After taking some time to consolidate his training, and with the aid of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Sasuke had gained a basic grasp of Chidori.
He would no longer suffer the embarrassment of "holding lightning in his hand only to charge headfirst into the trees."
And Chidori, a Ninjutsu plainly far beyond the level of the other Genin, was an overwhelming advantage the moment he unleashed it.
If Sasuke had not still cared about his former classmates, a few more "Rins" would probably have died by now.
(Obito: Fuck, where are your manners?)
"Damn it!"
Knocked flat on the ground, Naruto slammed his fist against the earth in frustration. They had only been apart for a few days, yet the gap between him and Sasuke had already grown so much wider!
He had created hundreds of Shadow Clones at once, but they had all been smashed apart in no time.
That lightning in Sasuke's hand was especially bad. The slightest graze was enough to destroy a clone.
Their only chance of turning things around had instead been Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique.
With so many of them fighting one opponent, they could practically declare Sasuke defeated as soon as Shikamaru immobilized him.
But Sasuke had kept his sights firmly on Shikamaru from the start, so Shikamaru had the misfortune of being the first one "taken out."
Without Shikamaru to turn the tide, Sasuke had rampaged through the others with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and Chidori, swiftly and cleanly knocking all the other young standouts to the ground.
Another point worth mentioning was that throughout the battle, Sakura had delivered a display of talk jutsu that rivaled Naruto's, constantly pestering Sasuke with words until he was thoroughly fed up.
So after knocking everyone else down, Sasuke walked over with a stern expression and punched