After Sasuke's sharp left hook missed, Naruto's eyes flashed; he caught Sasuke's wrist with pinpoint precision.
Borrowing the momentum of Sasuke's lunge, he spun nimbly and snapped his waist and core in one explosive twist.
With a whoosh he hurled Sasuke back the same way he'd come—only faster!
The sudden, clean motion, brimming with power, drew gasps from the onlookers.
Naruto, however, had deliberately softened the force.
The instant he flung Sasuke, he dispersed most of the harmful impact, ensuring no real injury.
There were still classes this afternoon; he couldn't let the idiot end up in hospital and miss lessons.
No way!
Sasuke hit the ground, yet the ache in his body paled beside the shock and humiliation in his heart.
A thought he could not accept clawed at him: Has this Dead-Last… been hiding his strength all along?!
The idea gnawed at him like a venomous snake.
If the "Dead-Last" I've mocked actually has the power to crush me… then what does that make me, defeated so easily?
Chaotic memories surged unbidden—every past slight replayed itself.
Back then, Naruto's gaze hadn't held fear or flattery, only calm, almost…indulgent kindness.
And every time he'd brushed past, Sasuke's impatient, arrogant bark: "Out of the way, Dead-Last!"
Those memories fused with today's defeat into the sharpest ridicule, shattering his pride.
Then… what am I?
A laughing-stock even worse than the "Dead-Last"?
The realization hit like suffocating despair.
How can someone so weak, so easily broken, ever avenge our clan against that man?!
Seeing Sasuke stay down, Naruto hesitated, then stepped closer and offered his right hand.
Sasuke violently knocked the hand aside with the back of his own.
"Don't touch me!"
he snarled, lifting his head.
The instant their eyes met Naruto saw Sasuke's once-black irises now scarlet, each spinning with black tomoe.
Yet the pattern was bizarre.
One eye held a single tomoe, the other two.
Naruto froze.
"Again—I haven't lost!"
With sheer stubbornness Sasuke rose, his mismatched Sharingan blazing with obsessive frenzy.
Might Guy, watching from the sideline, sensed danger at once; the uneven Sharingan and the unstable Chakra spelled trouble. "Naruto—fall back!"
Too late.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Sasuke's hands flew through seals; his chest expanded and he spat a searing sphere of flame that rolled toward Naruto in a scorching wave.
The instant Guy shouted, Naruto threw himself aside, rolling clear as the blaze skimmed his back.
Back on his feet he formed the sign for a Shadow Clone to confuse his foe.
But the newly-summoned clone wobbled like a rag-doll, its Chakra dispersing; it popped and vanished at once.
The jutsu had failed.
Crap!
He'd forgotten: four Shadow Clones were home studying Sealing Techniques—he couldn't yet manage a fifth.
Sasuke used the opening, shooting forward, right fist spearing for Naruto's face.
In crisis Naruto stayed calm, side-rolling to Sasuke's flank, then snapped into a smooth Thomas Spin that whipped him upright and lashed his right leg out like a whip.
Leaf Whirlwind!
The fierce kick sliced the air, driving for Sasuke's back.
But Sasuke's mindset had shifted.
With Sharingan I'm no longer the same!
The thought flooded him with confidence.
Even as Naruto rolled, Sasuke's Sharingan read the motion; he spun, forearm snapping up to block the kick head-on.
With the Sharingan active his reflexes had leapt.
The old frustration—eyes seeing, body lagging—had eased.
His arm still stung, but he was no longer a mere punching bag.
Through the Sharingan's crimson veil the world had transformed.
Everything looked sharper, clearer.
He could trace the finest veins on distant leaves and the wriggle of tiny insects.
Colors seemed richer, layered.
Most of all, motion slowed.
Attacks that once blurred now traced clear arcs; he could read Naruto's muscle shifts and predict strikes, body willing.
A sense of control born deep in his blood surged through him.
A faint, proud smile curved his lips.
So this… is the Uchiha Sharingan?
He tasted its sweet power and felt the heavy fate that came with it.
I, Uchiha Sasuke, carry the blood and vengeance of my clan—how can I fall… here?!
The thought roared like molten rock, burning away every flicker of doubt.
That weight became fiercer drive.
His mismatched Sharingan fixed on Naruto, revolving with lofty, regained certainty.
Naruto—he admitted—had hidden strength that startled him.
You're strong, but—
An inborn arrogance stirred alongside the Sharingan's might.
Naruto, before these eyes that see all, every effort of yours is futile!
He already envisioned reading every move and crushing Naruto completely.