Chapter 58: What Ninjutsu Did Kakashi-sensei Teach You?
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Kakashi's reprimand made Sasuke and Naruto lower their heads in shame.
The two of them had originally wanted to show off a bit in front of Kakashi and Yoruha.
Instead, it had backfired.
And Yoruha had even seen them at their most embarrassing.
But very soon, Naruto jumped to his feet and pointed at Yoruha. "Kakashi-sensei, did you just teach Yoruha some really awesome ninjutsu? I've never seen the technique he used to save me just now."
Sasuke stood up too, though he only patted the dust off his clothes, his attention fixed completely on Yoruha.
He wanted to know what was going on.
More than that, he wanted to know whether Kakashi really did have some powerful ninjutsu, and whether he himself might be able to learn it from Kakashi in the future.
Naruto, on the other hand, wasn't thinking the same way as Sasuke. He simply felt Kakashi was being too unfair.
He was the teacher's student, yet Kakashi had only taught Yoruha and not him.
Seeing Naruto's indignant expression, Kakashi said, "You haven't even mastered Chakra control yet. How am I supposed to teach you ninjutsu?"
"Once your foundations are solid, I'll naturally teach you ninjutsu."
Hearing that, Sasuke nodded inwardly. So Yoruha's technique really had been taught by Kakashi.
Naruto didn't think that far. He just said proudly, "I've already completely mastered Chakra control. Kakashi-sensei, starting tomorrow, teach me ninjutsu."
Kakashi shook his head. "There's still a lot you need to learn. This is only the beginning."
"Then why can Yoruha learn? We're your students."
Naruto sounded unconvinced.
Kakashi frowned. "I already said it. Your foundations are still weak. There's still plenty you need to master."
"And Yoruha is my student too."
In fact, Kakashi wanted very much to say that Yoruha was his most important student.
If Sasuke and Naruto didn't both have special significance to Konohagakure because of who they were, he definitely wouldn't have taken them along.
After sensing the seriousness in Kakashi's tone, even Naruto didn't say anything more.
He only looked at Yoruha with a face full of envy and resentment.
Naruto wouldn't start hating Yoruha because of Kakashi's words.
But he was definitely jealous of him.
After all, Yoruha wasn't even originally part of their team. Kakashi had insisted on bringing him along on this mission.
From Naruto's point of view, a lot of what Kakashi had done could only mean one thing: Kakashi was favoring Yoruha.
His emotions were already sensitive by nature, so he was even more sensitive about this kind of thing.
He even felt, deep down, that Kakashi treated him differently because he was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
He had just forgotten that Sasuke and Sakura were being treated the same way.
The only difference was that neither of them thought Kakashi was showing favoritism.
Because both of them knew very well just how strong Yoruha was. It had already been obvious enough from his earlier battle against Zabuza.
Yoruha was far stronger than they were.
They both understood that for someone their age to be that much stronger than them, either Yoruha worked harder than they did—
or he was more talented.
Sasuke only thought that Yoruha must work harder than he did. He refused to admit that Yoruha might be more talented than him.
Sakura, meanwhile, felt that Yoruha was both extremely gifted and very hardworking.
Naruto, however, simply thought Kakashi was biased.
Kakashi was one of the very few high-ranking shinobi who didn't reject him, and he was also his teacher, so Naruto had very high expectations of him.
What Naruto cared more about was Kakashi's feelings toward him. As for strength itself, that actually mattered less to him.
And when Yoruha heard Kakashi say that so sternly, he got a headache too.
He knew Kakashi only wanted to stand up for him.
But saying it like that would only make Naruto feel even more strongly that Kakashi was favoring Yoruha, and might even make him resent Yoruha because of it.
Though helpless, Yoruha didn't want to say anything.
At a time like this, silence was best.
The more he said, the more it would provoke Naruto.
After all, Naruto had always been emotionally sensitive to begin with.
Once no one spoke, Kakashi finally said, "All right. You've all trained hard today. Let's head back and rest."
With that, he disappeared first.
Yoruha stared at the now-empty spot and the corner of his mouth twitched.
So you clean up the mess by making it, then leave me to deal with the aftermath alone?
Yoruha felt speechless.
Kakashi had clearly noticed that everyone's mood was off right now.
Leaving Yoruha behind was probably his way of giving him a chance to be alone with Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.
To help build their bond with him.
But in the current situation, Yoruha had no desire at all to stay there.
What an irresponsible guy.
After inwardly grumbling about Kakashi a few times, Yoruha could only say to the three of them, "Let's go too."
Though he also wanted to use the Body Flicker Technique and leave, if he actually did that, Sasuke and Naruto would probably feel even more unbalanced.
Seeing the atmosphere was off, Sakura quickly chimed in, "Yeah, let's go. I'm really tired today."
Within the whole group, Sakura and Yoruha didn't really have any issues between them.
At this point, both Sasuke and Naruto had already started seeing Yoruha as the one they needed to surpass.
Naruto especially was thinking that he needed to keep getting stronger, then defeat Yoruha, make Kakashi understand that he was the best student, and earn Kakashi's recognition.
Because he was still so young, Naruto currently believed the reason Kakashi favored Yoruha was simply because Yoruha was stronger than him.
Once he worked hard enough to surpass Yoruha, Kakashi would acknowledge him.
It was a very real way of thinking. Most boys that age would have similar thoughts.
The group walked through the forest in silence, no one speaking, the atmosphere quiet and still.
Only the occasional cries of birds and beasts echoed through the woods.
After walking for a while, Sakura felt the silence was too tense, so she took the initiative to speak first. "This afternoon, Sasuke and Naruto were both really serious. They mastered Chakra control in just one afternoon. Yoruha, what kind of ninjutsu did you and Kakashi-sensei learn this afternoon?"
"It must've been something amazing, right?"
Sasuke and Naruto, each lost in their own thoughts, both pricked up their ears at Sakura's question. Neither spoke, but both were listening carefully.
Yoruha replied casually, "Just a few Water Release techniques."
"Really powerful techniques?" Sakura asked curiously.
Yoruha glanced at the two who clearly wanted to hear but were pretending not to care.
Then he said lightly, "How strong can Water Release techniques really be?"
Hearing that, Sakura twitched at the corner of her mouth. "Water Release isn't strong?"
"That Water Release technique you used to attack Zabuza that day was really powerful."
"If Zabuza hadn't dodged it, he would've been dead already."
"But it didn't hit, did it? Zabuza is an Elite Jonin, just like Kakashi-sensei. How could someone like that be defeated so easily?"
"You only saw that he was almost hit. In reality, there was still an enormous gap between that and actually defeating him."
"If Elite Jonin were that easy to beat, a village wouldn't have only a dozen or so of them."
"Some ninja villages don't even have that many."
What Yoruha said was also the truth.
Elite Jonin were a village's strategic power, the kind of people qualified to compete for the position of village leader.
A village's Kage was chosen from among the Elite Jonin.
But obviously, Sakura and the others didn't really understand.
Sakura said, "But that day you really were about to win. That Zabuza only ran away because he was wary of you."