The Slacker Leads the Team

"Team Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Uchiha Sasuke!"

Hearing the results of his team assignment, Naruto's gaze shifted slightly as he looked at the boy in blue seated in front of him, with a red-and-white fan crest printed on his back.

By the standards of the girls' everyday conversations, this guy was handsome!

But from one man's perspective, Naruto had only one word to describe him—arrogant!

For girls their age, aloofness seemed to be an incredibly lethal weapon. Without a doubt, while Sasuke had been the Top Student of their class, he had also earned the title of the Ninja Academy's heartthrob.

"Yes!" Hearing that she had been assigned to the same class as the boy she liked, Sakura slapped the desk and sprang to her feet, her joy impossible to hide.

"Why?!" In contrast, Ino's expression was the complete opposite. She looked at her two teammates beside her—one sleeping face-down on the desk, the other stuffing his face—and banged her head against the table as she mourned the romance that had ended before it even began.

Overall, the team assignments had brought both joy and sorrow.

After the assignments were announced, they waited for each team's instructor to lead them away and begin their ninja education.

"Why isn't our teacher here yet?" Sakura complained on the surface, but inwardly she was delighted as she kept sneaking glances at Sasuke at the next desk.

"Naruto, do you think our teacher got lost?"

Naruto, who was meditating in the last row, gave a slight shake of his head. "I don't know."

"Uh..." Sakura's mouth twitched. They had known each other for a while now, but she still had trouble accepting this guy's personality.

If you said he did not care about anything, he was always the most enthusiastic during group meals. But if you said he was enthusiastic, he did not care about anything either—like right now.

He was a very contradictory person. That was her assessment of him.

After a long while, just as Sakura was still racking her brains for a way to talk to Sasuke—

The long-awaited sound of the door opening finally rang out.

"Yo, I got lost on the road of life for a while." A silver-haired man in a jonin uniform walked in and greeted the three of them.

Sasuke: "..."

Naruto: "..."

Sakura gave a polite yet awkward smile. "Hello, Sensei!"

So he was the source of that spying...

Naruto carefully examined the man who kept apologizing.

At the same time, the silver-haired man was carefully observing the three of them, silently sighing to himself. Looks like they're a bunch of unlikable students.

Ninja Academy rooftop.

This cheap teacher had appeared so late—could he have been waiting to use this rooftop?

Naruto made the speculation without any ill intent.

"Since we'll be working together from now on, introduce yourselves. Your names, hobbies, dreams—anything will do," the silver-haired man said.

The three: "..."

"Ahem, I'll go first." The silver-haired man cleared his throat. He took back his earlier assessment. These were an extremely unlikable bunch of students.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi..."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto suddenly said.

"Uh..." Kakashi had a thousand things to say, yet for a moment, he did not know where to begin.

"Please continue, Sensei. Naruto is always like this." Sakura smiled politely, though inwardly she gave him a thumbs-up. Nicely done, Naruto!

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have no hobbies. My dream is to kill that man." Sasuke's cold tone was filled with killing intent. It should have been an intimidating sight, one that made people keep their distance.

Yet no one knew just how great an impact that aloof appearance had on a young girl's innocent heart.

So handsome!!

Kakashi lightly covered one of the few parts of his face that was exposed. There were a bit too many problem children.

"My turn." Sakura sat up straight. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..."

"My hobbies are... My dream is..."

As she spoke, her eyes involuntarily darted toward the cool boy beside her. Her cheeks also turned inexplicably red, and who knew what naughty things she was imagining.

Seeing this, Kakashi pressed his hand against his face even harder. They were all problem children.

"Gather at Training Ground Seven tomorrow morning." Feeling that was enough, Kakashi stood up. Before his words had even faded, he had already vanished.

"Sasuke, do you want to..." Sensing her chance had come, Sakura looked at Sasuke shyly.

"Oh, and a friendly reminder—don't eat breakfast."

The vanished Kakashi suddenly reappeared.

If heartbreak made a sound, Sakura's would probably have been rather loud.

The next day.

The sky was only beginning to brighten, and the lingering mist of the night still drifted faintly along the streets.

After washing up, Naruto took a long object wrapped in black cloth from beneath his bed. Undoing the bindings, he removed a sheathed katana.

With a slight push from his left thumb, the pale blade slowly slid free. Its name was Kusabimaru, both its name and design modeled after the sword he had carried in his previous life.

According to his original plans, he should have used his status as a ninja to earn the funds for forging a sword after graduation.

But on October 10th last year, the old man who rarely brought him living expenses had suddenly asked whether there was anything he wanted.

Naruto had mentioned it casually, yet the old man had truly had a Kusabimaru forged for him.

Though he was puzzled, many things were difficult to investigate thoroughly due to the limitations of this body's age.

Training Ground Seven was even foggier than the village.

When he arrived, the training ground was still completely empty, without a single person in sight.

Did I come too early...?

Naruto thought about it, but it did not matter. This was his usual time for morning practice anyway. The only difference was probably the location.

Rather than training, it was more like reviewing.

He had learned his swordsmanship from his adoptive father, Owl, and perfected it under Isshin Ashina. The teachings of both men had benefited him greatly.

Especially the Ashina Style. Its philosophy of taking the strengths of countless schools had given rise to his own school of swordsmanship—Heart Piercing Style.

Heart Piercing Style began with the sword, but it was not limited to the sword.

He had also absorbed Senpou Temple's martial arts into it.

Heart Piercing meant carrying out his own will. Anything he considered useful could be absorbed and adopted.

After a long while, faint wisps of heat rose from the cheeks of the youth as he continuously swung his blade. The moisture on his forehead might have come from the fog, or it might have been sweat from his morning practice.

"Naruto, how long have you been here?"

He stopped his blade, sheathed it, and turned around. Looking at the two walking over together, Naruto's expression became slightly strange. Were children in this world so precocious? If he remembered correctly, they should have been about the same age as him...

"Not long."

Sakura nodded and turned her face toward the boy she liked beside her. "Sasuke, let's go rest over there."

"No." Sasuke silently walked to the side and began his own morning training.

He had never beaten Sakura in theoretical grades, and he had never beaten Naruto in practical training.

Being inferior to someone else was not frightening. What was frightening was being inferior, yet still finding all kinds of excuses to avoid facing it.

Sasuke looked at a patch of water on the ground not far away. Perhaps Naruto had already started training the moment Sasuke stepped out of his house.

He was proud, and he had every right to be proud. A prodigy of the Uchiha Clan and the Top Student of this class—these were all sources of his pride. But pride had never meant arrogance.

If he still lost despite putting in equal effort, he could say his talent was insufficient. But if he did not work as hard as the other person and lost to them, then that was the most normal thing in the world.

Before this, after losing to Naruto several times, he had thought that perhaps his talent was simply inferior. But now he understood.

He had not worked hard enough.

Damn it...

Watching the two enter their training states, Sakura did not know whether to sit or stand.

She had painstakingly dressed up all morning, then waited for so long along Sasuke's usual route. Wasn't it all for the chance to walk with him?

Though she had been the only one talking the whole way, at least there had been some progress.

Why had the atmosphere changed the moment they arrived at the training ground?

Looking at the two of them practicing so seriously, why did she feel like an outsider?

She wanted to train with Sasuke too, but she worried he would dislike the smell of sweat on her. Besides, if her makeup ran, she would not look pretty anymore.