After Sakura left, Naruto and Sasuke began to strip off their clothes, ready to enter the water—but Yasu immediately stopped them.
"You seem to have forgotten. I said to stand on the water to catch fish, not dive in."
"What? That's impossible! How can a person stand on water? That's not possible!" Naruto shouted first.
Sasuke furrowed his brows as well, since he knows more than the ignorant naruto.
"Yasu-kun, while controlling chakra to stand on water is possible, it's far too difficult for us right now."
Yasu suddenly realized the problem.
When Team 7 went to the Land of Waves, they had only just learned Tree Climbing with chakra.
As for walking on water, Naruto would need Jiraiya to unlock the seal first.
Yasu smacked his own head.
Such an obvious timeline mistake… luckily, it wasn't important.
Since he' already said it, Yasu wasn't about to take them back.
He quickly adopted a serious expression, eyes mocking Sasuke.
"So you don't wan to catch some fishes?" Yasu tilted his head. "Then I suppose we'll have to explore the holes and nests around here. Who knows… some lessons are best learned up close." Yasu said menacingly while looking at sasuke.
Sasuke shivered, bowed to Yasu, and ran straight toward the lake.
Naruto stared at Sasuke in confusion.
He didn't know why, but now that Sasuke was going into the water, he couldn't back down.
After all, Sasuke was his rival.
Naruto's greatest goal was to surpass Sasuke.
[Ding! Sasuke Uchiha affection +1! Current: 66 points!]
[Ding! Kakashi Hatake affection +1! Current: 80 points! Can sign in!]
"Damn it… so I'm being tested too!"
Affection points didn't increase randomly. There were only two ways: sign-ins or gaining someone's recognition.
Just now, by guiding the two into water training, Kakashi's affection had increased—he must be hiding nearby.
Yasu didn't expose him, sitting down to start training his chakra.
After all, in this situation, unexpected surprises might occur.
Training chakra takes a ton of time and training to build up, what really matters isn't how much you have, but how well you can control and save it. A good way to build up chakra in the body, according to Jiraiya when he was training naruto to master the rasengan, is to spin it into a tight spiral; the direction in which an individual should spin their chakra (clockwise or counter-clockwise) to use techniques easily is determined by the natural direction their hair grows in a swirl pattern on their scalp.
In order to have good chakra control, a ninja should only mould as much chakra as they need to perform any given jutsu or ability to get the best result.
After practicing for a while, Yasu's chakra control improved moderately as time past. Previously, he could only swing Kakashi's sword with full force once; now he could confidently swing more.
Some of the jutsu he had learned might also be ready for use.
Sasuke could barely stand on the water now, while Naruto would immediately sink with a single step. The ripples he caused even knocked Sasuke down a few times.
"You loser! Can you go farther away and stop affecting me!" Sasuke yelled in frustration.
Several times Sasuke was about to succeed, only for Naruto's splashing to ruin it.
"Wow, Sasuke, you're amazing! Teach me! Look, I caught a big fish!" Naruto grinned foolishly, struggling with the fish in his hands, sending lake water splashing onto Sasuke's face.
"You idiot!"
"Ha ha ha! Naruto and Sasuke, what are you two doing playing in the water? Where's Sakura? And your sensei?"
A voice and the sound of a dog's bark announced their arrival—a man and a dog, followed by two figures.
Yasu's eyes lit up.
Team 8! Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga!
He had thought he wouldn't encounter another team so early, at least not until the Chunin Exams.
But this was reality, not the anime.
Outside of training, interactions with old classmates were inevitable.
"Check!"
[Ding! Kiba Inuzuka! Affection 50 points! Can sign in!]
[Affection 50 points unlocked: Body Flicker Technique!]
...
[Affection 100 points unlocked: Akamaru! Obtain Kiba's dog companion! Infinite sign-in activated (7-day interval)!]
[Ding! Shino Aburame! Affection 50 points! Can sign in!]
[Affection 50 points unlocked: Chakra Control!]
...
[Affection 100 points unlocked: Insect Tornado! Obtain Shino to play with bugs! Infinite sign-in activated (7-day interval)!]
[Ding! Hinata Hyuga! Affection 50 points! Can sign in!]
[Affection 50 points unlocked: Gentle Fist!]
...
[Affection 100 points unlocked: Byakugan! Obtain Hinata's innocent heart! Infinite sign-in activated (7-day interval)!]
Seeing the stats, Yasu shivered.
Kiba was fine—Akamaru was cute.
But Shino and his bugs… Yasu couldn't handle it. Thinking about a body covered in insects gave him goosebumps.
Hinata, on the other hand, was okay.
Although there was some overlap with Neji, repetition was exactly what Yasu wanted.
High-level kekkei genkai were powerful but conspicuous, attracting unwanted attention.
Low-level jutsu, however, were common.
Repeated sign-ins made them just as effective without raising suspicion.
"Sign in, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga!"
[Ding! Kiba Inuzuka sign-in successful! You've obtained Body Flicker Technique! Affection +5!]
[Ding! Duplicate technique detected! Low-level Body Flicker experience added into high-level Body Flicker!]
[Ding! Shino Aburame sign-in successful! You've obtained Chakra Control! Affection +5!]
[Ding! Duplicate technique detected! Low-level Chakra Control experience added into high-level Chakra Control!]
[Ding! Hinata Hyuga sign-in successful! You've obtained Gentle Fist! Affection +5!]
[Ding! Duplicate technique detected! Low-level Gentle Fist experience added into high-level Gentle Fist!]
Yasu's heart leapt. These were all things he already had, no weird surprises.
Since Hinata had joined the team, he would now have to focus on boosting her affection too.