Naruto: The Chosen Undead-Chapter no.160 Dark Souls

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Chapter 160 Checkmate, Sensei!

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Afternoon sun burned against the waves, casting long reflections over the small, remote island just off the coast of the Land of Waves. Wind whispered through sparse trees, and the distant cry of gulls rang through the sky. It was peaceful. Two full genin teams stood in a loose circle. Team 7 and Team 8, along with Oscar crouched dutifully beside Naruto.

In front of them, Kakashi and Kurenai stood with uncharacteristic seriousness. Even Kakashi's usual lazy slouch was absent.

Kurenai gave Kakashi a nod, and he stepped forward. "This afternoon's sparring session will be... different."

He surveyed the gathered genin, his lone visible eye scanning over their faces, measuring not just their readiness but with conviction, confidence and fear.

"Think of it like a battlefield simulation," he continued. "You'll be fighting against us."

A ripple of shock passed through the teams.

Sakura raised a cautious hand. "Wait… like a full team fight? All of us versus the two of you?"

"Yes," Kakashi said flatly. "You'll fight as a team, all of you together. After a day of rest, we'll hold one-on-one matches. But for now... this is war."

"Consider this a tactical exam," Kurenai added. "No lectures, no drills. You have five minutes to prepare. Use it wisely."

Before anyone could ask another question, both Jonin jumped into the treeline.

BAM!

The instant they moved, Naruto flickered behind where Kakashi had stood, his Zweihander already mid-swing in a brutal upward arc meant to pierce through any lingering presence. Simultaneously, Sasuke materialized in front of Kurenai, delivering an upward kick that cracked the air. It was eerily reminiscent of Rock Lee's opening taijutsu.

Poof. Poof.

Both targets burst into smoke. Clones.

Naruto and Sasuke froze.

"Damn," Sasuke muttered.

"They planned this," Naruto said, scanning the treeline with his Hawkeyes.

Meanwhile, Sakura had already flung out her hands, her fingers flashing through seals. A moment later, a glowing pyramidal barrier of chakra rose around them all.

Inside, Hinata activated her Byakugan. "They're gone. Nothing within five hundred meters."

Sakura wiped sweat from her brow. "Then they gave us five minutes… but they're not wasting any time."

Tension filled the barrier.

"We need a leader," Kiba said. "Now."

All eyes shifted.

Sasuke and Sakura looked to Naruto.

Kiba and Hinata looked to Shino.

Two names. One decision.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Shino adjusted his glasses. Their gazes locked.

"If we want to survive this," Shino said calmly, "we need someone who can provide cohesion and battlefield awareness."

"I've got experience," Naruto replied without any heat, just certainty. "I've led more battles than anyone here."

"In what capacity?" Shino asked. "How many squads have you commanded? How many victories rely on your leadership, not just your strength?"

Naruto's voice dropped. "In killing."

A pause.

"That has merit. But we're not killers today, we're a unit. You're powerful, Naruto, but you move like a lone wolf. I can coordinate all of us through my insects and sound-mimicry bugs. We'll have shared intel across the battlefield, no speaking needed. You'll act faster. Cleaner."

He raised a hand and released small green grasshoppers. One landed on each genin's shoulder or collarbone.

"These are communication scouts," Shino said. "They'll resonate when I signal commands."

Naruto tapped the one on his shoulder. It chirped back.

"Alright, Bugman. You're in charge."

Shino blinked. "You yield that easily?"

Naruto gave a shrug. "I like winning more than leading."

"Thank you for your trust," Shino said with a slight bow.

Oscar chirped, suddenly agitated. He clawed at the dirt below them, digging fast and desperate.

Naruto frowned. "Hinata, check below us."

Hinata's eyes narrowed. "Nothing. No tunnels, no movement…"

Naruto's hand reached for his sword. "Oscar doesn't lie."

Shino's grasshoppers twitched then bit down in unison, sharp stings at every neck and collarbone. The sudden pain snapped them out of the genjutsu as everyone realized.

There was no barrier. No protection. Just open air and silence.

Hinata's eyes flared as she activated her Byakugan. Her breath caught. "MOVE!"

The ground erupted beneath them.

Stone spears tore skyward in a deafening, splintering crash, throwing up dirt, dust, and debris. Their formation shattered. Sakura shouted a warning but it was too late. The shockwave hit like a punch to the chest.

Naruto landed in a crouch, rolling into the dirt and grinding to a halt beside a jagged pillar of rock. His cloak billowed around him, ash and soil still falling like soft rain. Beside him, Hinata skidded down the incline, her palm digging into the dirt as she came to a stop.

Across from them stood Kakashi Hatake, his ever-calm gaze unreadable behind his headband and mask. One hand in his pocket, the other resting casually on the hilt of a kunai.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said softly, already settling into her Gentle Fist stance. "What do we do?"

Before he could speak, a tiny buzz resonated against the side of Naruto's neck. The sound mimicry grasshopper Shino had planted earlier.

"Everyone, report in," came Shino's calm voice, modulated into the insect's wings.

"Sasuke and I are engaging Kurenai," Sakura's voice crackled through. "She's using audio genjutsu and damn good one."

"Kakashi for us. Kiba, Shino?"

Kiba said in confusion, "We're also stuck with Kakashi."

Naruto paused. His eyes narrowed. "Wait… what?"

He looked up at the supposedly lone figure of their teacher ahead. Kakashi stood perfectly still, as if waiting for something.

"Clone!" Naruto shouted just as the man blurred forward.

Naruto rolled left and drew his Zweihander one-handed, the massive blade arching up just in time to clang against a descending kunai. The shock rippled through his wrist and shoulder. Kakashi's weight pressed down for an instant and then vanished.

A second Kakashi appeared above them, already spinning into a heel kick. Hinata intercepted, palm out, redirecting the blow to the side with a burst of chakra. The moment she touched him, poof... another clone.

"He's trying to confuse us," Hinata said, scanning the surroundings. "I count three more chakra signatures nearby."

"And one behind us," Naruto added grimly, just as another Kakashi stepped from the shadows, spinning a shuriken on one finger.

Then he threw it.

It whistled through the air and behind it came four more, crisscrossing in a staggered spiral pattern meant to curve, deceive, and trap.

Naruto was already moving.

He yanked three shuriken from his inventory and flicked his wrist, hurling them forward to intercept. Each of his shuriken struck Kakashi's mid-air with a ching of metal on metal, ricocheting into the trees.

But it wasn't over.

From the trees behind him... fwip fwip fwip fwip... more steel screamed through the air. A feint within a feint.

Kakashi's voice echoed from behind them. "I hope you've improved your projectile game, Naruto."

"I did," Naruto said, flipping his blade over his back to block incoming steel.

Hinata rotated, both palms glowing faintly with chakra. She struck two shuriken out of the air before they reached her neck, and dropped low, sweeping another away with a flat palm.

Naruto flipped over a falling log, twisting mid-air, and launched a trio of shuriken in rapid succession. Each one curving at a different arc thanks to a subtle touch of wind chakra. They spiraled through the battlefield in a chaotic pattern.

Kakashi ducked the first, blocked the second, and parried the third with the flat of his kunai, but that moment of distraction gave Naruto the window he needed.

From the ground beneath Kakashi's feet, a shuriken burst upward using a ninja wire, hidden in the shadow of one of the projectiles.

Kakashi twisted—too late. The blade grazed his shoulder.

Poof.

Another clone.

Naruto cursed under his breath.

"He's testing our coordination," Hinata said, scanning again. "Not just our strength."

"Yeah… and we're wasting energy on clones."

Just then, a faint buzz touched his ear again. Shino's voice: "Adjust. They're baiting aggression. Think in formations."

"Alright, Bugman."

He pressed his back to Hinata's. "Ready to flip the game?"

Hinata nodded as from all sides, more shuriken flew towards the duo.

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"That was a poor move," Kurenai murmured, her gaze following Sakura as the girl sprinted toward Shino and Kiba. The ease with which she had shattered the genjutsu didn't go unnoticed. And Sasuke had just sent her away.

"You've isolated yourself," she added, turning her eyes back to him. "And that," her voice lowered like a blade drawn in silence, "was a mistake."

Sasuke took a slow step forward. His Sharingan spun to life, tomoe circling like blades. "It doesn't matter," he said flatly. "I'm enough to handle you."

Kurenai's expression didn't change.

Whistle.

A soft, melodic sound laced the air. Not from her lips, but from a small metal ring affixed to her earring, vibrating just slightly. The tone spiraled outward, unseen and unheard to most ears.

Sasuke flinched, then instantly jammed a senbon into his own ear—pop!—blood rushed down his neck as his eardrum ruptured.

Kurenai blinked. "You deafened yourself?"

"Naruto will heal me after," Sasuke said coldly, his voice perfectly steady. He drew the claymore from the seal etched into his glove. The blade glimmered with a subtle blue shimmer of lightning chakra, flowing faintly along the edge.

"You're bleeding from your ears… and your weapon is too slow."

Sasuke didn't reply. He lunged forward and cleaved through where she stood but only passed through mist.

Whistle.

A kunai slashed his cheek from behind. Blood splattered the leaf-covered ground. He turned—Kurenai stood with a faint smile, her kunai spinning in her fingers like a needle.

"Sloppy."

She vanished again as the world fractured.

Sasuke stood in a forest of glass mirrors, but each one showed a twisted version of himself. Some were younger. Others older. Some were crying. Others burned alive. One simply stared back… with empty, hollow eyes.

The sky turned crimson. The trees wept blood. His breath fogged into smoke.

He gritted his teeth, slashed through the nearest mirror—CLANG—three illusions shattered into violet mist.

But nothing changed.

Kurenai's voice echoed from the sky.

Mind's Garden Jutsu.

Then she stepped forward. Three of her. One to the left, right, and center. All smiling. All speaking at once. "You know what they say about mirrors, Sasuke… They show who you really are."

He turned too late as Kurenai's hand was inside his chest. Blood exploded from his mouth as his heart was crushed in her fingers.

Before his mind could go into shock, a jolt, sharp and searing, ran through Sasuke's arms as his fingers clenched the hilt of his claymore. Lightning chakra, no longer under his full control, snapped violently across the blade and bit back into his nervous system. His muscles spasmed. His teeth grit as Kurenai moved for a frontal confrontation.

Kurenai's style was a ballet of illusion and precision. Her body flowed like wind, but her steps carried weight. Every shift of her shoulders, every flick of her hair, was laced with Subtle Bloom—a genjutsu that didn't overwrite the senses but tilted them just enough. To the Sharingan, it was like watching twelve copies of her at once—perfect mirror phantoms layered into her real movements. Phantom slashes danced beside her actual strikes, each one forcing Sasuke to question his responses. Was the kunai real? Was her pivot true?

Sasuke didn't panic.

He stepped into a modified Fool's Guard, his claymore low, blade off-line, his posture open and inviting the strike.

Kurenai lunged in, illusions crashing forward like a wave of blades. Sasuke's eyes traced every possible thread, but at the last second, instinct spoke louder than analysis.

There.

He rotated into a crooked, rising slash meant to unbalance rather than maim. The blade caught Kurenai's kunai hand mid-motion, twisting her elbow sharply. Her breath hitched as the angle forced her back, but only for a second.

Crack.

The world splintered again as Sasuke's mouth was filled with the taste of blood. He'd bitten his own tongue on purpose to jolt his nervous system.

"How did you catch that?"

"I'm not stupid enough to think I can parry a jonin that easily," Sasuke said, lunging forward into a controlled strike. But Kurenai closed the distance with frightening precision. In one swift motion, she tackled him, driving him to the forest floor with a solid thud. Her knees pinned his arms, the kunai in her good hand pressed just above his collarbone.

Then Sasuke pointed to the side.

Kurenai followed his gesture and froze.

The real Sasuke stood motionless, eyes glowing with calm intensity. Kurenai froze as she was the one trapped now, ensnared in his genjutsu.

A true genius, she thought, then her breath caught.

Lightning crackled to life in his palm, the sound of a thousand birds rising. Her blood ran cold.

"But Kakashi said you weren't ready for that jutsu."

Sasuke's smirk widened. The forest glowed with bolts of raw lightning dancing across his skin.

"First time for everything."

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Sakura skidded into the clearing, her boots digging furrows into the damp soil. The sharp scent of scorched earth filled her lungs. Smoke and steam coiled from shattered stone and charred bark.

Ahead of her, chaos.

Kiba was a blur of red and brown, his body spinning violently as he launched another Fang Over Fang toward Kakashi. The air howled in his wake.

But Kakashi's movements were faster. Minimal. Efficient.

He shifted his weight by inches, angled his stance just so, and Kiba tore past like a missile with no target, slamming into a tree trunk hard enough to split the bark. Splinters flew. Akamaru barked in frustration.

"Fire Style: Fire Torch Jutsu."

A focused stream of flame exploded from kakashi's mouth. It was not a wide wave, but a narrow, precise cone of compressed fire. It slammed into Shino's approaching swarm, forcing the insects into disarray. The few that survived scattered, the rest left as ashen carcasses.

Shino grunted, leaping back with a flicker of movement, just barely clearing the blast zone.

Sakura's eyes flicked between her teammates.

Her brain went into tactical overdrive.

Kiba was too direct. Shino needed space. And she—Sakura reached into her pouch and flicked a kunai through the air toward Kakashi's blind spot. Just enough to draw his attention.

He didn't even turn.

Clink.

He caught it between two fingers.

"Nice try," he said, with the laziest smirk imaginable. And then he flicked it—hard—toward Shino.

But that had been the plan.

Sakura's mimicry grasshopper whispered across the frequency: Take it.

Shino's hand snatched the kunai from the air without hesitation.

He moved as Sakura whispered a plan to him which caused the young Aburame to blur forward, hand already glowing with compressed chakra as he went in for taijutsu battle.

Palm strike—deflected.

Low sweeping kick—dodged.

Backfist—caught mid-swing.

Kakashi's grip tightened on Shino's wrist and, with a twist of the arm, flung him up into the air. Shino flipped midair, prepared for a counter, but Kakashi was already gone.

He reappeared in a flicker above Shino, twisting in the air, and drove a knee down into his stomach like a hammer.

THUD.

Shino crashed into the dirt, but there was no cry of pain. Only a violent burst of insects as his form crumbled into a thousand writhing bugs.

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "A bug clone… impressive."

But even before he could reposition, a shout caught his attention.

"SHANNARŌ!"

Sakura was already there, mid-air, descending with her battle axe raised high. The air warped around the edge of the steel, the force of her swing strong enough to generate a pressure wave. It tore a shallow trench in the earth even before it hit.

Kakashi dodged just in time, tilting his head as the blade screamed past, slicing a tree in half behind him.

He smiled. "Naruto again, huh? Lending out weapons like snacks these days…"

But even as he quipped, his Sharingan eye whirled into motion. He weaved hand seals with impossible speed.

"Genjutsu: False Foe Perception."

Sakura's eyes met his. The technique fired off silently, subtle as a whisper. He expected to see her chakra flare erratically, to see the telltale signs of a mind falling under influence.

But nothing happened.

Sakura blinked. Her stance didn't falter.

Kakashi's brow furrowed.

That genjutsu should've hit. He was certain her chakra hadn't spiked. No resistance seal. No counter-jutsu. No external reinforcement.

So why didn't it work?

She smiled slightly, something cold behind her eyes. "Maybe humanity gave me more than just physical strength."

Kakashi had no time to ponder further.

From the treeline, another kunai whistled toward him.

He spun and deflected it.

Only for Kiba to appear behind it, catching the blade mid-air with his teeth and slamming it into the dirt at Kakashi's feet.

Chakra detonated outward in a spiraling ring as Sakura's axe crashed down again, this time aimed to anchor the seal.

Simultaneously, Shino threw a final kunai upward.

At first, it seemed random until the chakra threads revealed themselves, interlocking with the previous ones. In seconds, a pyramidal cage formed—four kunai, four corners, four threads laced with binding chakra.

The moment the seal clicked into place.

Whirrrrrr.

A low hum began.

From every inch of the earth within the trap, Shino's swarm erupted, black tides of biting, stinging insects that consumed the earth beneath Kakashi's feet. Still, he stood motionless.

POOF.

Another clone.

Sakura's mouth tightened. "Damn it."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "He's splitting our resources."

Kiba growled. "We need to find the real one."

Sakura nodded. "Time to regroup."

The mimicry grasshoppers buzzed to life.

"Everyone check in. We lost track of the real target."

A brief silence, then Sasuke's voice came through. "Kurenai's using illusions in layers. This isn't just suppression—it's sensory warfare. I am holding my own. Just barely."

"We'll handle her, Sakura said. Kiba... support Naruto. Shino, you're with me."

They nodded.

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Naruto narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't adding up.

Too many Kakashis.

The young knight had been through enough real combat to know one thing: that amount of chakra output didn't track.

Sure, Kakashi was strong. But even he had limits. Why hadn't he ever used this level of clone spam before? Had he been hiding his full potential? Was it precise chakra control?

Or…

Genjutsu.

Naruto's eyes flicked to Hinata beside him. Her eyes were darting around, confused. A subtle sign. Then to the small green grasshopper perched at her collar. A chill slid up Naruto's spine. What if Kakashi used genjutsu on the grasshoppers too?

"Only one way to know," he whispered.

His hand brushed over his eye, and Soul Sight flared to life. The world peeled away like melting paint.

The army of Kakashi clones evaporated into wisps of unreality.

And buried deep in the forest canopy, half-obscured by branches and shadow, was the real one.

Naruto let no sign cross his face. He dropped back as if overwhelmed, playing his role. His hand dipped into his inventory pouch. A silent click. A crossbow bolt shimmered into place.

He fired.

The bolt whistled through the air. An explosive seal on the arrow flared—BOOM. The treeline ignited in a violent burst of orange flame. Kakashi flickered out of the fire, visible at last.

"Smart," Kakashi admitted, brushing soot off his flak vest.

Naruto was already beside Hinata, severing the subtle chakra strands locking her into the illusion as he whispered something to her.

"Nice trick, Sensei," Naruto called while he motioned Oscar towards Hinata to follow his plan. "But it won't work twice."

"Guess I'll have to take this seriously."

He formed a hand seal.

Earth Style: Dust Blade.

A kunai in his grip bulged with chakra. Hardened earth coiled around the steel, shaping itself into a jagged longsword of stone.

Naruto lowered his center of gravity. He dismissed his Zweihander into his inventory and brandished the gleaming Balder Rapier.

"You're using my moves," Naruto said, almost smirking. "So technically, you owe me a jutsu."

"What if I already paid you with this beating?"

Naruto didn't wait for the bell. He vanished, a little too eager to put to use the swordsmanship he'd picked up just by watching and killing the Balder Knights.

A silver streak formed as his rapier lunged in a Fleche, a classic fencing thrust aimed at Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi leaned just out of range, letting the tip whistle past his ribs. The Dust Blade countered with a powerful diagonal sweep. A cut that would've torn through a lesser sword, but Naruto was already gone, bouncing off a tree trunk mid-air and redirecting for a thrust at Kakashi's flank.

Riposte.

Kakashi blocked with the flat of his blade, only to wince as the wind chakra coating Naruto's rapier sang with cutting force, leaving shallow slices in his jacket with every graze.

"You're not bad," he admitted, ducking under a lightning-quick lunge and retaliating with a horizontal slash that forced Naruto back. "But this isn't a duel. It's a test."

Naruto moved like lightning. The rapier flicked out in an envelopment, deflecting Kakashi's sword wide before darting for the ribs again. The speed and fluidity were frightening—one clean hit, and a Chunin would drop.

But Kakashi wasn't a Chunin.

He rotated mid-deflection, stomping the earth. Earth style: Earth Pulse Technique. The ground beneath Naruto trembled, forcing his stance to falter. A half-step hesitation.

Enough.

Kakashi's blade met Naruto's with a Bind, locking the weapons together. With his free hand, Kakashi jammed a palm into Naruto's shoulder and flipped him over his back, slamming the boy to the dirt.

Naruto rolled, kicked up and went for a thrust that was too slow.

Kakashi's Dust Blade came down like a guillotine.

CLANG.

Naruto caught it on the flat of his rapier... barely. Sparks danced. His arm screamed from the pressure.

"Yield yet?" Kakashi asked casually.

Naruto just grinned.

"Not even close."

From the treeline came a loud yell.

"Fang Over Fang!"

Kiba and Akamaru erupted from the underbrush, spinning in tandem like a flaming tornado. A combo of Fire Fang and rotational momentum wrapped them in a vortex of heat and claw. The flames curved in a corkscrew pattern, spiraling toward Kakashi.

"Distraction," Naruto muttered, scrambling back.

Kakashi jumped, flipping mid-air, barely avoiding the flaming drill of death. He landed lightly on a nearby branch. Only for Oscar to launch from the bushes, unleashing a concentrated crystal beam that lanced toward him like a sniper's shot.

Kakashi dropped from the treetops just in time to see it. Naruto's greatbow drawn, the arrow notched, humming with chakra.

Foom.

The arrow blurred forward with a shriek of compressed air, slicing through the atmosphere at mach speed. Kakashi's Sharingan caught the projectile clearly, yet its speed gave him no margin for error. He prepared to dodge or deflect with a substitution when Kiba came hurtling in from the side, spinning like a flame-wreathed drill.

Kakashi's foot shifted to counter, but he froze. From the opposite flank, another Oscar emerged, mouth glowing with a crystal-charged laser.

A shadow clone? he realized. Smart.

Kakashi dove low to avoid being pincered only to sense it, the trap snapping shut.

Boom!

From beneath the earth, a third Oscar burst upward, mouth wide with energy. Kakashi had only a split second as he rammed a kunai into its side. The clone dispersed in smoke.

But the smoke was the real cover.

From behind the veil of white, Hinata struck.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms!"

Her palms hammered against his ribs and side in a perfect, rapid rhythm as the chakra nodes slammed shut, one after another. His body seized up, internal flow collapsing. Kakashi grunted, vision swimming, barely able to counter before...

BAM!

Kiba's fire-covered form smashed into him, driving the Jonin back with force that splintered the trees behind them. And in that final moment, Kakashi looked up to see Naruto standing over him with a sword to his neck.

"What happened to the arrow?"

"I attached storage seals to the shafts with these tiny plates I etched myself. Mid-flight, I activate the seal, and poof... the arrow vanishes. That way, I get the impact, the pressure… without actually skewering anyone."

Kakashi let out a quiet breath. Clever.

He glanced toward the treetops where Oscar's lingering crystal trails had carved lines into the forest canopy, and felt a cold realization settle in.

If this had been real… Oscar's laser. Naruto's arrow. He would be dead. And not just him. Every one of them had risen above themselves today.

He hadn't retrieved the summoning kunai. He hadn't even touched it. But as he sat in the shadow of his student, Kakashi realized something else. He was proud of how far the next generation had come.

"You lose, sensei."

Kakashi coughed, smiling under the mask. He raised a thumbs-up, even as his legs gave way and he slumped back, breathing hard.

"Hell of a plan," he muttered.

The team didn't stop moving. Their eyes were already turning to where Kurenai's battle still raged. They arrived to see the battlefield torn apart. Deep trenches carved the land, the aftermath of Shino's insect artillery and Sasuke's lightning strikes.

Kurenai stood in the center, face shadowed by exhaustion. Even her illusion-weaving brilliance had limits.

Then she saw them.

Oscar snarled. His gun mechanisms unfolded with a hiss, glowing with the beginnings of another attack.

Kurenai looked at the squad of Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Sakura, Shino and Sasuke. All battle-worn but coordinated and ruthless. Like a true unit.

She raised her hands. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips. "Well, Team 7. Team 8. You win this round."

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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 78, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.

To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!