"Naruto."
As Naruto was thinking about how to convince Sakura to join the exam, he suddenly heard her voice.
"Hm?"
"Um... can I train with you these next few days? I can pay you."
Kakashi had said two days ago that he'd help them train, but he seemed to have totally forgotten because of all the Chunin Exam stuff.
Now Sakura was feeling unsure about her skills and desperate to get stronger—so she had no choice but to ask Naruto for help again!
Of course, she could've asked Sasuke too...
But this time, she really just wanted to get stronger—not to get closer to Sasuke.
Naruto was stronger anyway, so asking him made more sense!
Besides, little Sakura felt like Sasuke would definitely turn her down. Naruto was the only one she still had a chance with.
"Sure."
Naruto had just been thinking about how to help boost her confidence and get her to take the Chunin Exams seriously.
Now that she came to him for help, of course he wouldn't say no.
"Really? Thank you, Naruto!"
Sakura didn't expect him to actually agree this time, and happily threw her arms around him.
"..."
Naruto grabbed her arms and pushed her away.
"Don't get too happy yet. It's ten thousand ryo a day. Not a single coin less!"
Sure, he had to say yes to her, but that didn't mean he'd do it for free.
He wasn't running a charity!
"No problem!"
Sakura copied Naruto's usual hand gesture with a smile.
"Naruto, I'll pay too!"
Sasuke had been listening to them the whole time. Seeing Naruto agree to help Sakura train, he quickly spoke up.
"Alright, you can join too," Naruto said as he glanced at Sasuke.
Since he was spending the same amount of time, it didn't hurt to make double the money!
There was no reason to say no to Sasuke.
And honestly, if he only helped Sakura and turned Sasuke down, she'd probably start overthinking everything again.
After taking their payments, Naruto brought Sakura and Sasuke to the riverside under the bridge.
"Sasuke, you've already mastered walking on water, right?"
"Yeah."
Sasuke nodded, then calmly stepped onto the river's surface.
The way he stood there so steadily showed he had already mastered it.
"Sakura, this will be your training for the next few days."
Naruto looked at her and said calmly, "You need to gather your chakra at the bottom of your feet, like when you practiced tree walking. Then step onto the water."
"At first, try with just one foot. Once you can hold yourself with one foot, you can start trying both."
"Got it, Naruto!"
With clear guidance, Sakura trained especially seriously this time.
Just like Sasuke didn't want to always be stuck behind Naruto, Sakura didn't want to be the one slowing them down either.
She wanted to fight alongside them as equals!
"Sasuke!"
After setting up Sakura's training, Naruto called Sasuke over.
"There's not much ninjutsu I can teach you. But if you still want to get stronger from me, I can teach you two things."
"One is taijutsu!"
"The other is swordsmanship!"
"Which one do you want to learn?"
Taijutsu meant close-range combat and improving physical skills, while swordsmanship was something Sasuke had never touched before.
After thinking about it for a moment, Sasuke chose swordsmanship.
"I want to learn swordsmanship!"
"If you do, go bring back the Executioner's Blade. Oh, and grab me a sword too while you're at it."
Naruto couldn't use the Kusanagi Sword to train with Sasuke—no normal weapon in this world could withstand a laser sword anyway.
Not long after,
Sasuke showed up carrying two swords.
One was the Executioner's Blade, and the other was a short ninja sword he had just bought from a ninja tools shop.
Naruto took the short sword, spun it in his hand, and swung it, sending out a slash that cut a tree three meters away clean in half!
"Barely usable."
Holding the short sword, Naruto looked at Sasuke and said, "Come on, pick up your sword and try to hit me!"
The Executioner's Blade was a heavy weapon. Even holding it with both hands, Sasuke felt its weight.
He gripped it tightly and swung it down at Naruto!
"Too slow, not strong enough. The Executioner's Blade is a heavy sword. If you want to use it well, you need real power! Again!" Naruto caught Sasuke's strike with one hand and spoke calmly.
"Again!"
After catching a few more of Sasuke's swings, Naruto said, "There are many ways to use a sword—slashing, hacking, stabbing, thrusting… Don't just swing and chop. Try attacking me from different angles!"
With Naruto's guidance, Sasuke began to learn different ways to use the sword.
He was clumsy at first, but after just ten minutes, he could already perform some of the simpler moves smoothly.
After an hour, his swings no longer looked awkward at all. He no longer looked like a beginner.
By evening—
Sasuke's arms were numb from training, but he had basically learned the basic sword moves.
Naruto had watched Sasuke's progress and had to admit the guy was seriously talented.
At the same time,
Sakura had been practicing walking on water all day and was soaking wet, but she had also made clear progress.
She already had a natural gift for chakra control.
Now after one day of training, she could stand on the water steadily. She just needed a bit more practice to fully master it.
The original five-day training plan might be more than enough!
Naruto figured that Sakura would fully master the water-walking skill in one or two more days at most.
"We'll stop here for today. Meet back here tomorrow at 9 a.m."
Naruto waved at the two of them and walked away.
From the looks of it, Sakura hadn't given up on taking the Chunin Exam. Otherwise, she wouldn't be working this hard.
As for Sasuke, this short training period wouldn't suddenly boost his power, but it would help him be more ready for the exam.
At least, his teammates wouldn't be a problem in getting through it.
The real problem was how to deal with the Sand Village, Orochimaru, and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Should he try to stop the invasion plan between the Sand Village and Orochimaru? And should he save Hiruzen Sarutobi?
Should he become the hero who saves Konoha, or just stay hidden in the village, living a quiet life?
"If I tell the old man Hiruzen that Orochimaru and the Sand Village have already joined forces and plan to attack during the Chunin Exams in just over a month, what will happen?"
"If Konoha gets ready in advance, will the Sand Village cancel the attack? If both Orochimaru and the Sand pull back, what would the future look like?"
"If the old man doesn't believe me and nothing changes, should I save him when he's in danger?"
"Or should I just stand by and watch?"
So many questions, and Naruto didn't know what to do.
Because anything he chose to do could lead to a future he couldn't predict.
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