Tenten

That was a precise finishing blow.

What Sasuke cared about most was taking part in intense real combat to hone himself. If the whole team could not register because Sakura was too weak, then he would lose his chance to grow stronger as well.

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

"Damn it... Naruto."

Sasuke's brow furrowed deeply, 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 Chunin Ninja Exams because she was not strong enough, then Team 7 would be finished. He 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, pouring every bit of pride someone his age could muster into the gesture.

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

Sasuke was going to teach her personally.

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

Sakura was already imagining it all.

Deep in her heart, she let out a scream that only she could hear: "Nice one, Naruto!!"

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

Naruto said nothing.

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

The first step had been taken. Whether Sakura could break through her bottleneck before the Chunin Ninja Exams would depend on Sasuke's teaching ability and her own efforts.

Naruto had things of his own to do as well.

Five days might have been nothing more than a brief break between missions to others, but Naruto needed to push Flying Thunder God from its first stage to its second, then bring Golden Body Mode to one hundred percent of its power in real combat.

"Tch, that dead last."

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

This guy had obviously been the one dragging the class down before, yet now he was talking to Sasuke in that tone, as though he were arranging his teammates' training.

What annoyed Sasuke even more was that the arrangement was flawlessly logical and impossible to refute, leaving him no room to refuse.

Standing beside Sasuke, Sakura watched Naruto disappear around the street corner and silently thanked him.

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

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

Sakura had already begun planning what sort of bento she should prepare to bring to the training ground.

After parting with the two of them, Naruto slowly walked through Konoha's streets.

Rather than returning directly to his apartment, he wandered along the main road toward the Ninja District.

Konoha's Ninja District was home to ninja tool shops, medicine stores, equipment workshops, and all kinds of services tailored for ninja. It was roughly three blocks from the ordinary shopping streets, and there were noticeably fewer pedestrians than in the bustling commercial area.

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

Then he sensed malice.

Not one or two strands of it, but a whole sea.

From the moment he entered the Ninja District, the malice around him had pierced Good and Evil Perception's range like countless fine needles.

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

When they saw 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 meeting him head-on. Yet under Good and Evil Perception, the malice they gave off could not have been clearer.

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

There were many ninja from other villages around during the Chunin Ninja Exams. They could not let Konoha lose face in front of foreigners.

So these villagers did not curse him as a demon fox to his face as usual, 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 adopted a more concealed way of expressing it.

Naruto's expression remained calm.

With his current strength, these villagers were not even worth calling ants before him.

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

Of course not.

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

Back to the matter at hand, Naruto kept walking. His gaze swept over shop signs lining both sides of the street while he reviewed the characteristics of Tenten's family's ninja tool store.

Tenten had not appeared much when he watched Naruto in his past life, but he remembered clearly that her family ran a ninja tool store. It was not a small one, either. It was an established name in Konoha's Ninja District supply circle, with all sorts of rare ninja tools in stock.

Tenten herself was a member of Team Guy, on the same team as his future brother-in-law Neji and Rock Lee. Their team would also participate in this year's Chunin Ninja Exams.

The problem was that Naruto only knew Tenten's family ran a ninja tool store. He had no idea what the store was called.

There were at least five or six ninja tool stores on this street, each with different signs and specialty products. He could not exactly go in and ask every one of them.

Naruto wandered back and forth through the Ninja District for nearly twenty minutes, briefly stopping outside several ninja tool stores.

One had a wooden sign reading "Yamada Ninja Tools," and its display window was packed with all kinds of Shuriken and Kunai. Naruto took one look through the glass and looked away.

They were all ordinary iron ninja tools. There was not even a decent roll of inscription paper, let alone Chakra-Conductive Metal.

Another store called "Maruchu Ninja Tools" looked fairly large, but when the fat owner standing outside saw Naruto approaching from a distance, the smile he had been wearing while greeting customers froze for half a second. Then he turned around at lightning speed and pretended to organize the shelves.

Naruto walked right past with his hands in his pockets, not even slowing down.

This was not the place.

Just as Naruto was about to give up searching for the day, return to his apartment to rest, and head to the waterfall that night 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 emerged from a medicine shop that sold Soldier Pills, a small cloth bag in her hand as she walked with brisk, crisp steps.

Naruto stopped.

Hair buns, Chinese-style clothing, and a ninja tool pouch worn completely differently from ordinary Konoha Genin.

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

He had found his target.

After leaving the 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.