Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Three purple cocoons suddenly appeared around Sasuke, and all the shuriken and kunai he'd just thrown were now flying back at him.
The sudden reversal forced Sasuke to cancel his Fire Release on the spot.
Because he understood one thing...
Since Naruto can transfer the Ninja Tools he threw, he could definitely redirect his Ninjutsu too!
'Damn it!'
'Why is this guy so strong!'
Before coming here, Sasuke had still been holding onto a bit of naive optimism, but after seeing how smoothly Naruto controlled that technique...
All he felt now was despair.
Fortunately, Sasuke had only thrown out less than thirty shurikens and kunai just now. His Sharingan spun rapidly, and in that moment, his dynamic vision kicked in at full force.
At this moment, the attack trajectories of the shurikens and kunai seemed to become crisscrossing silk threads in his eyes, and Sasuke could clearly see where each one would land.
'There!'
With a flash of excitement, Sasuke flipped and rolled several times, dodging through the deadly pattern. Then he twisted and sidestepped with precise movements, like he was dancing through a forest full of thorns.
However, Naruto's evaluation of all this could be summed up in three words: fancy, but useless.
Another portal opened, right in Sasuke's blind spot.
Just as he finished dodging the projectiles, Sasuke suddenly felt a chill on his back and instinctively ducked down, which just happened to dodge Naruto's side kick.
"You're quite perceptive."
Naruto muttered when he noticed that Sasuke had dodged his attack.
As much as he hated to admit it, Sasuke's reaction speed was indeed faster than his own.
'Perhaps this is the enhancement brought by the Sharingan.'
'The first time I fought Sasuke, he couldn't dodge my sneak attack at all.'
However, Naruto was only slightly surprised.
He has never been afraid when it comes to Taijutsu.
In fact, he firmly believed that even in the whole Konoha Village, not even Guy could beat him in a pure hand-to-hand fight.
In short, Naruto has absolute confidence in his Taijutsu.
Okay, maybe his Taijutsu wasn't that amazing...
But he was the kind of guy who would go toe-to-toe just to see whose stamina ran out first.
Naruto had already made up his mind that if he met a Shinobi whom he couldn't defeat in the future, he would grab the other party and stab each other with kunai.
One for one, back and forth.
And Naruto was 1000% confident that he'd be the one still standing at the end.
Smack…
Sasuke spun and swung a heavy punch toward Naruto's left cheek.
Although Naruto reacted a bit late, he still managed to block Sasuke's attack in time.
Not only was he able to block it, he also grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pulled him in close.
Sasuke, who suddenly lost control of his body, immediately retaliated by driving his knee into Naruto.
And just like that, the battle between the two instantly turned into a turn-based one.
Naruto held onto Sasuke's arm with one hand and started using his 'Tree Punch Style' with the other. While taking the hits, Sasuke kept ramming his knee into Naruto's lower abdomen.
Three exchanges later, Naruto was still moving like nothing had happened. In fact, his punches became faster and faster.
If it weren't for trying to preserve Sasuke's pride, Naruto would have really mocked Sasuke, asking if he had even eaten yet?
After all, the force of the kick Sasuke gave himself was not even enough to scratch his itch.
On the other hand, Sasuke's face had not only become swollen again, but his head was also dizzy, and even his feet were barely moving.
In a trance, Sasuke felt like he was back in their first fight, when Naruto pinned him to the ground and beat him up.
This moment is just like that moment.
Finally, with one last punch from Naruto, Sasuke finally lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
Until the moment he lost consciousness, he still didn't understand why Naruto didn't react at all after being hit with his strength attack.
Hinata watched the whole process and was so surprised that she could hardly close her mouth.
Especially Naruto's portal. At first, she thought it was just an ordinary Ninjutsu for quick travel.
But when she saw Naruto use it to redirect Sasuke's attacks, she realized just how terrifyingly powerful it really was.
And Naruto's Taijutsu...
She didn't even know how to describe it, other than overwhelming.
During the battle just now, Hinata tried imagining herself in Sasuke's place.
However, she quickly realized that once she was pulled into close combat by Naruto, she would she'd have no way to fight back, and her fate would most likely be similar to Sasuke's.
However, Hinata didn't know that if it was herself who was sparring with Naruto just now, Naruto would definitely not be willing to beat her so badly.
However, right now, she was more concerned about whether Naruto was hurt.
"Naruto-kun..."
She ran over to him sweetly and circled around him once to check for injuries. Only after confirming he was fine did she breathe a sigh of relief.
"I'm totally fine."
Naruto pounded his chest with a grin.
If we turned his and Sasuke's health stats into numbers, Sasuke's damage output couldn't even keep up with Naruto's passive regeneration.
Meanwhile, it only took a few basic punches from him to empty Sasuke's health bar.
There is no comparison.
After looking at the unconscious Sasuke on the ground, Naruto pulled a health potion from his system inventory, grabbed Sasuke's face, and poured it straight down his throat.
Cough cough cough!!
Before long, Sasuke started coughing violently, and his body twitched on the ground like a spring recoiling.
The injuries on his face were also recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Hinata's white eyes went wide in astonishment.
"So… so amazing."
Then, as if just remembering something, she quickly added, "Naruto-kun, I won't tell anyone about this."
In her knowledge, there seemed to be nothing in the Shinobi World that could heal injuries like that, so she naturally understood that the drink Naruto had just given Sasuke was very precious.
The serious look on Hinata's little face made Naruto want to pinch her cheeks. However, he just settled for gently patting her on the head, while in his mind, he was already wondering how many kids he should have in the future.
"Uhhh..."
Hinata blushed so hard her whole face turned red again. Her head tilted slightly, and it looked like she was about to faint.
"Wait! Don't faint yet!"
Naruto started to panic. Sasuke was barely waking up, the sun was setting, and if Hinata passed out now, there was no way she'd come to anytime soon...
'What if someone from the Hyuga Clan saw this!?'
'Father-in-law would probably be so mad he'd use Revolving Heaven to kill me right away.'
"I… I'm fine."
Hinata bit her lower lip, using the pain to keep herself awake, but this look made Naruto want to pat her head even more.
Sasuke, who had just sat up from the ground, looked at the two's strange exchange with a blank expression.
He touched his cheek and realized the pain was gone.
For a second, Sasuke thought the whole fight had been a dream.
If he hadn't seen Naruto and Hinata standing there in front of him, he'd have seriously believed it.
'But why are all my injuries gone?'
After rolling up his sleeves and checking himself several times, Sasuke found that there really are no more injuries on his body.
Even the scar he'd gotten 'that night' was gone.
Sasuke thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so finally, he couldn't help but interrupt Naruto and Hinata, who were whispering on the side.
"My injuries..."
"How did you do that?"
Sasuke recalled how he was choked awake just now, as if Naruto had poured something into his mouth.
He wasn't sure what it was, but Sasuke had to admit, it tasted pretty good.
It's sweet and tingly, way better than the soda back in the village.
Then, Sasuke looked at the apple nearby and remembered the golden apple Naruto had given him before.
'The recovery effect of what I just drank is obviously better than the golden apple's, so it is definitely more precious than that golden apple.'
After realizing that, Sasuke felt that the question he had just asked was somewhat rude.
After all, it's not exactly polite to pry into others' secrets.
"Sorry… I shouldn't have asked."
"The fight is over. I have to take Hinata home first. You should go back by yourself."
Naruto glanced at the darkening sky and saw it was getting late. If he didn't send Hinata back, he was really worried that the Hyuga Clan would hunt him down.
Moreover, he felt that in a case like this, Hiruzen would most likely not stand on his side.
So, Naruto tossed a portal and was about to leave with Hinata, but Sasuke suddenly called out.
"Wait…"
"Can I… can I train with you?"
There was a note of desperation in Sasuke's voice.
"As long as I can become stronger... I'm willing to do anything!"