"Thanks to you, the bridge can be successfully completed."
"Thank you everyone for all the help."
With tears in his eyes, Tazuna led everyone and stood on the bridge to see Naruto off.
"Thank you for your care!"
"Don't say that, we were just here to complete the task."
Kakashi waved his hand and said modestly.
"Speaking of which, we haven't given the bridge a name yet.
"Naruto, what do you think the bridge should be called?"
Tazuna suddenly asked Naruto.
"You can call it the Bridge of Heroes, it symbolizes hope and courage, and it matches you very well."
Naruto replied.
"Nice name! From now on it will be called Bridge of Heroes!!"
"Ooohhhh!"
Everyone cheered for the new bridge.
"Okay, Tazuna-san, goodbye."
"Goodbye, Tsunami-san."
"Big brother Naruto! Thank you!"
Inari stood up and bowed to Naruto to thank him.
"If you want to thank someone, thank your mother. Your courage was given to you by your family, not me."
"Goodbye."
Naruto waved his hand, turned, and left.
"That brat is too mature," Tazuna said with emotion.
From the first time Tazuna saw Naruto in the Hokage building, he thought that he was a kid who didn't know anything. If it wasn't for the fact that Kakashi was a Jōnin, Tazuna would have thought about changing teams.
As a result, Tazuna was deeply shocked by Naruto's reliable performance later on, and completely changed his opinion of him.
There were also two of Naruto's sidekicks, Sasuke and Sakura.
It could be said that Tazuna had witnessed the growth of the two of them.
"Grandpa, does big brother Naruto not like me?"
Inari looked up suspiciously.
"Haha, how could that be? He's just not good at expressing his feelings. That kid speaks so straight, but what he says always makes sense. Inari, you have to remember it well."
"I will, Grandpa!"
......….
Half a day later, team 7 returned to Konoha.
Because there were no civilian this time, the speed of their return was faster, and they were already standing at the gate of Konoha in less than a day.
"The mission is finally over! Kakashi sensei, we have successfully completed the mission!"
Sakura said happily.
Although it was only a short week, for Sakura, the experience was not insignificant, and even her life was in danger!
"It's not only completed, but because you met a ninja, the rank of the mission has increased, so you, as a freshly graduated Genin, have completed your first B-rank task mission."
"Yeah!" Sakura jumped up happily.
But Naruto and Sasuke were not so excited, it was just a mission.
What Sasuke valued more was the experience he got from this mission, as well as the experience of fighting Zabuza and Haku.
It could be said that this task was comparable to Sasuke's hard work of practicing alone for a month.
However, Naruto is what Sasuke cared most about now.
"..you are annoying."
Naruto pushed Sasuke away with a look of disgust.
Sasuke was like a resentful wife who clung to Naruto and kept asking Naruto to teach him the Fire Style ninjutsu.
It made Naruto very annoyed.
"Teach me."
With a cold look on his face, Sasuke silently uttered two words.
Naruto was speechless.
"Kakashi-sensei, do we have training tomorrow?"
"Take a day off tomorrow, and I will let you know about the follow-up tasks."
"Sigh. Okay, you can find me at the training ground tomorrow morning."
Naruto nodded and said to Sasuke.
Since Sasuke wanted to learn Fire Style ninjutsu so much, he might as well pick some of the Uchiha ninjutsu scrolls that he "borrowed" from Danzo before and give them to Sasuke to learn.
"Good!" Sasuke's eyes lit up.
At this time, they just walked toward the Hokage building, as they still needed to report to the Third Hokage.
After listening to Kakashi's report, the Third Hokage nodded and raised their task rank from C-rank to B-rank.
"You guys can go back first and take a rest."
After receiving the task reward, Kakashi said.
"Understood."
"Goodbye Kakashi-sensei!"
"Kakashi, what's wrong?"
The Third Hokage asked suspiciously after the three left the room.
"Ah, I just wanted to ask, has Tsunade-sama come back?"
"Tsunade...." Third Hokage exhaled a puff of white smoke.
"As you know, she hasn't been back for several years, what's the matter? Does someone need medical treatment?"
"No, I just wanted to ask about Tsunade-sama. I will leave first."
Kakashi said casually.
Since it was unclear whether Naruto's Healing Jutsu was taught by Tsunade, there was no need to talk to the Third Hokage about it.
What if Tsunade wanted to hide the news? Kakashi didn't want to be a spoiler.
After all, although Tsunade and the Third Hokage were mentors and apprentices, their relationship with each other had become difficult since Ninja World War II.
At this time, Kakashi thought about Naruto's questions again.
Since the disciples of the Third Hokage were not willing to be Hokage, why was it that after so many years, the Hokage no longer trained a Hokage candidate?
Or does it mean that the Third Hokage already had a candidate, just that he was not old enough?
Kakashi thought for a long time but did not think of a specific person as a candidate.
Yes, he excluded himself first.
"Wait, since you're back, I have something to tell you."
The Third Hokage stopped Kakashi.
"What's up?"
"The Chūnin exams are about to begin."
…
"What is the relationship between my Healing Jutsu and Tsunade? As expected, Kakashi-sensei really thinks about that. But with Tsunade's character, if the Third Hokage does not die, she will not come back."
Naruto, who was walking on the street, listened attentively to everything, heard the conversation between Kakashi and the Third Hokage, and knew that the Chūnin exam was already in the preparation stage.
In other words, One Tail was almost on its way to Konoha.
"If One Tail Jinchūriki suddenly disappears in Konoha... I wonder if Orochimaru will ask his beloved teacher for an explanation~"
...…..
On the other side, the root base.
"Danzo-sama!"
The two teams that had just followed Naruto back to the village stood in front of Danzo, reporting the details of the mission.
"Zabuza is actually in the country of waves."
Danzo was also surprised. He didn't expect to get such news after following the Nine Tails Jinchūriki.
"What's going on with Nine Tails Jinchūriki?"
"Everything is normal."
"No Chakra leaks?"
Danzo didn't expect that the seal of Nine Tails was still so strong.
"Yes. Most of the fights were settled by Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke."
Yamanaka Harada said seriously.
This was the message that Naruto took the time to plant a message that Nine Tails Jinchūriki was 'trash' for them.
Also a smoke bomb for Danzo.
"I see, you can leave."
Danzo didn't ask any more questions. Since Nine Tails Jinchūriki was fine, he had no excuse to ask for Naruto from the Third Hokage.
So he also lost interest in Naruto.
…
The next day, Naruto came to the practice field, and Sasuke was already waiting there.
"What ninjutsu are you going to teach me?"
Sasuke asked expectantly.
Naruto didn't answer and just threw a few scrolls at him.
"B-rank Fire Style · Great Fire Dragon Technique, B-rank Fire Style · Great Fire Extinguishment, B-rank Fire Style · Dragon Flame Technique...."
The more Sasuke looked at it, the more frightened he became, and the more he looked at it, the more suspicious he became.
"These are the Fire Style ninjutsu of our Uchiha clan!? Where did you get them!?"
Sasuke stared at Naruto closely.
"Do you want to learn it? If you don't want to learn them, you can give them back to me. Moreover, with your existing Chakra, it would be a blessing to be able to release these ninjutsus even once."
Sasuke didn't speak and didn't return the scroll to Naruto, but just looked at him quietly.
"Sasuke, do you trust me?"
Naruto asked suddenly.
"I trust you." Sasuke nodded.
Although Sasuke unilaterally regarded Naruto as a rival, Sasuke knew that Naruto had the same experience and the same loneliness as him, so they must be able to understand each other.
"I can't tell you for the time being. But If there is a suitable opportunity, I will tell you again."
Naruto explained.
"I see."
Sasuke nodded.
No matter what, he could learn the powerful Fire Style ninjutsu, that was enough.
"You train hard, and I'll go first."
Naruto, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped and asked without turning back.
"Hey, Sasuke, if a person appears one day, and he tells you that as long as you follow him, you will gain great power, and may even lose your life. Would you go?"
"As long as he can help me in my revenge."
Sasuke returned to being the avenger who had just experienced the night of genocide and hated his brother when he heard Naruto.
Naruto nodded in understanding and said indifferently.
"If I can make you stronger without paying a price? What would you choose?"
Naruto needed a helper, and Sasuke was a good candidate, but he was not very stable. If Naruto trained him well. But if he was abducted by Orochimaru, it would be a big loss for him.
"What?"
Sasuke was stunned for a moment, then thought about it.
"Can you get me to the point where I can kill that man?"
"Yes."
"Then I choose you."
Sasuke nodded affirmatively.
After this mission with Naruto, Sasuke knew how low-key Naruto was when he was in the academy.
Naruto only showed his taijutsu to everyone. If Naruto had kept a low profile, no one would have known that Naruto was a "taijutsu genius".
Sasuke felt that it would not be a loss to follow Naruto, as he could tell by looking at the ninjutsu scroll in his hand.
"Is that so… very well, eat this."
Naruto took out the 'Chakra fruit (small) synthesized by the system upgrade and handed it to Sasuke after a seconds of hesitation.
Although this was called 'Chakra Fruit', it actually had nothing to do with the fruit that grew on the Divine Tree.
Its only function was to double the amount of existing Chakra of the eater.
But this thing was of no use to Naruto, he asked the system, the less Chakra, the more obvious the effect, and the more Chakra, the lesser the effect.
And Naruto himself had the Sage Body and had Chakra in units of 'tons', so there was no need to worry about the consumption of Chakra.
"What is this?" Sasuke took it, looking at it in his hand.
No matter how you look at it, this peach-like fruit looks very suspicious.
...
"Don't you want to become stronger even if you are willing to give up your life?"
Naruto suddenly laughed sinisterly.
"Then eat it, you will get what you want, or are you afraid?"
"How could I be afraid! As long as I can get my revenge..."
Sasuke's face turned hard, he ate the fruit and waited quietly for something to change inside him.
He wanted to see what the fruit Naruto gave him did.
Suddenly, Sasuke felt that the Chakra in his body was boiling, increasing continuously, and squeezing his cells, making him feel as if he was full.
"How do you feel?" Naruto asked.
"It's a little uncomfortable...a little painful..."
Sasuke began to sweat, and the soaring of his chakra made Sasuke's body swell slowly as if he had suddenly gained weight.
"Use a ninjutsu, just let it out."
Naruto said calmly.
As soon as Sasuke heard it, his hands began to seal.
"Fire Style—Dragon Fire Technique!"
boom!
A fire dragon made up of flames took shape in front of Sasuke, it formed a straight line and attacked the wooden stakes in the training ground.
Accompanied by the scorching temperature and the violent impact, four or five wooden stakes were broken, falling to the ground and burning continuously.
"Ha…. ha…..!"
Sasuke panted, his body returned to normal, and he looked in shock at the effect of the Dragon Fire Technique just now.
"This power... was much stronger than when I practiced by myself!"
"Of course, because you have more Chakra now. For the same ninjutsu, the amount of Chakra determines who is more powerful and who is less powerful."
"That's why my Fire Style is stronger than yours."
Naruto explained.
"My Chakra has more than doubled?!"
After Sasuke closed his eyes and felt his chakra, he opened his eyes in surprise.
"What did you just feed me? It's so amazing!?"
"Anyway, it's a good thing. So, Sasuke, don't forget what you just said, otherwise, I can take back what I gave you."
As Naruto said what he wanted to say, he disappeared in an instant.
"I won't forget it."
Sasuke's face was full of determination.
A small fruit that Naruto took out could double his strength, so why wouldn't Sasuke continue to follow Naruto?
He was not a fool!
"My 1st supporter, maybe I can try the Hyuga clan next."
Naruto thought to himself.
The reason why Naruto was willing to spend his things to train Sasuke was that he wanted to train a team of his own.
And the rookie 12 were good goals, all of them had good potential, and once they grew up, they would at least achieve Jōnin rank.
Not to mention Sasuke. He would be the existence that would be able to open Rinnegan in the future.
And they were hidden cards for Naruto's future.
Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara could suppress the ninja world together, so Naruto and the twelve rookies were even more worthy!!
But before that, he had to become Hokage first.
He wanted the Third Hokage to experience what it felt like to be 'hated'.
…