First Month

"Of course, no problem."

Menma had clearly been prepared for this. The moment Naruto turned his gaze toward him, he gave a slight nod and responded.

To him, it had always been nothing more than an optional formality.

He could participate, or he could choose not to.

It was merely an occasional disguise. He could not exactly let Sarutobi Hiruzen think he was an utterly antisocial person, could he? Otherwise, Sarutobi Hiruzen might think he was unstable and uncontrollable.

"Hmph!"

Uchiha Sasuke clearly held a similar attitude. That snort, without any shaking of his head or turning away in refusal, was essentially tacit agreement.

"Alright! Then let's go! We have to feast today!"

An obvious look of excitement appeared on Naruto's face as he raised his right hand high and cheered loudly.

Team Seven had officially been formed.

Although things had unfolded a little differently from the Original Work, everything still seemed stubbornly determined to move along the path of the original plot. Yet in this life, different people and different wills were bound to bring about different developments!

All of it would depend on the choices made by Menma and the others themselves.

The first day after their official graduation passed just like that. For Naruto and Sakura, it had been an exciting enough day.

For Menma, it had been an ordinary day.

After the team's celebration ended,

Menma returned home and carefully reviewed his battle with Kakashi that day. There was no doubt that in terms of pure individual strength, skill, and experience, Kakashi had utterly overwhelmed all of them in every respect.

It gave Menma an even deeper and clearer understanding of his current level.

The sense of urgency in his heart intensified further.

This was a world where strength reigned supreme!

Which mattered more, fists or reason? There was no need to think about that at all. Of course, reason had to be spoken—but without the corresponding strength, how could one promote one's own reason!?

Did Asura, Hashirama Senju, and Naruto Uzumaki really reform Indra, Madara Uchiha, and Uchiha Sasuke through words alone!?

What a joke.

They had beaten their reason into them with their fists, alright!?

Even Jiraiya, who seemed to have the gentlest personality in the Original Work and was hailed as a heroic figure—what did he do after infiltrating Amegakure and discovering that Nagato and Konan were behind the Akatsuki Organization!?

That made the nature of this world even clearer.

Perhaps among ninjas, Jiraiya could indeed be considered a so-called "good person," but ninjas themselves were synonymous with power.

Without power,

one was nothing but a colossal joke.

Menma would never entertain any unrealistic notions—naive words like justice or mutual understanding.

Protect himself!

Defeat his enemies!

Live freely and joyfully!

Those had always been Menma's unwavering goals.

For that, Menma was willing to devote everything to striving and fighting for them.

As he had said before, he was not Naruto Uzumaki, the idealist from the Original Work. He was Uzumaki Menma, an "egoist."

Weakness and naivety were a ninja's greatest enemies.

After Team Seven was formed, Kakashi began officially leading Menma, Naruto, and the other two on missions starting the next day.

As for the mission ranks and content,

they were clearly much the same as in the Original Work.

Even though he highly acknowledged the strength of the four, Kakashi could not possibly lead them straight into high-ranking missions right from the start. It was not a matter of whether they were dangerous or not; it was simply a matter of progression.

With an Elite Jonin like him present, there was absolutely no need to worry about danger in missions below A-rank!

It was merely a question of whether Kakashi was willing.

Of course, Menma's special identity also had to be taken into consideration.

High-ranking missions required them to leave Konohagakure's territory. Jinchuriki could naturally leave their villages; the Jinchuriki of every major ninja village were all used as important sources of combat power in missions, especially during wartime.

It was impossible to keep every one of them at home like some treasured possession.

But there was one obvious prerequisite: a Jinchuriki had to reach a relatively stable stage first.

As Team Seven's Jonin instructor, Kakashi naturally had to be much more cautious in this regard. It would not be an exaggeration to say that whether Team Seven could accept high-level missions and leave the village required the personal approval of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage.

Thus, during the first month after Team Seven's formation, they frantically carried out the lowest-level D-rank missions. If they were not searching for lost items, they were helping Konoha residents with heavy labor. If they absolutely had to name a mission with some risk and technical difficulty, it was helping capture scattered domestic livestock that had run away.

That might pose a little risk to ordinary people.

But for ninjas, it was truly no challenge at all.

After all, they were not some large, vicious beasts.

Menma had long been mentally prepared for this. He knew there was no rushing it, so he did not show much unusual emotion.

Besides, Menma knew someone would be even more impatient than him.

Sure enough,

one morning more than a month later,

after they had just completed another ordinary lost-pet search mission,

"!!!! Brother Kakashi, is this ever going to end? They're all D-rank missions! Today we're pulling weeds, tomorrow we're looking for lost things—there's no technical difficulty at all! Can't we take on missions that are at least a little more difficult!?"

Naruto tightly held the pet in his arms as they walked back toward the Mission Building. With an extremely displeased expression, he looked at Kakashi and spoke in a deeply dissatisfied tone.

In a single month, they had already completed more than ten D-rank missions. At first, there might have been a little novelty to them, and Naruto could maintain a fair amount of patience. But now that they kept repeating such low-level missions, Naruto could no longer endure it.

He wanted missions that were challenging and difficult!

Sasuke also nodded slightly by instinct, silently agreeing.

These low-level missions had far too little value. More importantly, they could not serve any meaningful training purpose!

"No. You've only just graduated. You're still far from being ready for high-ranking missions. For now, obediently carry out D-rank missions. This is a process every Genin has to go through!"

Kakashi still wore that lazy demeanor. As he read The Book of Treasures in his hand, he casually replied.

"Then how much longer will it take, Brother Kakashi!? It's already been a month!!"

Naruto tilted his head back, his face filled with grievance.

"It has only been a month. Temper yourselves slowly. Don't be impatient, Naruto."

Kakashi replied at an unhurried pace.

"Alright~~~~~"

Naruto dragged out his response, clearly disappointed.

When it came to accepting missions, it really depended on the team captain. If Kakashi truly did not want to lead them on higher-ranking missions, there was indeed nothing they could do.