As time passed bit by bit, Konohagakure Village, which was destroyed by Orochimaru, gradually returned to normal. After Konohagakure Village's investigation, Sunagakure Village was deceived by Orochimaru this time. Although the crime was not deadly, they also paid a certain compensation to satisfy Konohagakure.
Everyone's life trajectory has almost returned to the same state as before. Hatake Satoru is idle in Konohagakure Village all day, sometimes strolling around other shops, and sometimes visiting his own dessert shop.
And the people around the dessert shop know that the owner of this dessert shop is a very powerful ninja. Although Hatake Sakumo has not revealed his identity, all the neighbors around him respect Hatake Sakumo.
Tsunade also returned to the village under Jiraiya's continuous efforts, promising to treat those who were injured in this incident. But the main reason for her to agree to return to the village should be because of the injury of the Third Hokage. After all, the Third Hokage is also her teacher, and Tsunade naturally cannot let her teacher die.
After Naruto returned to the village, Sasuke sought him out immediately. Ever since he witnessed Naruto's battle with Gaara, Sasuke was deeply shaken. He couldn't believe that Naruto's strength had surpassed his own by so much. When he was powerless against Gaara, a ninja from Sunagakure, it was Naruto who saved him time and again, which left a bitter taste in Sasuke's heart.
His pride wouldn't allow him to lag behind his peers by so much, so he wanted to have a duel with Naruto to prove his own strength.
Upon hearing Sasuke's request for a fight, Naruto, without a second thought, happily agreed, as he shared the same sentiment as Sasuke.
Since the start of the ninja academy, Sasuke had always been ahead of him in every aspect. Now, faced with Sasuke's challenge, he was eager to accept.
Knowing that Naruto had returned, Sakura also planned to see Naruto, then call Kakashi-sensei, so that Team 7 could gather together once again. After all, since the end of the Chunin exams, they hadn't had a complete gathering.
Coincidentally, on her way to find Naruto, Sakura saw Sasuke and Naruto talking. She was about to happily wave and call out to them when she noticed that their expressions were very serious, and they left at the same time, as if they had some important matter to attend to.
This immediately piqued Sakura's curiosity, and she quietly followed behind them, wanting to find out what they were going to do.
Soon, Sakura followed them to a mountain, where the two of them immediately started to exchange blows. Seeing this, Sakura was shocked and covered her mouth.
The two of them started with Taijutsu, with punches and kicks flying. Naruto, who was not very good at Taijutsu, was even less of a match for Sasuke, who had the insight of the Sharingan.
Seeing Naruto being crushed by him, a very satisfied smile appeared on Sasuke's face, and his expression was full of mockery and contempt for Naruto.
"Darn it."
Naruto muttered to himself, knowing that his Taijutsu was no match for Sasuke, and then directly used the Shadow Clone Jutsu, intending to take advantage of the numbers.
At this, the mocking expression on Sasuke's face became even more clear. However, when faced with so many Naruto, Sasuke was not the least bit intimidated.
He charged directly into the pile of Naruto. At first, Sasuke was able to disperse a shadow clone with a punch or a kick, but Naruto's shadow clones were too many. Soon, one shadow clone held Sasuke's hands from behind, and the rest of the shadow clones also hugged Sasuke's legs and waist.
Sasuke wanted to struggle free, but how could his strength alone resist the strength of five or six Naruto?
He could only watch as a Naruto raised his fist and punched him in the face. The terrifying force directly sent Sasuke flying, and when he flew out, his face had already changed shape.
He crashed into a huge rock in the distance and stopped, his body directly creating a human-shaped crater in the rock.
Suddenly, Sasuke felt that all his internal organs had been severely damaged, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Seeing Sasuke like this, a look of pity and reluctance appeared in Naruto's eyes. And it was precisely this expression that further ignited the anger hidden in Sasuke's heart.
"I don't need your sympathy."
After wiping a mouthful of blood, Sasuke once again rushed up with a punch. Perhaps because of his belief, this time Sasuke's strength and speed had a significant increase compared to before.
After punching away one of Naruto's shadow clones, he also simultaneously crushed several shadow clones behind him.
But this was still not a solution. Suddenly, Uchiha Sasuke directly jumped into mid-air, his hands quickly forming seals.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Jutsu."
A huge fireball directly spewed out from Sasuke's mouth, venting directly towards Naruto. Immediately, all the shadow clones all screamed in the raging fire and then dissipated.
Shadow clones are very fragile and will dissipate as soon as they feel a bit of attack. But there is also a way to make the shadow clones withstand heavier attacks, which is to increase the chakra that maintains the shadow clones.
What Sasuke didn't notice was that in the midst of this fire, Naruto was rubbing a Rasengan with a shadow clone.
When Sasuke noticed, in an instant, his whole body's hair stood up. On that blue chakra ball, Sasuke felt a strong sense of threat, the feeling of life being threatened.
The next second, Sasuke also immediately made a countermeasure. A harsh sound came from Sasuke's palm, and a faint blue lightning appeared on Sasuke's palm, and the sound got louder and louder.
"Chidori."
"Rasengan."
Sasuke and Naruto each shouted, one up and one down, rushing towards each other.
Seeing this scene, Sakura now completely couldn't continue to watch the battle. She directly ran out from behind the boulder, running and shouting.
"Sasuke, Naruto, stop it."
Both of them naturally noticed Sakura who was about to insert herself between them. When they wanted to stop, they found that it was too late, they couldn't stop at all. If they continued like this, Sakura would be hit by Naruto's Rasengan and Sasuke's Chidori at the same time.
Once hit by these two attacks, the only path left for Sakura is death, even if Tsunade comes, it may be too late to save her.
(End of the chapter)