He puffed out his cheeks, swung his arm, and pressed directly onto the scratch-off ticket.
After a fierce scrape, a flash of golden light appeared.
A worn, shedding broom flew out from the middle of the scratch-off ticket.
A row of letters was printed near the base of the broom.
"What is this?" Naruto held it in his hand and examined it curiously.
"A broom? Isn't it a little too old?" he said with some disdain.
Wu Di pursed his lips in a smile, looking at the broom as memories of childhood surfaced once more.
He slowly walked over, took the broom, and explained softly.
"This is no ordinary broom."
"It's called a Flying broom!"
"It's something only wizards from my hometown possess."
"As long as you ride it, you can soar freely through the sky like a bird!"
Naruto's azure eyes suddenly lit up, and he was overjoyed.
"It's that amazing? I can fly if I ride it?"
Unable to contain his excitement, he immediately straddled the broom and shouted.
"Take me to Ichiraku Ramen!"
Whoosh!
An afterimage remained on the ground.
His figure vanished in an instant.
Right afterward came the sound of pots, pans, bowls, and dishes shattering, followed by Uncle Ichiaku's furious roar.
"Na-ru-to U-zu-ma-ki! Pay up!"
Through the narrow doorway, Wu Di saw Uncle Ichiaku, his head covered in ramen, furiously grab Naruto and throw him outside the shop.
"If you don't make up for my losses, you'll never get ramen again!"
Uncle Ichiaku dusted off his hands and turned back into the shop.
Naruto was utterly aggrieved. Looking at the broom in his hand, he wanted to throw it away but could not bear to.
At this point, he had no other choice but to take on missions and pay off his debt.
He sighed, mounted the broom with some dejection, and softly said, "Take me to the Hokage's Office!"
Whoosh!
His figure vanished again.
Hokage's Office.
The Third Hokage held a pipe in his mouth and studied the mission handbook with a stern expression.
Beside him, four or five masons were nervously filling in the human-shaped crater Asuma had left behind.
The Third Hokage took a deep breath, blew out a ring of smoke, pushed the mission handbook forward, and pointed to one of the entries.
"Kakashi, this mission in the Land of Waves is very simple. Take your class and complete it!"
Kakashi lowered his gaze. A trace of disdain flickered in the eye behind his bandages as he said softly.
"This mission is far too simple. Sending any three genin should be enough to finish it. I should still..."
Before he could finish, the Third Hokage shook his head.
"It has to be your class. Those two children need experience!"
Kakashi immediately stood at attention, his expression becoming several degrees more serious.
Naturally, he knew exactly who the Third Hokage meant by those two children.
"Understood. I'll go notify them now."
He turned and was about to head for the door when Naruto's wailing cry came from outside.
"Get out of the way! I can't stop..."
Smack!
Boom!
Less than 0.01 seconds separated the sound of shattering glass from the impact against the wall.
The masons in the office were dumbfounded.
The hole they had worked so hard to repair had been smashed open again by an unidentified flying object.
Before long, Naruto crawled out of the pile of rubble and looked around with eyes swollen like walnuts.
He said resentfully, "Didn't I shout? I told you to move out of the way!"
Kakashi looked at him darkly and gritted his teeth as he said in a low voice, "Naruto! What are you doing here?"
Naruto quietly lifted his head and immediately put on a confused expression.
"Huh? Who's this weird old guy with his head wrapped up? Why does his voice sound so familiar?"
Kakashi was instantly speechless.
Wasn't the reason his head was wrapped in bandages Naruto's fault?
"Naruto, you can't even recognize my voice anymore?"
Kakashi leaned closer, a faint chill glinting in his eyes.
Naruto shuddered violently, then laughed carelessly. "So it's Kakashi-sensei."
Then he patted the dirt off himself, carried the broom, and climbed out of the heap of sand and stones.
The Third Hokage glanced at him, blew out a ring of smoke, and asked softly.
"Naruto, what are you here for?"
Naruto scratched his head and said with an uneasy smile.
"Um... um... I want to take a mission!"
"I smashed Uncle Ichiaku's kitchenware, so I need to earn money to pay him back."
As he spoke, the Third Hokage noticed the Flying broom in his hand and asked.
"What is that?"
Naruto instantly raised his chin and declared proudly.
"This is the Flying broom I won at the scratch-off ticket shop! You can fly anywhere in the sky just by riding it!"
The Third Hokage frowned and thought to himself.
Another scratch-off ticket shop? It seemed Asuma had won something there too? No, I should go take a look when I have time.
Then he said softly, "Kakashi, take Naruto and the others on the mission first!"
"Yes!" Kakashi stood straight and nodded heavily.
The moment Naruto heard that, he jumped up. "Woohoo, we're going on a mission!"
Anbu, beneath the Hokage's Office.
"A bunch of useless fools! You can't even get rid of some hair properly. What use are any of you!"
Danzo clutched his hair tightly and screamed at the people beside him, his eyes filled with endless despair.
After being carried back from the scratch-off ticket shop, he ordered everyone around him not to breathe a word of it.
Then he had his trusted subordinates cut off every strand of pink hair on his head.
Yet less than half a minute after it was cut, that dazzling pink hair grew back again.
The hair that had been cut off and fallen to the floor also vanished along with it.
He had torn those clothes apart who knew how many times.
But even now, they were still stuck firmly to his body.
He let out a despairing sneer, his entire body shrinking in on itself.
Staring at the pitch-black room before him, he said in a low voice.
"All of you, leave. Let me calm down by myself."
"Yes!"
A group of masked figures turned and left the room.
Outside Konoha's gates.
Kakashi met up with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
"Today's mission is extremely dangerous. We're heading across the ocean to the Land of Waves!"
"You'd better be mentally prepared."
Naruto immediately stood straight and answered with considerable solemnity, "Okay!"
Sasuke shot him a sidelong glance, the scene in the classroom surfacing in his mind again.
So he deliberately widened the distance between them.
"Let's go." Kakashi did not concern himself with whatever conflict existed between the two and simply said softly.
The four of them slung their packs over their backs and headed into the distance.
To reach the Land of Waves from here, they had to cross a stretch of sea.
And Konoha was still a long way from the docks.
Along the way, Naruto rode the Flying broom, darting left and right through the air as he gradually mastered how to control it.
Sasuke looked up at him, an indescribable feeling stirring within him.
The outline of a Three Tomoe Sharingan slowly emerged in his mind.
That man... one day, I'll kill him with my own hands. Once I return, I'll go to the scratch-off ticket shop too...
Before you continue