Starts In Konoha: Unlocking Shadow Clone

The sound of rustling leaves filled the air, momentarily obscuring Sakura's view.

When she blinked her eyes open again, Naruto was already gone.

Meanwhile, she was still standing in front of the sink, brushing her teeth.

'What just happened? What did Naruto do to me?' Sakura pondered in confusion.

However, just as she finished washing her face and looked up at the mirror, she saw not only her own reflection… but Sasuke's as well!

"Sasuke-kun! Why are you also in my house?" Sakura exclaimed with excitement, turning around to face him, only to see Sasuke slumped against the wall. Blood was gushing out of his wounds, pouring forth uncontrollably.

"Sakura... help me..." Sasuke gasped weakly, reaching out as if trying to grab hold of something, but his hand dropped powerlessly to the floor as he took his last breath.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed, her eyes rolling back as she fainted on the spot.

Of course, this was all happening from Sakura's perspective.

In Naruto's view, he hadn't left the bathroom at all. Right after casting the Hell Viewing Technique, he heard Sakura scream, and then watched as she fainted immediately.

Hearing her call out Sasuke's name, and recalling her reaction to this technique in the original work, Naruto could more or less guess what she'd seen.

'As expected, Sakura's biggest fear was seeing Sasuke die.'

'It seems that if I want to completely subdue Sakura, I'd have to start with Sasuke.'

Thinking of this, he returned to the living room, packed his things and prepared to go out.

"Naruto, what happened to Sakura just now?" Mebuki asked with concern.

"Nothing serious. She just fell under my Genjutsu," Naruto explained, "This technique makes the target see their worst fears. Experiencing such pain a few more times might even help her mature faster."

Hearing this, Mebuki nodded in relief, "Good, then I won't worry. Make sure you're back by noon for lunch."

"Got it."

With that, Naruto left the Haruno household.

By the time he arrived at the Hokage Rock, Sasuke was already there, drenched in sweat. Looking at the shurikens embedded on the nearby trees, Naruto knew he must have been waiting here for a long time and had already started training on his own.

Such diligence and progress made Naruto very satisfied.

"I'll take a break first, then we can start sparring." Sasuke said, catching his breath.

Naruto shook his head and said with a sigh, " Do you think an enemy would wait for you to be ready before attacking?"

Sasuke froze, stunned by the question.

Naruto didn't give him any more time to think. He lunged forward, channeling the Kyubi's Chakra into his right fist, and launched a punch straight at Sasuke's chest.

By the time Sasuke realized what was happening, it was too late to dodge. He could only raise his arms in a desperate attempt to block the blow.

Boom!

With a thunderous impact, Sasuke's body was sent flying several meters before slamming hard against a tree trunk.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood as he crumpled to the ground, his energy completely drained.

Naruto didn't stop there. He continued forming hand signs at high speed.

"Hell Viewing Technique!"

He growled, and Sasuke's eyes glazed over as he fell into a trance-like state.

Seeing this, Naruto finally let out a long breath of relief.

When he saw Sakura's scream after being hit by the technique, he thought of Sasuke.

For an Uchiha, one of the triggers for upgrading the Sharingan was experiencing intense emotions… either overwhelming rage or profound grief.

The Hell Viewing Technique could show a person's deepest fears and most dreaded scenes.

For Sasuke, would likely be witnessing the Uchiha massacre or facing Itachi… either scenario would be more than enough to provoke a strong reaction from Sasuke.

By wearing Sasuke down in combat, Naruto ensured Sasuke wouldn't have the energy to activate his Sharingan, which would significantly increase the success rate of the Hell Viewing Technique.

Now that Sasuke had fallen under the Genjutsu, Naruto eagerly awaited the results. If this method is really feasible, Naruto could potentially use this technique to level up his own Sharingan.

After a tense wait, he finally heard Sasuke's pained scream.

'This is it… everything hinges on this.'

Naruto clenched his fists tightly in anticipation.

But after waiting a long while, he still didn't get the result he hoped for. When he went over to check, he found that Sasuke had fainted.

"Hey, wake up!" Naruto patted Sasuke's face.

After slapping his face for a while, Sasuke woke up slowly. Then, his body immediately arched and he asked vigilantly, "Where is that man!"

Hearing this, Naruto was not surprised at all, 'As expected, the person Sasuke's greatest fear was Itachi.'

He said helplessly, "Don't bother looking. There's no one else here, I just used a Genjutsu on you. But never mind that for now… activate your Sharingan so I can check the result."

Hearing this, Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief and immediately activated his Sharingan.

In an instant, his black eyes turned crimson, and two tomoe spun slowly within them.

'Double tomoe Sharingan… it worked!'

Feeling the change within himself, Sasuke couldn't hide his excitement, "Naruto, I made the right choice following you. I improved so quickly! How about you use that Genjutsu on me again?"

"That was exactly what I was thinking." Naruto chuckled, then quickly formed hand seals and used the Hell Viewing Technique again.

But this time, after a moment, Sasuke's eyes regained clarity.

"How do you feel?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"It doesn't work this time. Maybe it's because my Sharingan had evolved. I can now see through the Genjutsu at a glance, so it doesn't work on me." Sasuke shook his head.

"This…"

Naruto couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

He was still thinking about exploiting the bug and upgrading directly to the three-tomoe Sharingan, but he didn't expect that the Sharingan was the biggest bug.

As one of the Three Great Dojutsu, the Sharingan will have a qualitative leap every time it evolved.

'It seems that I still underestimated the Sharingan.'

But Naruto was not discouraged. After all, it was a good thing for him that the Sharingan was so powerful.

Besides, if you take too big a step, you might easily hurt your balls.

Bolstered by this thought, he patted Sasuke's shoulder and said, "Don't lose hope. This Genjutsu is only a D-Rank Technique. Once I learn more advanced Genjutsu, maybe they'll still work on you."

"You're right." Sasuke nodded, shaking off his frustration.

He was actually very satisfied with this leap in improvement in a short period of time.

"So, what's next in our training?" Sasuke asked instinctively.

At this moment, he realized that following Naruto was the way to get stronger, and listening to Naruto's advice would lead to faster improvement than just working hard alone.

"As a member of the Uchiha Clan, you should focus on maximizing your strengths. Remember, the Sharingan is your greatest weapon. I heard from Iruka-sensei that soon, this year's graduates will be split into teams under various Jonin Instructors. During these few days, you should focus on fully mastering your double-tomoe Sharingan. After that, I'll teach you the Hell Viewing Technique." Naruto explained.

Sasuke was a bit puzzled: "I can see the point of mastering the Sharingan, but why would I need to learn this D-Rank Genjutsu? It doesn't seem all that useful."

"It might not be useful for you, but it is for me." Naruto replied.

"Useful to you?"

Sasuke was even more confused, but he soon understood Naruto's intention.

Naruto took out a pair of colored contacts and put them on. When he opened his eyes again, his brilliant blue pupils had transformed into a crimson hue.

Seeing the spinning tomoe in Naruto's eyes, Sasuke's jaw dropped in shock, "How is it possible that you also have the Sharingan?!"