“What? Brother, why did you agree to him?”
Sasuke muttered unhappily.
Itachi merely smiled gently and said nothing.
As soon as Naruto returned to Hinata, he saw her covering her face with both hands and muttering to herself.
However, because she was speaking too softly and too quickly, he could not understand what she was saying.
“Hinata? What are you doing? Let’s eat.”
“Ah!”
Hinata was startled and hurriedly lowered her hands, panting as though she had just run two thousand meters.
“No, no, no, no, it’s nothing. I-I’m full. Let’s, let’s go!”
Hinata did not give Naruto a chance to argue.
She stood up, grabbed him, and started walking away, leaving Naruto completely confused.
“Hey! What’s going on? I’m not full yet.”
Hinata rarely showed such a forceful side.
Ignoring Naruto’s protests, she forcibly dragged him away.
Neither of them had anywhere in particular they wanted to go, so they simply walked through the bustling streets without any destination.
Yet they were both happy, enjoying this rare moment of peace.
That afternoon, Naruto walked Hinata to the entrance of the Hyuga Clan’s compound.
After declining Hinata’s invitation, he returned home alone.
The time they had spent on their date had been very enjoyable, but the moment Naruto returned home, his brows immediately furrowed.
“Kurama, tell me, what kind of agreement did Kakashi and Itachi actually make?”
Naruto lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and muttering to himself.
He had never expected the Nine-Tails to answer this question, but the next moment, Kurama’s voice rang out in Naruto’s mind.
“No matter what agreement they made, I can’t sense any malice from those two men. They’re dangerous, but for now, they can still be trusted.”
“Malice? Right. Sensing malice is one of your abilities too.”
Naruto gave a bitter smile and opened the scroll Itachi had given him.
Written on the scroll was none other than Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
“Fire Release? My chakra nature is Wind. It won’t be easy to learn Fire Release. Itachi really gave me a difficult problem…”
Naruto had practically learned the Wind Release techniques Kakashi taught him after only looking at them once, but he had no confidence when it came to Fire Release.
Moreover, if Naruto wanted to challenge Itachi, the few ninjutsu he currently knew were completely insufficient.
Thinking about all this immediately made Naruto feel a pain in his stomach.
“Damn it! Kakashi, you bastard! You didn’t have to do anything, so why did you have to meddle in my business? In the end, you even forced me to work hard! Ah! You bastard!”
Naruto angrily rolled around on his bed while shouting loudly.
This was all Kakashi’s fault.
If Kakashi had not made some kind of agreement with Itachi, the whole Tsukuyomi incident would never have happened, and Naruto would not have to work so hard trying to figure out a solution.
The more Naruto thought about it, the angrier he became.
In the end, he even grabbed his own hair and pulled hard.
But after calming down, he could only accept reality.
After all, going crazy and getting angry could not solve the problem.
The next day, Naruto and Kakashi once again arrived at their usual training ground.
Kakashi, who was walking ahead, stopped first and turned around, just about to explain the day’s training when Naruto spoke before him.
“Big Brother Kakashi, I want to learn ninjutsu! Stronger ninjutsu! Can you teach me?”
Kakashi’s body stiffened.
His eyes widened, and his face was filled with disbelief.
“Naruto, y-you… what’s wrong with you? Are you sick? Or did you pick up something dirty from the ground and eat it? Why are you suddenly talking nonsense?”
Kakashi knew Naruto’s personality all too well.
To him, hearing Naruto ask to learn ninjutsu was even more outrageous than hearing that Naruto was going to get married at six years old.
Yet now, he had actually heard it with his own ears.
The corner of Naruto’s mouth twitched, and he nearly vomited blood from anger.
But since he was asking Kakashi for a favor, he could only suppress the urge to vomit blood and look Kakashi in the eyes with an extremely sincere expression.
“I’m serious. Please! Big Brother Kakashi! I want to learn Wind Release and Fire Release!”
Naruto solemnly bowed to Kakashi, but his fists were already clenched so tightly that they cracked, his nails nearly digging into his flesh.
[Damn it! Kakashi, you bastard, you must be deliberately trying to piss me off! If it weren’t for challenging Itachi, if it weren’t for getting rid of the Nine-Tails’ Tsukuyomi, why would I ever want to learn ninjutsu? Just you wait! Just you wait! Ahhh! One day, I’ll beat you until you call me Daddy!]
Naruto was practically roaring inside his heart, and only then did Kakashi suddenly understand.
‘I see.
He wants to get rid of the Nine-Tails’ Tsukuyomi?
No wonder he was able to master the Nine-Tails’ chakra so quickly.
So he had already communicated with the Nine-Tails.
But the key to Tsukuyomi is with me.
What’s the use of challenging Itachi?
Still, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!’
Thinking of this, Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
“Alright. Since you’re so sincere, I’ll reluctantly teach you. However, your chakra nature is Wind, so learning Fire Release won’t be easy. Usually, only jonin can master two chakra natures.”
“I’ll work hard!”
Naruto gritted his teeth as he said this.
His eyes looked as though they wanted to devour Kakashi alive, but Kakashi did not care about any of that.
What mattered was that Naruto was finally willing to work hard.
“Good. Then let’s begin!”
Three months later…
Naruto and Kakashi stood in the middle of a lake, facing each other.
Both of them wore serious expressions, without their usual playful attitudes.
During these three months, Naruto had worked diligently every single day, thoroughly shocking Kakashi.
He had never imagined that once Naruto became serious, he could go this far.
Today, Naruto had challenged Kakashi to a fight because Itachi would return from his mission tomorrow.
Naruto planned to challenge Itachi then, so today he wanted to properly test his own strength.
“Then come at me, Naruto.”
Kakashi drew the sword from his back, and lightning immediately flickered across the blade.
Naruto pulled a kunai from his leg pouch.
The next moment, the surface of the water beneath Naruto exploded, and using the splashing water to conceal himself, he charged toward Kakashi.
Kakashi moved at the same time.
Clang!
The two appeared at the same moment, accompanied by the piercing sound of metal colliding.
Lightning flashed and scattered from Kakashi’s sword, but it could not travel through the kunai and reach Naruto because the surface of Naruto’s kunai was covered by a very thin, transparent layer.
This was highly concentrated Wind-nature chakra, making it almost impossible for ordinary lightning to break through.
“Oh? You came up with a countermeasure against Lightning Release? Interesting idea, but your taijutsu is still too weak!”
Kakashi suddenly changed the direction of his force and flipped his sword upward.
The kunai immediately flew out of Naruto’s hand.
Naruto was startled and tried to grab the kunai again, but it was already too late.
“Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!”
The water beneath Naruto’s feet began to swell.
Immediately afterward, a water dragon emerged from the lake, opening its massive mouth as it lunged toward Naruto.
Naruto could only abandon the kunai and quickly form hand seals.
“Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!”