[Known as Konoha's top technician, Kakashi, after leading Team 7, naturally became the leader of Konoha's first elite technician squad.]
[The Third Hokage smiled happily and instantly decided to promote this technician team as a Konoha specialty to nearby nations, so the smaller nations could feel the greatness and blessings of the Land of Fire.]
[So, Kakashi's team of four was assigned to escort Tazuna from the Land of Waves back home to build a bridge. While guarding him, they also gave the small island nation a taste of Konoha's advanced services like Raikiri acupuncture, the "Thousand Years of Pain" intestinal treatment, and the Sealing Shuriken leg hair removal.]
[But Tazuna wasn't happy at all. He thought, how could a masked man, two little weird guys, and a little girl safely escort him back to build a bridge?]
[After all, the people chasing him were like an army carrying Italian cannons!]
[However, Tazuna's doubts about Konoha's technician team changed quickly. Not long after leaving the village, they encountered two Kirigakure Chunin hired by the greedy developer Gato.]
[These two Chunin were tasked with killing Tazuna to stop the bridge construction.]
[Because if the bridge wasn't built, Gato could continue to ruthlessly exploit the people of the Land of Waves.]
[The two arrogant Chunin attacked fiercely. Seeing Kakashi and his team protecting Tazuna, they rushed straight at Kakashi, offering a surprise "reverse home service."]
[Faced with this situation, technician Kakashi secretly felt happy. Usually, he was the one providing the service, so it was the first time someone came uninvited—and he found it amusing.]
[Our top technician Kakashi performed a neck stretching technique on the two tired Chunin. Just this one technique made the two inexperienced Chunin feel incredibly relaxed.]
[As Kakashi prepared for the next technique, seeing how easily the two Chunin were satisfied, he stopped, smiled, and shared his thoughts with the other three team members, praising Sasuke and Sakura generously.]
"Indeed, during this fight, Naruto didn't do anything useful and even held us back a bit."
Fourth Hokage timeline.
Minato Namikaze had already recognized the blond kid in the light screen video — it must be his and Kushina's son.
Back when Kushina was pregnant, he had already prepared names for the child.
If it was a boy, he would be named Uzumaki Naruto.
If it was a girl, Uzumaki Naruko.
Honestly, Minato was looking forward to Team Seven's first mission outside the village.
But the higher the hopes, the greater the disappointment.
In this battle, Sasuke performed very well. After Kakashi's fake sacrifice, he held off two Chunin-level attackers.
It was clear this kid named Sasuke was a true genius.
But his own son...
"Sigh~"
Minato sighed.
After learning that he and Kushina would die soon in the Nine-Tails' attack, he had lowered his expectations for Naruto.
All he wanted was for Naruto to live safely and happily.
But seeing Naruto already becoming a ninja, this life would surely be filled with danger.
"I wonder how the Third Hokage and Kakashi are teaching Naruto. His reaction during his first real battle was surprisingly slow."
Muttering to himself, Minato shook his head.
He decided that after handling the so-called Nine-Tails incident, he would personally train Naruto.
Not to turn him into an elite ninja, but at least to make sure he wouldn't be foolish during fights.
"I wonder if Naruto can learn Flying Thunder God and Rasengan. If he can't, maybe I should invent some easier ninjutsu for him to learn?"
It was clear that Minato Namikaze had already started thinking about Naruto's future.
He worried that Naruto might not be able to master the difficult Flying Thunder God and Rasengan techniques, so he considered creating some simpler jutsus for Naruto to practice.
"Well~ maybe his sealing technique talent is pretty good. He could also learn from Kushina~"
Just imagining him and Kushina training their son together on a bright, sunny afternoon brought a faint, happy smile to his face.
[After this battle, seeing the Konoha's top technician squad so strong amazed Tazuna, who had previously doubted the four in front of him and misunderstood them.]
[He couldn't help but silently praise the highly skilled craftsmanship that elite Jonin Kakashi had honed over the years.]
[Hmm, after this little side story ended, the first technician squad met the Kirigakure rogue ninja Momochi Zabuza, hired by Gato, along with his trusted teammate Haku.]
[Kakashi fought Zabuza twice. The first time, Kakashi was outmatched and fell into Zabuza's trap, trapped by the Water Prison Technique.]
[Confused and overwhelmed by being submerged in water, Kakashi panicked slightly. He quickly ordered his three technician apprentices to lead Tazuna to safety, but the stubborn second technician apprentice, Naruto, teamed up with the third apprentice, Sasuke, to help.]
[With the cooperation of the two apprentices, they successfully freed Kakashi from the Water Prison.]
[The rescued Kakashi felt deeply moved by how quickly these two apprentices had improved, feeling truly comforted for a moment.]
"Ha ha, Naruto really is the son of me and Kushina. His progress is so fast."
Fourth Hokage timeline.
Watching the screen, Minato Namikaze felt very relieved seeing how Naruto and Sasuke rescued Kakashi.
Just a moment ago, he was worried about Naruto's future.
But the next moment, he started to think Naruto had the qualities of a Hokage.
Such conflicting thoughts appearing in Minato were rare.
"Kakashi-sensei, be honest, when you fought Zabuza, did you go easy on him?"
Third Hokage timeline.
Uzumaki Naruto doubted Kakashi's performance back then.
Zabuza was strong, and the Hidden Mist techniques did affect the Sharingan, but there's no reason Kakashi would be trapped in a water prison after just a few moves.
He was an elite Jonin, yet needed two Genin like Sasuke and Naruto to save him. Didn't that make him feel ashamed?
"Well..."
Kakashi scratched his cheek and replied embarrassedly, "I was careless then. I didn't dodge."
"That carelessness was really timely. If I hadn't stepped in at the last moment, our Team 7's first C-rank mission would have failed."
Naruto shamelessly bragged, making Sasuke a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat to remind Naruto.
He had credit in that battle too.
"Cough, cough~"
Naruto instantly got the hint and quickly corrected himself, "If Sasuke and I hadn't stepped in at the last moment, our Team 7's first C-rank mission would have failed, and maybe Zabuza would have killed us."
Kakashi was speechless.
That was definitely his fault, no excuse.
"Kakashi-sensei, be honest, when you fought Zabuza, did you go easy on him?"
The same problem was playing out again in the Fifth Hokage's timeline.
But facing the same problem, Fifth Hokage Kakashi gave a different answer.
"That's right, I deliberately held back."
"Ha~ Kakashi-sensei, why did you do that?"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at Kakashi, completely confused, not understanding why he chose to hold back back then.
Kakashi of the Fifth Hokage shrugged calmly and replied, "If I hadn't held back, Zabuza wouldn't have trapped me in the water prison. How would you have pulled off such a spectacular move?"
"Oh, right."
Naruto clenched his right fist and lightly tapped it against his left hand, suddenly enlightened.
But Sasuke was rude and slapped Naruto on the head, saying, "Kakashi was clearly just messing with you, and you actually believed his trick."
"Huh?"
Naruto opened his mouth wide and looked at Kakashi, asking, "Is that true?"
"Yes."
"Damn you, Kakashi-sensei. Be careful when you sleep, use the bathroom, or drink water at night."
"Sorry, Naruto, I was wrong. Please forgive me."
"."
Facing this shameless Kakashi-sensei really made them angry.
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
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