Call Me Boss, Team 7 Submits

Naruto's cold, slightly impatient voice exploded through the silent forest like a thunderclap from clear skies.

"Come out, you two weaklings."

As soon as he spoke, the shadows of the trees swayed.

Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha emerged one after the other, dawdling like two startled quails.

Their expressions were nothing short of masterpieces.

Sakura's little face was deathly pale, her large eyes filled with the confusion and shock of Who am I? Where am I? What did I just see?

The way she looked at Naruto was as though she were staring at a prehistoric beast wearing human skin—filled with fear, reverence, and a faint... morbid obsession she had not even noticed herself.

As for Sasuke Uchiha, his perpetually expressionless face finally could not hold up anymore.

His expression was like that of a devout materialist witnessing God dance in floral boxers.

Shock, incomprehension, humiliation, bewilderment... countless emotions tangled madly within his dark eyes before finally becoming one thing—a blue screen of death after CPU overload.

Yeah, what had he seen?

He had seen Hidden Leaf's elite jonin, Kakashi Hatake, the genius ninja who had copied over a thousand ninjutsu, kneel on the ground without a shred of dignity for the sake of two lousy books, crying like a three-hundred-pound child.

He had also seen the perennial dead last he had looked down on since childhood toy with Kakashi from beginning to end, crush him in taijutsu, confront him head-on with ninjutsu, and finally seize victory without spilling a drop of blood using some "adult method" he could not comprehend at all.

Sasuke felt that Naruto's barrage had smashed his worldview, along with the pride of the Uchiha Clan, into pieces so small that not even scraps remained.

So... this was absolute power?

Powerful enough to ignore the rules, powerful enough to grind a jonin's dignity beneath his feet?

"Cough, cough!"

Just as the atmosphere became bizarre beyond measure, Kakashi finally snapped out of the joy of recovering what he had lost.

He carefully tucked those two "spiritual staples" back into his vest, brushed the mud and water off himself, and forcibly resumed that half-dead, dead-fish-eyed look, trying to salvage the last bit of his dignity as a teacher.

"All right, the farce is over."

He cleared his throat, swept his gaze over the three of them, then finally looked at the two bells Naruto was idly playing with and posed what he considered his classic ultimate question.

"There are only two bells, but there are three of you."

"That means one of you will inevitably be eliminated and sent back to the Ninja Academy."

There was a subtle note of guidance in Kakashi's voice. "How... will you divide them?"

After saying that, he deliberately glanced at Sasuke and Sakura, expecting to see them fight over the bells or struggle with a difficult choice.

That was the essence of the survival exercise—testing teamwork!

However, what he received was a disdainful sneer.

"Heh."

Naruto could not even be bothered to raise his eyelids, as if he had heard some tremendous joke.

The next second, under everyone's astonished gazes, he made a move that nearly made Kakashi's eyes pop out.

He casually threw the two bells representing victory onto the ground as if they were trash.

Then he raised his foot and decisively—

Stomped down!

Crack!

The crisp sound of shattering metal was especially piercing in the deathly silent training ground.

The two bells that countless genin teams had fought bloody battles over were effortlessly crushed by Naruto into two chunks of scrap metal!

The entire area fell silent!

Sasuke and Sakura's mouths gaped wide enough to fit an egg.

Kakashi was frozen on the spot, his mind blank. Pointing at the fragments on the ground, even his voice went shrill. "Y-you... what are you doing?!"

Had this kid gone insane?!

Did he know what he was doing?!

"What am I doing?"

Naruto slowly raised his head. His azure eyes, fused with the Byakugan, gleamed with an aura so domineering it nearly suffocated everyone present.

He swept his gaze around, from Kakashi's stunned face to Sakura's blank one, before finally fixing on Sasuke's face, which was filled with humiliation and unwillingness.

"Rules are meant to be broken."

His voice was not loud, yet it slammed into everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer!

"The people I lead either pass together!"

"Or we all get the hell out together!"

"My team, Naruto Uzumaki's team, doesn't need these bullshit bells to prove whether we're qualified!"

Boom!!!

Those words were like a proclamation from one ruling over all—domineering, arrogant, utterly unreasonable!

Yet they also carried an irresistible sense of absolute responsibility, as though he were shouldering every burden himself!

Sasuke stared fixedly at the two warped metal fragments on the ground. The glacier of hatred and loneliness deep within his heart was violently struck open by a crack at that moment.

Ever since he was young, he had always been alone.

His clan was gone, his family was gone. Everyone around him who approached him either coveted the Uchiha name, lusted after his face, or pitied him as a "survivor."

Never had anyone, like Naruto, used such a crude and arrogant method to tell him—we are a team!

My people are under my protection!

No proof was needed, nor was any reason!

The feeling of being forcibly included among "one's own people," the feeling of being shielded behind someone without any explanation... made Sasuke's long-frozen heart feel something scorching for the first time, something called belonging.

So this was what a companion was?

This was... what it felt like to be protected?

"Naruto..."

On the other side, Sakura Haruno was completely dumbfounded.

Her eyes reddened as she gazed foolishly at Naruto's back. It was not particularly broad, yet it seemed capable of holding up the entire sky.

At that moment, Sasuke's handsome looks and the avenger's coolness were all thrown to the farthest reaches of the heavens.

She suddenly felt that this man, so overwhelmingly domineering and wildly arrogant, was ten thousand times more handsome than every man she had seen over the past decade combined!

[ Ding! Detected that the emotional state of bond target 'Sakura Haruno' has broken past its critical threshold. Her mental defenses have completely collapsed! ]

[ Current Favorability: 45 (Heart in Turmoil)! ]

"Phew..."

After a long silence, Kakashi let out a deep breath.

As he looked at Naruto, his dead-fish eyes revealed a genuine smile for the first time, one mixed with appreciation and relief.

He slowly spoke those classic words.

"In the ninja world, those who violate regulations and rules are called trash."

"But..."

"Those who do not know how to cherish their companions are worse than trash!"

Kakashi's gaze swept across the three of them before he solemnly announced:

"Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno—"

"Congratulations. You have all passed!"

"From today onward, you are true ninjas!"

Team 7 had officially been formed!

The exercise ended, and sunlight pierced through the clouds, falling over everyone.

Sasuke stood there silently, clenching and unclenching his fists, then clenching them again.

Sasuke silently walked over to Naruto. His lips moved, but in the end, he only squeezed out a "Hmph," then turned his head away.

Naruto saw through his awkwardness and patted his shoulder. "Say what you want to say. Holding it in isn't good for your health." Sasuke gritted his teeth and said, "Don't misunderstand. I just think... I owe you one."

"Pfft."

Naruto nearly burst out laughing.

Well, well. This tsundere finally admitted defeat?

Without any ceremony, he stretched out his hand and heavily slapped Sasuke on the shoulder with a loud smack, wearing the air of a big brother looking after his little brother.

"It was nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Follow me from now on, and I'll make sure you eat and drink well. There'll be meat every day!"

At that slap, Sasuke-the-cold-one's body suddenly stiffened, but surprisingly, he did not resist.

Beside them, Sakura Haruno nodded vigorously like a well-behaved little wife. Her bright eyes sparkled as she looked at Naruto, her face practically saying, Boss is right.

Looking at the two little brats he had completely brought under control, Naruto curled his lips in satisfaction.

All right, this makeshift rookie squad was finally set up.

So next...

It was about time to check on the progress of his other "quest lines."