Chapter 45

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Chapter 45: The Whole Ninja World Burst Into Tears, Sasuke Finally Encounters a Bottleneck

Sasuke looked at Kakashi's upset expression and felt a little guilty. Ms. Kakashi had taken his teaching very seriously, but in the end, he had pretended to be a mysterious figure, causing trouble for him. However, after some thought, Sasuke discarded his guilt. The one who really caused trouble for Mr. Kakashi wasn't him but the truth itself: it was the historical truth concealed by Konoha's high-level officials. Moreover, Sasuke needed to get clues regarding the Uchiha genocide through Mr. Kakashi.

"Sasuke, what can I do for you?" Kakashi asked, trying to restrain his thoughts. He knew that any investigation would have to wait until they returned to Konoha.

Sasuke noticed Kakashi's agitated look and decided to help him divert his attention. "Mr. Kakashi, please continue teaching me ninjutsu. Are there other techniques I can learn?"

Recently, Kakashi had been guiding Naruto during the daytime, which didn't consume much energy or chakra. But at night, Sasuke would drag him to learn ninjutsu. After all, Kakashi, the copy ninja who had copied thousands of techniques, surely had a vast repertoire of useful ninjutsu to teach. Since then, Sasuke had mastered an increasing number of ninjutsu from Kakashi's wide selection.

Upon hearing this request, Kakashi felt dizzy. He thought it was almost fatal. He had mastered a lot of ninjutsu, but Sasuke was a fast learner, and Kakashi felt he was being drained!

Kakashi longed to tell Sasuke that he had nothing left to teach, but looking into Sasuke's eager eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead, he would save face. With a long sigh, Kakashi searched his brain and managed to say, "The attribute ninjutsu you can use have almost all been taught. Let's try something different today..."

Iruka commented, "It's too sad. In another world, I used to be like this. Sasuke learns too quickly, and soon there's nothing left to teach!"

Fourth Raikage added, "If the copy ninja Kakashi can be pushed like this, that Sasuke really is incredible!"

Nara Shikamaru observed, "Sasuke's strength has improved rapidly. It's hard to predict what level he'll reach by the Chūnin exam."

Senju Tobirama mentioned, "He's about to hit a bottleneck, but his strength will keep growing. The next step is the strength of the Five Kages, and that threshold isn't easy to cross."

Namikaze Minato reflected, "Moving from the strength of an Elite Jōnin to the level of the Five Kages usually takes a few years, even for a genius."

Orochimaru smirked and thought, "Hehe, that's a good situation for me. That Sasuke in the other world would surely be tempted when I offer him an olive branch."

Indeed, it didn't take long for Kakashi to be completely drained of techniques to teach. He had shared all of the ninjutsu he knew, removing many that Sasuke couldn't use, and taught the rest. Now, seeing Sasuke every day made Kakashi want to hide and run away. He had only been a mentor Jōnin for a few months, and the idea of telling a student, "I have nothing to teach you," was daunting.

It was so embarrassing. Sasuke probably realized this as well and started looking for ways to continue improving his strength. He asked himself, "Where is my problem now?" Sasuke furrowed his brow in thought and discovered that his biggest issue was the amount of chakra, which wasn't an easy problem to solve. 

His chakra control ability and chakra nature transformation were fine, and the ninjutsu he had mastered was quite extensive, thanks to his long training with Mr. Kakashi. The amount of chakra he had was already considerable, especially when compared to Mr. Kakashi. However, to reach a higher level of strength, he knew he needed to significantly increase his chakra.

It didn't have to be as excessive as Naruto's, but Sasuke felt that he had to at least double or triple his chakra amount. "How can I increase my chakra?" pondered a distressed Sasuke. He initially wanted to seek Mr. Kakashi's advice, but he dismissed the idea immediately.

He could already imagine the response he would get from Mr. Kakashi if he asked such a question. Hatake Kakashi would likely just chuckle! Indeed, no one in the entire ninja world probably wanted to know the answer to this question more than Sasuke himself.

The Fourth Raikage suggested that the amount of chakra mainly depended on the body's talent, whereas Ohnoki believed that diligently refining chakra could also increase its total amount. Terumi Mei pointed out that Sasuke had already been refining his chakra since childhood, so there wasn't much room for improvement.

Namikaze Minato assured everyone there was no need to worry, as Sasuke was only 12 years old. He speculated that after a few years of further physical growth, the chakra issue would solve itself naturally. Iruka concluded that Sasuke's problem couldn't be resolved in the short term. Uzumaki Naruto exclaimed in excitement, while Inuzuka Kiba celebrated the day had finally come. Nara Shikamaru mused that even Sasuke had encountered a problem that couldn't be solved.

Since the age of 7, Sasuke's strength in the parallel world had been improving at an unimaginable rate, causing immense psychological pressure on the spectators of the movie. Now, encountering a bottleneck in his strength growth, Sasuke's progress would have to slow down, leaving many overwhelmed with joy at the turn of events.

In the stands, Orochimaru was in high spirits, realizing that if Sasuke wanted to solve his chakra volume problem, he should seek him out. His curse seal could perfectly address this issue. Orochimaru thought that when Sasuke from that world realized he couldn't improve quickly anymore, he might be unable to resist the temptation of the curse seal. The thought of acquiring a perfect genius body from another world made Orochimaru even more eager to see how things would unfold.