Five days later.
Hokage Building.
"You say you want to go to the Sound Village? For what reason?" Sakumo Hatake put down the pen in his hand and looked at Sasuke with a furrowed brow as he asked.
"To deliver a birthday gift for my mother, and also to see... Nanaise, little sister..."
Even though Sasuke had rehearsed this many times in front of his mother, he still couldn't help feeling somewhat embarrassed when saying it out loud.
"Nanaise? Lord Ryun's esteemed daughter..." Sakumo Hatake asked reflexively.
"Yes... Her birthday is in ten days. Aunt Kushina originally invited my mother to go there for the birthday party and stay for a few days. But my mother is too busy with clan affairs to get away, so she could only ask me to go instead..."
As Sasuke spoke, he handed a letter to Sakumo Hatake.
Sakumo Hatake read the letter very carefully. Not knowing the true intentions of this mother and son, he couldn't spot anything unusual in the letter for the moment.
"I still cannot agree to let you go to the Sound Village..."
Sakumo Hatake returned the letter to Sasuke and refused his request.
"The Land of Rice is at war with the Land of Rain. Although the battlefield isn't in the Land of Rice itself, there is some military control near the Sound Village. It's highly unlikely a genin like you would be allowed into the Sound Village, and there might even be danger..." Sakumo Hatake reminded him with a serious expression.
'This guy... Just as Mom predicted, he won't easily let me go to the Sound Village!'
Sasuke felt panicked inside, but his face remained expressionless. He didn't look angry or resentful at being refused by the Hokage.
Sakumo Hatake saw an indifferent look on his face, feeling that Sasuke wasn't very invested in this matter.
"My mother said I could go with Teacher Guy then. With a jonin like him protecting me, there shouldn't be any danger..."
Sasuke pursed his lips slightly as he spoke, seeming a bit frustrated, as if he felt he was being looked down on.
"Your mother thinks quite thoroughly..." Sakumo Hatake couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly.
With things having reached this point, he felt he had no reason to stop Sasuke.
Firstly, he hadn't detected anything unusual from Sasuke's demeanor. Secondly, the whole matter seemed reasonably logical. Thirdly, the fact that Mikoto wasn't leaving with him reassured Sakumo Hatake. Moreover, with Might Guy, a jonin, accompanying him, it was unlikely Sasuke could cause much trouble.
"In that case, you should go ask Guy... If he agrees to take you, I have no objection."
Finally, after a moment of hesitation, Sakumo Hatake relented.
"Tch, so troublesome..."
Sasuke suppressed the joy in his heart but put on a deliberately resigned expression, pursed his lips, then shoved his hands in his pockets and walked straight out of the Hokage's office.
His mother had said that once he passed this hurdle with the Fourth Hokage, the remaining problems would become much simpler, because that jonin named Might Guy was an enthusiastic and very approachable person!
A few days later, Uchiha Mikoto took Sasuke to visit Might Guy. Just as she predicted, the honest and straightforward father and son readily agreed to Sasuke's request.
The next day, Uchiha Sasuke prepared his luggage early and waited at the entrance of the Might family home for Guy to come out.
"Sasuke! What are you doing here?"
A familiar voice caught Sasuke's attention.
Sasuke turned to look and saw Naruto doing his daily running training with his father, Namikaze Minato!
The war in the Land of Fire had ended completely at the end of last year. Currently, only the Lands of Rice and Rain were still fiercely fighting in the ninja world. The Five Great Nations had basically quieted down, each nation 'licking its wounds' from the years of war. Minato, the war hero, finally had some time to spend with his family.
"... Lord Minato..."
Sasuke responded first, then bowed to Minato.
"What is Sasuke doing waiting at Guy's house?" Minato asked with a gentle smile.
"Teacher Guy and I have a mission to take care of. I'm waiting for him here..." Sasuke said vaguely.
"Teacher Guy was also doing morning training just now... He probably isn't home right now," Naruto kindly reminded him.
These two had a competitive relationship at school. Both Naruto and Sasuke had considerable talent, and their strength and grades were always neck and neck. They both wanted to determine a winner, but it had always been a tie, neither could beat the other.
At school, Naruto was more popular than Sasuke, though the girls who cared about looks tended to prefer Sasuke a bit more, after all, the Uchiha boys were generally good at posturing. Little Naruto was at a bit of a disadvantage in this aspect.
"Speaking of which, how did you get teamed up with Teacher Guy? Teacher Guy just took on three students this year. You shouldn't be on a mission with him, right?" Naruto looked puzzled.
Seeing that Sasuke had chosen to graduate early, Naruto had also graduated early a few days ago. Both were genin now, but the Hokage hadn't assigned them team leaders yet. Naruto had heard from his father that the Hokage was most likely going to assign Kakashi as their jonin instructor.
When he heard Naruto's question, Sasuke initially wanted to retort, 'None of your business?'. But with Minato present, he didn't want to be rude, especially since Minato was a famous hero in the ninja world.
"Teacher Guy and I are going out of the village to handle something..."
"Handle what? Take me with you! I don't have any missions right now either..." Naruto suddenly moved close to Sasuke and threw an arm over his shoulder.
"Get off me, I just took a bath!" Sasuke, suppressing an outburst, pushed away Naruto, who was covered in sweat and dust.
The trip to the Sound Village was his top priority right now; making a good first impression on Uncle Ryun was extremely important.
For this, he had not only gotten a new haircut yesterday but had also taken another bath just before leaving home and put on new clothes. Naruto's dirty hands patting him... if Minato weren't here, he would have wanted to teach this oblivious idiot a lesson himself!
"You guy..."
"Naruto! Don't be rude! Sasuke has an important mission. Don't bother him!"
Just as Naruto was about to argue with the cocky Sasuke, Minato stepped forward and grabbed his wrist.
While they were talking, Might Guy returned with his three students!
"Yo, why so many people gathered in front of my house? Lord Minato, good to see you again... You and little Naruto already finished a lap around Konoha so quickly?"
Guy came forward to speak with Minato. Meanwhile, Uchiha Sasuke, Namikaze Naruto, and Hyuga Neji were sizing each other up, looking mutually displeased. Even Lee was eager, itching for a spar right then and there.
'Are boys always this competitive... They look like they want to fight the moment they meet... But this guy is so handsome, his name is Uchiha Sasuke, right?'
Tenten mentally complained while staring at Sasuke, a little infatuated.
Sasuke's hairstyle now was almost identical to Ryun's when he was young. His former semi-long spiky hair had become shoulder-length long hair, giving him a somewhat feminine appearance. At a glance, his looks actually bore a slight resemblance to Ryun around his graduation period!
This was actually all his mother Mikoto's doing. She said this look might earn him some extra points in Ryun's eyes... And so, Sasuke grew out his hair...
Actually, deep down, Sasuke longed to achieve the accomplishments Ryun had now. Unconsciously, he had developed the crazy idea of first imitating, then surpassing him.
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