Serious Kakashi lost.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura got the bells.
Seeing Kakashi-sensei panting like that, Naruto figured that if they dragged things out any longer, Kakashi-sensei might drop dead on the spot, so he ended the match early.
Kakashi-sensei was handsome, sure, but he was a little weak.
Still, it was understandable. Taking down enemies and controlling enemies were, after all, not the same level of difficulty.
Muttering to himself, Naruto glanced at his teammates.
Sasuke was already lying on the ground, gasping for breath, practically exhausted.
Sakura was relatively better off. She stood with her hands braced against her knees, forcing herself to remain upright. She looked like she still had some energy left, but really, she was the type to focus on participation and had not exerted herself much.
While Naruto assessed them, Kakashi was also analyzing the three.
Naruto: the strongest and most gifted. His sensory abilities were astonishing; none of Kakashi's movements had escaped Naruto's perception. His Fire Release was exceptionally powerful, and he could even create his own ninjutsu. His taijutsu was also decent, and his battle instincts were sharp.
Furthermore, judging from the Fire Release ninjutsu he had created himself, Naruto had likely already mastered both the nature and shape transformations of Fire Release Chakra.
Also, his Chakra reserves were unfathomable. He had clearly not gone all out.
He had at least the strength of a Chunin. It was even possible that he was Jonin-level.
A twelve-year-old Jonin in peacetime?
As expected of Minato-sensei's remarkably talented child.
Sasuke: an ordinary genius. Calm in battle, precise instincts, very solid fundamentals in every aspect, good Chakra reserves, and a respectable Fire Release.
Sakura Haruno: weak taijutsu, no ninjutsu, average overall. Other abilities pending evaluation.
Kakashi had originally intended to stake his life on protecting these three, but now it seemed he could take things much easier.
After taking a couple more breaths, Kakashi straightened up.
"All right, the assessment ends here. I understand your abilities now. Very good."
Kakashi swept his gaze over the three of them, his eyes finally settling on Naruto. He gave him a long, deep look.
Naruto responded with a smile.
"This morning's training ends here. Gather in front of the Hokage Building at one o'clock this afternoon."
"Dismissed!"
With that, he turned and left.
"Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto called out, but Kakashi did not stop. He had the strange feeling that Kakashi was walking away in a hurry.
Was he scared?
It was just ramen.
Though Naruto looked a little worse for wear right now, Kakashi-sensei had still looked very cool while paying the bill last night.
Kakashi ran off, and Naruto looked at his other two teammates.
"What about you two? Want to go get ramen?"
Sakura glanced at Sasuke. If Sasuke went, she would go too.
"I—"
"Don't tell me you're planning to go back and train more?"
Sasuke seemed about to refuse, but Naruto interrupted him.
Seeing Sasuke's expression of having been found out, Naruto grinned slyly. "If you treat me to ramen, I'll tell you how I got stronger."
"Deal!"
Sasuke answered decisively, afraid Naruto would regret it.
Back at the Academy, Naruto had been the dead last. Why had he become so strong as soon as he graduated?
Naruto naturally did not mind. He had wanted to strengthen his teammates in the first place.
Once he became Hokage, his teammates would also need to become his support and contribute to his cause.
The scene shifted.
Ichiraku Ramen.
The carefree Naruto was slurping down ramen.
Sasuke had no appetite and seemed to have something on his mind.
Sakura took one bite of ramen, then one look at Sasuke. She kept glancing at Sasuke, yet ate quite happily.
Suddenly—
"Ah~~~ Sasuke-kun!"
With an excited cry, Ino happily hooked an arm around Sasuke's neck. Shikamaru also appeared out of nowhere and greeted them cheerfully.
It seemed Choji was the only one missing.
Naruto turned his head.
Choji was there too, eating chips and smiling at Naruto.
His eyes were already small, and with that smile, they disappeared completely.
"Hello. Long time no see. Well, two days, anyway," Naruto greeted them.
Sakura seemed to have the strongest reaction. She shouted, "Ino Pig, let go of Sasuke!"
Sakura and Ino tugged at each other, nearly coming to blows.
Naruto broke into a cold sweat. Weren't these two supposed to have a pretty good relationship? Was this what that meant?
After the commotion, the three newcomers sat down and ate ramen as well.
"Shikamaru, have you already started doing missions?" Naruto tried to gather some information.
"We just finished one this morning."
Just finished one? That fast?
Naruto was a little surprised. "What kind of mission was it?"
"Picking up garbage." Remembering the mission they had just completed, Shikamaru looked thoroughly unwilling.
One look at his expression and Naruto knew his laziness was acting up again.
Shikamaru was good in every way: highly intelligent, and a decent person. He was just a little lazy.
If he could lie down, he would never sit. If he could sit, he would never stand.
His favorite thing was probably lying on a rooftop and watching the clouds.
But what did he mean by picking up garbage? What kind of mission was that?
Surely it was not literally picking up garbage?
When he had skipped class to go out and play before, he had indeed seen plenty of newly graduated Genin doing all sorts of things.
Picking up garbage, catching cats, babysitting...
Could those be the kinds of missions they would be doing next?
That afternoon, Naruto and the others had their guess confirmed.
"Very well, let's go."
Recently, a large amount of garbage had been discovered clogging the lower reaches of Lake Naka. The stench was unbearable, and it had even affected the residents' daily lives, so a cleanup operation was needed.
Thus, the village issued this D-rank mission.
Although they had been given the mission of saving the river and saving the village, Team 7 was not happy about it at all.
At lunch, after hearing the Ino-Shika-Cho trio complain, Naruto and the others could not muster any interest in this sort of thing.
Glancing at Kakashi, who was as impeccably groomed as ever, Naruto decided to probe him anyway.
"Kakashi-sensei, do you know any Water Release ninjutsu?"
"Of course."
"Then can you teach us some Water Release ninjutsu later?"
Kakashi neither confirmed nor denied it at first, but seeing the expectant expressions of the other two, he nodded.
"As long as you can learn it, I can teach you anything."
"Great!" ×3
The three kids jumped with joy, and Naruto had achieved his goal as well.
It was time to seize the headlines and show Konoha what a genius was!
Did they understand what this meant? If Uzumaki Naruto had not been born, the Nindo would have remained in eternal night!
Besides, the ninjutsu he learned from Kakashi could all be used openly.
He could only hope that Kakashi-sensei, as a Jonin, could hold out for a while before being drained dry.
He should not be like this morning, running out of steam after barely any time at all.
When they arrived, Team 7 found that the situation was a little worse than expected.
There was more garbage than expected, and it smelled worse than expected.
"When are we ever going to finish picking up all this garbage?" Sakura's sigh drew Sasuke's agreement.
Naruto looked at Kakashi instead. "Kakashi-sensei, can you teach us that tangible Clone Technique you used this morning? Otherwise, just the three of us will need days to finish picking up all this garbage."
Looking at the mountain of garbage, Kakashi nodded.
The hand sign for the Shadow Clone was simple, just a single Ram sign, but learning it was anything but simple.
"Too easy!"
Naruto shouted, drawing the other three's attention, then formed the Ram sign.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Poof, poof, poof~~~~
As Chakra poured out in huge amounts, several, then dozens, then hundreds of Narutos appeared.
Sasuke and Sakura were dumbfounded, while Kakashi's right eye twitched violently.
Hadn't he taught Naruto the Shadow Clone?
How had he produced the effect of the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu?
Looking at so many Shadow Clones, Naruto was delighted. He would not need to personally lift a finger for this mission. He could just have the clones do it.
What did it mean to be the chosen worker?
He made a battle declaration. "Very good. Our objective is to clear this stretch of river. Get to work!"
"I'm not going. Why don't you do it?" the first clone retorted.
Then even more clones began objecting.
"I'm not going. I want to play games."
"I don't want to clean the river. I just want to watch blood flow like a river."
A hundred Narutos all spoke at once, chattering endlessly until Naruto's head hurt.
The other three all looked at Naruto: Was this really his Shadow Clone?
Thanks to wseldenring and Qiqi the Cutest for the monthly ticket support, thanks to Ren'ai Gu for two monthly tickets, thanks to Xicun Yao for three monthly tickets, and thanks to reader 20180924211218906 for six monthly tickets. Thank you for your support.
Also, thanks to every reader for your favorites, recommendation votes, reading, and investment support. My deepest thanks.
Regarding bonus chapters: this author types too slowly and still has to revise things. The bonus chapters from the past few days have used up my backlog. I'll work harder; if I can't do it today, I'll add one tomorrow. Thank you for your support.
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