"Sasuke's reached Point A."
"Naruto's at Point C!!!"
Both boys' ready signals crackled through the comms.
Kakashi tapped his earpiece, crouched among the trees, eyes on Sakura strolling straight toward the bandits' ambush.
Team 7's first mission outside the village had lucked into a gang of lurking thieves.
So their jonin-sensei decided to treat the kids to a fun, hands-on field lesson.
And that's how Sakura ended up as bait. I mean, who'd suspect a pink-haired girl could rip a tiger apart with her bare hands?
"Boss! She's here!"
From the bushes, the bandits grinned, blades gleaming.
A pretty girl like that? Boss gets first dibs, then maybe they'd get the leftovers.
What a lucky day!
"Ahh!"
A crisp scream rang out. The bandits perked up.
Branches snapped under stomping feet. The pack of snarling, wild-eyed thugs burst from cover.
Then every single one froze.
The cute girl was leaning against a trap, yawning like she was bored.
Totally unbothered—like she was laughing at them without making a sound.
Then she reached up and tied on a forehead protector etched with the Uzumaki crest.
Oh crap…
Pupils shrank. They took a step back.
Too late.
Two figures streaked in with chilling chakra. Explosions boomed. A storm of kunai punched through flesh in an instant.
Sasuke's fledgling Observation Haki locked onto every blade swinging at him from all sides. He danced through the crowd like a nimble butterfly.
Kunai sliced throats without hesitation. Crimson bloomed between the trees.
But when thick blood poured from glazed-over corpses and turned the dry earth to mud…
Naruto, mid-taijutsu, got splattered across the face and suddenly blanked out.
Perfect timing for the bandit boss. His massive cleaver swung down—no mercy—straight for Naruto's skull.
"Die, you damn ninja brat!"
The blade screamed through the air, roaring.
CLANG!
A pale arm blocked its path. Metal rang like a bell.
The overwhelmed blade snapped. The broken half spun through the air and buried itself in the blood-soaked ground.
"No way! That was solid steel!"
The boss's eyes bulged, the stump in his hand trembling.
"Taijutsu," Sakura said with a smile. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Then she delivered a groin-shattering kick that made every man in the vicinity wince.
The boss crumpled, clutching himself, face purple.
"Ruthless~"
Kakashi strolled over with Shibuki in tow, battle done.
"Naruto, finish him."
Sakura pulled a kunai stamped with a cherry-blossom mark and handed it over.
Naruto was too busy spiraling. Finish him… finish him…
"But… we already beat him. Do we really have to—"
"Naruto!" Sakura cut in. "He's the enemy."
"What, scared, coward?"
Sasuke had guessed her plan and poked the bear.
Predictably, Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke outweighed everything.
He puffed up, rolled up his sleeves, and stormed forward.
"Kill? Fine! Just some enemy! I'm not losing to you, Mr. Broody Pants!"
Sasuke, who'd only meant to help, felt a vein pop in his forehead and huffed.
Naruto loomed over the grown man, kunai shaking as it neared.
He's the enemy… he's the enemy…
After four or five mental chants, he squeezed his eyes shut and stabbed—straight into the guy's thigh.
Schlick!
"ARRRGH!"
The man jolted awake. Pain from both groin and leg turned his face beet-red, eyes bloodshot.
"Sorry, sorry! Lemme fix that!"
Schlick!
Another precise non-lethal stab. The boss convulsed, too weak to even curse.
"Whoops! My bad!"
Schlick!
"Guh!"
"Almost there!"
Schlick!
"Urrgh…"
…
Seventeen stabs later, the tear-streaked bandit boss finally went still.
Hard to say if Naruto killed him or if the guy just died of sheer frustration.
Naruto trudged back—face painted red, skin pale as paper. Kakashi, Shibuki, and Sasuke all took a cautious step back.
"Sakura…"
"Good job," she said, wiping his face with a clean cloth. "But next time, don't torture the guy."
Even pirate-era Sakura had never toyed with enemies like that.
Is this kid secretly a torture prodigy? Those jutsu he'll invent later are gonna be brutal…
Team 7 moved on.
They stopped often so Kakashi could drill Naruto on basic chakra control.
The trip to Takigakure stretched to one-and-a-half times the planned length.
From the southeastern forests, across the Land of Fire's border, they could finally see the coastline from atop tall trees.
Which meant Team 7 was nearly at their mission's end: Takigakure.
Flap flap—
A crow burst from the canopy and shot into the sky.
Shibuki, trailing at the back, jumped and ducked behind Sakura.
"Leader of Takigakure," she teased, arms crossed, emerald eyes piercing. "You gotta step up. This won't do~"
"I never wanted to be leader!!!" Shibuki roared, mustering his courage.
"You dare yell at Sakura?!"
Naruto rolled up his fists and pounced. The forest erupted into chaos.
.
.
Meanwhile, high in the massive trees above Takigakure…
A gang of rogue ninja crouched before a man wearing a Takigakure forehead protector.
"Lord Mizugumo, can we really get in?"
A Mist rogue with a hand on his hip eyed the middle-aged man suspiciously.
A former Takigakure jonin leading rogues into the village? Fishy.
"Don't underestimate me. I am an elite jonin from this village."
Mizugumo opened his eyes, scanning the crowd.
Another female Mist rogue spoke up. "Then why become a rogue?"
"Tch. Because this village runs on garbage hereditary succession."
He said it calmly, eyes deep as still water—unreadable.
"Hee hee hee~"
A scarred, eager rogue cackled, practically vibrating.
"Mizuku," Mizugumo warned, "don't kill too many."
His gaze shifted to the outer ring—Uchiha in uchiwa-patterned robes, red Sharingan eyes glaring with cold pride. They radiated disdain, barely acknowledging the others.
"As for our Uchiha friends—once you're inside, deal's done. No interference."
Itachi stepped forward from the crimson eyes. "Agreed."
"Then—operation start!"
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