Give It Everything You've Got! Then You Can Win

How could this be possible?

Naruto and the others had only graduated three months ago! They could already defeat him in seconds?

It was no wonder Iruka did not believe it. It was simply too unbelievable!

Iruka had certainly heard Hyuga Tenge's great name, but... being strong himself did not mean he was good at teaching students!

"Lord... Lord Hokage, is... is this true?"

Iruka turned to the Third Hokage for confirmation, hoping to hear a different answer!

But... he was disappointed. Hiruzen Sarutobi took out a stack of mission records from a drawer!

"Iruka, I don't know exactly how strong they are!"

"However... since Tenge says so, it is probably true."

"These... are Team 7's mission records. They have completed twenty C-Rank Missions, one B-Rank Mission, and one A-Rank Mission!"

"Take a look. Their very first mission was a C-Rank Mission. They have never done a single D-Rank Mission!"

Although Tenge had not asked for the mission rank to be raised after the Wave Country incident,

the Third Hokage had still raised it himself. He did not want to upset Tenge over such a trivial matter!

Iruka blankly accepted the stack of mission records and began reading through them one by one.

The other ninja were stunned as well. What had they just heard?

"An... A-Rank?"

"Did I hear that right?"

"I heard Jonin Tenge never makes a move himself. Those three children handle everything on their own!"

"Damn... are rookies these days really this fierce?"

"Good thing I didn't recommend the few I'm teaching and let them embarrass themselves!"

Amid everyone's discussion, Iruka finally finished reading the mission records!

He still found it hard to imagine it. How had those three grown so quickly?

Well, he had not seen Naruto since he graduated. So he had been this busy. He should go see him later!

"Alright, since no one has any objections, everyone, take the registration forms back to them!"

Tenge's group collected their registration forms, and the meeting came to an end. Looking at the forms in his hand,

Tenge activated his Byakugan and looked toward Ichiraku Ramen. Sure enough, he spotted Naruto!

His figure flashed, and he vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already standing before Naruto!

"Tea... Teacher!"

Naruto jumped in fright, and the ramen in his mouth fell out the moment he opened it to speak!

"Finish eating, then go get Sasuke and Sakura. Meet at the usual place!"

"Yes!"

Naruto nodded, but when he looked up, Tenge had already disappeared!

"Uncle Ichiraku, I'll pay you next time! Something urgent came up..."

"Sure thing, no problem!"

How could Naruto dare delay any longer? He did not even finish the rest of his ramen. He created a Shadow Clone to help out and hurried off to find Sasuke and Sakura!

He silently prayed, Please, no. Don't let it be an emergency mission. I haven't rested enough yet...

Tenge waited at the usual place for only five minutes before the three of them came running over, drenched in sweat!

Half because they had rushed here, and half because, like Naruto, they were worried they were about to start another mission!

"Teacher!" ×3

"These are the Chunin Ninja Exams registration forms!"

"Take them back and fill them out!"

"Missions are suspended for now. We will talk after the Chunin Ninja Exams!"

"Time: three o'clock in the afternoon, five days from now. Classroom 301 of the Ninja Academy!"

"If you can't even pass the Chunin Ninja Exams!"

"Then you won't need to follow me on missions anymore!"

Tenge vanished before the three could react after saying that!

"Whew..."

The three of them all let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness, thank goodness, it was not another mission!

But the Chunin Ninja Exams, huh?

"So soon, we're going to become Chunin?"

Naruto was a little dazed. Ever since graduation, they had been fighting almost every day, and he had barely noticed the passing of time!

"Ah!"

"It's already been three months!"

"Yeah!"

"That's already slow!"

"Don't forget, our teacher was already an Elite Jonin capable of fighting the Hokage at nine years old!"

"And that Kakashi was already a Jonin at twelve!"

"We're twelve already, and we're still Genin..."

"No, Chunin!"

"Right, Chunin!"

The three did not take the Chunin Ninja Exams seriously at all. If they truly could not even pass this,

then even without Tenge saying it, they would be too ashamed to keep training under him!

"Let's go!"

"Go home and rest. We have five days, enough time to get ourselves back in shape!"

"Let's rest today, then hang out together tomorrow!"

"Okay!"

"Tomorrow, I'll treat you to ramen!"

The three children made their plans and went home separately. They had just returned from a mission today and were all quite tired, with no desire to do anything else!

After the other two left, Naruto thought about it and decided to go back and finish his ramen. He had barely eaten any earlier!

"Uncle, I'm back! Make me another bowl, the same as before!"

"Sure thing!"

Otsutsuki Squinty-Eyes replied with a cheerful smile and swiftly started making Naruto's ramen!

Before the ramen was served, Iruka entered the ramen shop and walked toward Naruto's table!

"Naruto, waiting for ramen?"

"How about your teacher treats you?"

"Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto was delighted to see Iruka again. Just as he had said earlier, he had been busy ever since graduating!

He had not noticed the time passing. It was only when Sakura and Sasuke mentioned it earlier that he realized three months had already gone by!

In those three months, let alone Iruka-sensei, he had only seen his classmates two or three times!

"Iruka-sensei!"

"You don't have to treat me this time!"

"I've saved up lots of money from missions. I'll treat you!"

"Alright!"

Iruka looked at Naruto with a gratified expression. Suddenly, he felt that Naruto had grown up!

"Uncle, another large bowl of pork miso chashu ramen!"

"Sure thing!"

Otsutsuki Squinty-Eyes started making Iruka's ramen too. Even as he prepared ramen for both of them at once, he showed no sign of fluster!

It was only two people. When business was busy, he had made ramen for ten or twenty people at the same time!

That was why one should never underestimate squinty-eyed people, especially Otsutsuki Squinty-Eyes!

"Naruto, have you been doing well lately?"

"Your team seems really busy. I've run into your other classmates, but never the three of you!"

"Ah?"

"That?"

"How should I put it?"

"I guess it's been pretty good!"

"Teacher may be cold, but he's very good to us. He taught us lots of ninjutsu and techniques!"

"The really, really powerful kind!"

"I'm really strong now. I feel like I'm no weaker than Sasuke anymore!"

"But Sakura is still stronger!"

"She has saved Sasuke and me several times!"

"Really?"

"Sakura is already that amazing?"

"Yeah, she's incredibly amazing!"

Naruto had been referring to Sakura's medical ninjutsu, but Iruka understood it as combat strength!

That surprised him greatly. It was not that Sakura was bad; that girl was very smart too. Iruka simply had not expected even Sasuke would need her to save him!

"Are missions... dangerous?"

"Not really!"

"As long as we fight desperately, we can always win!"

Only by fighting desperately... could they win?