How the two had grown

"Sis, has something about you changed?"

"What's changed about me? Don't be silly."

"Hmm... are you wearing makeup?"

"You're kidding. I'm a natural beauty. Why would I need makeup?"

Chinatsu lied without so much as blushing or missing a beat. Mainly, she wasn't ready to tell Sasuke about her Mangekyō yet.

Although Chinatsu believed that her guidance had made Sasuke far, far more mentally stable than he had been in the original story, the secret of the Mangekyō was a powder keg. One wrong move, and Sasuke might just "snap."

Smiling, Chinatsu pressed her ultimate move, the Tathagata Palm, onto Sasuke's head, hoping to stop him from thinking. Sasuke lowered his head and pondered for a little while before actually giving up on the question.

"Yeah, maybe it really was just my imagination?"

Sasuke muttered under his breath. Beside him, Naruto had felt something similar, but hearing Sasuke's words made him forcibly swallow the "Me too!" he had been about to blurt out.

If even Sasuke says it's his imagination, then it must be mine too, right? A shared delusion? It's not impossible.

The two brats simply trusted Chinatsu too much, which was why they seemed to have switched their brains off.

If Sasuke and Naruto ever came looking for trouble over this in the future, Chinatsu declared that she would absolutely plant one hand on her hip and say with complete conviction, "Is this my fault? Obviously not! I was clearly training your critical thinking skills. Young men, society is full of lies and deceit!"

As long as she had thick enough skin, none of that would be a problem.

Once Chinatsu had bluffed her way through, the three finally returned to her "lesson time" after a long break.

Step one: check the results of their training!

Naturally, the method was the traditional bell-grabbing exercise.

"Come at me together. The rules are the same: your goal is to grab this bell tied to my leg. Let's see just how much better you two have gotten."

Chinatsu casually beckoned to Naruto and Sasuke. Both went on two hundred percent alert and launched their attacks without exchanging a word.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof! Poof! Poof!

White smoke erupted, and over a dozen Narutos leaped out of it. Rather than charging straight at her, they immediately scattered and rushed Chinatsu from every direction.

Having just awakened her Mangekyō Sharingan, Chinatsu was seriously low on chakra, but she could still handle Naruto's attacks.

Her fists and legs moved nimbly, knocking Naruto's shadow clones into puffs of white smoke one after another.

Under cover of that white smoke, all the Naruto shadow clones behind Chinatsu pulled out shuriken and hurled them sharply at her.

Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique?

That clearly wasn't possible. It was an A-rank ninjutsu that even Chinatsu hadn't mastered. Naruto couldn't possibly have learned it, so there were only two possibilities.

One: all these shuriken were fake.

Two: one of these shuriken was real.

Naturally, Chinatsu wasn't going to gamble. Besides, these shuriken weren't particularly powerful or fast. Even if one stabbed her, she wouldn't bleed much. (Chinatsu had already grown numb to constantly getting stabbed in the kidney.)

"Getting stabbed in the kidney by someone else is one thing, but letting you stab me would be downright embarrassing!" Chinatsu took a shuriken from her pocket and threw it at an extremely tricky angle. It struck every shuriken flying toward her, and sure enough, they were all fake.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Just as Chinatsu turned to face Naruto, Sasuke quickly formed hand seals, took a deep breath, and unleashed the Great Fireball Technique.

Nice teamwork!

They must have been sparring every day while I was away. They're this in sync without even needing to talk.

A pleased smile appeared on Chinatsu's face, an expression that said, "Look, my kids have grown up."

As for the Great Fireball Technique, Chinatsu easily dodged it with a Body Flicker Technique.

Naruto's shadow clones continued to surround Chinatsu. Sasuke couldn't help clicking his tongue, then took out a shuriken and hurled it at her, just as Naruto had done earlier.

At the same time, Naruto's shadow clones went "berserk," attacking Chinatsu furiously. By the time she had finished dealing with them, she no longer had time to throw a shuriken to knock Sasuke's out of the air.

Chinatsu swayed slightly, dodging the shuriken with a light, graceful movement. But before it could fly far, when it was only a meter or two away from her, the shuriken erupted in white smoke with a poof! and transformed into Naruto.

This strategy!

It was very similar to the one used against Zabuza in the original story, cleverly combining the Transformation Technique and Clone Technique from the ninja's Basic Three-Body Technique.

Chinatsu's doting smile grew even wider, while Naruto, who had used that little trick to get close to her, lunged toward her ankle with all his might.

Naruto: I'm going to do it!

Sasuke: He's going to do it!

Chinatsu: Hehe~ In your dreams!

Still smiling, Chinatsu used the Body Flicker Technique again while rapidly forming hand seals with both hands.

"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"

As Chinatsu completed her hand seals, the earth beneath Naruto and Sasuke suddenly loosened. Both dropped into pits in a flash, leaving only their heads sticking out aboveground.

This was one of the many ninjutsu Chinatsu had learned from Kakashi recently. It fell under the category of B-rank support techniques and wasn't particularly useful, but it was quite fun for picking on kids~

Naruto and Sasuke froze as they realized that only their heads were still aboveground.

What kind of ninjutsu was this???

"Mm-hmm~ Your teamwork was pretty good. Naruto, you don't have to stick to shadow clones anymore. I have a manual for the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique you can study. Sasuke, your Great Fireball has improved a lot too. At first, it was so short-ranged and tiny. Now, not only can you spit out such a big fireball, its range is several times what it used to be."

Grinning, Chinatsu assessed their growth and gave them her approval. Naruto's reward was naturally the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, which she had previously gotten from old man Sarutobi. She had intended to let Naruto learn it anyway. Oh, right-now she could teach Naruto the Rasengan without any awkward explanations, too. Thanks, Jiraiya.

As for Sasuke... that was a little awkward. Kakashi was keeping Chidori far too close to his chest. Was she supposed to make do by teaching him Lightning Release: Black Panther?

Never mind whether Sasuke would feel unfairly treated-even Chinatsu herself felt uncomfortable with that...

Wait. Why am I so fixated on Chidori?

Chinatsu suddenly paused. The Rasengan had been created by the Fourth Hokage, and Chidori had been created by Kakashi. So why couldn't she create a ninjutsu of her own?

All right! Let's get to it!

Chinatsu clenched her fist, an utterly excited expression appearing on her face right in front of Naruto and Sasuke...