Under the scorching sun, amidst the towering, pristine mountain forests...
Sasuke swiftly moved through the winding branches, his crimson Sharingan constantly rotating to capture images.
"In terms of intelligence gathering, the Byakugan is indeed superior… As soon as it's activated, it can gather all real-time images within a one-kilometer radius in an instant.
While my Sharingan can remember everything at a glance and instantly capture and analyze all traces, my field of vision hasn't improved much.
With my current chakra, I can only use it continuously for about ten minutes, and even less time in combat.
It seems I need to communicate more with Hinata or Neji and see if I can awaken the Byakugan.
If I had the Byakugan, whether it's for gathering intelligence or pre-warning of enemy situations, it would be effortless…"
Feeling his chakra rapidly decreasing, Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan, stopped, and muttered to himself.
So far, he had only found traces of one wild boar… which was far from enough to embarrass Naruto and get a reward!
"No, I must outsmart them… If this continues, I'll be exhausted before I even find a herd of wild boars!
I don't have as much chakra as Naruto to waste…"
Sasuke slammed his hand against a tree trunk, slightly out of breath, and said in a deep voice.
"Thump…"
Just as Sasuke was contemplating how to outsmart them, a pinecone dropped in front of him.
Sasuke glanced sideways and saw that he was standing next to a lush green pine tree.
And nearby, no less than dozens of pine trees were scattered throughout the forest, their branches dense with leaves…
"That's it… Wild boars are beasts that really like the smell of pine oil."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, he leaped backward, and formed hand seals.
'Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu…'
Quickly completing the hand seals in mid-air, Sasuke opened his mouth and spewed a fireball directly at the pine tree.
Pine trees are inherently flammable trees with a lot of resin.
The next second the fireball hit, with a "boom," it instantly ignited…
Immediately, the burning pine tree released an intensified smell of pine oil…
In less than two seconds, Sasuke clearly smelled the pine oil in the air!
"Wild boars' sense of smell is twice that of dogs; I believe they will soon come attracted by the scent… Now, all I have to do is amplify the scent and wait for them!"
Sasuke smiled confidently, tapped his foot on the ground, formed hand seals, and rushed towards other pine trees.
To avoid causing a forest fire, Sasuke specifically chose to ignite pine trees in relatively open areas…
A moment later,
The entire green forest was dotted with about ten burning trees, and the smell of pine oil, accompanied by thick smoke, wafted in all directions…
"Huh? Who's so bored as to set fires in the forest??
Never mind, I've already made a big promise!
I absolutely cannot lose to Sasuke, Shadow Clone Jutsu…"
Naruto saw the thick smoke but ignored it, splitting off another shadow clone to search for wild boar tracks.
At the same time,
Sakura frowned when she saw the smoke, then continued to track the wild boar footprints, following the trail…
One hour later,
"So that's it, using the scent to make these wild boars come to you.
Is this your method, Sasuke?
But my requirement was intelligence gathering… How does doing this improve your intelligence gathering ability?"
As Sasuke was leaning against a tree trunk recovering chakra, Kakashi's figure suddenly appeared and said lazily.
Under the trees near them,
There were already twenty to thirty wild boars of various sizes running around, sniffing for pinecones.
"Didn't you say that ninjas are beings who break the rules?
Our ultimate goal is to drive away the wild boars; intelligence gathering is just a process.
Besides, I didn't alert them; these wild boars don't even know I exist!
By the way, Kakashi-sensei, why did you come here??"
Sasuke brushed off the fallen leaves, stood up, and said, showing no awareness of breaking rules.
"It's because of the burning trees you created; I was afraid you'd accidentally burn down the entire forest.
These trees and jungles are valuable assets to the nearby villagers…"
Kakashi gave Sasuke a deadpan look, put away his little red book, and looked helpless.
If he had known Sasuke was burning them so safely, he wouldn't have bothered to come all this way…
"Almost all the wild boars in the vicinity have gathered here… Now is the best time to drive them away!
Kakashi-sensei, should we act now?"
Sasuke's eyes darted around, looking at the wild boar herd below, and seized the opportunity to suggest.
To embarrass Naruto, nothing was more convincing than completing the mission early!
"Well, it can only be so… If we don't act now, it will be much harder to gather them again next time."
Kakashi nodded in agreement, helpless, as this mission had now lost its value for training Team Seven.
Naturally, it had to end quickly!
"Then let's begin…"
A smile played on Sasuke's lips; he coolly drew a shuriken and charged directly into the wild boar herd.
"Oink oink oink…"
"Snort…"
"Snort snort grunt…"
As Sasuke's three shuriken shot out at high speed, the wild boar herd instantly erupted in a commotion, scattering in all directions…
"So impatient… I haven't even said which direction to drive them in yet, what a hassle…"
Kakashi's mouth twitched when he saw this; his hands moved like afterimages, completing hand seals in a flash.
'Ninja Art: Shadow Clone Jutsu…'
With a "poof," two clones, one on the left and one on the right, emerged from white smoke, blocking two directions.
"Drive them all ten kilometers west into the forest; there's a wild habitat over there…"
Kakashi flashed in front of Sasuke and said, tapping his foot on the ground to block another direction.
"Ten kilometers, huh…"
Sasuke muttered, quickly picking up a nearby branch and throwing it.
3:30 PM
"What's going on… Why is even Kakashi-sensei gone!"
"Exactly, Sasuke-kun is nowhere to be seen either…"
"Hmph, Sasuke must be afraid to come back because he didn't find any wild boars.
Even I only found two wild boar piglets with the help of my shadow clones…"
"Naruto, don't badmouth Sasuke-kun behind his back.
He wouldn't fail to find a wild boar herd… But why did you bring these two wild boar piglets back??"
"Hehehe… Anyway, no big wild boars found them, so what if I brought them back!
This is proof that I've surpassed Sasuke!!"
In the fields, Naruto and Sakura stood on the embankment, one singing, one echoing, their emotions running high.
Beside them, the client watched them with a dark expression, his mood sinking to rock bottom…
This ninja team, as expected, was more unreliable than the last!
"Sorry, Naruto… You can't surpass me."
Suddenly, Sasuke's voice sounded behind them.
This made Naruto and Sakura's expressions instantly change; they both turned to look…
"Hmph, I found two wild boar piglets and a wild boar den.
If we go there, we'll definitely find those annoying wild boar herds… What did you find, Sasuke?"
Naruto immediately held up the wild boar piglet at his feet and said, his face full of proud complacency.
"Naruto, well done… But I'm sorry, the mission is over!
Sasuke gathered almost all the wild boars, and we've already driven the herd ten kilometers away."
Kakashi followed behind Sasuke and directly laid out the facts, startling both Naruto and the client…
Especially Naruto, whose smile hadn't even had time to fade.
He was slapped in the face by this sudden cruel reality…
Looking at the two wild boar piglets in his hands, Naruto felt a burning sensation on his face…
"Sasuke-kun is so cool, that's amazing…"
As Sakura's adoration and shyness emerged, Sasuke also heard a reward notification.
[Mission complete, reward: 0.2 units of chakra…]