Sasuke's Thoughts

Tsunade took a deep breath, walked slowly up to Uzumaki Reikawa, grabbed him by the collar, and stared at him with a stern expression. "You must promise me that you will return safely!"

Seeing this, Uzumaki Reikawa was stunned for a moment before suddenly smiling. "I promise!" His voice was resonant and firm.

Watching Uzumaki Reikawa, Tsunade let him go and walked back to her desk. "I'll draw up a mission scroll for you in a moment. Remember, you must be back in five days!" At this, Tsunade suddenly smiled. "If you don't return, I'll consider you a traitor to the village."

Uzumaki Reikawa's expression withered, and he said weakly, "That's so ruthless?"

"It's to ensure you don't take it lightly. I mean what I say." Tsunade said, handing him the mission document she had personally signed. "And this is a one-time exception."

In truth, if it weren't for the fact that the four people interrogated earlier had revealed signs that Uzumaki Reikawa might also possess genjutsu, combined with Kakashi's constant reports of being unable to track him, she would never have agreed to this, regardless of how flowery Uzumaki Reikawa's words were, based solely on his apparent combat strength.

Secrets—everyone has secrets. As long as he didn't pose a threat to the village, Tsunade could choose to ignore them for now. Moreover, she could somewhat understand Uzumaki Reikawa's wariness toward Konoha. But the fact that he was willing to hand over the four people who had seen his ninjutsu suggested he was slowly letting his guard down, right?

Tsunade was willing to trust him once, believing that he would eventually be honest with her and build bonds within Konoha.

Uzumaki Reikawa held the mission scroll, feeling a bit surprised. Was this a case of planting a willow in jest and having it grow into shade? It was worth noting that such a signature was actually recognized by the system as valid. Still, he would have to wait until he was out of the village to deal with it; he couldn't just submit it now and go back to ask Tsunade for another one.

The sun was already setting. Uzumaki Reikawa walked along leisurely when he suddenly saw Sasuke and Naruto ahead, both covered in injuries, eating ramen while looking at each other with mutual defiance.

Sakura and Karin were there too. After an afternoon, Karin had slowly begun to open up. Upon learning of her situation, Sakura had been furious, but she also felt a deeper sense of pity for Karin. She suddenly wondered if she knew medical ninjutsu, would she be able to help Karin remove those bite marks...

Compared to the other three, Karin, who possessed decent sensory abilities, was the first to notice Uzumaki Reikawa's arrival. A joy that was hard to put into words instantly appeared on her face.

"Big Brother Reikawa, where did you go earlier?" Karin ran over and hugged Reikawa's waist, expressing her excitement, but then realized it wasn't appropriate and quickly stepped back.

Uzumaki Reikawa didn't mind, smiling gently at Karin. "I went to have a chat with Kakashi, and then I picked up another mission from the Hokage." As he spoke, he waved the mission scroll in his hand.

Naruto watched them with dead fish eyes. He had never seen Reikawa act so gentle—seducing an ignorant little girl. But looking at their red hair and then at his own, Naruto couldn't help but wonder: why wasn't his hair red?

Karin looked a bit disappointed, but she didn't say anything, just nodded. "Then about how long until you can come back?"

"If it goes quickly, about four or five days. By the way, how are you all getting along?"

"Mm-hmm, everyone is very kind to me. I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time..." Karin said happily.

Sasuke remained silent on this. Up until now, because of the earlier social embarrassment, he hadn't said a single word to Karin.

Seeing this, Uzumaki Reikawa smiled and patted her head again. Patting heads was addictive; once you started, you couldn't stop. "Have a good time today. Tomorrow you'll need to go to the Ninja Academy to catch up on your studies. Remember to study hard; if you do well, you can graduate early. If it's you, it'll definitely be no problem."

"Okay!" Karin nodded vigorously.

Naruto asked curiously, "By the way, Big Brother Reikawa, what kind of mission did Granny Tsunade send you on?"

Sakura sighed, put her hands on her hips, and tapped Naruto on the head. "Naruto, you've forgotten again that ninjas aren't supposed to pry into other people's missions, especially not one issued personally by the Hokage."

Naruto rubbed his head, grumbling, "It wasn't long ago that this guy didn't even know the Three Basic Jutsu, and now he's executing so many high-level missions."

However, he quickly cast the thought aside, his heart being broad. Today, he had finally surpassed Sasuke by a little bit. Although it was only a narrow victory gained through his cockroach-like stamina, it was enough to excite him, and Sasuke had acknowledged him as well.

Sasuke remained silent, not knowing what he was thinking. Acknowledging Naruto was one thing, but being dissatisfied with his own strength was another. Watching Uzumaki Reikawa walk away, Sasuke also decided to pay his bill and leave.

"Eh? Sasuke, aren't you going to sit for a while longer?" Sakura urged. They hadn't gathered like this in a long time due to training, and since they had finally managed to get together, she had hoped to chat more.

"No, I'm going back to train." Sasuke waved his hand and strode away.

Naruto was quite happy; he finally had a chance to be alone with Sakura. Although it wasn't exactly alone—with Sasuke gone, there was still Uzumaki Karin—it was at least better than having Sasuke around. It wasn't a big problem.

At the Konoha gate, after Uzumaki Reikawa presented the pass signed by Tsunade, he was stopped by Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki.

Kotetsu Hagane scratched his head in embarrassment. "Could you hand-draw a book for us based on the story you told earlier?" They had wanted to ask for a long time but never found the opportunity; they had finally managed to catch him.

Izumo Kamizuki nodded repeatedly from the side. "We won't let you lose out; we can pay to buy it." After the Goddess Uzuki in that story ate the immortal fruit and flew to the sky, what was the Heavenly Realm like? What happened to her husband? And was the Green Snake a boy or a girl? And so on...

Uzumaki Reikawa: "..." So why did he tell these two those stories in the first place? However, it didn't seem entirely without benefits. Thinking of this, Uzumaki Reikawa suddenly smiled as brightly as a spring breeze. "Of course, no problem. We're all friends here. I caused quite a bit of trouble when I first entered the village. After I finish writing it, I can give it to you for free. If you want to print more copies to sell to others, I'll cover the costs. Could you help me out when the time comes?"

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki naturally agreed immediately; this was a trivial matter.

However, after finishing the formalities and walking outside the village for a while, Uzumaki Reikawa heard a rustle behind him. A vein popped on his forehead; he was truly speechless at the person who had been tailing him. "I'm saying, if you're going to tail someone, do a better job. Even if I'm a scrub, I'm not stupid."

"..." The air went silent for a moment.

The figure tailing him emerged: black hair, spiky, a fan crest, and the same expression as if someone owed him a fortune. Uchiha Sasuke slowly walked out.

"...What do you want? How did you get out?" Uzumaki Reikawa's mouth twitched at the sight, and he felt his whole mood sour.

Sasuke said nonchalantly, "I want to do the mission with you. I told them I was with you and that you were waiting for me up ahead, so they let me out."

Regarding this, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki were still chatting and laughing, thinking they had done Uzumaki Reikawa a favor. After all, he had only been gone for a short while, and although the distance wasn't far, it would have been a hassle to call him back to confirm.