"There's actually something like this?"
In front of the television, the ANBU and Chūnin were now stunned that anyone could clear the exam in such a short span of time.
Another ANBU added, "But the moment you remember they're Kakashi-senpai's subordinates, it suddenly makes a lot more sense."
"This isn't Genin level anymore. Breaking through in this little time—even a Chūnin would rarely manage it…"
Anko looked at the three figures on-screen.
Hanabi didn't have so much as a speck of dirt on her clothes; her whole figure radiated a flawless, picture-perfect image.
Naruto wasn't bad off either—her clothes were just a little rumpled and loose.
The Sasuke over there, though, was in far rougher shape. His spirit was high, but his clothes were torn to tatters—giving off a real "boroboro-da" vibe.
"As bedraggled as he looks, those two keeping pace at all is pretty impressive," Anko said.
[Mr. Block-of-Wood: actually miserable]
[Tch, so the Ninja Slayer is also a ninja, huh]
[What's that mean]
[The line before that was in Ninja Slayer's voice—domo, Ninja Slayer, desu]
[Namu-san, what manner of mercilessness is this. Mr. Block-of-Wood, truly miserable. That's how you say it]
[This flavor's authentic]
Without even knowing it, Sasuke had once again been thrown under the bus.
"A genius ninja of the Hyuga Clan, huh…"
In the original work there was once some notion of a "Hyuga Tennin"—that was a mistranslation, no such person actually exists; what it really meant was simply a genius ninja of the Hyuga Clan.
"Orochimaru's target… could it really be you?"
[And yet it isn't]
[Dying, Orochimaru's target is the most miserable one of the three]
The danmaku from there on was basically all just clowning on Sasuke, to the point that even Hanabi couldn't quite bear to look.
So… she happily went right on reading the danmaku.
"There was something this interesting going on earlier, huh…"
The picture, after Anko ordered the ANBU to go fetch the Third, switched back to an earlier point in time.
This time it cut to Naruto and Sasuke's training instead.
Thanks to the help of shadow clones, Naruto's Rasengan training was moving faster than in the original.
But after she'd cleared the water-balloon stage too, Naruto got "stuck" at the final "kneading the sphere" stage.
The Rasengan was originally meant to be used with one hand, but to master the jutsu Naruto had used her other hand to "assist the casting"—a bit of a cheat—and now she was stuck.
"Damn it, I'm just one step away…"
Naruto lay sprawled on the ground, panting.
"Why can't I get it to work?"
"No, you're already amazing."
Kushina was happy for Naruto.
Because by now, Naruto really was only one step away.
Just this last little bit, and Naruto would have truly mastered the Rasengan.
"But it's not enough—this last little bit, I'm definitely gonna—"
Naruto clenched her fist, stood up, and went right back to practicing.
"There's not much time left." And as she was now, she still wasn't strong enough.
In a fight, she still had to rely on the demon fox's power.
But… that wouldn't do.
If she didn't get stronger on her own, that wouldn't do!
"You're not gonna cut it like this!"
"Wuwaaah!"
Sasuke was sent flying by Hikari again.
This was easily the umpteenth time in the past two days that he'd been treated as a target and launched.
In Hikari's hands, Sasuke's resistance wasn't worth mentioning. And this was the happiest stretch of time Hikari had had.
Eat, sleep, beat up Sasuke—in the truest sense of the phrase.
But it wasn't as if Sasuke had made no progress.
The Enten couldn't form a complete sphere the way the Rasengan did, so unlike Naruto he didn't need to sustain the Rasengan's rotation—he only had to achieve that effect in a single "instant."
So Sasuke's Enten was only half as difficult as Naruto's task.
"Fuse the flame into taijutsu, then have it burst open the instant it strikes the enemy—it landed!"
Sasuke finally landed a hit on Hikari, and in that instant her whole body erupted into flame.
But then the joy drained from Sasuke's face.
Because the next moment, the Hikari before him turned out to be a substitution, and the real one appeared behind him, laying a kunai against his neck.
"Tch." Sasuke let out a sound of frustration.
"Your progress is obvious," Hikari said. "Anyway, just keep going like this from here. Take a rest for now."
"Right…"
They were the same age, yet Sasuke already understood Hikari's strength.
"Hikari-san." Sasuke asked, "Between you and someone like Kakashi—who's actually stronger?"
"Ka… Ka-what?" Hikari tilted her head.
"Uh, Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi—he should be pretty famous, right?" Whenever Sasuke met someone, they'd usually gasp something like "Konoha's Technician Kakashi."
But why did the person in front of him seem not to know him at all?
"It's no use asking me that. I'm not even a ninja." Hikari shrugged.
"Nani?!" Sasuke was shocked. "But your abilities—"
"Who says strong abilities mean you have to be a ninja?" Hikari's face was full of disdain. "If I told you that the condition for restoring your clan was that you'd never be able to be a ninja again—would you choose to keep being a ninja, or to restore your clan?"
With one sentence, Hikari sank Sasuke into silence.
It was a flat-out lose-lose question.
No matter which side he denied, something about it felt off for him.
"Live the way you like best. Whether or not you're a ninja has nothing to do with it."
She didn't like the Uchiha, but the thought that the Uchiha had already been wiped out, and that this person was the last survivor of the clan, stirred even Hikari to a small flicker of pity.
"But I…"
"This is something Hanabi said to me—live according to your own will. It sounds easy, but it's an incredibly hard thing to actually do."
"Ah, yeah. Hanabi… is really something."
That bold, unfettered character of hers, that carefree way she seemed to drift through life like it was all a game—to be able to live the way she did would surely be a beautiful thing.
"If you want revenge, then make sure of one thing—that this is something you want to do, not something other people have forced onto you." Hikari said.
"Revenge… of course that's my own affair."
—Could it be that one day, if I wanted to give up on revenge, someone would come slap me twice and tell me to go get my revenge after all?
No way that'd ever happen!
Besides, how could I ever give up on revenge!
"You seem awfully familiar with our Uchiha clan's techniques?" Something about it struck Sasuke as odd.
"Techniques, whatever—aren't they all pretty much the same?" Hikari stood up. "A lot of people have shown up here, so I should slip away too."
She'd beaten him to her heart's content, anyway.
Time for her to retreat.
"Hai. Thank you very much for looking after me."
Sasuke raised his head.
Sure, he couldn't beat her—but Sasuke figured that in front of a Genin, he was already plenty strong.
He felt like he was back in the game.