From the night of genocide, marching towards the strongest.

Unfortunately, the students in this class were either too afraid to fight him or simply didn't want to.

In the end, only the guy lying on the ground kept relentlessly challenging himself.

"hateful...."

Naruto forced himself to stand up slowly, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and instead of rushing over shouting as usual, he began to carefully observe Sasuke's body, trying to find his weakness.

"Oh? You've learned your lesson? You didn't rush at me like you always do. Looks like all the beatings you've endured this past month weren't for nothing."

"Humph!"

Looking at Sasuke, who remained calm, Naruto was very displeased, but he still did not make any rash moves.

Sasuke glanced at him briefly before turning and leaving.

Naruto was stunned for a moment, then quickly shouted at Sasuke's back, "Damn it, what's wrong with you? I haven't lost yet!"

"I'm not fighting you anymore, it's pointless!"

"Are you scared of me? Have you given up? You bastard Sasuke!"

"Just consider it me admitting defeat."

Sasuke shrugged and said nonchalantly.

"Damn it, you bastard..."

Naruto was naturally not satisfied with this result and felt extremely frustrated. He was about to rush forward when he said that.

Sasuke suddenly turned around and gave him a cold look, the chill in his eyes making one feel as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

"Sasuke, you...."

Naruto had never seen Sasuke look at him like that before. For a moment, Naruto didn't know what to do and started stammering.

"To be honest, I'm very disappointed in you, Naruto." Sasuke looked into his eyes and said calmly, "In the past month, you haven't made any progress. While I was studying hard, you were sleeping in class. While I was training hard, you had the leisure to graffiti on the Hokage Rock. You have the courage to challenge me, but you haven't taken any action to prepare for it. In the end, you are just a giant in words and a dwarf in deeds."

"I......"

Naruto opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, so he swallowed the words back down.

"When you can use the time you spend sleeping in and playing pranks to cultivate yourself, then you can talk about challenging me."

Sasuke shook his head, ignoring Naruto's thoughts, and turned to leave.

Chapter 20 Sasuke: I need an opponent.

Sasuke was indeed very disappointed. When he first entered the Ninja Academy, or more accurately, he had high expectations for sparring with Naruto.

Although Naruto appears slow-witted and reckless in the original work, he is not a simple fool. In battle, he often comes up with many brilliant and unique tactics and ingenious ideas.

For example, the Naruto-Sasuke teamwork against Zabuza, the transformation technique strategy against Kiba Inuzuka, the surprise attack with the Shadow Clone Technique against Gaara, and the use of clones to lure the enemy against Kakuzu, created one classic tactic after another of defeating the stronger opponent with the weak.

Kakashi called him the ninja with the most unpredictability!

Sasuke didn't just want to use Naruto as a punching bag; he hoped that Naruto could demonstrate the amazing combat wisdom shown in the original story during their battles.

However, Sasuke was disappointed.

During this month of sparring, Naruto made no progress whatsoever, showed no fighting wisdom as depicted in the original story, and did not dedicate any time to private training.

Every time I sparred with him, I would rush in recklessly and be defeated instantly.

Failure is not terrible, but failing to learn from it, gain experience, and work harder, instead of continuing to act like someone who refuses to learn and loves to play pranks, is terrible.

This made Sasuke very annoyed.

Sasuke's admiration for Rock Lee isn't based on the original story or the entanglement between the two. Compared to the current Naruto, Sasuke admires Rock Lee, whom he saw back in school, even more!

Both Lee and Naruto were ostracized, isolated, and ridiculed, but Lee's current performance is much better than Naruto's.

His talent was mediocre, even extremely poor. He couldn't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, and he didn't even have any chakra attributes.

It is said that when God closes a door, he opens a window.

Just like Might Guy and his son, who were of average talent and not good at ninjutsu or genjutsu, they did have extremely high talent in taijutsu.

So Xiao Li's situation was like being locked out of a room and having his head caught in a window.

Many people believe that Rock Lee has exceptional physical talent, but that's not entirely true, at least not before he met Guy.

When Lee first entered the Ninja Academy, his grades in taijutsu were worse than others, and he was often the worst student in all subjects.

Rock Lee, a man who can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and whose taijutsu talent is inferior to others.

All he possessed was the burning passion to become a great ninja and the determination to work hard, work hard, and work even harder.

For ordinary people, effort may not always be rewarded, but without effort, there will be absolutely no reward.

Three years later, Lee's taijutsu surpassed that of ordinary people, making him the first student in the history of the Ninja Academy to graduate purely based on taijutsu.

Sasuke admires this kind of person, and even respects him.

He now desperately hopes that Naruto will also have the same determination and will as Rock Lee.

First, one becomes like the company one keeps.

If Sasuke has a hardworking and inspiring friend by his side, Sasuke will feel the pressure and develop a sense of self-discipline and mutual encouragement.

Secondly, he desperately needs an opponent right now!

He is very strong now. He has observed senior students and even some genin in the village without batting an eye.

He discovered that none of those guys were a match for him, even without activating his Sharingan.

Therefore, the so-called practical assessment at the Ninja Academy was like a child playing ninja games or making a fuss for him, and it did not increase his practical experience by 0!

The environment has a great influence on people. If this continues, Sasuke may become lax in the future, which is absolutely unacceptable for him now!

If it weren't for the Third Hokage and the others keeping such a close eye on him, he would be considering graduating early after mastering some of the ninjutsu on the scrolls.

If he can't graduate early, then he needs a rival!

A hardworking opponent, an opponent who can put pressure on him!

Naruto, with Rock Lee's determination and passion, would undoubtedly be the best choice.

Otherwise, Sasuke wouldn't have accepted Naruto's challenges for the past month and repeatedly made sarcastic remarks.

Do you really think he's just bored and playing house with Naruto?

Although he admitted that when he beat up Naruto, he did feel a strange sense of satisfaction and pleasure.

But this slight sense of exhilaration and pleasure was quickly replaced by disappointment and frustration.

No matter how much he beat up that guy or mocked him over the past month, Naruto remained completely unmoved, like a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water.

He still maintains the same behavior of slacking off in class and playing pranks during breaks.

Sasuke was disappointed by this, but he also understood why.

Naruto only began to grow after experiencing the Mizuki Incident and facing life-or-death crises in the Land of Waves, gradually becoming the Naruto Uzumaki that everyone knows—the one who gives his all, speaks his mind, and keeps his word.

Naruto is still too immature.

Thinking of this, Sasuke sighed inwardly. He glanced at Sakura, who was pretending to be calm but whose eyes were full of infatuation, and sighed again.

Although Sakura is now actively asking him for training advice and seems to have the desire to become stronger, Sasuke knows that it's not like that at all.

This girl was just looking for an excuse to get close to him. At this time, Sakura's mind was full of Sasuke, and she had no intention of becoming stronger.

The so-called request to learn chakra training is just like Sakura thinking that the original owner liked girls with long hair and deliberately grew her hair long. Now there's another girl who thinks the original owner liked studying and loved learning.

In the original story, Sakura only developed the resolve of a ninja during her mission in the Land of Waves. After cutting off her long hair and vowing to protect her comrades during the Chunin Exams, she finally left behind her naivety and became a qualified ninja.

Finally, when the original Sakura joined Orochimaru and saw Naruto severely injured because of this incident, Sakura became completely independent and became the familiar Sakura-chan!

………………

Time flies, and it was already dusk.

At this time, the ninja school had already let out, and many students were walking out of the school gate one after another. Accompanied by their parents who came to greet them, the families chatted happily, holding hands and walking home together.

In the distance, Naruto sat alone on a swing, gazing absentmindedly at the scene in the distance, his eyes filled with sadness. Under the setting sun, it seemed that only his shadow was silently keeping him company.

When a father and daughter walked up to him, Naruto unconsciously lowered his head.

The little girl, sitting on her father's shoulders, glanced curiously at Naruto, who had his head down, seemingly wondering why this strange older brother was still there even though it was almost evening.

"Dad, this older brother looks so sad."

The middle-aged man followed the little girl's gaze, his expression immediately changed, and his eyes revealed a look of disgust, while Naruto lowered his head even further.

"Ignore him, he's a..."

The rest of the words were left unsaid, but the middle-aged man quickened his pace, and his voice could still be heard from afar.

"In short, stay away from that person from now on..."

I will definitely become Hokage and earn your all respect!

Naruto bit his lip, unconsciously tightening his grip on the swing ropes, tears welling in his eyes as he raised his hand to wipe them away.

"Hey, you bottom runner!"

Chapter 21 This technique is called Shadow Clone!

"Hey, you bottom runner!"

Just then, a calm voice entered his ears, and Naruto's expression, which had been somewhat aggrieved, instantly changed, like the changing weather during the rainy season, and he immediately put on a very displeased expression.

Looking up, he saw that annoying Sasuke standing five meters in front of him, staring at him with a curious expression.

"Were you crying just now?"

Sasuke said calmly, then gave a look of sudden realization.

"You didn't cry because I scolded you today, did you?"

He didn't need to rush to Huizhou today because he was looking up some information in the school library. When he came out of the school, he happened to see this scene.

"Damn it, I didn't cry!" Naruto's face flushed red, then he roared angrily, "Don't be so arrogant! I'm just not feeling well today. I'll definitely beat you next time, you self-righteous bastard!"

"Heh, I love that look on your face when you can't beat me, you can't do anything to me, but you still put on a stubborn act. Hmm...it's so funny...haha..."