The blazing sun hung overhead, and the air was still.
At one of Konoha's Training Grounds, things had grown slightly awkward.
Of course, the awkward ones were neither Naruto nor Sasuke, but Kakashi, who had been forced to use his Mangekyo by two students, and Sakura Haruno, who had watched from a distance the entire time, unable to get involved at all.
At that moment, Sakura Haruno wanted to die.
Had she known Naruto was this strong, she would have followed his suggestion from the start and given him full command of the squad. Even if all she did was cheer from the sidelines, she wouldn't have suffered such public humiliation.
Especially after hearing Naruto abandon the fight without hesitation for Sasuke's sake, Sakura Haruno felt even worse.
"Although I don't know how this will turn out, things have already come this far. I can only take it one step at a time."
Muttering under her breath, Sakura Haruno jumped down from the tree and walked toward the center of the battlefield, her face flushed.
Although Kakashi stubbornly insisted that Naruto and Sasuke's teamwork was merely decent, he knew he was just making excuses.
Just as he was about to die of embarrassment on the spot, he spotted Sakura Haruno approaching and immediately found an outlet for his frustration.
"Sakura... you stood around doing nothing throughout the entire fight. Are you really the smartest student in this year's Ninja Academy class?"
As their squad instructor, Kakashi wasn't simply picking on Sakura's shortcomings.
He knew that unless he sparked her fighting spirit, she would become nothing more than a background figure in Team 7. An excessive gap in strength between teammates was the last thing a squad needed.
If Sakura didn't find the drive to catch up with Naruto and Sasuke,