Early in the morning, in front of the mirror.
"Looks like I got even more handsome. No wonder Ino didn't even look at Sasuke during yesterday's dinner and kept staring at me."
Naruto carefully examined himself in the mirror: tall and slender, sunny and handsome, with a pair of bright, spirited eyes.
Especially these eyes.
They gleamed with confidence and were exceptionally captivating.
One look was enough to make someone fall right in.
"Why am I so confident?" Naruto asked himself, then instantly came up with the answer.
Of course. He was already invincible—how could he not be confident?
Give someone fifty billion, and they would be confident too.
After admiring himself for another moment, Naruto flashed a brilliant smile and put on his forehead protector.
"Let's go!"
When Naruto arrived at the small bridge serving as their meeting spot, he was greatly surprised.
It was understandable that Sakura and Sasuke had arrived, but why was Kakashi-sensei here too?
He checked the time.
He wasn't late either.
Walking over to his friend Sasuke, Naruto stared at Kakashi and complained.
"Did the sun rise in the west today? Kakashi-sensei not only isn't late, he got here before me."
Kakashi's expression did not change, pretending not to hear him, while Sakura covered her mouth and giggled.
"I dragged Kakashi-sensei here," Sasuke responded.
"You?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke in surprise. The moment their eyes met, Naruto immediately understood.
Sasuke truly wanted to improve.
After pulling all-nighters gaming together for the past five days, he had tasted tremendous benefits. That feeling of growing and becoming stronger had gotten Sasuke addicted.
He had begun to obsess over gaming together and would not let any opportunity slip by.
Last night, Sasuke—normally reserved and still somewhat concerned with his pride—had actually proposed a "cohabitation plan."
After Naruto firmly rejected him once again,
Sasuke had dragged Kakashi-sensei out of bed early this morning.
As expected of Sasuke, who had chosen to defect in his previous life in pursuit of strength. In this life, for strength and revenge, he had changed far too much.
This Uchiha was not tsundere at all now.
What exactly had driven Sasuke to become like this?
Was it the distortion of human nature?
Or the collapse of morality?
It couldn't possibly be because of the 114.514 beatings he took every night, could it?
"Ah!"
Life was not easy. Naruto sighed.
It seemed he was destined to be a tool.
But—
"Do you really want to get beaten up that badly?"
Sasuke was not angry upon hearing that. He knew there was currently a massive gap between himself and Naruto, but he was equally confident in himself.
"Isn't it just that you've trained six more years than me? Naruto, give me three years, and I'll definitely catch up to you!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow. Good—very spirited.
In your previous life, forget seventeen. Even at thirty-two, I was still beating you effortlessly.
In this life, just work a little harder.
If people never struggle, they never realize they're just salted fish.
No, Sasuke was different.
He was a salted fish who worked hard and had dreams.
"Keep it up!"
"Alright, enough chatting."
Kakashi stepped forward and interrupted them. "At Sasuke and Sakura's request, if there are any available, we'll still take a C-rank mission first today."
They arrived at the mission hall.
Upon hearing that Team 7 wanted to take a C-rank mission, the Third Hokage had yet to say anything when Iruka-sensei strongly objected.
"You idiots are nothing but newly graduated rookies, yet you want to accept a C-rank mission? Go reflect on yourselves properly."
Iruka, who had just come in to begin his shift, scolded the three with concern in his voice.
Naruto's eyes immediately lit up when he heard that. His chance had come!
He chimed in, "Yeah, yeah! We're still rookies. Wouldn't it be better to honestly do D-rank missions in the village? How dare we take C-rank missions!"
That's right!
He, Uzumaki Naruto, loved the village more than anything!
In this life, he only wanted to do simple D-rank missions during the day and travel all over the ninja world at night.
What portable charger? What tool?
That was simply too terrifying.
Sakura was displeased by this attitude. "Hey, Naruto—"
She tugged on Naruto's sleeve, and the meaning in her eyes was obvious:
Did you forget about our previous vote?
Naruto helplessly pursed his lips. Then Sasuke delivered the finishing blow.
"Hey, Naruto, don't you want to become Hokage? You can't become Hokage by only doing low-rank missions."
Naruto suddenly came to his senses.
Right. Sasuke had pressured him so much these past few days that he had nearly forgotten about that.
He, Uzumaki Naruto, still had to become Hokage.
"Hokage Grandpa, hurry and find us a C-rank mission. We've grown up now—we aren't the same as when we just graduated. We're more than capable of handling a C-rank mission."
Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled at him.
Naruto was still that same mischievous Naruto.
But he had indeed grown up.
Iruka was equally gratified. Naruto had been graduated for nearly half a month now. Though the time was short, looking at the three of them again, they truly seemed to have matured.
"Since that's the case, I'll have you protect someone."
The Third Hokage issued the mission. "Look, the client has already arrived."
The three turned around just as someone pushed open the door and entered.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man with an honest-looking face, slightly overweight, with a beer belly, glasses, and the sort of face that looked easy to bully.
"Are you the ones protecting me? Why are you all just kids?"
Sure enough, his tone alone made people want to punch him.
Meanwhile, when Tazuna saw that the mission-takers were three children, he could not help feeling that Konoha had not taken him seriously.
He was facing assassination attempts from a villain like Gato. How could three children possibly complete the mission?
But the Land of Waves was poor, and they were poor too. They could not afford a higher B-rank mission, so this was their only option.
Having ninja was better than having none.
Besides, it was only a rumor that Gato wanted him dead. That man was stingy to the extreme and might not necessarily spend money to hire ninja to kill him.
If they were ordinary people, these kids should be able to handle them, right?
"I am the famous bridge-building expert Tazuna. While I return to my country and finish building the bridge, you must protect me properly—even at the cost of your lives!"
"During the bridge construction?"
Sasuke's eyes lit up at those triggering words. "It must take quite a while, right?"
"It will take at least three more weeks to finish the bridge," Tazuna responded.
Three weeks!
Great! Sasuke inwardly exclaimed. A full three weeks—he had to seize this opportunity.
The scene shifted to Konoha's entrance.
"Kakashi-sensei, this gate seems a little different." Naruto touched Konoha's gate and asked curiously.
After taking one look, Kakashi explained.
"This is the First Hokage's Wood Release gate. It's extremely sturdy."
"Oh? Is the First Hokage's Wood Release a special Kekkei Genkai? Why haven't I seen anyone else use it?
Also, is Wood Release created by combining the Water and Earth Chakra Attributes? Can't an individual fuse those two and awaken Wood Release?" Naruto asked sincerely.
"Wood Release is a unique Kekkei Genkai. As for combining them—"
At the mention of Wood Release, Kakashi thought of that Wood Release ninja he had known since childhood, one with a less-than-happy past.
He skipped over that history and encouraged Naruto. "Perhaps. Naruto, you've already mastered both Earth and Water attributes. You can try fusing them. Maybe you'll succeed."
That was what he said, but Kakashi had never believed Naruto could actually succeed.
No matter how talented Naruto was, something like a Kekkei Genkai was not that simple.
But—
Naruto had already achieved his goal.
See? Even Kakashi-sensei said so.
If he pulled out Wood Release next, there would be nothing strange about it, right?
At midnight tomorrow, this newbie author will be getting his first round of recommendations. During that period, this book's follow-up reading data will be extremely, extremely important! Whether this book succeeds depends entirely on the support of all you dear readers. Thank you all in advance.
＿|￣|●＿|￣|●＿|￣|●: Please keep reading!
Also, thanks to Shou Bu Shi Shou for the monthly ticket support, and thanks to Impression Illusion for the two monthly tickets.
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