"Late…" Sakura-chan said in a tired voice, noting that we'd already been waiting for Kakashi-sensei at the training ground for fifteen minutes.
"As always…" I nodded, just as pissed off.
"…"
Sasuke sat there with his eyes closed, calm as ever, but his body language gave him away - he was just as annoyed by Kakashi's habit of showing up late.
In the end, we decided not to wait and started training on our own. As usual, we began with taijutsu - nothing serious, just a light warm-up before the real thing. Another fifteen minutes passed, and then, miraculously, Kakashi-sensei showed up. Honestly, I expected him to be an hour late. Maybe two. Glad I was wrong.
"Yo. Looks like you're doing just fine without me," he said, standing on a thick tree branch, watching us.
'How long has he been there?' I wondered. 'Wouldn't surprise me if he showed up on time and we just didn't notice.'
"About time you showed up, Kakashi-sensei!" I called out, stopping my exchange with Sasuke. My shadow clone, who had been sparring with Sakura, dispersed in a puff of smoke.
"Didn't want to waste time and decided to warm up? Not bad." he said, jumping down and walking over.
"Yep! So, what are you teaching us today, sensei?" I asked.
"Hmmm… Honestly? Not sure." Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "You're already pretty strong for fresh academy graduates. You could hold your own against most chunins."
"I doubt that applies to me…" Sakura-chan muttered, sounding a bit down.
"You're right, Sakura-chan." Kakashi said calmly. "Naruto and Sasuke have improved a lot, and their teamwork is already at a decent level. But I see how hard you've been training. If you keep it up, you'll catch up to them."
I was about to jump in and say something, but Kakashi beat me to it.
"I'll do my best!" Sakura straightened up immediately - his words hit exactly where they needed to.
"But still… what should I teach you…" Kakashi muttered to himself.
"Kakashi-sensei, I've got a question." I decided to take the opportunity and steer things where I needed.
"Oh? I'm listening, Naruto. You've been having some good ideas lately," he said, eyeing me with interest.
'Is he serious? Did he actually come here without a traning plan?' I thought.
"You said we're strong for genins. But we were completely helpless against Haku. I could barely keep up with how fast he was! And it wasn't just me - even Sasuke got turned into a pincushion, and he had the Sharingan!" I pointed at the Uchiha teammate.
"Tch…" Sasuke clicked his tongue but didn't argue with my statement. He knew I wasn't wrong.
"That boy with the Ice Release was a special case," Kakashi explained. "Haku surrounded you with ice mirrors and combined it with a high-speed movement technique. That's why you couldn't keep up. Even the Sharingan won't help if your body can't match your opponent's speed."
"Then maybe you could teach us a movement technique too? So we're not easy targets next time?" I pushed.
"Hmmm… Not a bad idea. Like I said, Naruto - your head's starting to work properly. Keep it up," Kakashi smiled and ruffled my hair.
"Hey!" I protested, swatting his hand away.
"Alright, then I'll teach you the Body Flicker Technique (Shunshin no Jutsu). It's based on instantly concentrating chakra in your legs and muscles to create explosive acceleration, fast enough to become invisible to the naked eye. It's not teleportation - just extremely high-speed movement in a straight line. The advantage is obvious: you can instantly close or create distance and catch your opponent off guard. But it has serious drawbacks. During the dash, your perception might not keep up with your body, leaving you open to counterattacks. And without precise chakra control, you'll either fall short… or crash straight into something at full speed. To use it effectively, you need to sync your reaction speed with your chakra output. Otherwise, the technique is more dangerous to you than your enemy."
We listened diligently. It was obvious to all of us - this technique could be a game changer.
"You don't need hand seals for Shunshin." Kakashi continued. "Just gather the right amount of chakra and direct it properly. Like this…"
In an instant, he vanished from our sight and reappeared right behind us.
After the explanation and demonstration, we started practicing.
As expected, Sakura-chan was the first to get it down. With her excellent chakra control, she figured out the basics quickly. But it wasn't perfect. Kakashi pointed out three major weaknesses:
First - activation time. She needed a few seconds to gather chakra in right place.
Second - distance. Her body couldn't handle long bursts yet. Her current limit was about five meters.
And third - stamina. Her chakra reserves were low. She could use Shunshin five or six times at most. After that, she'd start breathing heavily and slow down significantly.
As for me and Sasuke, we were back to learning the hard way - trial and error. We also used shadow clones during training.
Sasuke figured it out faster than I did, even though I had way more clones helping me. The reason was simple - the Sharingan. He watched both my attempts and Sakura's, breaking down the mechanics as he went.
With his chakra reserves and physical advantage, he could use Shunshin over longer distances and more times - around twenty times. Kakashi praised him for his talent and balance sense, but still told him to keep up practicing if he wanted to use it effectively in real combat.
I only managed to grasp the Body Flicker near the very end of the session, after three exhausting hours. I didn't have any natural talent for this, and my massive chakra reserves made control way worse than Sasuke's or Sakura's. Every attempt ended the same way - I either tripped mid-burst or slammed into a tree at full speed. It hurt like hell.
So I brute-forced it. Stamina, persistence, and a small army of shadow clones. I made a hundred of them and kept going - trial, error, pain, repeat! By the end of the day, I finally got the hang of it… more or less on Sakura-chan's level. I still needed a couple seconds to focus before activating it, and my control issues didn't magically disappear, but I could cover much longer distances and spam it almost endlessly. It honestly felt like I didn't have a limit. My chakra was recovering faster than I could burn it.
With training over, Kakashi-sensei praised us and casually dropped that tomorrow we'd be back to D-rank missions. Not gonna lie - that annoyed me. Time was the one resource we couldn't afford to waste. But I kept that to myself. I already planned to keep training in the evenings with Sasuke and Sakura anyway.
"I think we did pretty well today. That technique is seriously useful," Sakura-chan said once Kakashi left.
Sasuke just gave a short nod.
"Yeah, but we've got a long way to go before we can actually use Shunshin properly in a fight," I added.
"So… what now? It's still early. Maybe we could grab something to eat?" Sakura suggested.
"I'm out." Sasuke answered coldly and turned to leave without another word.
Sakura's expression immediately fell down.
"Hey. Where do you think you're going?" I grabbed him before he could take another step.
"What the hell are you doing, Naruto?!" he snapped, clearly caught off guard, trying to shake me off.
"You're part of the team. That means you don't just show up for missions and training - you stick around for everything else too. So deal with it."
He relaxed a little after hearing that, though he still pretended to struggle. Yeah… He was a 100% tsundere.
"So? Where to, Sakura-chan?" I asked, turning him toward her with a grin.
"Umm… maybe we could walk around first, then find somewhere to eat?" she suggested, while smiling.
"Let go of me, idiot," Sasuke muttered.
"Fine. But if you run away, I'm done training with you," I warned before releasing him.
"Tch…" He clicked his tongue, but stayed.
Walking through the busy streets of Konoha, I couldn't shake that familiar feeling. The looks. The whispers. People keeping their distance like I was something contagious. Sakura noticed it - she looked confused, like she didn't understand what was going on. Sasuke just looked annoyed. As for me… it was the usual.
'Yeah… maybe this wasn't the best idea,' I thought.
"Oh! Sakura and… Sasuke-kun!" a familiar voice called out.
I turned and saw Ino from the Yamanaka clan. She wasn't alone - her teammates were with her, along with their sensei, Asuma Sarutobi. The moment she spotted Sasuke, she made a beeline straight for us.
"Ino?" Sakura looked surprised to see her.
Sasuke, on the other hand, shot me an irritated look. I didn't even need to guess what he was thinking: "This is your fault."
"Sorry," I muttered under my breath. Still… seeing him annoyed like that was kinda funny. So sorry, not actually sorry.
"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun? Is Forehead bothering you again? Don't worry, I'll protect you from her." Ino teased with a smirk.
"Ino…" Sakura clenched her fists, clearly trying not to take the bait.
'…Okay, yeah. This is getting entertaining,' I thought, watching the usual clash begin.
"Oh, Team Seven. Where's your sensei?" Asuma asked as he walked up with Shikamaru and Choji.
"Kakashi-sensei left right after the end of our training. Said he had something to take care of," I answered calmly.
"I see… My team just wrapped up training too," Asuma said.
"Yep! Asuma-sensei promised to treat us if we worked hard!" Choji added, munching on chips. No surprises there - food was his main motivation.
"Yeah… had to work pretty hard not to drown," Shikamaru muttered tiredly.
'Sounds like they were practicing Water Walking Jutsu.' I figured.
"What about you? Learn anything from Kakashi, or is he still slacking off?" Asuma asked.
"Oh, you know him well." I grinned. "He's not exactly enthusiastic about teaching us, but we found a way to motivate him."
"I see…" Asuma gave me a thoughtful look.
"…Who are you, and what did you do with the real Naruto?" Shikamaru stared at me, clearly confused. Guess in his head I was still that loud, dumb kid.
"I grew up, Shikamaru. Becoming Hokage isn't just some childish dream anymore - it's a goal I'm moving toward." I said with a confident smile.
"…Hey, Sakura. What happened to Naruto? Did he hit his head or something?" I heard Ino whisper a few seconds later.
"Um… it might sound strange, but Naruto really has changed a lot." Sakura replied.
"No way… so it's not just his clothes?" I could feel Ino sizing me up anew.
"A good goal, Naruto," Asuma said. "How about we all grab a bite together?"
"If you're paying, I'd be an idiot to say no," I shot back with a grin.
"…Heh. Fine. This one's on me," Asuma sighed, already regretting it.
So we headed to a yakiniku place. Grills built into the tables, raw meat, sauces, spices - the whole deal. The atmosphere was lively, even with some tension here and there: Sasuke and Sakura barely tolerated Ino, Shikamaru kept quietly observing me, and Asuma was probably crying inside once he realized how much this was going to cost him. Meanwhile, Choji and I had our own little rivalry going - over food. Honestly, I spent a good time.
An hour later, we left the restaurant and parted ways with Team 10. After wandering around Konoha a bit more, we decided to head home and meet again in the evening for more training. Sasuke didn't mind at all - obsessed with getting stronger, he was ready to spend pretty much all his free time training. Sakura, on the other hand, wasn't quite on that level. She wanted to improve, sure, but not to the point of grinding nonstop. Still, she didn't object, cuz she didn't want to fall even further behind.
When I got home, I took a shower and let myself rest for a while. My body could handle a lot, but even I knew when to stop pushing it. Sometimes, you just need to recover. A few hours passed, evening rolled in, and after a quick stretch, I headed toward the Uchiha district.
That evening, we went back to taijutsu. During my spar with Sasuke, that bastard decided to use Shunshin mid-fight.
I got destroyed...
Before, I could at least keep up, block some hits, stay in the fight. But once he started weaving Body Flicker into his style, it was like I was getting torn apart. It honestly felt like he'd reached Haku's level of speed and that was… unsettling.
Even so, I kept going. Every time I hit the ground, I forced myself back up and kept fighting. At one point, Sakura tried to intervene, worried about me, but one of my shadow clones stopped her and convinced her it was fine.
After the spar, once I'd caught my breath, I went all-in on practicing Shunshin. I couldn't afford to fall behind Sasuke. I didn't neglect my other techniques either - I kept working on everything at the same time.
The day ended like usual. I got home and crashed immediately - I was completely drained. This time, I'd pushed myself way harder, using far more shadow clones than before. Physically, I was fine… but mentally, I needed the rest.
As I closed my eyes, a small smile formed on my face.
One thought lingered in my mind: "I'll handle it."
**Author's Note: Hope u enjoy the chapter!