Sasuke and Naruto sat on a bench in the ninja school's playground.
Sasuke handed over a can of iced American coffee.
Naruto took a sip, and his face instantly twisted as he stuck out his tongue from the bitterness.
He wanted to spit it out, but a glance at Sasuke's calm expression made him pretend to be composed and swallow the coffee.
"You said your dream is to become Hokage?" Sasuke asked.
Hearing this question, Naruto immediately perked up.
"That's right, I will definitely become a Hokage recognized by everyone!"
Sasuke nodded slightly.
Naruto, seeing him listening so intently, felt a little uncomfortable.
When others heard his dream, his peers often mocked or sneered, while adults usually ignored or brushed him off.
But Naruto could tell that Sasuke was really thinking and acknowledging his dream.
"What's wrong?"
Sasuke noticed Naruto's strange expression.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, tilted his head, pondered for a moment, and honestly said, "I thought you would laugh at me."
"Why would I laugh at you?"
Naruto lowered his head: "Before, whenever I said this dream, people would laugh at me for overestimating myself, thinking I was delusional."
A thin mist swirled, faintly obscuring their vision.
"I asked Brother Shou about this question."
Sasuke said, "Is it delusional to always talk about a dream that's too far away? Should I prepare thoroughly before acting? Or should I recklessly set off and start the journey directly?"
Naruto thought for a moment and said, "You should prepare everything before acting, right?"
"That's what most people do."
Sasuke said, "You must wait until you have enough money before confessing your love; you must wait until you are strong enough before taking on a challenge... this logic seems correct, but it is an obstacle to progress."
"Under this logic, 'I' is an object that can be isolated from the world, able to become perfect in some corner first, and then, as a superior, change the world."
Naruto was a little confused. He didn't understand completely, but he understood a little, and asked, "Is that wrong?"
"Of course it's wrong."
Sasuke placed his hand on his chest: "Reality is not a game, not a story.
We are people living in the world, and the perfection we expect and the perfection accepted by the world will inevitably deviate during independent practice.
If you cultivate yourself from an arrogant perspective, and then try to change the world with 'my' ideas after you have succeeded, it will eventually become a mess. Because—"
"Knowledge without practice is false."
The first time Sasuke met Terumi Mei, she was just a spy, punched twice by Linto Bangbang, her eyes were swollen, and she spoke incoherently.
Even when she took the position of Mizukage, she was not ready.
But she is getting better.
Sasuke looked at Naruto and gently touched his cup:
"Not only those who are ready have the right to declare their dreams. You are walking on the path of fulfilling your dream, and even your arrival in Kirigakure is a step towards becoming Hokage."
"For someone like you, what reason do I have to laugh?"
"So." Sasuke extended his fist and said with a smile, "Hello, future Hokage."
Looking at Sasuke's outstretched hand, Naruto felt that the tangled mess of rope in his heart had found an end. With a strong pull, most of it was untied, scattered and filled his heart.
It was incredibly smooth and incredibly full.
Naruto lightly bumped his fist against Sasuke's, sincerely praising, "You... are amazing."
Sasuke waved his hand and said, "Brother Shou told me all this. He told me it's called..."
"Knowing and Doing as One."
Naruto remembered the term, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Sasuke, what is your dream?"
"My dream..."
Sasuke leaned back on the bench, looking at the misty sky.
"When I first left the village, my dream was to kill a certain person, but now..."
He stopped.
He didn't know how to describe it.
Just then, two footsteps came from the left and right.
The person coming from the left was a girl with pink hair.
The person coming from the right was the same.
Sakura twirled her hair with her finger: "Sasuke, do you remember me?"
Sasuke nodded slightly.
"Yes!"
A small person popped up in Sakura's heart, vigorously waving her fist. She continued to act weak, wanting to talk to Sasuke.
An orange was handed over.
Momo-chan smiled and said, "Hello, do you want one?"
Sakura was stunned for half a second, then noticed that Momo-chan had the same pink hair as her.
"Is she a girl of the same type as me?"
A strong sense of crisis suddenly arose in Sakura's heart.
Not far away, Yamanaka Ino smoothed her light blonde hair and put on a cute hairpin, ready to take action, when a hand suddenly grabbed her.
"What?"
Ino shook off Shikamaru's hand.
Shikamaru sighed helplessly, "It's not your circle, you can't fit in."
"Sakura got in."
"Did she really fit in?"
Shikamaru lowered his voice and said, "Although it's not good to talk about other people's backgrounds behind their backs, have you noticed that Sasuke, Naruto, Momo-chan... they are all orphans?"
"Similar childhood experiences will shape similar ways of thinking. Sakura or you won't be able to fit in with that mindset, and..."
Shikamaru thought of the words drifting in the wind.
Sasuke didn't deliberately lower his voice, dreams, goals, knowing and doing as one... these kinds of thoughts were completely beyond his peers.
Shikamaru also thought of what he had seen and heard in Kirigakure recently.
The rebuilt village.
Sasuke, Amber, and others training their powers.
"I really want to talk to Linto face to face."
As Shikamaru thought, he caught Ino rolling her eyes.
The Ino-Shika-Cho trio are from noble families. They grew up together, and their words and actions naturally have fewer restrictions.
Ino grabbed Shikamaru's spiky hair and said, "Childhood experiences? As if you're not a kid, you're shorter than me after removing your hair."
"Go, go, go."
Shikamaru brushed Ino's hand away.
Ino ignored him, took out a small mirror, and practiced a sweet smile in front of it.
Snap.
The mirror closed.
...
Samui opened her locker.
The vanity mirror inside the locker reflected her naked body.
She had just finished her combat training with her master, Killer Bee, and taken a shower.
Samui looked at herself in the mirror, her lips slowly curving upward, her cheek muscles slightly tightening, imitating others' appearances, revealing her neat eight teeth.
After a few seconds, she had to admit—
"It's like a gang member encountering a patrolling ninja while collecting debts, showing a threatening fake smile."
Samui had been back in Kumogakure for some time. During this time, in addition to her daily training, she had been trying to apply what she had learned and heard from Kirigakure to Kumogakure.
The more she applied, the more shocked she became.
Although it was still just a small-scale pilot program, the changes...
Were definitely happening!
"If Linto could see these changes, see the smiles on people's faces, he would be very happy."
Samui got dressed and walked out.
Killer Bee was waiting outside, holding a notebook and pen, humming "yo yo, yeah yeah" while recording inspiration for his raps.
But today he didn't seem to be in good shape and kept sneezing.
"Are you sick?" Samui asked.
Killer Bee rubbed his nose: "No, can't you smell it? The village has been filled with the stench of snakes all day."
"Snakes?"
Two figures swept in from a distance.
"Lady Samui, Lord Killer Bee."
Two ninjas who had come knelt on one knee: "The Fourth Raikage-sama invites you to attend an emergency meeting."
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