Treading Water

Black Zetsu felt a surge of excitement; it was almost time.

At the same time, he had already dispatched White Zetsu to monitor all the jinchuriki twenty-four hours a day without pause.

The next day.

Even knowing Kakashi Hatake's personality, Hinata still rushed over early in the morning to wake Naruto Uzumaki up and bring him breakfast.

Naruto Uzumaki was speechless. Although he was touched, he felt particularly awkward being cared for like a younger brother. I see you as a wife, yet you want to be my sister.

But when faced with those adorable, wide eyes, Naruto Uzumaki truly couldn't bring himself to say anything harsh. Perhaps it was just his personality; Naruto Uzumaki's goals had always been very clear, making other things seem insignificant, which to outsiders made him appear somewhat lazy.

"Hinata-chan, I just wanted to sleep in."

Naruto Uzumaki complained listlessly.

Although Naruto Uzumaki appeared to be doing nothing all day on the surface, he always had several shadow clones conducting research at any given time. With his main body occasionally joining in, he didn't actually get much sleep. The fatigue brought on by the dispelling of his clones made Naruto Uzumaki feel overwhelmed. Combat didn't require much brainpower, but research was mentally taxing. This exhaustion seeped into his mind, leaving him in a constant state of mental fatigue.

Mental exhaustion could only be recovered through slow, steady sleep.

"Naruto Uzumaki, we are ninjas now; we can't sleep in." Today was their first day as ninjas, and Hinata couldn't possibly have slept.

Naruto Uzumaki was speechless. He got up lazily to eat, unable to muster any interest at all.

When they arrived at the mission hall, Sasuke was already standing there waiting.

"Heh, you two are certainly early today."

Sasuke's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

Naruto Uzumaki rolled his eyes at him.

Before long, Kakashi Hatake strolled over slowly. Seeing him in this state, the three of them couldn't even be bothered to complain.

"Let's go inside and pick up a mission."

With that, he took the lead and walked in.

"Kakashi-sensei, what kind of mission are we doing today?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Yesterday, after returning home, he had specifically asked his brother about Kakashi Hatake.

Itachi Uchiha did not hide anything and told his younger brother about Kakashi Hatake's background.

Hearing Kakashi Hatake's track record was quite intimidating.

He graduated at six, became a chunin at twelve, participated in the Ninja World War, obtained a Sharingan, and made a name for himself throughout the Ninja World.

The Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake.

Upon learning this information, Sasuke's attitude toward him changed significantly.

"Let me see."

Kakashi Hatake remained as lazy as ever, holding Icha Icha Paradise in one hand while nonchalantly searching for a mission with the other.

Finally, after looking around, he found a suitable task.

"Naruto Uzumaki, aren't you curious?"

Hinata looked at Naruto Uzumaki.

"What kind of missions can genin do? It's either catching cats or finding dogs."

Naruto Uzumaki was speechless. If Hinata hadn't come to find him so early, his main body would have been in the laboratory right now, leaving a shadow clone to handle this.

Naruto Uzumaki's shadow clones were now even more realistic than Hashirama's wood clones; at the very least, Kakashi Hatake shouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The only one who could distinguish them was Hinata, and that was purely based on intuition.

Kakashi Hatake, who was selecting the mission in front of them, also heard Naruto Uzumaki's words.

He felt that Naruto Uzumaki had a point, and given the current strength of the three, such missions were meaningless.

In the end, Kakashi Hatake chose a slightly more difficult task: cleaning up a river channel.

The three were led to the side of a large river.

"Your mission is to clear all the trash out of this section of the river."

"Hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei, did you forget to mention something?"

Suddenly, Naruto Uzumaki felt that Kakashi Hatake was being a bit petty.

"Right, if you want to complete this mission more smoothly, you can practice this technique."

Kakashi Hatake acted as if he had just realized it, then, under the gaze of the three, stepped onto the surface of the water.

One had to know that water walking was a higher-level technique than tree climbing, and practicing it on flowing water was even more difficult.

Even the current Naruto Uzumaki hadn't been exposed to this technique, and it was usually taught by the jonin leading the team.

After Kakashi Hatake demonstrated it once, he found a large tree to lie under and began reading Icha Icha Paradise.

Sasuke didn't say a word; he walked to the riverbank and stepped onto the water.

Unsurprisingly, he stepped straight into the river.

Naruto Uzumaki walked over as well, wrapping his feet in chakra and attempting to step onto the surface of the water.

He immediately stomped a large crater into the water's surface.

Is my power too great?

Hinata walked over as well.

The three of them began testing on the river.

In the end, it was actually Hinata who mastered the technique first.

She could be seen walking cautiously across the surface of the water.

Naruto Uzumaki, however, still found it difficult to grasp.

As for Sasuke, he would fall into the water after only a few steps.

Hinata watched them and really wanted to share her experience, but the young girl was not good with words and didn't know how to explain it, so she eventually just went off to complete the mission herself.

The two of them continued to experiment by the river.

"Damn it, I refuse to believe this."

[Multi-Shadow Clone Technique]

With a series of poof sounds, dozens of Naruto Uzumakis appeared on the scene.

Without waiting for Naruto Uzumaki to give orders, all the clones began to attempt the technique.

"What an enviable amount of chakra."

Sasuke, standing to the side, looked on with envy. He knew this ninjutsu too, but after using it once, he never wanted to use it again.

Among the dozens of shadow clones, whenever one succeeded, it would immediately dispel, and the others would continue the experiment using its experience.

After a dozen clones vanished, Naruto Uzumaki successfully mastered the technique.

"Huh? Such a simple technique, Sasuke, you idiot, how have you not learned it yet?"

Naruto Uzumaki stood on the water's surface, looking at Sasuke by the riverbank, and couldn't help but taunt him.

"You bastard, just you wait."

Sasuke was instantly enraged, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

"Yeah, yeah, anyone can talk big. Your aptitude is really holding us back."

Naruto Uzumaki couldn't help but taunt him again.

"Naruto Uzumaki, that's not nice."

Hinata walked over at this moment and said softly.

"It's fine. If this guy isn't provoked, he won't succeed." Naruto Uzumaki brushed it off, though the real reason was that he just didn't like the guy.

Although he said that, he didn't continue to provoke Sasuke on the surface.

"Let's go, hurry up and finish the mission."

With that, he took Hinata and the two began picking up trash.

They left Sasuke alone by the river, gritting his teeth.

Perhaps it was because he was truly provoked by Naruto Uzumaki, but after a few more attempts, Sasuke managed to stand on the water's surface, albeit stumbling.

Damn it, is my aptitude really not as good as the two of them?

Watching the two of them ahead looking so relaxed, Sasuke began to doubt his own aptitude.

Only Kakashi, watching from afar, narrowed his eyes, shocked by the trio's talent.

As a goddess, Hinata naturally had finer control over her chakra; this did not exceed Kakashi's expectations.

Naruto Uzumaki could only be said to be stacking experience through shadow clones, and while Sasuke was a bit lackluster, he had still managed to learn it.

Being able to master this technique in half a day was already considered very impressive.

Compared to the original story, it was even more exaggerated; of course, the more important factor was that their foundations were all very solid now.

Sasuke had the Uchiha Clan's teachings, and Naruto Uzumaki had his cheats.

As the young lady of the Hyuga family, Hinata had been strictly trained since childhood, and she also had Naruto Uzumaki's help.

This made things much easier for Kakashi. There wasn't much left for him to teach; he just needed to guide them well.