Shinsei secretly rejoiced, thinking, "Serves you right for ambushing me just now."
Seeing Naruto's tearful face, she decided to rescue him anyway.
"Sorry to interrupt your fun time, but the mission is urgent— Naruto, we have to go on a mission."
Naruto jumped up from the ground and swung his fist.
"Great! Finally, a mission! What kind of mission is it? Is it to rescue a princess? What level is it? It needs to be at least an A-rank mission to match my strength, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Poor Naruto, he's done too many cat-catching and dog-catching missions. Even a mere A-rank mission is a huge challenge for him.
"It might be even higher—this mission is classified as S-rank."
Naruto was taken aback at first, then was quickly overwhelmed with immense joy.
"Yay! Only an S-rank mission is worthy of my strength, Naruto Uzumaki Naruto Uzumaki! Has Granny Tsunade finally realized my incredible power? Wait a minute!"
After saying that, Naruto quickly ran upstairs and grabbed his backpack, which he had been keeping ready at all times.
Kushina leaned closer with a worried look on her face and said with dissatisfaction:
" Naruto is still so young, why give him such a high-level mission?"
Shinsei's lips twitched—did Kushina realize something before she said that? That is, she was actually two months younger than Naruto.
"Don't worry, Kakashi and I are leading the team this time, along with Sasuke and Sakura. There shouldn't be any major problems."
Although Kushina hadn't had much contact with Kakashi, she knew that he was Naruto's mentor and one of Kakashi 'Konoha few elite ninjas. With Shinsei's strength, most S-rank missions were practically safe. This made her expression much better.
Naruto ran downstairs with his backpack on, looking disgruntled, and said:
"Why Sasuke? He's such a drag on! Isn't Sakura enough?"
Karin's face darkened slightly upon hearing Sakura's name. She knew Sakura's place in Naruto's heart, but she quickly cheered up.
Even if Sakura had a preconceived notion, it couldn't withstand the constant time she spent with Naruto. Eventually, she would make Naruto acknowledge her existence and forget about that other woman.
Minato looked at Naruto with some concern and asked Shinsei:
"Do you need me to come along?"
Shinsei understood Minato's meaning. He was afraid that the current Naruto. Such things were inevitable. Although Madara Uchiha obtained the Nine-Tails 'Chakra through the ninja tools left behind by the Sage of Six Paths, he believed that they would not refuse if they could obtain the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
We can't keep Naruto locked up in Konoha forever just because Madara Uchiha exists.
That would completely turn Naruto into a useless person.
During this period, Naruto basically didn't leave the village to do missions, and spent Tenten with Kushina, so he had become somewhat lax about the ninja lifestyle.
Tsunade saw all this and had her own concerns, which is why she specifically sent Naruto and the others. Otherwise, Kakashi and Shinsei would have been enough; there was no need to deploy so many high-level fighters.
The Shadow Clone had already notified Sasuke and Sakura. When Naruto and Shinsei arrived at the gate, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura were already waiting there.
" Sakura!" Naruto waved happily at Sakura and ran up to her.
"Stay away from me!" Sakura sniffed and said with disgust, "Why do you smell like cream all over you?"
Naruto awkwardly touched his hair—it still smelled of the cream cake game he had just played with Karin, and he hadn't had a chance to shower yet.
Sakura ignored Naruto and instead focused intently on adjusting Sasuke's collar.
Sasuke, who always takes great care of his appearance, has been so busy with clan affairs that he hasn't had time to take care of himself properly.
This made Sakura feel heartbroken, and she wished she could move into Sasuke's house and clean for him.
An awkward thing happened yesterday: Sakura went to Sasuke's house looking for Sasuke, but found a beautiful, unfamiliar woman inside.
This made her feel like she was facing a formidable enemy, and she wanted nothing more than to interrogate her Yashiro. Later, when she learned that the woman's name was Uchiha Mikoto, she became extremely embarrassed and then tried her best to please her future mother-in-law.
Uchiha Mikoto was also very curious about this little girl. Knowing Sasuke's personality, she thought that Sasuke was not interested in girls.
Kakashi finally closed the book in his hand, squinted his eyes and smiled:
"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's set off."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Naruto said, dissatisfied. " Kakashi-sensei, this is a mission that our Team 7 has finally managed to reunite for. Don't you have anything to say?"
"Hmm," Kakashi tilted his head and thought for a moment, "Then wish us a pleasant mission!"
Naruto was still not satisfied. He placed his hands in front of everyone, looking at them with expectant eyes. His meaning was clear: he wanted everyone to place their hands on his hands, to perform a departure ceremony.
"Idiot!" Sasuke ignored him and walked straight out of the village. " Shinsei isn't in our Team 7."
Naruto touched his hair and apologized to Shinsei:
"Oh right, Shinsei, aren't you in our Team 7? Why are you doing missions with us?"
Shinsei rolled his eyes and walked out of the village.
"It's all because you're too bad! You're the worst player!"
Naruto was furious when he heard the words "bottom of the class".
" Shinsei! I'm not the worst student! You're the worst student..."
As Shinsei walked, he shrugged his hands:
"Sorry, I'm the top student, I don't really understand what it's like to be at the bottom! Can you tell me? Naruto had to retake the exam because he failed his Clone Technique?"
Naruto flushed red, and he had no way to refute it. His failure in the Clone Technique, which forced everyone to retake the test, was an indelible stain on his record.
" Shinsei, I'm going to kill you! Aiya!"
Sakura was already used to Naruto's Naruto. She punched Naruto on the head.
"Hurry up! Can't you see they've all gone far away?"
"Oh!" Naruto scratched his head, his anger instantly wiped away by Sakura's punch. He quickly ran to catch up with Kakashi, Shinsei, and Sasuke.
" Kakashi-sensei, what's the mission this time?"
Kakashi flipped through the pages of " Icha Icha Paradise," which he'd picked up again sometime earlier, and replied without turning his head:
"Is this Naruto's first mission? Team members can't inquire about the mission objective until they reach the mission location."
"Are we going to protect the Daimyo?"
No.
"Are we going to protect the princess?"
No.
"Are we going to rescue and capture the missing-nin?"
No.
Sakura finally couldn't take it anymore and punched Naruto on the head again.
"You better be quiet for a moment!"
Naruto looked at Sakura pitifully and quickly shut his mouth.
Seeing Sasuke's glance, Sakura immediately remembered that she needed to maintain a ladylike demeanor in the future, and hurriedly forced what she thought was a gentle smile at Sasuke.
Kakashi and Shinsei exchanged a glance, and both of them simultaneously revealed a meaningful smile.