After returning home and making dinner for herself, Sakura uncharacteristically stayed in the wooden courtyard instead of going shopping.
"First, focus your Chakra at the soles of your feet."
Sakura closed her eyes, formed a hand seal, and began circulating her body's Chakra.
"If the concentrated Chakra is too weak, it won't generate sufficient adhesion. If it's too strong, it'll be repelled. I need to maintain a precise balance."
She silently reviewed the key points Sasuke had explained about the tree-climbing exercise earlier that day. Once she was sure she had memorized them correctly, she began practicing.
"Huh, this is surprisingly easy!"
After just a few attempts, Sakura was already standing steadily on the wooden courtyard wall.
"Sasuke-kun was right! I really am a Chakra control genius! Hahahaha!"
Sakura's heart swelled with joy, and she couldn't help but grin with delight.
"Hmph, Ino-pig, you've lost to me this time!"
After reveling in her triumph for a moment, Sakura refocused on her training. "Now, next up is..."
Although Sasuke had told Sakura that the next step after tree climbing was water walking, Sakura, having mastered tree climbing with remarkable ease, assumed water walking would be just as simple and skipped it altogether.
She formed a hand seal, concentrating her Chakra into her palm. In moments, a small, crystal-clear water sphere materialized in her hand, and memories of that day flooded back into her mind.
'"Infuse your Chakra with the water nature transformation, then shape it into various forms and even control its movements. When you can do that, your Chakra control will have reached a truly advanced level."'
'"By the way, Sakura, what do you like? You could start by trying to transform the water into something you love."'
'"Something I love?"'
The girl paused, then blushed crimson as she stammered, "Of course, of course, it's... it's Sasuke-kun!"
Snapping out of her reverie, Sakura murmured softly, then focused on transforming the water sphere in her hand into Sasuke's likeness.
'Splat!'
The water sphere exploded, drenching Sakura and leaving her looking rather disheveled.
"Again!" Sakura huffed, conjuring another small water sphere.
'Splat!'
The sphere exploded again.
"Again!"
'Splat!'
After repeated failed attempts, Sakura temporarily abandoned trying to mold the water into a human face. She switched to mimicking cats and even flowers, but each attempt ended in failure.
'Huff...'
Sakura gasped for breath. Repeatedly concentrating her Chakra was proving to be quite draining for her.
Sakura shook her head, rallying her spirits. "Looks like I'll have to start with water walking after all."
"But we don't even have a pond at home..."
Sakura glanced dejectedly at her family's courtyard. It was already late, and she couldn't go to the riverbank in Konoha. Besides, if she failed at water walking, a soaked girl would look utterly miserable.
'It's all my dad's fault—that useless ninja who couldn't even become a Jonin! Hmph!'
"I'll just fill the bathtub with water and start practicing there!"
___
A few days later, at the Ninja Academy's training grounds, during a taijutsu class.
"Now, it's free practice time. Students, please form groups and practice freely."
Another sparring session, but this time it was purely taijutsu—no ninja tools or ninjutsu were allowed.
As soon as the teacher finished speaking, Sasuke felt a gaze lock onto him. He sighed inwardly.
'It's him again!'
"Sasuke, Sasuke, this time I'm definitely going to—"
Before Naruto could finish, Sasuke cut him off. "Spare me the talk. If you want a beating, just come at me."
"Hmph!" Naruto snorted, clenching his fists and silently resolving to fight with fierce determination.
"Watch out! Don't get knocked down in one round!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Naruto charged forward, throwing a simple straight punch.
Despite his young age, his natural physical talent gave the strike a slight whistling sound as it cut through the air.
In terms of Earth standards from their past lives, Naruto's punch already rivaled that of a world-class boxing champion, at least in terms of raw power.
'Clang!'
Sasuke effortlessly blocked the punch with his right hand, the collision producing a dull, thunderous sound like muffled thunder.
"Is that all the strength you've got?" Sasuke asked mockingly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Despite his words, Naruto's punch packed considerable force.
Even after two months of rigorous training and a diet of high-end supplements, Sasuke's raw strength still couldn't match Naruto's.
After all, Naruto hailed from the Uzumaki Clan, and as the reincarnation of Asura in this generation, his innate talent was unparalleled.
Even if he did nothing, he would naturally become one of the most physically gifted individuals in the ninja world.
The reason Sasuke could so effortlessly block Naruto's punch was due to the vast difference in their mastery of taijutsu techniques.
Naruto's punch lost its momentum, delivering less than half its potential impact.
Sasuke, having trained in the Uchiha-style taijutsu since childhood, could channel his power far more effectively.
"Damn it!" Naruto's face flushed crimson as he strained to retract his fist.
When he realized he couldn't, he gritted his teeth and launched a counterattack with his left hand, pressing the attack.
"I've already seen through your intentions!" Sasuke calmly pulled Naruto's right arm aside and released it.
Like someone stepping off a stair into empty space, Naruto's center of gravity shifted, throwing him off balance.
A sweeping leg strike, as swift as autumn wind scattering leaves, slammed into Naruto's lower body. The blow drained the color from Naruto's face as he crashed heavily to the ground.
Before Naruto could hit the ground, Sasuke braced himself with one hand and sprang to his feet, delivering a spinning kick that slammed into Naruto's face.
With a resounding 'thud', Naruto let out a pained cry as the massive force sent him flying backward.
He crashed heavily to the ground, sending sand and stones scattering across the training ground.
"Your backhand lacks power, your forehand lacks precision, your footwork is sloppy, and your reactions are sluggish. Not a single one of your movements is decent. And yet you dare to challenge me again and again?"
Sasuke strode forward, crossing his arms over his chest, and looked down at Naruto with a cold, condescending gaze.
'God only knows what's wrong with this guy,' Sasuke thought. Whenever sparring practice rolled around, Naruto always found some excuse to challenge him, and he never seemed to tire of it.
'If I beat the top student, I'll be number one!'
'Sakura needs to see how strong I am!'
'If I beat you, everyone will finally acknowledge me!'
Sometimes he didn't even bother with excuses—he just wanted to beat Sasuke up.
Truth be told, Sasuke had long lost any interest in fighting Naruto.
But the unfortunate reality was that either the other students in their class were too afraid to fight him, or they simply didn't want to.
In the end, only the stubborn figure lying on the ground persisted in challenging him, time and time again.
"Damn it!"
Naruto struggled to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Instead of charging in with his usual reckless abandon, he began carefully observing Sasuke's body, searching for a weakness.
"Oh? Getting smarter, are we? You didn't just charge in like usual. Looks like all that beating you took this past month wasn't for nothing."
"Hmph!"
Naruto glared at Sasuke, whose expression remained as calm and composed as ever.
He felt deeply frustrated, but he still held his ground, refusing to act rashly.
Sasuke merely glanced at him before turning and walking away.
Naruto froze for a moment, then frantically shouted after him, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? I haven't lost yet!"
"I'm done fighting you. It's pointless!"
"Are you scared of me? Are you admitting defeat, you bastard Sasuke?!"
"Fine, consider it a concession if that makes you feel better."
Sasuke shrugged, his tone dismissive.
"Damn it, you..."
Naruto couldn't possibly accept this outcome. Overwhelmed by frustration, he was about to lunge forward.
Sasuke suddenly whirled around, his icy glare piercing Naruto like a shard of ice.
The sheer coldness in his eyes sent shivers down Naruto's spine.
"Sasuke, you..."
Naruto had never seen Sasuke look at him with such intensity.
For a moment, he was at a loss for words, stammering uncontrollably.
"To be honest, I'm very disappointed in you, Naruto," Sasuke said calmly, his gaze fixed on him. "In the past month, you've shown no progress whatsoever. While I was studying diligently, you were sleeping in class. While I was training tirelessly, you had the audacity to vandalize Hokage Rock. You dare challenge me, yet you've done nothing to prepare. In the end, you're just a giant in words and a dwarf in action."
"I—"
Naruto opened his mouth, but no words came. He swallowed them back down.
"When you can start using the time you waste sleeping in and pulling pranks on training, then we can talk about challenging me."
Sasuke shook his head, ignoring Naruto's thoughts and feelings, and turned to leave.