"It seemed we only learned his name," Sakura Haruno muttered.
Naruto nodded in agreement.
Kakashi-sensei truly deserved his title as a Jonin.
After introducing himself, he had revealed absolutely nothing besides his name.
In his previous life, even if he registered for countless apps, he probably would not have leaked any personal information.
Confidentiality level: Max.
The Eastern Depot needs talent like you!
If they could lure him back, the national fraud rate would drop by at least five percentage points.
"Next, it's your turn. Who wants to go first?" Kakashi tossed the question to the three across from him.
"I'll go first."
Naruto raised his hand. After all, he was standing on the far right.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a man who will become Hokage. I like the things I like and hate the things I hate."
Naruto thoroughly embodied the art of saying nothing. "As for my hobby, I like drawing on Hokage Rock the most. That's all."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
Why did this brat suddenly seem a little annoying?
This was nothing like you, Minato-sensei.
Still, he could only nod helplessly. After all, he himself had set a bad example.
"Alright. Next."
"My name is Sakura Haruno."
Sakura's face flushed red as she fidgeted. "Rather than things I like, it would be more accurate to say the person I like... My hobby is... My dream is... Ah!!!"
No one knew what dirty thoughts had entered her little head, but she suddenly let out an embarrassed shriek and buried her face deeply in her arms, too ashamed to face anyone.
Every time she spoke, she glanced at Sasuke ten times. Her meaning could not have been more obvious.
Naruto and Kakashi both looked at the person involved.
Sasuke: Not my problem.
As he looked away, Naruto's teeth ached from watching Sakura Haruno's performance.
Oh.
At that moment, Naruto suddenly realized something.
He had already passed the age where he got embarrassed.
A girl lost in love? Kakashi turned his gaze to Sasuke. "Last one."
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke."
Going last, Sasuke introduced himself. "There's nothing I like. There are many things I hate. My dream—or rather, my ambition—is to restore the Uchiha clan, and to personally kill a certain man."
That man? Was it Itachi?
Naruto suddenly recalled the culprit behind the Uchiha Clan Downfall.
Who was stronger, Uchiha the One-Man-Army or Uzumaki the One-Man-Army?
"Very good. All three of you have strong personalities. Very interesting."
One was unique, one chased love, and one sought revenge. Looking at the makeup of this team, Kakashi could already foresee what his future days would be like. His head hurt a little.
He had originally wanted to give them a sinister little scare, but now he did not even have the mood for that.
So Kakashi said directly, "Starting tomorrow, you'll begin carrying out missions. Your first mission will be a survival exercise."
"This year, the Ninja Academy graduated thirty students, but only nine spots are available for those who can officially become Genin. Everyone else will be sent back to school.
"That is the level of difficulty you'll face tomorrow. Be prepared. Gather at the Third Training Ground at five in the morning."
"Dismissed!"
As he spoke, Kakashi stretched and prepared to leave.
"Oh, right. Don't eat breakfast. I'm afraid you might throw up," Kakashi suddenly added before leaving.
With that, he vanished with a whoosh.
As expected of a Jonin. He moved far faster than the Chunin instructors they usually saw.
And that sharp, carefree coolness—was this the confidence brought by strength?
So cool!
Someone this cool definitely had a girlfriend, right?
His thoughts returned to Kakashi's parting "last words," and Naruto repeated them to himself.
Only nine spots?
He was not worried about graduating at all.
If he could not graduate, then no one in the school could.
But that number—nine people?
Was it a coincidence?
After thinking it over, Naruto looked at his future teammates. Sasuke was as usual, brows furrowed as he pondered something.
As for Sakura Haruno... well, he would call her Sakura for now.
Sakura's hands trembled. She probably felt that she was in danger. If she failed to graduate, her beloved Sasuke might leave her behind.
Seeing this, Naruto started a conversation. "Did you notice?"
"Hm?" Sasuke raised a brow and looked over. Sakura also blankly lifted her head.
Both of them stared at Naruto.
Naruto dug up the intelligence he had barely used over the past twelve years and began explaining his analysis. "Only nine people can pass, which makes exactly three teams. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"
"You mean tomorrow is a team event?"
"Not necessarily." Naruto shook his head at Sakura's guess.
"What I mean is, if people are eliminated, the entire team might be eliminated together."
"What kind of joke is that?"
Sakura could not believe Naruto's guess. How could such a rule exist?
"Maybe because unity is strength! This strength is iron, this strength is—"
Seeing their increasingly confused expressions, Naruto stopped singing in disappointment.
It would have been great if there were another transmigrator here to play along.
They could even exchange a secret code or something.
Something like: if the odd changes, the even stays the same. eBay bar eBay.
Seeing that they still did not understand what he meant, Naruto added, "Haven't you heard of the Three Sannin?"
"What are you trying to say?"
Sasuke seemed a little impatient and urged Naruto to get to the point.
"The teacher who led the Three Sannin was the current Hokage. The three of them had been on the same team from childhood to adulthood."
Sasuke understood immediately, but Sakura still had not sorted out the connection.
She asked, "What does that mean, Naruto? What does that have to do with us now?"
She could not even figure that out?
Naruto frowned. If Sakura pulled back even a fraction of the attention she lavished on Sasuke, she would not have failed to see it.
Although he had not considered this before the teams were assigned, once the three-man team was formed, he immediately figured it out.
A three-person team plus a supervising ninja—this was probably the training and succession model of Konoha, or perhaps even the entire ninja world.
Until they failed an assessment, or until one of the three was lost, the team's personnel arrangement would continue unchanged.
That meant Naruto and the other two were bound together until death.
"It means we share honor and disgrace. At least until we fail an assessment, that's how it is," Sasuke finally explained.
"Sasuke really is smart." Naruto praised him without hesitation.
Share honor and disgrace? Sasuke and me?
I'm willing!
Sakura's face flushed red again. For a moment, she had even thought of names for their children.
"Hey, hey, hey! Snap out of it!"
Naruto interrupted Sakura's pink-bubble fantasy. "We don't know what tomorrow's test will be, but it can't hurt to be more united. Trust me, every team's first touchstone is unity."
Sakura looked at Naruto, who was speaking with such confidence, in disbelief. Was this really the dead last she knew?
Sasuke felt that she was making a fuss over nothing. Naruto might have ranked dead last academically, but in Sasuke's impression, Naruto had always been fairly reliable in other respects.
"So, to pass tomorrow, we need to make some preparations."
"Such as?" Sasuke wanted to hear Naruto's analysis.
"Information, for example."
Intelligence work had always been a priority for ninja.
At that, Naruto stared at Sakura and instructed, "Go back and find out more about Kakashi-sensei."
"What about you two?"
"The two of us will rest up and perform tomorrow."
"You?"
Sakura's tone carried twelve parts distrust out of ten.
Doubting my strength?
Naruto could not even be bothered to look at her. "Then let's dismiss for now. We'll adapt to whatever happens tomorrow."
Who knew what tomorrow's mission would actually be?
"Dismissed."
Imitating Kakashi's cool pose, Naruto vanished with a whoosh.
Before you continue