41 Chapter 41

'Do I really have to discard my emotions to be able to perfect it? No way.' I took in a deep breath before answering the man who looked to be anticipating a fight.

"I should probably just quit while I am ahead. I may not look it but the earlier fight took a lot out of me mentally. Fighting the god of shinobi now would not be fun." Hiruzen looked disappointed by my statement as the look in his eyes dimmed slightly.

I began to release battle intent as I stared at him before speaking. "How about I get a bit stronger before we have at it? There is nothing more fun than fighting a strong opponent, what do you say jiji?" The dimmed eyes of Hiruzen brightened once again as he began to laugh loudly at the same time releasing his own intent as well as slight killing intent in the mix.

"I'm glad we have the same thoughts" The old man had a light smile before calming himself down. Clearing his throat, he pulled out a headband from behind him and walked towards me.

"Congratulations, I am directly promoting you to Jounin. As an Anbu, it does not really matter because your missions will differ from other ordinary ranks in the village; But you are definitely Jounin level and material with what I just saw. You and I will head to the Anbu headquarters for your gear and mask. Your code name will be the mask you receive" He lifted his arm to stop me from speaking when he noticed I was about to, before continuing, "You don't have to worry, I want to go with you. I feel like a day out with my granddaughter."

I put on a goofy smile and spoke, "I've never really had a grandfather before, alright jiji. But I already have a mask in mind. I will show you tomorrow. And if you don't mind, I would like to spend the remaining time in the academy with my friends before we all graduate. It would be the last time I get to properly be with them after everyone becomes genin."

'In the end she is still just a twelve-year-old girl after all.' Hiruzen pondered a bit before nodding in agreement. What? I still need the edo tensei (reanimation technique) and the Fourth Hokage's Hiraishin no jutsu (Flying thunder god). Just because I had suddenly gained a 'grandfather' (*Puke*), did not mean I could just ask him for the jutsus in the forbidden scroll of seals.

We finally left training ground six. My new headband in hand, I could not help but frown. What bullshit grandfather? If it was back on earth I would probably check for bugs. But still, who said I could not check for listening seals; if there was anything like that.

Mebuki had left a while ago with Aoi and Kouki. She said at this point there would be no longer a need to stay by my side. She had Allied Mother's Force meeting to attend. Probably to show off Aoi and Kouki; Poor kids.

She had already taught me everything she had to teach me. Seemed to her I had my plans with me wanting to directly becoming Anbu. I would continue to receive missions from her every three months like I used to, only this time it would become a paid job.

For now, I did not really have anything better to do so I decided to roam about a bit. Eventually, I came upon a small stall at the side of the road. Ichiraku ramen.

"That's right. How can I come to Narutoverse without trying the legendary Ichiraku ramen?" As I made my way over, I noticed the place already had people inside. Noisy people.

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Inside ichiraku's, four people sat on the stools. An older man and a younger one, both wearing tight fitting straight spandex with bandages wrapped around the younger one's wrist to his forearms. They were the Konoha's sublime green beast of prey; Might Guy, and his student, rock lee.

To their left was a blond-haired youth with whiskers on each cheek, busily gorging bowl after bowl of raman and occasionally chatting happily with a girl with white eyes who would occasionally pick up and replace the blonde youth's empty bowl with a filled one while blushing before concentrating on her own set of food.

"Naruto-kun, after this after this let's run five hundred laps around the village. With so much energy gained let's show the Power of Youth!" Rock lee spoke loudly as he stared challenging at Naruto who just kept gorging bowl after bowl. He had earlier to challenge his comrade on how many bowls they could eat.

"That is not right Lee. It would be best to do five hundred laps of backflips around the village. So much energy. SO MUCH YOUTH!" Might Guy stood and yelled with Rock Lee looking at his sensei with stars in his eyes.

Naruto on the other hand completely ignored them. Over the past year he had grown accustomed to both of them, though occasionally involved with their ridiculous activities to strengthen himself. Say what you will, but those ridiculous activities truly were great to get stronger, it was just that they were embarrassing. However, what was the point in caring about what people thought if one could get stronger.

Today however, Naruto just wanted to enjoy his favorite ramen with his favorite person; Hyuga Hinata. No one knew exactly what happened, but the former Hyuga heiress had a drastic transformation in the past year. She suddenly adopted a more 'Fuck it' approach with her clan, and an even more 'Do not fuck with me' attitude in general. She had gotten stronger over the past year and at only eleven years turning twelve, she would only get stronger.

Today, the former heiress was on date with her sweetheart. She wore a black kimono with petals at the sleeve with a red sash in the middle. Many would say it was overkill dressed for that location, and not really an ideal place for a date but who cared about that? As long as she was with the person she liked, none of that mattered to her.

"Honestly, how can you be so loud as shinobi?" A voice broke the unique atmosphere inside Ichiraku's, causing everyone to turn to the source. Behind them was a young girl standing with her arms folded in front of her. She had short pink hair and wore short sleeved black top that ended just below the elbow with white trimmings, coupled with a knee length black short. What caught Might Guy's attention was the forehead protector which hang on her neck.

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"Sakura? Sakura! You look so different." Naruto overjoyed to see me rushed out of his seat and gave me a hug. I could tell he was quite glad to see me, so I hugged him back. The hug felt like a brother welcoming his brother back. Seemed like Naruto was already treating me like a 'brother'.

'Oh, is that killing intent?' I looked around before seeing the white eyed Hyuga with her byakugan active, staring daggers at me.

'Wow, such unhidden desire to rip me apart. Is that really Hinata? What happened while I was gone?'

"It is good to see you Naruto. But how about you let me go before your little girlfriend there kills me with her stare." Naruto released me before looking back. He pulled me towards his group and began to make introductions.

"You already know Hinata right? A few things happened and now we are together." Naruto said that with a straight matter of fact face that made Hinata blush and slightly hid behind the sleeve of her kimono before peeking out and speaking to me, "Um, Sakura-san, please don't get too close to my Naruto or I might kill you"

'A few things huh? And can you please not blush while threatening someone at the same time?'

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