Treading Water

Black Zetsu was thrilled. It was about to begin.

At the same time, he had already sent out White Zetsu to monitor all the jinchuriki around the clock.

The next day.

Even knowing Kakashi's personality, Hinata still came over early in the morning, woke Naruto up, and brought breakfast.

Naruto was a little speechless. Though he was touched, being cared for like a little brother felt especially awkward. I think of you as my wife, but you want to be my big sister.

But faced with those adorable big eyes, Naruto truly could not bring himself to say anything harsh. Of course, it might also have been because of Naruto's personality. His goals had always been clear, so everything else seemed unimportant to him. To outsiders, he just looked lazy.

"Hinata, I just want to sleep in."

Naruto complained weakly.

Although Naruto appeared to do nothing all day.

He always had several clones researching things wherever he went. On top of that, his original body occasionally joined in as well, so he did not get much sleep. The fatigue brought back when his clones vanished was starting to become too much for him. Fighting did not require much thought, but research was extremely mentally taxing. All that exhaustion flooded into his mind, leaving Naruto constantly drained.

Mental fatigue could only be restored slowly through sleep.

"Naruto, we're ninjas now. We can't sleep in anymore." It was their first day as ninjas, so how could Hinata sleep?

Naruto was speechless. He got up lazily and ate, completely unable to muster any interest.

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

"Heh, you two are really early today."

Sasuke spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Naruto rolled his eyes at him.

Before long, Kakashi sauntered over. Seeing him like that, the three of them could not even be bothered to complain anymore.

"Come on. Let's go inside and pick a mission."

With that, he led the way in.

"Kakashi-sensei, what mission are we doing today?" Sasuke could not help asking out of curiosity.

After returning home yesterday, he had specifically asked his brother about Kakashi.

Itachi Uchiha had not hidden anything and told his younger brother about Kakashi.

Kakashi's accomplishments sounded rather intimidating.

He had graduated at six, become a jonin at twelve, fought in the Shinobi World War, obtained a Sharingan, and made a name for himself in the Shinobi World.

Kakashi Hatake, Konoha's Copy Ninja.

After learning this information about Kakashi, Sasuke's attitude toward him changed considerably.

"Let me see."

Kakashi still looked lazy, holding a little yellow book in one hand while casually searching through missions with the other.

After looking around for a while, he finally found a suitable mission.

"Naruto, aren't you curious?"

Hinata looked at Naruto.

"What missions can genin even do? Either catching cats or finding dogs."

Naruto was speechless. If Hinata had not come for him so early in the morning, his original body would already have been in the laboratory, sending out any random Shadow Clone to deal with this.

Naruto's Shadow Clones were now even more lifelike than Hashirama's Wood Clones. At the very least, Kakashi probably could not tell them apart.

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

Kakashi, who was picking missions ahead of them, also heard Naruto's words.

He felt Naruto had a point. With the current strength of the three of them, such missions were meaningless.

In the end, Kakashi chose a slightly more difficult mission: clearing a river channel.

The three of them were brought to the bank of a large river.

"Your mission is to clear all the trash from this stretch of river."

"Hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei, didn't you forget to say something?"

Naruto suddenly felt that Kakashi was being a little petty.

"Oh, right. If you want to complete this mission more smoothly, you can practice this technique."

Kakashi looked as though he had suddenly remembered, then stepped onto the water before their eyes.

Walking on water was a level higher than tree climbing, especially when practiced on moving water.

Even Naruto had not encountered this technique yet, and it was generally taught by the jonin leading the team.

After demonstrating it once, Kakashi lay down beneath a large tree, took out Make-Out Paradise, and began reading.

Without saying anything, Sasuke walked to the riverbank and stepped onto the water.

As expected, he immediately sank into it.

Naruto walked over as well, wrapped his feet in chakra, and tried stepping onto the water's surface.

He stomped a huge pit into the water.

"Was I using too much force?"

Hinata walked over too.

The three began testing things on the river's surface.

In the end, Hinata was unexpectedly the first to master the technique.

She carefully walked across the water.

Naruto still found it difficult to grasp.

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

Hinata looked at them and wanted to share her experience, but the little girl was not good with words and did not know how to explain it. In the end, she could only go complete the mission first.

The two continued experimenting by the river.

"Damn it, I refuse to believe this."

Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

With several loud pops, smoke rose up as dozens of Narutos appeared.

Without waiting for Naruto's instructions, all of them began trying.

"Such enviable chakra."

Sasuke watched with envy. He knew this ninjutsu too, but after using it once, he had never wanted to use it again.

Among the dozens of Shadow Clones, as long as one succeeded, it would immediately dispel itself, and the others would continue experimenting with its experience.

After more than a dozen clones disappeared, Naruto successfully mastered the technique.

"Huh? Such a simple technique, and you still haven't learned it, Sasuke? You idiot."

Standing on the water, Naruto could not help mocking Sasuke on the riverbank.

"You bastard! Just you wait."

Sasuke instantly flew into a rage, the veins on his forehead bulging.

"Yeah, yeah, anyone can talk big. Your talent is really dragging us down."

Naruto could not help mocking him again.

"Naruto, that's not nice."

Hinata walked over and spoke softly.

"It's fine. If we don't provoke this guy a little, he won't succeed." Naruto casually made something up, though the real reason was simply that he found Sasuke annoying.

Though he said that, he did not provoke Sasuke any further.

"Come on, let's hurry up and finish the mission."

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

Sasuke was left alone by the riverbank, gritting his teeth.

Perhaps Naruto's provocation truly worked. After several more attempts, Sasuke managed to stand on the water's surface, albeit unsteadily.

Damn it, is my talent really inferior to those two?

Watching the two ahead of him move with ease, Sasuke began to doubt his own talent.

Only Kakashi, in the distance, narrowed his eyes, shocked by the three of their talent.

As a girl, Hinata naturally had finer chakra control, which did not surprise Kakashi.

Naruto could only be said to have piled up experience with Shadow Clones, while Sasuke, though a little lacking, had still managed to learn it.

Learning this technique in half a day was already impressive.

Compared to the original story, it was even more exaggerated. Of course, more importantly, they all had solid foundations now.

Sasuke had the Uchiha clan's guidance, while Naruto had his cheat.

As the eldest daughter of the Hyuga family, Hinata had undergone strict training since childhood, and she also had Naruto's help.

This made things much easier for Kakashi. There was not much he could teach them now; he only needed to guide them properly.