A few months later, in the Uchiha clan compound.
Chiharu had just been born, so Kushina put her missions on hold for the time being, focusing wholeheartedly on taking care of Naruto and his sister at home.
However, the life of a housewife was quite boring, so during the day when Minato was working, Kushina would often take the two children to Mikoto's house. There, the two mothers could chat about old times.
"Aunt Mikoto, where is Sasuke?" asked Naruto after arriving at Fugaku's house, looking around but not finding his friend.
"Sasuke is practicing in the backyard," Mikoto replied.
In truth, she didn't want her child to start such strict daily training from such a young age. But since it was Sasuke's own initiative, she felt she had to support him.
"Mom, sis, I'll be gone for a bit," Naruto said with a nod. He stretched out his finger and gently tapped Chiharu's delicate little face.
After Chiharu smiled at him, he turned around and walked toward the backyard.
"Those two really get along well," Mikoto chuckled, looking at Kushina.
"Yeah," Kushina responded, but as she watched the direction Naruto had gone, her eyes flickered slightly with concern.
"Bang! Bang!"
In the backyard, Sasuke kept hitting a wooden post that was much taller than him.
Naruto walked out of the house and approached Sasuke.
Just as he got close, Sasuke suddenly turned his eyes to the side. The fist that was just hitting the wooden post suddenly changed direction and struck at Naruto.
Naruto was slightly shocked, but he immediately reacted, stepping back a few steps to avoid Sasuke's punch.
"What are you doing?!" Anger flashed across Naruto's face.
Sasuke ignored him completely and spat softly, "My level is far worse than my brother! Even this guy can avoid my attack."
He spoke without caring if Naruto heard, but standing so close, Naruto could of course hear every word.
"What do you mean by 'this guy'?" Naruto questioned, but Sasuke didn't bother to answer.
Sasuke turned around and continued punching the wooden post.
"What's the point of punching a piece of wood? It's so boring," Naruto's teasing voice came just as Sasuke was about to throw another punch.
Sasuke glanced back and said, "If you say that again, I'll stop punching the wooden post and hit you instead."
"Go ahead. I'm not afraid of you."
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, Sasuke spun around and launched a whip kick at him.
"Bang!"
Naruto stretched out his arm to block the position where Sasuke's kick was aimed, successfully stopping the attack.
He had inherited the physique of Kushina's Uzumaki clan. Even though Sasuke had been training for some time, he was still slightly weaker than Naruto in terms of raw strength.
After blocking Sasuke's kick, Naruto swung a straight punch in return.
The two immediately began sparring together, but this was no ordinary children's fight.
Although they were only a little over three years old, their movements incorporated ninja physical techniques.
Like Mikoto, Sasuke had begun receiving training from the Uchiha clan since early childhood.
Naruto often played with him. After being soundly beaten by Sasuke several times, he had also learned some taijutsu from Kushina.
Although Kushina wasn't especially skilled in taijutsu, she was still a jonin of Konoha.
When the two fought, although Sasuke had the upper hand, it wasn't so easy for him to win.
Kushina and Mikoto heard the noise and naturally came to the backyard to watch.
However, neither mother stopped them, because they could see from the boys' eyes that they were competing with each other, not fighting out of anger.
"Huff."
At the end of the fight, the two collapsed on the ground facing each other, staring at one another.
Sasuke had landed more hits on Naruto, but with Naruto's physical stamina, he had managed to exhaust Sasuke's strength.
Sasuke had a look of surprise in his eyes, because Naruto hadn't been a match for him in their last fight.
"Tsk."
Naruto was unwilling to admit defeat, and he wasn't satisfied with the result of a draw.
The two rested for a while. Then, in front of Naruto, Sasuke put his hands together and made an unfamiliar movement.
"He's actually making hand signs," Naruto thought.
Naruto knew a little about the basics of being a ninja, so he was surprised to see that Sasuke had already learned to make hand signs.
The signs that Sasuke formed were the ones used to focus chakra.
As he completed the sequence, Sasuke gradually closed his eyes.
"Hey," Naruto called out to Sasuke, but the latter was completely immersed in his training and paid no attention.
Seeing that Sasuke was no longer paying attention to him, Naruto decided not to disturb his training and walked away.
...
After dinner, Naruto suddenly approached Minato and said, "Dad, I want you to guide my training."
Minato was startled and immediately replied, "Training is very hard, and you're still too young..."
"It's okay, I can handle it!" Naruto insisted, his eyes filled with determination.
Minato had learned from Kushina that Sasuke had now started full-day training.
He also knew that Naruto and Sasuke had fought during the day.
Naruto must have been motivated by Sasuke.
Looking at the child in front of him, Minato chuckled and said, "Okay, but I heard that Mom has already taught you some taijutsu. What do you want to learn?"
Naruto seemed a little confused when he heard this.
He only knew that Sasuke had been making hand signs earlier, but he didn't know exactly what he was doing.
With great effort, Naruto explained to Minato what Sasuke had been doing during the day.
"Sasuke is trying to focus his chakra," Minato smiled. At Sasuke's age, the only thing he could be doing with hand signs would be chakra focusing exercises.
"Then I want to learn it too!" Naruto said immediately.
"No problem."
Minato smiled at Naruto. With the child's natural physique, he could certainly start practicing chakra focusing right away.
However, before starting to practice, Naruto first needed to learn how to form hand signs.
The hand signs required to focus chakra weren't very complicated, but for Naruto...
"Ahhh, it's so difficult!"
Naruto fumbled with the hand signs clumsily. When he finally got the first sign right, he'd forgotten the second one.
"When making hand signs, you must keep your mind calm to ensure both speed and accuracy," Minato advised.
He had expected this result from the beginning.
Naruto had completely inherited Kushina's personality. Although his talent as a ninja hadn't stood out so far, it wasn't bad.
It's just that memorization tasks like this were a little difficult for Naruto...
But although the practice was challenging, Naruto had no intention of giving up.
In front of Minato, he failed again and again, but kept correcting himself.
"Don't worry," Minato said, watching Naruto from the side as a smile gradually appeared on his face.
For a ninja, talent was certainly important, but it wasn't everything.
The most important thing was the courage and will to never give up in the face of any setbacks!
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