Chapter 124: Ending (I): Sasuke's Path
Sakura rolled her eyes at Kakashi and then explained, "We're not interested, Kakashi-sensei!"
"We've been doing a mission every other day recently, but the last Land of Snow mission dragged on for too long. Now that we're back, we've decided to rest for a while and not take any missions for the time being. We'll look for a suitable mission next week, so—"
"So if Kakashi-sensei is leading the team, don't bother us with any missions below B-rank! The time spent on those low-level tasks is better used for training!" Sasuke followed up. "Hmph, my strength is still too weak. I only just managed to catch up to Sakura's pace a while ago, and now I've been left behind by her again on this mission!"
Kakashi gave a sheepish laugh. "Do you want another special training session like the one for the Raikiri? But I don't have many more ninjutsu or training methods that can make your strength skyrocket in a short period of time!"
"Hn? That's not it," Sasuke looked at Kakashi with surprise, not quite understanding his sudden offer of special training. But he was no longer the impatient brat who was anxious to improve his strength. "I don't need that kind of special training for now. What I need to do now is to strengthen my basic training and solidify my foundation. Otherwise, learning any more powerful ninjutsu would be like building a castle in the air."
Kakashi was stunned for a moment. What on earth happened to these kids during this time? Even the usually awkward Sasuke has become so sensible!
Speaking of which, during the Land of Snow mission, it wasn't just Sakura who had made huge gains.
With the help of the footage recorded by Asama Takehiko's high-speed camera, both Sasuke and Naruto had gained a comprehensive understanding of the problems, defects, and loopholes in their combat. Especially Naruto, who had finally discovered his own reckless and rash bad habits in battle.
After returning to Konoha, in the past two days of training, Sakura could clearly feel that Naruto and Sasuke had become much more difficult to deal with: their punches and kicks had become more concise and powerful, no longer overly wide and open in pursuit of power, which had instead exposed their weaknesses.
Because their movements and tactics had become more concise and effective, their openings and loopholes had also been greatly reduced. On the surface, there was no obvious improvement in the two's strength, but Sakura dared to say that if the them of before and the them of now were to have a duel, then there was an eighty percent or higher probability that their former selves would lose.
Not only that, after accepting the girl's suggestion—to use ninjutsu as much as possible in daily life to train their chakra control—although Naruto was still a bit clueless at present, Sasuke had gradually discovered the benefits of doing so, and his chakra control had indeed improved significantly.
Influenced by Sakura, Sasuke was now also very interested in this practice of specializing in one high-level ninjutsu and then continuously upgrading it.
His target was the Chidori.
The Chidori was the initial version developed by Kakashi. It was so named because when the lightning-natured chakra gathered in the hand, it would make a loud sound, like the chirping of a thousand birds.
As Sakura had complained, the huge noise of the Chidori originated from the restless lightning-natured chakra, which was a consequence of the caster's lack of control over this ninjutsu. Therefore, above the Chidori, there was also the Raikiri. The Raikiri required the caster to calmly cover their palm with lightning-natured chakra, making it ripple like the surface of a lake, without making too much noise.
Lightning-natured chakra was in itself an extremely active type of chakra. To concentrate a large amount of it in the palm of one hand was already extremely difficult. On top of that, to make the chakra completely calm down was even harder than climbing to the heavens.
Before the Land of Snow mission, Sasuke had only mastered the Raikiri after arduous practice.
He had thought that what Sakura had said, "the lightning's glow is as tranquil as a calm lake, rippling but not stirred," was already the limit. But after his chakra control had improved once again after the Land of Snow mission, this ninjutsu in his hands had broken through the limit again, reaching the supreme realm of "as tranquil as an ancient well, as nimble as a gurgling stream."
—Although Sakura's evaluation was a forced parallel for the sake of neatness, Sasuke felt that it was quite fitting.
Taming the unruly lightning-natured chakra to the point of being able to command it as if it were an extension of his own limbs, when the faint blue lightning glow quietly shone on the black-haired youth's face, under the Sharingan, the lightning-natured chakra flowed as clearly and nimbly as running water. Sasuke suddenly had a taste of the feeling Sakura usually had when she used ninjutsu—a wonderful illusion of being able to control everything, as if he were a god.
Of course, he was still far from Sakura's realm, and there was no need to painstakingly practice to reach that state. After being on the same team as Sakura for a year, Sasuke had gradually realized that some people are just born with cheats. There's no need to compare yourself to her, or you'll just anger yourself to death...
At the same time, this little pretty boy who liked to put on a poker face also gradually realized the importance of so-called basic training. Without a sufficiently solid foundation, learning any more powerful ninjutsu would be a waste. On the contrary, with his excellent chakra control skills, without needing to learn more powerful ninjutsu, he could delve deeper into the ninjutsu Kakashi had taught him on his own, evolving it from the Chidori to the Raikiri. And in the future, he would further develop and evolve it, turning it into an even more powerful ninjutsu!
Yes, the Raikiri had only just tamed the lightning-natured chakra. It was still far from the extreme of lightning nature transformation, let alone bringing shape transformation to its extreme like the Rasengan.
Just the subsequent development of this one ninjutsu, the Raikiri, would be enough for him to use for three or four years. And in the process, as his mastery of lightning nature transformation further improved, the degree of his physical activation also became higher, and his speed and strength were also constantly increasing!
This was a broad, open road. Countless people had walked this path and had proven its feasibility. For example, the White Fang of Konoha, and the successive Raikage, were all outstanding among lightning-style ninja, powerful figures of their time.
When Sasuke thought of this, his heart felt a fiery heat.
The power and astonishing potential of the Lightning Style ninjutsu had shown him the path of the future, had become his own goal. And after the tedious basic training had been proven to be an effective means of increasing the power of the Lightning Style, this youth, who strongly craved growth, began to no longer blindly covet powerful ninjutsu, but to walk towards his own goal with his feet on the ground, truly embarking on the ninja path that belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.
Kakashi, of course, did not know that his proud disciple had recently had such a mental journey.
However, for Sasuke to become more mature was also something he had always hoped to see.
"He's no longer the brat he used to be!" Kakashi thought to himself, a hint of gratification hidden deep in his eyes.
What was the Sasuke of the past like?
The first impression that came to Kakashi's mind was the cool, poker-faced youth from just after graduating from the academy, and the way his composure was broken by the other two members of Team 7, making exaggerated expressions: for example, the veins on his forehead bulging from being angered by the dumb and cute yellow-haired boy, or being teased by the pink-haired loli until he tried hard not to laugh but finally burst out laughing.
That sensitive and impatient youth, obsessed with revenge, craving strength, making one worry that he would slide into darkness.
He didn't know when he had grown up.
Kakashi felt from the bottom of his heart that ninja like Naruto and Sakura were indeed extremely infectious and influential.
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