In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed.
The days were almost identical.
During the day, Kakashi herded the three of them into the middle of the training ground and drilled them one by one.
At night, he took Sasuke aside for even more intense training in ninjutsu and precise control of his Sharingan.
After a month, two dark circles had long since formed beneath Sasuke's eyes.
Nobody said anything, but everyone could feel it-the Chunin Ninja Exams were drawing closer by the day.
Quite a few unfamiliar faces had appeared in the village lately, too.
Ninja from other countries arrived in one group after another.
Sasuke's training grew increasingly intense, and he was getting visibly stronger.
Naruto had no idea what had happened between Sasuke and Kakashi.
All he knew was that Sasuke had gotten frighteningly strong lately.
Every day, Haku brought a water bottle and sat quietly beside Hayashi.
Zabuza lay in the shade with his sword in his arms. Whenever Naruto asked what he was doing, he glared at him.
"I'm on guard duty."
Sakura trained with them, too. Though she never complained about how hard it was, she went to bed earlier and earlier each night.
Originally, Hayashi had only sat on the sidelines and watched.
Lately, however, he occasionally stepped onto the field to coach Sasuke in swordsmanship.
While teaching him, Hayashi was actually a little surprised—Sasuke learned far too quickly.
Not only did the kid have a solid foundation in ninjutsu, but his aptitude for swordsmanship was frightening, too.
Sometimes, Hayashi only had to demonstrate once for Sasuke to reproduce seventy or eighty percent of the form. After a few more attempts, he could even grasp some of its essence.
Naruto watched it all, anxiety gnawing at him.
Sasuke