The next day dawned bright and clear as he stood waiting at the village gate with a backpack slung over his shoulder, ready for departure.
"Come back safely," Naruto called out, waving enthusiastically as Sora and Kakashi departed from the village and left for their mission.
After their figures had completely disappeared into the distance and were no longer visible, Naruto immediately ran as fast as she could to the academy. Today marked the start of their second year at the academy and she was determined to arrive on time and not be late.
She had spent a considerable amount of time training intensively with Sora during the extended break when school was off for vacation. She wanted to show off her improved skills and abilities to Sasuke and impress the other girls in her class.
Upon arriving in the classroom everyone immediately turned to look at her but was quite surprised and taken aback that she was not accompanied by Sora as usual.
They had always been seen together practically everywhere, so this was the first time the other students had ever seen her alone without him by her side.
One of the girls in the class smiled mockingly and confidently walked up to Naruto with a smug expression.
"Hm, did he finally get bored of you," she smiled with obvious satisfaction.
Naruto turned to face her directly and smirked in response.
"Of course not, he has already graduated from the academy and is currently on a mission with Kakashi," she replied firmly.
The girl looked absolutely incredulous and disbelieving.
"Stop lying to everyone, someone like him would never willingly choose to spend time with you of all people. You probably forced him to spend time with you or blackmailed him somehow," she said with clear venom and hostility in her voice.
The other students in the classroom listened in complete shock at her harsh words. Naruto's brows furrowed deeply as she was getting increasingly angry at the accusations.
"Shut up!" She shouted loudly. "What do you even know about our relationship, he doesn't even look at you or acknowledge your existence when you try to talk to him," she said defensively.
"Damn," someone muttered quietly from somewhere in the back of the classroom.
The girl's eyes looked shocked and stunned. Naruto was never particularly good with words and verbal arguments, and she normally resorted to physical fighting to solve her problems. This sharp comeback was something the girl and the rest of the class didn't expect to hear from her.
The girl grit her teeth in frustration and anger.
"Your just an orphan with no parents who cares about you," she shouted back in turn, trying to hurt Naruto.
Unknown to her there was another boy sitting in the classroom that was also an orphan, but he had just recently and tragically lost his entire family in a massacre.
He glared coldly and menacingly at the girl with dark eyes.
"Silence, if you don't shut your mouth right now I'll shut it for you." He said coldly with a threatening tone.
The girl's eyes looked and turned to him in complete shock and surprise.
"Sasuke-kun-"
"Didn't I tell you to close your mouth?" He asked with a hint of genuine killing intent detectable in his voice.
The girl took a step back fearfully and put her head down in submission before quietly walking back to her seat and sitting down without another word.
The other classmates watched in surprised amazement at the sudden and dramatic change in the situation.
They didn't expect the normally happy, cheerful, and hardworking kid in their class to suddenly turn so cold, distant, and emo after coming back to the academy following the tragedy.
Naruto stared at Sasuke carefully, her expression completely unreadable. She walked up purposefully and sat down in the seat next to him.
"Thanks Sasuke," she smiled warmly and gratefully at him.
Sasuke didn't even glance at her or acknowledge her presence.
"I wasn't helping you specifically, she was just being annoying and I wanted her to stop talking," he said calmly and dismissively.
The door clicked open loudly as Iruka entered his classroom. He looked around in suspicion and confusion as the whole class was unusually quiet and subdued.
He thought maybe someone had set up an elaborate prank on him so he stayed on high alert and watched carefully, but after a few minutes nothing unusual happened.
"Ok class I have an important announcement to make," he said to the assembled class. "It's about Sora," he added for clarification.
Now the entire class was focused and paying complete attention. Even the brooding Sasuke stopped staring out the window and started paying attention.
"Sora has applied for early graduation from the academy and has successfully become a genin," he announced to the class.
The class immediately fell into an uproar of shocked exclamations and disbelieving murmurs. Sasuke's eyes were wide open in complete shock and disbelief. He couldn't believe that he kept letting Sora surpass him and leave him behind once again.
He grit his teeth hard in frustration and balled his hand into a tight fist. He knew exactly what he needed to do next to catch up.
Deep within a random forest, Sora and Kakashi had concealed themselves atop a tall tree, their bodies perfectly still among the branches. Kakashi's keen eye watched Sora's every single action with intense scrutiny so that he could accurately and thoroughly report everything back to the Hokage.
Sora, on the other hand, was entirely focused and concentrated on the bandit camp that was situated inside the depths of the forest below them. He carefully studied and observed every single one of the bandits present with a dead calm expression on his face, his eyes never wavering from his targets.
He meticulously watched each and every movement they made, paying close attention to the random twitches of their muscles, the subtle accent in their speech patterns, the nervous ticks and habits, and absolutely everything else he could possibly notice and catalog about them.
For his next carefully calculated plan, he watched each one of them in complete and total silence, his breathing controlled and measured. It had been an entire day since he had first arrived at this location and started his detailed observation of the camp.
Though there were some women trapped and held captive in cages within the camp, he didn't do anything to help them yet. As of right now, if he acted too hastily and prematurely it would be extremely dangerous to them and put their lives at risk. The bandits might very well take them as hostages and use them as leverage or human shields.
After gathering and collecting enough information about their patterns and routines, he waited patiently for the scout patrol to switch and rotate positions. His carefully crafted plan had officially begun and was now set into motion.
He watched intently as two people returned from their patrol route and two new people headed out into the forest in their place to take over the watch. He silently left the tree where he had been hiding and concealed himself in the shadows of the forest, following the two departing scouts silently and carefully without making a single sound.
He ran ahead quickly and positioned himself at a tree that they would inevitably pass directly under based on their patrol route. The precise moment they were about to pass beneath it, he deliberately shook the tree branches and used a transformation jutsu, transforming himself into one of the falling leaves that cascaded down from above.
The two bandits immediately looked up with guarded expressions, their hands moving to their weapons. They carefully looked around the area with suspicion, but seeing nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary, they attributed the falling leaves to being caused by a squirrel or a bird moving through the branches.
But once the leaves reached them and were falling all around their heads.
Poof
A single leaf suddenly exploded into a cloud of white smoke and revealed itself to be Sora materializing right in front of them. He had two kunai gripped tightly in his hands, one in each. While still suspended in midair from his descent, he spun his body with practiced precision and slit both of their throats in one fluid motion.
Their eyes widened in complete shock and disbelief as they desperately grasped at their bleeding necks in a futile attempt to stop the flow. He watched with cold detachment as they slowly bled out and collapsed to the ground, their lives draining away.
Kakashi watched the entire scene unfold from his hidden position in the trees, completely stunned by what he had just witnessed. Sora had used the transformation jutsu in a creative and innovative way that he had never even thought of or seen before in all his years as a ninja.
"This kid is really something special," he muttered quietly to himself, impressed despite his usual stoic demeanor.
Now he was fully invested and intrigued by this mission. He found himself genuinely wondering what else Sora would do and what other clever tactics he had prepared.
Sora quickly performed a series of hand signs and then transformed himself into one of the dead men lying before him. He made absolutely sure that his transformation looked appropriately injured and wounded to sell the deception. He then carefully hid one of the bandits' bodies in the underbrush where it wouldn't be easily discovered.
He then headed back toward the bandit camp at a hurried pace and started his elaborate act. His entire facial expression changed dramatically as his voice also changed to perfectly match the dead bandit's tone and manner of speaking.
"An attack! An attack! We're under attack!" He shouted loudly with panic in his voice and ran frantically towards the camp entrance, stumbling as if wounded.
The other bandits inside heard his desperate cries and immediately ran to the gates with their weapons drawn. One of the bandits rushed forward and helped support Sora, catching him as he stumbled.
"What happened out there? Tell us everything!" He asked urgently, his eyes wide with alarm.
"I-it's the villagers from the nearby settlement. They ambushed us while we were on patrol," he said, his voice sounding pained and breathless as if he was suffering from serious injuries.
The bandit boss appeared from his tent and walked forward with a scowl on his face. Seeing Sora's apparent wounds and the blood on his clothes, he immediately called for a doctor to attend to the injured man.
"Heal him right away," he commanded, and then turned to face the assembled crowd of bandits. "And we will kill those stupid villagers for daring to attack us!" He shouted furiously and lifted his sword high into the air.
The other bandits roared enthusiastically in response to their leader's words, their bloodlust rising, and the leader immediately led them out into the woods to hunt down the supposed attackers. Sora, still acting the part of the wounded scout, carefully surveyed the entire area as they departed.
Only four bandits were left behind to guard the camp. One was a non-combatant doctor, and the rest were just cannon fodder who weren't particularly skilled or strong fighters.
The doctor helped Sora into a medical tent and immediately started treating his supposed wounds, examining them carefully. But then he suddenly paused, his hands freezing in place.
"Your wounds—they're not real—" before he could speak any further words or raise an alarm, Sora had already plunged his kunai deep into the man's neck with lethal precision.
He then skillfully changed his voice to perfectly mimic the doctor's tone and manner of speaking.
"Hey guys, can someone get me some water for the patient?" he shouted out from inside the tent, making his voice sound casual and unhurried.
He then quickly used transformation jutsu to turn himself into a small, inconspicuous rock sitting in the corner of the tent. A few moments later, one of the bandits entered the tent carrying water. But he suddenly froze in his tracks when he saw the doctor's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.
He was about to shout and alert the others when his mouth was suddenly covered by a small hand from behind, and his neck was slit in one swift motion. His body slumped to the ground heavily, and Sora, using his chakra sensory abilities, found that the remaining two guards seemed to be drinking and relaxing by a campfire.
He transformed himself into the appearance of the man he had just killed and picked up the man's sword from where it had fallen. He then casually walked out of the tent and walked up to the two bandits who were drinking and laughing together.
"How's the injured guy doing in there?" One of them asked without much concern, taking another swig from his bottle.
"That weakling actually got hurt by a bunch of ordinary villagers," the other one laughed mockingly, shaking his head in disbelief.
They were still completely unaware that they were already destined to die within the next few moments. Once Sora got close enough and into optimal range, he suddenly drew and sheathed his sword in one blindingly fast motion before the two could even begin to react to the threat.
He cleanly severed one man's head from his shoulders in a single strike. The other bandit roared in shock and horror and took out his own weapon in surprise, stumbling backward.
"You bastard!! Why did you do that to him?" He asked in anger and confusion, his hands shaking as he pointed his weapon.
"Because your death pays me quite well," someone said calmly from directly behind him in a cold voice.
He immediately swung his sword behind him in a panic, but it was already far too late to save himself. Sora shoved his kunai deep into the bandit's neck from behind and killed him instantly, his body crumpling to the ground.
He turned his attention to the women who were still trapped and imprisoned in cages nearby. He didn't plan to free them just yet, as tempting as it was. If he did release them now, his carefully laid plans would not work out as intended and everything could fall apart.
He efficiently disposed of the bandits' bodies by hiding them, and then used shadow clone jutsu to create duplicates. With his substantial chakra pool, he could make at least five clones if needed, but right now he only needed three for his purposes.
He summoned three shadow clones into existence and used transformation jutsu on each of them. Now they perfectly replaced and impersonated the previous bandits he had eliminated, taking their places around the camp.
He honestly already had more than enough power and skill to defeat all the bandits easily in direct combat, but he specifically wanted to use and practice his other skills and techniques so that he doesn't get rusty or complacent with just relying on brute strength.
Soon enough, the other bandits who had gone hunting for the villagers returned to the camp empty-handed. After not being able to find any villagers or evidence of an attack, they had no choice but to return in frustration.
Arriving back at camp, they were quite upset and agitated by the wasted effort. Especially the leader, since he had lost a man without being able to properly avenge him or find those responsible.
"Boss, should we raid the nearby villages to send them a message?" one of the bandits asked eagerly, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
The bandit boss nodded his head in agreement with a dark expression.
"In the morning we will gather everyone together and go raid a village to teach them a harsh lesson they won't forget," he said coldly, his voice filled with menace.
The others hearing this announcement grinned wickedly and excitedly. They hadn't left the camp in over a week and were itching to kill and cause destruction.
Some of the more perverted ones licked their lips in anticipation of what they would do. Later that night, everyone eventually got to bed and settled in for sleep. All the regular bandits had to share crowded tents with each other, while the leader enjoyed his own private tent alone.
But for Sora, this sleeping arrangement was absolutely perfect for his plan. The moment the bandits fell into deep sleep and their guard was completely down, he silently moved through the camp and slit their throats one by one with methodical efficiency. After he finished eliminating everyone in one tent, he moved on to another tent and repeated the process.
After he was completely done with his silent massacre, only the bandit boss remained alive in the entire camp. He ran out of the shadows with his clones following close behind and they all shouted in perfect unison with panicked voices.
"Boss, boss, something's terribly wrong! You need to come quickly!" He shouted urgently, his voice filled with apparent fear.
The bandit leader rushed out of his private tent hastily with a large axe gripped in his hands, his eyes wild with alarm.
"What's wrong? What's happening out here?" he asked in a wary and suspicious tone, looking around the camp for signs of danger.
Sora pointed toward the various tents where blood was visibly leaking out from beneath the fabric and pooling on the ground.
"I-it's all the guys. They're all dead. Someone killed them all while they slept." He said with false shock in his voice.
The bandit boss's eyes widened in horror and disbelief as he rushed frantically to the tents, throwing open the flaps. Seeing each and every one of his men lying dead and bleeding from their necks, he stood completely frozen in shock, unable to process what he was seeing.
In this critical moment of distraction, Sora and all his clones silently gathered behind him and attacked at exactly the same time with perfect coordination. Multiple weapons plunged deep into the man's back and neck simultaneously from different angles.
He spat out blood violently and took several heavy, stumbling steps forward, his body swaying. His eyes were full of shock and confusion as he tried to understand what had happened. He slowly turned around with great effort and tried to speak, but with his throat cut and no air able to pass through, the only thing that came out of his mouth were wet gargles and choking sounds.