Tree Trunk Footprints Break Through the Chakra Control Barrier

"Again!"

Naruto stepped onto the trunk, chakra from the soles of his feet pushed against the bark, and just as his body shot past a low branch, his right foot sank into the wood.

His chakra went out of control, leaving a small dent in the bark.

Before he could flip toward the ground, a Shadow Clone caught him from below, and the two figures rolled into the fallen leaves together.

Sasuke stood beneath another tree and glanced up.

"Nineteenth time."

Naruto shoved away the Shadow Clone pinning him down.

"Why are you counting that?"

"So you don't count falling as progress."

"I got higher than before."

"By a strip of bark."

"You think you can do better? Then get up there!"

Sasuke clenched a kunai between his teeth, gathered chakra beneath his feet, and ran up the trunk.

After passing the small pit Naruto had left behind, he took another two steps. His left foot pressed down too heavily, and the bark cracked.

Sasuke flipped down to the ground, carving a fresh mark into the tree with his kunai.

Naruto brushed fallen leaves off his shoulder.

"You didn't get much higher than me."

"Higher than you."

"You damaged the tree too."

"Your pit could hold water."

Kakashi sat nearby, the book in his hand still open to the same page.

"Arguing won't improve your chakra control."

Naruto turned around.

"Kakashi-sensei, can't you say something useful?"

"Too little chakra beneath your feet will make you slip. Too much will crush the bark."

"You already said that."

"Because you still haven't done it."

Sakura came around from behind the house carrying a medical kit. Her shoes adhered to the trunk, and in a few steps she reached a low horizontal branch.

"Don't focus on rushing as high as you can. Control