Chapter Seventy-Five: Journey to the Land of Waves

  The next day, Kakashi finally woke up from his coma, but in his current state he could only lie in bed. It seemed like he would have to stay there for a week.

  "Ah! The teacher has woken up." As soon as Naruto entered the room, he saw Kakashi who had already regained consciousness, and couldn't help but feel a little delighted.

  "Teacher Kaxi, you've already given up, huh." I walked into the room and took a glance at him before sitting down on the tatami mat closer to him.

  "What's with that? The Rasengan is tough, but I didn't think it would put such a huge strain on the body." Haruno Sakura looked at Kakashi, who was lying in bed, with a reproachful expression.

  "Really sorry."

  "But this time we've defeated such a formidable ninja, so we can rest easy for a while." Dazuna said with a fan in hand.

  "That young man was using just an ordinary flying needle, a weapon that can also serve as a substitute for acupuncture. If the pursuit team is killed, it should be easy to put people in a state of apparent death." I took a cup of pudding and ate it slowly, then spoke out the doubts in their minds.

  "Ah, if we don't hurry and kill him, I'm afraid he won't die." Kakashi said with a dead fish eye.

  "What?!" Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke shouted in unison, while Sauske was probably aware of it long ago.

  "First, he deliberately brought back the corpse of someone heavier than himself. Second, he used a weapon with very low killing power. From these two points, it can be inferred that the young man's purpose was probably not to kill Zabuza, but to help him." Kakashi clearly analyzed the young man's heterodoxy.

  "Are you overthinking?" Dazna said with some disbelief, not that he didn't believe it, but rather he didn't want to believe it. Kakashi had gone all out to save his life, and yet the person hadn't died after all. Who knows if next time he'd be able to save him again?

  "No, once you've found something suspicious, you have to be prepared before things become irreparable. That's also one of the iron rules of ninjas." Kakashi looked up and saw Naruto with a strongly suppressed excited expression, indeed the ninja who valued unexpectedness the most.

  "Since you'll be bedridden for the next few days, Teacher, I'll lend you these books to read." Chizuru pulled out a few books from her bag and placed them on his bedside.

  "Wow! This is the special edition of 'Intimate Paradise' that I've been wanting to see but couldn't buy. It's one of only 500 copies nationwide!" Kakashi picked up the books from the bedside and flipped to the back, his eyes gleaming like a green light.

  "Why does Kurenai have a book like this......" Naruto's face turned stern as he looked at Kakashi-sensei with a puzzled expression.

  …………

  After a few days, Kakashi was able to get out of bed, although he still relied on his crutches. "Alright, let's start training! But before that, I'll tell you about the basics of being a ninja - Chakura."

  "At this time still..." Sasuke's expression was completely uninterested.

  "I knew that of course, it's Chadōra." Naruto replied without hesitation.

  "It's a Chakra." Kakashi said looking at Naruto with a weak tone, and sighed.

  "Come here, Sakura." Kakashi glanced at the indifferent-looking girl standing beside him, let out a sigh once more, and then called on Haruno Sakura, who had perfect scores on all her exam papers.

  "Listen up, Naruto. This is complicated, so I'll just give you the simple explanation... BLAH BLAH BLAH..." Haruno Sakura carefully explained what chakra was.

  "What we need to cultivate is... tree climbing."

  "Climb trees?!"

  "That's right, but it's not just ordinary tree climbing. Not using hands to climb up, watch closely." Kakashi said and made a seal with his hand, then he leaned on his cane and walked to the nearby tree, afterwards he stepped onto the tree with his foot gathering chakra.

  "It's like that, gather your chakra at the soles of your feet and stick your body to the tree trunk. If you use your chakra properly, you can reach this state." Kakashi said as he walked up a very tall tree, his head facing downwards in a 90-degree angle, but wasn't he worried about getting a brain hemorrhage?

  "The purpose of this training is to gather the right amount of chakra in the right place. The chakra needed for tree climbing is very subtle, and the soles of your feet are the hardest place to gather chakra. In other words, if you master tree climbing, you can learn any ninjutsu, theoretically speaking. The second purpose is to maintain the extracted chakra. When ninjas extract chakra, it's usually in a constantly moving battlefield. Under such circumstances, controlling and maintaining chakra is even more difficult. However, just by me saying this, you won't be able to learn it, so I'll let you experience it with your bodies. Use this knife to mark the highest place you can climb, then climb higher and mark again. You might not be able to climb smoothly at first, so take a deep breath and dash up as high as you can go." Kakashi said, taking out four shuriken and shooting them at our feet.

  "This training is way too easy for me! Because right now, I'm the one growing the fastest!" Naruto exclaimed, kicking off his shoes and starting to brag as usual.

  "No more big talk, let's get started!"

  I looked at the Kunai in my hand with a bit of frustration, this Chakra training was taught to me by Tanuki brother long ago, and now it should be used freely, but for now, I just need to climb up the tree, no need to hide my strength.

  Gather chakra, then gather at the soles of my feet. Walk to the tree that is relatively close to me and slowly walk up. As soon as I walked up, I heard the sound of a person falling down and hitting his forehead, and I don't know if his chakra was affected by the Nine-Tails and became difficult to control. After walking to about the same height, sit on the branch next to it, take out a stick of candy from the ring and start eating.

  "It's unexpectedly simple~" Haruno Sakura also climbed up to a certain height on the tree, then sat on a branch and stuck out her tongue playfully.

  "Huh? It seems that the girl Sakura is the one who can control chakra the best now. Oh, and Hinata too, no wonder she's a member of the Hyuga clan. The ones closest to Naruto right now should be Sakura and Hinata, unlike someone else... and the Uchiha aren't anything special either." Kakashi, are you using reverse psychology?

  "Teacher, you're so annoying!" Haruno Sakura heard Kakashi's words and immediately raised her middle finger at Kakashi, as if she didn't want Sasuke to dislike her.

  …………

  Next, they continued to practice climbing trees non-stop, while I just sat aside and had some snacks. Speaking of which, it seems like it's already time for afternoon tea now... I really miss the desserts that Sabas makes...

  "How annoying!" Watching Naruto stamp his feet and complain, I couldn't help but chuckle a little. This little fox may be noisy, but it's quite fun.

  "Hey, hey, Sakura, can you tell me some tips? Don't tell Sasuke, okay?" Naruto walked over to Haruno Sakura and started whispering to her, but it was pretty amusing to see Sasuke looking so concerned.

  "How's Sasuke's training going?" Walking up to his side, looking at his exhausted appearance, was it because he had used too much chakra? He was too weak in this state, so I'll increase his chakra usage a bit. Let his chakra amount be the same as Naruto's, that way their love-hate relationship will be more interesting~

  "Hey, Aoi. Uh, th-that..."

  Looking at his hesitant appearance, I tilted my head and thought, "Must be he's hungry but too embarrassed to say so." "What's wrong? Are you hungry?"

  "No, what is the secret of controlling Chakra?"

  So that's it, I didn't think it was because he was hungry. But it's rare for him to ask me questions on his own initiative, why did he look away again, how come he's as proud as Xia Le? "Call me sister, and I'll tell you."

  "I won't." Sasuke refused without even thinking about it. Honestly, I'm obviously older than him, so it's only natural that he calls me sister.

  "...sleep with me tonight." He stared at him expressionlessly, if he didn't agree, then he would stay and practice for the whole night.

  "......Alright, I promise you." Sasuke looked at the person in front of him with some helplessness, a girl who looked like a doll but asked to sleep with boys... This idiot, doesn't she have any common sense?!

  …………

  The next day, Naruto, still asleep, followed Tsunade to the construction site, only to find all the workers lying on the ground. Then a thick fog rose and Zabuza reappeared. After their training, they had clearly become stronger, especially in terms of chakra control and speed. Sasuke actively attacked Haku, but during the fight, Haku used his secret technique, Thousand Killing Water Fang, thanks to which he managed to escape being blown to pieces.

  Next, Byakuren released the secret technique "Mahyō Hyōjin", a mirror made of ice surrounded Sasuke, and Byakuren entered the ice mirror as if melting, with each mirror reflecting Byakuren's appearance. Countless flying needles shot towards Sasuke, each needle leaving a wound on Sasuke's body, but none of them hit his vital spots. Then Naruto appeared, but instead of resolving Sasuke's crisis, he himself entered the ice mirror and fell into crisis together with Sasuke.

  Although it looks uncomfortable from the outside, I can only wait for Sasuke to open his Sharingan and go rescue him. Naruto keeps using Shadow Clone Jutsu to rush towards Ice Mirror, but every time he is quickly defeated by White. Sasuke discovers the pattern of White's attack and uses the opportunity when White attacks Naruto to burn a small piece of White's pants with Fireball Jutsu. Meanwhile, Kakashi also falls into crisis due to the thick fog. When Naruto exhausts his chakra and falls down, Sasuke's Sharingan finally awakens.

  Naruto woke up from his coma to see Shiro lying on the ground, then heard Sasuke say "Seriously, you're such a hindrance..."

  He thought Sasuke had defeated the masked boy and excitedly called out "You did it, Sasuke, huh?" but instead saw his most hated Sasuke standing in front of him, with drops of blood falling to the ground.

  Then Sasaki turned his face, not with his usual cold expression, but with a pale and disheveled complexion, with uncoagulated blood at the corner of his mouth. His tone was still as disdainful as ever towards him, but it was evident that he was struggling to speak. "What's with this expression, you big idiot?"

  "Why?! Why did you protect me?!" Naruto yelled at him in disbelief, as Sasuke, who usually couldn't stand him, had used his body to block the attack and was now badly injured.

  "How would I know that... Hmph, I'm the one who hates you the most." Sasuke lifted his head, recalling the past and all sorts of things. Although he was the one who hated him the most... yet he would take a fatal blow for him, although he was the one who hated him the most.

  "Why?! I'm asking you why, why did you protect me?! Who told you to interfere?!!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke, now his heart was filled with endless regret...

  "Who knows what the body does on its own, idiot." Sasuke finally couldn't hold on and fell down, and at the moment he fell, Naruto hugged him.

  "Sasuke!"

  "That man, before I could avenge my brother's death, I couldn't die... but that idiot has liked him since childhood... don't you dare die...!" Sasuke's hand fell limply to his side. He still can't die yet, he still has to kill that man... would that fool cry if she saw him like this? It's hard to imagine. Like a puppet, the poor guy who rarely even smiled from childhood on... it's impossible to picture her crying face, and he didn't want her to cry either...

  Naruto stared blankly at Sasuke in his arms, he couldn't believe...he didn't believe that he had died like this......He was clearly so strong, how could he be dead......

  "He, to protect the important person, knowing it was a trap still rushed over, he is a respectable ninja. You are seeing the death of your comrade for the first time, this is the path of the ninja." Haku's words immediately sent Naruto plummeting into hell, these words clearly told him that Sasuke was already dead.

  "Less nonsense... I also clearly despise you the most... I won't forgive you! I'll kill you!" Naruto slowly put down Sasuke's body, and a strong, brutal aura immediately swept out, destroying the ice mirror with Nine-Tails' chakra. Naruto's sky-blue eyes instantly turned into blood-red pupils.

  …………

  "... That's the aura of a demon, which means that the Nine-Tails was originally a famous monster in history." No wonder when I'm with Xiaoli, I always feel a faint and elusive demonic aura. It turns out that the Spiritual Beast and monsters have some kind of connection.

  “…Sasuke, you've gone from being a little brat to a little porcupine. Now, I'll just remove all the quills on your body... bear with it, it's going to hurt.” Approaching Sasuke’s side……no pulse, looks like he’s in a state of apparent death. White has shown mercy after all.

  Gently pull out the acupuncture needles one by one, if pulled too hard he might really die, although it will be painful, but since he is currently in a coma state, it shouldn't matter.

  After all the flying needles were pulled out, after using healing jutsu on him, the wounds that had been scratched and pierced by the flying needles restored at a speed visible to the naked eye. Taking advantage of his dizziness, a large amount of chakra was injected into his body and sealed, so when he consumed too much chakra, this chakra could help him.

  "...... Snow... Yuki, it was snowing when Father and Mother died too. That was the first time Yuki saw what snow was like... Father and Mother would not have died if it weren't for Yuki's sake. If Uncle hadn't tried to take me away, Father and Mother wouldn't have died. It's all Yuki's fault." As she looked up at the falling snowflakes, she suddenly remembered the scene of her first snowfall as a child. The snowflakes fell into her eyes, and she didn't know whether it was the melting snow or tears that trickled down her cheeks one drop at a time.

  "…………Cough, cough!! Stupid, stop crying……” Sasuke coughed violently several times, spitting out the blood in his mouth. Then he felt water dripping onto his face one drop at a time. He looked up to see that girl standing like a doll, staring blankly at the sky. Snowflakes fell onto her face one by one, and tears streamed down her cheeks, falling drop by drop……

  "...... Ah, you're awake." Came to, looked at the face that had opened its eyes on my leg (so-called pillow), and the pale complexion had returned to a healthy rosy color.

  "Stop crying, you dimwit, it's ugly." Sasuke stood up and frowned at the tear-stained face, indeed he didn't want to see her cry.

  "I didn't cry at all, it's just that snow got into my eyes." He said with a pout, wiping away the water stains on his face.

  "What about the one with the mask? And that super big idiot?" Sasuke looked around but didn't find anything.

  "That masked boy is probably dead by now, but Naruto is still fine, still among the living." This snowflake was the best proof, and indeed their fates were unchangeable, no matter what path they took, the final result would be the same.

  "Sasuke!! It's great, you're alright, that Naruto guy even deceived me saying you were already...already..." Haruno Sakura ran over and hugged Sasuke before bursting into tears.

  I watched them, took a step back, turned around and left. To them, I was always unnecessary, I shouldn't have appeared in this world from the beginning. Even if I existed in this world, I would eventually leave, don't leave emotions in places that aren't necessary, it will only hurt yourself, that's what Jiu Ge told me.