Tenten

That hit right where it hurt.

What Sasuke cared about most was taking part in intense real combat to hone himself. If Sakura's lack of strength prevented the whole team from signing up, he would lose his chance to grow stronger too.

That argument was a million times more effective than telling him he should care about his teammates.

"Damn it... Naruto."

Sasuke's brows drew into a deep furrow, his lips pressed into a thin line.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

His own training schedule was already packed, and now he had to spend time teaching someone else?

But if Sakura truly could not take part in the Chūnin Exams because she was too weak, then Team 7 would be finished. They would not get to fight those Sunagakure guys. The thought made every drop of Uchiha blood in Sasuke's body protest.

After a moment, Sasuke nodded with every bit of pride someone his age could muster.

Sakura had been watching Sasuke closely. When she saw that tiny yet utterly unambiguous nod, her entire world lit up.

Sasuke was going to personally train her.

Five days. Five days alone with Sasuke, Sasuke guiding her movements, Sasuke watching her do push-ups.

Sakura was already imagining it.

Deep inside, she let out a scream only she could hear: Well done, Naruto!!

Then she clasped her hands before her chest, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Sasuke while trying desperately to suppress her excitement.

Naruto said nothing.

He gave the two of them a thumbs-up, then turned cleanly and headed toward his apartment.

The first step had been taken. Whether Sakura could break through her bottleneck before the Chūnin Exams would depend on Sasuke's ability to teach and her own effort.

Naruto had things of his own to do as well.

Five days might have been nothing more than a brief lull between missions for others, but for Naruto, he needed to advance Flying Raijin from the first stage to the second, then bring Golden Body Mode to one hundred percent of its power in actual combat.

"Tch, that dead last."

Sasuke clicked his tongue as he watched Naruto's retreating back.

That guy had clearly been the one dragging the class down before, yet now he was talking to Sasuke as though he were arranging training for his teammates.

What annoyed Sasuke even more was that the arrangement was so logically airtight that he had no room to refuse.

Standing beside Sasuke, Sakura watched Naruto turn the corner and vanish from sight, silently thanking him in her heart.

Then her attention completely shifted elsewhere: Sasuke was about to train her.

Five days. She had to make the most of them.

Sakura was already planning what kind of lunch she should prepare and bring to the training ground.

After parting ways with them, Naruto slowly walked through Konoha's streets.

He did not return to his apartment right away. Instead, he followed the main road toward the ninja district.

Konoha's ninja district was home to ninja tool shops, herbal medicine stores, equipment workshops, and all sorts of services exclusively for ninja. It was about three blocks away from the ordinary shopping streets, and there were noticeably fewer pedestrians than in the bustling central district.

As he walked, Naruto kept Good and Evil Perception continuously active. The ability had become as natural as a second pair of eyes to him now, allowing him to maintain wide-area surveillance without consciously focusing on it.

Then he sensed malice.

Not one or two traces, but an entire mass of it.

From the moment he entered the ninja district, malice had stabbed into the range of his Good and Evil Perception like a dense swarm of needles.

It came from shop owners, middle-aged women chatting by the roadside, and workers carrying goods.

When they spotted the demon fox approaching from afar, none of them showed anything unusual on their faces. They did not point at him or whisper among themselves. Some even deliberately avoided facing him directly. Yet the malice they gave off was crystal clear beneath Good and Evil Perception.

The village higher-ups had probably warned them in advance.

There were many ninja from other villages in Konoha during the Chūnin Exams. They could not embarrass Konoha in front of foreigners.

So these villagers did not curse him to his face as the demon fox like they normally did, nor did they throw rotten vegetable leaves at him. But the disgust and fear in their hearts had not diminished in the slightest. They had merely found a more concealed way to express it.

Naruto's expression remained calm.

With his current strength, these villagers were not even worth calling ants in front of him.

Would a normal person stop to argue with ants just because they waved their antennae at him from the roadside?

No.

Besides, he would have to endure an entire family's cold stares when he visited his future father-in-law's home.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Naruto continued walking, his gaze sweeping over the shop signs lining both sides of the street as he reviewed the characteristics of Tenten's family's ninja tool shop in his mind.

Tenten had not appeared much when he watched Naruto in his previous life, but he remembered clearly that her family ran a ninja tool shop. It was fairly large and one of the established names in Konoha's ninja tool supply circle, with all kinds of rare ninja tools in stock.

She herself was a member of Team Guy, on the same team as his future brother-in-law Neji and Rock Lee. Their team would be taking part in this year's Chūnin Exams as well.

The problem was that Naruto only knew Tenten's family owned a ninja tool shop. He had no idea what it was called.

There were at least five or six ninja tool shops on this street, each with different signs and featured products. He could not exactly go into every one and ask.

Naruto wandered around the ninja district for nearly twenty minutes, briefly stopping outside several ninja tool shops.

One had a wooden sign reading "Yamada Ninja Tools," and its display window was packed with all kinds of shuriken and kunai. Naruto glanced through the glass before looking away.

They were all ordinary iron ninja tools. There was not even a decent roll of sealing paper, much less chakra-conductive metal.

Another shop called "Maruchu Ninja Tools" looked quite large, but when the plump owner standing at the entrance saw Naruto approaching from afar, his welcoming smile froze for half a second. Then he turned around at incredible speed and pretended to organize the shelves.

Naruto simply walked past with his hands in his pockets without even slowing down.

This was not the place.

Just as Naruto was about to give up his search for the day, return to his apartment to rest, and head to the waterfall that evening to train, a striking pair of hair buns flashed at the edge of his vision.

Two round buns sat on either side of her head. Her back was emerging from an herbal medicine shop that sold soldier pills, a small cloth bag in her hand as she walked with light, brisk steps.

Naruto paused.

Hair buns, Chinese-style clothing, and a way of wearing her ninja tool pouch completely different from ordinary Konoha genin.

This was Tenten, Team Guy's Tenten, one of Konoha's few ninja who specialized in spatial ninja tools.

He had found his target.

After leaving the herbal medicine shop, Tenten did not follow the main street. Instead, she turned into a relatively quiet alley.

She was not walking particularly fast, but her route was direct. She was clearly extremely familiar with this area.