Tazuna's Annoyance

Night

Uchiha Compound

The black-haired youth lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. His entire body felt unbearably hot, and there was always an inexplicable urge stirring in his heart.

But twelve-year-old Sasuke did not understand what that urge was.

Left with no choice, and wanting to train tomorrow, he simply climbed out of bed, felt his way through the dark to the bathroom, and turned on the shower.

Icy water sprayed from the showerhead, slightly easing the unbearable heat in Sasuke's body.

But just as he dried himself off and prepared to return to bed, his body inexplicably began heating up again.

Sasuke's mouth twitched. At that moment, he roughly understood that there had been something wrong with Sakura's Military Rations Pills during the day...

The youth sighed helplessly, got dressed, and headed to the training grounds where he had practiced earlier that day.

He planned to vent his excess energy.

Then Sasuke began running lap after lap around the training ground.

Suddenly, under the moonlight, Sasuke seemed to spot a furtive figure.

Who was that?

Sasuke could not help walking toward the person. Only when he got closer did he realize it was Naruto.

"Naruto?"

Sasuke was somewhat surprised as he looked at the Blondie before him.

"Eh?!"

"What are you doing here?!"

Naruto cried out when he saw the black-haired youth before him.

"Tch... Do I need to discuss it with you if I'm here?"

Sasuke crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

"You bastard!"

Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other, neither willing to give way.

After a long while, Sasuke was the first to lose patience. His body was burning so badly that it felt as though he had a fever.

"I can't be bothered with you."

With that, Sasuke resumed running.

Naturally, Naruto refused to fall behind. He had eaten nearly as many Military Rations Pills as Sasuke during the day, and he was suffering from the same unbearable heat.

He immediately started running as well, quickly catching up to Sasuke.

When Sasuke saw Naruto pull ahead by a step, his expression darkened. With a sudden burst, he overtook Naruto.

Naruto was naturally not one to admit defeat. Unwilling to be outdone, he immediately passed Sasuke again.

Sasuke pursed his lips and silently passed Naruto once more. Naruto gritted his teeth and overtook Sasuke again.

"Dead Last, stay behind me properly!"

Sasuke refused to yield and passed Naruto again.

"Stupid Sasuke, you're the one who should stay behind me!"

Naruto overtook Sasuke again without hesitation.

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!"

"Naruto!!"

"Sasuke!!"

"Naruto!!!"

"Sasuke!!!"

Konoha's night had gained a pair of like-minded friends venting the spirit known as youth~~~

The next morning

When Sakura and Kakashi arrived at the training ground, they saw the deeply sleeping boys leaning against each other...

"My, they really are close~~~"

Kakashi looked at the two little guys before him, and his visible eye curved into a crescent.

--

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

Naruto mastered the Rasengan, while Sasuke successfully mastered the Chidori.

However, with Sasuke's current amount of chakra, he could only use Chidori twice.

Kakashi also officially accepted the Land of Waves mission with the three kids.

Mission Assignment Office

"These brats don't look reliable at all."

The old man, reeking of alcohol and holding a sake bottle, looked at Team 7 before speaking.

"Huh? What did you say?!"

Naruto was the most impulsive by nature. The moment he heard someone questioning his strength, he immediately wanted to take this mission employer outside for a proper "talk."

"Naruto, you can't attack the client."

Kakashi grabbed Naruto and spoke with a smile. Then, he turned his gaze toward the old man named Tazuna.

"Please rest assured. They may be young, but they are all qualified ninja."

The mission Tazuna had issued was C-rank, but Konoha's intelligence network had confirmed that it actually fell within the scope of an A-rank mission.

Why had he chosen a C-rank mission...

It was because most of the reward the Land of Waves villagers had scraped together for this mission had been spent on drinking by this idiot.

Sakura had no favorable impression of this Old Man whatsoever. If not for the fact that this mission happened to be a good opportunity to temper Sasuke and Naruto—

She would have wanted to seize this old man on the spot.

And that was indeed the case. If Sakura had not reserved this mission in advance, Konoha would have taken this Old Man into custody long ago within those seven days.

After all, falsely reporting a mission's rank was something no ninja village could tolerate.

A ninja's life was far more valuable than the lives of people like these.

Tazuna's behavior was like dining at a restaurant and skipping out on the bill, or going to a brothel without paying for... Ahem...

Anyway, if this mission had not been perfectly suited for Sasuke and Naruto to get some practice, Tazuna would not even have made it out of Konoha's gates.

Unaware that he had just taken a trip through the Ghost Gate, Tazuna was still bickering with Naruto.

"I mean you, the shortest one."

Naruto froze, then compared his height with Sasuke and Sakura.

Even though Sakura had already taught Naruto how to cook, Naruto simply loved slurping noodles, especially instant ramen.

He still ate instant ramen very often.

And so...

The consequences came...

"You bastard!"

"I'll kill you!"

Naruto immediately made to pounce on the damned old man, and Kakashi hurriedly stopped him.

Meanwhile, Sakura frowned as she looked at this old fool who did not know what was good for him.

Walking over to him, she spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"If you don't want word to spread across the Land of Waves that you drank away the mission reward, you'd better behave yourself."

"And we have the right to refuse a mission whose reward does not match its difficulty."

"When that happens, all that awaits you will be Konoha's condemnation."

Using the reward for a C-rank mission to hire two jonin, the last Uchiha, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—

Yet this drunkard still had the nerve to spout nonsense here.

Upon hearing Sakura's words, Tazuna's face turned pale, then green. He fell silent as he stared at the beautiful little girl before him.

There was not a trace of emotion in those emerald eyes.

It made his limbs turn cold.

No matter how young a ninja was, they were still a ninja.

"I know..."

At this moment, Tazuna finally sobered up.

"Come on, Naruto. Don't bother with this stinking old man."

Sakura turned toward Naruto, who was being held back by Kakashi, a smile like melting ice and snow on her face.

"Hmph, this guy is so annoying."

Naruto made a face at the silent Tazuna behind Sakura.

And Team 7, with Sakura among them, officially began their first mission outside the village.

Zabuza, sorry for the trouble. I'll light an incense stick at your grave~~~

Sakura watched Naruto excitedly look around everywhere at the unfamiliar sights beyond the village for the first time, and could not help thinking to herself.