Teaching Sasuke
Natsu looked at the smug look on Sasuke's face, which he couldn't hide, and didn't say anything.
He simply pulled his right hand out of his sleeve and formed a mudra with one hand.
Three Shadow Clone landed beside him at the same time. One of them rushed towards the lakeside first, its hands flying to Hand Seals, and the remaining lightning at its fingertips drew an arc in the Dusk.
"Lightning Release: Forbidden Ring!"
The next second, countless purple lightning bolts poured down from the sky above the lake, and the fine arcs of electricity intertwined to form a ring-shaped lightning field with a diameter of hundreds of meters, enveloping the entire lake surface.
The Setsuna lightning struck the lake, countless tiny ripples spread across the surface, and a piercing sound of electricity mixed with the hissing of rising water vapor rushed towards us.
Sasuke's smile froze on his face.
Before he could even utter a sound of surprise, another Shadow Clone clasped its hands together, causing the center of the lake to suddenly collapse, and Uzumaki to expand outward at a visible speed.
"Water Release ·Explosive Abyss!"
The edge of the Uzumaki gnawed at the bottom of the lightning field, and purple lightning climbed and spread along the spiraling water wall. Lightning and water no longer repelled each other, but were forcibly mixed together by a control force that was precise to the millimeter—lightning borrowed the power of water, and water carried the power of lightning.
Immediately afterwards, the third Shadow Clone raised its right hand, and a high-speed rotating column of wind roared out from its palm, crashing into the core where lightning and water intertwined.
"Wind Release: Wind Dragon Whirlwind!"
The wind amplified the thunder's power, and the thunder borrowed the wind's might. Water vapor transformed into a vast expanse of white mist in the hurricane, and the entire lake was turned upside down by the aftershocks of the three combined Ninjutsu.
Natsu only gave one demonstration from beginning to end.
Not a single unnecessary word was said, but Sasuke already understood.
"While individual Ninjutsu are powerful, they are inadequate for adapting to the ever-changing battlefield," Natsu said calmly, turning her head to look at him, her tone even.
"Battles between ninjas are not about who has the most flashy moves, but about who has the most lethal combinations."
The five elemental escape techniques—wind, fire, thunder, water, and earth—each have their limitations when used individually. However, if they are combined appropriately on the battlefield, their power is not simply a matter of one plus one equals two, but rather an exponential increase.
Sasuke opened his mouth, but his earlier smugness had vanished completely.
As he watched the lightning and mist still churning on the lake's surface, the nascent pride in his mind was completely washed away.
He recalled the gasps of his classmates when he Great Fire Annihilation at the Clan Academy, and then he remembered the lake surface that had just been easily controlled by the three Shadow Clone.
After a moment of silence, he suddenly raised his head, the smugness in his eyes completely gone, replaced by something deeper.
"Natsu, how can I control two different types of Chakra at the same time?" Natsu looked down at him, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Being willing to ask questions means being willing to learn.
He squatted down and drew two simple Chakra flow diagrams on the soil with his fingertips, explaining as he drew.
This child is talented, ambitious, and, more importantly, stubbornly persistent, never giving up even after hitting a wall.
He wanted to see how this promising talent would develop under his guidance.
After an hour of theoretical explanation, Natsu stood up from the ground and patted the grass clippings and dirt off her clothes.
He casually drew a line on the ground with his toe, and a shadow Shadow Clone silently materialized beside him, landing in the open space in the center of the courtyard.
"You already have a basic idea of how to combine Ninjutsu techniques. But that's just theory; on the battlefield, the enemy won't give you time to Hand Seals." Natsu stepped back a few paces, clearing the space, and pointed to the Shadow Clone that looked exactly like him.
"From now on, it is your opponent. You can have dinner when you can last three minutes against it."
Sasuke swallowed hard, took out Kunai from his ninja tool pouch, and assumed the starting stance that he had practiced repeatedly in the Clan Academy.
His posture was perfect, his center of gravity low, Kunai held horizontally in front of him. His Sharingan hadn't been activated yet, but his dark eyes were already locked onto the motionless Shadow Clone opposite him.
Then he rushed forward.
The Shadow Clone didn't use any Ninjutsu; it simply sidestepped the Kunai that was thrust at it, then flicked its wrist and lightly flicked the back of the hand holding the sword with its fingertip.
Sasuke felt a numbness in his entire arm, Kunai flew out of his hand, embedding itself in the grass a few meters away.
Before he could bend down to pick it up, the Shadow Clone had already lifted his foot and gently hooked his ankle, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground with a thud, kicking up a circle of grass clippings.
"Again." Natsu sat on a stone bench by the lake, holding a cup of tea that had been brewed sometime during the day, her tone as calm as if she were simply remarking on the pleasant weather.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, got up, picked up his Kunai, and got back into position.
For the second dash, the Shadow Clone used a completely different dismantling technique than before—this time, it gently nudged him with its elbow, striking him precisely in the gap below his ribs.
He groaned, staggered back several steps, clutched his stomach and gasped for breath, then charged forward again.
The third time, the fourth time, and the fifth time.
By the ninth time, he was already able to barely withstand the Shadow Clone for half a minute.
Although he had several bruises on his body, the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
He no longer charged blindly, but began to learn to observe the movement of the Shadow Clone ' center of gravity and to predict the direction of the attack in the extremely short gap before the opponent made a move.
His movements are still somewhat immature, but he never repeats a single mistake.
Natsu held her teacup, her gaze passing over the rim of the cup to the thin figure who was repeatedly knocked down and then got back up again and again, a slight smile playing on her lips.
That's what genius is—not being born with skills, but being born mature and able to learn faster than others from every fall.
He placed the teacup beside the stone bench, stood up, walked to the center of the area, Shadow Clone dissipated into a wisp of white smoke.
"Stop. That's enough Taijutsu for now." He looked at Sasuke was covered in sweat but still stubbornly stood up straight, and surprisingly didn't say anything to discourage him.
"Ninjutsu is the long-range sword, Taijutsu is the close-range shield. Having both in hand prevents you from being exploited and picked off one by one on the battlefield. We'll continue tomorrow."
By the time their training ended, it was completely dark. Natsu brushed the grass clippings off her clothes and led Sasuke, who was covered in sweat, back to the front yard.
Izumi is working overtime in the lab tonight. Mikoto brought him dinner in advance, and the portion was quite large, clearly indicating that she had anticipated Sasuke would stay for dinner.
Sasuke sat opposite Natsu with his bowl in hand, eating properly, but his eyes kept glancing at Natsu, his hesitant expression revealing a desire to say something that Natsu noticed.
"Say what you want to say." Natsu didn't even look up, picking up a piece of food with her chopsticks and putting it into her bowl.
Sasuke pursed his lips, put down his chopsticks, and suddenly sat up straight, clenching his fists on his knees as if to encourage himself.