The next day, at the Central Tower.
Early in the morning, Team 7's three members gathered again to read the newspaper. They had developed a habit: every morning, they would grab a copy of the Ninja World Daily to learn about the world.
[Front Page Headline: Shocking! The Utterly Vicious Obito Uchiha Attempts to Eradicate the Last Survivor of Kusagakure!]
Another front-page headline.
It was a good thing there weren't any singers in this world vying for headlines, otherwise, they would definitely be outdone by this Obito Uchiha.
Seeing the news, Sakura let out a perfectly timed, delicate gasp of surprise. "Oh? Obito Uchiha struck again? He's so mean!"
On one hand, she was shocked by Obito Uchiha's activity these past few days; she saw news about him daily. On the other hand, she wanted to act cute in front of Sasuke. This was a trick Naruto had secretly taught her yesterday. Things like acting cute, innocent, or being a "white lotus." Naruto said these things were most attractive to straightforward men, like Sasuke.
She wanted to try them all. And now, it seemed to be working.
Sasuke glanced at Sakura in surprise but didn't respond, continuing to read downwards. Just the fact that Sasuke had looked at her made Sakura's heart pound, feeling like a dinosaur was rampaging inside her. Sure enough, the plan was a success. She secretly cast a grateful glance at Naruto.
Naruto, you truly are amazing! You know everything. Once I catch Sasuke, I'll definitely give you a big red envelope.
Naruto wasn't paying attention; he was curiously reading the news with Sasuke.
The news continued to report that as soon as Obito Uchiha appeared, he was besieged by numerous ninja and almost couldn't escape. Unfortunately, although Obito Uchiha was even more pathetic than the dog he had kicked that day, missing an arm and bleeding profusely at the scene, he still managed to get away in the end. A Mr. Kakuzu, who wished to remain anonymous, offered a sharp critique:
[Obito Uchiha first annihilated Kusagakure, then its survivors, and finally even tried to wipe out the last remaining individual from Kusagakure. He didn't even spare a single dog during this process. At this rate, Obito Uchiha might as well lose all sense of shame.]
At the same time, this green-eyed gentleman revealed that he welcomed Obito Uchiha to seek him out for trouble anytime.
After reading the news, Naruto was full of questions. (Old man on subway with phone meme.jpg)
I didn't even arrange an actor to show up. Where did this Obito come from?
He opened his channel to check messages; in just one day, there were tens of thousands of unread messages. Too many messages, he didn't even want to look. He opened the conversation with "Media Mogul Naruto." Sure enough, this clone had reported intel on Obito's appearance last night. He had overlooked it.
'What a shame,' Naruto sighed inwardly. He missed such a good opportunity for revenge yesterday. But who could have known? The entire ninja world knew 'Obito Uchiha' was going to... Any discerning person would know it was a trap. To avoid exposing his identity, he hadn't even arranged for a clone to show up. After all, with so many people in ambush, a single collective spit could drown someone, and even he himself probably wouldn't be in much trouble.
He didn't expect that while the fake didn't go, the real Obito Uchiha actually did.
This Obito... seemed a bit dim-witted.
"As long as you study him thoroughly, Obito Uchiha isn't that hard to deal with."
After reading the front-page headline, Sasuke put down the newspaper. Seeing such a pathetic Obito, he felt that his current strength might actually be quite good.
Naruto reached out and took the newspaper, then logically analyzed, "It's just his Mangekyo that's a bit troublesome. If there's a way to deal with his Mangekyo, it would be much simpler."
"Huh?"
His eyes caught a sesame-sized news article in the corner, and he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. The news content was simple: [Daimyo of the Land of Grass Chokes to Death on a Cake.]
But, this Daimyo didn't choke to death earlier or later; he just had to wait until Uzumaki Gotama arrived in the Land of Grass to choke to death. Without even looking, Naruto knew who the culprit was.
Wasn't this Uzumaki Gotama an honest person? Why did he kill the Daimyo right at the start?
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked exaggeratedly.
"Hehe," Naruto guiltily rolled up the newspaper. "Nothing."
"Tsk."
Sasuke frowned, squinting at Sakura. He opened his mouth, but before words came out, he retracted his gaze, only to squint at her again. He did this several times.
This action amused Naruto. He knew Sasuke wasn't usually so conflicted. Was there going to be a good show today?
Sakura saw all of this, and her heart blossomed with joy.
"You did great, Naruto!"
A dark persona inside her was screaming wildly!
"Sakura, you..."
Huh?
Sakura's face turned completely red, and she was inwardly ecstatic. Sasuke actually called my name voluntarily! It seems Naruto's teaching method really works!
At this moment, she heard Sasuke continue, "You're not sick today, are you?"
"N-No," Sakura felt a little suffocated, her heart pounding as if it would leap out of her chest.
Is it... is it coming?
But Sasuke's next words struck her like lightning.
"Then could you please not talk like that? It's a bit nauseating."
Sakura's violently fluctuating heartbeat almost flatlined, instantly dropping to zero. She visibly lost all color, even her art style changed from vibrant full-color to black and white. (Lost dreams.jpg)
"Pfft~"
Their dramatic performance almost made Naruto burst out laughing. Although he tried his best to hold it back, Sakura still heard him. She stared at Naruto with a pained expression.
Naruto naturally understood what she meant. But he turned his head away. Not my problem.
Sakura, bro can only help you this much. My past life girlfriends, well, let's just say there weren't crowds of them. I didn't even have one. Even I myself wasn't skilled in this art, so being able to teach you anything at all is pretty good. Sasuke's on a different level; he's immune to all tricks. You, keep trying.
Seeing the awkward situation, Naruto activated his topic-changing jutsu.
"By the way, Sasuke, do you want to get the mark now?"
The mark, referring to Naruto's self-developed Heavenly Mark. It could absorb natural energy and convert it into physical energy, which could then be extracted to restore chakra. The effect was excellent, currently achieving a maximum recovery rate of 5% per hour, which was faster than 99.9999% of all ninja's recovery rates. According to Naruto's observations, the average recovery rate for ninja in the ninja world was around 3-5 days. This was data for when chakra was basically exhausted and without any medicinal aid. From 3-5 days to 20 hours, truly remarkable.
"Let's do it."
Sasuke was very decisive. This was also what Sensei Leopard suggested last night, saying it could help him improve his strength. He had no idea that Naruto had told Sensei Leopard to say that, and that doing this was entirely to deal with Orochimaru.
Naruto touched Sasuke's nape with both hands. With a surge of chakra, three tomoe formed. Sasuke instantly felt both an itching and a stinging sensation.
"Why does it feel both itchy and painful? Sensei Leopard said there were no side effects, didn't he?"
"Cough, cough, perhaps my mastery isn't perfect yet."
Naruto stated, implying it absolutely wasn't because he had learned through interrogation that Orochimaru's cursed seal had such side effects, and he had added some small custom features to make it seem more authentic.
"Sakura, do you want one?"
Seeing Sasuke's reaction, Sakura hesitated for only a moment before extending her neck. "Yes."
She was about to learn chakra sealing jutsu, and if she also had this, she could have an extra amount of her own chakra every day. The help would be immense.
Naruto touched her again.
Sakura shook her neck, feeling none of the itchiness or pain Sasuke had mentioned.
"I don't feel anything."
"Cough, cough,"
Of course. Sasuke needed to cooperate with the performance; you don't.
"People's physiques cannot be generalized. This shows that your physique, Sakura, is better than Sasuke's."
Sakura: Really?
She visibly brightened, realizing that besides chakra control, she actually had something else that surpassed the super genius Sasuke.
Naruto checked the time and said, "Let's go! The exam is about to end!"
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