Team 7

Sakura's harsh attitude toward Hokage did not surprise Sasuke in the slightest.

Although Sakura acted all sweet and innocent, in the manga's storyline, Hokage really had done something excessive. He had used the Transformation Technique to become Sasuke and kiss Sakura. No matter the era, that was extremely creepy and disgusting—enough to get someone blacklisted for life.

Perhaps Hokage had thought it was just a prank, but "pranks" were fundamentally the same as "jokes." Only when both sides found them fun and funny could they be called pranks; otherwise, they were merely one-sided harm.

As time gradually passed, the other graduates were taken away one after another by their assigned Jonin, yet Team 7's Jonin was nowhere to be seen.

Only Sasuke, Hokage, and Sakura remained in the classroom. They sat far apart from one another, looking as if they wanted nothing to do with each other for the rest of their lives, and the awkward atmosphere grew increasingly apparent.

Hokage wanted to lighten the mood, but he was clumsy with words and had no experience with such things. He could only try to achieve his goal through a prank, just as he always had.

With a wicked grin, Hokage took an eraser and wedged it above the half-open door. Sakura did not step forward to stop him. She had been the victim of Hokage's previous prank, and her mood immediately worsened.

Thinking of Ino's hint, Sakura had no choice but to suppress the anger in her heart. Hokage's identity might be far from ordinary, so she could only endure it and overlook his awful character.

There was good reason to say Hokage had poor character. Skipping school, getting bad grades, and sleeping in class were all trivial matters. Hokage's most bizarre feat had been vandalizing Hokage Rock, desecrating the heroic dead!

Hokage Rock was practically Konoha's "national flag." Did Hokage really think a "prank" like that would earn him anyone's respect?

During the graduation exam, Hokage had failed. Yet the next day, he had swaggered into the classroom wearing a ninja forehead protector. Sakura could not understand what he had to be proud of after becoming a ninja through the back door.

Not long ago, Hokage had transformed into Sasuke to deceive Sakura. That incident had driven Sakura's impression of Hokage to rock bottom.

Meanwhile, Sasuke absentmindedly communicated with Black Shadow, arranging a plan to completely eradicate Konoha at its roots.

Hokage stood behind the door, watching expectantly. The only audience for this one-man show was himself.

A moment later, the door was pushed open. A white-haired man in a mask walked in, and the eraser struck him squarely on the head, sending chalk dust flying.

"Hahahaha, got you!" Hokage laughed loudly, pointing at Kakashi. Sakura watched coldly from the side, thinking that any ninja who could be fooled by Hokage was probably not very reliable.

Watching the scene, Sasuke felt puzzled. As a Jonin, why had Kakashi not dodged that eraser? Was he deliberately playing along with Hokage?

Kakashi looked lazy on the surface as he rubbed the chin hidden beneath his mask. "How should I put this? My first impression of you is that you're all very irritating."

Then, without waiting for the three of them to react, he said, "Follow me," turned around, and led them up to the rooftop.

Kakashi looked at Team 7 before him. "Let's start with introductions. Things like your hobbies and interests."

"At a time like this, shouldn't the teacher introduce himself first? Right, Sakura?" Hokage looked excited, but Sakura ignored him completely, and most of his enthusiasm instantly faded.

Kakashi then began speaking, spouting a whole lot of nonsense. Aside from his name, he revealed nothing at all.

"Now it's your turn."

Hokage touched the forehead protector on his head. "I'm Hokage Uzumaki. I like cup ramen, and I hate the three minutes spent waiting for ramen to cook. My dream is..." He glanced at Sakura, then continued, "to make everyone in the village acknowledge me. As for my hobby, it's probably pulling pranks."

Kakashi turned his gaze toward Sasuke. Sasuke calmly said, "The first stage of my dream is about to be realized. For the second stage, I don't have a goal yet..."

"What? That's basically the same as saying nothing at all!" Hokage muttered.

Kakashi stared deeply at Sasuke, a trace of confusion flashing through his eyes.

Finally, it was Sakura's turn. Since Sasuke had rejected her a long time ago, she merely said in a proper manner, "My name is Sakura Haruno. What I like most is my long hair, and my dream is to become a qualified ninja."

"You're getting more and more perfunctory," Kakashi could not help commenting.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll be carrying out a mission: a wilderness survival exercise with only the four of us. The content is very frightening, and the pass rate is very low. Every year, only nine out of twenty-seven graduates pass the exercise. The rest are sent back to school for retraining."

Hokage was shocked. "Are you kidding me?! I barely managed to graduate! If that's the case, why even have a graduation exam?!"

"Remember to bring the necessary ninja tools tomorrow. Don't be late." Kakashi showed a frightening expression. "Don't eat breakfast tomorrow, either. You might throw it up!"

Early the next morning, Team 7 arrived at the training ground as agreed, but Kakashi was nowhere in sight.

After waiting a long while longer, no one had come. Sasuke simply stood up, dusted himself off, and prepared to leave. "You're wasting my time!"

"Sasuke, why are you leaving?"

"Idiot, what if you get us sent back to school for retraining?"

Sasuke lightly glanced at Hokage. "Don't worry. No one would dare send you back for retraining."

Hokage did not understand what he meant, but Sakura froze for a moment at Sasuke's meaningful words.

Whatever the reason, Sasuke did not want to waste time with Kakashi anymore. In any case, he and Konoha were enemies, and they would soon tear off all pretense. There was no need to put on some deep teacher-student bond. Besides, he did not like Kakashi as a person to begin with.

Watching Sasuke's retreating back, Hokage shouted noisily after him, "Hey! You'd better not regret leaving, you jerk!"

Sakura looked at Sasuke, then at Hokage, calmly turned around, and walked toward the training ground exit.

"Sakura, you're not going too..." Hokage tried to stop her, but Sakura ignored him completely.

Hokage was left standing there with an indescribably aggrieved expression on his face. "Damn it, why is everyone treating me like this?!"

He flopped onto the ground and looked up at the gloomy sky. Orange-red sunlight fell across his face. Before long, Hokage was full of energy again, his negative emotions completely swept away. "I'm the man who's going to become Hokage! How could something this small bring me down?! One day, I'll make Sakura—and everyone in the village—acknowledge me!"

Hokage skipped away as well. The breeze swept up a few fallen leaves and spun them through the air. Vaguely, a red-eyed crow seemed to fly past. By the time Kakashi, lost at a crossroads in life, arrived at the training ground, it was already completely empty. The one dead-fish eye he had exposed remained as calm as still water. "What a troublesome bunch of brats."