fan, there's something I want to ask you. How did you train your Sharingan genjutsu to become so powerful?"
Kakashi, having recovered some of his strength, shifted himself higher on the bed. He turned a page in the manga and asked softly.
His Sharingan could also cast genjutsu, but at best it could make its target lose consciousness for a short while.
He couldn't create a vivid, realistic Memory Illusion like Lin Fan's and deal a blow to the target's mind and body at the same time.
Lin Fan smiled. "Actually, I haven't trained these eyes much. Maybe this Memory Illusion is just an innate ability of my Sharingan!"
"Kakashi-sensei, I don't think your Sharingan is only good for copying techniques. If you train it properly, you might discover the innate ability of that eye too!"
Lin Fan simply bluffed, telling Kakashi his genjutsu was a natural talent.
After all, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan had long since been leveled up to the max.
Naturally, he could cast such a realistic Memory Illusion.
He was also clearly hinting that Kakashi should pay more attention to his Sharingan.
That eye had already evolved into a Mangekyou Sharingan and could use Kamui, after all.
He didn't want Lord Kakashi to end up making eye contact with Itachi and getting dragged into the Tsukuyomi Realm, where he'd be stabbed by a samurai sword for three days and nights.
Then he'd end up spending seven days in bed recovering.
They were both Kage Level shinobi with limited chakra, both renowned as peerless geniuses from a young age.
They were also two of Lin Fan's favorite characters from the original story.
Naturally, he didn't want Lord Kakashi to look hopelessly outmatched in front of Itachi.
"Hmm, you're right. I haven't fully mastered the power of this Sharingan yet. I'll definitely study it carefully."
Kakashi spoke thoughtfully.
Lin Fan then asked softly, "Kakashi-sensei, I only beat you in the exercise because I caught you by surprise. You won't hold it against me, will you?"
"Of course not. The fact that you could catch me in your genjutsu is a testament to your skill. You saw my weakness and chose your tactics accordingly. As your teacher, I'm proud of you."
"It's just that the two people who appeared in the genjutsu were my dearly loved ones, who have already passed away. I'm afraid I'll have nightmares for the next couple of days."
Kakashi sighed helplessly.
Lin Fan immediately perked up at that. "You keep having nightmares? That's easy to fix!"
He immediately pulled out the Other-Dimensional Scroll and took a large pile of books from it.
There were all kinds of manga and novels, including My Neighbor's Sister, Mom's Friend, and Gold Scale in the Pond.
Just seeing their covers made Kakashi's blood race, but he still tried hard to keep his composure.
He asked in confusion, "Lin Fan, what are you getting at?"
"If you stay up all night reading all these books for the next couple of days, you won't have to worry about nightmares, right?"
Lin Fan said with a grin.
"Uh, I suppose that could work..."
Kakashi's eyes lit up at once.
Knock, knock, knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the hospital room door.
"Who is it?"
"I-I'm Hinata. I-I heard Lin Fan was in the hospital, so I came to visit him."
At the sound of her soft, shy voice, Lin Fan's mouth twitched.
Sure enough, his little Hinata cared about him most.
He immediately climbed back into bed and lay down, then said weakly, "The door's unlocked. Come in."
Lin Fan and Kakashi watched as Hinata entered the hospital room, carrying a lunch box in one hand and a basket of fruit in the other.
Seeing Lin Fan lying motionless in bed, she asked worriedly, "Big Brother Lin Fan, are you feeling any better?"
Lin Fan sighed deeply from the bed. "Sigh, Kakashi-sensei really is too strong. I used up all my chakra, and we still only managed to tie."
"Heh, you're pretty good at pretending."
"Where'd you get the strength to pull all those books out of that other-dimensional space just now?"
"And that line you said was meant to praise him as your teacher, but really you were just showing off, weren't you?"
Kakashi thought, his face darkening.
"Mm, Big Brother Lin Fan, I think it's already amazing that you managed to hold your own against Kakashi-sensei until the very end."
"I made you this Vitality Replenishing Soup myself. It works wonders for restoring your chakra quickly."
Hinata said in her soft, shy voice.
"Thank you, Hinata. But look at me—I'm lying in bed without even a bit of strength. How am I supposed to drink the soup you made?"
Lin Fan said, sounding troubled.
"M-Maybe I could feed it to you?"
Hinata's face turned bright red as she spoke timidly.
Lin Fan opened his mouth and nodded repeatedly.
He was clearly trying to say that was exactly what he meant.
"Drink slowly, Big Brother Lin Fan. Be careful, it's hot!"
Hinata soon picked up a spoon, blew on the soup to cool it, then carefully fed it to Lin Fan.
Watching Lin Fan look so content and Hinata blush with shy delight, Kakashi—who had been single forever and could only console himself with Make-Out Paradise—felt as if he'd been struck by lightning.
"Do you two have no manners?"
He felt that this scene was even more painful than what he'd seen in the Memory Illusion.