Team Seven's first week as genin was not heroic.
It was humiliating.
Naruto crouched in a riverbank bush for the third time that morning, trying to coax a stubborn cat out of hiding.
"I'm a ninja," he muttered. "A real ninja."
The cat hissed and clawed his glove.
Behind him, Sakura sighed.
Sasuke looked bored.
Their completed missions so far included weeding a garden, painting a fence, and escorting a merchant's dog.
Naruto's frustration simmered louder each day.
When they stood before Hiruzen Sarutobi to receive another D-rank assignment, Naruto snapped.
"I don't want another stupid babysitting job!"
The Third Hokage exhaled smoke from his pipe calmly.
"You are inexperienced."
"I don't care!" Naruto shot back. "Give us something real!"
Kakashi observed quietly from behind.
After a pause, Hiruzen adjusted his hat.
"Very well. A C-rank escort mission."
Naruto's eyes lit up instantly.
The client entered the room shortly after.
An older man with tired eyes and the faint smell of alcohol clinging to him.
This was Tazuna.
He squinted at them.
"These are ninja? The short one looks like he'd faint if I glared at him."
Naruto exploded in outrage.
But beneath the noise, something tightened inside him.
This was different.
Real.
---
The next morning, they left the village.
The gates closed behind them.
Naruto grinned widely, trying to hide the nervous energy bubbling in his stomach.
Outside Konoha, the world felt larger.
Uncontrolled.
They traveled for hours without incident.
Naruto walked slightly ahead, scanning the road dramatically.
"I'll protect everyone," he declared.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Kakashi's gaze, however, shifted briefly toward two small puddles in the dirt along the roadside.
Naruto didn't notice them.
He was too busy talking.
The attack came without warning.
Chains erupted from the puddles, wrapping around Kakashi instantly.
Metal tightened.
Spikes drove inward.
Blood sprayed.
Naruto froze.
For a heartbeat, the world didn't segment.
It didn't slow.
It just shattered.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed.
The figure of Kakashi collapsed in pieces, torn apart by the chained attackers.
The Demon Brothers.
Naruto's mind went blank.
Real blood.
Real death.
They turned toward him next.
The chain shot forward.
Naruto tried to move.
His body wouldn't respond.
He had wanted a real mission.
This was it.
And he couldn't breathe.
The chain wrapped around him—
Then Sasuke moved.
Clean.
Precise.
He intercepted with a shuriken, redirecting the chain's momentum. His movements flowed without hesitation.
Naruto watched it happen in shock.
The Demon Brothers rushed again.
Sakura stepped protectively in front of Tazuna.
Naruto's heart pounded violently.
He had trained.
He had passed.
He wasn't dead weight.
So why couldn't he move?
The chain lunged again—
And something inside him snapped into alignment.
Not panic.
Not rage.
Purpose.
The second stretched.
The metal links separated into increments.
The air between them became measurable.
Naruto stepped sideways into Frame 6.
Grabbed the chain at Frame 9.
Twisted at Frame 14.
Time resumed violently.
The Demon Brother stumbled as Naruto yanked the chain with unexpected force.
Sasuke capitalized instantly, disabling the attacker.
The second brother tried to recover—
But Kakashi appeared behind him.
Unharmed.
A substitution log lay where he had been "killed."
The remaining attacker was neutralized cleanly.
Silence fell.
Naruto stared at his hands.
They trembled.
He hadn't been fast.
He had stepped early.
Between.
Kakashi's eye studied him.
"You froze," he said calmly.
Naruto flinched.
"Yes…"
"Then you recovered."
Naruto swallowed.
Blood dripped from a shallow cut on his hand where the chain had grazed him.
He stared at it.
It was bright.
Real.
This wasn't the Academy.
This wasn't paint on monuments.
If Sasuke hadn't moved first—
If Kakashi hadn't substituted—
He would have died.
The weight of that realization crushed his chest.
Later, after interrogating the attackers, Kakashi turned to Tazuna.
"You lied. This is at least a B-rank mission."
Tazuna hesitated.
Then explained about Gatō.
About poverty.
About the bridge.
Naruto listened quietly.
He wasn't shouting now.
He wasn't boasting.
He replayed the moment in his mind.
The freeze.
The fear.
The segmentation.
It hadn't activated because he wanted to win.
It activated because someone was about to die.
Specifically—
Him.
And then his team.
That night, they camped by the roadside.
Naruto sat apart from the others, staring at the fire.
Sasuke approached without looking directly at him.
"You hesitated."
Naruto clenched his jaw.
"I know."
"But you corrected it."
Sasuke turned slightly.
"You're not useless."
It wasn't praise.
But it wasn't dismissal either.
Naruto looked up.
"…I won't freeze next time."
Sasuke didn't respond.
But he didn't argue.
Across the fire, Kakashi watched both of them carefully.
The boy wasn't just reckless.
There was something unusual about the way he adjusted mid-motion.
Almost as if he saw attacks before they fully formed.
Kakashi said nothing.
For now.
Naruto lay down that night staring at the sky.
He replayed the attack again and again.
The world dividing.
The choice.
The movement.
He understood something now.
This power wasn't about speed.
It wasn't about being better.
It triggered when failure meant loss.
When someone important was at risk.
He didn't know how to control it.
But he knew this:
The next time blood hit the ground—
He would be ready sooner.
Somewhere deep inside him, twenty-four silent beats counted steadily.
Not faster.
Just waiting.