Naruto lay on his bed, boasting to Kurama, "With my current strength, even Uchiha Madara would have to take a hit before leaving."
Kurama gave him a disdainful look, not bothering to respond.
Before noon, a sound came from the window. An Anbu member wearing an animal mask knocked on the window. The moment Naruto turned his head, he recognized the purple-haired Anbu as Uzuki Yugao.
Outside the window, lush green trees spread their branches, intertwining and extending to Naruto's windowsill, as if enchanted. The branches crisscrossed and twisted like a web.
With an annoyed expression, Naruto, still in his pajamas, forcefully opened the window, letting a blast of cold air rush in.
"What?"
"Tsunade-sama is looking for you."
"I'm still on vacation, I'm not going!" Naruto replied irritably, "No one can disturb me from resting at home."
"Suit yourself." Yugao replied from behind her Anbu mask as she stood up, "But Tsunade-sama already predicted you'd say. She asked me to tell you that if you're not at the Hokage's Office in half an hour, you'll regret it."
After saying that, she jumped onto the roof and disappeared in an instant, leaving Naruto holding the quilt in a daze.
After a while, Naruto reluctantly dragged his tired body out of bed. After getting dressed, he walked out of the living room with a face full of despair. Glancing at Kurama, who was still drinking, he sighed, "You won't have any more booze tomorrow."
"You brat!!"
…
Hokage Tower.
"Even if you are the Godaime Hokage, you shouldn't be overworking a Shinobi like this! I still have one more day off! Damn it!"
Naruto was full of complaints, grumbling loudly even before entering the room. His eyes were full of resentment as he pushed open the door to the Hokage's Office.
The room was silent, and everyone's eyes were on the blonde who had just burst in.
Behind the group, Tsunade sat at her desk with her fingers crossed, her face somewhat gloomy. Naruto immediately sensed that something was off, and when he looked around, he was also stunned.
'Team 3, Team 8, Team 10… everyone is here.'
Shikamaru's deadpan expression didn't change, but his brow twitched when Naruto barged in. Choji secretly glanced at Tsunade's gloomy face, then squinted at Naruto, cold sweat oozing from his forehead.
Ino looked embarrassed. She covered her face and turned her head to the window, not wanting to look at the embarrassing guy.
Kiba still had that gloating look on his face as he looked at Naruto, while Shino remained unfazed, Hinata quietly whispered 'Naruto-kun', but then quickly lowered her head.
The innocent Lee was shocked, questioning Naruto's sanity for being so bold in front of the Fifth Hokage. As for Neji, having heard some rumors, he showed no emotion.
Tenten frowned as she looked at the yellow-haired boy in front of them, and recalled Naruto's terrifying look at the last moment of the mission in Land of Rivers some time ago. She felt like the person before her was somewhat unreal.
"Cough."
Realizing he had messed up, Naruto quickly stood up straight, cleared his throat, and said seriously, "Tsunade-sama, I heard that you were looking for me?"
"Indeed, there's something for you to do. But you've also just created a problem for yourself." Tsunade said, her brows furrowed, "However, I won't deal with that today. If you can't complete this mission…"
Naruto watched in alarm as Tsunade's expression darkened, crushing a glass in her hand with ease. He gasped, wondering if this was some terrifying 'The female boss's mission'.
Seeing that Naruto had finally stood up straight, Tsunade's expression softened slightly. Supporting her head with one hand, she began issuing orders to the ten Shinobi present in the room.
What Tsunade called a mission was the annual outdoor exercise held by the Academy, led by outstanding graduating Genin, which was similar in nature to the summer camp for young kids.
"The Godaime Hokage is really too much. She canceled my vacation just to play babysitter for kids." Naruto muttered in despair as he leaned against the wall outside the Academy.
The Academy had selected twenty-seven students and divided them into nine teams. Each team was assigned a supervising Genin. To put it bluntly, it was just a Shinobi-themed summer camp, a glorified playdate.
Starting from the Academy and climbing a distant mountain would be considered a success.
Naruto, looking extremely reluctant, wore an expression that said he was being forced into something against his will. Iruka, watching his former mischievous student, felt a headache coming on. He called out to Naruto several times but received no response.
Because Shikamaru showed his leadership qualities during the Konoha Crush and made outstanding contributions to the village's defense, he was promoted to Chunin as an exception and was spared from this babysitting mission.
Shikamaru, who is standing beside Iruka, sighed with dead eyes and said, "Iruka-sensei, there's no point calling that guy that. He won't listen."
"What?" Iruka was a little helpless when he heard that. He turned to look at Shikamaru and asked, "Shikamaru, do you have any good ideas?"
"Me? I can't do anything about that guy either." Shikamaru, who was wearing a Chunin green vest, said, "But I do know someone who can."
"Ino!" Shikamaru suddenly called out loudly.
Ino, who was standing in front of a group of young students, suddenly felt a shiver down her spine, and like a startled cat, she turned her head and glared at Shikamaru, shouting, "Don't call me!"
"There's no one else who can bring that guy back. If he keeps messing around, we'll run out of time." Shikamaru said with a sigh, "This is such a drag. Just get him back already."
"You do it yourself." Ino frowned and her cheeks felt slightly hot.
"What the heck is Naruto doing?" Kiba muttered as he looked at Naruto leaning against the wall in the distance, "Hinata, go get him."
"Me?" Hinata's face instantly turned crimson, and she instinctively shook her head, "Naruto-kun, he... he won't listen to me."
The distance between them wasn't close, so Kiba only heard Shikamaru telling Ino to get Naruto, but Ino seemed to have refused. Not wanting to waste time, Kiba directly called for Hinata.
"Hinata, don't hesitate. That guy is always slow and shameless, but he will respond to you." Kiba urged, "Hurry up and drag him back!"
"… Okay." Hinata left the team formation and walked in one direction under the puzzled gazes of the three children she led.
At the end of that direction was a yellow-haired boy who was leaning against the wall, it is unknown what he was thinking.
Naruto, who was extremely resistant to this task, felt that Tsunade was just being crazy for forcing him to give up his vacation for this. As he leaned against the wall, trying to mentally prepare himself, he suddenly noticed someone timidly approaching him.
'Hinata?'
'Why is she here?'
'But if it was Hinata, maybe I could take the opportunity to pretend to be sick. Given Hinata's personality, she definitely wouldn't expose me, and I could easily get out of this mission.'
Naruto narrowed his eyes, thinking about how to pretend to be sick and take a break, when he suddenly found that Ino had walked towards him without him noticing.
Hinata, somewhat nervous, softly said, "Naruto-kun, um, the training mission is about to start. If you really don't want to do it, I'll do my best to help you."
"You! Hurry up and get going already! What are you wasting time here for? Damn it!" Ino had arrived and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes swept across the gentle Hinata before they coldly locked onto Naruto like a dagger.