Hand in Hand, Success

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The previous night, Naruto had lost both games of shogi while in a sour mood.

I'm feeling down, and you still crush me? Kurama, you're not my drinking-and-dining buddy—you're just a surface-level friend.

But as a pet owner, even if he had been ranting about his pet destroying furniture moments earlier, he would still fill its food and water bowls without hesitation.

After finishing off the "feast" for Kurama—his metaphorical wine pool and meat forest—Naruto headed to the living room to prepare breakfast.

Though last night hadn't been pleasant, Naruto decided not to hold it against the kid. After all, he was technically still a child himself.

The atmosphere at the breakfast table was a bit awkward, but Naruto didn't care. Once he finished eating, he went outside to practice his ninjutsu.

"Wait a moment, I'll come too," Sasuke said after hastily shoving two bites of food into his mouth and standing up.

The brooding boy's complexion was much better than yesterday. At least he no longer looked like a frail bean sprout.

Through the portal they went, returning to the same spot as yesterday.

Training began. Naruto recalled the feeling from the previous day and formed the hand seals.

Instantly, he felt as though a pump had been inserted into his chakra reserves, draining them rapidly.

The depletion rate was approximately one unit every two seconds.

A fierce windstorm erupted around Naruto, forming a tornado-like vortex that whipped him back and forth like seaweed in the ocean.

He quickly deactivated the technique.

Unsurprisingly, this attempt hadn't been successful either. The chakra consumption was immense, and the wind made it impossible to maintain balance.

Even Naruto couldn't sustain this level of drain unless he unleashed Kurama's tails—but doing so would surround him with the Nine-Tails' chakra, rendering this technique unnecessary.

Under normal circumstances, the consumption wouldn't be this extreme. Otherwise, only the First Hokage could use it.

Naruto persisted with his training.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was secretly practicing Chidori at a distance. Over there, dust filled the air, and the wind carried debris everywhere, scattering branches and creating chaos. Sasuke eventually gave up on staying there.

His body was still recovering, making his progress slow. Dodging flying branches required splitting his attention. You go ahead and train on your own.

Three days later...

Naruto, who had been practicing in the woods, suddenly froze mid-movement.

He had received a message.

Zabuza had sent a challenge.

There was no mention of tomorrow—it was information relayed when one of Naruto's shadow clones was destroyed.

"Let's go, Sasuke," Naruto said to the boy who was still struggling with Chidori beside him.

Naruto activated the portal, formed the hand seals, and turned on Encircling Wind—anticipating that there might not be time to activate it during the fight. He also shed his weighted gear.

At this point, the chakra consumption was down to one unit per minute, which Naruto could handle.

No wonder Kakashi didn't use this technique. Its effects weren't as potent as Chidori, yet the chakra cost was enormous. Only members of the Senju or Uzumaki clans could afford to use it casually.

Sasuke, thanks to his earlier recklessness, had only just recovered. While he hadn't mastered Chidori yet, he had learned to activate Lightning Cell Activation, a side effect of the technique. However, his proficiency with it was subpar compared to Kakashi's refined version of Chidori.

In other words, both boys were now faster.

Naruto, influenced by Sasuke, was straying further down the path of speed-focused techniques...

He used to love the idea of being a one-punch man—that was the true romance of masculinity.

Stepping through the portal, they found Kakashi facing off against two figures.

Zabuza and Haku.

Haku, the last inheritor of Ice Release, had been taken in and raised by Zabuza since childhood. Though skilled, she was an adorable girl entangled in a complex relationship with Zabuza.

Without hesitation, Naruto charged straight at Zabuza. Of course, throwing a few scaffolds first was necessary—they were useless anyway, and carrying them around was a waste.

Why bother with small talk? After all, no matter how much you chatter beforehand, you'll end up fighting anyway. And once the fight is over, what's the point of more words?

Sasuke, lightning crackling around him, followed closely behind. He understood Naruto's personality well—Naruto was the type to charge into battle without wasting time on words. Thus, Sasuke had been preparing to activate Lightning Cell Activation all along.

Neither side had expected the battle to begin so abruptly.

However, neither side hesitated. Zabuza formed hand seals, activating Hidden Mist Technique.

Haku was about to release an ice wall to block the scaffolds, but Kakashi interrupted her.

Kakashi had figured it out. His sensei's wife's spawn—whatever species Naruto might be—had already prepared to fight Zabuza the moment his shadow clone was destroyed. Even the clone had self-destructed in a kamikaze-style attack, embodying Naruto's reckless, headstrong nature. It completely forgot that it was just a clone and dispersed upon being hit.

Thus, Kakashi was left to face the other youth.

Zabuza's Hidden Mist Technique was interrupted, and although mist filled the area, visibility wasn't drastically reduced. From a distance, shadows could still be seen.

Naruto paid no mind to Kakashi's side of the battlefield. Even if Kakashi was incompetent, he should still be able to handle Haku. With his Sharingan and speed capable of matching Might Guy, if Kakashi couldn't defeat Haku, Naruto would return to the village and demand a new team leader from the Third Hokage.

Naruto was simply relieved that Zabuza hadn't fully utilized Hidden Mist Technique. Being able to see faint outlines was enough. Had Zabuza completed the technique, Naruto would've been forced to fight Haku instead.

The true Demon of the Mist emerged under the cover of Hidden Mist Technique, striking unpredictably.

By the time Zabuza shattered the scaffolds, Naruto was already upon him.

Sasuke was slower this time—a sad story for the young Uchiha.

From the first exchange, Zabuza realized that both boys were faster than before.

Zabuza was frustrated. Earlier, Kakashi had mocked him for being injured by two freshly graduated academy students. Now, hoping to vent his anger by killing these brats, he discovered that they were even more troublesome than before.

Zabuza suspected Kakashi had tricked him. If fresh graduates from Konoha were this strong, they'd have long ago forced the other four great nations to bow down. Clearly, the girl standing guard at the bridge with a kunai—their mission target—was the real rookie.

Such was the world of Naruto. No matter how many thoughts raced through Naruto and Zabuza's minds, it didn't affect their combat.

Naruto had intended to shatter Zabuza's Decapitating Blade with his mithril pickaxe again, but this time Zabuza had learned to block with different parts of the blade.

In the thin mist, three figures darted and clashed.

Once again, Naruto blocked Zabuza's strike with a kunai, only to be sent flying backward—a familiar sight.

However, they had been fighting for nearly a minute. Based on their previous encounter, Naruto should have been cut at least three times by now. But thanks to Encircling Wind, he could feel the flow of air as the blade struck. His heightened reflexes allowed him to dodge some attacks, and for those he couldn't avoid, he blocked them.

Being cut once so far was something to be grateful for.

Getting up, Naruto pressed forward again. As long as he didn't die, he would keep pushing. He kicked toward Zabuza, but seeing Sasuke about to be sliced in half, he intervened.

Grabbing Sasuke's hand, they successfully held hands for the first time, though their fingers remained in strange positions.

As Zabuza swung his blade, Naruto tossed Sasuke back.

With one hand occupied wielding the sword, Zabuza could only use his other hand to knock Sasuke away. Naruto caught him again.

Back and forth, Sasuke was passed between them like a ball.

Throwing Sasuke to Zabuza's left, Naruto pulled out two barrels of strong liquor and hurled them.

Zabuza shattered one barrel, while the other crashed to the ground.

Naruto then took out two buckets of water, drenched himself, and charged forward again.

"This… is alcohol?" The barrels broke, spilling their contents, though most of it was dodged by Zabuza. But what purpose did alcohol serve?

Not giving him time to react, Naruto closed in, engaging Zabuza in close combat.

On the left, Sasuke had just landed, his hand moving to his mouth in a practiced gesture.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball roared toward them.

[Fire Style?! When did he… Could it be…?!] Zabuza was shocked. Standing on spilled alcohol, he knew the consequences of being hit by a fire technique.

He tried to retreat, but Naruto clung to him like a rabid dog, determined to drag him into mutual destruction. Zabuza noticed that Naruto's clothes were soaked with water.

When Naruto had splashed water earlier, Zabuza's view had been obstructed by the barrels. By the time Naruto reached him, he realized the truth.

[This brat is willing to risk severe burns just to kill me.] With this realization, Zabuza switched his grip on the blade, preparing to cleave the boy in front of him.

Naruto could only raise his mithril pickaxe to block. Meanwhile, Zabuza abandoned his blade and began forming hand seals for a defensive technique—he couldn't dodge anymore.

Indeed, Naruto had suddenly devised a plan to team up with Sasuke using coordinated hand seals.

He remembered Tobirama using this tactic against Kakashi, and Sasuke employing it in the canon storyline against the Fourth Hokage. It seemed to be a traditional Uchiha move.

As expected, Sasuke understood. Through a series of pulls, throws, and catches, they completed the hand seals. Finally, Sasuke unleashed a Great Fireball.

Though Great Fireball was a technique that rarely hit anyone in the original story, Naruto was determined to break that trend today.

I'm holding Zabuza in place. If this doesn't hit, I'll have no excuse.

As the fireball dissipated, the alcohol on the ground continued to burn, driving away the mist and restoring visibility. Amidst the flames stood two figures facing each other.

Inside the crystal prison, Kakashi's Sharingan spun as he observed the situation outside.

Looking at their positions, the lingering smell of alcohol in the air, and Naruto's burning pants, his sharp mind pieced together what had happened. This determination to win, even at the cost of grievous injury, left him speechless.

Internally, he sighed, [What kind of creature did Sensei's wife give birth to?] At the same time, he resolved to take things seriously. If his subordinates were willing to push themselves this far, it was only right for him, their teacher, to do the same.

In the world of shinobi, victory wasn't always determined by raw strength alone. Unless one side possessed overwhelming power, even a seemingly insignificant tactic.

A single barrel of alcohol—could decide the outcome of a battle.