This Uchiha Isn't Tsundere

Early in the morning, in front of the mirror.

"Looks like I've gotten even more handsome. No wonder Ino wasn't even looking at Sasuke yesterday during dinner and kept staring at me."

Naruto carefully examined his reflection in the mirror: tall, with a sunny and handsome appearance, and a pair of bright, piercing eyes.

Especially these eyes.

They sparkled with confidence, exceptionally captivating.

One glance and you'd be hooked.

"Why am I so confident?" he asked himself, and immediately found the answer.

Right, he was invincible, so why wouldn't he be confident?

If you gave me 500 trillion, you'd be confident too.

After admiring himself for a couple more moments, Naruto flashed a brilliant smile and put on his headband.

"Let's go!"

Arriving at the small bridge where they were supposed to meet, Naruto was greatly surprised.

It was understandable that Sakura and Sasuke were there, but why was Kakashi-sensei also present?

He checked the time.

Kakashi wasn't even late.

Walking over to his friend Sasuke, Naruto stared at Kakashi and grumbled.

"The sun must have risen from the west today. Kakashi-sensei isn't just not late, he's here earlier than me."

Kakashi's expression remained unchanged, pretending not to hear. Sakura, however, covered her mouth and giggled.

"I pulled Kakashi-sensei here," Sasuke replied.

"You?"

Looking at Sasuke in surprise, Naruto met his gaze and immediately understood.

Sasuke really wanted to improve.

After five consecutive all-night gaming sessions, he had tasted immense benefits. That feeling of growth and getting stronger had hooked Sasuke.

He became enthusiastic about gaming, not letting any opportunity slip by.

Last night, Sasuke, who was usually reserved and cared about his image, had actually proposed a 'cohabitation plan.'

After Naruto clearly refused again.

This morning, Kakashi-sensei was dragged out early by Sasuke.

As expected of Sasuke, who in his past life chose to betray his village to become stronger, his transformation in this life for the sake of strength and revenge was immense.

This Uchiha was no longer arrogant at all.

What was driving Sasuke to become like this?

Was it the distortion of human nature?

Or the degeneration of morality?

It couldn't possibly be the 114.514 beatings he received every night, could it?

"Sigh!"

Life is hard, Naruto sighed.

It seemed he was destined to be a tool.

However.

"Do you really want to get beaten that badly?"

Hearing this, Sasuke wasn't angry. He knew the huge gap between himself and Naruto, but he was also very confident in himself.

"It's just that you've trained six years longer than me, right? Naruto, give me three years, and I'll definitely catch up to you!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Good, very spirited.

Last life, let alone at 17, you were still no match for me at 32.

This life, you better work harder.

People, if you don't strive, you'll never know you're just a salted fish.

No, Sasuke is different.

He's a salted fish who strives hard and has dreams.

"Keep it up!"

"Alright, enough idle chat,"

Kakashi stepped forward, interrupting their conversation. "Today, at Sasuke and Sakura's request, if there are any, we will start with C-rank missions."

They arrived at the mission hall.

Iruka strongly opposed the idea of Team 7 taking on a C-rank mission, even before the Third Hokage could say anything.

"You brats, you're just beginners! You want to take on a C-rank mission? You need to do some serious reflecting," he scolded.

Iruka, who had just arrived at his post, reprimanded the three with genuine concern.

Hearing this, Naruto's eyes instantly lit up. His chance had come!

He chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, we're still beginners, aren't we? Isn't it better to just do D-rank missions honestly within the village? How dare we even consider a C-rank mission!"

That's right!

He, Uzumaki Naruto, loved the village!

All he wanted in this life was to do simple D-rank missions during the day and travel around the ninja world at night.

What charging banks, what tools?

It was all too terrifying.

This attitude drew Sakura's displeasure. "Hey, Naruto!"

She tugged on Naruto's sleeve, her gaze making it obvious:

'Did you forget about the vote earlier?'

Naruto pouted helplessly. Then, Sasuke delivered the finishing blow.

"Hey, Naruto, don't you want to become Hokage? You can't become Hokage by just doing low-level missions."

Naruto suddenly came to his senses.

Right, he'd been so flustered by Sasuke these past few days that he'd almost forgotten about that.

He, Uzumaki Naruto, still had to become Hokage.

"Hokage Grandpa, please find us some C-rank missions quickly. We're not the same as when we just graduated; we're capable of handling C-rank missions."

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and looked at him.

Naruto was still the same mischievous Naruto.

However, he had indeed grown up.

Iruka also felt a sense of relief. Naruto had graduated nearly half a month ago. Although the time was short, looking at the three of them now, they truly seemed to have matured.

"In that case, I will have you protect someone."

The Third Hokage announced the mission. "Look, the client has arrived."

The three turned and saw someone pushing the door open.

The newcomer was a middle-aged man with an honest face, slightly overweight, with a beer belly, wearing glasses, and possessing a face that looked like it was made for bullying.

"Are you guys going to protect me? Why are you all just kids?"

Indeed, his tone alone made one want to hit him.

On the other side, Tazuna felt that Konoha wasn't taking him seriously when he saw that his mission was to be handled by three little kids.

He was facing assassination attempts from the villain Gato. How could three kids possibly complete the mission?

But the Land of Waves was too poor, and they were too poor as well, unable to afford higher B-rank missions, so they had no choice.

Having ninjas was better than having no ninjas.

Besides, the rumors about Gato wanting to kill him were just that, rumors. That guy was incredibly stingy; he might not even spend money to hire ninjas to kill him.

If it were ordinary people, these kids should be fine, right?

"I am Tazuna, the renowned master bridge builder. While I return to my country to complete the bridge, you must do your utmost to protect me!"

"While building the bridge?"

Sasuke, triggered by the keywords, his eyes lit up. "It will definitely take quite some time, right?"

"It will take at least another 3 weeks to complete the bridge," Tazuna replied.

Three weeks!

"That's great!" Sasuke sighed inwardly. Three whole weeks. He had to seize this opportunity.

The scene shifted to the entrance of Konoha.

"Teacher Kakashi, this gate looks a bit different," Naruto said, touching the Konoha gate with a puzzled expression.

Kakashi glanced at it and explained.

"This is the First Hokage's Wood Release gate. It's very 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 merging the water and earth chakra natures? Can't individuals merge these two to awaken Wood Release?" Naruto asked sincerely.

"Wood Release is a unique Kekkei Genkai. As for synthesizing it..."

Speaking of Wood Release, Kakashi remembered the Wood Release ninja he had known since childhood, who had a less-than-happy past.

He skipped over that part of the history and encouraged him, "Perhaps. Naruto, you've already mastered both earth and water natures. You can try to merge them, and maybe you'll succeed."

That's what he said, but Kakashi never thought Naruto could succeed.

No matter how talented Naruto was, something like a Kekkei Genkai wasn't that simple.

But.

Naruto's objective had been achieved.

See, even Teacher Kakashi said so.

If he were to pull out Wood Release next, it wouldn't be strange at all.

Tomorrow at midnight, the rookie author will be getting their first recommendation. During this period, the book's read-through data is extremely important! Whether the book succeeds or not depends entirely on the support of you, the esteemed readers. Thank you in advance to all of you.

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