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Leaving the mission office, Tiange continued walking toward the Konoha gates.
His cool, clear voice reached all three of them.
“Full speed ahead!”
“Requirement: every target eliminated by end of day.
We return to Konoha tonight.”
“Yes!”, two voices, in unison.
Sasuke and Sakura answered with dead-serious faces.
Tiange turned his head slightly and glanced at Naruto, who was still standing there in a daze.
“Ah…
y-yes!”
Naruto’s entire body went rigid.
He fumbled out his answer in a panic.
By the time the three of them had walked some distance ahead, he finally snapped out of it and scrambled to catch up.
…
“Sakura!”
“Leave the front gate to me.
Circle around, come through the back, and link up with me there.”
“Can you do it?”
“No problem!”
“Remember — Teacher’s requirement is total elimination.
One person escapes and the mission fails.”
“Got it!”
“Hey, hey!”
“Sasuke, what about me?
What do I do?”
“You?”
“Just don’t shake when you see blood.
Don’t make us rescue you.
That’s enough.”
“Sakura, move out.”
“Sure.
Be careful.”
Sakura said that one word to Sasuke, then concealed her presence and slipped away toward the back gate.
Sasuke paused for a brief moment.
His lips moved: you too, but no sound came out.
Tiange had led them to the mission site, told them to handle it themselves, and vanished.
Properly scouting the terrain and counting the enemy numbers took the three of them real effort.
Sasuke took down the guards at the back gate, and they slipped inside.
Naruto was trembling the whole time.
When the guards fell, their blood — still steaming, splashed across him.
He was terrified.
His mind went blank.
He spent the rest of the infiltration in a daze, running on pure instinct, just following Sasuke.
Sakura got spattered too.
Her face went just as pale, her body just as unsteady.
But after a stretch of moving with Sasuke, she pulled herself back together.
When Naruto got the three of them spotted during the enemy count, Sakura was the one who swiftly dealt with the threat.
Sasuke noticed.
She had nearly vomited right then and there, and forced it back down.
He felt no disgust at that.
What he felt was simpler: he had a reliable teammate.
As for Naruto, Sasuke wrote him off.
The guy never shut up in ordinary times, and then he fell apart the moment it counted.
Tiange and Kakashi, who had arrived not long after, watched the whole thing from the shadows.
Tiange showed no reaction at all.
Kakashi, though, was genuinely thrown by that pink-haired girl.
Hard work and willpower, she had both.
This girl was already a qualified ninja.
It had only been two days.
How had she managed it?
Kakashi had done his research on all three members of Team 7.
He knew Sakura’s history.
That was exactly why it stunned him.
From a brainless, lovesick girl to a decisive, battle-ready ninja.
Two days.
Back to the three of them.
Once Sakura moved first, Sasuke didn’t hesitate either.
He slipped silently toward the front gate.
SLAUGHTER!
It had officially begun.
Watching Sasuke become something cold and lethal, Naruto’s trembling gradually stilled.
He was the one dragging everyone down.
That much was obvious now.
Growing up the way he had made Naruto sharp to the emotions of the people around him.
He could feel it, Sasuke’s contempt for him, and his recognition of Sakura.
He had been shut out by both of them.
Was he…
still not good enough?
All I want is to be acknowledged.
Why, why is that so hard?
He remembered.
Every time he had been singled out.
Beaten.
Pelted with stones.
Bloodied over and over.
Money in his pocket that no shop would take, and getting hit and yelled at for trying.
What did I do wrong?
Is it because of the Nine-Tails?
But I’m a person.
Why does everyone treat me this way?
Rage swallowed him whole.
Crimson chakra bled out from his body, wrapping around him, and behind him, a tail slowly took shape.
One-tail Naruto, awakened.
Kakashi saw it and moved to intervene.
Naruto was drawing on the Nine-Tails’ chakra.
“Don’t move.”
Ice.
Cold, dead, and drenched in killing intent.
Kakashi’s body locked up before he even finished the thought.
He understood it clearly: if he stepped out there, this person would kill him.
Not hesitate.
Kill him.
In the clearing, Naruto stared at the bandits bleeding out around him, his eyes flooded red.
“Only by becoming strong will others fear you, dread you, and acknowledge you.”
Tiange’s words from that day surfaced in his mind.
Strong?
If there was no other road left, then there was only one thing to do.
“Kill!”
Naruto’s feet slammed into the ground.
He launched himself at the nearest enemy.
His hands had already become claws.
He drove them straight into the man’s body and wrenched, and the bandit was torn in two.
Blood drenched him from head to toe.
Naruto didn’t notice.
His eyes were already sweeping toward the next one.
“Kill!”
Sasuke had just finished off his own target when Naruto’s roar hit him.
He turned, and caught the exact moment Naruto ripped a man apart with his bare hands.
He went still for two, maybe three seconds.
Then the corner of his mouth pulled up, and he moved faster.
The two of them cut through to the back gate together.
When they found Sakura again, she was drenched as red as they were, clothes soaked through, nothing white left.
The most striking thing, though, was that her long hair was gone.
“Sakura — your hair?”
Naruto saw her and came back to himself, staring.
“Long hair’s too much of a hassle.
I cut it off.” She tilted her head.
“How do I look?”
All three of them were covered in blood, and she was asking about looks.
“Uh…”
“Well…”
Naruto couldn’t get the words out.
Sakura laughed, bright and easy, and looked straight at him.
“Naruto.”
“You were pretty great.”
She glanced over.
“Sasuke, don’t you think so?”
Sasuke looked at Naruto.
The brutal images from moments ago played back through his mind.
He gave a slight nod.
“Not bad at all.”
The three of them looked at each other.
“Ha…”
“Ha ha ha…”
“Ha ha ha ha…”
“Get stronger together?”
“Become the strongest!”
“Dominate the ninja world!”
“All right.”
“You’ve barely learned to walk.”
“And you already want to fly?”
“Clean up.
We’re heading back to Konoha.”
Tiange’s cool voice cut through it all and doused every last spark of their grand ambitions.
“Yes, Teacher!”, three voices, together.
Tiange was already walking ahead, his back to all of them.
The corner of his mouth curved up, just slightly.
Not bad at all, these three.
Kakashi followed at a distance, watching the three behind Tiange.
He had once suggested to Tiange that he test their team spirit.
Now they had it, and it was more solid than any test could have built.
If he had stepped in and stopped Naruto just now, would this moment exist?
He asked himself honestly.
The answer was no.
Naruto still would not have gotten that acknowledgment from the other two.
He kept his eyes on Tiange’s silhouette ahead.
Had Tiange already seen all of this coming?
What a freak.
Tiange had no idea what was going through Kakashi’s mind.
He was thinking about how to train these three going forward.
➤ Next: The Land of Waves Mission
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