Trials

Two days passed, and Team 7 returned to mission mode!

After resting for only two days, the three of them felt as though a long time had passed!

Early in the morning, they waited for Tian Ge at their usual spot.

"Sasuke, Sakura, why are you two here so early too?"

"It was boring at home, so we came early!"

Sasuke had already trained by himself for two hours that morning, yet he was still early!

"Me too. Thinking about carrying out another mission today got me so excited that I couldn't sleep!"

Naruto was looking forward to the upcoming mission. Although he knew that, given their teacher's personality, it would probably be another extermination mission!

Still, it was better than being alone. He was a ninja now.

After two months of missions, he had saved up quite a bit of money. Yet aside from Ichiraku Ramen, he still could not buy anything!

What made him happy, though, was that those people no longer dared to lay their hands on him.

He also knew it was because they feared him, but so what?

Everyone in Konoha feared their teacher, yet their teacher still did whatever he pleased, didn't he?

Naruto wanted to keep getting stronger. If he became even stronger, perhaps those people would no longer dare refuse to sell him things!

"Sakura, what about you?"

"Why are you here so early too?"

"I guessed you two would come early, so I came to keep you company!"

Of the three of them, only Sakura had a normal family. Sasuke and Naruto were both orphans!

Sakura knew that, for various reasons, neither of those two wanted to stay in their so-called "homes"!

She had prepared lunchboxes for the two of them early that morning and brought one for herself as well.

"Here, these are for you two!"

"Ah..."

"I'm so moved! Sakura, you actually prepared a lunchbox for me?"

"Idiot!"

"I have one too. It wasn't specially prepared for you!"

Seeing Naruto excitedly hopping around in place, Sasuke promptly poured cold water over him!

"I don't care!"

"Sakura prepared it for me!"

"Enough, eat already!"

"I specially prepared them for both of you!"

Sakura had long since grown used to the two bickering and reminded them to hurry up and eat!

"Thanks!"

Sasuke thanked Sakura, while Naruto had already begun eating by himself, savoring every bite!

"Here is today's mission!"

"You have half an hour to prepare after reading it!"

In roughly two or three minutes, all three had finished reading the mission, their expressions turning serious!

They had not expected their teacher to accept a B-rank mission for them today!

It was the first time any of them had encountered a mission of this level.

They were actually a little excited inside, but none of them showed it. During missions, they had always treated matters seriously!

"Teacher, we can leave now. We were already prepared when we came!"

Tian Ge glanced at the other two and saw them nod as well!

"Move out!"

Twenty days later, inside a cave in the southwestern Land of Fire!

"Lightning Cutter!"

A short masked youth had lightning wrapped around his hand, crackling continuously with sharp electrical pops!

"Pfft!"

He pierced the enemy's heart at incredible speed!

The instant the enemy fell, the masked youth could no longer hold on and collapsed unconscious!

Whoosh!

"Medicine Immortal, hurry!"

"Red Eye fainted!"

The moment he fell unconscious, a blond masked youth rushed to his side and shouted at the masked girl not far away.

Medicine Immortal hurried over. After examining Red Eye's injuries, her expression became somewhat grave!

The external injuries were nothing, and she could heal them quickly. But... Red Eye had been poisoned as well!

Given their current conditions, there was nowhere for them to prepare an antidote!

"Fox, carry him. Go find Teacher!"

Hearing that, the blond youth hoisted Red Eye onto his back and ran out of the cave!

Medicine Immortal picked up the blade from the ground, chopped off the corpse's head in a single stroke, wrapped it up, and caught up to Fox ahead of her!

After running for about an hour, the three arrived at a small town.

They found their teacher in an inn within the town. It was none other than Hyuga Tenge!

"Teacher!"

"I can't handle Sasuke's injury yet!"

Medicine Immortal removed her mask. Who else could she have been but Sakura?

"Mm!"

"Watch carefully!"

"This is the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique!"

"Yes!"

Tian Ge used the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, extracting every trace of poison from Sasuke's body.

His movements were slow, and every step was meticulous, allowing Sakura to observe clearly!

"I'll leave the rest to you!"

"The Delicate Illness Extraction Technique is an advanced medical ninjutsu. You can learn it now!"

"Go practice it properly. If something like this happens next time, don't come looking for me!"

"Yes!"

Sakura answered respectfully, then began treating Sasuke's external wounds!

Just now, she had feared that taking too long would allow the poison to spread, so she had not had time to treat them!

Her movements were quick and skilled, and she finished treating everything within minutes!

After bandaging Sasuke, she finally looked at Tian Ge!

"Teacher, we've completed all our missions!"

"We'll talk after he wakes up!"

Sasuke did not regain consciousness until evening. He got out of bed and headed for the door!

"Sasuke, you're awake?"

"Teacher, Sasuke is awake!"

Naruto had been guarding Sasuke's door. The moment Sasuke came out, Naruto hurriedly called toward the other room.

Hearing the commotion, Sakura stopped practicing the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique!

She walked outside. She knew their teacher was about to arrange their next itinerary!

"Sakura!"

"Thank you!"

When Sasuke saw Sakura emerge, he thanked her. This was who knew how many times he had done so over the past twenty days?

"No need. We're teammates, aren't we? You two have been saying that rather often lately!"

"Mm!"

"Teacher!" ×3

Tian Ge looked at Sasuke!

"What you did was rather foolish!"

"A strong person would never allow himself to fall into that kind of state at any time!"

"With your strength, completing that mission should not have been difficult!"

"Reflect on where you fell short!"

"Yes, Teacher!"

Sasuke nodded without the slightest dissatisfaction!

"That mission we accepted when we left the village—I'm giving you two days!"

"Use every method you know to find him and bring his head back to Konoha!"

"Yes!" ×3

Six days later, at Konoha's gates, the three members of Team 7 looked at the familiar surroundings with mixed emotions!

They had not expected their teacher to pull something like this!

He had accepted a mission with a one-month deadline, then after taking them out of the village, he gave each of them a mask!

He had them register at the Bounty Exchange and demanded that each of them complete at least ten killing missions within twenty days!

The lowest requirement for the targets was Special Jonin!

The three were allowed to work together to complete them!

Yet the three had stubbornly completed every mission independently with their own strength!

The Bounty Exchange missions were different from the bandit-killing missions they had done before. Those bandits were not strong!

Having even one Chunin among them was already remarkable, but here, every one of their targets was a ruthless figure who lived with a blade at his throat!

To survive or complete their missions, they would use every possible means!

If Sakura had not been there, Naruto and Sasuke would likely have died no fewer than five times!

Fortunately, they completed everything within the allotted time!

If Sasuke had not insisted on choosing such a difficult target at the end, they would have finished even earlier!

Still, their teacher remained the same teacher: cold-blooded, cruel, and powerful!

Remembering the most dangerous time, the three could not help but sigh!