First Victory

Naruto's timing in pulling Sakura into his arms could only be described as a close call.

Naruto held Sakura and leaped backward, dodging the attack from one of the Demon Brothers, who had suddenly emerged from a puddle.

With a single iron horn on his Hidden Mist forehead protector, Gōzu, the elder brother of the Demon Brothers, had not expected the clawed strike from his right hand to miss.

But as rogue ninja with extensive combat experience, the two Demon Brothers immediately launched another attack to make up for their earlier failure.

Unlike his older brother Gōzu, Meizu, the younger brother with two iron horns on his forehead protector, immediately darted out from beneath the black cloak covering them both!

Meizu spread the massive iron claw on his left hand, firing a chain of sharp barbs from it—

But the target was no longer Naruto and Sakura—

—but Hatake Kakashi, the leader of Team 7 and the greatest threat!

The moment Meizu's chain touched Kakashi's body, Gōzu's chain immediately followed, wrapping around Kakashi as well.

The Demon Brothers' chains bound Kakashi tightly. Before anyone could react, the chains constricted in an instant!

They dismembered Kakashi on the spot!

"K-Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura stared at the scene before her in disbelief. Perhaps she had not yet processed what had happened in that lightning-fast instant.

Naruto had no time to worry about Sakura's feelings.

Although Naruto had known the Demon Brothers would attack along the way, even with intelligence and thorough preparation, a real fight to the death was still different!

Even if this could be understood as Team 7's first true battle, Kakashi's sudden "death" had thrown Sakura into a panic.

But a battle was a battle. If they did not immediately steel themselves and fight back, they would die at the enemy's hands!

Naruto pushed Sakura, who had become a burden, toward Sasuke.

No words were needed. Under Naruto's deliberate efforts to build teamwork, Team 7 was not like the one in the original story—riddled with conflict and incapable of cooperating!

Sasuke had noticed Sakura's condition as well. He immediately drew a kunai and stood before Sakura and Tazuna, protecting them both.

In a ninja protection mission, the client's personal safety always came first.

Of Team 7's four members, two could no longer continue carrying out the mission, so the remaining two had to divide their duties without a word.

The duty to protect and... the duty to attack!

"Second animal!"

The moment Naruto pushed Sakura away from him, the Demon Brothers both used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Naruto.

The term the Demon Brothers used for Naruto—calling him livestock—made their contempt for Genin clear.

The clash of chains was painfully harsh. Naruto had no time to react before he was bound.

Then—

—would Naruto be dismembered like Kakashi as well?

"What?!"

Both Demon Brothers cried out in alarm.

What the tightening chains had severed was not flesh, but a round log half a man tall.

"Substitution Technique! When did he—?"

The Demon Brothers were stunned.

Seizing that instant of shock, Sasuke, who had been guarding the others nearby, made a decisive move and immediately threw the kunai in his hand!

The kunai Sasuke threw struck the Demon Brothers' chains with perfect accuracy!

The chains were nailed to a tree trunk by the kunai.

The Demon Brothers tried to yank their chains back, only to find that the kunai had pinned them fast. They could not pull them free at all.

And once their chains had been nailed down, their failure to decisively abandon them sealed their defeat.

Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!

Two pairs of hands—a total of four hands—suddenly reached out from the earth beneath the Demon Brothers' feet, each grabbing one of their legs before yanking hard!

The next moment, only the Demon Brothers' heads remained aboveground, their bodies imprisoned by the earth.

And standing on the ground in their place were two Narutos.

"Nice work, Sasuke."

A third Naruto appeared beside Sasuke and handed back the kunai Sasuke had thrown earlier.

"Is this your real body?"

Sasuke took the kunai and glanced at the two Narutos still standing beside the Demon Brothers' heads. Both were Shadow Clones.

"Yeah. Your timing with that kunai throw was perfect. It let me use the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique on those two without a hitch."

Naruto made no effort to hide his gratitude toward Sasuke.

Sasuke gave a soft snort and returned to his usual cool demeanor.

Seeing Sasuke unilaterally end the conversation, Naruto merely shrugged and brought his hands together to dispel the Shadow Clone Technique.

The two Narutos beside the Demon Brothers vanished in a burst of thick white smoke.

"You did well."

The moment the Shadow Clone Technique was released, Kakashi, who should have been dead, appeared before them once more.

The three members of Team 7 wore different expressions upon seeing Kakashi.

Naruto looked as though it were only natural, while Sasuke remained expressionless and unmoved.

Only Sakura looked overjoyed.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Seeing that Kakashi was safe and sound, Sakura cried out excitedly.

"So Sakura is the one who worries about me the most."

At least one young girl cared about her teacher's safety. Kakashi found that deeply comforting.

Tazuna, on the other hand, was confused by the fact that Kakashi was alive.

He stared at Kakashi for quite a while, unable to tell whether Kakashi was human or ghost. "Weren't you dead?"

"That was a Substitution Technique using the Transformation Technique."

Kakashi gave a brief explanation.

Tazuna looked toward the place where Kakashi had supposedly died. The bloody "corpse" that had been scattered all over the ground had now turned into logs of different sizes.

After answering Tazuna's question, Kakashi turned his attention to the three members of Team 7.

"First, I need to apologize for not stepping in to fight earlier. I'm really sorry, but I also wanted to use this opportunity to test how you would respond in actual combat."

Naruto and Sasuke did not react much to Kakashi's words, but Sakura quietly lowered her eyes.

Taking in their reactions, Kakashi continued, "Naruto and Sasuke, you both did very well! Honestly, the way you two handled real combat completely exceeded my expectations!"

Kakashi recalled Naruto during the survival exercise, when Naruto had also tried to save Sakura but ended up caught in his genjutsu.

And Naruto's use of strategy against the Demon Brothers amid a battle that changed by the second.

"Naruto, what you did this time was completely different from the exercise. You've truly grown. After noticing the enemy, you not only saved Sakura, but after my 'death,' you also played along and used Shadow Clones to wait for the right moment to win."

Kakashi summarized Naruto's battle just now.

Then Kakashi looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke, you too. You used to see Naruto and Sakura as burdens, but this time, not only did you protect Sakura, once you discovered Naruto had hidden himself with the Substitution Technique, you and Naruto cooperated with perfect understanding without even discussing it. That really impressed me."

"Cooperation like that is difficult—many ninja who have worked together for years cannot achieve the kind of coordination you and Naruto displayed. It is something to be proud of!"

Kakashi's tone was full of praise for Naruto and Sasuke.

That made Sakura, who was listening nearby, lower her head even further.

"Kakashi-sensei, I...!"

After gritting her teeth and hesitating for a moment, Sakura, fully aware that she had not only failed to contribute in the previous battle but had even become a burden, raised her head again as if making up her mind. She was about to say something.

But Kakashi interrupted her.

Kakashi smiled at Sakura. "Although Sakura did not do as well as Naruto and Sasuke this time, you were still impressive."

Sakura, who had already prepared herself for harsh criticism, froze when she heard Kakashi praise her.

"Actually, Sakura, your reaction was what someone should have during their first real battle. Faced with an unexpected fight, you panicked because your Jōnin teacher, the strongest among us, had 'died.' But when you realized you had no choice but to fight with everything you had, you rose to the occasion and did everything you could to help in battle."

Kakashi looked at the kunai Sakura still held in her hand.

Although Sakura had not adjusted her emotions and thrown herself into battle as quickly as Naruto and Sasuke after Kakashi's "death,"

once she came to her senses, Sakura immediately began preparing to fight. Knowing that she was weaker than Naruto and Sasuke, she assigned herself the task of protecting Tazuna.

And it was precisely because Sakura resumed carrying out her duty

that Sasuke could divert his attention from guarding them and throw his kunai without hesitation, allowing Naruto to successfully use the ninjutsu that decided the battle.

This showed that the three members of Team 7 understood the true meaning of "teamwork."

Kakashi reached out like an elder and gently patted Sakura's head. "Naruto and Sasuke do not think you held them back either, so you do not need to belittle yourself. People grow by learning from experience. I believe you will not be like this in the next battle. You will definitely grow stronger."

Listening to Kakashi's comforting words, Sakura looked up at Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, still wearing that cold expression. But when Sakura gave him a tentative look, he gave her a slight nod.

Naruto simply smiled at Sakura.

...Come to think of it, Sakura remembered that Naruto, like Sasuke, had once disliked showing his emotions.

But after joining Team 7 and having real contact with Naruto, Sakura discovered that Naruto now showed a smile from time to time.

Whenever he smiled, Sakura somehow felt at ease.

On the Ninja Academy rooftop, when Kakashi's threatening words had made Sakura want to give up before even taking the exam, Naruto's smile had been what made her decide to participate in the survival exercise.

During the survival exercise, when Kakashi declared that they had failed, it had also been Naruto's smile and his refusal to "follow" the rules that allowed Team 7 to become ninja.

And now, it was the same as always.

"Thank you for saving me earlier, Naruto."

Sakura spoke from the bottom of her heart.

Then she looked at Kakashi and voiced the resolve she had been interrupted before expressing. "Kakashi-sensei, I won't be like this again next time!"

"I believe you."

Kakashi's smile deepened.

Having pulled Sakura out of her self-blame, Kakashi briefly looked over the three Team 7 members, who were getting along well.

Kakashi's smile faded as he looked seriously at Tazuna. "Mr. Tazuna, there is something I would like to ask you about."