"Violent — Leaf Adamantine-Strength Whirlwind!"
"Rasengan!"
In a sudden burst, blue chakra appeared around Might Guy's leg, greatly increasing the power of his taijutsu move. What took Senshi by surprise, though, was the ninjutsu Kakashi used.
Because Naruto wasn't using the Rasengan to fight at this point in time, for a moment Senshi had forgotten all about that technique.
But it didn't strike him as odd that Kakashi would know Rasengan. In the anime, Kakashi had shown he could use it when teaching Naruto how to perform the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
Boom!
Rumble…
Might Guy's Leaf Adamantine-Strength Whirlwind collided violently with Kakashi's Rasengan. The result was a shock to Guy. His formidable attack barely held out for a moment before it was dissolved by Kakashi's Rasengan.
Immediately afterward, a terrifying force slammed into his body, sending him flying. Kakashi had controlled the amount of chakra precisely, so Guy was simply knocked away without suffering injury.
Meanwhile, guarded by his Lightning Release Armor, Kakashi stood completely unharmed and unshaken by the clash.
All told, their scuffle was extremely brief— no more than twenty moves in total— but Guy was resoundingly defeated.
During that short bout, Guy noticed many unusual changes.
Kakashi's fighting style was more seasoned than ever, as though he had lived through hundreds of harsh battles in the short time since they'd last met.
What's more, Kakashi's physical toughness had risen dramatically, so much so that Guy's moves couldn't keep pace with his speed.
After the exchange, Guy no longer pressed the attack. Instead, he raised a thumb and praised Kakashi lavishly, "Kakashi, you truly are a genius of Konoha. It hasn't been long since our last match, but you've already grown so much stronger!
"Your talent is truly astounding. Having a genius like you as my eternal rival will make my youth burn all the more fiercely!"
At this point, it was as if he had flipped Rock Lee's switch. Lee looked up at Guy, then both teacher and student nodded, bared their teeth in broad grins, and raised their thumbs as they declared in unison:
"This is youth without regrets!"
After that brief demonstration of camaraderie, Kakashi finally seized the chance to correct something Guy had said.
He told Guy very seriously, "Guy, you've got it wrong. The reason my strength has soared so quickly doesn't come from talent. It comes from hard work.
"Every shinobi has a limit to their natural talent, but there's no limit to hard work! Compared to talent, hard work can create far greater miracles!"
Might Guy: (O_O)???
Rock Lee: (O_O)???
Neji: (O_O)???
Tenten: (O_O)???
Kakashi's words left all four members of Guy's team dumbfounded.
Talent is limited, but hard work is unlimited? Hard work creates bigger miracles than talent?
Coming from Kakashi, known as Konoha's ultimate prodigy, was that really okay? And was it actually true?
In the world of shinobi, wasn't the usual logic that if you didn't have outstanding talent, you had to put in extraordinary effort just to catch up to the geniuses?
Yet what Kakashi said sounded plausible, too.
Having expressed his viewpoint, Kakashi then relayed the Third Hokage's orders to them.
"Guy, Neji, Lee, Tenten— Lord Hokage has instructions for you all."
At his words, the four of them instantly focused. With a serious expression, Might Guy asked, "Kakashi, what does Lord Hokage need us to do?"
As Guy asked, Neji, Lee, and Tenten all turned to look at Kakashi. Kakashi inclined his head slightly, then introduced Senshi.
"This is Lord Senshi. Lord Hokage hopes that from here on out, you will train under him and follow his commands."
Team Guy: (O_O)???
Kakashi's statement left them all at a loss. So they were to accept Senshi's training and also take orders from him? Could that really be fine? Senshi wasn't even a Konoha shinobi.
While the four stood there in shock, Kakashi went on, "Not only that— you're to strive under Lord Senshi's guidance to join his mercenary group as soon as possible. That's the mission Lord Hokage has given you."
"Huh?" Kakashi's words rendered Guy speechless. Neji, Lee, and Tenten also looked stunned, unable to figure out why Lord Hokage had decided on such arrangements.
Guy asked uncertainly, "Kakashi, did I hear right? The four of us will receive guidance from this man and also join his mercenary group?"
Kakashi nodded emphatically. "That's correct, Guy. This is Lord Hokage's order. By the way, the reason my own strength shot up so fast is also because I joined Lord Senshi's mercenary group.
"It's not just me— Naruto, Sasuke, and those four elite Ame nin who took part in the Chūnin Exams are also members of his group."
That revelation astonished Guy and his three students. They couldn't help looking at Senshi again.
Guy, who has trouble remembering faces, hadn't paid close attention to people's looks. When Kakashi introduced Senshi, his first reaction was that Senshi seemed familiar, as if he'd seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't recall the details. Thinking hard brought no further clues.
He mumbled to himself, "So this red-haired guy is that skilled? He's the reason Kakashi's strength soared? And Naruto, Sasuke, plus those elite Ame nin all learned under him. No wonder Lord Hokage wants us under his guidance!"
That thought brought a spark of anticipation. Guy began to look forward to boosting his own power under Senshi, so he could have another match against Kakashi.
Unlike the face-blind Guy, Neji, Lee, and Tenten hadn't met Senshi many times either, but they all recognized the name of the famed "Lord Senshi."
They were deeply impressed by his teaching ability—
After all, the six "elite" Ame nin had started from almost nothing, and five of them had formerly been refugees. Yet with fewer than six months of training under Senshi, they managed to break into the top eight of this Chūnin Exam. With that precedent, Neji, Lee, and Tenten didn't really mind Lord Hokage's orders.
Just then, Guy, staring intently at Senshi, paused and said with a frown, "Your name is…?"
Senshi knew all too well about Guy's lack of face-recognition, so he responded casually, "I'm the leader of the Senshi Mercenary Group— Uzumaki Senshi. During the Chūnin Exams, I was in the stands alongside Uzumaki Karin, not far from you and Kakashi. Maybe that's where you saw me."
With Senshi's reminder, Guy finally recalled more. Yes, he'd seen Senshi many times in the audience stands during the Exams, though his impression was only that much. Now, he gave up on the matter and asked, "Lord Senshi, so from here on out, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and I will train with you?"
Senshi nodded. "Yes. For a while, you four will follow my training program. I've been commissioned by Lord Hokage to give you proper instruction so you can reach the standards for joining my mercenary group in the shortest time possible."
Guy nodded vigorously. "Understood, Lord Senshi! Since this is Lord Hokage's request, our team will carry it out without fail!"
Senshi saw Team Guy as the perfect squad for "farming missions." If missions were dungeons, then Guy and Lee were like relentless grinding machines, endlessly farming EXP with sheer energy alone. Neji was the rare, and the most gifted of Konoha aside from Naruto and Sasuke. And Tenten? She was the kind of player who, through sheer dumb luck, might open a random chest and pull a legendary drop on the first try aka Sage of Six Paths Weapons.
Training them all would naturally provide him with plenty of commission points—
And the best part was, these four were paying him to do the work!
With Team Guy now aware of their assignment, Senshi began leading Guy, Lee, Neji, and Tenten to the black market to "farm missions" and increase their bond value.
Guy and Lee were ecstatic; after all, that was the training style they'd been using. Neji and Tenten were at a loss— they'd just told Guy-sensei they needed a different approach. Yet now that Lord Hokage had assigned them to Senshi, they were doing the same old thing? Really?
Still, neither Neji nor Tenten voiced any objection at first, because they weren't sure whether Senshi was simply starting off in the black market like Guy-sensei did, or if there might be other forms of training soon.
But before long, they discovered that, yes, Lord Senshi really did take them straight back to the black market to farm missions endlessly, just as Guy-sensei had!
When they returned to the hall after turning in their tasks, Neji immediately turned to Senshi, asking, "Lord Senshi, for Tenten and me, this kind of training doesn't seem to be doing much.
"These past days, we've been training the same way with Guy-sensei, yet Tenten and I aren't seeing any obvious improvement."
After he spoke, Tenten also looked at Senshi with a pitiful expression. Guy and Lee had paused as well, gazing at Senshi in confusion— if this method was supposed to help all four of them, shouldn't it be working for Neji and Tenten, too?
Guy added, "Lord Senshi, maybe Neji and Tenten really just aren't suited to this special training method?"
Hearing their concerns, Senshi shook his head. "Not at all. Don't worry— if you do what I say, you'll be fine. You're already progressing quickly, and you'll see the results soon."
What he meant by "progress" was, of course, their bond value with him. But that wasn't something he could explain, and he didn't need to. By nighttime, the benefits would likely be apparent to them.
His answer didn't fully settle Neji's and Tenten's doubts, but because this was Lord Hokage's assignment, they had no choice but to comply. After that minor interruption, they kept following Senshi to complete missions and build bond value.
Before they even left the black market, though, they bumped into a familiar group: Karin and seven others, alongside Kakashi.
Seeing Senshi, the eight younger "farmers" raced over.
"Lord Senshi!"
"Sensei!"
"Headmaster!"
All of them were excited to see him. Aside from the brother-sister pair from the Raimon family, Naruto and the others had scratched quite a few cards in that time and gotten a variety of rewards.
Senshi nodded lightly to them. Then he looked behind the group toward the crestfallen Raimon Yukika and Raimon Hayate and said, "Don't lose heart, you two— you're improving quickly. You'll be able to join the mercenary group soon."
The siblings, who had been looking so down, immediately brightened at his encouragement, their motivation rekindled. They'd been enjoying doing missions with Naruto and the rest, just envied how others got to scratch for rewards, which left them feeling a bit down. But now they had Senshi's reassurance!
At this point, Naruto turned to Senshi. "Sensei, are you here to do missions too, or did you come for something else?"
Beside him, Sasuke glanced at Team Guy and commented, "Sensei probably came to handle other business."
Karin also gave Team Guy a curious look, then asked Senshi, "Senshi, are you leading a group on missions?"
Senshi patted Karin on the head and answered lightly, "I'm here in cooperation with Lord Hokage. Karin, did you get anything good from the scratch cards lately?"
Upon hearing that, Karin proudly took out a small box from Kamui Space to show him. "Senshi, I haven't actually scratched much yet! But check it out— I've been stockpiling a bunch of cards, and I'm sure I'll pull all sorts of awesome things! I plan to save even more!"
Senshi was somewhat stunned to see Karin's hoard— it wasn't just ten or so scratch cards; she had dozens! If she kept going, Karin could very well do a "hundred-card draw" at some point.
He couldn't help but ask, "Karin, how'd you gather so many scratch-offs?"
Before Karin could answer, Naruto blurted, "Senshi, Karin-chan has been hogging all the high-value transport missions by brute force! And with her space-time jutsu, she's unbelievably fast at finishing them.
"If she took missions as fairly as we do, I'd definitely have more cards than she does!"
At that, Karin stuck out her tongue at Naruto. "Narudo, you can't even beat Sasuke— how're you supposed to beat me?"
"I've beaten Sasuke quite a few times," Naruto retorted indignantly, "and don't underestimate my growth! I'll definitely surpass you!"
Karin didn't bother arguing; she simply opened up her box, revealing at least fifty neatly arranged scratch cards inside. Without a word, the sight alone spelled out the gap between her and Naruto.
Seeing that, Naruto promptly gave up. While the rest of them trained steadily, Karin had found a "cheat code," and there was no competing with that.
Naruto's gaze shifted behind Senshi and landed on a very recognizable head of bushy eyebrows. He brightened at once. "Oh! Lee, so you're all here in the black market training too? We heard you were also doing mission farming, but we never ran into you until now."
Lee nodded earnestly at the question. "Yes, Guy-sensei's been having us train this way. And just now, we started doing missions with Lord Senshi!"
"Hahaha!" Naruto couldn't help laughing out loud. He knew that mission grinding alone wouldn't produce much benefit unless you followed the entire process.
Previously, whenever they did mission-based training, Senshi's Wood Clone would coach them further at night, and on top of that, he'd do lottery draws so they could earn rewards. Not too long ago, he'd made the process even more amazing through these scratch-off cards— but you had to join his mercenary group to earn commissions and get the miraculous cards.
Once he'd had a good laugh, Naruto said to Lee, "Lee, just grinding tasks on its own won't do much. You've gotta do everything involved!"
Naruto assumed Lee and his friends still didn't know that. Just like Kakashi-sensei used to be, maybe they only knew how to do mission after mission and hadn't realized that joining the mercenary group was the real key.
But Kakashi poured cold water on him: "Alright, Naruto, Lee and his team already know about Lord Senshi's mercenary group. They're working to join it right now."
Naruto: (O_O)???
That left Naruto frozen in place. He'd been feeling so smug about revealing the "truth" to them, but they already knew. Pulling a scratch card from his pocket, he showed it to Lee and said uncertainly, "Lee, have you guys joined Senshi's mercenary group yet? Do you have any of these scratch cards?"
Truth was, Team Guy had already been wondering about those cards, particularly after seeing Karin showing Senshi so many. They'd been curious what the cards were for.
Spotting the card in Naruto's hand, Lee couldn't help asking, "We haven't joined Lord Senshi's group yet, so we haven't gotten any. But what do these scratch cards do? And why does Karin-chan have so many while you only have one?"
Hearing that, Naruto didn't feel like explaining how Karin had monopolized the more profitable missions. After all, who could compete with someone who could warp around using a space-time jutsu?
"Pfft!" Karin giggled upon seeing Naruto's put-out expression. Sasuke and the others looked at Karin's box of cards with envy. Having used quite a few scratch cards themselves, they fully understood just how valuable that box was.
After a brief silence, Naruto resumed explaining the card to Lee. "Lee, this is a magical scratch-off card. Once you scratch it, no matter what prize you get, you receive it right away."
Lee: (O_O)???
Guy was also intrigued. "Naruto, you mean it grants an immediate reward? What sort of reward?"
Neji frowned. "Instant reward? Is that really possible?"
Naruto answered Guy first: "Guy-sensei, once you scratch this magical card, it turns into whatever prize you drew."
"Huh?" This was the first time Guy had ever heard of anything like that, and he stared wide-eyed in disbelief. Neji, Lee, and Tenten were also thunderstruck. A card that literally changed into a physical reward— was that even something ninjutsu could achieve?
After responding to Guy, Naruto turned to Neji's query. "It sounds crazy, but it's true. Here, I'll show you."
With that, Naruto casually scratched the card. A line of small text became visible:
[Fūma Shuriken x1]
Next came the real miracle. Right before their very eyes, the scratch-off in Naruto's hand instantly transformed into a huge Fūma Shuriken. Even Neji, equipped with the Byakugan, was left at a loss for how it happened.
Neji exclaimed in amazement, "How is that possible? What kind of jutsu is that?"
Guy and Lee nearly dropped their jaws. The two of them studied the massive Fūma Shuriken in Naruto's hand in detail, astonished.
Seeing how gobsmacked they were, Naruto's confidence soared. Feeling smug, he continued explaining the cards to Guy's team:
"These scratch-offs are an exclusive perk of Sensei's mercenary group. Every time a member accumulates two million ryō, they automatically get one of these miracle cards."
Neji couldn't help cutting in, "How does Lord Senshi hand out these cards? And does that mean you literally get whatever prize you scratch?"
Naruto scratched his head. "I have no idea how Sensei actually gives them to us, but as soon as you earn two million in commissions, a card just appears in front of you."
"And yeah, whatever the scratch says, that's exactly what you get! The craziest part is, sometimes you can even get Ichiraku Ramen!"
When Naruto finished, Lee flashed a huge thumbs-up. "Even Ichiraku Ramen is a prize? That's incredible!"
Neji couldn't help feeling at a loss. Lee had been instantly led astray by Naruto's story about ramen. With these cards proving more and more intriguing, Neji pressed further.
"Naruto, do you know what other rewards these scratch cards might grant?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, though there's a huge variety. Let me think."
He paused, deliberated briefly, then went on. "You might get shuriken, kunai, soldier pills, explosive tags, basically any sort of ninja tool. You might also get various ninjutsu or chakra, plus some items I don't even know how to categorize."
Naruto's casual explanation made Neji instantly pick up on the key point, and he frowned. "If you scratched a ninjutsu or chakra, how does that even work?"
Guy, Lee, and Tenten were equally curious— especially regarding 'chakra.' If you pulled 'chakra,' how would that be delivered?
As they wondered, Naruto clarified: "If you get a ninjutsu, it doesn't matter what it is— you learn it in one second. If it's chakra, your total chakra reserves go up immediately."
Guy: (O_O)???
Neji: (O_O)???
Lee: (O_O)???
Tenten: (O_O)???
That left the four of them dumbstruck. Could something like that truly be done?
All of them glanced at Senshi, and given their trust in Naruto plus what they'd just witnessed, they began to believe it.
Besides, in just half a year, Senshi had transformed a handful of refugees into elite ninjas surpassing what four of the great villages could muster— so him creating such miracles was hardly surprising.
Now that they understood the scratch cards' powers, Neji's group couldn't help turning their eyes to Karin again. After all, these "magical cards" from Senshi's mercenary group offered a myriad of incredible rewards, and Karin had already saved dozens of them— terrifying indeed! Who knew how many treasures she might obtain?
With this new understanding, Might Guy and Lee's interest in Senshi's mercenary group grew even stronger. Neji and Tenten, on the other hand, felt more torn.
If a miraculous tool like this had been introduced by Konoha, they would likely accept it without hesitation. But Senshi wasn't a Konoha shinobi, and there had never been anything like this in Konoha's history. Naturally, they felt more cautious and wary.
On Naruto's side, Lee tore his eyes off Karin's box of cards and looked toward Naruto and Sasuke with an unwavering fighting spirit. "Naru-to, Sasu-ke! I'm going to do my best to join Lord Senshi's mercenary group as soon as I can!"
"Once I'm in, I can adopt the same training approach as you to strengthen myself. I'll prove through hard work that even an ordinary shinobi can surpass geniuses like you!"
At that, Sasuke responded coolly with only one word: "Boring."
Naruto, however, declared, "Lee, I won't lose to you! Don't underestimate my hard work!"
Lee replied earnestly, "Naru-to, I'll push myself even harder until I catch you— and then I'll beat you!"
Naruto laughed aloud. "Great, let's see which of us can farm more missions!"
While Naruto and Lee went on about joining the mercenary group, Senshi couldn't help smiling.
Initially, he'd been trying to figure out how to raise Team Guy's bond value quickly. Though he had several ideas, he wasn't certain about their effectiveness. Now, encountering Naruto's team had given them firsthand insight into how beneficial joining the group was, which increased their connection and brought them that much closer to joining.
As Naruto and Lee kept talking, Senshi turned to Karin, who was beaming as she clutched her stash of scratch cards. "Karin, why are you stockpiling so many scratch cards?"
Asked that, Karin tilted her head thoughtfully. "I'm not really sure! But just thinking about what I might get from them makes me happy, and seeing the pile get bigger and bigger makes me even happier. I'm gonna save up a whole bunch more!"
Senshi couldn't help feeling amused and exasperated. "So are you going to do missions with me next, then?"
Karin hurriedly took out a stack of commission requests she'd monopolized. "I'm gonna finish these first, then I'll come find you, Senshi!"
Senshi nodded. For the next little while, he'd be busy helping Team Guy join his mercenary group, and letting Karin amuse herself on her own wouldn't be an issue.
After that minor episode, both sides resumed their tasks: Senshi continued taking Guy's team to build bond value, while Kakashi led Naruto and the other eight to sweep the black markets around the Land of Fire.
Thanks to Naruto's personal testimony, Guy and Lee grew all the more eager to join Senshi's mercenary group. Although Neji and Tenten also found themselves intrigued, they still felt cautious about the idea and intended to observe further.
As he kept guiding Team Guy, Senshi watched their bond values closely. All four were progressing quickly, especially Guy and Lee.
~~~
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