An Important Issue Before Leaving the Village

Wu Yu did not want to make excuses.

But the difficulty of Yang Release Nature Transformation really had exceeded his expectations a little.

Perhaps because he had already completed his Yin Nature Transformation, and yin and yang repelled each other, the difficulty of cultivating Yang Release had increased??

Thus, for three days straight, Wu Yu immersed himself in cultivating Yang Release Nature Transformation. While carrying out missions with Team Kakashi, he sent out Shadow Clones to assist with the mission, while his main body trained on this injured fish. Who knew how many fish Tsunade had prepared for his training on the other end of the scroll's summoning technique...

He trained while walking, trained while resting, and even had to send out a Shadow Clone to train while he ate (after all, Shadow Clones could not help him eat)... It could be said that this time, Wu Yu truly devoted every waking moment to cultivating Yang Release, to the point where Kakashi was nearly about to warn him for not taking missions seriously enough.

Fortunately, Wu Yu had Sage Power supported by Jade Rabbit, which could alleviate the immense mental strain caused by frequently using Shadow Clones for training. Otherwise, he figured his nerves would have snapped and he would have dropped dead from sudden death by now.

At last, hard work paid off, and Wu Yu successfully completed the training in Scroll No. 1.

Having gotten started with Yang Release Nature Transformation, Scroll No. 2 was more difficult, yet unexpectedly went far more smoothly than Scroll No. 1 had...

"How far from the target?"

It was another bright, sunny day. In Konoha's vast forest, Kakashi Hatake contacted his students'... Shadow Clones through the radio. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno's responses came one after another through his earpiece. "Five meters! Ready!" "I'm ready too." "Same here!"

Wu Yu also shouted through the radio, "Get ready, get ready!"

"Move!"

After giving the order, Kakashi removed his radio earpiece.

When he turned around, he looked speechlessly at the main bodies of the three Team Seven students, each of whom was cultivating on their own.

On the lake's surface, Naruto had created fifty Shadow Clones. They stood in a circle and continuously beat one another up as though they were at a martial arts tournament...

On the shore, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha stood five meters apart. Both held Genjutsu Seals as they took turns casting genjutsu on each other. As soon as one dispelled the genjutsu, they immediately cast another for the other to break...

Seriously, when did things turn into this? Is this really a Genin team... Kakashi Hatake thought helplessly. Soon, the Narutos on the lake shouted, "Got it!"

Sasuke and Sakura also received the memories from their dispelled Shadow Clones. They looked toward the forest and, sure enough, saw Wu Yu emerge alone, carrying a cat with a ribbon tied to its right ear.

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets. "The lost pet, Ah Hu, capture mission is complete! Come on, everyone. Let's head back and turn in the mission."

Just as he said that, however, Naruto stood motionless on the water after dismissing his many Shadow Clones.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"..." Naruto Uzumaki scratched his cheek, then abruptly pointed at Wu Yu, who was carrying the mission cat. "Something's really off! Today is seriously weird! How could Wu Yu be honestly doing a mission by himself? Where are his Shadow Clones?"

Sakura Haruno really wanted to punch him. She yelled, "Doesn't Wu Yu get tired? He's not like you, acting like he has endless energy every day! Normal people need rest, okay?!"

Was that so? Naruto scratched his head awkwardly and followed the group.

Sasuke quietly activated his Sharingan. He could see Wu Yu's Chakra... and indeed, there was no mistake. He only had half his usual Chakra. The same went for Kakashi. Although the two of them here were their main bodies, they had both already used Shadow Clones!

Tap, tap!

A thick stack of manuscript pages was tapped against the table. The publisher pressed down on the simple cover bearing the title Carefree Wandering and said with a beaming smile, "A wonderful work! By convention, our company can offer new authors a maximum royalty share of eight percent. But since you have a Konoha Jonin as your recommender... how about this? I'll make the call: ten percent!"

This was a tea restaurant on Konoha's Tea Street. Sitting across from the bespectacled publisher were Kakashi Hatake and Wu Yu's Shadow Clone.

"What will the price per copy be, and how many copies will be in the first printing?" Kakashi asked with the ease of an industry veteran.

"One hundred ryo per copy. As for the first printing..." The publisher took a sip of tea and pondered for a moment. "This novel has a fresh premise, and its plot and writing style are both distinctive and very seasoned. Hmm... let's go with ten thousand copies for the first printing. How does that sound?"

What else could they say? That was fine. After confirming that Wu Yu was the author who wrote under the pen name Xiaoyaozi, the publisher selected a contract from his briefcase and handed it over.

The ninja world did not really distinguish between adults and minors, but Wu Yu was still too young and needed a guarantor. Normally, that would be his parents, but... failing that, as a Genin, his guarantor should naturally be the Jonin in charge of him.

"My supervising Jonin should be my master, Tsunade, right?" Wu Yu said, about to get up and find her, but Kakashi hurriedly pressed him back down. Kakashi was not an idiot. He was an old hand at Liu Bei Novels—how could he fail to see whose shadow the protagonist's master in Carefree Wandering was modeled after?

A young boy fantasizing about a mature, beautiful female master was not exactly anything new. But openly asking Lady Tsunade to guarantee the publishing contract for a Liu Bei novel modeled after her was going a little too far.

"I'll do it instead." Kakashi swiftly signed the guarantor section. Only after watching Wu Yu sign both his real name and pen name did he finally relax. If Lady Tsunade got angry, who could possibly stop her?

Sigh, I just hope Lady Tsunade never finds out that Xiaoyaozi is Nakamori Wu Yu...

Come to think of it, Lord Jiraiya would not recognize Lady Tsunade's likeness in this book, would he??

Even after the publisher left behind fully half of the first printing's royalties as an advance and departed, Kakashi remained seated where he was, quietly worrying... That had been so impulsive. How had he gotten carried away and run around helping Wu Yu publish this book?

"Making money through art really is easier."

After the Shadow Clone delivered the money home and dispelled itself, returning its memories to the main body, Wu Yu could not help sighing while standing at the mission assignment desk in the Hokage Building. Beside him, Kakashi, who had already received his Shadow Clone's memories, broke out in a cold sweat at those words.

What made him sweat even more was that up ahead, after turning in the cat-finding mission, Naruto Uzumaki had finally reached the end of his patience. He slapped the table before the Third Hokage and demanded a more difficult, more challenging mission.

This was not the first time he had complained that D-Rank Missions were too boring, but the Hokage had always ignored him.

Wu Yu and Kakashi both knew why: there was a hard requirement for the number of missions completed in order to participate in the Chunin Exam. D-Rank Missions were the most convenient way to build up mission counts, while C-Rank Missions took more time. If they failed to meet the required mission count before the Chunin Exam began and could not participate, would that not be a waste of time...

Perhaps Kakashi Hatake would not let Team Seven's three new Genin participate in this year's Chunin Selection Exam, but perhaps he would. Whether they ultimately registered or not, they should at least secure the basic qualifications first.

That was why today was different. The Third Hokage apparently judged that Team Kakashi had already completed enough missions, so he unusually indulged Naruto's willfulness and smiled as though conceding. "All right, then I'll assign you a C-Rank Mission: escort someone back to their country!"

Naruto was overjoyed.

Wu Yu remained expressionless. Even after meeting the client, Kakashi ordered everyone to go home, prepare their luggage, and gather at Konoha's main gate in half an hour... Wu Yu remained silent throughout.

After returning home, Wu Yu created a Shadow Clone and had it pack his bag. He thought for a moment, then suddenly spoke to the air.

"Kaguya, let me ask you... after I summoned you, have you contacted Black Zetsu at all?"