"Quick! Old Man Hokage! Hand over the C-rank mission!" Naruto shouted at Hiruzen Sarutobi the moment he entered the mission hall.
'Old Man Hokage?'
Hearing this address, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, rubbing his forehead. Naruto wasn't cute at all compared to when he was little. As a child, he'd say "Grandpa Hokage" with every other breath; now? He only said "Grandpa Hokage" when he wanted something. The rest of the time, it was "Old Man Hokage."
If Naruto knew his thoughts, he'd probably retort, "Be grateful I didn't call you 'old geezer'."
"Are you sure you can handle a C-rank mission right now?" As he spoke, the Third Hokage looked at the squad leader, Kakashi, seeking his opinion.
Kakashi replied directly: "No problem, Lord Hokage. I believe they can complete a C-rank mission."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, instantly understanding the implication. It seemed Naruto and Sasuke had grown, and this team was capable enough for such tasks. Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't doubt Kakashi's judgment; he was a ninja he trusted deeply.
"Let me see the recent missions." Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the mission scroll and saw a C-rank mission posted yesterday. "Perfect, there's a C-rank mission that came in yesterday afternoon. It's a bandit suppression mission."
He pointed towards the door and said, "The client has been waiting at the entrance for a while, so this mission is yours."
Team Seven accepted the mission, found the client, and learned the details. About a hundred kilometers from Konoha, there was a village. A bandit group had entrenched themselves in the mountains near the village, causing trouble and committing all sorts of evil deeds. Yesterday morning, they had robbed nearby villagers and killed two of them. The villagers could no longer tolerate it, so they pooled their money to issue this bandit suppression mission.
The other two were quite excited to hear about this mission, but Naruto felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with it.
"Alright, this is Team Seven's first out-of-village mission. Everyone has one hour to pack their things. We'll meet at the village gate in one hour."
"Okay!" x3
"Wait, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto suddenly stopped him and asked, "You won't be late this time, will you?"
Hearing this, Sasuke and Sakura immediately looked at Kakashi, their suspicion clear for anyone to see.
Uh. Kakashi felt the awkwardness of being caught doing something wrong. He was actually planning to go to the Memorial Stone to inform them of his impending departure from the village. Since things had come to this, he wouldn't.
"I promise, I won't be late this time," Kakashi said gently.
Seeing his promise, Naruto, fearing he might back out, directly stated, "Then it's settled, Kakashi-sensei. Whoever is late has to be a puppy for a day."
With that, he extended his hand, motioning for the other three to put theirs on top, to seal the pact.
Sasuke glanced sideways at Naruto. Hey, you're already so strong, why are you still so childish? Get it together, dammit! I don't want to lose to a childish brat like you.
However, he still placed his hand on top. Whether it was childish or not didn't matter; he just didn't want Kakashi to be late. He definitely wasn't looking for entertainment. Yes, that's all.
Sakura, however, thought it was perfect and put her hand down without a second thought. Her dark personality was practically exploding with joy. She really wanted to see Kakashi-sensei act like a dog. It would definitely be interesting.
Awkwardly scratching his head, looking at the stacked hands, Kakashi had no choice.
"It's a deal then."
"Dismissed!"
An hour later, at the village gate.
Kakashi-sensei was indeed not late. He hadn't even packed anything, coming directly. None of the three squad members were late either. Seeing this outcome, Naruto just smiled. Sasuke maintained his cool expression, showing no discernible emotion, while Sakura clearly showed a hint of disappointment. No show.
"Alright, since we're all here, let's go."
"Okay!" x3
Because they needed the client to lead the way, the squad's progress was very slow. At first, Naruto was still excited. This was his first time leaving the village openly, and during the daytime too. But all he saw was trees, and more trees. He was already experiencing aesthetic fatigue.
When could he openly display the Flying Thunder God? As a genin, learning such a jutsu would probably require making some significant contributions, right? He needed to look for more opportunities.
After traveling all day, the squad finally reached their destination in the late afternoon, near evening. Amidst the village's welcome, Kakashi temporarily declined the offer of accommodation, choosing instead to lead the squad directly up the mountain. The sooner the mission was completed, the sooner they could relax.
"Naruto, can you sense anything?" On the way up the mountain, Kakashi seemed to just remember that there was a sensory ninja in the team.
Naruto thought for a moment and replied straightforwardly: "There seem to be no signs of humans on this mountain."
"The entire mountain?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei."
His sensory range is that large? Although they hadn't entered the mountain yet, just from observing, Kakashi's experience told him that the area of this mountain was considerable.
"Mr. Aoki, are you sure this bandit group is still here from yesterday?"
Aoki, the guide following them, replied: "Of course, Mr. Kakashi, they even raided the nearby villagers yesterday."
Kakashi asked again: "Where is their stronghold?"
"Just up ahead."
When they reached the stronghold, Naruto finally understood why he felt a sense of familiarity. Wasn't this where he had modified his clones last night? He really didn't expect that among the many C-rank missions every day, Team Seven would end up with this one. It was like stealing his own kill.
They searched the stronghold. There was nothing; everything had been cleaned up thoroughly yesterday. Sensing around, Naruto found that even his Flying Thunder God kunai had been buried three meters underground with his Earth Release. Moreover, these Flying Thunder God marks were different. They weren't his usual 'Early' (早) but 'Right' (正), to distinguish them from Naruto's public use.
After searching, Kakashi looked strangely at Naruto: "Naruto, you're a bit quiet today."
Huh? Naruto was somewhat speechless. How did this involve me?
Kakashi was just checking on Naruto, thinking he might be nervous. He turned to Aoki and said, "Aoki, you can head back now; we'll handle things here. Don't worry, we Konoha ninja will definitely help you clear out these bandits."
Hearing this, Aoki nodded and left. He trusted the Konoha ninja.
The remaining Team Seven ate a simple meal. Then, they began to wait patiently, like waiting for a rabbit to run into a snare.
High up, perched on a tree branch, Naruto began to ponder. It seemed he wouldn't be able to return today, so his modification plans for tonight would have to be temporarily postponed.
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto called out, "I can sense the entire mountain, constantly monitoring it. Do we really need to sit here and be mosquito bait?"
At his words, Sasuke and Sakura seemed to agree. While ninja had training for such things, why seek unnecessary hardship?
But Kakashi said something that left both of them puzzled: "Can you sense how many special shuriken I've placed along this path?"
Naruto looked at Kakashi-sensei in surprise, then had a sudden realization. On the way there, Kakashi had thrown a shuriken mark every so often. Naruto hadn't understood why at the time, but it seemed this was what he was waiting for. He definitely had something up his sleeve.
"There's one about five kilometers away, one ten kilometers out, one at fifteen kilometers, and one at twenty kilometers."
"Twenty kilometers?" Kakashi exclaimed, impressed. That distance was already quite astonishing.
"And the furthest one is fifty kilometers away."
Hm? Kakashi suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief.
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