50: Continue to Sow Discord in Sarutobi Asuma and Kurenai Yūhi

[Kakashi recommends Sasuke and his team for the Chūnin Exam.]

[In Kakashi's eyes, having Sasuke take the Chūnin Exam seems almost unfair, given his strength…]

[However, Kakashi has been too occupied with investigating the White Fang incident lately, leaving no time to train or lead Team 7 on missions.]

[For now, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura will take the Chūnin Exam without him.]

[Sasuke has noticed something about Kakashi lately.]

[Anxiety, frustration, hesitation—Kakashi's emotions have been in turmoil.]

[It seems that Kakashi is still struggling to uncover any meaningful information about the White Fang incident.]

[While Sasuke is also eager to uncover the truth about the Uchiha massacre, he knows he must wait for Kakashi's findings.]

[Sasuke suppresses his growing impatience.]

["When Kakashi-sensei finds something, I'll finally be able to learn the truth about the Uchiha clan's massacre," Sasuke thinks.]

[In the meantime, he focuses on improving his own strength.]

[Sasuke has been feeling frustrated, both because of the slow progress in learning the truth and because he's hit a bottleneck in his training.]

[Due to his young age and the limitations of his chakra reserves, his strength isn't increasing as quickly as before.]

[He needs to find a solution to this problem.]

["Sage Mode… The legendary Sage Jutsu from the Three Great Sacred Places—Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and the Shikkotsu Forest," Sasuke muses.]

["This Sage Mode allows users to combine their own chakra with natural energy to create Sage Chakra," Sasuke thinks as he studies a book.]

["If I could master Sage Mode, it would boost my chakra reserves, allowing me to push my limits."]

[However...]

["But Konoha's Three Sannin all signed contracts with the Great Holy Lands... How can I even find them?"]

[Sasuke sighs heavily.]

[Improving his strength rapidly seems nearly impossible right now.]

---

Orochimaru: "Heh, I'm truly excited to see how Sasuke develops!"

[Sasuke from the parallel world has piqued Orochimaru's interest even more.]

[If Sasuke aims for Sage Mode, he's sure to find himself in Orochimaru's clutches.]

[After all, Orochimaru's Curse Seal was based on Shigego's ability to absorb natural energy.]

Uchiha Fugaku: "Orochimaru, you despicable snake!"

Hatake Kakashi: "It's clear that Sasuke from that world is in serious danger. Orochimaru won't be easy to deal with."

Jiraiya: "Once Orochimaru sees Sasuke's potential, he won't hesitate to go after his body."

Orochimaru: "Hehehe! Maybe I'll just snatch Sasuke up right away."

---

[Sasuke continues to research, but information on Sage Jutsu is scarce.]

[The Three Great Holy Lands seem to be the only path to Sage Mode.]

[Feeling defeated, Sasuke temporarily shelves his plans to pursue Sage Jutsu.]

[But an idea strikes him.]

["Sage Mode relies on natural energy... Can I harness nature's power in some other way to strengthen my ninjutsu?"]

[Sasuke believes this idea has potential, but can't yet figure out how to put it into practice.]

[Growing frustrated, his Sharingan instinctively activates.]

[Sasuke takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.]

["No need to rush… I'll figure out a way eventually," he reassures himself.]

[With the Chūnin Exams fast approaching, Sasuke realizes that he won't have time to significantly improve his strength before then.]

[For now, he focuses on helping Sakura, Ino, and Hinata with their training.]

[At Team 8's training grounds.]

[Sasuke approaches Yūhi Kurenai with a request.]

["Do you mind if I take Hinata for some special training for a few days?" Sasuke asks.]

[Yūhi Kurenai raises an eyebrow.]

["Oh? So you think I'm not training her hard enough?" she asks, pretending to be annoyed.]

["No, no, I just think you care about her too much to push her as hard as she needs," Sasuke explains smoothly.]

[Kurenai laughs.]

["You've got a point! Little Hinata is so sweet, I can't bear to be too harsh on her," she says, playfully pinching Hinata's cheek.]

[Sasuke takes advantage of Kurenai's good mood to strike up conversation.]

["If only Asuma-sensei were half as considerate as you… no, even just a tenth as considerate," Kurenai sighs.]

["He's still trying to explain his good intentions behind how he assigned his students," she adds, clearly exasperated.]

[Sasuke senses an opportunity.]

["I think Asuma-sensei cares about you a lot, sensei. Ino told me he's been really troubled lately and doesn't know how to explain things to you," Sasuke says.]

[Kurenai's eyes narrow.]

["Oh? So he's been complaining about me behind my back?" she asks, her voice tense.]

["No, no! He didn't say anything bad about you at all!" Sasuke protests, looking flustered.]

[But his expression only confirms Kurenai's suspicions.]

[Kurenai frowns, clearly upset now.]

[Sasuke grins inwardly, enjoying the success of his manipulation.]

[Sowing discord is so satisfying, especially when one of the people involved is from the Sarutobi clan.]

[Even if Asuma didn't actually say anything, he'll never be able to explain his way out of this.]

[Just imagining Asuma's frustration and Kurenai's anger makes Sasuke feel much better.]

---

Sarutobi Asuma: "f*****g b*****d! I f**k beep beep beep beep beep-"

Yamanaka Ino: "Sasuke's getting scarier by the day…"

Nara Shikamaru: "And he does it all so calmly…"

Iruka: "I'm just glad I never crossed Sasuke over there…"