Battle to Awaken the Sharingan

Naruto was in a playful mood. In the blink of an eye, he became Sasuke's instructor and imitated Kakashi's tone. "Sasuke, very good. You picked it up quickly. I believe you'll graduate from this before long."

Listening to those words, Sasuke felt uncomfortable all over. The more he heard them, the more awkward they sounded.

"Shadow Clone Technique!" After forming the hand seals, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and successfully created two clones, one standing on either side of him.

"That's amazing!" Naruto shouted. "Sasuke, you really are a genius. You learned the Shadow Clone Technique so quickly."

Sasuke looked at the two shadow clones he had created and felt deeply dissatisfied. He asked flatly, "Naruto, why do I only have two shadow clones? Are you hiding some secret from me instead of teaching it to me?"

Naruto instantly became unhappy and snapped, "You successfully used the technique already. How could I possibly be holding anything back?"

After thinking it over, Sasuke realized Naruto had a point. Since he had successfully used the technique, there was no way it was fake. But when he saw Naruto effortlessly create dozens or even hundreds of shadow clones while he could only make two, the gap was simply too great.

Seeing Naruto puffing up in anger, Sasuke scratched his head. He knew he had said the wrong thing, but he was too embarrassed to apologize, so he changed the subject. "Naruto, why did you laugh when I asked you to teach me the Shadow Clone Technique earlier?"

Naruto's anger immediately vanished, and he could not help bursting into laughter. "Hahahahaha—"

Hearing Naruto laugh for no apparent reason, Sasuke was the one who became a little annoyed instead.

"How should I put it? How should I put it?" Naruto said theatrically. "Usually, Sasuke, you're so cold and always look so cool. I never expected you to ask someone for help too. The contrast was so huge, how could I possibly hold back my laughter?"

"Tch, boring." Sasuke had thought there was some deeper meaning to it. He had not expected such a dull reason and instantly lost interest.

Over the following hours, Naruto and Sasuke continued training without pause, from morning until night.

The number of shadow clones Naruto created to join his training kept increasing, eventually exceeding fifty. His progress grew at a visible pace, and within a single day, he successfully walked more than a hundred steps up the tree trunk, surpassing Sakura's result.

Sasuke had fewer shadow clones, only two, so his improvement could not match Naruto's. However, Sasuke possessed exceptional talent and unwavering determination, and his results remained close behind Naruto's.

The two persisted without giving up and encouraged each other. Finally, at midnight that day, they successfully reached the top of the giant tree. They had walked more than three hundred steps along the trunk, gained a deeper understanding of chakra control, and laid a solid foundation as ninja.

"Naruto, we got so caught up in training that we forgot Kakashi-sensei is still lying in bed."

"Yeah. Let's go back and give them a surprise. They definitely won't expect us to have trained so quickly."

Naruto and Sasuke returned to Tazuna's house and reported their successful training, thoroughly startling both Sakura and Kakashi.

Kakashi lay weakly in bed and said, "I really didn't expect you two to complete the training so quickly." At the same time, he thought, I thought this training would keep the two of them occupied for a few days so I could rest properly. Looks like I can only get out of bed early...

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said energetically, "Is there anything else we need to do next?"

Kakashi thought for a moment, then said, "Zabuza has already been captured and locked in the boathouse. His injuries won't heal anytime soon, and Kado probably poses no more threat. Once Tazuna finishes building the bridge, our mission will be complete and we can return to Konoha."

"What? This mission feels pretty easy," Sakura said with a smile.

Sasuke lowered his head. For him and Sakura, this mission really had been easy, because Naruto had shouldered most of the pressure.

"I'm going out for a walk." After saying that, Sasuke left the house and headed toward the forest.

Watching Sasuke leave, Naruto thought that the time had come. It was time to help Sasuke awaken the Sharingan. Naruto said, "Kakashi-sensei, get some proper rest. I'm going out for a walk too. I'll be back by dinner."

Kakashi said to Sakura, "For today, Sakura, follow Tazuna to guard the bridge first, in case Kado launches a sneak attack. As for Naruto and Sasuke, let them rest after their training."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura then left with Tazuna and headed for the bridge under construction across the sea.

Meanwhile, Naruto snuck quietly toward the boathouses. There were two of them, normally used to store fishing gear or boats.

"Good thing I made arrangements in advance." Naruto looked at the boathouses and said, "I was the one who suggested that Zabuza and Haku be held separately, to prevent them from conspiring to escape if they were locked up together."

"The reason I had Haku imprisoned alone was to help Sasuke." Naruto spoke softly. "Sasuke, you can't avoid this battle with Haku. Without the Sharingan, you'll never be able to keep up with me, and I'll need you fighting by my side in the future."

Meanwhile, in the forest, Sasuke took out a kunai and carved a portrait into a tree stump. The figure in the portrait was Sasuke's older brother—Itachi Uchiha.

Seeing that familiar face, Sasuke was filled with rage. This was the man he had to kill with his own hands.

Without hesitation, Sasuke hurled his kunai at Itachi's portrait. Feeling that it was not enough to vent his anger, he rushed forward and began punching and kicking the image.

Naruto was hiding nearby, concealing his presence as he watched Sasuke beat up the tree stump. Sasuke has this kind of habit too...? As expected, Sasuke is still young. He's still just a kid...

"Who's there?" Sasuke noticed someone approaching and quickly turned to scan his surroundings.

He's here, Naruto thought, then quietly slipped away, because the real show was about to begin.

"Killing intent!" Sasuke was somewhat shocked. He could feel an intense killing intent locking onto him, as though someone wanted him dead.

"You killed him. That person was too important to me." A young man appeared in the distance and walked toward him as he spoke. "I'm going to kill you!"

"It's you!" Sasuke had clearly not expected this person to appear before him. He was the young man who had previously worn a mask and pretended to be a hunter-nin—Zabuza Momochi's companion, Haku.

"Weren't you locked in the boathouse?" Sasuke immediately became vigilant. If Haku had escaped, then Zabuza Momochi might have escaped as well.

Haku formed hand seals. Sasuke felt the air turn cold as Haku said emotionlessly, "Secret Technique! Demonic Ice Mirrors!"

The air around them grew frigid, and Sasuke's breath turned white. He cried out in surprise, "Cold air!"

Ice mirrors condensed out of thin air around Sasuke. They were extremely thin, rectangular, and taller than a person. More than a dozen of them surrounded Sasuke completely.