Naruto, Watch Closely

"You jerk..."

The veins at Sasuke's temple throbbed as a stifling frustration rose in his chest.

"Damn it!"

He glared at Naruto's annoyingly smug grin, forcefully suppressing his pent-up irritation as he snorted, "Was that guy you? What does he have to do with you?"

As he said that, he turned his face away.

"How does it have nothing to do with me?!"

Naruto refused to back down. Crossing his arms and lifting his chin, he said, "Wasn't that Naruto in the dream me? That was me!"

"Hmph!" Sasuke sneered, stubbornly retorting, "That Naruto knew way more ninjutsu than you do. I was just careless for a moment and didn't dodge."

Naruto was left speechless, his mouth opening and closing as he failed to come up with a rebuttal.

His smile froze on his face. After a long moment, he squeezed out, "Show-off..."

Yet deep down, he had to admit that Sasuke was right.

The him in the dream knew so many powerful ninjutsu, but the real him...

Naruto lowered his gaze, his expression dimming.

Seeing Naruto stop acting smug, the frustration in Sasuke's heart eased somewhat.

But the next second, he noticed that something was off about Naruto's expression.

Naruto's once-radiant face suddenly lost all its light, replaced by loneliness and self-reproach.

With his head lowered and his fists clenched, he took a long while before forcing out, "...Yeah. I can't do anything."

Naruto's voice was soft and muffled, making Sasuke pause in surprise.

Just then, Naruto took a deep breath. He suddenly raised his right hand and slammed his palm toward a nearby tree trunk!

With a shout, he poured a burst of chakra force into the tree.

With a faint tearing sound, several cracks appeared on the surface of the trunk, which was as thick as a bowl.

However, the cracks were thin and shallow. The trunk merely swayed twice before settling back into stillness.

Naruto withdrew his hand and stared at the tiny cracks in the bark, giving a bitter smile. "See? This is how strong I am right now..."

Lowering his head, he mocked himself. "This is the ultimate technique my father taught me, but even now, I've only learned the bare basics of half of it. I'm probably never going to achieve the power I had in that dream again."

Watching this, Sasuke's heart gave a slight jolt.

It was the first time he had seen Naruto look so despondent.

He could understand firsthand what it felt like to regain something only to lose it again.

What he had said in anger just now had indeed been too much...

Sasuke felt somewhat regretful. He opened his mouth, wanting to apologize, but he could not bring himself to do it.

After a moment of silence, he asked in a muffled voice, "Hey, Naruto... that thing you used just now, are you still missing the final stage?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded glumly. "The Rasengan. I've only completed the second stage. No matter what I do, I can't master the rest."

As he spoke, he looked at the lingering chakra ripples in his right palm, and a deep sense of frustration and regret welled up within him again.

The atmosphere suddenly became rather heavy.

Standing nearby, Sakura watched Naruto worriedly. Just as she was about to say something to comfort him, her sharp eyes caught sight of a familiar figure peeking out from behind the bushes in the distance.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura raised her arm and waved hard at the approaching figure, calling out loudly.

Hearing this, Naruto and Sasuke turned toward the sound at the same time.

Sure enough, that carefree white-haired figure was walking toward them.

Strangely enough, Kakashi, who was always late, had actually arrived early today?

"Yo, good morning."

With his hands in his pockets, Kakashi strolled over leisurely. Half his face was hidden beneath his forehead protector and mask, revealing only one curved eye as he greeted them with a faintly amused look.

"Kakashi-sensei actually came so early today?!" Naruto was the first to react, his eyes widening as he shouted, "That's a rare sight!"

Beside him, Sasuke also gave a rare nod, tacitly agreeing with Naruto.

Their back-and-forth left Kakashi feeling slightly awkward.

A bead of embarrassed sweat appeared at his temple. Of course, he could not admit that he had come early today because someone had mocked him in last night's dream for always being late.

Kakashi gave a dry laugh and quickly waved his hand. "Haha, well... the sun was nice today, so I happened to come early on my way here."

He coughed a few times and swiftly changed the subject. "Ahem. Anyway, we have other plans today. I won't be taking you on any D-rank missions."

"Really?!" Naruto's eyes immediately lit up.

He had long been sick of those boring chores. Kakashi had finally found his conscience!

"Awesome!"

Naruto jumped three feet into the air in excitement.

"Finally, no more catching cats! Kakashi-sensei, what are we doing today? Are we going to take on some cool missions that real ninja are supposed to do?"

He hurriedly leaned in and pressed for an answer.

Sakura also looked at Kakashi curiously. Clearly, she had no interest in the usual D-rank missions either.

Kakashi wore a meaningful expression.

"There's no mission. But—today, I'm going to teach you how to train!"

"Training?!"

Naruto froze for a moment, then realized what he meant and burst into delight. "Yes! Kakashi-sensei is finally going to personally teach us how to train!"

He clenched his fists excitedly, his face full of anticipation.

"Hurry up and teach me some powerful ninjutsu!"

Sasuke's eyes also lit up at the word "training."

To him, anything that could make him stronger was irresistibly appealing, no matter when or where.

Without drawing attention to himself, he stepped half a pace forward and waited intently for Kakashi to continue.

However, Kakashi's next words made Naruto and Sakura both look as though they were questioning their lives.

"Today, I'm going to teach you—how to climb trees." Kakashi said lightly with narrowed eyes.

"Huh?!" Naruto and Sakura cried out in unison.

"Climbing trees? What's there to teach? That sounds so boring..." Naruto's face immediately fell, his eyes filled with utter disappointment.

He had thought Kakashi-sensei was going to teach them some ultimate technique of limitless power, but it turned out he was teaching them something even children could do—climb trees?!

Sakura also looked thoroughly confused. "Does learning something like that count as training?"

Tilting her head, she could not quite figure out what Kakashi was getting at.

Seeing the three children react differently, Kakashi turned serious and explained, "This isn't ordinary tree climbing. Watch closely—"

As he spoke, he took several steps back and came to a thick tree trunk.

Before the three of them, Kakashi slowly lifted one foot and lightly placed it against the trunk.

An astonishing sight followed.

Kakashi's foot adhered firmly to the tree trunk, as though held there by some invisible suction.

He then lifted his other foot. Both feet left the ground as he stepped up the vertical trunk, walking upward one step at a time as if it were level ground.

"Whoa—!" Naruto's eyes went wide.

Kakashi leisurely kept both hands in his pockets as he walked all the way up the trunk to a branch more than ten meters above the ground, as relaxed as if he were taking a stroll on flat land.

Sakura covered her mouth and let out a soft cry, her face full of disbelief.

"I see. He's using chakra to adhere himself to the tree trunk?" Sasuke's eyes flickered as he instantly saw through the trick.

His shock was somewhat less than the others', but he could not help nodding to himself.

Kakashi stopped on the trunk and called down to them, "Using this method, you can train your chakra control. Once you can skillfully use chakra to stand on a tree trunk, the power and precision of your ninjutsu will improve considerably in the future."

"I see!" Sakura suddenly understood and nodded excitedly.

Sasuke's eyes brightened.

It had to be said that Kakashi's explanation struck right at his weakness.

If this training could make up for his shortcomings, it would greatly benefit his strength.

With that thought, Sasuke could barely suppress the urge to try it himself.

After finishing, Kakashi leaped down from the tree.

Before he could tell his students to begin practicing, Sakura volunteered and rushed toward the large tree. "Kakashi-sensei, can I start?"

Without waiting for an answer, she lifted one foot and cautiously stepped toward the trunk...

On the other side, Sasuke also prepared to give it a try.

Compared with his companions' enthusiasm, Naruto remained where he was, completely motionless, his face full of disdain.

Having just witnessed his own glory in the dream yesterday, he looked down somewhat on this kind of "little trick."

His thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.

It would've been great if we were training one of those super cool techniques from last night's dream. Tree climbing is unbelievably lame...

Kakashi caught sight of Naruto's reaction. Seeing him still standing there in a daze with a look of disgust, he could not help laughing.

But he was not angry. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and beckoned to Naruto. "Naruto, come here for a moment."

"What for?"

Naruto muttered as he walked up to Kakashi, looking somewhat impatient.

Kakashi said nothing. He suddenly raised his right hand before Naruto's eyes and gave a mysterious smile. "Watch closely."

The next second, a mass of rapidly spinning azure chakra condensed in his palm.