Naruto was full of playfulness and transformed into Sasuke's instructor, imitating Kakashi's tone and saying, "Sasuke, you've done great. You're learning fast. I'm sure you'll be ready to go on your own soon."
Sasuke felt quite ill - at ease listening to this. No matter how he listened to it, it just sounded off.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" After making the hand seals, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and successfully released two clones, which stood on either side of him.
"Great job!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sasuke, you're truly a genius. You learned Kage Clone Jutsu so quickly."
Sasuke looked at the two shadow clones he'd released and was deeply dissatisfied. He then asked indifferently, "Naruto, why can I only release two shadow clones? Do you have some secret you're not sharing with me?"
Naruto instantly got annoyed and roared, "You've successfully performed the jutsu. How could I possibly be holding back?"
Sasuke thought about it and realized Naruto had a point. Since the jutsu was successfully performed, there couldn't be any deception. But when he saw Naruto easily creating dozens or even hundreds of shadow clones while he could only release two, the gap was just too huge.
Seeing Naruto all puffed up with annoyance, Sasuke scratched his head. He knew he'd said the wrong thing but was too embarrassed to apologize, so he changed the subject and asked, "Naruto, why did you laugh when I asked you to teach me Kage Clone Jutsu?"
Naruto's annoyance instantly disappeared, and he couldn't help bursting into laughter: "Hahaha!"
Hearing Naruto's inexplicable laughter, it was Sasuke's turn to get a bit angry.
"Well, how should I put it," Naruto said in a pretentious manner. "Normally, you're so cold and aloof, always looking so tough. I never thought you'd ask someone for help. With such a big contrast, how could I not laugh?"
"Ugh, how boring," Sasuke thought there was some profound meaning, but it turned out to be such a silly reason. He instantly lost interest.
In the following time, Naruto and Sasuke continued their training without a break from morning till night.
The number of shadow clones Naruto released for training kept increasing, even exceeding fifty. The results of his training were visibly growing. In just one day, he managed to walk on the tree trunk for over a hundred steps, surpassing Sakura's achievement.
Sasuke released fewer shadow clones, only two. His training progress couldn't match Naruto's. However, Sasuke had extremely high talent and a strong will. His training results always closely followed Naruto's.
The two were perseverant and spurred each other on. Finally, at midnight that day, they successfully reached the top of the giant tree, walking on the tree trunk for over three hundred steps. They had a deeper understanding of chakra manipulation, laying a solid foundation as ninjas.
"Naruto, we were so focused on training that we forgot Kakashi-sensei is still in bed."
"Yeah, let's go back and give them a surprise. They'll never imagine we'd make such rapid progress in training."
Naruto and Sasuke returned to Tazuna's house and reported the good news about their training progress. They really shocked Sakura and Kakashi.
Lying in the hospital bed, Kakashi said weakly, "I never expected you to complete your training so quickly."
At the same time, Naruto thought to himself: I thought this training would stump Sasuke and Sakura so I could have a few days to recuperate. It seems I have to get out of bed early...
"Teacher Kakashi," Naruto said full of energy. "What do you need us to do next?"
Kakashi thought for a while and then said, "Zabuza has been captured and locked in the fishing shed. His injuries won't heal in a short time. Gato probably won't pose a threat anymore. We'll complete the mission and return to Konoha once Tazuna finishes building the bridge."
"What? This mission seems so easy," Sakura said with a smile.
Sasuke lowered his head. For him and Sakura, this mission was indeed easy because Naruto had taken on most of the pressure.
"I'll go out for a walk," Sasuke said and left the house, heading towards the forest.
Watching Sasuke leave, Naruto thought it was time. It was time to help Sasuke unlock the Sharingan. So Naruto said, "Teacher Kakashi, you should have a good rest. I'll also go out for a stroll and come back for dinner."
Kakashi said to Sakura, "Sakura, you'll follow Tazuna to guard the bridge today to prevent Gato from launching a surprise attack. As for Naruto and Sasuke, let them rest for a while after their training."
"Yes, Teacher Kakashi," Sakura replied and then followed Tazuna out, heading to the under - construction cross - sea bridge.
Naruto sneaked quietly to the area near the fishing sheds. There were two fishing sheds here, usually used to store fishing gear or boats.
"Luckily I made arrangements in advance," Naruto said looking at the fishing sheds. "I proposed to lock Zabuza and Haku up separately to prevent them from colluding and escaping if they were together."
"I locked up Haku alone to help Sasuke," Naruto whispered. "Sasuke, you can't escape this fight with Haku. Without Sharingan, you'll never catch up with me, and I need you to fight side by side with me in the future."
In the jungle, Sasuke took out a Kunai and carved a portrait of a person on a tree stump. The person in the portrait was Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha.
Seeing this familiar face, Sasuke was filled with anger. This was the man he must kill with his own hands.
Sasuke didn't hesitate to hurl the Kunai at Itachi's portrait. Still enraged, he rushed up and started punching, kicking, and stomping on the portrait.
Just then, Naruto was hiding nearby, holding his breath and watching Sasuke pummeling the tree stump. He thought to himself: Does Sasuke have such a strange hobby... Sure enough, Sasuke is still just a kid at heart...
"Who's there?" Sasuke sensed someone approaching and quickly spun around to look.
"Here we go," Naruto thought to himself and then quietly slipped away because the good show was about to begin.
"A killing intent!" Sasuke was a bit surprised. He felt a strong killing intent locking onto him, as if someone wanted to kill him.
"You actually killed him. That person was so important to me," a young man appeared in the distance and walked forward while saying, "I'm going to kill you!"
"So it's you!"
Sasuke clearly didn't expect this person to appear in front of him. It was the young man who had previously worn a mask and impersonated a Chasing Ninja. He was the companion of Zabuza Momochi, named Haku.
"Weren't you locked in the fishing shed?" Sasuke immediately became vigilant, for if Haku could escape, it was highly likely that Zabuza Momochi could too.
Haku began to make Hand Seals. Sasuke felt the air turn cold. Haku said emotionlessly, "Secret Jutsu! Demonic Mirroring Thin Ice!"
The surrounding air became frigid, and Sasuke exhaled white puffs of air. He exclaimed, "It's so cold!"
Right in front of him, ice mirrors suddenly appeared out of thin air around Sasuke. The ice mirrors were extremely thin, rectangular in shape, and about as tall as a person. These ice mirrors were over a dozen in number, completely surrounding Sasuke.