Rock Lee

Kakashi walked over with a copy of Icha Icha Paradise in one hand and a mission scroll in the other.

"What's the mission?"

The three of them were curious, and Naruto snatched the scroll to take a look; it was for clearing out a river channel.

He immediately lost interest and tossed the scroll to Sasuke.

Sasuke caught the scroll, glanced at it, and felt a sudden wave of frustration.

If he kept doing missions like this, when would he ever be able to catch up to that man? He knew full well that after Itachi Uchiha graduated, the missions he took on in the Anbu were all high-difficulty.

"Let's go!" Kakashi checked the time—it was almost noon—and urged the three of them along.

The trio followed and soon arrived at a small stream that connected to the Konoha sewer system, where a large amount of trash was floating on the surface.

"Alright, Sasuke, just treat this as training. Do your best." Seeing Sasuke's mood, Naruto patted him on the shoulder.

The three of them grabbed their tools—bamboo stalks split to create makeshift tongs for picking up the trash.

Naruto and the others walked toward the water and stepped firmly onto the surface.

"Oh, they've already mastered this technique? Not bad. I wonder who taught them." Kakashi glanced over; usually, this technique was taught by the team's jonin leader.

Since they already knew it, Kakashi didn't say anything more. He walked over to a large tree, leaned against it, and went back to reading his Icha Icha Paradise.

After picking up trash for a while, Naruto felt bored and created two Shadow Clones to start practicing ninjutsu.

Kakashi took a look and frowned.

What kind of ninjutsu is this? Why can't I sense any chakra? He couldn't figure it out; he couldn't sense any chakra from Naruto's Shadow Clones either, and they looked just like ordinary people.

The two Shadow Clones used chakra-infused threads to pick up the trash on the river surface.

The other two watched but didn't imitate him; their current chakra levels weren't suited for this kind of training.

With the help of the two Shadow Clones, and the fact that all three could walk on water, the mission was completed quickly.

When they settled the mission, the four of them split the pay; the three of them had no objections to Kakashi taking an extra share as the jonin leader.

"Alright, dismissed. Same time tomorrow." Kakashi yawned and then vanished.

"That guy is lazy enough. I knew it would be like this." Naruto muttered, speechless.

"This is fine, too. It gives me more time to train. I don't want to waste time on such boring things." After experiencing the first lesson of a ninja mission, Sasuke had no hope left for genin-level tasks.

"You should go find him. Maybe you can ask him how to use the Sharingan?" Naruto thought for a moment and decided to send Sasuke off.

"That might be for the best." Sasuke pondered; the only way to quickly catch up to his other two teammates was to develop his own Sharingan.

Sasuke turned and left. As a jonin, Kakashi was well-known in Konoha; he only needed to ask anyone to find out where he lived.

"Let's go, let's get something to eat." Naruto looked at Hinata and said with a smile.

The two of them headed toward Ichiraku Ramen.

Seeing Naruto come by again, Uncle Ichiraku was very happy and secretly added quite a bit of extra toppings to Naruto's bowl.

Naruto could naturally tell what was going on.

After finishing their meal and paying the bill, the two of them found a place to train again.

Just as they were about to start, they saw a cloud of smoke rushing toward them. Naruto frowned and moved forward a few steps, calmly blocking Hinata from view.

"Naruto-kun, I knew you were here! Let us have a youthful duel!" A young man with a bowl cut, thick eyebrows, and a green bodysuit ran toward them from the smoke, stopping firmly a short distance in front of Naruto and giving him a thumbs-up.

His bright, neat teeth reflected a dazzling light, making Naruto squint involuntarily.

"Rock Lee, how did you end up here?" Seeing this guy, Naruto felt a slight headache.

"Neji told me you were here." Rock Lee immediately sold Neji out.

Naruto's temple throbbed; he knew it was that bastard.

Getting entangled with this guy was a hassle, but Naruto enjoyed taijutsu training, so he didn't refuse outright.

"Alright." After a moment's thought, Naruto agreed.

The two of them took their stances. Hinata stepped back and activated her Byakugan; both of them were taijutsu experts, and for Hinata, who was also training in taijutsu, watching them fight was very beneficial.

Vanishing in an instant, Naruto began his assault on Rock Lee.

Rock Lee reacted quickly, blocking Naruto's attack, but he was forced to take a few steps back.

"As expected of Naruto! Your fists are still so youthful!" Rock Lee shook his hands, looking even more excited.

"You guy, aren't you going to take off your weights?" Naruto stopped attacking.

He had felt that something was off the moment he made contact.

"But Guy-sensei said I must never take off my weights, no matter the situation!" Rock Lee, who had hurriedly stopped, scratched his head.

"If you don't take off those weights, you'll never be able to keep up with my speed." During the time he couldn't access ninjutsu, the only thing Naruto could train was the Three Basic Jutsu. Among them, the Body Flicker Technique was his favorite—it was practical and simple. Through his own gradual improvements and exploration, he had achieved his current speed.

In short distances, he could rival Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God. Of course, it wasn't as flexible as the Flying Thunder God, but for someone like Naruto, who excelled in taijutsu, once he got into close quarters, it was extremely dangerous.

Rock Lee looked troubled.

"Go for it, Rock Lee! I give you permission to remove your weights!" Just as the situation reached a stalemate, a passionate voice rang out from behind them.

Naruto turned his head and saw Might Guy appearing here with his brother-in-law and Tenten.

"Hello, Might Guy-sensei." Naruto offered a greeting. Konoha was not very large, and there were very few people who specialized in training taijutsu. Since Naruto also enjoyed taijutsu, it was inevitable that he would run into Might Guy while training. Although they could not be considered close, they had crossed paths a few times.

"Ah, Naruto! I heard from Kakashi that your taijutsu is excellent!" Might Guy gave Naruto a thumbs-up, his bared teeth flashing with a brilliant glint.

"That goes without saying; the body never lies." Naruto couldn't help but grin, looking quite proud of himself.

Hinata, witnessing this scene, felt her temple throb. She couldn't help but wonder, Brother Naruto won't turn into someone like that, will he?

Imagining Naruto wearing a green spandex suit and a bowl cut while giving her a thumbs-up, little Hinata couldn't help but shiver. She absolutely could not let Naruto become like that.

Just as Naruto was speaking with Might Guy, Rock Lee had already removed his weights, causing two loud thuds to echo across the ground.

Naruto's eyelid twitched as he caught sight of this. Although he had seen such scenes in the anime, seeing it in reality was truly exaggerated.

In truth, Naruto had considered weight training himself, but such weighted equipment was too expensive for an orphan like him to afford. Besides, after he later developed the Gravity Training Ground, he had abandoned that idea.