Chapter 32 - Mission Routine

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Kakashi's test of teamwork and camaraderie had been completed, albeit under somewhat unusual circumstances for this particular group.

The relationships among the three were... complicated, to say the least. Naruto viewed Sasuke and Sakura as future in-laws. Sasuke saw Naruto as his closest friend and Sakura as a teammate. Sakura, on the other hand, saw Sasuke as her future husband and Naruto as her husband's best friend.

It was practically begging to be written into a family tree.

After the battle, Naruto retrieved his weighted ankle weights and reattached them. Sitting cross-legged, he reflected on the fight, summarizing what he'd learned.

Why hadn't he suddenly pulled out an iron pickaxe or a mithril one to bash Kakashi's head? Why hadn't he leaped into the air, summoned a boulder infused with magic, and dropped it on him with Meteor Fall?

He thought about all sorts of things. His habit of charging in recklessly had made him forget that he even had a "shop" at his disposal. Sure, it wasn't particularly useful, but slapping Kakashi in the face with scaffolding would've been funny at least.

Who could he blame for this? The Nine-Tails, of course. A perfectly good shut-in had been corrupted into a reckless brute.

Kakashi finished catching his breath and walked over to the wooden posts. "Alright, gather around," he said.

"From now on, you're my adorable subordinates!" Kakashi announced cheerfully, though his tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh," Naruto responded.

"Oh," Sasuke echoed, unsure how else to reply after seeing Naruto's reaction.

"Oh," Sakura followed suit, not wanting to be left out.

Kakashi felt a wave of awkwardness wash over him. No wonder Gai sometimes had such strange expressions.

"Please take care of me, Kakashi-sensei!" ×3

Kakashi pulled down his eye patch, feeling oddly dissatisfied despite the fact that this was supposed to be a happy moment.

---

Afternoon: Naruto's First Mission 

That afternoon, Naruto accepted his very first mission: milking cows.

Naruto was thrilled. He'd always thought it looked fun on TV—squeezing and squirting milk seemed like a blast. Now he finally had the chance to try it himself.

"Hey, Sasuke, don't look so reluctant! It's fun!" Naruto teased, watching the perpetually cool Sasuke lazily squeezing the cow's udder with minimal effort.

"No one finds this fun except you," Sakura grumbled, her expression worse than Sasuke's. She couldn't shake the feeling that Naruto had specifically requested this mission just to torment her.

"Sakura-neechan… er, Sakura, don't squeeze so hard! You're hurting the cow!" Naruto corrected her gently.

[You just called her Sakura-neechan again, didn't you?! Definitely.]

Though internally frustrated, Sakura eased up a bit. Deep down, she wasn't a bad kid.

As for why Naruto had chosen this mission, it was purely for the novelty of it. Even though he'd grown up in the countryside, no one in his village had kept dairy cows.

Once the mission was complete, they received their payment, giving Naruto a strong sense of accomplishment akin to earning guild rewards in a game.

Since the mission took place on a secluded farm, there were hardly any outsiders around, allowing Naruto to let loose and have fun.

---

Evening: Training Time 

After dinner, it was time for evening training. During the meal, Sasuke noticed Naruto absentmindedly stuffing grilled meat into his mouth.

"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asked, puzzled by Naruto's sudden mood swing. Just hours earlier, he'd been ecstatic during the mission, but now he seemed unusually sullen.

"Ah, I miss Hinata," Naruto admitted.

At this time, he should've been serving her food, as usual.

"Hmm," Sasuke rolled his eyes. There was no way he could respond to that.

After finishing their meal, they resumed training. Sasuke continued his daily ritual of beating up trees, while Naruto focused on lifting weights.

When Naruto returned home that night, he stashed away the fish tank where he used to save pocket money.

Replacing it with a new one, he deposited today's earnings inside—200 ryo, enough for three bowls of Ichiraku ramen.

Unfortunately, genin missions paid pitifully. Kakashi took half the reward, leaving the remaining amount to be split among the three of them.

Naruto wondered when he'd finally become a jonin. Then he paused, realizing something. In the original story, even after defeating Kaguya, Naruto was still a genin. Hmm… Would he be able to save up enough money to buy a house before getting married?

And speaking of poor treatment—look at Neji during the Chunin Exams. Even the Hyuga heir lived in a tiny house until after marriage. Clearly, the Hyuga clan footed the bill for their housing post-wedding.

Should he consider switching jobs?

Lying in bed, Naruto closed his eyes and entered his mindscape. There, the giant fox sat lazily munching away.

Unable to bear the sight, Naruto turned his head.

"Brat, what's with that look?" the Nine-Tails growled menacingly.

"Nothing. Stop eating and come play a couple of rounds," Naruto said, unable to voice his real thoughts: You look like a pig being fattened up for New Year's slaughter. 

Why did this fox have to be orange, of all colors?

Ignoring Naruto, the Nine-Tails continued eating and drinking leisurely. Extending a chakra arm, it moved a chess piece forward.

Naruto had already set up a mahjong table, but the Nine-Tails refused to play. After all, chess was one-on-one, while mahjong involved three Narutos ganging up on it. It wasn't stupid—it knew better than to participate. Two-player mahjong? No thanks.

Naruto planned to recruit Sasuke once he unlocked his Hollow form (Zetsu mode) to join in. As for the fourth player, that remained undecided.

The real question was whether Sasuke would agree to play mahjong in Zetsu mode.

Watching the Nine-Tails ignore his mahjong setup gave Naruto the same feeling as buying an expensive cat wand only to see the cat yawn and go back to sleep.

Two games later, Naruto emerged victorious. Amidst the Nine-Tails' growling threats of revenge, Naruto smirked and left with a smug, "You're just a sore loser."

---

The Next Morning

Kakashi arrived late to the meeting point yet again, having conveniently picked up a mission along the way.

Under the trio's disapproving glares, Kakashi calmly pulled out a scroll. "Today's mission is to clean up the trash in the river. Work hard, everyone!"

Their glares intensified.

Naruto didn't find this task particularly amusing either. How had Kakashi even chosen it? Probably at random.

Kakashi settled onto a tree branch, leaning against the trunk as he opened his book. Everyone knew exactly what he was reading.

Meanwhile, the three genin got to work cleaning the river.

The river wasn't deep, but it was littered with garbage. Standing on the water's surface, Naruto picked up a few items before deciding the process was too inefficient.

Leaping onto a nearby tree, he surveyed the length of the river. Then, summoning twenty shadow clones, he produced a variety of tools—iron picks, axes, and even used an iron pot as a makeshift shovel. Occasionally, he infused stones and dirt with mana, or brought out planks of wood.

Naruto spent the day busily working while his teammates grew accustomed to his antics. Sakura, in particular, appreciated the distraction, as it gave her some quality alone time with Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, how do you walk on water?" Sakura asked shyly.

Her inner personality danced wildly in celebration. [Finally! Alone time with Sasuke!]

"Hmm…" Sasuke recalled what Naruto had told him and summarized, "Chakra. Use it at the soles of your feet."

Sakura froze, her expression blank.

Inner Sakura grabbed a doll labeled "Sasuke" and slammed it against the wall repeatedly. [Say more than two words, damn it!]

Kakashi glanced over at Sasuke teaching Sakura how to walk on water. If Sasuke had mastered it, then Naruto definitely had as well. Remembering the earlier scene of the two practicing chakra nature transformation, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

[Being a teacher feels surprisingly easy.]

With a contented sigh, he returned to his book, tuning out the world around him.

---

An Hour Later

Just as Sakura was about to show off her newly acquired water-walking skills to Sasuke, the river suddenly dried up.

Upstream, Naruto dusted off his hands. He'd successfully redirected the river. Earlier, the sunlight reflecting off the water had irritated his eyes, so he'd decided to eliminate the water entirely. Since there were no fish in the river anyway, he figured he could redirect it temporarily, clean up the trash, and then restore the flow.

The riverbed was rocky, so at least he wouldn't get covered in mud.

Returning to the cleanup, Naruto couldn't help but notice Sakura glaring at him suspiciously.