Xiong's Carefree Pill

The next day.

At the crack of dawn, Master Naruto, who had just turned eighteen minus seventy-six months, arrived early at the Third Training Ground.

One look at the other two.

They were just as bleary-eyed as he was, and Naruto felt much better.

Kakashi-sensei really liked tormenting people.

Was this what being a ninja was like?

Sensing that his ninja career would not be peaceful, Naruto spoke up. "Tell me, what intelligence did you find?"

Sakura Haruno, who was in charge of gathering information, answered first. "I heard Kakashi-sensei is a genius. He became a Jonin at twelve."

A twelve-year-old Jonin?

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance, both stunned.

That strong?

Twelve was only the age to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

"Anything else?"

"He also seems to have been named a Leaf technician."

A technician?

Was that the kind of technician I knew?

Suppressing the urge to make a sarcastic remark, Naruto asked again, "Anything else? Tell us everything at once."

"That's all."

"Just that? What about his strength? His techniques?"

"Those things aren't easy to find out."

Huh?

Naruto froze for a moment, then slowly nodded.

That was true.

For a ninja, or even a ninja village, information about the ninja himself was the greatest secret.

If an enemy knew your trump cards, you would pose no threat at all and could be studied and countered.

Unless your strength was already great enough that you had nothing to fear.

And when an enemy knew nothing about you, it was easy to create a legendary moment.

In other words: a first-meeting kill.

With Flying Thunder God, Naruto could do that easily.

Seeing Sakura hanging her head as though Kakashi's reputation had scared the courage out of her, Naruto fell silent for a moment before saying casually, "What? You're scared already? Never mind whether we have to defeat Kakashi-sensei or not, I even prepared something good for you two."

"Tch, who's scared?"

Sasuke was the first to object. Even if he was, he would never admit he had chickened out, much less when he had not.

"What good thing?" Sakura had caught the important part.

Naruto took out the four pills he had prepared, two red and two blue, each about one centimeter in diameter, and divided them evenly between the two.

"Here, they're for you."

"Xiong's Carefree Pills? These are miracle medicines limited to one hundred a day, said to bring the dead back to life and regrow flesh from bone as long as you still have one breath left!" Sakura cried in delight.

"Where did you get these, Naruto?"

Naruto did not answer, merely smiling.

Would he tell them that Xiong Fengshan, the miracle doctor who had come to the village half a year ago, was his clone?

No!

Would he tell them that the pills made by old Xiong were actually recovery items from the shop?

No!

Would he tell them that an item sold in the shop for one thousand ryo was being sold for twenty thousand ryo after old Chinese doctor Xiong Fengshan talked people into buying it?

No!

Don't talk, kiss. Just act like an expert.

"My mom wanted to buy two for me as graduation gifts, but she tried to snatch some from Doctor Xiong for several days and still couldn't get any."

At that point, Sakura's opinion of Naruto suddenly improved greatly.

She gave Naruto a grateful look and said, "Thank you, Naruto."

"Thanks, Naruto."

Sasuke thanked him afterward, his tone quite solemn as well.

"The red ones restore health, and the blue ones restore Chakra. Don't mix them up."

"Mm, got it." ×2

Watching the two carefully handle the Carefree Pills, Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

With the Carefree Pills, the team should have enough to handle this assessment.

As for the Carefree Pills' effects, they were not as exaggerated as Sakura had said.

They really could rapidly restore health or Chakra in a short time, and any accompanying injuries could be healed as well.

But the items had limits.

The maximum amount of health they could restore was ten thousand, and Chakra was the same.

The Red Carefree Pill had the best effect, since ninjas generally did not have much health.

After taking one, even if you were on the verge of death one second, the next second—no, five minutes later—you could revive at full health.

It could truly be said: once a Carefree Pill entered my stomach, my fate was mine, not Heaven's!

That sounded a little exaggerated, but the effect was indeed about the same.

The Blue Carefree Pill was a little weaker. Especially for someone like Naruto, whose Chakra had surpassed ten million, ten thousand Chakra was merely a drop in the bucket.

However, for Chunin and Genin like Sasuke and Sakura, whose health and Chakra were generally below ten thousand, the Blue Carefree Pill was also a miracle medicine.

Naturally, such effective medicine attracted many covetous eyes, both inside and outside the village. However, old Xiong's skill at talking people into things was unmatched.

Besides, selling this stuff was a decision he had made against the wishes of his ancestors. Everyone had to show him a little respect.

Even so, under pressure from all sides, branches in every village would have to open before the end of the year.

As for the secret formula? There was no secret formula.

Want to torture it out of him? Ask whether his fists agreed first.

If all else failed, he could simply shut down the store. Then every other village would have it while yours alone did not. Let's see what you would do.

After all, this was Scorpion's shit—one of a kind!

As for the price? It was simply small profits and quick turnover.

With Naruto around, there would be no shortage of wars in the future, and certainly no shortage of customers.

The Carefree Pills Naruto gave them opened up the team's conversation. The three chatted as they waited.

They waited and waited until six o'clock.

"It's been an hour! Why hasn't Kakashi-sensei, the king of lateness, arrived yet?"

After the three had become familiar with one another, even Sakura, who had always acted quiet around Sasuke, could not help complaining.

"Maybe he ran into a black cat blocking the road and lost his way in life."

Sakura stared in disbelief. "Who uses an excuse like that?"

After saying that, Naruto activated his full perception.

The instant he did, he was startled.

Kakashi-sensei's Chakra, specially marked as such, was actually hidden in a nearby tree, secretly spying on them.

What a pervert.

Naruto wanted to expose this boring trick to his face, but...

After taking another glance at his panel, Naruto's lips curled into an evil smile.

"Ahh!" He suddenly let out a strange cry.

"What's wrong?"

"My stomach hurts. Maybe I ate something bad yesterday."

Naruto stood up, clutching his stomach as he ran into the distance. One sentence drifted back on the wind. "I'm going to the bathroom. Wait for me."

Sasuke and Sakura: -_-||

He deliberately ran into the bushes beneath Kakashi's tree. Under that peeping tom's watchful gaze, Naruto transformed into Kakashi's appearance.

Though he did not know what was beneath the eye patch, much less what face lay beneath the mask, with this perfect-level Transformation Jutsu, even Kakashi himself would have to question his life first if he jumped down from above.

Then he would have no choice but to admit it, point at Naruto, and say: "That's right, this is my biological brother."

"Ahem."

Naruto coughed twice and changed his voice. At the same time, he narrowed his eyes into lifeless dead-fish eyes.

Feeling that it was close enough, he leaped twice in quick succession and landed before Sasuke and Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're too late!"

The moment Naruto, playing Kakashi, arrived, Sakura began complaining.

"On the way here, I encountered a black cat blocking the road and lost my way in life. So I was a little late. Sorry."

Sakura: Huh? That really was a reason?

"Tch." Sasuke voiced his dissatisfaction as well.

A brilliant smile appeared beneath Naruto's mask. Those two had not suspected a thing.

That was entirely because, ever since he had impersonated the Hokage at age three, Naruto had never done anything like this again.

Without a prior offense, there would be no suspicion.

He did not know what Kakashi, who was secretly watching, was thinking, but Naruto was having a wonderful time.

If Kakashi did not come out soon, he would keep acting.

"Where's Naruto? Where did he go?" 'Kakashi' asked with feigned concern.

"He ate something bad last night and has diarrhea."

"Then let's ignore him for now. You two can do the mission first."

"Huh?"

Sakura had never expected this. It did not match what the three of them had discussed last night.

"Sensei, aren't we waiting for Naruto?"

"Do you think you only need to complete one task today? No, this is a continuous mission. If you cannot complete everything today, the entire team will be eliminated!

Otherwise, why do you think I made you come so early?"

Naruto spoke in an imitation of Kakashi's tone. Though he had not interacted with Kakashi much, Sakura and Sasuke had not either.

"Huh?" ×2

"Then why did you arrive so late?" Sakura muttered quietly.

"What did you say?" 'Kakashi's' sword-like gaze shot toward her.

Sakura immediately declared, "Nothing, Kakashi-sensei. We firmly agree."

"Then get moving. The first task is to run five hundred laps around the village within three hours."

"Five hundred laps?"

Sakura was somewhat despairing. Was that even a number she could complete?

"On your hands!" 'Kakashi' added.

This time, even Sasuke could not sit still. "On our hands?"

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