"Quick! Hokage Grandpa! Hurry up and bring out a C-rank mission!"
The moment he entered the mission hall, Naruto shouted at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
'Hokage old man?'
Hearing that form of address, Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his forehead and sighed.
Naruto was nowhere near as cute as he had been as a child.
Back then, it had always been "Hokage Grandpa."
But now?
He only called him Hokage Grandpa when he needed something.
At all other times, it was Hokage old man.
If Naruto knew what he was thinking, he would definitely retort.
You should be thanking heaven I'm not calling you an old fossil.
"Are you sure there won't be any problems with you taking on a C-rank mission now?"
As he spoke, the Third Hokage looked toward Kakashi, the team's instructor, seeking his opinion.
Kakashi said frankly, "No problem, Lord Hokage. I believe they can complete a C-rank mission."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, instantly understanding what he meant.
It seemed Naruto and Sasuke had both grown, and the team was capable enough to handle this sort of mission.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had no reason to doubt Kakashi's judgment.
Kakashi was a ninja he trusted deeply.
"Let me see the recent missions."
Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the mission forms and happened to spot a C-rank mission issued yesterday.
"Perfect. There's a C-rank mission that came in yesterday afternoon. It's a bandit extermination mission."
Pointing outside, he said, "The client has already been waiting at the entrance for quite a while. I'll leave this mission to you."
Team 7 accepted the mission, found the client, and learned the details.
More than a hundred kilometers from Konoha stood a village town. A bandit group had taken up residence in the nearby mountains, terrorizing the area and committing every kind of evil.
Just yesterday morning, they had robbed local villagers and killed two of them.
The town's residents could no longer endure it, so they pooled their money to issue this bandit extermination mission.
The other two were quite excited when they heard about the mission, but Naruto somehow found it strangely familiar.
"Good. This is Team 7's first mission outside the village. Everyone has one hour to pack. We'll gather at the village entrance in an hour."
"Okay!" ×3
"Wait, Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto suddenly stopped him and asked, "You won't be late this time, right?"
At that, Sasuke and Sakura immediately looked at Kakashi.
Anyone could see the suspicion in their eyes.
Uh.
Kakashi felt like he had been caught doing something bad.
He had originally planned to visit the Monument of Remembrance and let them know he would be leaving the village.
Since that was the case, forget it.
"I guarantee I won't be late this time," Kakashi said gently.
Seeing him make such a promise, Naruto, afraid he might go back on his word, said directly, "Then it's settled, Kakashi-sensei. Whoever is late has to be a puppy for a day."
After saying that, he held out his hand, signaling for the other three to place theirs on top and seal the pact.
Sasuke gave Naruto a sidelong glance.
Hey, you're already this strong, yet you're still so childish?
Act normal, damn it. I don't want to lose to a childish brat like you.
Still, he placed his hand on top.
Whether it was childish or not didn't matter. He just didn't want to see Kakashi be late. He definitely wasn't looking forward to a good show.
Yeah, that was all.
Sakura, on the other hand, thought it was perfect. Without another word, she put her hand on top as well.
Her dark personality was practically about to explode with excitement.
She really wanted to see Kakashi-sensei act like a dog.
It would definitely be fun.
Awkwardly scratching his head as he looked at the three stacked hands, Kakashi had no other choice.
"Then it's a deal."
"Dismissed!"
An hour later, at the village entrance.
Kakashi-sensei really was not late. He had not even packed anything and had come straight over.
None of the three team members were late either.
Seeing the result, Naruto merely smiled.
Sasuke still wore his cool, expressionless face, while Sakura's disappointment was obvious.
The good show was gone.
"Well then, now that we're all here, let's set off."
"Okay!" ×3.
On the road.
Because they needed the client to lead the way, the team moved very slowly.
At first, Naruto had been full of excitement.
This was his first time leaving the village openly, and in broad daylight at that.
But all he saw were trees, and then more trees.
He was already sick of looking at them.
When would he be able to openly show off the Flying Thunder God?
As a Genin, if he wanted to learn a ninjutsu like that, he would probably need to make some contributions first, right?
He needed to look for more opportunities.
After traveling for an entire day, the team finally reached their destination in the late afternoon, close to evening.
Amid the village's welcome, Kakashi temporarily declined their arrangements and instead chose to lead the team straight up the mountain.
The sooner they finished the mission, the sooner they could relax.
"Naruto, can you sense them?"
On the way up the mountain, Kakashi seemed to have only just remembered that the team had a sensory ninja.
Naruto thought for a moment before Responding bluntly, "There doesn't seem to be any trace of humans anywhere on this mountain."
"The entire mountain?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei."
His sensing range was that large?
Although they had not entered the mountain yet, Kakashi's experience told him that this mountain was not small.
"Mr. Aoki, are you sure those bandits were still here yesterday?"
The guide, Mr. Aoki, replied, "Of course, Mr. Kakashi. They came down the mountain to loot just yesterday."
Kakashi asked again, "Where is their hideout?"
"Up ahead."
Once they reached the hideout, Naruto finally understood why it had felt familiar.
Wasn't this the place where he had modified his clone last night?
He had not expected that, among so many C-rank missions every day, Team 7 would end up taking this one.
He had basically stolen his own kill.
They entered the hideout and searched it.
There was nothing. It had been cleaned out thoroughly yesterday.
After sensing the area, Naruto discovered that even his Flying Thunder God kunai had been buried three meters underground with Earth Release.
Moreover, those Flying Thunder God marks were different.
They were not the "Morning" mark Naruto normally used, but "Justice," meant to distinguish them from Naruto's public identity.
After searching once, Kakashi gave Naruto a strange look. "Naruto, you're a little quiet today."
Huh?
Naruto was somewhat speechless. How did this involve him too?
Kakashi was merely concerned about Naruto and thought he might be nervous.
He turned to Mr. Aoki and said, "Mr. Aoki, you should head back first. We'll handle things here.
Don't worry. We Konoha ninja will definitely help you wipe out these bandits."
Mr. Aoki nodded and left.
He trusted Konoha's ninja.
The remaining members of Team 7 ate a simple meal.
Then they began waiting for the rabbits to come to them.
Up high, leaning against a tree branch, Naruto began to think.
It seemed they would not be returning today, so tonight's modification plan could only be put on hold for now.
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto called. "I can sense the entire mountain and keep watch over the place at all times. Do we really need to stay here and feed the mosquitoes?"
The moment he said that, Sasuke and Sakura strongly agreed.
Ninja had the proper training, but why make themselves suffer for no reason?
Yet Kakashi said something that left the two completely confused. "Can you sense how many Special Kunai I placed along the way?"
Naruto gave Kakashi-sensei a surprised look, then suddenly understood.
On the way here, Kakashi had thrown out a marked kunai every so often.
Naruto had not understood why at the time. So this was what he had been planning.
He had definitely come prepared.
"There's one within five kilometers, one ten kilometers away, one at fifteen kilometers, and another at twenty kilometers."
Twenty kilometers?
Kakashi was amazed. That distance was already astonishing enough.
"There's also the farthest one, fifty kilometers away."
Hm?
Kakashi abruptly looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief.
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