Land of Waves
"Damn it! Why didn't you wake me up?!"
Sasuke sat on the ground, glaring furiously at the man before him—an illusion of Uchiha Fugaku. His eyes were filled with rage and unwillingness.
He had woken to find a small campfire burning nearby, his longsword still in his hand—but the sky had already gone dark.
"Just as I thought… still far beneath Itachi. Seems I've pushed you too hard."
'Fugaku' sighed with disappointment, eyes closed, his voice calm and heavy with judgment.
"Go home. This kind of training is still too early for you."
"AAAAAH!"
Sasuke's eyes turned wild with fury. In one motion, he stood and drove his blade straight to Fugaku's throat.
"Why'd you stop?"
'Fugaku' opened his eyes slowly, his gaze indifferent, emotionless.
"Go on. Stab me."
Sasuke froze. That gaze—it pierced through him like ice. The madness in his eyes faded. He trembled, slowly backing away, his sword arm lowering.
"That's the measure of your resolve,"
the illusion said coldly, voice laced with disdain.
"This morning, you could strike without hesitation. But now? You flinch. You'll never catch up to your brother."
"Why…?"
Sasuke's expression twisted with pain. He stared down at the hand gripping his blade, his spirit crushed.
"Look at yourself."
'Fugaku' raised a hand. A stream of water flowed out and quickly formed into a tall, mirror-like surface standing beside the fire.
"You've disgraced the Uchiha crest on your back."
Sasuke raised his head and looked into the watery reflection.
What stared back was a lifeless shell—hollow-eyed, empty, a pitiful ghost of a person.
He muttered, dazed:
"Sorry… I wasted another whole day."
Splash.
The water mirror collapsed into a puddle, extinguishing the fire.
Then—POOF—the figure of Fugaku vanished, revealing Naruto underneath.
"Let's go."
Naruto stepped forward and reached for Sasuke's shoulder.
"Wait."
Sasuke formed a hand seal, creating two Shadow Clones. Pale-faced, he looked at Naruto.
"Can you take them to the Snow Country lab? I need to prep for tomorrow's training."
"Sure—though I'll need my main body's help for that."
Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke—then, almost instantly, his true body appeared in front of Sasuke.
"You heading to the lab to mix compounds?"
The real Naruto asked with a half-smile.
"I only used a harmless sedative incense this time. You sure I'd use the same trick twice?"
"Of course not."
Sasuke met Naruto's eyes with growing sharpness.
"Knowing you, you'd use it ten more times."
"But your medical ninjutsu isn't exactly impressive."
Naruto glanced at Sasuke's two clones, amused.
"So you're cramming now? Even with the Sharingan, that's a stretch to master overnight. Hate to break it to you—it's kind of a waste of time."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Sasuke frowned slightly.
"If I spell everything out for you, what's the point of your training?"
Naruto casually made a Shadow Clone and walked over to Sasuke, while his true self moved between the two clones.
SWOOSH!
Scene shift.
Sasuke found himself back in his family's dining room in Konoha. One of his own clones sat on the tatami, and four miso rice balls had been neatly set on the table.
The Naruto clone vanished as soon as Sasuke regained balance.
He stared silently at the spot where Naruto had disappeared. After a long moment, he sat down at the head of the table—his father's former seat.
Then, glancing at his clone, Sasuke saw once more the pitiful figure he had seen in the water mirror.
Remembering how he had slept from sunrise to sunset in the Land of Waves, a bitter smile crept across his face.
No way I'm sleeping tonight.
He looked down at the rice balls and dispelled his clone—only for the feedback to hit him like a ton of bricks.
His expression turned to one of stunned disbelief.
"Naruto's… a sycophant?"
The Next Morning
Sasuke stood at the entrance of the maze, already clad in his chakra-enhanced armor, but unmoving. He was deep in thought.
He'd only slept for three hours.
All night, he'd analyzed Naruto's Shadow Clone tactics from the maze.
To his knowledge, Naruto had mastered not only time-space jutsu, sensory ninjutsu, and sealing techniques—but also Storm Release, all five elemental releases, Yin-Yang release, puppetry, medical ninjutsu, and… as his clone learned last night, poison crafting.
How the hell am I supposed to fight that?
The maze had five layers. And while Shadow Clones couldn't fight at full strength, each layer formed perfectly synchronized elite squads.
Naruto had warned him yesterday—no restrictions on tactics.
Can't afford to be careless again. I embarrassed myself yesterday.
If I keep thinking inside the box, I'll lose again. What would that man do? What would Naruto do? And that clue from last night...
Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes lit up.
"If Naruto's not holding back, why should I?!"
A smile tugged at his lips—only to vanish moments later.
Of course. Both Naruto and that man would've realized from the start—they could just break the rules.
His thoughts drifted back to when he first began training with Naruto.
I've been such an idiot.
"Tch."
He snorted, activating the wings of his chakra armor. He studied the maze entrance carefully, then took to the skies.
Once he reached a high enough altitude, he finally saw the whole layout:
A massive circular maze—over 300 meters in diameter.
Two Hours Later
Sasuke hovered in the air, now wearing a gas mask. He had to stay high. The last few times he flew too low, he was nearly pulled down by Shadow Possession Jutsu.
Below, the thick mist covering the outer layer of the maze finally began to clear. Then, section by section, the towering earthen walls sank into the ground.
Layer by layer, the maze peeled away like an onion.
"Finally cleared the first layer."
Sasuke lowered his flight slightly and activated the Sharingan, scanning the area.
There had only been fifty clones in the first layer. Now, five hundred fifty more were still waiting.
But the dense fog obscured everything. He couldn't see a thing.
"Guess I'll have to go with the old plan."
He slowly descended, forming hand seals.
"Hidden Mist Technique!"
Thick fog billowed out around him, concealing his form, spreading downward toward the maze below.
Meanwhile, in the second layer of the maze
Inside the fog, dark silhouettes emerged from the earth. These figures stood motionless, then summoned twin earth walls—one in front, one behind.
Each clone pulled out a thick stack of explosive tags and attached them to the front wall.
As Sasuke's mist approached from above, the clones slipped behind the rear walls, and pushed them forward.
Click.
The two earth walls sealed shut like a trap.
The moment the upper mist connected with the lower fog, the buried tags ignited.
BOOM!
Above, Sasuke—still hidden in mist—had just drawn his dual blades, Hiramekarei, and was preparing to remove their bindings.
But then—
RATATATATAT!
Loud, mechanical clattering echoed beneath the explosions—like the rapid-fire of chakra bolt launchers used during old training drills.
"Crap!"
Before he could react, a torrent of shrapnel and stone tore through the mist, hurtling straight at him.
Sasuke only had time to raise Hiramekarei in defense.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
"Dammit!"
He flapped his chakra wings hard and launched himself into the sky—just in time, as more explosions thundered below.
At the same time — Snow Country Laboratory
Naruto sat in his lab, eyes fixed on a monitor.
On screen, ten of his Shadow Clones stood in a wide chamber. Each leaned forward, arms cradling massive blue Rasengans—each over 30 cm in diameter.
But they didn't stop there.
Within each large Rasengan, four smaller, multicolored Rasengans formed, colliding and slowly fusing.
BOOM!
A brilliant flash filled the monitor.
The lab lights went out. The entire facility shook violently.
"Naruto! What the hell was that?! I can't see anything!"
Kurama's voice echoed in Naruto's mind.
"Relax. Just a little experiment. What're you doing out here?"
Naruto activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, teleporting to the glacial surface above the lab.
Kurama sighed in relief.
"I was reviewing Danzo's updated memories. After you tried to cozy up to the Third Hokage's grandson and failed, guess what? Danzo's making moves to approach you."
"He's even preparing several secret techniques to help you train your chakra control. For a while, he even considered helping you remove the Five-Element Seal."
"...But then he remembered Hiruzen's plan for Sasuke and backed off."
"Oh?"
Naruto appeared inside the seal and smirked.
"Danzo wants to steal the credit."
"He thinks once Sasuke's Sharingan gets strong enough to suppress you, he'll just use Kotoamatsukami to control him."
"No surprise. Those two were trained by the same teacher, after all."
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