"I will push my Sharingan to three tomoe soon."
Calm again, Sasuke stared Naruto down, stubborn light burning in his eyes.
Naruto gave him a single measuring glance, a soft scoff in his heart. "Master everything I gave you first. Then talk."
Resolve flashed across Sasuke's face. He pulled out the last storage scroll and got to work. In short order, every tree around the stone pillar bristled with the mounted crossbows.
Next came the armor. Plates, straps, greaves, gauntlets. He even buckled on a helm with a faceguard.
The moment the visor clicked, he caught Naruto's look. That crisp, mocking look.
"What did I do wrong"
Sasuke could not take that stare reserved for fools. He asked outright.
"As a so called prodigy, your brains are truly impressive," Naruto said with the faintest smile. "I thought you might be smart enough to use ninjutsu properly. I set you up from the start to… hm"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "To what"
Naruto did not finish. Surprise crossed his face for a breath. "Nothing." He turned and walked off.
Sasuke blinked. Naruto was leaving again.
Out on the road, Naruto was surprised for a different reason. The memories from his dispelled clone at home had just washed back.
On the way to drop Hinata off, the same little punks who had thrown rocks last time showed up to reclaim their pride. They even brought friends.
Naruto's clone was not Itachi, brooding on philosophy all day. Handling thugs was easy.
He had not expected Hinata to move first.
Byakugan bloomed on the spot. Gentle Fist flowed. She struck tenketsu with clean precision and dropped the whole lot where they stood.
Hyuga Compound, main family grounds. Hyuga Takamasa knelt on one knee before Hyuga Hiashi.
"That is all, Lord Patriarch. The young lady has indeed awakened the Byakugan."
After a long silence, Hiashi spoke. "So Hinata's early awakening and her recent change in spirit both trace back to that boy, Uzumaki Naruto"
"Yes." Takamasa kept his head bowed. "Though their contact is improper for her station, what that child said moved the young lady deeply."
"Unpleasant as it is to admit, his words taught her the weight of strength."
Hiashi nodded. In recent weeks, Hinata's training had become uncharacteristically fierce. He had always seen her gentleness and had been too stern in his guidance. Awakening the Byakugan at seven spoke clearly of her talent.
Takamasa risked a glance up. "Shall we instruct the young lady to cease contact with that child, my lord Remember, his status is…"
"Do not interfere." Hiashi's tone went cold. "If the Third Hokage were displeased, he would already have paid us a personal visit, like last time."
Mount Myoboku. The Great Toad Sage snored upon his dais. A small toad, no larger than a human infant, hopped in, followed by a tall man with white hair to his waist.
"Elder, Jiraiya has arrived."
Sleepy eyes opened. "Ah, Fukasaku. So he has."
"Yes, Great Toad Sage. I am here," Jiraiya said, stepping forward.
"I dreamed a new prophecy about your road," the sage murmured.
Jiraiya knelt on one knee below the dais. "Is it about the Child of Prophecy"
"No." The old eyes drooped and then sharpened. "That part remains clouded. But the future has already shifted in ways I did not foresee. You must go to the Land of Demons and find the shrine maiden Miroku. Help her reinforce the seal on the demon Moryo. The fate of the shinobi world hangs upon it. Afterward, she will give you another prophecy, one that concerns you."
"Moryo. The Land of Demons." Jiraiya's brow furrowed.
He knew that legend. Long ago, Moryo's power birthed an immortal ghost army, and every nation suffered. Konoha and others had joined forces more than once to drive the phantoms back.
Two days ago, while peeking at the bathhouse, he had received orders to go to the Land of Rain to investigate Akatsuki.
He weighed it, then chose. The sage's prophecies carried the world on their back, and Moryo had nearly brought that world to ruin before.
"I understand." Jiraiya formed hand signs to depart.
"Wait." The sage spoke again. "After the Land of Demons, go straight to the ruins of the ancient city of Roran. Find a Sand shinobi named Baizō and stop him from breaking the seal on the Dragon Vein."
Jiraiya paused. "The Dragon Vein seal that Minato set himself."
Dawn. Once his school bound clone stepped out, Naruto felt two strands of Sasuke's chakra head in different directions at different times.
So the Uchiha finally learned how to use shadow clones. Naruto smiled and slipped into the Mirror World. He opened the panel, tapped the Third Hokage's portrait, and appeared on the training ground.
Before the Third solidified, Naruto flicked several kunai from his pouch and seeded them around the field, then scattered shuriken to mark open ground.
The puppet body woke.
A blink.
Naruto vanished. The Third was swallowed by a burst of blinding yellow light.
"Congratulations. You have obtained Fire nature chakra."
"Congratulations. You have obtained training experience for Water Dragon Bullet."
Naruto considered the chimes. At full throttle with Flying Thunder God, the Third's puppet dropped instantly, yet the roll still did not grant Earth nature.
He called the panel again and tapped the Third a second time. Time for an experiment.
Same prep as before, but this time he waited. When the Third fully took form, Naruto lifted a single kunai.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique."
The Third flashed through seals. "Earth Style. Earth Flow Wall."
Flash.
"Congratulations. You have obtained training experience for Earth Dragon Bullet."
"Congratulations. You have obtained training experience for Telescope Technique."
At that last message, Naruto exited at once. As consciousness settled back into his body, he warped to the grove.
Sasuke was there, leaning on the slab and panting. Naruto walked over, expression flat. "You used shadow clones just to skip class"
Sasuke blinked. Before he could answer, Naruto's hands blurred. Two dozen clones popped into being.
Sasuke's eyes went wider still. Every clone began a different drill. Chakra molding. Footwork lines. Breath pacing. Marking trajectories. Nature change control. Notes and seals. Dozens of paths, all feeding back to one mind.
Understanding slammed home.
Now he knew why Naruto had looked at him like that yesterday. Now he knew the end of the sentence Naruto never finished.
This was how that jutsu was meant to be used.
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