“Starting today, all of you are officially shinobi capable of standing on your own.”
Iruka looked over the classroom as he spoke.
“However, you’re still only rookie genin.
The truly difficult part begins now!”
His gaze unconsciously drifted toward Naruto, who was sitting beside Hinata.
Though I’m not sure that boy can still be called a rookie…
Iruka cleared his throat and continued.
“From this point onward, the village will assign missions to you.
You’ll operate in teams of three, with one jōnin instructor assigned to each team.”
“Under your instructor’s guidance, you’ll complete missions issued by the village, receive payment, and accumulate practical experience.”
A three-person team…
Sasuke quietly surveyed the other students.
Aside from Naruto, the rest of them would only slow me down.
Elsewhere, Sakura clasped her hands tightly together.
I absolutely have to be placed on the same team as Sasuke-kun!
Naruto leaned lazily against his desk.
It’ll probably still be Sasuke, Sakura, and me…
He glanced sideways at Hinata.
Though I’d really like to be on the same team as Hinata.
“I’ll now announce the team assignments.”
Iruka opened the roster and began reading the names.
…
“Team Seven—Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and…”
Iruka paused.
Sasuke remained as expressionless as ever.
Naruto still looked as though he had nothing in particular to do.
Sakura clenched her fists beneath the desk, anxiously waiting for the final name.
Hinata, seated beside Naruto, fidgeted nervously.
At the same time, a tiny hope began swelling inside her heart.
Please…
Please let it be me…
“Hyūga Hinata.”
Eh?!
Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata all cried out inwardly at the same time.
Naruto was surprised because their third teammate was not Sakura.
Instead, it was Hinata.
Sakura was devastated.
If she was not placed on the same team as Sasuke, her opportunities to spend time with him would become painfully scarce.
As for Hinata—
Her thoughts had completely stopped.
Her head spun so fiercely that she temporarily lost the ability to process what had just happened.
Sasuke, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm.
He rested his interlocked hands before his mouth and considered the team’s composition.
The Hyūga clan’s Byakugan…
That fills the team’s need for reconnaissance.
Good.
For the most part, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke were all satisfied with the arrangement.
Naturally, not everyone shared that opinion.
One particular dog-loving boy immediately jumped to his feet.
“Iruka-sensei, isn’t that unfair?!”
Kiba pointed toward Team Seven.
“You put the strongest student and the second strongest student on the same team!”
Iruka frowned.
Truthfully, he did not completely understand the decision either.
Under normal circumstances, the Academy tried to balance the overall strength of each team.
But as their teacher, there was no way he could admit that in front of the students.
“This assignment was decided jointly by the Third Hokage and the village’s jōnin.”
Iruka crossed his arms.
“If they arranged the teams this way, then there must be a valid reason.”
Kiba clicked his tongue and sat back down.
He was mostly complaining because he disliked losing.
Still, perhaps this arrangement was better.
If he led Sakura and Shino to surpass Team Seven, then everyone would finally understand that he—not Naruto or Sasuke—was the strongest genin of their generation.
Naruto turned toward Hinata. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Her face was steadily becoming redder, yet she still did not dare turn her head to meet his gaze.
Naruto smiled.
“I’ll be counting on you from now on, Hinata.”
“P-Please take care of me too, Naruto-kun…”
Hinata stammered.
Her cheeks burned so brightly that she seemed ready to bury her entire face inside her collar.
…
After the assignments were announced, the students were given free time.
Most of them immediately left to eat lunch.
Naruto and Sasuke stood upon the eaves outside a second-floor window, casually eating rice balls while talking about nothing in particular.
“There’s something I’ve always wondered about.”
Sasuke gazed toward the blue sky and drifting white clouds.
“Who taught you all those ninjutsu?”
He took another bite of his rice ball.
“If I remember correctly, it was during that sparring lesson when we were six.
You suddenly became much stronger.”
Naruto lowered his head and bit into his own rice ball.
The nori wrapped around it tasted strangely bitter.
“Well…”
He chewed for a moment before answering indistinctly.
“I do have someone I could call my master now, but I only met him after the time you’re talking about.”
“Then how did you learn so much about the Uchiha clan?”
Sasuke bit into his rice ball with unnecessary force, then swallowed.
“If you truly know what happened, then you should understand how badly I want to kill that bastard.”
Naruto swallowed as well.
He noticed a grain of rice stuck to the corner of his mouth, picked it off, and ate it.
Then he fell silent for a moment.
“Actually, Sasuke…”
“The reason I’m stronger than you, and the reason I know about you and Itachi…”
His lips curled into a faint smile.
“…is pretty simple.”
Sasuke finally turned his head.
Naruto grinned.
“Would you believe me if I said I saw the future?”
A slight ripple appeared in Sasuke’s expression.
However, he quickly regained his composure.
“I see.”
His response was surprisingly calm.
“Then what exactly did you see?”
“The usual.”
Naruto had already finished eating.
He brushed the crumbs from his hands, spread both arms wide, and embraced the endless blue sky.
“In that future, I graduated as the class dead-last, while you were the top student.”
“We were both assigned to Team Seven, and Kakashi-sensei became our jōnin instructor.”
Naruto’s smile softened.
“The lonely me and the lonely you eventually formed a deep and irreplaceable bond—”
“Could you stop describing it in such a disgusting way?”
Dark lines appeared across Sasuke’s forehead.
“Hahaha…”
Naruto laughed.
Then he happened to glance toward the ground below.
His eyes immediately lit up.
“Hey!
Hinata!”
Naruto leaned over the edge and waved enthusiastically.
“Up here!”
Hinata had been searching for somewhere quiet to eat her lunch.
Hearing someone call her name, she stopped and looked up.
When she saw Naruto smiling and waving at her, she froze.
Her face turned red almost on instinct. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
“N-Naruto-kun…”
“Come up here, Hinata!”
Hinata hesitated briefly.
Then she leaped onto a nearby tree in the garden and used its branches to reach the eaves where Naruto and Sasuke were standing.
Sasuke shifted aside to make room.
He finished the last bite of his rice ball, drank the remaining water from his bottle, and wiped his mouth.
“Sasuke-kun… Naruto-kun…”
Hinata greeted them with her head lowered.
She carried a bento box wrapped in a cloth decorated with orchid flowers.
“Come on, you can just call us Sasuke and Naruto.”
Naruto welcomed her with almost excessive enthusiasm.
Sasuke gave him a disdainful sideways glance.
“I’m going back to the classroom.”
Naruto responded with a look that clearly said—
Then hurry up and get lost.
Sasuke leaped onto the nearby tree.
After several quick jumps, he disappeared from sight.
“Sasuke-kun…”
Hinata looked slightly hurt.
It seemed as though Sasuke did not welcome her presence.
Naruto waved dismissively.
“Don’t worry about him.
He’s always like that.”
Naruto grinned.
“He acts cold, but he’s actually softhearted.
He’s just an extreme tsundere.”
Then his attention shifted toward Hinata’s lunch.
“That’s a pretty big bento.”
He leaned closer with undisguised curiosity.
“Can I see what’s inside?
I’m actually still hungry, and those rice balls weren’t very good…”
Naruto scratched his cheek and laughed shamelessly.
“Hehe…”
Inside him, Kurama’s mocking voice rang out.
[At least when it comes to shamelessly approaching girls, you’ve already surpassed the version of yourself from those memories.]
[Oh, shut up!]
Hinata lowered her head even further.
“I-I don’t mind…”
Her voice was barely audible.
“My mother always prepares too much, so I can never finish everything by myself…”
…
Sakura followed her teammates, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, as their jōnin instructor, Yūhi Kurenai, led them out of the classroom.
Before leaving, Sakura glanced reluctantly over her shoulder.
Only one team remained inside.
Team Seven.
And Sasuke was still there.
Haah…
Sakura released a deep sigh inside her heart.
“Sakura, hurry up!”
Kiba, who was walking ahead with far too much energy, turned around and called to her.
“Kurenai-sensei said there’s going to be another test!”
He already looked eager to prove himself.
“I’m coming.”
Sakura took one final look through the classroom doorway.
Then she hurried after the two strange boys who had somehow become her teammates.
…
As expected—
Team Seven waited.
And waited.
Then waited some more.
Even Sasuke eventually began showing signs of impatience.
Only then did the classroom door finally slide open.
A masked man with unruly silver hair casually stepped inside.