The next to chime in was Tenten. Tenten rested her head on the table, looking utterly exhausted. "And the teachers! Having a teacher who doesn't understand what it means to be a girl is just despair! We have to wake up at four-thirty every morning to train. My skin, oh!"
Ino hugged Sasuke's arm, complaining in agreement, "Exactly! These old men just don't understand how to be considerate to girls. Secondhand smoke also harms the skin greatly, and they won't even quit when asked. Sasuke, do you think my skin has gotten worse?"
Saying this, she waved her fair forearm in front of Sasuke.
Sasuke hadn't paid any attention to this and had no idea how to answer. He suddenly remembered what a certain blond had told him: when you don't know how to answer, just say "mm." Sasuke calmly said, "Mm."
Ino immediately went ballistic. "Ahhh, when I get back, I'm going to strangle him!!"
Choji scooped up a large pile of meat, stuffed it all into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and then revealed the essence of the matter with a single word: "Delicious."
Despite Ino sounding the fiercest, in the original story, when Asuma died, she cried more miserably than Kurenai.
The conversation that followed was completely dominated by the girls. It was fine when males and females were separate, but when they gathered, if there were many girls, the boys usually had little chance to speak.
Especially when, on the boys' side, two couldn't speak, one was a lazy bum, one only knew how to eat, one glared fixedly at Naruto, one chatted with a dog, and one treated eating as training—then it was even more impossible to get a word in.
Oh, and there was the one with zero presence.
The scene was a cacophony of chatter, severely interrupting Naruto and Shikamaru's conversation.
Fortunately, Shikamaru had long anticipated this kind of situation. He had already asked all the useful information, pulled out earplugs, put them in his ears, leaned back, propped himself up with his hands, and sighed while looking at the ceiling. "Ugh, women are such a pain."
Naruto looked at his brother-in-law opposite him, who was staring fixedly. Do I have a grudge with you, why are you looking at me like that?
Then he picked up a grilled chicken heart and placed it on Hinata's plate, and with his other hand, gave a piece of spatial meat to Akamaru, who had run back again.
In this noisy environment, the two seemed to exist in their own world, completely unaffected by the outside.
Because Naruto still had an assessment, the entire gathering dispersed by ten o'clock. Although the gathering had a theme—celebrating Naruto's return and Sakura's housewarming—aside from a few toasts in the middle, everyone just talked about whatever came to mind. They were usually too busy, and gatherings were rare, so they had to talk their fill.
This particular gathering was only possible because Sakura had used her connections to ask Tsunade to rearrange the missions.
From the results, the guests were very satisfied. As for the host...
Walking on the small path of the training ground, Sakura kept patting Sasuke's clothes, as if trying to dispel a smell, her heart filled with regret.
Did my brain just turn to mush? How could I invite Ino?
Arriving at the familiar wooden stakes, Naruto sat down, released the Heavenly Prison Fire Sword, dispelled it after it formed, and then released it again, practicing its condensation speed.
Sasuke sat beside him, crackling with lightning, occasionally sparking with electricity, also practicing.
Sakura, ever considerate, sat to one side, her eyes fixed on Sasuke in a lovesick daze.
The situation was much like before he left, only the things they practiced were different. Because the trio had never forgotten their original intentions: Naruto still wanted to slay gods, Sasuke still wanted to kill his brother, and Sakura still wanted to add "Uchiha" before her name.
When the time felt right, Naruto stopped practicing the Fire Sword and sat cross-legged, hands on his knees, assuming a meditative, cultivation stance.
On a giant tree outside the training ground, Tsunade stood on a branch, glanced at her watch—it was only 10:45 AM—and asked, "Does it take him that long to enter Sage Mode?"
Jiraiya leaned against the tree trunk. "He just learned it, so being slow is normal. Plus, that kid has too much chakra."
Others couldn't detect it, but Jiraiya could sense the surging natural energy flowing towards Naruto from all directions.
Naruto did enter Sage Mode a bit slower than in the original story, which was normal. You couldn't expect someone with 4 cards of chakra and someone with 400 cards of chakra to enter Sage Mode at the same speed. That would violate the conservation of energy, and the flow rate of natural energy isn't light speed; transference takes time too.
"Can't he be faster?" Tsunade asked. Too much time—shinobi battles wouldn't give him that much leeway.
"He can use Shadow Clones. He also said he has another method, but he didn't elaborate."
Time slowly passed as the two chatted.
Jiraiya wondered, "Logically, he has teleportation, so he should just pull a Myōboku Mountain clone over. He shouldn't need all this preparation."
"Then he's doing it on purpose." Tsunade chuckled softly, then abruptly turned her head, meeting his horizontally slit pupils. "Isn't that right?"
"Indeed." Naruto admitted it with surprising ease. "Since Lady Hokage has come to personally observe, there's no need for so many ANBU, is there?"
"How many?"
"Seventeen."
"Seventeen, huh," Tsunade murmured. Including her own guards and message carriers, she had arranged fourteen. The extra three were obviously someone else's.
"Fu, Shion, go inform them to withdraw. Tell them it's the Hokage's command." Tsunade's tone was firm, brooking no doubt.
Two figures leaped down from the tree, saluting. "Cough cough... Yes, ma'am."
Then they flickered and disappeared.
Naruto retreated even faster than them.
"What are you afraid of?" Jiraiya was even more perplexed. Was there anything this kid feared?
I'm afraid of tuberculosis infection.
Naruto waved. "Then I'll go first."
After he left, Tsunade looked at where Naruto had been standing. Two seconds later, she said in a low voice, "He's much more formidable than you were back then. You almost made a fool of yourself."
"Perfectly blending into nature, it's not that easy to sense."
"I told you, you're just as unmotivated as Kakashi! I said you've been surpassed!"
"Isn't it normal for a student to surpass his master?"
As the two chatted, on the other side, Naruto crept up behind someone hidden behind a tree. In fact, Naruto had understated earlier; there were eighteen in total.
Reaching out, Naruto patted his shoulder, mimicking Konohamaru's voice. "Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?"
Iruka jumped in surprise, then angrily said, "Konohamaru, you again... Naruto?"
Naruto was a little surprised himself when he first sensed Iruka, but then he quickly understood. This was a teacher who worried if his student would get into trouble even after leaving school. Knowing that Naruto had returned to the village and coming to check was perfectly normal. So, as a student, Naruto decided to come over and say hello, but he didn't interact much with Iruka, and didn't know how to start, so he had to resort to mischief.
As for who leaked the news of this test to him, Naruto suspected it was a certain 'Dead Fish,' given that those two always inexplicably encountered each other.
"How... how did you find me?" Iruka was flustered for less than a second, then reverted to his serious classroom demeanor, maintaining his authority.
To avoid being discovered, he was almost out of the visible range, and he had even specially brought binoculars.
Naruto pointed to his eyes. "Sage Mode, the sensing range is very large."
Indeed, it was large. The entire Land of Fire was within his sensing range.
"No wonder," Iruka secretly put away his binoculars. "I saw Sasuke over there too?"
Naruto pretended not to notice his small actions. "Yeah, I dragged him back."
"That's great, everyone's back."
"He'll leave after the test. He can't stay still," Naruto explained simply, then suddenly changed the subject. "By the way, Iruka-sensei, do you remember where I went after I first spoke to you?"
"I remember. You two turned around and ran off. I searched on the rooftop for a long time but didn't see anyone. Why are you suddenly asking this?"
"Seeing Iruka-sensei here makes me a little nostalgic," Naruto lied effortlessly.
Sage Mode could sense people, but whether the sensed person was the actual individual was uncertain. After all, some unknown creatures could even simulate chakra.
But now he was sure it was him. Naruto changed the subject again: "Iruka-sensei, aren't you going to watch?"
"No, I won't. It's easy to disturb you all. It's fine to just watch from here."
"What's there to disturb? My master and the Hokage are also over there. We can watch together."
"No, no, it's too restrictive."
Naruto invited him a few more times, but finding his Talk no Jutsu no match for Iruka, he gave up. Seeing that time was almost up, he waved his hand, opened a portal, and bid farewell: "It's about to start. I'll go first. The range might be very wide later, Iruka-sensei, please be careful."
"Okay," Iruka nodded with satisfaction. Compared to before, he had truly grown. Wait, am I not safe here either?
As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a huge box flying towards the forest in the sky. He muttered to himself, "It seems, it really isn't safe."
At the training ground, Naruto caught the Gekko Soundbox, dragged it to one side, and activated its full-range background music: "993..."
Then, he returned to the wooden stakes, waiting for Kakashi to appear.
At exactly eleven o'clock, Kakashi appeared precisely behind the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
"Are you trying to deafen me?" Kakashi scratched his ear. You sensed me, you could have just called me out.
"You hid too well, I didn't sense you."
"Forget it, let's not talk about this," Kakashi rolled his eyes. I know you too well.
He asked, "Why is Sasuke here too?"
"Yesterday you said 'gather.' How can one person coming be called 'gathering'? Am I right?"
"I guess so." A smile formed under his mask. Even with immense strength, his primary test objective was always whether they cared about their comrades. If even one of the three didn't show up, the final result of this exam would be a failure.
As for whether they could defeat him, that was secondary. At worst, he'd just concede, since they always called him a high-salt dead fish anyway.
Since the first stage was passed, it was time for the second step. Kakashi said seriously, "Alright, the test begins after I say 'start.' First point: do not use high-power ninjutsu."
This point had to be emphasized. Kakashi always advocated against using high-power ninjutsu on comrades, but Naruto and Sasuke never cared about this during their sparring. Whether it was Rasengan or Chidori, they'd just blast it, as long as they didn't hit the head or certain vital organs, and no one died on the spot.
It was as if they didn't treat each other as human beings at all.
The trio nodded.
"Very good. Now, second point... never mind."
"Don't worry, I'll fight with the resolve to kill you," Naruto stood up and faced him.
Kakashi said helplessly, "That, you can skip."
"That, I must have."
"Alright, jokes aside." Kakashi glanced at his watch. This time, he didn't set an alarm but directly commanded, "Now, begin."
The moment his words fell, Naruto gave Sasuke a look, and both instantly vanished from their spots, one to the left, one to the right.
In the center of the field, Sakura clenched her fists and walked towards Kakashi, smiling faintly, "Sensei, are you going to dismiss yourself, or shall I help you?"
"Was I discovered?" Kakashi looked up at the sky.
A rough start, indeed.
A gust of wind blew, and the Kakashi in front of Sakura dissipated with it.
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