Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 32 Battle Begins

"Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"

The rapid and fierce impacts were as dense as raindrops, but ultimately, he was still a bit too young, and his speed was not yet at the extreme level that could overwhelm people.

Having immediately recognized his opponent's formidable taijutsu skills in their initial exchange, Sasuke didn't recklessly charge in. He focused intently on his opponent's every move with his Sharingan, activating his leg muscles with lightning chakra before the killing blow arrived, and rapidly retreated. He knew the terrain intimately; his opponent was deliberately pushing him into the forest, but his speed still held the advantage. While he couldn't create a complete distance, he could actively choose his evasive path. In no time, one was still on the shore, while the other was already on the water's surface.

Neji, who couldn't yet walk on water, was stuck on the shore. All the attack methods he had learned so far required close-range combat; distance would cause problems, especially since he was standing directly on water where he couldn't get any leverage. He was truly helpless. However, Sasuke didn't keep him waiting long. Sasuke, who hadn't had a chance before, finally had a proper hand seal and immediately spat several fireballs at the water. The splashes instantly turned into mist, enveloping a small area on the shore. The area wasn't large, but it was precisely the area Neji couldn't escape in the short term.

"You haven't forgotten I have the Byakugan, have you?" Neji remained unfazed despite his face being covered in water mist. Sasuke hadn't left his sight, only pulling out a bunch of shuriken. What on earth was this guy up to?

The shuriken posed no threat to Neji, despite their tricky angles and astonishing curves. Neji was already on guard. His Byakugan wasn't entirely without blind spots, but he would use it to track trajectories and avoid these risks, making his blind spots invisible. Most importantly, Sasuke was approaching the shore—this was his chance to attack!

Neji dashed towards the water's edge, a reckless act devoid of regard for the consequences. He hadn't even considered what to do if he knocked Sasuke back into the water. Sasuke, contrary to Neji's expectations, didn't continue to dodge. Instead, he sidestepped Neji's attack, seized Neji's right hand, and used his weight to pull Neji backward, plunging him into the water. As the water submerged his mouth and nose, Neji remained relatively calm, continuing his attempt to use pressure points on Sasuke to break free. However, before he could struggle much longer, a sudden numbness gripped his entire body, causing him to stiffen as if pricked by needles. The Sasuke before him turned into white smoke; the real Sasuke, still dripping wet, only needed to unleash a single Lightning Release attack on the water's surface to secure victory.

This guy, he can use Lightning Release?

These were Neji's last thoughts before he suffocated and fell into a coma.

"Boom!" Just as everyone was frantically trying to rescue Neji, a loud crash came from the woods nearby. Immediately afterward, a tree fell over, and the ground shook.

The two sparring matches were taking place simultaneously. However, unlike Sasuke, Naruto chose to lure Lee into the woods. Both were very fast, and with the woods providing ample cover, the onlookers opted for the riverside battlefield, which offered a better view, and no one knew the true state of the fight inside the woods. Hinata, however, mustered her courage and stepped forward to help her unconscious cousin, while the others, driven by their curiosity, ventured a few steps into the woods.

However, they arrived a little late and only witnessed the entire process of two giant rocks sandwiching Xiao Li into a pancake.

"Is it over over there? Looks like Sasuke won."

To everyone's surprise, Naruto, who had locked up Lee, vanished with a bang. Instead, a human figure emerged from the ground just a few meters away from them, without a speck of dust on his body.

"So Naruto-kun was just a clone all along!" Lee, still trapped between two semi-circular clods of earth, with only his head sticking out, showed no sign of discouragement. His master and Naruto's teacher had a good relationship, and they occasionally bumped into each other. Being humiliated by Naruto was practically a given on his path to becoming a ninja. After all, he aspired to become a ninja through pure taijutsu, and sparring with an opponent like Naruto, who mastered wide-range ninjutsu, would allow him to compensate for his weaknesses!

"It's not that serious. You switched places when you were dodging the Wind Release technique." Naruto released the person, then turned to look at the tree that had been snapped in half, and said, "This isn't a park or anything like that, is it? We don't have to pay for the fallen tree, right?"

A group of children: "..." Is that the point? The point shouldn't be that some kind of wind technique could neatly cut down a tree as thick as them!

"Water, wind, earth. Naruto, you've mastered three ninjutsu already? Most people are born with only one or two chakra natures. Were you born with them?" Shikamaru, true to his sharp mind, immediately noticed something even more amiss.

However, Naruto, who always answers questions, smiled and made a shushing gesture, "It's a secret."

"If you don't want to talk about it, fine. I don't care anyway." Ino didn't want to admit that she suddenly found Naruto a little handsome.

"Do you always hold back when you fight me?" Ya refused to admit that he actually had a tiny bit of admiration for him, just a tiny bit!

"Why do they have to fight?" Choji continued munching on his potato chips. Such an exciting duel wasn't necessarily a bad thing to watch while eating.

"The difference in strength is like night and day..." Sakura murmured softly. This part of the battlefield was in complete disarray; she couldn't imagine how she had managed to do such a thing.

Everyone felt a mix of emotions, but Sasuke remained unmoved. He stepped forward, sized up Naruto a couple of times, and then said disdainfully, "Stop showing off. It's time to go back after this fight."

"Hey? It's rare for everyone to get together like this, shouldn't we go out for a meal or something..."

"Are you treating?" Sasuke retorted.

Naruto hesitated for a moment, then considered the remaining food money with the small amount he had allocated. It seemed enough to buy some snacks. Just as he was about to make up his mind, Sasuke gave him a disapproving and helpless look.

"Alright, you idiot, it's my treat."

"Sasuke is the best!"

And so, the large group returned to the riverbank and woke up the unconscious Neji. Although he still couldn't move and clearly expressed his refusal, the enthusiastic Lee tossed Neji onto his back and, as if he couldn't understand human speech, led the group away. Meanwhile, the extremely timid Hinata was grabbed by Ino and Sakura. Perhaps Hinata's fearful appearance resonated with Ino, reminding her of a bullied Sakura, and Sakura of her past self, so they were determined to take Hinata to the next step. They shoved and jostled their way to the barbecue restaurant, and once at the table, they forgot all their differences and started a chopstick battle over the meat. It was fortunate that Sasuke was the host today, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to eat so heartily.

The Uchiha clan's bloodstains, secret techniques, and other things that couldn't be openly discussed had already been divided up by Konoha, but Uchiha Itachi was still alive. At least when it came to things that were out in the open, like money and real estate, they didn't mistreat Sasuke.

It doesn't matter. Sooner or later, what is rightfully ours will be ours.