"If you ever want to talk about what happened, I'll be there to listen, Naruto," Kakashi said in a caring voice, turning toward me.
"Thank you, Sensei," I replied, my gratitude sincere.
"Is it... true? Is Gato... dead?" Tazuna asked, unable to believe his own eyes.
"..." Sakura and Sasuke looked my way, and noticing my suppressed state, they began to show concern.
"Yes... it's over for Gato. He won't be a threat anymore, but our mission doesn't end here. We will continue to protect you until the bridge is completed," Kakashi-san said, addressing our client after inspecting the corpse.
"I see... He will never cause anyone harm or pain again," Tazuna declared with cold hatred, staring grimly at Gato's body.
Soon, several bridge builders returned, but upon seeing Gato's lifeless body, they ran back. They left to spread the word that the tyrant who had exploited their country was finally dead. Before long, a large crowd gathered on the bridge. They were united by one thing: a quiet hatred for the monopolist and joy that he was no longer of this world. I was the only one who didn't share in the celebration. Although I understood perfectly well that I had done a great service for the Land of Waves by freeing them from Gato's oppression, still... I couldn't stop remembering the moment right before I killed him. That mixture of emotions: fear, shock, rage, and death throes. In my ears, I could still hear that sickening crunch with which I had snapped his neck…
In an instant, new information flooded my mind. It came from one of the clones that had raided Gato's ship. The thugs he had hired were in a pathetic state. My shadow clones had done the same to them as they had to the "samurai." They wouldn't be hurting anyone else - anymore.
My clones had searched the vessel from stem to stern, hoping to find Gato's vast wealth. As a result, I managed to find several jewels, paintings, figurines, about a hundred thousand ryo, and an iron safe. Since my clones couldn't carry it all at once, they decided to steer the ship toward the bridge.
I informed Kakashi-sensei about this, telling him everything. The mentor praised me and, upon learning which direction the vessel was coming from, created his own shadow clone and sent him there. Kakashi's clone quickly reached the ship and helped my copies navigate it. Once they successfully reached the bridge, the clones - both mine and the mentor's - dispersed.
The crippled thugs were handed over to the local population. Furthermore, we turned over everything valuable found on the ship, everything Gato owned. Our mentor also helped the people of the Land of Waves open the safe. First, after checking it for Fuinjutsu and ensuring there were no hidden protective seals, Kakashi easily broke the safe by running an electric discharge through his palm.
Inside were various financial documents - bonds, bank notes, and so on. This was where Gato kept a massive portion of his plundered fortune. Converting them into actual cash would be a long and difficult process, but the people weren't saddened by this. The main thing was that Gato was dead, and with that, they had hope for a brighter future.
As a gesture of gratitude, they even offered us all the cash (the hundred thousand ryo), but our mentor insisted on taking only half. Out of that fifty thousand, half would go to the Konoha treasury, and the remaining amount would be distributed among the four of us. Since the team captain gets the largest share - Sasuke, Sakura, and I would receive five thousand ryo each. Overall, it was more than the sum we were originally performing the contract for.
In short, no one worked that day - everyone was celebrating the dictator's death. Our team returned to Tazuna's house. A table was set for us, and our client began celebrating with alcohol. Tsunami-san helped Sasuke with his wounds, wrapping them in bandages. Nothing serious had happened to my teammate - just a few cuts and bruises.
Time flew by. It was night, but I still couldn't sleep, much like my roommate, Sasuke.
"So, what's it like... killing someone with your own hands?" Sasuke asked unexpectedly, knowing I wasn't asleep.
"...Not great. I still see that image... how I broke his neck," I answered honestly.
"And how long do you plan on mourning a scumbag the whole country hated?" he continued.
"What do you care?" I replied in a dissatisfied voice.
"Because in this state, you're useless. I need to get stronger, and for that, I need a worthy rival," he stated in a cold voice.
However, I understood perfectly well what he meant by those words. I didn't think Sasuke was such a "tsundere." Truth be told, I never expected that of all people, it would be Sasuke trying to moral support me.
"Sasuke..." I said with a smile on my face.
"What...?" he asked.
"Even though you're terrible at comforting friends, I appreciate the effort," I said, turning my head toward him.
"Idiot," Sasuke snorted, instantly turning away to the wall and pulling the blanket up to his chin. "I wasn't trying to comfort you. It's just that if you're lagging during training tomorrow because of your thoughts, I'll kill you."
I chuckled softly. There was far more sincerity in that bluntness than in any high-flown speeches. Sasuke had recognized me as an equal. He acknowledged that I did what had to be done, and now he expected me to move forward.
And so the day ended.
The new morning brought the usual routine. Tazuna-san, emboldened by the tyrant's death, returned to the construction site. By his calculations, about six days remained until the bridge's completion. We rotated guard duties, and all our free time was spent by Sasuke and me on the training grounds, honing our skills in sparring matches.
However, this time Sakura decided to join us. Sasuke met her request with a predictable dose of coldness. He flatly stated that her presence would only get in the way. To him, Sakura was still that fan-girl from the Academy whose affection and constant "Sasuke-kun!" only distracted from the work and hindered our progress. He didn't believe she was capable of switching from adoration to hard labor.
Seeing Sakura wilt from his harsh words, I decided to intervene. I vouched for our teammate, cutting Sasuke off by saying she had changed and now truly wanted to be part of the team. I saw in her eyes not just the usual spark, but a new resolve after everything we had been through. Eventually, the brooding Uchiha begrudgingly gave in, and Sakura shot me a grateful look. Regardless, there was no time for sentimentality - the sparring began.
At first, it was a standard exchange of blows to warm up. After ten to fifteen minutes, we were fighting in earnest. I created seven shadow clones, trying to perfectly synchronize our joint attacks, while Sasuke activated his Sharingan, successfully defending and counter-attacking. However, at one point, it seemed to me that the Uchiha was acting far more aggressively and assertively than before.
It felt as though a chasm had opened between us again in Taijutsu. His right eye still had two tomoe, and even with seven clones, I found it difficult to land even a single clean hit. The Sharingan allowed Sasuke not just to see my movements, but to literally read the slightest impulses: the tension in muscles before a dash, the direction of a gaze, even the rhythm of breathing.
The Uchiha acted with peak efficiency. He didn't waste energy, making only as many movements as necessary to let an attack pass or redirect my own momentum against another clone. At one point, he sharply closed the distance, slipped under my copy's arm, and dispelled it with a short palm strike to the chest.
I understood what he was doing. He was training not just his vision, but his coordination, trying to make his body move as fast as his brain processed information. His aggressiveness wasn't malice - it was cold calculation and a test of whether he could maintain the initiative against superior numbers.
'I hate to imagine what will happen when he fully unlocks the potential of his eyes and fights with three tomoe. Don't even get me started on the Mangekyō Sharingan. I think... there's a way to counter the Uchiha in Taijutsu. If I'm not mistaken, during a fight, I shouldn't look them in the eyes. Yeah... easier said than done,' I thought.
I tried to put the theory into practice and averted my gaze from Sasuke's face, focusing on his collarbones. It seemed logical, but in reality, everything went south immediately. My field of vision narrowed, and I stopped catching those tiny facial cues that usually helped me understand when he was about to lunge.
The result was disastrous. My clones, used to orienting themselves by my actions and visual commands, lost their synchronization. At one point, I jerked to the right, trying to evade Sasuke's strike, and collided shoulder-first with my own clone who was moving in for backup. We both lost our balance for a split second, and the Uchiha didn't miss the chance. A short, sharp blow to the solar plexus, and my double vanished in a puff of smoke.
I grew angry and tried again to focus on his movements without looking up, but my instincts screamed the opposite. In the heat of the exchange, I reflexively looked up again, meeting his crimson eye. In that same second, I realized my mistake, flinched while trying to look back down, and because of that desynchronization in my movements, I simply failed to put up a block in time.
Sasuke acted silently and ruthlessly. Taking advantage of me tripping over my own tactics, he slipped behind two of my clones, forcing them to collide with each other, and immediately landed a powerful spinning back-kick on me.
I went flying to the ground, landing hard on my shoulder against the dry soil. The remaining copies popped one by one, unable to withstand the loss of my concentration.
And so, I lost our sparring match, realizing an important lesson for the future: I would have to train long and hard in Taijutsu to be able to withstand the Uchiha and their "cheat code" eyes. Furthermore, I needed to master natural energy to resist powerful Genjutsu.
Next, it was Sakura's turn. Sasuke saw no point in sparring with her, as she was much weaker than me. So it fell to me - or rather, my shadow clone - to handle the task.
Sasuke stepped to the edge of the clearing, wiping sweat from his forehead and deactivating his Sharingan. It was clear he was still riding the high of his victory, but my loss didn't make him relax - he sat on the grass and began to watch us intently.
Sakura stepped into the center of the clearing, looking visibly tense. Drawing a kunai, she stared intently at my shadow clone. Sakura-chan understood perfectly well that I was no longer that loud-mouthed blockhead from the Academy who was always at the bottom of the list.
"You're fighting my shadow copy, Sakura-chan. So don't worry about hurting me. You can use whatever you want on him," I declared to her.
"Okay," my teammate nodded in response.
She tightened her grip on the kunai and began to slowly circle the clone. You could see her concentrating - unlike the chaotic and high-speed fight between Sasuke and me, she tried to calculate every step. Sakura had always been the best in theory, and now she was trying to apply textbook knowledge of distance and stances in practice.
However, reality proved harsher than the textbooks. After ten minutes of fighting the clone, Sakura was completely spent. She honestly tried to combine attacks: peppered the opponent with shuriken to keep her distance, and tried to deceive my clone using the Substitution Technique, hoping to get into a blind spot.Но разница была велика. But the gap was too wide. The clone proved to be much stronger, faster, and more resilient than her. Every one of her attempts at a clever maneuver met calm and confident counteraction.
In the end, Sakura just stopped, leaning heavily with her hands on her knees. Her chest heaved, and sweat poured down her face. She looked dejected. Looking at my clone, who hadn't even broken his rhythm, she seemed to fully realize for the first time just how far Sasuke and I had pulled ahead in this short time.
Sasuke, watching from the sidelines, gave a short snort, confirming his words from the morning. In his eyes, this was the expected result. I ordered the clone to dispel and approached my teammate.
"Not bad for a start, Sakura-chan. You have good chakra control, but you need to work on your Taijutsu. I'm sure if we keep training, we'll become the strongest team in Konoha!" I declared, extending a hand to her.
Sakura froze for a moment, looking at my palm. In her eyes, there was still frustration at herself, but at the same time, surprise that I was the one supporting her.
"...Thank you, Naruto," she answered quietly and accepted my helping hand.
I helped her up. At that moment, Sasuke, who had been sitting and watching, stood up and began brushing the dust off his pants.
"Let's go, our training is over for today," he stated, before heading toward Tazuna's house.
Exchanging a glance with Sakura, we followed the brooding Uchiha. On the way, I began to evaluate my current level, as well as the strength of our team as a whole. Sasuke and I had become much stronger and worked effectively together. Our weak link was Sakura, but I planned to fix that problem. However, that wasn't enough... We were obligated to become stronger to survive the looming catastrophe.
For this reason, upon returning to our client's house, I activated "annoying brat mode" and began pestering Kakashi-sensei to take up our training.
At first - as I expected - he refused to teach us. According to Kakashi-sensei, we were already stronger than most Genin and could easily handle even some Chunin. As an argument, he cited the Demon Brothers, whom Sasuke and I had defeated practically without his help. Formally, he was right.
Except that didn't satisfy me. Defeating a few Chunin is one thing. Surviving in a world where rogue ninja on Zabuza's level exist is another.
I kept pestering him. No tantrums, no shouting. I just regularly reminded him that we only had a week left. That after Gato's death, the situation had become unstable. That strong enemies don't give advance warning. At some point, it stopped being just stubbornness - I truly didn't want to find ourselves in a situation again where we were only alive because Sensei happened to be nearby.
If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being persistent.
Eventually, Kakashi gave in.
He didn't make a big deal out of it. He just showed up for training one morning and started working with us.
During that week -exactly the time it took Tazuna to finish the bridge - each of us became noticeably stronger.
Sensei helped Sasuke with his coordination and mid-range tactics. The Sharingan gave him an edge, but Kakashi made sure that edge was used to its maximum. He showed him how to control space using metallic wires. Not just setting traps, but calculating where the enemy would retreat, where they would accelerate, and where they would lose their balance. In sparring, Sasuke began to move differently - less linear, more calculated. He stopped chasing the strike and started building the fight.
Sakura was given a different task. Sensei taught her a simple D-rank Genjutsu technique: "Mirage of Death." The illusion was brief and not overly complex, but for an opponent without good chakra control, it could become a serious problem. Even a brief moment of disorientation in battle decides much. Sakura quickly mastered the basics, and her talent for chakra control allowed her to maintain the technique consistently without wasting energy.
As for me, I had expected something else…
I wanted to master some Wind Style technique. It would have been logical to strengthen fire with air to get more powerful and faster attacks. I could already imagine combining techniques to increase the area of effect.
Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately - Kakashi decided otherwise. Instead of wind signs, he showed me the sequence for an Earth Style technique: the Mud Wall.
It was not at all what I expected. Earth isn't about destruction. It's about protection.
At first, I couldn't get it right. Either I poured in too much chakra and the structure crumbled, or conversely, there wasn't enough pressure and only a pathetic bump rose from the ground. Sensei constantly pointed out the same problem - instability. I literally had to learn to "calm" my own chakra.
In the end, I brought in shadow clones. They practiced the seals and chakra distribution over and over, and after dispelling, all the experience returned to me. This sped up the process but didn't make it easy.
By the time we were ready to return to Konoha, I was able to raise a full-fledged, if not perfect, wall at a basic level. It was uneven, with cracks, and lacked the characteristic stone faces Sensei's had, but it performed its function - it protected against enemy attacks.
Meanwhile, we also continued our Taijutsu training. And here, it became especially noticeable how much "fumbling around on your own" differs from real mentorship.
If before our sparring matches with Sasuke had turned into tests of stamina and stubbornness, now Kakashi intervened in every exchange of blows. He would stop the fight at the most inconvenient moment, point out mistakes, and force us to repeat the same movement dozens of times.
On the seventh day after Gato's death, the bridge was officially completed, and our team prepared to return home - back to the Hidden Leaf Village.