Naruto chronicles

Chapter 10

Naruto was covered in scratches. And he had a wild Tora in his hand.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CAT!" he yelled as it tried to scratch his face for the thousandth time.

"Ah, calm down Naruto, no need to be angry with this innocent cat," Kakashi said with an eye-smile as Sasuke snickered and Naruto glared at both of them. As for Sakura, she was confused as to what had happened.

One moment, they were spying on Tora, the next moment Sasuke and Naruto had moved in on it. Before Kakashi could even give a command, Tora was in Naruto's hand. He and Sasuke were in total sync, and their teamwork, while not perfect, was way above that of any other genin team.

'The difference between our powers... it's way too much,' Sakura thought as she felt something in her stomach drop.

'Is this even a difference I can cover simply with training?'

The next moment, she felt Kakashi's hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura, don't be hopeless. The difference in the strength between you and them is due to the fact that while you were obsessing over Sasuke, they both were giving their all and more to train and become strong. Both of them have a reason to become strong. While you're at fault for you being weak, it's not too late, so it's up to you. Are you willing to risk everything to get strong?" asked Kakashi as Sakura thought for a moment.

"...Yeah, I am, so teach me sensei," she said as Kakashi eye-smiled again.

"Well, it's going to be hell for you, but don't worry, you'll become very strong after that. So, let's start with your training," Kakashi said as he told Sasuke and Naruto to go home.

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Kakashi's eyes were twitching.

He knew Sakura had exceptional Chakra control due to the small amount of Chakra. But to master tree walking in less than an hour? 

"Well... okay. Now I need you to build your physical endurance. For starters, five laps around the village would be good," he said with an innocent eye-smile as Sakura looked appalled.

"FIVE? NOW? AFTER ALL THIS?" she yelled as Kakashi deadpanned.

"And here I thought you wanted to get strong," he said as Sakura cried anime tears while going to run around the village.

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It was time for the evening mission, and it was to clean the garden of a civilian. 

When they got the mission, Naruto groaned, but when he reached the place, his mood flipped as he recognized the person.

"You're... YOU'RE THE PERSON WHO SAVED ME!" yelled Naruto pointing at the man who chuckled.

"Ah, Naruto. I do remember helping you escape some... monsters a few years back. You've grown," the person said as he ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Yeah... I never got to thank you for that," Naruto said as the man laughed.

"No need for that Naruto, it was just a villager helping a fellow villager. But it's great to see that you're doing good. Well, I hope you do well with the cleaning ninjas," the man said as he walked inside the house.

"YOSH! LET'S GET TO IT!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke and Sakura just looked at him confused.

"Well, let's just say that some stupid villagers blamed him for something he didn't do, and that man held them back helping Naruto escape," Kakashi said as he pulled out an orange book, and Sasuke understood what he meant.

'So that's what that was about. Well, might as well as treat this as important,' he thought.

By the end of the hour, the garden which should have taken about half a day to be cleaned was completely clean. And unlike the usual work of genins which would be barely passable, this looked as if done by professionals, each blade of grass evenly cut and trimmed, and all the weeds gone.

"Ah, thanks for the hard work. Please have some dango," the man said as they sat on the ground, tired after work.

"YOSH!" yelled Naruto as he jumped towards the food followed by Sasuke.

'This... this was his favorite food.'

Due to not going out for the past few years after the massacre, Sasuke hadn't eaten much other than instant food, some stuff containing Tomatoes and stew to maintain nutrition. So this was really his first time eating dangos after Itachi... murdered their clan.

'Wow, I'm like a brooding kid, every thought going onto him. But... why would he do that? He loved mom and dad, and he... he loved me too... and Izumi... how could he...'

"We'll find the answers together," said Naruto bringing him out of his thoughts.

"WHAT?" asked Sasuke, confused.

"You were muttering, and I heard what you said. And I'm saying that we'll find the answers together. You won't be alone Sasuke. I also want the answers you want."

"Huh? So you knew Itachi?" he asked as Naruto sighed.

"My... father mentioned him in one of his notes. He said that while a kid, he was very skilled, and had an unwavering loyalty towards Konoha. Also, I saw the records once when I snuck into Jiji's room. He was Beaver, and I remember the Anbu Beaver protecting me on multiple occasions when he could. So... I think there's something bigger behind it," Naruto muttered as Sasuke looked down.

"Well, we'll just have to figure it out," he said as smiled at Naruto, a real one.

'I guess it will soon be time to tell them both the truth. Hm...' thought the Hokage as he looked through his crystal ball.

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Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura were in the Hokage office, with Naruto on the floor whining about the mission.

"I WILL NOT TAKE ANOTHER D-RANK! IT'S OVER 35! TOO MUCH! I NEED A REAL MISSION! ANY, EVEN C-RANK ONES ARE WELCOME! COME ON JIJI!" yelled Naruto as Kakashi sweatdropped, Iruka looked with a deadpan and Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I know that D-rank missions help us grow, but I think we need real experience now," Sakura said as she looked at Hokage.

"Now come on, it's only been a we-"

"A week since we became Genin, and we've done over 35 D-rank missions. Hokage sama, with over 7 missions a day, I think we're the fastest Genin team to reach the criteria to take on higher ranking missions," said Sasuke calmly as Hiruzen sighed.

"Okay, Jiji, here's a deal. Give us Tora mission, I guarantee you I can alone complete it within 15 minutes. If I can't, we'll do only D-rank for the rest of the month, but if I can, you'll either give us a C-rank or above, or I'll burn your Icha Icha collection to the ground," Naruto said as everyone's eyes widened. Out of all the missions, Capturing Tora was the most dreaded one, and every genin hated it. It would at least take four hours to do it, so Hiruzen was skeptical.

"Nar-" Sakura started to protest but Sasuke stopped her.

"Alright Naruto, you have 15 minutes starting... now," said Hiruzen as he timed his clock.

And with that, Naruto sat on the ground with a cocky grin.

"You just lost Jiji," he said biting his thumb and going through a bunch of hand signs that surprised the adults in the room.

"Summoning: Tora the demon cat," he said as the next moment with a poof of smoke Tora appeared.

As it turned to Naruto, they stared at each other, and then Tora gave a salute and Naruto nodded.

"H-how?" was all everyone except Sasuke could say. As for Sasuke, he was just grinning.

"Well, I befriended him, and then made a summoning pact with it. It was one of Dad's seals," Naruto said smugly as Hiruzen looked at the ground, defeated.

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