Two and a Half Days, Success, and I'll Teach You Lightning Style!

"Ah... see? I told you so, didn't I?"

"Not everyone has a knack for Chakra Control."

"Naruto, Sakura, why don't you two give it a try..."

Seeing Sasuke, the most talented of the three, fail, Kakashi didn't hold back. He rubbed salt in the wound.

At that, Naruto took a deep breath and charged forward on a burst of confidence.

But the next moment, just as expected, he tumbled down in a heap...

"Ugh... help! I might have to learn to walk with a cane like Kakashi-sensei..."

With stars in his eyes and his head spinning, Naruto sprawled on the ground and muttered instinctively...

"Uh..."

Sasuke and Sakura were speechless at their lovable goof of a teammate, their faces dark with exasperation.

"Sakura, those two have both tried. Now it's your turn..."

Kakashi reminded her again.

Sakura glanced at Naruto, who was sprawled on the ground nearby, and couldn't help swallowing nervously.

Unlike Naruto and Sasuke, she didn't sprint at the tree right away.

Instead, she walked calmly over to a trunk, gathered her chakra slowly, and took one careful step at a time up the tree.

And then...

Then something that left Sasuke and Naruto dumbfounded happened!

Sakura showed no sign of falling at all.

She walked steadily, one step at a time, arms outstretched like she was crossing a narrow log.

She wasn't fast, but she was clearly doing better than Sasuke and Naruto, who had both failed nearby!

"This..."

Naruto and Sasuke stared, wide-eyed, unable to say a word.

They'd been beaten by a girl.

They weren't happy about it, but the facts were right there, impossible to deny.

Nearby, Kakashi saw the two of them looking as dispirited as wilted eggplants.

He smiled and called out teasingly:

"Sasuke, you've got a bright future ahead of you, and Naruto, you're a man who's sworn to become Hokage."

"Are you really going to slack off over such a tiny setback?"

"How can you accomplish anything great in the future?..."

His words jolted Naruto into action. He clenched his fists and suddenly shouted as if he'd been fired up:

"That's right! I'm going to become Hokage!"

"I'll never give up!..."

Those words worked wonders on Naruto, but they had little effect on Sasuke.

Training? Talent?

Sasuke had no so-called talent to speak of. All he had was his cheat.

In other words, without the system's boost, the original owner of this body would still have been a hopeless failure who couldn't even awaken his Sharingan, even if his entire clan had been wiped out.

With that kind of aptitude, what was there to say about talent?

At the thought, Sasuke focused his mind. At the same time, he called out inwardly:

"System, raise Chakra Control to level three!"

[ Ding! Chakra Control upgraded successfully! It is now level three. One skill point consumed.]

[Available skill points: 4]

[Level: 8 (This skill point expenditure did not result in a level-up.)]

After all this time, and after wasting a skill point on it, he still hadn't leveled up. Sasuke felt a little disappointed.

But just then,

Kakashi seemed to notice the dejected look on Sasuke's face.

He gritted his teeth, as though he had finally made up his mind, and spoke again:

"Sasuke, hard work can make up for a gap in talent!"

"This time, if you can successfully walk up this tree trunk within three days... no, two and a half days, I'll agree to teach you a Lightning Style technique. How does that sound?..."

The moment Sasuke heard the words "Lightning Style," he snapped out of his disappointment.

He hadn't expected to get something out of this, too. Heh, he'd been craving Chidori for a long time...

Thinking this, Sasuke forced down his excitement.

He didn't let it go to his head. He'd just heard that Kakashi probably didn't want to teach him Lightning Style yet.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have imposed a two-and-a-half-day deadline.

So Sasuke looked up at Kakashi in the tree, deliberately putting on a worried expression, and asked:

"Kakashi-sensei, do I really only have two and a half days?"

"Could you give me a little longer? I'm still just a kid, after all..."

At that, Kakashi waved him off without a moment's hesitation, refusing him outright:

"No. Two and a half days is already the limit I can accept."

"I'd originally planned to give you only three days, but seeing you like this, I felt sorry for you and gave you a little extra time..."

A sly smile tugged at the corner of Sasuke's mouth as he asked again:

"Then... all right."

"This is difficult for me. It'll be quite a challenge."

"Kakashi-sensei, if I manage it, you won't go back on your word, will you?..."

At that, Kakashi waved his hand, sounding a little displeased:

"Don't worry. I never go back on my word!"

"The only obstacle standing between you and getting Lightning Style is yourself."

"Of course, if you run out of time or simply can't learn it, you can't blame me..."

After saying that, Kakashi glanced at Naruto, then at Sasuke.

There was actually one more thing behind all he'd said, but he hadn't been honest with the three of them about it.

The greater a ninja's chakra reserves, the harder it was to control their chakra.

Naruto had fallen the hardest because the Nine-Tails was sealed inside him.

Sasuke was next.

Sakura had succeeded on her first try, but that only proved she was the least talented of the three.

After Kakashi finished speaking, he stood on the tree trunk, staring blankly.

Sasuke dropped the act and grinned at Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't forget what you said earlier."

"Hm? What do you mean?..."

At the shout, Kakashi snapped out of his reverie.

Seeing Sasuke's lips curl into a faint smile, he felt inexplicably uneasy.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't panic. I just wanted to say I'm going to try again right now. Don't run off yet..."

Don't run off?...

Kakashi swallowed and forced himself to stay calm.

"Y-you go ahead. I'm not leaving just yet..."

"Okay!"

Without another word, Sasuke walked calmly over to the tree trunk, just like Sakura had, then raised his hands slightly and slowly closed his eyes.

"What's this guy up to?"

"Does he think copying Sakura will let him control the chakra in his body?..."

Naruto watched Sasuke's movements, completely baffled.

"I should've pretended I couldn't do it..."

"I outshone Sasuke. Does he hate me now? Is that why he's trying to mock me like this?..."

Sakura laced her fingers together, her thoughts tangled.

"That guy didn't look like he was pretending earlier..."

"Was he doing it on purpose, then? Not making a mistake?..."

"Assuming that's true, it still doesn't make sense."

"After all, I hadn't promised him anything before this."

"No matter how cunning he is, he couldn't have predicted the future, could he?..."

Thinking this, Kakashi finally relaxed and felt his tension ease.

"Looks like I was definitely overthinking it. Yeah..."