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Nonō Yakushi was once an ace spy under Danzo, famously known as the "Aruki no Miko" (The Wandering Nun), Her gentle and kind heart, coupled with her exceptional skills in medical ninjutsu, made it easy for her to infiltrate enemy ranks and gain their trust.
However, her kindness became her greatest weakness. She found it increasingly difficult to betray or kill the comrades who placed their trust in her.
If she had been a Uchiha, the emotional toll might have triggered the awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan long ago.
Danzo was well aware of Nonō's character and repeatedly exploited it, threatening the children at her orphanage to coerce her into betraying those who trusted her.
This cycle of manipulation continued until Danzo was removed from power, and Minato assumed full control as Hokage.
At that point, Nonō requested that Minato stop assigning her spy missions—she wished only to devote herself to running the orphanage.
Minato, unlike Danzo, respected the personal choices of his ninja.
While he might send spies to gather crucial information for the village, he never forced anyone against their will.
As a result, Nonō was able to continue as the orphanage director, occasionally taking part-time work at the hospital to support the children financially.
After hearing Kakashi's explanation, Naruto began to piece together the situation.
This was characteristic of his father's leadership release. While Minato was perceived as a powerful and formidable Fourth Hokage by outsiders, to the villagers, he was a warm and guiding light.
"And what about Kabuto Yakushi?" Naruto asked, knowing Kabuto to be a cunning and dangerous character, possibly as dangerous as Orochimaru himself. It was essential to understand him fully.
"Yamato Yakushi, or Kabuto, is an orphan adopted by Director Nonō. He was taken in during the last Great Ninja War, having lost his memory due to a head injury. Director Nonō later taught him medical ninjutsu, and he proved to be exceptionally talented. His skills now nearly surpass those of the Director herself."
"It seems Kabuto's current motivation is to help the Director support the orphanage, with little interest in becoming a full-fledged ninja."
Kakashi, ever the professional ninja, thoroughly collected information even for a D-rank mission.
Naruto hoped that they would be equally diligent in gathering intelligence for future C-rank missions.
There was, after all, a running joke in the ninja world about the absurdity of Team 7's "C-rank missions."
Sasuke, listening to Kakashi's briefing, found it impressive. As expected of a Jōnin, the information was comprehensive.
Sakura, on the other hand, fell into deep thought. Learning medical ninjutsu seemed like a good idea.
Given the strength of her teammates, she likely wouldn't contribute much in battle, but medical knowledge could be invaluable.
Moreover, if Sasuke were to get injured in the future... Sakura clenched her fist with determination. Wouldn't that mean he would rely on her?
Meanwhile, Naruto was inwardly lamenting for Orochimaru, who was likely lurking in some dark corner.
Orochimaru's two strongest subordinates—one was Kimimaro, who had long been brought back as Naruto's brother, and the other was now the determined director of an orphanage.
This was essentially severing Orochimaru's right-hand men. "Let's keep up the pressure!" Naruto thought.
The four of them had reached their destination while conversing.
Naruto looked around and noticed that the orphanage wasn't as run-down and shabby as he had imagined.
Inside the open gate was a large courtyard resembling a playground. Swings, seesaws, and other play facilities reminded Naruto of an elementary school from his previous life.
The children were playing and chasing each other in groups.
A person dressed as a nun noticed Team 7 and approached to greet them.
"Hello, I'm the teacher here. My name is Tsubaki. Are you the ninjas who accepted the mission?"
Kakashi handed the mission list to Tsubaki and responded, "Yes, we're Team 7, led by me, Kakashi Hatake."
"Uzumaki Naruto."
"Sasuke Uchiha."
"Haruno Sakura."
The three youngsters introduced themselves in turn.
"Welcome," Tsubaki said with a smile. "There are 31 children here who need your care. Today, they need a literacy class and an arithmetic class. Could you also play some games with them afterwards?"
"No problem," Kakashi replied.
Tsubaki gathered the children together and announced, "Today, we have four temporary teachers here to instruct you. They're all very powerful ninjas, so please be on your best behaviour, okay?"
"Okay~!" the children chorused.
Seeing the children obey so readily, Tsubaki turned back to Kakashi and said, "I'll handle the meals and cleaning today, so I'll leave the children in your care."
With that, Tsubaki left.
As soon as the teacher departed, the children became excited and started looking curiously at the four members of Team 7.
"Are you ninjas?"
"Are you strong?"
"Do you know ninjutsu?"
The children buzzed with excitement, like preschoolers seeing rare animals at the zoo for the first time.
"So, what do you plan to do next?" Kakashi asked, shrugging, and leaving the decision to them.
Naruto exchanged a glance with Sasuke, then took a few steps back, creating some distance between them.
Sasuke understood immediately and stepped back as well. The two of them began to form hand seals simultaneously.
"Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!"
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
Naruto and Sasuke spat out water and fire from their mouths, respectively.
The large fireball collided with a massive amount of water, creating a huge plume of white steam.
The children watched in awe and screamed with excitement.
"It's ninjutsu! It's ninjutsu!"
"That's so cool!"
"That brother is so handsome!"
Sakura's ears twitched as she felt a sense of impending competition.
Naruto pulled Sasuke in front of the children and asked with a smile, "Do you want to see even more powerful ninjutsu?"
"Yes~!" the children shouted eagerly.
"If you do, then hurry to the classroom. After class, I'll put on a show for you."
The children eagerly rushed into the classroom.
Naruto turned to Sakura and said, "Sakura-chan, I'll leave the teaching to you. I'm not very good at that."
"No problem, leave it to me!" Sakura responded confidently.
Then she suddenly realized something and looked at Naruto. "Wait, what did you just call me?"
Naruto looked up at the sky. "Ah, it's such a nice day, isn't it, Sasuke?"
"You idiot...!" Sakura clenched her fists and stormed off to the classroom angrily.
Naruto suddenly remembered something and looked at Kakashi. "Sensei, why haven't you taken out your weird book today? Aren't you reading it?"
Kakashi sighed. "There are so many kids watching, so I have to be mindful of the influence."
Naruto was shocked. "Are you the kind of person who would care about that?"
"What kind of image do you have of me?" Kakashi asked as he took the book out of his ninja pouch and walked away.
"You should focus on what to perform next," he added.
"Come on, Sasuke, let's go see how Sakura's doing with the lesson."
"Yeah," Sasuke replied quietly. "But do we have to put on a show?"
"Why not?"
"It's dumb."
Naruto turned to Sasuke with a serious expression. "We're ninjas, brother. It's a mission. There's nothing dumb about it."
****
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