Chapter 40: Training and Progress
It seemed that after Kurenai learned about Naruto's performance the night before, she had raised her expectations for the genin she coached.
Hearing Kurenai's words, Kiba scratched his head in embarrassment, not knowing what to say.
He also seemed to know that Naruto and the others had performed better than his team. He couldn't find any words to argue with Kurenai.
Still, Kiba looked at Naruto and Sasuke with a hint of defiance, as if he didn't believe Naruto was as skilled as Sakura and Kurenai had said.
It looked like he wanted to find a chance to compete with Naruto.
Naruto could naturally sense Kiba's gaze. Seeming to know what Kiba was thinking, Naruto smiled lightly and ignored him completely.
Hearing Kurenai's words, Naruto couldn't help but sigh to himself. He thought with some emotion:
After all, Kurenai was still a girl at heart. She was too kind, her thoughts too simple and innocent. She had the compassion and affection of a young woman.
Even though Kurenai was a Jōnin who had seen and experienced a lot, her mind might not be as mature and thoughtful as Naruto's.
Naruto and the world he saw were different from hers, after all.
In this cruel environment, Naruto couldn't put himself in other people's shoes the way she could.
Still, after thinking it over, Naruto accepted Kurenai's kindness.
Even though Sasuke had Naruto's help, Naruto didn't need others to teach him anything. He had his own way of training.
But aside from them, there was still little Sakura on the team.
Little Sakura still needed Kurenai's guidance.
So Naruto nodded and said:
"Then thank you, Kurenai-sensei."
Kurenai smiled faintly and nodded.
After a brief conversation, everyone walked into the Hokage building together and headed to the Hokage's office.
Inside the Hokage's office.
The Third Hokage seemed to have been waiting for them.
After seeing Naruto and the others walk in, the Third Hokage raised his head and smiled kindly at everyone:
"You're all here to pick up missions again."
Kurenai and the others nodded.
The Third Hokage didn't delay either. He handed out a blank sheet of paper covered with mission requests, letting them choose for themselves.
However, only the mission names and ranks were written on the paper, not the details. If they wanted to know the content, they had to ask or accept the mission first.
Some special high-rank missions could only be learned about after accepting them.
This was to ensure the secrecy of the missions.
Soon, Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma selected suitable D-rank missions for their genin.
Naruto and the others quickly finished their selections as well.
Kurenai had originally wanted to help Naruto and his team choose a mission, but Naruto chose one faster than she could, which left Kurenai feeling a bit helpless.
After all, in her eyes, Naruto was just pointing at random—very casual.
And that was the truth.
They were all D-rank missions anyway. There wasn't much difference.
Even if he picked a C-rank mission, Naruto was confident he could complete it. After all, not every C-rank mission was as dangerous as the Land of Waves.
And if it was a higher rank, the Third Hokage wouldn't let three genin take it in the first place, no matter what Kurenai said.
After everyone received their mission requests, they set off to carry them out individually.
During that time, Kurenai also came by to check on them, as if she was worried that Naruto and the others might have a hard time accepting missions for the first time, or that they might not be proficient in various things.
But when she came to check, she was shocked to find that Naruto's mission progress wasn't as difficult as she had imagined.
On the contrary, it was very fast.
When she found Naruto, he and the others had already completed their D-rank mission and were ready to rest.
Meanwhile, the genin teams led by Kurenai and Asuma were only about halfway done.
It was no wonder Naruto and the others were so efficient.
Kurenai and Asuma had taken their teams to do the same missions at a leisurely pace. They thought that while doing D-rank missions, they could also help their students with homework or guide their training.
But Naruto thought completely differently.
Naruto had already set up a training plan.
Complete several missions in the morning, and devote the afternoon to training.
That way, their mission completion progress wouldn't fall behind, and the afternoon training would help them absorb everything more deeply, integrate it faster, and improve their strength.
The results proved that Naruto's plan was indeed very practical.
After a few days, Naruto and his team had not only completed missions faster than Kurenai and Asuma's teams, but they had also spent more time training than them.
The only downside was that this plan left them a bit more tired than the other genin.
After all, they didn't have any leisure time to rest.
Little Sakura and Sasuke didn't complain about this demanding training plan.
Sasuke went without saying. He had wanted to improve quickly from the start, eager to become stronger. With so much practice time and Naruto's guidance, how could he not cherish it and work hard?
And little Sakura saw Naruto and Sasuke training day after day, and she didn't want to fall behind. So she gritted her teeth and kept going.
It had to be said that this kind of training was worth it. Their improvement was very fast and clearly noticeable.
After just a few days, both Sasuke and little Sakura felt stronger than ever before.
The daily practice, which had once felt heavy for them, now felt extremely manageable.
After Naruto saw this, he increased their training workload and training time.
In truth, teaching Sasuke how to train was also very simple.
Sasuke was naturally very talented, and under the stimulation of the Land of Waves mission, he had already awakened his Sharingan.
All he lacked was a training plan and goals, along with some advanced practice methods—such as chakra nature transformation.
Naruto simply taught him about chakra nature transformation and showed him how to use his own chakra nature to strengthen himself and improve his physical abilities.
For example, lightning-nature chakra, when channeled through the body, could allow him to explode with astonishing speed in short bursts.
Sasuke found this very useful. He knew these were valuable lessons, and he was very grateful to Naruto.
Of course, if Sasuke knew that he—an Uchiha genius—had only awakened his Sharingan recently, while Naruto, an outsider, had already awakened the Mangekyō, he would probably be even more shocked and train even more desperately.
During the training period, Kurenai also came to find Naruto and the others along with the genin she coached.
She said they wanted to compete and exchange experiences with each other.
In truth, she also wanted to see the gap between the genin she coached and Naruto's team, and by doing so, motivate them to train harder.
And the results of those exchanges spoke for themselves.