Kakashi hadn't expected it.
Sasuke mastered the Rasengan the very next day. Sakura followed on the third. As for Naruto, with hundreds of shadow clones working without rest, he finished even faster than Sakura and immediately tried to force the technique into his spinning taijutsu.
That alone was enough to give Kakashi a headache.
He'd planned a full week of training. Instead, by the third day, all three had already crossed the line he'd set. For a teacher, talented students were a blessing. For Kakashi, they were a quiet curse. There was only so much he could teach when the lesson plan collapsed ahead of schedule.
With nothing prepared, he waved them off.
"Exchange ideas among yourselves," he said lightly. "You'll get more out of that right now."
Once Kakashi left, the three of them looked at one another. Sasuke spoke first.
"If we're exchanging," he said, calm and direct, "I'll start. Sakura, I want to learn your Body Flicker."
Naruto blinked. "Hey, me too!"
What followed was brief chaos.
Sakura waved it off. "If you want it, just learn it. Don't make a big deal out of it."
Naruto protested. "If Sasuke learns it, I'm learning it too!"
Sasuke ended it with a flat look. "Enough. We trade."
In the end, Sakura exchanged her Body Flicker for Sasuke's Shisui-style movement control and Naruto's steel-fist taijutsu fundamentals. Clean. Fair. No hard feelings.
With that settled, the conversation naturally returned to the Rasengan.
"Look," Sakura said, raising a blue chakra sphere. "Despite the name, the Rasengan is only rotating in one direction."
Naruto stared. Sasuke watched closely.
"A true vortex," Sakura continued, "has opposing flows. Outer rotation pulling one way, inner rotation pulling the other. Like water spiraling inward. Or a storm."
Naruto frowned. "So… what's the difference?"
She glanced at him, expression neutral, but somehow sharper than words.
"Have you seen a whirlpool?" she asked. "Or a typhoon?"
Naruto nodded slowly.
"A Rasengan with opposing rotation creates pull," Sakura said. "The closer it gets, the harder it is to escape. Like being dragged under."
She released the sphere and opened her palm again. Thin chakra threads formed, supple and fluid. The outer layer rotated left. The inner, right.
Sasuke and Naruto both felt it. A faint tug. Subtle, but real.
"This is my limit," Sakura admitted. "I can maintain opposing rotation, but I can't compress it into a stable form yet."
Sasuke spoke after a moment. "It's not your control."
She looked at him.
"You're just not used to the Rasengan yet," he said. "Once it's instinct, you'll manage this. And more."
He paused.
"With your talent, even adding water nature later wouldn't be impossible."
Sakura considered that, eyes lowering in thought. Chakra control had always been her strength. She knew it.
"What about you, Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "What's your plan?"
Naruto grinned immediately. "Easy. I'll shove more chakra into it."
Sakura sighed.
But Sasuke nodded. "That works too. Different strengths."
Naruto scratched his head. "I already have names. Big Ball Rasengan. Bigger Ball Rasengan. Super Big—"
"Enough," Sakura cut in.
They turned to Sasuke.
"And you?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke shook his head slightly. "Same direction as you. Different application."
He didn't elaborate. But Sakura's idea had stuck.
Speed was already his domain. If his blade could pull as well as cut, escape would become nearly impossible.
Later, as the light shifted west, Sasuke spoke again, seemingly at random.
"That direction," he said. "That's the Shusaki territory, right?"
Sakura followed his gaze and nodded. "Yes. It used to be an independent country before it was absorbed by the Land of Fire."
"That's enough," Sasuke said.
He didn't explain.
Two nights later, long past midnight, Sasuke left a shadow clone behind and slipped into the dark. His movement was soundless, precise. By the time dawn crept over Wave Country, he had already crossed into Shusaki territory.
He found what he was looking for.
An old castle. Quiet. Forgotten.
In a sealed chamber, a summoning scroll hung suspended. Sasuke opened it. Names filled the parchment, all bearing the same prefix. Near the end, one stood out.
He signed beneath it without hesitation, sealed the scroll, and left.
Before four hours had passed, he was back in his room, the clone dispelled without anyone noticing.
A few days later, the bridge was completed.
Gatō never appeared. He vanished without trace.
In a small ceremony, witnessed by Team Seven, Tazuna named the bridge in honor of those who had protected it.
The Great Naruto Bridge.
With Wave Country behind them, Team Seven set out for home.