Sasuke Uchiha had been strong-willed since childhood. He had already shown that side of his personality when he first started learning the Great Fireball, because his childhood talent hadn't been particularly outstanding compared to Itachi's.
At first, Sasuke had failed to earn Fugaku's approval. Fugaku had even said he wasn't as good as Itachi. After that, Sasuke had begun practicing the Great Fireball tirelessly to earn Fugaku's recognition, training day and night, training without end. Only when his Great Fireball wasn't much worse than Itachi's had he earned Fugaku's praise.
Only he knew the hardship and struggle, the tears and sweat involved. That was also what made Sasuke so charming. Even in the face of difficulty, he remained tenacious, always working to grow stronger. If he hadn't run into that cheat, Naruto, in the original story, he would have become invincible long ago.
Think about it. You're a fairly talented ninja who works exceptionally hard and harbors hatred. To get revenge, you work yourself to death, all so you can become stronger and avenge yourself. But every time you reach a certain height, someone claiming to be your good friend jumps out and beats you up, shouting about love and bonds every time he does it.
Tell me, if you were Sasuke, wouldn't you break down? Wouldn't you lose your mind? Wouldn't you turn to demonic cultivation?
Sure enough, after getting the Railgun Naruto had taught him, Sasuke had started practicing so obsessively that he neglected food and sleep. Even though every practice session fell short of his expectations, he never gave up.
Having exhausted himself to the point of collapse yet again, Sasuke lay on the ground, panting. He still couldn't inject only lightning release chakra into the coin. It just felt so difficult.
"Ugh, this is so hard. How does Naruto do it?"
Whenever he thought about how Naruto could unleash such immense power with a tiny coin, Sasuke couldn't help marveling.
After quickly tidying up, Sasuke prepared to head to school. That was right. Ever since getting the Railgun, he had been waking up early every day to practice this ninjutsu.
Sasuke was constantly training his control over lightning release chakra now. Whenever he injected lightning release chakra into the coin, he always ended up injecting some fire release chakra as well. Every time, before the coin had enough force to fly off, it would already be too hot to hold.
"No, I'll have to ask Naruto for advice when I get to school."
In the classroom, Naruto was sleeping with his head on his desk as usual, while Hinata sat beside him, quietly watching his... the back of his head.
Yes, that was right. From Hinata's angle, she could only see the back of Naruto's head.
"Naruto-kun seems so worn out..."
In Hinata's eyes, Naruto had definitely been so busy last night that he hadn't slept well, leaving him no choice but to sleep in the classroom. As for what Naruto had been busy doing last night, never mind that.
And what was Naruto doing now? If the guess was right, he was probably playing Naruto's arena mode. As an arena player, how could he not squeeze in a couple of tense, exciting rounds of Naruto in his free time?
It was the same familiar lineup: chakra [Boss Jail], Earth Tremor [Akatsuki Itachi], and Super Armor [River Jiraiya]. Don't ask why he wasn't using [Kizaru]. The answer was that the opponent had banned him. With no other ninja to spare, the few ninja Naruto frequently used had already reached Shinobi World Pinnacle proficiency-the big red proficiency rank.
[Boss Jail]: Whether you use a skill or mash basic attacks, I'll just counter and elbow you.
[Akatsuki Itachi]: Want to experience the charm of the one-inch punch?
[River Jiraiya]: All right, all right, all right. Now I don't lose a point when I change faces either.
[Kizaru]: Who's going to speak up for me? I'm still sitting in the ban slot. I'll never mash basic attacks again. Let me out.
The pressure. The pressure was insane, bro.
After finishing his arena matches, Naruto had barely exited when he noticed that his accessory slots had lit up as well.
Curious, Naruto tapped into them.
But he soon noticed something wrong. He only had the few accessories given out at the start, and secret realms hadn't unlocked either. Materials were far too scarce.
He looked at the set of Fortitude accessories the system had given him. Fortunately, Naruto had obtained the Crimson Soul Earrings before, so he quickly equipped them instead. Then he leveled up the Crimson Soul Earrings, and his combat power rose rapidly.
He checked his tomoe slots as well. After upgrading all his equipped tomoe to level three, Naruto was running critically short on materials. He then recruited the B-rank ninja whose forty fragments he had only just managed to collect.
The new B-rank ninja was [Kurenai Yuhi], and Naruto drew his second skill: Genjutsu: Haze.
He could only leave the system helplessly and wait for it to bestow some materials on him for upgrades later.
Naruto had just raised his head when he saw Sasuke sneaking toward him.
"Naruto, I..."
But the moment Sasuke opened his mouth, Naruto put his head straight back down. Sasuke's face darkened. Did he really dislike seeing him that much?
"Naruto, I really need to talk to you."
At that, Naruto could only sit up helplessly.
"Go on. What is it?"
Sasuke rubbed his head awkwardly and spoke with some embarrassment.
"Um, about the ninjutsu."
"Oh? So there's something else you can't do?"
Sasuke nodded in confirmation. There really was something he didn't understand. Practicing that Railgun was far too difficult.
Naruto waved him away, signaling for Sasuke to go back. He already understood.
That wave wasn't an apology-it meant, bro, you just suck and need more practice.
"All right, I'll come over to your place later and teach you. Remember to feed me."
"No problem. Food's on me."
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Sasuke left right away.
Naruto had just been about to put his head down and keep sleeping when he felt someone tugging on his sleeve. He looked up and saw Hinata carefully holding onto his clothes.
"What is it, Hinata?"
Seeing Naruto smile at her, Hinata's little face immediately turned bright red. She lowered her head, her voice so quiet that Naruto couldn't hear her. Only after leaning closer to Hinata did he finally make out what she was saying.
"Naruto-kun, could you come to my house for dinner too? I can cook too..."
"When I have time. I'll come."
Naruto patted Hinata's head, and she gave an even quieter hum of assent.
As for Hinata, her face was red and her head was lowered, little bursts of delight rising in her heart. Naruto patted my head again. It feels so nice.
That night, Naruto and Sasuke had arrived at the Uchiha clan's training ground. What Naruto hadn't expected was that Itachi would come here too.
"Uchiha Sasuke, demonstrate it first. I need to see how far you've gotten."
"Okay."
Sasuke held the coin in both hands and injected chakra into it. But the coin turned from blue to red, and Sasuke flung it out of his hands when it burned him.
"Hiss, that's hot."
Rubbing his chin, Naruto curiously poked the fallen coin with a kunai, only to see the kunai go straight through it. He hadn't expected that. The coin had actually melted. Just how much fire release chakra had been injected into it?
Naruto stared at Sasuke speechlessly.
"Just how much fire release chakra did you put into that thing? It feels like it must've been eighty or ninety percent."
Sasuke scratched his head awkwardly.