Page 20
Page 20
In just one night, he glanced at Sasuke, who was still immersed in shock, and thought to himself that this kid had indeed not disappointed him.
Itachi contributed so much right from his first appearance...
On the screen, the dream continues to unfold slowly.
Naruto and Kushina had already arrived at the entrance of the Uchiha mansion.
"Sasuke, congratulations!"
Kushina called out from afar, her face beaming with a cheerful smile.
She took Naruto's hand and walked forward, warmly greeting the two boys at the door.
In the dream, Sasuke Uchiha was standing proudly at the door, helping to greet the guests. When he saw Kushina and Naruto, his usually reserved face broke into a rare smile: "Aunt Kushina! Naruto, you've come."
Standing beside him, Itachi Uchiha smiled and nodded, "Aunt Kushina, it's been a long time."
Itachi's voice was clear and polite, and his gaze was gentle. "Naruto is here too. Welcome."
"Don't mention it!" Kushina waved her hand cheerfully. "How could we not come on such an important day?"
As they were speaking, Itachi and Sasuke came to greet them.
Itachi bowed slightly and greeted Kushina warmly: "Mother is still inside greeting guests. Hearing that Aunt Kushina was coming, she prepared your favorite osmanthus rice cakes well in advance."
……
……
The next morning, the sun rose.
Naruto arrived at the training ground where Team 7 of Konoha Village was assembled, humming a little tune.
He was in high spirits; the happy moments from his dream last night were still lingering in his mind, making him involuntarily smile.
Good morning!
Naruto waved from afar, greeting Sasuke and Sakura who were already there.
However, before he could finish speaking, he was met not with a friendly response.
Sasuke suddenly turned around, his dark eyes fixed on Naruto.
"Naruto……"
He suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt, and slammed the stunned Naruto against the tree trunk!
"S-Sasuke?!"
Naruto was startled by the other party's sudden action.
"What are you doing--"
"what?"
Sasuke's face darkened, and he growled through gritted teeth, "I also want to ask you what good things you've done!"
Naruto was completely bewildered: "I...I didn't do anything!"
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, looking completely innocent.
In fact, his mind was a complete mess.
What's wrong with Sasuke so early in the morning?
Why did they suddenly come up to me and cause trouble for no reason?
He thought to himself that he had been training all day yesterday and hadn't offended Sasuke.
"Stop, Sasuke!"
Kakashi appeared beside the two of them without them noticing. He grabbed Sasuke and forcefully pulled him away from Naruto.
"Calm down, what do you want to do?"
Sasuke's chest heaved violently, but Kakashi stopped him. He didn't continue, but instead forcefully shook off Kakashi's hand and angrily turned his face away.
After being rescued, Naruto realized that a thin layer of sweat had formed on his forehead.
He rubbed his wrinkled collar, somewhat bewildered, and muttered under his breath, "Kakashi-sensei, is Sasuke alright? He seems like a completely different person..."
Kakashi raised his hand to signal Naruto to calm down, then turned to Sasuke.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, awkwardly averting his gaze, refusing to look at Naruto and Kakashi.
Kakashi sighed and said helplessly, "Sasuke, I understand how you feel. But you should also be able to sense that many things in that dream are not things that Naruto himself can know."
He paused, then continued with extreme caution, "In other words, although Naruto was the main character in last night's dream, the person who created that dream may not have been Naruto."
Sasuke shuddered at these words and abruptly looked up at Kakashi: "You mean..."
In fact, after calming down, he understood the strangeness of the matter.
The location of the former Uchiha stronghold, details of the father and mother's relationship...
These things are definitely not something Naruto could have imagined out of thin air.
Moreover, Naruto was also part of the dream, and in many places his reactions seemed as if he was unaware of it beforehand.
Reason told Sasuke that Naruto might truly be innocent.
But when he thought that the pain of hope and despair he felt last night originated from Naruto's dream, he couldn't help but take his anger out on Naruto.
Hearing Kakashi's words, he finally calmed down a bit, his fist slowly loosened, and the fierce light in his eyes faded.
Naruto, listening from the side, was confused: "Wait, wait, Kakashi-sensei, what dream protagonist? What is this that I can't possibly know? What are you guys talking about?"
He scratched his head, looking puzzled.
He only remembered having a wonderful dream last night, but the conversation between Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke sounded like they had also seen his dream.
How can this be?
Kakashi turned around and said gently to Naruto, "Naruto, you don't need to ask too many questions about this, and don't think about it too much for now."
He patted Naruto on the shoulder, signaling him to relax, "Anyway, Sasuke was just acting on impulse, so don't take it too seriously."
Naruto blinked, even more confused, but seeing Kakashi's serious expression, he could only nod, chin in hand, eyes narrowed, and a hint of understanding in his voice: "Oh..."
He's been in a good mood lately, and he's too lazy to think about such complicated issues.
Seeing that the two had calmed down, Kakashi pondered for a moment and announced, "Today's mission is canceled. You'll have a day off. Go back and rest."
"What?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, "Why are we suddenly on holiday?"
“That’s right, Kakashi-sensei—” Sakura chimed in, sounding puzzled.
Kakashi waved his hand.
"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, you should all go back and adjust your condition."
"Humph."
Sasuke snorted coldly, turned his back first, put his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the woods.
He is currently filled with frustration and pain, and just wants to be alone.
Since Kakashi said that Naruto was unaware of the situation, he didn't want to see Naruto's face again and provoke him.
So I took the opportunity to leave.
“Sasuke, you…” Sakura looked at Sasuke’s resolute departing figure and couldn’t help but take a step forward, but in the end she didn’t have the courage to chase after him. She could only watch helplessly as he disappeared into the shadows.
Seeing Sasuke walk away, Kakashi turned to Sakura and said gently, "Sakura, don't worry about Sasuke. It's better to let him calm down. You've worked hard too, go back and rest early."
“Teacher, but…” Sakura wanted to say something more, but in the end she nodded obediently and said, “I understand.”
Although the impact of last night's dream wasn't as great as Sasuke's, it was still quite shocking for her.
Giving her a day off to sort things out and process things properly might not be a bad thing.
Soon, Sakura also said goodbye and left.
Seeing that everyone had left, Naruto could only scratch his head, looking completely bewildered, and went off to practice his ninjutsu.
Chapter 23 Erzhuzi: I Won't Be Fooled by Dreams
Konoha Village training ground.
The midday sun was scorching and blinding.
Naruto gritted his teeth, holding an orange rubber ball in both hands, and tried his best to inject chakra into it.
The ball's skin bulged and deformed, but showed no signs of breaking.
Sweat beaded on Naruto's forehead, and his arms ached from the long hours of intense training.
"hateful!"
Naruto cursed under his breath and suddenly increased the flow of chakra.
However, the rubber ball only trembled slightly before returning to its original state.
He was breathing heavily, and his arms were trembling slightly.
Before I knew it, I had been practicing for several hours.
Rubber balls... are much more difficult to handle than the water balls we used to have!
Naruto recalled the first step his father taught him in his dream yesterday: to use chakra to stir the inside of the water sphere until it exploded.
He mastered that stage quickly, but now it's time for the second step.
He tried to condense and compress chakra to a higher density to crush the rubber ball—but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't succeed.
"Drink!"
Naruto roared again, unwilling to give up, and squeezed in the last bit of chakra.
But in the end, with a soft thud, the ball in his hand was intact, while Naruto himself collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
With his hands on the ground, Naruto gasped for breath, feeling dizzy and his arms aching and numb as if they didn't belong to him.
He collapsed onto the grass, dejected, and stared blankly at the sky.
"Damn it... why is it still not working?"
aircannonsinc