"Are you challenging me?" Naruto asked, momentarily stunned by the directness of Sasuke's proposal before his expression shifted into a grin filled with anticipation and competitive excitement.
"Think of it however you want," Sasuke replied with characteristic nonchalance, shrugging casually as if the outcome was of no particular importance to him. "The real question is whether you have the courage to accept."
"Why wouldn't I?" Naruto responded immediately, his enthusiasm for the confrontation evident in every word. "I've been waiting for a chance like this."
The past weeks had been filled with nothing but mundane village assignments and increasingly intense "educational sessions" with both the Ero-Sannin and his terrifyingly effective mother. He desperately needed a proper fight to release the frustration that had been building during this period of enforced routine.
Sasuke represented the perfect opponent for such a release—someone whose abilities would provide a genuine challenge without the overwhelming power differential that made training with adults so demoralizing.
"Then follow me," Sasuke commanded, leaping forward with fluid grace.
Naruto immediately pursued, matching his former teammate's pace as they moved through the rebuilt sections of Konoha toward their chosen battleground.
The Uchiha clan compound occupied a considerable portion of the village's territory, and within its boundaries lay a substantial forest area near the village's edge that had somehow escaped the devastating effects of Nagato's massive Shinra Tensei technique.
Among the ancient trees of this preserved woodland, Sasuke and Naruto came to a stop, facing each other across a small clearing. Sasuke's eyes burned with anticipation as he prepared for what promised to be their most significant confrontation since the interrupted Chunin Exams.
Six months earlier, Sasuke had watched in fascination and growing concern as Naruto battled against Gaara, demonstrating levels of power and tactical sophistication that had genuinely shocked him. The strength that his former teammate had displayed during that encounter had forced Sasuke to confront uncomfortable questions about his own capabilities.
If he had been the one facing Gaara instead of Naruto, would he have been able to perform at the same level? While his pride refused to acknowledge inferiority openly, Sasuke's honest self-assessment had left him with serious doubts about his comparative abilities.
Today would provide the answers he sought.
"Come on!" Sasuke declared, immediately activating his newly evolved two-tomoe Sharingan.
The blood-red eyes with their spinning tomoe patterns represented more than just a display of power—they embodied the real purpose behind this challenge. Sasuke's desire to fight Naruto wasn't born from mere competitive impulse, but from his need to adapt quickly to his enhanced ocular abilities.
Naruto would serve as the ideal testing ground for these new capabilities, providing the kind of unpredictable and creative opposition that would force Sasuke to explore the full range of his evolved Sharingan.
As their eyes met across the clearing, Naruto charged forward while simultaneously beginning to form hand seals, his approach combining direct assault with jutsu preparation in a way that demonstrated improved tactical thinking.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Sasuke, having studied Naruto's combat patterns extensively during their Academy days and subsequent team assignments, immediately responded by launching two shuriken with precise timing, aiming specifically at his opponent's hands to disrupt the seal formation process.
Facing the incoming projectiles that threatened to interrupt his technique, Naruto executed a fluid evasive maneuver, flipping through the air to avoid both weapons while maintaining his momentum toward Sasuke.
"He actually dodged them!" Sasuke thought with genuine surprise, his eyes widening slightly as he processed the implications.
While he hadn't invested maximum effort or speed into those particular shuriken throws, the ease with which Naruto had evaded them still came as a shock. The improvement in his former teammate's reflexes and spatial awareness was immediately apparent.
Naruto himself felt equally surprised by his own performance. The weeks of consecutive battles against Jiraiya and Kushina—despite resulting in repeated defeats and painful lessons—had clearly produced significant growth in his fundamental abilities.
The enormous power gap between himself and his adult instructors had created a high-pressure learning environment that forced rapid adaptation and improvement. While he continued to lose every encounter, each defeat had contributed to incremental advances in speed, reflexes, and tactical awareness.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto called out, having successfully completed his hand seals despite Sasuke's interference.
Dozens of identical copies materialized throughout the clearing, though notably fewer in number than Sasuke had expected based on Naruto's previous demonstrations.
Swoosh!
Approximately one-third of the clones immediately stepped forward to establish an encirclement around Sasuke's position, while the remainder hung back in apparent reserve.
A dozen Naruto clones launched simultaneous attacks from multiple angles, their fists seeking to overwhelm Sasuke through coordinated assault rather than chaotic rushing.
Sasuke responded with fluid defensive movements, his enhanced Sharingan allowing him to track multiple opponents while his body weaved between incoming attacks with practiced efficiency. His counter-strikes were precisely timed, destroying several shadow clones with well-placed punches and kicks.
Bang! Bang!
However, even as he successfully dismantled the initial wave of attackers, Sasuke found himself increasingly puzzled by the tactical approach being employed.
"What's different about his strategy?" he wondered, having prepared himself for the overwhelming numerical assault that characterized Naruto's usual approach.
The current number of clones fell far short of Naruto's maximum capacity, suggesting either conservation of chakra or some alternative tactical purpose.
His question was answered when additional shadow clones suddenly emerged from the smoke and debris of their destroyed predecessors, each one wielding capture techniques designed to restrict his mobility rather than inflict damage.
These new clones targeted his legs specifically, attempting to trap him in place rather than engaging in direct combat.
Sasuke noticed the coordination immediately, his expression tightening with concentration as he leaped upward to escape the ground-based entanglement attempts.
Swoosh!
At the apex of his jump, another shadow clone appeared directly above him, effectively blocking his aerial escape route with perfect timing.
"He's no longer treating shadow clones as simple diversions," Sasuke realized with growing respect.
In previous encounters, Naruto had relied primarily on overwhelming numbers to confuse and distract opponents, using his clones as expendable chaff rather than coordinated tactical assets. This new approach demonstrated sophisticated battlefield management and strategic thinking.
"Got you!" Naruto's original voice called out triumphantly from somewhere within the clone formation.
In the air with limited mobility options, Sasuke appeared to be trapped exactly as Naruto had planned.
"Don't celebrate too early," Sasuke replied with calm confidence.
Suddenly clenching both hands, he pulled with decisive force on something invisible to ordinary perception.
Thin wires made from special Uchiha clan materials—stronger than steel and nearly impossible to detect without enhanced vision—drew tight around the shadow clones on the ground, binding them together in an intricate web of restraints.
During his earlier defensive movements and counter-attacks, Sasuke had systematically deployed these nearly invisible lines, using his superior speed and the distraction of combat to establish a hidden trap.
Whoosh!
Having immobilized the ground-based clones, Sasuke drew several kunai and launched them with his free hand toward Naruto's airborne position.
Without solid footing or room to maneuver, aerial evasion would be impossible. More importantly, Naruto's earlier triumphant declaration had revealed the precise location of his original body among the clones.
The kunai streaked through the air with lethal accuracy, but Naruto didn't panic despite his apparent disadvantage.
The shadow clone positioned beside him in mid-air suddenly grabbed Naruto's arm and hurled him away from the incoming projectiles with sacrifice timing.
Bang!
The kunai struck the clone that had saved him, causing it to disperse in a cloud of chakra smoke while Naruto landed safely on the ground near Sasuke's position.
"Quick thinking," Sasuke acknowledged with grudging respect, turning to face his opponent with newfound appreciation for his tactical adaptability.
"You're not slow yourself," Naruto replied, having failed to notice the wire deployment during the heat of combat. "That trap was pretty clever."
As they spoke, both young ninja maintained eye contact while assessing each other's capabilities and planning their next moves.
"It seems like determining a winner won't be as simple as I thought," Naruto murmured, recognizing that both of them had improved significantly since their last serious confrontation.
"Agreed," Sasuke nodded, his competitive spirit fully awakened by the quality of opposition he was facing.
In the next moment, both fighters' expressions grew more serious as they prepared to escalate the conflict.
Bang!
Naruto summoned a single shadow clone and extended his hand, beginning the complex chakra manipulation required for his most powerful technique.
Simultaneously, Sasuke began forming hand seals with practiced precision, drawing upon the lightning-nature transformation that represented his greatest combat asset.
Buzz...
In Naruto's palm, a sphere of blue chakra gradually took shape, spinning and compressing with increasing intensity as it achieved its final form.
Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
In contrast, lightning began condensing in Sasuke's palm, creating the distinctive sound of a thousand birds as electrical energy reached critical concentration.
"Rasengan!" Naruto declared, his signature technique complete and ready for deployment.
"Chidori!" Sasuke announced simultaneously, his own devastating attack fully charged and crackling with lethal power.
Both young ninja's eyes blazed with competitive fire as they prepared to settle their rivalry with the most powerful techniques in their respective arsenals.
"Let's use these to decide who's stronger once and for all!" they thought in unison, their determination equally matched.
Swoosh!
Without warning, two additional figures materialized beside the combatants, each one grabbing the arm of their respective target just as the dangerous techniques reached full power.
"Shisui-sensei?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, recognizing his former instructor.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke said simultaneously, equally shocked by the sudden intervention.
"If this is supposed to be friendly sparring, using techniques like that is extremely dangerous, Naruto," Shisui said with obvious concern, his usually calm demeanor showing traces of genuine alarm. "If Kakashi and I hadn't been nearby and heard the distinctive sound of these jutsu charging, this situation could have ended in tragedy."
"Sasuke," Kakashi said with uncharacteristic seriousness, his lazy demeanor completely absent as he fixed his student with a stern gaze, "didn't I explicitly warn you that Chidori is never to be used against fellow Konoha ninja under any circumstances?"
The gravity in the Copy Ninja's voice made it clear that this wasn't merely a training safety issue, but a fundamental violation of the trust and responsibility that came with mastering such lethal techniques.
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