Son Goku's Disciple Naruto Chapter 39 - 39

"S-sorry," Sasuke mumbled, his face flushing.

'Heh,' Naruto thought. 'Sasuke apologizing? Now that's a sight you don't see every day. The end tis must be coming soon.'

Sasuke wasn't stupid, Naruto was bringing up his own scars to make him feel better. Still, he was a little confused. They weren't related, and they'd even clashed a few tis back at the Academy. So why was Naruto going out of his way to help him?

Naruto just shook his head, like he could read Sasuke's mind. "Because we're brothers, Sasuke." It was an obvious double aning that Sasuke couldn't grasp.

Indra and Ashura had been brothers, after all. And in the canon tiline, Sasuke and he had been practically half-brothers themselves. But now that he was here...who knew if any of that still counted.

At least he hadn't felt any trace of Ashura's chakra yet, nor any strange influence from it.

"Maybe you didn't know," Naruto continued, "but your father and mine were close friends and trusted partners in battle. And our mothers were even closer, like confidantes."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. 'So that's why he ca to my house that day... and why Mom and Dad were so nice to him.'

Naruto nodded, confirming it. "That's right."

'How does he know what I'm thinking? Is it... telepathy?'

"I don't have that kind of thing," Naruto said.

'Liar!' Sasuke vehently disagreed ntally.

"Seriously, I don't Sasuke."

Sasuke just stared at him with blank expression.

"You've got a lot of important stuff ahead of you, Sasuke. Don't waste ti wallowing. You need to pull yourself together." Naruto wanted to shake him out of it. He knew the kind of power Sasuke could wield, the strength he'd need by his side. His strength and achievents down the line would be second only to his own. As long as they stood together, they could crush the Otsutsuki into dust.

While physically Otsutsuki might not be match for Naruto as he grows older and gets stronger, it's the varied ntal and soul techniques they could utilize that is the issue. It's always better to have so ally for support.

"You have more important things to do, right?" Naruto pressed. "You don't want to stay stuck here, do you?"

"I want to get stronger," Sasuke said, clenching his fists tight. "I want to take revenge on him. I want power." He looked at Naruto then, a flicker of apprehension in his eyes, clearly afraid Naruto would say no. "You'll help ... won't you, Naruto?"

Naruto's performance back at the Academy had definitely left an impression. No one, boy or girl, had escaped without getting beaten until they cried.

Naruto nodded. "If you're willing." He stood up. "Then stop lying around. Get up."

"Okay."

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A day passed.

Konoha Forest.

Naruto's taijutsu training crew was gathered - Lee, Neji, and now, the cold and arrogant Sasuke Uchiha.

"I... I really have to carry that thing?" Sasuke stared with pure disgust at the heavy turtle shells strapped to Neji, Lee, and Naruto. Why? Simple. It was unbelievably ugly. If anyone saw him like this, he'd die of sha.

Neji, already grinding through basic drills under the shell's weight, spared Sasuke a glance of disdain. 'Complaining already? Just like I thought, a pampered brat.' He claid he wanted revenge, wanted strength, but he couldn't even handle a heavy shell? 'Soone like that,' Neji thought, 'will never escape their fate. They'll always be bound by it.'

"So? You gonna carry it or not?" Naruto jiggled a smaller shell in front of Sasuke, one he'd outgrown years ago.

Sasuke looked from the training Lee and Neji to Naruto, a fierce internal battle raging on his face. Finally, he gritted his teeth. 'Fine.' He snatched the shell from Naruto's hand. 'Being cool is temporary. Getting strong is forever.'

The mont he grabbed it, a crushing weight settled in his hands, threatening to pull him straight down. 'So heavy!' His hands trembled as he wrestled the shell onto his back. He managed a few agonizingly slow steps before his feet slipped and he went down with a *thud*.

'Hmph. The great Uchiha prodigy, brought low by just this much weight,' Neji scoffed inwardly, conveniently forgetting how he'd looked the first ti he tried to lift one.

"Hey, it's fine," Naruto said, pulling Sasuke back to his feet and dusting him off. "Happens to everyone their first ti. You'll get used to it."

Sasuke's face flushed. He wasn't sure if it was from sha at misjudging the task or just the sheer effort of holding the weight. He glanced at the shell now digging into his shoulders, then at the massive one on Naruto's back. 'I'm struggling with this, the smallest one. Naruto's is... easily twice the size. How heavy must that thing be?'

Naruto followed his gaze and patted the shell behind him. "This one? About five tis yours." He shrugged. "Yours is the starter shell, only about a hundred kilos. That was my training weight when I was four. Maybe five."

'Four years old?' A single thought flashed through both Neji's and Sasuke's minds simultaneously. 'Monster.'

Lee, anwhile, just kept training hard, his face a mask of pure focus. Beating Neji had given him all the motivation he needed. All he wanted was to push himself further.

"You guys are being rude," Naruto comnted.

'You said you couldn't read minds?!' they both thought.

"I really don't," Naruto insisted, looking completely innocent.

He was t with two utterly unconvinced stares.

It took Sasuke a week to barely adapt to the shell's weight, and he could only manage a few basic movents with it on. Neji never let him forget that it had only taken him six days to get to that point.

Though, they were way slower than Naruto had been at their age.

"Alright, next up... swimming!" Facing a rushing waterfall, Lee obediently plunged in. He promptly vanished beneath the surface. Naruto had to dive in and haul him back out. 'Seriously?' Naruto thought. 'Why jump if you can't swim, Lee?'

Neji and Sasuke, both decent swimrs, froze and exchanged a look of dread before Naruto kicked them both into the waterfall, sending them tumbling into the torrent with wide, desperate eyes.

"Next up... plowing the fields."

"After that..."

Naruto was teaching Neji, Rock Lee, and Sasuke the Turtle School Martial Arts, just like Goku had taught him. He was using the almost the sa thods to train them.

Speaking of Goku, who had to appeared and disappeared inexplicably within the seal, Naruto had a hunch. Teaching these three was partly to build his own reliable team, and partly to test his suspicions.

As it turned out, he was right. No matter how Naruto taught them, or even pumped ki into their bodies, they felt nothing except more energetic and recovered more quickly. They simply couldn't sense Ki.

It seed ki was Naruto's alone. Only he could sense it.

This had its upsides and downsides. The good news was that only Naruto could enjoy it. Unique abilities were the most valuable. There was nothing special about sothing that everyone could do.

The bad news was that the three probably couldn't rely on ki to rapidly improve their combat power like he could. Forget things like Kahaha or Flight. If they could even manage the Afterimage Technique, that'd be incredible. Their path would primarily be through chakra.

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Narrator:

Will Sasuke's pride survive the horrors of fashion-disaster turtle shells… and waterfall training that doubles as an impromptu drowning attempt?

Can Neji keep his superiority complex from imploding?

Will Rock Lee finally learn to ask questions before jumping into waterfall while he can't swim in?

Is Naruto a telepath, a genius... or just really good at guessing what everyone's thinking?

Can Sasuke unlock his Springti of Youth™... or just unlock back pain?

Will any of them survive Naruto's insane training thods without emotional trauma?

Find out next ti-sa sweat, sa shells, sa Naruto madness!

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