On Sunset Mountain—
Team 7 moved swiftly through the forest.
“There!”
Sakura pointed ahead.
The four of them stopped a short distance away and briefly surveyed the bandits’ stronghold.
“According to the information we gathered, there are a little over fifty people inside,” Kakashi said.
“I’ll take the lead. You three follow behind and clean up the small fry.”
“Got it.” ×3
Ram!
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
Kakashi created two Shadow Clones, and all three rushed forward together.
When facing large numbers of enemies, the Shadow Clone Jutsu really was one of the most practical techniques available.
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
Naruto also created three clones and joined the attack.
Watching Naruto and Kakashi charge ahead, Sasuke’s expression filled with envy and unwillingness.
He wanted to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu too!
Naruto and Kakashi were much faster than Sasuke and Sakura, so by the time Sasuke caught up, the two of them had already taken down nearly ten enemies.
Unwilling to fall behind, Sasuke immediately unleashed his strongest ninjutsu.
Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”
A three-meter-wide fireball erupted from Sasuke’s mouth and instantly killed everyone hiding inside one of the wooden buildings.
Sakura still couldn’t bring herself to kill anyone.
She stayed close to Sasuke instead, dealing with enemies who tried to ambush them.
Even without Sakura contributing much offensive power, however, the ordinary bandits were still being slaughtered one-sidedly.
Just when everyone thought the outcome had already been decided, a sudden ninjutsu disrupted Team 7’s assault.
“Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!”
“A ninja?”
Kakashi’s expression immediately became serious.
With a Body Flicker, he appeared in front of Sasuke and Sakura.
Snake—Hare—Dog.
“Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!”
Against a B-rank ninjutsu, the C-rank Wind Release technique was easily blocked.
“That old bastard actually had enough money to hire a ninja this strong to deal with us?!”
The bandit chief who had used the Wind Release technique spoke with an ashen expression.
“Boss!”
Seeing their leader appear, the remaining bandits immediately gathered around him.
“Hey, masked ninja!”
The bandit chief could tell that Kakashi was the one in charge.
“I’ll pay you double whatever they offered. How about you let us go?”
Kakashi released the Earth-Style Wall, and Naruto and the others regrouped around him.
Looking at the thirty or so bandits still remaining, Kakashi said,
“Sorry, but ninja have principles.”
“Bullshit!”
The bandit chief spat on the ground.
“You just think you’ll still get paid after killing me, and you’ll be able to take my treasure too! You think I don’t know how filthy you ninja are?”
Kakashi had no interest in arguing with him.
He didn’t know why a mere bandit chief could use ninjutsu, but judging from what he’d seen, the man wasn’t anything special.
At best, he was around Genin level.
Kakashi pulled down his mask, revealing his Sharingan.
[Ding! Detected the Sharingan. Your eyes are extremely envious and have worked hard enough to awaken the One-Tomoe Sharingan!]
Naruto’s eyes flashed briefly before immediately returning to normal.
With a faint smile, Naruto glanced at Kakashi.
“Kakashi-sensei, you’re actually using the Sharingan against some small fry?”
Sharingan?
Sasuke stared at Kakashi in disbelief.
How does he have a Sharingan?
Is Kakashi a member of the Uchiha clan too?
“I want to end this quickly,” Kakashi replied.
“The mission’s difficulty has already risen to B-rank, and I don’t want any more unexpected developments.”
First, their client had died.
Then, ninja had appeared during what was supposed to be a C-rank mission.
Those two surprises reminded Kakashi of something the Third Hokage had told him before—
A mission’s rank was not the same thing as its actual level of danger!
Besides, Sasuke and the others had only graduated a month ago.
If something else went wrong…
Kakashi glanced at Naruto and Sasuke.
Neither of these two could be allowed to die. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
Ox—Hare—Monkey.
“That sequence of hand seals…”
Naruto felt like Kakashi had gone insane.
He was actually using Chidori against a weakling of a bandit chief!
Lightning gathered in Kakashi’s right hand.
The shrill cry of countless birds echoed through the area, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.
“What kind of ninjutsu is that?”
The moment Sasuke asked the question, Kakashi disappeared with a burst of speed.
When he reappeared—
His hand had already pierced straight through the bandit chief’s chest!
“H-How… could this…”
The bandit chief muttered weakly before dying in the middle of more than thirty of his own men.
“Boss!!!”
“Kill him! Avenge the boss!”
Surrounded by more than thirty furious bandits, Kakashi vanished from the spot with another Body Flicker.
“Where’d he go?”
The bandits frantically looked around for him.
They failed to notice that Naruto and Sasuke had already rushed forward.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!” ×2
Two massive fireballs swept in from opposite directions.
The remaining thirty-odd bandits were wiped out in one fell swoop.
As their coordinated attack ended, Sasuke gave Naruto a meaningful glance.
He hadn’t expected Naruto to know the Great Fireball Technique too.
Sasuke had originally thought he still held an advantage over Naruto when it came to offensive ninjutsu.
But now…
“Good work!”
“You too, Sakura.”
Kakashi, who had returned after finishing off the survivors, praised all three of them.
Sasuke remained expressionless.
Naruto looked as lazy as ever.
Sakura could only give a bitter smile.
Compared to ordinary Genin, Sakura was already quite capable.
But compared to Naruto and Sasuke, she couldn’t help feeling that she was far too weak.