Chapter | XIX |

"What... The hell?"

Holding his head, which was aching badly, Naruto staggeringly sat up. His eyes scanned his surroundings, making sense of the situation. The neatly cut green crush. The scorched ground... He was on training ground 0.

He saw a piece of paper fall down, curious, he read the contents. "You passed". It said. After being confused, he realized the now bizarre situation. But that made him more puzzled.

"But... I don't remember getting the bells... To be frank, I don't remember how I even fell unconscious"

Apart from remembering the burning pain in his ass, Naruto barely recalled anything. His memories were there, but it felt as if though something was missing... or rather, something was erased.

Shaking his head, he read further.

'Meet me at the mission hall tomorrow... Already?'

He had thought they would be going through a bit of training to ready themselves for missions but seemed his Sensei had other things in mind. Naruto did not linger any further, throwing away the piece of paper, he stood up.

'Shit!'

He winced, his muscles felt sore as if they had been torn and shredded. Gritting his teeth, the blonde slowly walked toward the location of his apartment.

SASUKE UCHIHA.

On the other side, Sasuke was sitting on his bed with a frown. His thoughts were in disarray. What he had just witnessed... It shook him, even if he didn't show any sort of emotion, he was surprised by Naruto's performance.

Sasuke had been suspicious since the usually hyperactive and irritating blonde had gone silent for the past days. Nobody could change overnight, it was a fact... However, Naruto did.

Even the strength of his grip, when the Uzumaki grabbed his leg at the academy, felt too powerful. It was not the weak one he experienced before. Rather, he felt his leg was pinned down as if a nail had driven it to the ground.

'Strange'

Especially his performance on the test, he was sharper, faster, and stronger than ever before. Sasuke's image of the weak, fragile, and emotional blonde slowly faded away, replaced by something he could not describe.

KAKASHI HATAKE.

The lights shimmered, a silver-haired man stood before an old man who was looking out of the window nearby, into the far-stretched horizon.

"How was the test?"

His voice, sounding almost like a grim, reverberant through the silent room. Kakashi's lips twitched under his mask, his eyes, however, remained still and calm.

"it went well, Hokage-Sama"

He received a nod, and for a while, they stood in silence. Hiruzen's gaze landed on the uneasy eyes of Kakashi, who slowly took away eye contact.

"You have something in your mind... Kakashi?'

The Jōnin's restless eyes regained their usual tranquility. His eyes glinted for an instant before he turned his back on the third Hokage.

"... Nothing"

His body flickered away. Hiruzen stared in silence, his face slowly morphing into a subtle frown. He took out his trusty pipe and blew off some steam.

'He's hiding something'

***

Naruto leaned against the sturdy wooden wall of the mission hall. A yawn escaped his lips. Feeling a stare from his side, Naruto glanced to his right, Sasuke was staring at him as if trying to peer into his very soul.

'What's up with him?'

Raising a brow, he shook his head. He never understood what was running in that blockhead of the Uchiha, he was sure if he tried, he would get a headache.

As usual, Sakura complained from the entrance. She was peeking out, trying to find where the hell their Sensei went to, or where he was.

'Maybe he forgot'

Naruto pondered. It was unlikely so, he was a Jōnin, surely he would be a disciplined and well-diligent man... or atleast he hoped he was. If not, this wouldn't be the first or last time he would have to wait an hour for his 'Sensei'.

He didn't have to wait longer, as their Sensei showed up right in the middle. Waving his hand in the air, he simply made some excuse the others weren't bothered to listen. A visible sweat ran down Kakashi's forehead seeing the deadpan expression his students were giving him.

"Hah~"

He sighed and went toward the receptionist. Naruto counted the tiles on the floor by the time their Sensei picked them a good mission. That took... Longer than expected, it seems Kakashi was serious about their first mission.

"7602"

Naruto muttered, receiving a strange look from Sakura. But his attention was caught by their approaching Jōnin. Sakura was pretty hyped up for her first mission, even Sasuke was, even though he didn't show it.

Their instructor smiled, which didn't really seem like one.

"Our first mission will be... C Rank"

Sakura's mouth went agape, Sasuke's lips parted a bit. Naruto was also a bit taken aback. Rank C, from the start? The three had that question practically etched on their face. Seeing their expression, Kakashi chuckled.

"Just kidding, it's a D Rank"