Ninja Are Trash Collectors

Kakashi, despite his seriousness, had lost.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura Haruno had obtained the bells.

Seeing their teacher Kakashi wheezing, Naruto thought that if he had held out any longer, Kakashi might have died on the spot, so he ended the match early.

Teacher Kakashi was cool, but a bit worn out.

Still, it was understandable. Defeating an enemy and controlling an enemy were not the same difficulty.

Muttering to himself, Naruto glanced at his teammates.

Sasuke was already lying on the ground, gasping for air, almost completely exhausted.

Sakura Haruno was doing a bit better, standing with her knees supported, seemingly with energy to spare. In reality, she was more of a participant than a fighter, not having exerted much effort.

While Naruto was observing them, Kakashi was also analyzing the three.

Naruto: Strongest, most talented, astonishing sensory abilities. None of his changes escaped Naruto's perception. His Fire Release was surprisingly strong, he could even create his own Ninjutsu, his Taijutsu was also good, and his combat intuition was sharp.

Furthermore, judging by the self-created Fire Release Ninjutsu, Naruto had likely mastered the nature and shape transformation of Fire Release Chakra.

Also, his Chakra was bottomless. It was clear he hadn't used his full strength.

He had at least Chunin-level strength, and Jonin wasn't impossible.

A Jonin at 12 years old in a time of peace?

As expected of Minato's talented child.

Sasuke: A normal genius, calm in battle, precise intuition, very solid fundamentals in all aspects, good Chakra reserves, and a decent Fire Release.

Sakura Haruno: Weak Taijutsu, no Ninjutsu, generally average. Other aspects need further evaluation.

Kakashi had originally intended to risk his life to protect these three. Now, it seemed he could relax considerably.

After a couple more breaths, Kakashi stood up straight.

"Alright, the assessment mission is over. I understand your abilities, very good."

Kakashi scanned the three, his gaze finally settling on Naruto, giving him a deep look.

Naruto met his gaze with a smile.

"Today's training ends here. We'll gather at 1 PM in front of the Hokage Building."

"Now, dismissed!"

With that, he turned and left.

"Teacher Kakashi."

Naruto called out, but it didn't stop him. He felt like Kakashi was leaving in a hurry.

Was he scared?

It was just a ramen meal.

Although his current appearance was a bit pathetic, Teacher Kakashi had been quite cool when he paid last night.

Kakashi ran off. Naruto turned to his other two teammates.

"What about you guys? Want to go for ramen?"

Sakura Haruno glanced at Sasuke. If Sasuke went, she would go.

"I…"

"You're not thinking of going back to train more, are you?"

Sasuke seemed about to refuse when Naruto interrupted him.

Seeing Sasuke's expression of being found out, Naruto smiled slyly, "If you treat me to ramen, I'll tell you how I got stronger."

"Deal!"

Sasuke agreed immediately, afraid Naruto would go back on his word.

Back in school, Naruto was a dead last. Why had he become so strong right after graduating?

Naruto didn't mind. He originally wanted to strengthen his teammates.

When he became Hokage, his teammates would need to be his support, contributing to his cause.

The scene shifted.

Ichiraku Ramen.

The carefree Naruto was slurping down ramen noisily.

Sasuke had no appetite, seemingly preoccupied.

Sakura Haruno alternated between ramen and glances at Sasuke, eating quite heartily.

Suddenly.

"Ahhh~~~ Sasuke-kun!"

With a surprised shout, Ino happily hooked her arm around Sasuke's neck. Shikamaru also suddenly appeared, greeting them cheerfully.

It seems like Choji is still missing.

Naruto turned his head.

Choji also appeared, munching on potato chips and smiling at Naruto.

His eyes, which weren't large to begin with, completely disappeared when he smiled.

"Hello everyone, it's been... well, 2 days since we last met," Naruto greeted them.

Sakura Haruno seemed to have the most intense reaction, shouting, "Ino Pig, let go of Sasuke!"

Sakura and Ino were pulling at each other, almost coming to blows.

Naruto felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple. These two seem to have a good relationship, but is this what you call 'good'?

After the commotion died down, the three newcomers also sat down to eat ramen.

"Shikamaru, have you guys already started taking missions?" Naruto tried to gather some information.

"We just finished one this morning."

Just finished? That fast?

Naruto was a bit surprised. "What kind of mission was it?"

"Picking up trash." Shikamaru said reluctantly, recalling the mission they just completed.

Seeing his expression, Naruto knew his laziness had kicked in again.

Shikamaru was good at everything – he was intelligent and decent – but he was just a bit lazy.

He'd rather lie down than sit, and rather sit than stand.

His favorite thing was probably lying on the rooftop watching clouds.

But, what did he mean by picking up trash? Was it literally picking up trash?

He recalled that when he skipped class to hang out, he'd often see freshly graduated Genin doing all sorts of things.

Like picking up trash, catching cats, babysitting...

Were these the missions they would be undertaking next?

In the afternoon, Naruto and the others' suspicions were confirmed.

"Very well, depart now."

Recently, a large amount of trash had been found blocking the river downstream of Lake Naka. The stench was overwhelming, even affecting the daily lives of residents, and an 'extermination' of the garbage was needed.

Thus, the village issued this D-rank mission.

Despite receiving a mission to save the river and the village, Team 7 was not happy.

While eating lunch, they heard the complaints of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and Naruto and the others completely lost interest in such things.

Glancing at Kakashi, who was as neat and tidy as ever, Naruto decided to try his luck.

"Teacher Kakashi, do you know any Water Release Ninjutsu?"

"Of course."

"Then could you teach us some Water Release Ninjutsu later?"

Kakashi didn't commit, but seeing the expectant looks on the other two, he nodded.

"I can teach you anything, as long as you can learn it."

"Awesome!" ×3

The three youngsters jumped for joy, and Naruto's objective was achieved.

It was time to seize the headlines of the 'Shocking News' section and show Konoha what a genius looked like!

Didn't they understand: If Ten itself did not give birth to Uzumaki Naruto, the path of the ninja would be an eternal, dark night!

Moreover, the Ninjutsu he would learn from Kakashi were all things that could be openly displayed.

He could only hope that Kakashi, as a Jonin, could last a while before being completely drained.

Unlike this morning, when he was exhausted after a short while.

Upon arriving at the location, Team 7 found the situation to be a bit worse than expected.

There was more trash than anticipated, and the smell was worse than anticipated.

"How long will it take to finish picking up all this trash?" Sakura's sigh of exasperation was met with Sasuke's agreement.

Naruto, however, looked at Kakashi. "Teacher Kakashi, can you teach us the Shadow Clone Jutsu you used this morning? If it's just the three of us, it'll take days to clear all this trash."

Seeing the sheer amount of garbage, Kakashi nodded.

The hand seals for Shadow Clone Jutsu were simple, just a single 'Jin' seal, but learning it was not easy.

"Too easy!"

Naruto shouted to get the attention of the other three, then formed the 'Jin' seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Bang, bang, bang~~~~

As a large amount of chakra was outputted, several, a dozen, several dozen, and even a hundred Narutos appeared.

Sasuke and Sakura gawked, while Kakashi's right eye twitched violently.

Didn't I teach him Shadow Clone Jutsu?

How did he manage to create the effect of Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu?

Seeing so many shadow clones, Naruto was very happy. The entire mission wouldn't require him to do anything himself; he could just let these clones handle it.

What do you call a chosen worker?

He declared his battle plan: "Alright, our objective is to clear this riverbed. Let's get to it!"

"I'm not going. Why don't you do it?" the first clone retorted.

Then, more clones began to object.

"I'm not going, I want to play games."

"I don't want to clean the riverbed, I just want to watch the blood flow like a river."

The hundred Narutos each said their piece, chattering noisily, making Naruto's head spin.

The other three looked at Naruto in unison: Is this your shadow clone?

Thanks to wseldenring, Qiqi the First Cutest, and Ren Ai Gu for their monthly ticket support. Thanks to Xi Cun Yao for three monthly tickets. Thanks to Book Friend 20180924211218906 for six monthly tickets. Thank you for your support.

Also, thank you to every reader for your collections, recommendation tickets, reads, and investments. Thank you very much.

Regarding extra updates: This author writes too slowly and has to revise a lot. The extra updates from the past few days have used up my backlog. I'll work harder. If not today, then tomorrow with an extra update. Thank you all for your support.