The Hokage's office smelled faintly of ink and tobacco.
Hiruzen Sarutobi studied the three genin standing before his desk. Their posture was rough, unfinished, but there was tension in it. The kind that hadn't learned to hide yet.
"So," he said, smoke curling lazily upward, "you passed Kakashi's test."
Kakashi Hatake stood behind them, hands in his pockets, one eye curved in a lazy crescent. The other was hidden, as always.
"They did," Kakashi replied. "Better than expected."
Hiruzen glanced at him. He remembered pulling Kakashi out of the ANBU years ago, hoping distance from the shadows would soften him. It had. Slightly. His students, however, hadn't survived long enough to show for it.
Until now.
"Good timing," Hiruzen said, reaching for a stack of papers. "We have quite a backlog of D-rank requests."
Naruto Uzumaki leaned forward immediately, eyes locked on the list.
Babysitting. Errands. Missing pets.
His grin cracked.
"Jiji, don't we get something cooler?"
Hiruzen chuckled softly. "Every ninja starts here."
Naruto opened his mouth to protest, then stopped when the old man's gaze sharpened just a little.
"You want to be Hokage," Hiruzen continued. "Then start by helping the people who live here."
That landed.
Naruto straightened. "Then let's do a lot of them. All at once."
Kakashi blinked. Sakura hesitated. Sasuke did not.
"I agree," Sasuke said.
Kakashi turned toward him. "Explain."
"These tasks don't require combat," Sasuke replied. "They consume time, not chakra. We can divide the workload with shadow clones and clear them quickly."
His voice was even. No impatience. Just calculation.
"I can maintain ten clones all day," he added.
Naruto puffed out his chest. "Same!"
Sakura swallowed, then nodded. "I can manage… several."
Sasuke glanced at her. "Don't push yourself."
She flushed, then lifted her chin. "I won't."
Kakashi studied them longer this time. Then he sighed.
"Third Hokage," he said, turning back. "They want to take multiple D-ranks at once."
Hiruzen exhaled smoke, thinking. Then a slow smile crept in.
"Seven days," he said. "One hundred D-rank missions."
The room stilled.
"If you finish," Hiruzen continued, "you'll receive a C-rank assignment. And a reward scroll."
Naruto's eyes lit up like festival lanterns.
"If you fail," Hiruzen added, "you'll spend two months doing nothing but D-ranks."
Silence. Then three voices, in sync.
"We accept."
Seven days later, Konoha noticed.
Requests vanished from the board faster than clerks could replace them. Shopkeepers talked. Civilians whispered. Even jōnin raised brows.
Team Seven cleared one hundred missions.
No injuries. No delays.
That evening, as the sun slid down behind the village rooftops, they turned in the final report.
Sakura suggested food. No one argued.
The grill sizzled. Naruto raised a glass of soda.
"To Team Seven!"
They clinked drinks.
Kakashi was late.
"He said six," Naruto muttered. "It's almost eight."
"He went to pick up our next assignment," Sakura said.
Naruto froze. "Next?"
The door slid open.
Kakashi stepped in.
"We're leaving the village," he said.
All three looked up at once.
"A C-rank," Kakashi continued. "Border investigation. Fire Country. Near the Rain."
Sakura frowned. "The target is a missing-nin. A former chūnin. That doesn't match the rank."
"We're not engaging," Kakashi replied. "Our job is reconnaissance. ANBU handles capture."
Naruto nodded, serious now.
Sasuke said nothing.
He listened. He weighed. The word Rain settled somewhere behind his eyes.
"Questions?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto shook his head.
Sakura wrote notes.
Kakashi looked at Sasuke.
"No," Sasuke said. "None."
"Good," Kakashi replied. "Tomorrow. Eight a.m. Village gate."
Naruto smirked. "Don't be late, sensei."
Kakashi smiled behind his mask.