"You really are strong—to think you could exploit the weakness in my chakra and fight like this."
Haku fixed his gaze on Sasuke, deflecting every shuriken thrown at him and kicking back a kunai tipped with a burning explosive tag.
"But I have my own reasons for fighting," Haku's voice suddenly sharpened, "so if you die, please don't hate me!"
"Hmph. You're just as arrogant as Naruto."
Amid the continuous explosions, the two plunged into a fierce close-quarters battle. Sasuke's taijutsu was overwhelmingly aggressive, preventing Haku from finding an opening to unleash his killing technique.
Naruto watched from the sidelines, casually shattering a nearby enemy's wave shield, but his brow furrowed despite himself.
This is bad. Sasuke is too strong.
According to the original storyline, Sasuke was supposed to awaken his Sharingan by pushing his limits in a life-and-death battle with Haku.
But the recent military-style training had been far too intense. Determined to surpass Naruto, Sasuke had grown so strong that Haku was no longer his match.
That's it!
Now a third time traveler had appeared—who knew whether a fourth or fifth would show up next? What if one of them came from some "World Zero" obsessed with Sasuke and used their knowledge of the plot to knock him out…
The more Naruto thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
Good-looking guys really need proper protection when they go out!
In short, to protect Sasuke's precious rear end, Naruto decided to "boost" Sasuke's strength.
Crimson chakra erupted around Naruto as he grabbed several enemies like cabbages and hurled them straight toward Sasuke.
The ninja were momentarily dazed, but once they saw Haku and Sasuke locked in fierce combat, they immediately joined the encirclement!
"Sasuke! Sorry—I accidentally led the enemies over here!" Naruto shouted anxiously, looking completely innocent.
"Super idiot," Sasuke snapped, rolling his eyes at Naruto. He unleashed a flurry of flying kicks, sending the enemies in front of him vomiting blood. Naruto instinctively stepped back, trying to form seals, but Sasuke forced him forward again almost immediately.
Seeing this, Rock Lee would have proudly declared himself an expert!
But in less than a second, another barrage of explosive kunai came flying in. Sasuke rolled aside quickly, shielding his vital points with both arms.
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!
The shockwaves and shrapnel from the explosions scattered everywhere, successfully injuring Sasuke. Two seconds later, however, he was already entangled with Haku again—who was also lightly wounded.
From afar, Naruto's voice rang out once more:
"Sasuke, forgive me! The Nine-Tails took over my mind and made me want to kill you! Are you okay?!"
Sasuke said nothing, only shooting Naruto a murderous glare.
But in the very next second, a massive crimson hand radiating sinister light slammed toward Sasuke. His scalp went numb as he flipped backward repeatedly to evade it. Though momentarily startled, Haku immediately seized the opportunity and began forming hand seals.
Sasuke glared furiously in Naruto's direction.
Naruto sighed helplessly. "Hosa, what on earth are you doing…" He truly felt like he was trying his best to awaken Sasuke's potential.
"Naruto!" Sasuke roared in fury. "Drop the act already!
What kind of decent person ambushes their teammate in the middle of a life-and-death fight?!"
But before Sasuke could deal with Naruto, translucent, crystalline mirrors suddenly rose up around him.
"Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
Haku's voice brimmed with killing intent.
Naruto let out a sigh of relief, though his emotions were complicated.
What a cheesy name.
Kishimoto really doesn't understand Naruto at all.
Anyway—torture that "pillar" first. Once he opens his eyes and fully activates the Nine-Tails, I'll just kill him right in the middle of battle.
Maybe watching me slaughter everyone will throw the pillars off balance, and the Sharingan might evolve even further.
"…Seriously, aren't these ice mirrors a bit thin?" Naruto muttered. The constant detonations had thinned out the surrounding water vapor, likely weakening the technique.
"Tsk, such a useless thing." Naruto shook his head. He felt Sasuke would soon brute-force his way out of Haku's technique.
Still, now wasn't the time to cause trouble. What if Haku got spooked and botched the secret technique?
"Looks like I'll need some mental pollution."
Naruto first summoned shadow clones to clear the surrounding enemies, then took several more clones and jumped behind a cluster of trees, out of Sasuke's line of sight.
"This technique burns through chakra fast… I'll have to dispel the clones once it's done. Hope the original body can make it in time," Naruto whispered.
If chakra consumption got too high, the clones wouldn't be able to suppress the Nine-Tails.
He immediately cast Transformation Jutsu and summoned several more shadow clones, all transforming into Uchiha Itachi. They leapt onto a tree, tossing smoke bombs to make themselves appear taller and more imposing.
Inside the ice mirrors, Sasuke had already endured two rounds of attacks and now looked like a human pincushion.
"…Hmm."
"Itachi" stood on the tree trunk and let out a heavy sigh, drawing Sasuke's attention.
Sasuke looked up—and his eyes went wide. For a moment, he wondered if the torture had made him hallucinate.
"My foolish little brother~"
A blurred voice drifted down from the tree—it was "Itachi."
"Why are you in such a sorry state now? Is it because your hatred isn't deep enough? Are you still clinging to the false past of your clan?"
Sasuke's breathing turned ragged. He ignored Haku entirely and stared at "Itachi."
"Stop spouting nonsense!" Sasuke roared. "I live—train myself to the brink every single day—so that one day I can kill you with my own hands!!"
"Itachi" chuckled softly and vanished—it had been a shadow clone.
On another tree trunk, "Itachi" appeared again, laughing quietly.
"How pathetic. How laughable. You can't even surpass your own teammate, yet you dream of revenge every day… hahaha."
Naruto forcibly swallowed the second half of that sentence:
Go home and raise pigs.
Sasuke froze.
Was Itachi talking about… Naruto?
Ignoring Sasuke's confusion, "Itachi" continued:
"You know very well—I'm just an illusion born from your mind. Yet even in your illusion, you thought of Naruto?"
He paused deliberately, then sneered.
"It seems Naruto is the shadow in your heart, isn't he, Sasuke?"
A rush of heat surged to Sasuke's head, his cheeks instantly burning red.
Naruto?
I'm afraid of Naruto?!
He is strong now—but am I not strong too?
I work just as hard as he does! He was just a dead last!
But another shock hit him.
Naruto's "dead last" status belonged only to their academy days—it had nothing to do with who he was now!
Had I become the joke?
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The ice crystals within the mirrors did not pause for Sasuke's inner turmoil. Countless senbon locked onto every angle around him, sworn to take his life here.
The needles fired all at once!
What Haku failed to notice was that streams of chakra were surging uncontrollably into Sasuke's eyes, his vision sharpening by the second.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
A rain of needles fell—yet the spot where Sasuke had stood was empty.
He now stood off to the side, eyes glowing crimson. Within them, two tomoe rotated, gradually solidifying.
The two-tomoe Sharingan!
Unlike the original story—where Sasuke awakened one single-tomoe eye and one double-tomoe eye—his power had already surpassed Naruto's expectations.
At the same time, "Itachi" vanished without a trace.
All of Naruto's shadow clones were dispelled.
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All the fanfiction is 30-chapter ahead but this "A Witty Life in the Naruto World" is 30 chapters ahead there