Not Just an Expectation, but a Goal to Reach

"Set off!"

Looking at the scroll in his hand, Naruto had always stayed in Konoha, shouted excitedly.

"Wait a minute, Naruto-kun," Hinata said from the side.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Naruto's smile froze instantly, and he turned around.

"Generally, these kinds of missions require meeting with the client to confirm the specific details of the mission," Hinata explained, pointing to the client's name written on the mission scroll.

"That's right!"

Naruto looked like he'd just realized something, while Sasuke, standing to the side, kept his composure, having forgotten about it himself.

"This task isn't needed. The client has already gone back, so we can just go directly to the task location to meet him."

Hagoromo waved her hand and said, "After all, this mission was only issued by a village in a small country."

The cost of living in Konoha is much higher than in their area, so people naturally can't stay in Konoha indefinitely.

"Hehe, then we can leave the village right away, right?" Naruto immediately became excited again upon hearing this.

"Check everyone's equipment, make sure you have all the necessary items." Hagoromo rubbed Naruto's head.

With a serious expression, he said, "Going out of the village on a mission means the safety of Konoha and your own safety, so Naruto, you can't be too reckless."

"Understood!" Naruto replied with a knowing look.

Hagoromo Yi shook her head inwardly at this. With the mind of a young boy, it was his first time leaving the village, and he didn't care how serious she made it sound.

Naruto will probably get carried away too.

"Teacher, I've checked everything carefully on my end." Hinata said after checking her backpack again.

"Me too." Sasuke nodded. Unlike Hinata, he only carried a backpack with him.

"Okay, if there are no problems, let's set off."

Hagoromo nodded, then led Naruto and the others quickly toward the gates of Konoha.

As she passed the gate, Hagoromo used a Kunai to nail the village exit permit to the detention board and left the village without looking back.

"So handsome!"

Naruto was following behind, watched Hagoromo's actions and his eyes lit up.

"From now on, we will travel as fast as we can until we reach the border of the Land of Fire, at which point we will slow down."

Hagoromo spoke without turning her head.

"Teacher, why is this?" Sasuke, standing behind him, couldn't help but ask curiously, as this was his first time leaving the village.

Not only Naruto, but even he was a little excited.

"The Land of Fire is our own territory. Even if there are some wandering ninjas or bandits, we don't need to worry too much."

Hagoromo then began to teach her three disciples some basic knowledge.

These are things that are not in textbooks, and they are not covered in the training courses for trainee ninjas.

Upon hearing this, Sasuke nodded in agreement, after all, these wandering ninjas or bandits also valued their lives.

If you encounter ninjas on their way and still try to approach them, you'll probably be wiped out without a second thought.

On the contrary, Naruto was excited. If he could encounter someone like that, wouldn't he be able to experience what it means to be a ninja firsthand?

However, this illusion was shattered the very next day.

Not only did Naruto and his group not encounter such a being, but the continuous journey also made them feel extremely bored.

After crossing another mountain, Hagoromo stopped and pointed to the village in front of her.

"Once you pass through this village, you'll reach the dock directly, and from there you can take a boat out to sea."

"Great!" Naruto looked around with great curiosity, Hinata and Sasuke rested for a while.

Reaching this point means we've reached roughly the location the teacher mentioned; from here on out, we need to proceed with caution.

After resting for a while, Hagoromo stood up and asked, "Is everything ready?"

"Alright, teacher!"

Naruto and the other two responded with serious expressions.

"Okay, let's be careful from now on." Hagoromo nodded and moved towards the target dock.

Led by Hagoromo, the group arrived at the dock before sunset.

After the handover was completed, Hagoromo led Naruto and the others onto a ship bound for the mission location.

This ship was a cooperative vessel with Konoha, so after boarding, Hagoromo allowed Naruto and the others to move around freely for the time being.

On the deck, Naruto and the others watched as the ship cut through the waves and moved forward rapidly.

"Wow, this is amazing! So this is the sea!" Naruto exclaimed after a long while.

"It's even more exaggerated than we usually imagine."

Sasuke, meanwhile, was watching the rolling waves. They had been talking about things they had never seen before.

It wasn't until he actually saw the ocean that Sasuke realized that imagination alone could never compare to the awe-inspiring reality.

"Not bad, not bad." Naruto nodded in agreement.

Hinata stood quietly beside Naruto, her eyes never leaving the sea.

"The Shinobi World is vast. Wait until your strength truly allows you to act without restraint."

Hagoromo walked slowly over and looked at the group of people gathered around the railing, gazing at the sea, and spoke.

"Then you will be able to see the scenes you have longed for but have never seen."

Sasuke's lips curled into a smile upon hearing this. These words were not only Hagoromo's expectations of them, but also the goal he himself wanted to achieve.

"Hahaha, teacher, just you wait, I will definitely do it!" Naruto shouted loudly, spreading his arms wide.

Hagoromo did not respond; this most basic idea is precisely the hardest to put into practice.

The ship arrived at the destination early the next morning; it's unclear whether Naruto and his friends were just lucky.

The team encountered almost no unexpected events along the way and arrived directly at the village where the client lived, by which time it was already dark.

However, the quiet village puzzled Hagoromo. The destination was indeed here, so why did it look like this?

The village entrance was surrounded by a fence, and the houses around it still had wooden frames.

"Hey! Are you Konoha ninjas?"

At the village entrance, a figure emerged from a fenced-off area and asked cautiously.

Hagoromo turned her head and saw a middle-aged man with a cautious look on his face. He then took out a scroll he was carrying.

"Yes, we're here on a mission. Is your village chief here?"

The person who commissioned this task is the village chief of this village, and it is necessary to confirm with the person who commissioned it before starting the task.

"Great, you've finally arrived! Our village chief was attacked a few days ago and is still at home."

The middle-aged man looked delighted to see Hagoromo and the others, and as his voice rang out, Kakkō began to light up throughout the village.

Hagoromo and the others were led by the villagers into a village that was surrounded by fences and resembled a mountain stronghold.

Having learned the Hagoromo along the way, Yu Yi finally understood why the village had suddenly become like this.

It was still that wild beast that had gone berserk and stormed into the village a few days ago after a night of thunder and lightning.

Just then, the village chief happened to be patrolling. In order to cover the escape of the other villagers, he stayed behind alone to hold off the wild beasts.

As a result, he was directly injured, and when the villagers who had gathered arrived, they only saw the village chief lying on the ground bleeding profusely.

"Teacher, this village chief is a good person!" Naruto's face was full of seriousness.