He struggled to the surface, gasping for breath. All the chakra in his body seemed to have been drained dry; he could not even move his fingers.
"Sasuke, get out and rest." Toru Kujyo's voice came from the bank, his tone flat, betraying neither pleasure nor anger.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. He knew he had lost, utterly and completely. With the last of his strength, he struggled toward the bank, but his hunger for power burned more fiercely than ever. I have to get stronger. I must!
The shock of the icy river water, followed by the aroma of grilled fish drifting from the bank, quickly brought Sasuke back to his senses. He clambered ashore in a bedraggled heap, soaked through. Dull waves of pain throbbed through his arm in its cast, but none of it compared to the humiliation of having his pride crushed so thoroughly.
He watched Toru Kujyo hand a piece of golden-brown grilled fish to Hinata nearby, then looked at the Hyuga Clan's young lady as she accepted it as casually as could be. Uncontrollable frustration and urgency surged through him.
He rushed up to Toru Kujyo in a few strides, droplets falling from the ends of his black hair and trailing down his pale, stubborn face.
"What next?" Sasuke's voice was hoarse, carrying an urgency he had not even noticed himself. "You promised training from hell! What's next?"
Toru Kujyo did not so much as lift his eyelids. He merely stirred the charcoal beneath the grill with a wooden skewer, distributing the heat more evenly.
"Your mindset is terrible."
The quiet words fell like a bucket of ice water, dousing the flames of vengeance burning in Sasuke's heart.
"What?" Sasuke froze.
"Impatience, anger, hatred, and that refusal to accept defeat." Toru Kujyo finally raised his