Changing Jonin Instructors

The moon shone bright against the sparse stars.

A radiant full moon hung alone in the vast sky.

When he pushed open the door, there was no need to turn on the lights. The silvery moonlight had already illuminated the room for him.

"Old man, what is it?" Naruto put the food he had caught earlier into the refrigerator, paying no mind to the elderly man in the room.

"Naruto, you've grown up." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the boy's back with emotion.

"Time really flies. You've already graduated. Is there anything you want as a graduation gift?"

"...No need." After thinking for a moment, Naruto shook his head.

To him, the most important thing was Kusabimaru in his hand.

It was not as though he had never considered making an outrageous demand and asking the old man for some powerful ninjutsu. He believed that as long as it was not one of the Forbidden Jutsu his teacher had mentioned, the old man would not refuse.

As the Third Hokage, the old man had both the ability and the confidence to do so.

But Naruto knew little about ninjutsu of that level. Forcing himself to obtain some high-level techniques might instead hinder his training progress.

"How about I find you a swordsmanship teacher and have him serve as your Jonin Instructor?" Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a cloud of smoke and asked.

"..." Naruto Uzumaki was no fool. Thinking back to his performance at noon, he understood that he might have offended the Jonin Instructor who had yet to officially take him on. He nodded slightly.

"Your instructor will come find you tomorrow. Get some rest early." Picking up the conical hat from the table, the old man slowly walked out of the room.

"A swordsmanship teacher..." Naruto rubbed his chin. To be honest, after all these years, he had yet to witness this world's top-tier swordsmanship.

As high-level combatants beneath the Kage, jonin should have mastered quite a few top-tier sword techniques.

Looking at it that way, changing instructors might suit him better.

After his usual round of teasing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, he drifted off to sleep.

Knock, knock!

Seeing the man outside dressed in a jonin uniform with a longsword on his back, Naruto's eyes lit up. He sensed something familiar about him.

"Naruto Uzumaki? Cough, cough..." The man seemed to have some health problems. After saying only one sentence, he coughed several times.

"Yes." Naruto nodded.

"I am Hayate Gekko, your Jonin Instructor," Hayate Gekko introduced himself.

"Is there anything else you need to take care of?"

"No."

"Follow me." The moment he spoke, Hayate Gekko appeared on the rooftop across the street.

Naruto went back inside, grabbed Kusabimaru, and quickly followed.

Hayate Gekko glanced back from the corner of his eye. Seeing the long blade in the boy's hand, he nodded faintly.

Training Ground Three.

Not long after Hayate Gekko stopped, Naruto arrived right behind him.

His fundamentals are solid, and his stamina is exceptionally strong. Is it because of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox...?

As he pondered, Hayate Gekko said, "Wait a moment. Your other two teammates haven't arrived yet."

"Yes."

Naruto quietly studied him as well. It seemed that the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox within him was known to everyone at a certain level.

His previous instructor, Hatake Kakashi, had been like this, and so was Hayate Gekko. Neither treated him with the disgust of ordinary villagers.

Of course, it was also possible that jonin were simply better at controlling their emotions.

Before long, a boy and a girl arrived late.

The boy was somewhat chubby and panted lightly after stopping. It was unclear whether he had poor physical fitness or had simply come from far away.

The girl had an average figure and fairly pretty features. The two seemed to know each other. As soon as they stopped, the little girl placed a hand on the boy's shoulder to support herself and keep from collapsing from exhaustion.

"Now that everyone is here, introduce yourselves," Hayate Gekko said after the two had caught their breath.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Seeing his Jonin Instructor look at him, Naruto fell silent for a moment before speaking.

"My name is Raimon Koshireki. I like studying all kinds of transportation devices, and my dream is to become a great ninja," the chubby boy said between breaths.

"My name is Izuno Akigiku. I like cats, and my dream is to become Hokage!" Izuno Akigiku declared forcefully.

"My name is Hayate Gekko, a Leaf Special Jonin. I specialize in swordsmanship, Wind Release Ninjutsu, and illusion techniques. Try to plan your futures around these areas so I can better guide you." Coughing between phrases, Hayate Gekko struggled through a less-than-comprehensive introduction.

"Cough, cough. We'll build teamwork through missions from here on."

"Yes." ×3

Within Konoha, beside a river that ran through Market Street.

"Spread your chakra evenly across the soles of your feet, then adjust the amount appropriately with the flow of the river, like this."

As he spoke, Hayate Gekko slowly walked to the middle of the river and stood steadily atop the water.

"Everyone's chakra output needs to be controlled according to their own weight. I can't help you with that; you can only figure it out yourselves. Begin."

Naruto held a pair of tongs and carried a basket on his back. That was right—their next mission was to clear the garbage from the river.

The problem of littering existed in every world...

Honestly, this ninja mission was not merely a little different from the ninja missions he knew. It was completely worlds apart.

What had his first ninja mission in the world of the undying been again?

Getting rid of the rats in the Inner Ministry? Or assassinating someone who had colluded with the enemy?

It had been so long that the old memories had grown a little hazy...

"Ah?! Ah!"

Splash!

Raimon Koshireki landed butt-first in the river. Izuno Akigiku, who had been brimming with confidence beside him, suffered the same fate.

It seemed that something a jonin could do with ease was no small challenge for genin.

The river was not deep, only reaching their knees.

But the annoying part was the garbage that occasionally drifted past on the surface.

Naruto stepped forward to try it. As expected, he fell in as well.

"Clear all the garbage from this stretch of river before nightfall." Seeing that the three had entered the rhythm, Hayate Gekko walked over to a shady spot and slowly sat down.

Besides training the children's sense of teamwork, the most important purpose of D-rank Missions was to use the opportunity to cultivate the relevant abilities of genin.

After failing again and again, learning from their mistakes, and receiving Hayate Gekko's occasional guidance, by dusk, their ability to stand on water was finally no longer such an awful sight.

After picking up the last piece of garbage in sight and dropping it into his basket, Naruto let out a light breath.

"I'll give you an hour to clean yourselves up. Gather at the barbecue restaurant in an hour!"

Hayate Gekko nodded in satisfaction and chuckled.

Over the next two months, the three of them carried out largely similar missions.

Though they were all miscellaneous chores, Hayate Gekko always mixed instruction into them, so the three could be said to be suffering while enjoying themselves.

Miscellaneous chores were the most annoying, but they also tempered one's character.

The clearest change was that Izuno Akigiku no longer shouted, "I'm going to become Hokage!" before every mission.

It was the best possible example of reality smoothing away someone's rough edges.