The sun was slowly setting. Together with him, the first day of the Genins in the form of team number seven was coming to an end. None of the trio suspected that he was being followed everywhere by an observer, Kakashi Hatake, who decided to see how his new students would cope with the task.
To be honest, he was already very impressed with what they showed on the test. Sasuke, Mikoto, and Naruto turned out to be very capable guys, each of them, in addition to basic Shinobi skills, had some fighting techniques in his arsenal, although this does not always happen after graduation from the Academy. Uchiha Sasuke confirmed the title of the best student in the Academy. To master the Great Fireball at such an age is a great achievement. Mikoto, who already knew two Lightning Element techniques, showed herself no worse. And Naruto, who used cards in battle, as Kakashi had warned the Third in advance, also aroused some admiration and curiosity in Jonin. Although Uzumaki, according to Hokage, was complete incompetence in ninjutsu, he demonstrated that he could use it without any difficulty if he had the right card.
"Son of Minato-sensei... He has very interesting abilities," Hatake noted to himself and directed his gaze to where he had noticed surveillance some time ago. However, the old man left his post of observer immediately after the end of the test. "Isn't he the one you came to watch, Danzo—sama?"
And even if you ignore their personal achievements, the guys demonstrated excellent teamwork, which was much more important. Naturally, Hatake didn't care how the students spontaneously united. The important thing was the result, which exceeded all his expectations.
"I wonder how they will cope with elementary missions without my guidance?" — Kakashi wondered and decided to test it in practice, ready to intervene in case of anything.
Now, when his shadow clone distracted the genins' attention by galloping far away along the treetops, the real Copying Ninja hid in the foliage, watching the actions of his students.
"Hmm, did they decide to get down to business right away and split the task?" — Hatake couldn't believe his eyes. — "The first genins in my memory who do something like this!"
Deciding that he should see this, Kakashi was going to follow each of his new students. To do this, he had to resort to the shadow cloning technique again, which made Hatake happy to remember that he practically did not use other techniques during the training of students. Still, the technique was too expensive in terms of chakra.
The first clone went after Mikoto, who quickly got to the customer's house, knocked, and asked the woman more about the lost cat. Nodding and promising to do something, Uchiha just as quickly left, immediately starting to search. To do this, she had to climb an electric pole to view the area from a higher point. Running up to the viewpoint, the girl began to peer at the roofs of houses. But there was no cat nearby. Then she jumped down to the nearest roof and ran on, looking for traces by which she could find the lost animal. Mikoto was lucky because very soon she found a half-eaten pigeon sprawled on a slate cracked from time and feet of the same Shinobi as Uchiha. And soon the cat herself was found, sitting on a tree branch in the yard and licking her lips quite. The cat either ate too much or just wasn't agile enough for Mikoto. She couldn't escape.
"Not bad," Kakashi thought, evaporating into a white cloud of smoke.
The next one who completed the mission was Sasuke. Arriving at the place where the owners of a large plot with a once neat lawn, strawberry beds, and flower beds were pestered by moles that had ruined the garden with their burrows, Uchiha promised to get rid of the pests. A woman who had already used the help of genins was surprised that Sasuke was working alone, but had nothing against it. Borrowing a watering can from the barn, Uchiha flooded all the holes he could find by plugging them with stones. To be sure, he built several repellents from metal rods stuck in the ground and turntables from plastic bottles, which made noise in the wind, driving away animals sensitive to it.
"I managed it quickly," said Hatake, assessing the size of the vegetable garden and the time that Uchiha spent on his mission.
And finally, Naruto. When Kakashi arrived at a long-overgrown plot on the outskirts of the village that needed to be brought back to life, he found Uzumaki arguing with an old customer.
— I just missed you here, — grumbled grandfather, who recognized in the young genin not only the Nine-Tailed jinchuriki, but also the boy who brutally dealt with the maniac who killed a girl in Konoha Park.
— You don't understand, Grandfather, I'm about the mission! Naruto exclaimed, showing him the scroll.
— In that case, where are your teacher and partners? Shouldn't there be three genins? "what is it?" the old man asked, frowning, but lowering the gun that he had been holding at the ready.
Naruto grinned, pulling out a card.
— This system is a bit outdated. I can do it faster alone. Shadow cloning technique! — he exclaimed, and from the card, he held in his hand, white smoke burst out, reincarnated into many copies of Naruto that appeared in front of the farmer.
He raised his gun again.
— What kind of sorcery?! — he was indignant, and Naruto wondered if the farmer really did not know about Shinobi techniques or was simply exposed to senile senility.
— Calm down, Grandfather, just let me complete the mission, and I'll get out of here, — Naruto asked in a somewhat irritated voice.
In the end, the farmer agreed, giving Genin a pruner, a scythe, a rake, several shovels, and an axe and quickly ducking into the house, locking himself inside with a key. Some Naruto clones started digging up beds and clearing the area of excess grass and weeds, and he himself began chopping firewood while the remaining shadow copies stacked them under a special canopy. Finally, the work was completed. All the clones were dispelled, and Naruto, who was overcome with fatigue, took a deep breath, looking at the area put in the order with a dozen new beds, grass mowed and stacked in several heaps, chopped firewood, gooseberry and currant bushes tied up and rid of dried branches. After putting all the tools on the porch, he hurried to leave the place. After hard work, he still had to meet with his teammates and go to the Third Hokage with a report on completed missions.
"Impressive. He can create a lot more clones than I can. It's unbelievable, how much chakra does he have?" — Kakashi thought, looking up from the book in his hand and watching the whole thing, sitting on the roof of the house, leaning back against the brick chimney.
***
Arriving at the Hokage Residence, our heroes met with the Shikamaru team leaving the office of the Third.
— Oh, hello, Naruto, — said Nara. — And I thought we were the first who managed to complete the mission on their first working day.
— We have three of them already, — Uzumaki replied, showing his friend three scrolls.
Ino and Choji exchanged glances with very puzzled expressions. Shikamaru's rounded eyes also quite accurately demonstrated his surprise.
— Very impressive, — said Asuma Sarutobi, accompanying his team. — This explains why Kakashi is already waiting for you along with the Third.
After saying goodbye, Asuma's team went on, well, our heroes exchanged glances.
— Kakashi-sensei is waiting for us with the Third one? Was he really watching how we were doing our assignments? We saw him run away... Mikoto managed.
—You can expect anything from jonin," Sasuke replied. — I think it was another test.
Naruto, not finding the right words, silently stepped forward and pushed the door. When our heroes found themselves in the office of the Third, they were convinced that Hatake was present there.
— And here you are, — he looked around. — I was just telling Hokage-sama about your successes.
Approaching the table where a smiling Hiruzen was sitting, smoking a pipe, the trio stopped, and Naruto put three scrolls in front of the Hokage.
"Missions completed,— he reported.
— Yes, I found out even before Kakashi came to me, — Sarutobi nodded at the crystal ball lying on a red velvet cushion on the corner of the table.
Naruto remembered that the Third has a unique tracking technique, for which this device is needed. An unpleasant chill ran down his spine at the thought that the Hokage could have been watching him all the time.
"Only persecution mania was not enough for you," Kurama growled. "I don't think the old man would intrude into your life that much. He's too busy for that."
Uzumaki calmed down, thinking that the Fox was right.
— Congratulations, so far you are the most successful genin team in the village. And Kakashi and I were just discussing whether you deserve a chance to prove yourself in something more serious," Hiruzen said, looking at the three genins from under the hat.
Kakashi also looked at the students, noticing how they held their breath at once. He smiled behind his mask.
— I think you deserve it. Therefore, tomorrow you will have your first real mission. I must warn you, the path is long and dangerous. You must obey your sensei in everything. And, of course, prepare better," after a short pause, the Hokage said, causing the genins to sigh with relief.
"We'll meet tomorrow at dawn at the main gate," Kakashi added, accepting a new scroll from the Third. — Don't be late.
***
After saying goodbye to Hokage, Sensei and teammates, Naruto wandered home. He took his time, because it was already dark outside, and, as mentioned earlier, walking in the dark gave Uzumaki a special pleasure. And even that terrible incident in the park didn't change that. He thought better during them. And now Uzumaki is lost in thought.
Today brought him a lot of new impressions. And life seems to have become less gray and joyless than in the past. He managed to please Hokage and a new teacher, to make a new friend in the person of Mikoto, and Sasuke seemed to be not such an ass as Uzumaki thought before. They managed to work well together. The main thing is that this attitude accompanies them on the first serious mission, where they will be accompanied by new dangers.
Beyond the walls of Konoha stretched a new world, by no means so hospitable. And according to Kurama's stories, Genin knew that terrible things like the two that happened in his life happen outside these walls every day.
His path, as usual, ran through Konoha cemetery, where Naruto visited at least once a week. And now he stopped in front of the tombstone, on which it was written "Haruno Sakura, beloved daughter, and friend", stood for a while, and, promising himself to be strong in the upcoming difficult time, he went on, dissolving into a dark street, on which no lanterns had been shining for several weeks.