Fledgling Eagle

Teammates...

Sasuke pursed his lips and turned his head slightly, somewhat embarrassed to look Sakura in the eye.

Looking at the somewhat tsundere Sasuke before her, Sakura turned to Naruto on the other side and said, "Trash in the river can be cleaned up anytime. Let's go try Tree Climbing first."

It was only a D-rank mission. At worst, they could finish it after training.

Besides, it was just Tree Climbing and Water Walking. With Sasuke and Naruto's talent, it would not take long.

"Alright!"

Naruto immediately ran toward the shore impatiently, with Sasuke following close behind.

Watching the two run toward the shore, Kakashi could not help but pull a long face as he moved closer to Sakura and said, "Um, Sakura, then what about this mission~~~?"

Sakura shot Kakashi a displeased glance and said, "If I hadn't brought it up, when were you planning to start teaching them?"

"Uh, ha, haha, I was just tempering their character~~~"

Kakashi awkwardly looked at the little girl frowning before him.

"Kakashi, you're their teacher. You're the one responsible for teaching them."

"And the Chunin Exams are just around the corner. If you keep being this lazy, do you want the two of them to be defeated by some nameless Genin extras?"

Sakura frowned as she looked at the white-haired man trying to muddle through.

Kakashi found himself speechless as Sakura lectured him.

Were Naruto and Sasuke weak?

Honestly, at the Genin stage, neither of them was particularly weak.

Naruto had the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu. With sheer numbers, he could wear down plenty of opponents at the same level.

Sasuke had the Uchiha Clan's Shurikenjutsu, as well as Fire Release, and could also defeat many Genin of the same level.

But Sakura was comparing the two of them to people like Neji, Rock Lee, and Gaara.

At their current stage, Naruto and Sasuke would be utterly crushed by any one of them.

Even if they teamed up two against one, they might not win.

"..."

Kakashi looked at Sakura, his eyes drifting away awkwardly.

Sure enough, the situation he least wanted to see had arrived...

When he learned that Sakura would be assigned to Team 7 because of the mission, Kakashi had known this day would come. He just had not expected it to come so soon.

"Yes, yes, yes, I know..."

Kakashi agreed helplessly.

It seemed that with Sakura around, he would not have any free time for a while.

Sakura crossed her arms and watched Naruto and Sasuke in the distance, secretly competing to see who could climb higher.

"Teach Chidori to Sasuke."

"I'll go ask the Old Man for the Rasengan to give Naruto later."

Sakura's words made Kakashi suddenly look at her.

"Sakura, are you serious?"

"Chidori is an S-rank technique!"

"Isn't it too early to teach it to them at this stage...?"

Hearing Kakashi's incredulous words, Sakura calmly looked at him with her emerald eyes and said, "The Fourth Hokage was able to rescue his future wife from Cloud Village Ninja at the age of twelve."

"You created Chidori yourself when you were twelve."

"I was already an Anbu squad captain at twelve."

"Why do you think it's too early? I think the timing is just right."

Sakura's words left Kakashi speechless.

The Fourth Hokage had been an extraordinary genius, and Sakura had also been someone the Third Hokage placed great hopes in. Kakashi was not bragging when he said there were very few people who could compare to him at twelve.

Was Sakura comparing Naruto and Sasuke to people like them?

Did Sakura really believe in Naruto and Sasuke that much?

Kakashi recalled the mission report about Mizuki from some time ago.

So Sakura truly believed that Naruto had inherited the Fourth Hokage's will?

"Naruto aside, after all..."

"Why do you believe in Sasuke so much too?"

Kakashi's gaze fell on the youth who had just fallen from the tree to the ground, only to immediately resume Tree Climbing.

"Sasuke is different. You and I both know what kind of hatred he carries."

"If he cannot be made stronger, then he will keep pursuing the path to strength."

"At any cost."

Sakura watched the youth, who had already faintly neared the top of the tree, only to crash heavily to the ground again because he had poured in too much Chakra.

"While he gains power, we should continuously guide him down the path we choose for him."

The girl's tone was calm, yet Kakashi's heart churned.

"You mean..."

Sakura continued.

"This Chunin Exams is a large-scale event jointly hosted by us, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and several smaller ninja villages."

"Once a fledgling eagle has seen the vastness of the sky and yearns for the blue heavens, how could it remain confined to an eagle's nest no bigger than the palm of a hand?"

Kakashi silently watched the stubborn youth in the distance. After a long silence, he slowly spoke.

"Sakura, is that what you think too?"

"In your eyes, is Konoha, the number one ninja village, also nothing more than an eagle's nest the size of a palm?"

Hearing that, Sakura looked at Kakashi as though he were an idiot.

"Obviously, that depends on the person. I got lucky and earned Old Man's favor."

"For Sasuke, it might be an eagle's nest. But for me, it is a chessboard where I can place my pieces."

Place her pieces...

Did Sakura already see herself as a chess player capable of changing the situation in the ninja world?

Kakashi suddenly felt that Sakura's self-perception was somewhat arrogant and dangerous.

Sakura did not elaborate further. She looked at Kakashi.

"So, are you going to teach him or not?"

"Even if you don't, I can get Chidori from Old Man. It'll just be a little more troublesome."

Kakashi looked helplessly at the little Grandmother before him, then replied in an almost defeated tone.

"I'll teach him."

"I'll teach him, alright?"

"But we'll have to wait until Sasuke has more or less mastered Chakra control before I can teach him."

"After all, it's an S-rank technique."

Sakura raised an eyebrow as she looked at the powerless Kakashi beside her.

Honestly, Kakashi really was the type to slack off.

In the original story, before the Chunin Exams, all he had taught his three students was Tree Climbing and Water Walking.

And even that had only begun after they encountered Zabuza and Haku during the Land of Waves mission, when the situation had become so urgent that there was no time to waste.

Afterward, before the Chunin Exams, he taught them nothing again. Only when he learned that Sasuke would be fighting Gaara did he hurriedly teach him Chidori.

As for Naruto and Sakura, he had taught them absolutely nothing.

Naruto was alright, since Jiraiya had happened to return to the village at that time.

As for Sakura...

The fact that Sakura was not giving him a couple of solid punches already counted as showing respect for the fact that his teacher had been the Fourth Hokage.

"Let's pick a more difficult mission for the next one."

"I was flipping through the Mission Handbook just now. Doesn't the Land of Waves have a Zabuza?"

"Have Old Man discuss it with them and change it to a C-rank mission. Let Naruto and Sasuke get some practice..."

"Anyway, you and I can cover for them."

With Sakura's casual words, Naruto and Sasuke's arrangements had already been decided.

Kakashi could not help but be speechless. No matter how he looked at it, Sakura seemed more like Team 7's teacher...