How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke exhaled flames that shot out.

"Ice Style: Nadare Rouga!" Nadare Rouga formed hand seals and controlled a giant ice wolf to attack.

The steam from the flames and snow blocked their view, but Nadare Rouga didn't stop. He quickly formed more seals: "Ice Style: Breaking Dragon and Fierce Tiger!"

A sharp, high-pitched sound echoed.

The sound of Chidori resonated again, and black lightning struck like divine punishment, shattering the huge tiger. Sasuke's figure burst out from the steam, holding Chidori in his hand as he charged toward Nadare Rouga.

"You never learn!" Nadare Rouga sneered again, looking at his intact crystal, then extended his right hand. With his left hand, he gathered a massive ice blade. "Since that's the case, let me show you the consequences of not learning your lesson!"

In the distance, Jiraiya observed and his interest slightly piqued. "If Ninjutsu and Genjutsu don't work, there's always Taijutsu. Sasuke's so rigid, he needs to be taught a lesson."

The same words that Kakashi had used to mock Nadare Rouga in the original were now spoken by Jiraiya, a true example of the cycle of fate.

Sasuke, ignoring everything, continued charging at Nadare Rouga. His thunder clashed again with the barrier of chakra armor, black lightning exploding like divine punishment.

Nadare Rouga reached out to grab Sasuke. With a faint crack, he glanced at the crystal, still intact, and laughed mockingly. "Your three attempts with Ninjutsu couldn't break my chakra armor. Maybe the fourth would work, but you won't get that chance!"

Sasuke's expression remained calm, as though he didn't even see the incoming ice blade.

He looked at Nadare Rouga indifferently, his eyes showing a hint of disappointment. "Under the pressure of the perverted sage, your strength is far weaker than before. Even a low-ranking ninja like me can easily defeat you."

"Blind arrogance, thinking you're invincible just because you saw an enemy stronger than you and gave up. How laughably arrogant."

Once, Sasuke was the same. When he first faced Orochimaru, when he first saw Shukaku, his first thought was always to give up. When facing Orochimaru, he wanted to hand over the scroll; when facing Shukaku, he thought of using the cursed seal.

It seemed that every time Sasuke encountered a stronger opponent, his first thought was never to become stronger, but to retreat immediately.

As Naruto said, he was right.

What he called confidence was just self-satisfaction in his own world of arrogance.

"Heh, Land of Snow... In the past, I was just like this." Sasuke shook his head in disappointment.

As the ice blade slashed across his body, smoke and the sound of Chidori echoed together. Nadare Rouga, looking at the vanishing Sasuke in smoke, was momentarily stunned.

Sasuke's figure jumped out from behind him. The black lightning stood out starkly against the pure white snow, like a drop of ink on a clean sheet of paper.

Nadare Rouga, with a grim expression, turned his head and saw Sasuke just inches away. "At this distance, I can't dodge!"

"Endure it!" He gritted his teeth, his eyes cold. "Even Kakashi couldn't destroy my chakra armor with a single hit. What you're doing now is just a repeat of your useless efforts!"

Sasuke's expression remained unchanged, and with a sudden flash, the lightning cut through Nadare Rouga's body. Amid the blood and Nadare Rouga's disbelieving gaze, Sasuke looked up at him.

"You made three mistakes." Sasuke's tone remained calm, as though it wasn't he who had pierced Nadare Rouga's chest, "First, the pressure from Jiraiya made you lose your judgment about the power of Ninjutsu. With the power of Chidori, three strikes would have been enough to shatter your armor."

"Wow~" Nadare Rouga coughed up a large amount of blood, staring in disbelief at the crystal on his chest, "Impossible! My chakra armor is still…" 

The Genjutsu broke, and the completely shattered chakra armor crystal was exposed to the air. Nadare Rouga opened his mouth in shock.

Sasuke raised two fingers. "Second, the chakra armor made you overly confident that you wouldn't fall for Genjutsu. But in fact, when the second Chidori hit you, your chakra armor had already cracked."

In that instant, the armor's defense had a hole, and Sasuke's Sharingan precisely caught the flaw, unleashing Genjutsu without hesitation.

Then, Sasuke pointed to his Sharingan. "Third, you underestimated the Sharingan, and you also underestimated the Uchiha clan."

With the dynamic vision and chakra detection of the Sharingan, that armor was as if it had been stripped and laid out before Sasuke. It could be said that Sasuke understood the limits of the armor better than Nadare Rouga did.

"These three mistakes are the reason you're now dying by my hand."

Sasuke's eyes were filled with coldness. As he finished his last sentence, powerful lightning surged from his left hand, wrapping around Nadare Rouga with a violent chakra presence.

In that moment, Nadare Rouga couldn't even speak, only staring with wide eyes and mouth open as blood flowed from the large hole in his chest.

The next second, his pupils shrank, his breath completely fading. His body fell to the ground as Sasuke withdrew his left hand. His eyes stared blankly at the sky, as though trying to say something.

Sasuke watched this scene, flicking the blood off his left hand. As the cursed seal's second stage faded, he sighed and walked over to cover Nadare Rouga's eyes. "At least, you did let me witness the gap between me and a Jonin."

If Jiraiya hadn't been there, if Nadare Rouga hadn't been so arrogant, if he had relied on his own strength instead of the chakra armor—could Sasuke have won? 

He didn't know. Maybe.

Without paying attention to the fallen Nadare Rouga, Sasuke turned and walked to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya nodded in approval and said, "The Shadow Clone was used well. At least, your use of it is much more normal than Naruto's."

Mentioning Naruto made Sasuke instinctively smile a little. "Not everyone has the ability to use Shadow Clones as a strategy like Naruto. At least, my chakra doesn't support that."

Sasuke's chakra wasn't small. After obtaining the cursed seal, he had more, but compared to Naruto, Sasuke still felt his chakra was almost nothing.

To put it this way, Sasuke's chakra amount was about that of a Jonin, but still not as much as Kakashi's. Naruto's chakra was hundreds of times greater than Kakashi's, not even counting Kurama's chakra.

Other people had chakra, but Naruto had something like Chado-ra.

Jiraiya stood up from the stone, took a sip of his drink, and looked at Nadare Rouga's body. He smiled and said, "The evaluation is done. Now, how do you feel?"

Sasuke's smile faded slightly. He was silent for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "The gap is too big. This guy is nothing compared to Itachi. Whether it's Nadare Rouga or me, we can't even see Itachi's back."

"Then keep working hard. At least now, you can see yourself getting closer." Jiraiya shrugged, grabbed the bottle, and turned to leave.

The fireworks from Naruto's side had stopped. It wasn't clear whether they had won or lost the battle.

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