From the very beginning, Yoruha had sensed the presence of Kakashi and Yamato, but knowing it was Kakashi, he chose not to greet them. Looking at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, Yoruha said, "So, do you want to start right away, or should we devise a strategy first?" Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura exchanged glances.
The three seemed to have anticipated this. Quickly, they assumed a combat formation. Sasuke and Naruto stood in front of Sakura, shielding her.
Sakura raised two fingers, preparing to cast a genjutsu. Naruto immediately formed hand seals for the "Shadow Clone Jutsu," and four shadow clones appeared beside him. "Yoruha, here I come!"
Naruto launched the first attack, hurling over a dozen kunai and shuriken at Yoruha. The shuriken and kunai whistled through the air, blocking all possible escape routes for Yoruha. Yoruha's lips curled into a slight smile. "It seems your training has paid off; you're quite adept with ninja tools now," he praised.
However, Yoruha didn't use any ninjutsu to defend himself. Instead, he drew a kunai from his ninja tool pouch. Just as Naruto's kunai and shuriken were about to hit him, Yoruha swung his kunai.
"Clang, clang, clang..." In an instant, metal clashed, sparks flew, and all of Naruto's kunai and shuriken were deflected by Yoruha. "Leaf Whirlwind!" Just after Yoruha blocked all the kunai and shuriken, Naruto's four shadow clones launched a taijutsu attack, kicking towards Yoruha. Yoruha chuckled, "Not bad, Naruto, you've even mastered this taijutsu. Kakashi-sensei must have found you another teacher, right?"
As he spoke, Yoruha kicked away the four shadow clones. The powerful Leaf Whirlwind of the clones didn't even get close before Yoruha sent them flying. In mid-air, the four clones burst into white smoke.
Just as Yoruha finished speaking, Naruto appeared in front of him. "Haha, I've improved a lot, Yoruha, you better watch out." Yoruha didn't use any ninjutsu, relying solely on taijutsu to clash with Naruto.
After exchanging a dozen moves, Naruto suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. Before he could react, his body was sent flying backward. "Boom!" Naruto's body was kicked like a cannonball, flying dozens of meters into the forest.
Of course, Yoruha held back, ensuring Naruto wouldn't be seriously injured. "Chidori!" Just as Yoruha kicked Naruto away, Sasuke appeared in the air behind Yoruha, his Sharingan activated, and the Chidori in his hand crackling fiercely. "Quite an impressive force, Sasuke."
Yoruha didn't turn around, standing calmly in place. The Chidori in Sasuke's hand glowed with blue-white arcs, his Sharingan eyes fixed intently on Yoruha. "Yoruha, taste my strongest attack."
Yoruha said nothing. In an instant, he suddenly felt his mind waver. He then looked up at Sakura in the distance.
"Quite unexpected, Sakura. I didn't think your genjutsu had reached this level; I almost fell for it," Yoruha remarked, though he wasn't entirely truthful.
The genjutsu only made Yoruha feel a slight disturbance. With Yoruha's current formidable mental strength, even a standard three-tomoe Sharingan genjutsu wouldn't affect him, let alone Sakura's beginner-level basic genjutsu.
However, the fact that Sakura's genjutsu could cause any mental fluctuation at all meant her skills were quite commendable. Just as Yoruha was speaking with Sakura, Sasuke had already appeared above him. Sasuke shouted, "Yoruha, here I come!"
Yoruha was a bit speechless, "If you're going to attack, just do it. Why give your opponent a heads-up?" Although Yoruha understood that Sasuke was worried about hurting him and thus gave a warning, Yoruha still hoped Sasuke would approach this test with a combat mindset.
In an instant, Sasuke unleashed the Chidori. "Zzz~ Crackle" Sasuke thrust the Chidori towards Yoruha. But just as he was about to hit, Yoruha suddenly vanished from his sight.
The next moment, Sasuke felt his arm being grabbed. The Chidori in his hand missed its target, and countless lightning bolts scattered aimlessly, striking the ground and creating a large crater several meters wide.
The soil in the crater was charred black by the lightning. Sasuke was stunned, looking at Yoruha, who was holding his arm.
At that moment, the confidence Sasuke had just built up was shattered by Yoruha. Sasuke almost couldn't hold it together. In the past, he would have been furious, doing whatever it took to become stronger and defeat Yoruha.
But now, Sasuke only felt that Yoruha was too powerful, too overwhelming. Sasuke chuckled bitterly, "You bastard, you're like a monster. How are we supposed to keep up with you?" Yoruha hadn't even used any ninjutsu, just a Body Flicker Technique to stop his strongest jutsu.
This kind of despairing gap would have made the old Sasuke view Yoruha as a rival he must surpass at all costs. Now, Sasuke only felt that catching up to Yoruha seemed like an impossible task. Yoruha released his grip and patted Sasuke on the shoulder, "Not bad. You've mastered the power and speed of this jutsu perfectly."
"It's just that your physical speed can't keep up. You need to train more with Kakashi-sensei, especially in terms of movement speed." Sasuke nodded, realizing this himself. "Should I learn from Guy-sensei?"
Sasuke recalled Kakashi once having Guy teach Naruto taijutsu. He thought he could learn some taijutsu from Guy as well. Yoruha's mouth twitched at the thought of Guy's training methods.
Clearly, Sasuke wasn't suited for that kind of training. So he shook his head, "Kakashi-sensei is the creator of the Chidori. Who could be more professional in this area?"
"Just learn from him." "And about your Sharingan, I've been thinking. The evolution of the Sharingan is mainly related to emotional stimulation." "And emotional stimulation isn't just about hatred; it can also be about intense love or familial bonds."
"So you get what I mean, right?" "Find a girl you like." Yoruha said this because he seemed to remember that Sasuke's daughter awakened her Mangekyo Sharingan through intense love, not hatred. Sasuke was taken aback.
"But the Uchiha clan has always awakened their Sharingan through the death of their most beloved ones," Sasuke said. Yoruha shook his head, "Do you know why intense hatred is the most common?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"That's because hatred is the simplest and easiest to artificially create, but intense love is much harder." "Destroying something is easy, but creating is very difficult." "But I think using love to awaken the Sharingan would be healthier and perhaps even stronger."
Sasuke trusted Yoruha. Since Yoruha said so, he felt there was some truth to it. So he nodded, "But~" Sasuke agreed with Yoruha's perspective, but he didn't have any girls he was fond of at the moment.
Yoruha looked at Sasuke's bewildered expression and turned his head towards Sakura, who was walking over. Sakura looked at Sasuke with concern.
Earlier, Sasuke had been hit by the scattered lightning, so his clothes were torn. Sakura thought Sasuke was injured. Yoruha smiled at Sasuke and said, "She really cares about you."
Sasuke was silent for a moment, then turned to Yoruha and said, "I don't want to approach her just to awaken my Sharingan." Yoruha smiled, "That's the right attitude. The fact that you think this way shows you have feelings for her. Only genuine emotions can stimulate your Sharingan, so you don't need to do anything. Just let things happen naturally." Sasuke nodded.