The response Natsuki received was an incredibly passionate kiss from Tenten.
Mhm, it was that familiar meat bun flavor again—Tenten never seemed to get tired of it, and neither did Natsuki. In fact, the more, the better.
Tenten didn't bother saying thank you—she used her kiss to express her feelings instead. Perhaps, in her heart, her boyfriend really could do anything, and she loved and admired him so much for that.
The shop owner originally wanted to call the two of them over to help, but after glancing at the scene, he silently turned around and left.
These two kids were getting bolder and bolder. They didn't even care that he, the father, was home. Maybe it was time to let Tenten move into Natsuki's place... but he couldn't bear to part with his daughter yet.
Besides, Tenten was only thirteen, barely into her teenage years. It didn't feel quite right.
"Sigh... hurry up and grow up already. Once you're older, get married and give me a chubby grandson, then I'll stop bothering you guys…"
Thankfully, Natsuki and Tenten didn't stay in the room for long. They soon came out, laughing and helping arrange the ninja tools, sparing the shop owner too much strain. But once they were done, the shop owner shooed them away.
He just couldn't stand the sight of those two anymore.
So, Natsuki and Tenten went to Shino's house. After delivering a chakra battery to Shino, they left with a basketful of leafy greens and a basketful of pumpkin vines—Shino's mother's enthusiasm was truly overwhelming.
After dropping off the vegetables at home, the two of them headed off to find Kakashi. Once again, it was that familiar rocky training area.
As they approached, they heard the sounds of battle. Looking toward the source, they saw Naruto and Sasuke going at it.
Naruto had created two shadow clones to help him form a Rasengan and was charging at Sasuke. But Sasuke, completely unflustered, used his Lightning Body Flicker to dodge effortlessly, not even bothering to clash head-on.
When he appeared behind Naruto, he raised his hand and pressed it against him, unleashing a surge of lightning chakra that zapped Naruto, leaving him scorched inside and out.
It seemed Sasuke's control over Lightning Nature chakra was becoming more refined. Natsuki wondered how Sasuke's development of Chidori Eikyou (Chidori Sharp Spear) was progressing.
"That's enough! Sasuke wins!" Kakashi announced, his tone matter-of-fact.
Sakura immediately cheered, "Yay! I knew Sasuke-kun was the strongest!"
Sasuke merely glanced at her, saying nothing, and silently reached out to pull Naruto up. In Sasuke's eyes, Naruto was more useful than Sakura. Even though she had started learning medical ninjutsu, she hadn't been studying for long, and her actual combat ability was still weak—she had clearly fallen behind.
In fact, Sakura's medical ninjutsu wasn't much to speak of at all.
Sure, she had a talent for chakra control, but unlike in the original timeline—where Sakura resolved to learn medical ninjutsu after losing Sasuke, driven by pain and struggle to strengthen herself and seek Tsunade's mentorship—here, she was just feeling a little useless in the team and decided to give medical ninjutsu a try. Her determination wasn't as strong as in the original story, and she hadn't even gone so far as to cut her hair in a dramatic show of resolve. Instead, she still spent a lot of time on her appearance.
Add to that the fact she was only receiving basic instruction from standard medical-nin, her progress was naturally limited.
To put it bluntly—she was way behind Kato Megumi!
Yet, Sakura seemed completely unaware of this, which made Sasuke look down on her even more.
"Damn it! One day, I'm going to defeat you, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted boldly while gripping Sasuke's hand.
"Hmph, you'll never win!" Sasuke smirked, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
Ah, indeed... Naruto and Sasuke were the true love story. Sakura was just the third wheel.
Natsuki really wanted to post the photo he'd taken of this iconic scene for everyone to see, to commemorate this undeniable love. But considering Sasuke might hunt him down for it, he decided to hold back.
Kakashi glanced over and smirked. "You two lovebirds aren't off hiding somewhere to make out... What are you doing here, sprinkling your sugar on the battlefield?"
"Natsuki, Tenten, what brings you here?" Naruto quickly waved at them, while Sasuke and Sakura also nodded in greeting.
Natsuki pulled out two chakra batteries and tossed them to Kakashi and Sasuke. "Here. I spent a month inside the house to get these done. Let me explain… blah blah blah… Anyway, that's the gist of it. When fully charged, the battery holds about half of my chakra. I'll have to find a way to increase the capacity in the future."
Kakashi and Sasuke had both been excited while listening, but by the end, they were speechless.
Sasuke couldn't help but ask, "Natsuki, how much chakra do you even have? Even half of your chakra is way more than what I have. And you think the battery's capacity is too small?"
Kakashi just rolled his eyes.
As a chakra hog himself, he didn't have the right to complain. Even filling one of those battery symbols with his own chakra might take forever.
Naruto and Sakura were a bit lost, not quite following what was going on. They had no idea what agreement Natsuki, Sasuke, and Kakashi had reached, but they were clearly being left out.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you guys talking about? What's this chakra battery? What do you mean by 'half'?" Naruto shouted, utterly confused.
"Did I not explain it clearly enough?" Natsuki pointed at the battery in Kakashi's hand and said, "This is a chakra battery I made. It stores chakra. When you need it, you just connect it to your body, and you'll have extra chakra to use. Got it now?"
Naruto's eyes widened in realization, then he was stunned. "Natsuki, you actually made something like this?! That's amazing!"
Sakura also gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "Yeah! With something like a chakra battery, ninja who have low chakra reserves won't have to worry anymore. This is a revolutionary invention, Natsuki!"
Natsuki simply shrugged. He didn't think it was some groundbreaking invention—it was just something he made for his girlfriend.
Tenten, on the other hand, looked incredibly proud. After all, her boyfriend was a genius!
Sasuke tried injecting chakra into the battery, but even after a long time, he couldn't light up a single symbol. He couldn't help but twitch his mouth and grumble, "Natsuki, tell me—exactly how much chakra do you have? This one battery holds only half your chakra, but I just poured almost all of mine in, and not even one symbol lit up!"
Kakashi, on the other hand, was quite satisfied. The bigger the battery capacity, the better!
As long as he charged it little by little in his free time, when it came time for battle, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of chakra. This was seriously nice!
Naruto, looking jealous, licked his lips and asked, "Natsuki, do you have any extra batteries? Can you give me one too?"
Before Natsuki could answer, Sasuke cut in, "In your dreams! Natsuki only gave Kakashi-sensei one because he provided the most help during the research. Even I have to pay for mine—why should you get one for free? Do you think this is Ichiraku Ramen, where you can just get a free bowl? This thing is expensive!"
"Expensive? How much does it cost, dattebayo?" Naruto asked nervously.
"Oh, it's not that expensive. Just ten million ryo at cost price," Natsuki said with a smile.
(End of Chapter)
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