Sasuke, You're No Good Either!

In the depths of the darkened stands.

Shigure hid in the shadows, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

Naruto had performed far too brilliantly in the dream.

Compared to the dead last who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy in the original story, the Naruto on the screen looked practically like he had returned after two years of training with Jiraiya.

He wielded all sorts of high-level ninjutsu with ease and defeated Sasuke without breaking a sweat. Such strength was truly remarkable.

Shigure could not help clicking his tongue in admiration.

It seemed the Nine-Tails really had been a burden to Naruto in the early stages of the original story.

Naruto himself never lacked chakra, and his physical abilities were first-rate. Yet because the Nine-Tails was sealed within him, not only was his own chakra constantly siphoned away to maintain the seal, but the chakra leaking from the Nine-Tails also interfered with his control over his own chakra.

On top of that, no one had taught him, and years had gone to waste.

Without those shackles, Naruto's strength was practically that of a different person.

Shigure brought up the system panel.

[Dream Fulfillment Target: Sasuke Uchiha]

[Viewers: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Kakashi Hatake]

[Total Emotion Point Earnings: 28,900 points!]

[Current Emotion Point Balance: 110,150 points!]

Shigure nodded in satisfaction.

Thanks to Naruto's resentment over the past two days, the returns had remained quite impressive.

He casually opened the system level interface.

[Current Dream Fulfillment Level: Level 2 (164650/200000)].

Excellent. At most, another two days' worth of Emotion Points would be enough to meet the upgrade requirement.

What kind of upgrade options would be unlocked then?

There would be three options to choose from at his leisure, anyway. It was truly something to look forward to...

The following morning.

Sasuke woke from his sleep, fragments of last night's dream still echoing in his mind.

He rubbed his slightly throbbing temples, his brows knitting faintly.

"Genjutsu?"

Naruto's words at the end of the dream lingered in his mind.

As the Uchiha clan's bloodline limit, Sasuke knew a little about the Sharingan.

The Sharingan possessed powerful abilities such as observation, copying, and hypnosis. Its wielders had perception far beyond ordinary people, allowing them to see through and cast genjutsu, copy taijutsu, and replicate ninjutsu that were not bloodline limits.

But the night he awakened his Sharingan had been the very night his entire clan was massacred. After that, no one had ever taught him genjutsu training, and the scrolls left behind at home contained only the basics of Fire Release.

No wonder Naruto in the dream had asked him that.

Could it be that the "Sasuke" in the dream knew how to use Sharingan genjutsu?

Sasuke's heart stirred.

Of course. The Uchiha clan in the dream had existed peacefully. He had grown up in the clan since childhood, with guidance from his father and brother. Why would he not know genjutsu?

The more Sasuke thought about it, the more unusual last night's dream seemed. His fists slowly clenched.

He recalled Naruto's words from the dream.

"Why didn't you use genjutsu the whole time? I'd been on guard for it for ages."

Sasuke's expression turned complicated.

The Sasuke in the dream had actually been considered someone who should naturally know genjutsu by Naruto...

Was it really just a fabricated dream?

Sasuke's thoughts were a tangled mess, and for a moment, he could not tell reality from dream.

He took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the doubts in his heart, deciding not to dwell on it any longer.

He had no way to learn genjutsu right now. He would just have to take things one step at a time.

Meanwhile, Naruto sprang out of bed as well.

Still bleary-eyed, he stared blankly at the ceiling for several seconds. Then he suddenly remembered the scenes from last night's dream, and he instantly became more than half awake.

"Wow—"

Naruto could not help letting out an exclamation. The scenes from the dream still felt unbelievable to him.

That confident, composed guy who never panicked and could wield all kinds of ninjutsu with ease... had actually been him?!

The thought made Naruto even more excited. He leaped off the bed, planted his hands on his hips, and threw back his head in laughter. "Hahaha! I never thought dream-me would be that strong! Sasuke was no match for me at all! Just as expected of me! Hahaha!"

His laughter echoed through the empty little apartment. Naruto was delighted, as though the person who had defeated Sasuke last night was his present self.

Once he had laughed enough.

An idea suddenly struck Naruto. He flipped back onto the bed and struck a cool pose just like the one he had taken in last night's dream.

He quickly formed several hand seals and waved a hand with an air of mystery.

With a sharp whoosh, one of the shuriken flew out.

He shouted in imitation of last night's tone, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naturally, the spectacular sight of countless shuriken shadow clones filling the air did not appear.

There was only a single lonely shuriken stuck straight into the wall.

But Naruto did not care in the slightest.

"Man... that was so cool! Dream-me was way too cool!"

His face filled with intoxicated delight, Naruto eagerly began imitating the moves from his dream again.

He took a deep breath and puffed out his cheeks.

Then he blew a stream of air forward.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Unfortunately, he did not actually know Wind Release ninjutsu. That breath did nothing more than make the curtains flutter lightly, without causing any destructive force at all.

Still utterly carefree, Naruto struck the same spinning kick pose he had used to send Sasuke flying last night. He made little grunting sounds, as if a fierce whirlwind really had spun beneath his feet in midair.

He gestured around the cramped room for quite a while, having the time of his life.

After fooling around for a while, Naruto finally stopped, panting heavily as he dropped back onto the bed.

Once the brief excitement faded, the room fell quiet again, and Naruto's expression gradually dimmed.

Looking at his empty hands, he sighed softly. "What a shame... I don't know how to do anything at all... I don't understand even one of those amazing ninjutsu."

He spread open his right palm and tried to gather chakra.

A wisp of blue chakra slowly took shape, swirling unsteadily in his palm, but it never managed to condense into a sphere.

"Just a half-finished Rasengan after all..."

Naruto gave a bitter smile and dispersed the incomplete Rasengan. He muttered despondently, "The ultimate technique Father taught me... maybe I'll never be able to complete it myself..."

After tidying up a little, Naruto changed clothes and headed out, running toward Team 7's agreed meeting place.

He was still thinking about last night's dream, and his steps were much lighter than usual. Before long, he reached the training ground outside the village.

Sakura was already waiting in the open space of the training ground.

The moment she saw Naruto, she waved at him for once. "Morning, Naruto!"

Naruto ran over in big strides, grinning. "Morning, Sakura! Has Kakashi-sensei arrived yet?"

As he spoke, he looked around in every direction.

Strange. Was Kakashi-sensei, who was always late, even later today?

Just as he was wondering about that, Sasuke appeared on the small path in the distance.

Naruto turned and saw him, immediately seeming to remember something. A sly smile flashed across his face.

He promptly went over and blocked Sasuke's path, raising his brows high. "Yo, Sasuke!"

He looked Sasuke up and down smugly. "Who would've thought—"

Naruto deliberately dragged out his words.

"Sasuke, you got beaten by me in my dream, and you still got beaten by me in your dream! Hahaha, Sasuke, you're no good either! That was pathetic!"

The instant Naruto's exaggerated bragging left his mouth, Sasuke's face darkened on the spot.