Payment, Tree Climbing Training Begins Early

The next day

On the small bridge beside Training Ground 3

"So boring! Why isn't Teacher Kakashi here yet..."

Sakura stood by the bridge railing, looking up at the bright sky as she complained.

"Exactly, exactly. I got up early and came here ahead of time on purpose."

Naruto leaned over the railing, eagerly chiming in while yawning nonstop...

"You knew he loved being late, yet you still came so early. You brought this on yourself!"

Sasuke casually remarked with his back against the railing, already looking forward to today's training.

As long as he earned Kakashi's approval, that unexpected C-rank Lightning Style he had gained last night would be his!

It would be perfect for making up for his lack of Lightning Style techniques...

"What do you know, Sasuke...

When Teacher Kakashi comes today, he'll settle yesterday's mission payment.

This is my first mission payment. How could I not be excited!

I wonder how much we'll get this time. Could it be several thousand ryo..."

Naruto immediately perked up, waving his arms around as his eyes gleamed with golden light and anticipation.

Sakura beside him was instantly swept up as well, her eyes sparkling...

With money, she could buy pretty clothes and invite Sasuke-kun out for a meal and a date.

How wonderful...

"Yo... morning, everyone..."

Just as the two wore greedy expressions, Kakashi slowly appeared.

"Teacher Kakashi..."

"Hand it over..."

Naruto and Sakura, still immersed in their fantasies of money, immediately thrust out their hands and shouted excitedly.

"What??"

Kakashi scratched his head in confusion as he looked at their undisguised greedy stares.

He had no idea what he supposedly owed them...

"Money. They want yesterday's mission payment!"

Sasuke helplessly interjected, taking two steps forward to stand beside them.

"Ah, so that's what it is...

I was wondering what it was!"

Kakashi suddenly understood and slipped a hand into his pocket beneath Naruto and Sakura's eager gazes.

"Here, one share each..."

Soon, Kakashi pulled three banknotes from his pouch and handed them over.

The three wore different expressions as they quickly reached out to take them.

"Five hundred ryo? Why is it so little??

Teacher Kakashi, you didn't embezzle some of it, did you..."

Seeing the amount written on it, Naruto's delighted expression instantly fell as he questioned him.

Sakura beside him looked about the same!

This was far less than she had expected...

"You two idiots...

It was only a D-rank Mission. How much payment were you expecting!"

Black lines rose across Kakashi's forehead as he angrily pointed at their noses.

"Fine, fine...

Let me explain the ninja payment system.

That way, if something changes during a mission in the future, you'll know how much extra to charge..."

Seeing Naruto and Sakura's dejected expressions, Kakashi calmed himself and continued.

Including Sasuke, all three immediately perked up...

"Konoha's mission payments are generally divided into five tiers.

D-rank Mission payments—the rank of mission we carried out yesterday—

range from around five thousand to fifty thousand ryo. The exact amount is decided by Lord Hokage and the client based on the mission's difficulty.

C-rank Mission payments range from thirty thousand to one hundred thousand ryo.

B-rank payments range from eighty thousand to two hundred thousand ryo.

There's no point in telling you about A-rank and S-rank Mission payments yet, so I won't!

And those mission payments are not the same as the actual rewards we receive.

For every mission, the village takes a certain percentage.

Then, on top of that, the supervising teacher also takes a certain share.

Because while serving as supervising teachers, we lose the time we could have spent taking on other high-level missions.

Of course, unexpected circumstances are exceptions...

Do you understand now?

For example, this D-rank Mission paid five thousand ryo. You three split fifteen hundred.

The village took five hundred ryo...

The remaining three thousand ryo was my share as team leader."

As Kakashi finished speaking, Naruto and Sakura, who had only just begun to calm down, widened their eyes again.

Jonin took such a huge cut? He took sixty percent all by himself...

"That's enough, Sakura, Naruto..."

Seeing that the two still wanted to ask more, Sasuke immediately stopped them. He had no interest in continuing such a boring topic.

"A team-leading Jonin taking sixty percent is actually not much.

A D-rank Mission only gives him three thousand ryo. We only carry out a few D-rank Missions each month.

Even if we did ten in a month, that would only be thirty thousand ryo.

In the same amount of time, a Jonin working alone could easily earn more than fifty thousand ryo from a single B-rank Mission.

Sixty percent is already very generous!

Teacher Kakashi, what's our mission today..."

Sasuke directly used the numbers to silence the two and moved on to the main point.

He wanted to finish today's mission quickly so he could train and obtain the system reward.

"Well, you don't have a mission today.

Come with me. Since there's nothing going on today, I'll guide you in your training..."

Kakashi gave Sasuke a satisfied look, then turned and led the way toward the nearby woods.

Just as Sasuke had said, being a supervising Jonin was absolutely a losing proposition...

Sasuke truly was a boy who had inherited the Will of Fire, able to understand others like this.

"Today's training lesson is Chakra control..."

After taking a few steps to a large tree, Kakashi looked up at its trunk and spoke slowly.

The moment he said that, Naruto and Sakura both looked utterly confused...

Chakra control? What kind of training was that!

Tree Climbing Training...

A strange glint flashed through Sasuke's eyes, but he was not surprised by this.

This was good too. With someone to guide him, he would not have to train blindly!

"Just looking at your faces, I can tell you haven't truly grasped Chakra.

The three of you, watch closely..."

Kakashi gave them a casual glance, then calmly lifted a leg and stepped onto the tree under Naruto and Sakura's shocked gazes.

"Don't..."

Sakura cried out in alarm on instinct, afraid Kakashi would fall straight down.

Yet in the next instant, Kakashi actually defied gravity and walked upward as if he were on level ground...

"H-how is that possible..."

"He walked straight up it!!"

Naruto and Sakura were instantly shocked again, their faces filled with disbelief.

"Like this...

Concentrate a certain amount of Chakra in the soles of your feet, use it to adhere to the trunk, and climb the tree with your feet..."

Kakashi hung upside down from a branch and explained the techniques and purpose of Tree Climbing Training just as in the original story.

"Let's begin..."

The instant Kakashi finished speaking, Sasuke formed Hand Seals and gathered Chakra beneath his feet.

In the span of a breath, a burst of Chakra pressure erupted from beside Sasuke's feet, blowing a ring of dust outward...

Then he launched forward, drawing a Kunai as he rushed toward a nearby tree.

He first needed to confirm whether his training talent had improved after crossing over...

"Thud, thud, thud..."

With the momentum from his dive, Sasuke charged up seven or eight meters before he finally felt himself losing strength.

He slashed a mark into the trunk, then landed with a neat backflip.

Only this much?

Sasuke frowned as he looked at the height of only seven or eight meters. It was far from his goal...

"Sasuke, you're so sneaky...

You actually went first. I won't lose to you..."

Naruto immediately reacted and formed Hand Seals, exploding toward another large tree.

That fleeting burst of Chakra pressure made Kakashi's pupils contract...

*What an astonishing amount of Chakra...

The Chakra Naruto has hidden within him has already surpassed mine!

And Sasuke's Chakra has already reached the level of an elite Chunin.

Are these two truly geniuses?*