Chapter 354: Journey to the Land of Waves

Just when Sakura thought she would be sent back to the Ninja School to start over, the knocked out Naruto and Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Kakashi and snatched the bell from Kakashi's belt.

Kakashi, whose bell was taken away, smiled helplessly and said to Naruto and Sasuke:
"You are able to use my strength as a jonin. Your strength is considered outstanding among the chunins. You have successfully passed this test."

"However, it is not a good thing for you to have such strength too early."

This is what Kakashi really thinks. He has always been conflicted about the improvement in Naruto and Sasuke's strength.

Naruto and Sasuke have very special identities and need to quickly improve their strength to deal with the crises brought about by their identities, but improving their strength will further expose them to danger and lead to misfortunes.

Once you encounter those super-standard ninjas, even you yourself will not be able to completely protect them.

Sakura, who was just a bystander the whole time, was a little confused. She didn't understand what was going on and why Sasuke and Naruto, who were usually only slightly stronger than her, were now so much stronger than her.

And just now Kakashi said that Naruto and Sasuke have the strength of Chunin? Is that so exaggerated?

At this time, Kakashi also noticed Sakura who was in a daze, and walked over and said:

"Sakura, although your performance just now is not as good as Sasuke and Naruto, you have passed the test. As for why Sasuke and Naruto are so strong, I believe you can see it. They have been my students for a long time."

Hearing this, Sakura patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

She thought that she was not working hard enough and was not good enough, so she was far behind Sasuke and Naruto. As long as she received special training from Kakashi in the future, she could become as strong as them.

……

After the assessment, Kakashi prepared for the three of them to report to the mission center and receive the mission commission.

On the way to the mission center, Sasuke kept staring at Kakashi. He had just seen Kakashi's Sharingan, and many doubts arose in his mind.

Why does Kakashi have the Sharingan? Weren't all his clan members slaughtered by Uchiha Itachi?

But on second thought, Kakashi is most likely the mysterious person who gave him the ninjutsu scroll. Without the Sharingan, he couldn't tell him how to use the Sharingan.

But Sasuke still wanted to know the origin of Kakashi's Sharingan.

Kakashi also noticed Sasuke's worries, and immediately found an excuse to pull Sasuke out alone, and said straight to the point:

"Sasuke, are you wondering why I have the Sharingan?"

Sasuke nodded, and then said: "Sharingan is the bloodline limit of the Uchiha clan, but you are obviously not from my clan. I want to ask you about the origin of this Sharingan."

Sasuke's tone was full of doubt as he said this.

Kakashi sighed, then said, "I am not an Uchiha. This Sharingan was given to me by a dead friend. It was also his last gift to me."

"Why would he give you the Sharingan?" Sasuke didn't quite believe what Kakashi said.

Kakashi patted Sasuke on the shoulder and said, "You don't need to know this. You only need to know that your father, the chief of the Fugaku clan, also tacitly allowed me to have the Sharingan."

Sasuke was eager to know everything, and asked Kakashi: "Do you know my father? How much do you know about the night of genocide? How much do you know about Uchiha Itachi?"

"Itachi Uchiha was once my subordinate, and he was someone I couldn't understand."

After a pause, Kakashi continued, "I know you are very anxious, but you are still far from defeating Uchiha Itachi? Uchiha Itachi was already a Jonin at your age."

"I don't know why he let you go, but it is definitely not a wise choice for you to go find him. Unless you have strength beyond mine, you will just be going to die."

With that, Kakashi returned to Naruto and Sakura and headed towards the center of the mission.

Sasuke also returned to the team, and Naruto immediately came over and said, "Sasuke, what did you talk about with Kakashi-sensei just now? Was it related to your brother?"

Sasuke nodded and said:
"Kakashi said that I am too weak and not worthy of looking for Uchiha Itachi unless I have strength that surpasses him..."

Hearing this, Naruto looked a little depressed:

"My information is similar. Kakashi and the Third Grandfather are unwilling to tell me my life story. I don't even know who my enemy is."

Seeing Sasuke and Naruto whispering to each other, Sakura felt a little out of place for the first time.

Soon, they arrived at the Konoha Mission Center. After entering the hall, Kakashi revealed his identity as the team leader and took them to take on some low-level missions.

These low-level tasks are very simple and consist of trivial tasks such as finding lost pets and physical work.

During this period, you will not encounter any hostile ninjas. Your main role is to help the Genin become familiar with the mission process, and by the way, provide those Genin who have been around for thousands of years with a salary to support their families.

After all, there is no such thing as salary in the ninja world. If you want money, you have to take on missions.

The first mission that Class 7 received was to find the daimyo's wife's lost cat, and the second mission was to help farmers clear the weeds in the fields.

At the beginning, Naruto and the other two were full of energy, but after carrying out low-level tasks for half a month, the three felt that the low-level tasks were too boring.

With their strength, how can they improve their strength by performing such low-level tasks all day long?
After the mission was over, Naruto and Sasuke couldn't help but complain to Kakashi: "Teacher Kakashi, shouldn't we perform a higher-level mission?"

Kakashi glanced at Naruto and Sasuke, then passed the blame to the Third Hokage:
"I will also take you on high-level missions, but as Genin, you can only carry out D-level missions at most, and all missions are assigned by the Third Hokage."

"If you want to carry out high-level missions, you must either go and speak to the Sandaime in person, or become a Chunin first."

Hearing this, Naruto and Sasuke frowned, even Sakura frowned, they could feel that Kakashi was just being perfunctory.

In fact, Kakashi was indeed just trying to please Naruto and the others.

With his authority, it would be no problem for him to take a group of Genin to take on A-level missions, but he didn't want to let these people be exposed to danger too early, nor did he want them to leave the village too early.

Of course, the Third Hokage would never let Naruto and Sasuke leave the village.

Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. If something goes wrong outside the village, who will take responsibility?
……

A few hours later, Kakashi still led Team 7 to the Hokage Building. After arriving at the Hokage Building, Naruto and Sasuke walked directly into the Hokage's office and expressed their ideas to the Third Hokage.

They don’t want to continue wasting time on low-level tasks and want to perform high-level tasks.

In front of most ninjas, the Third Hokage always appeared amiable. He first said that Naruto and Sasuke were not strong enough, and wanted to use this excuse to reject Team Seven.

Hearing this, Naruto and Sasuke quickly said, "Grandpa Sandaime (sir), Kakashi-sensei said that we already have the strength of a Chunin. We are no longer children and have the strength to stand on our own."

The Third Hokage narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, do Naruto and Sasuke really have the strength of Chunin? Why didn't you tell me in advance?"

For the Third Hokage, it was very simple for him to know the information about Naruto and Sasuke.

He had known for a long time that Naruto and Sasuke were stronger than the average Genin, but he was dissatisfied that Kakashi did not report this to him and helped the two hide their strength.

Kakashi's face changed slightly, and then he said: "They have reached the level of Chunin in terms of combat power, but their theory and experience have not kept up. I plan to let them stay in the Genin stage for a while longer to accumulate some experience."

Hearing this, the Third Hokage nodded in satisfaction, then searched through the mission manual, took out the file and said:
"Since you have Chunin, there is actually a mission suitable for you to carry out recently."

"What mission?" Sasuke and Naruto were very excited.

The Third Hokage said calmly, "It's a C-rank escort mission. Dazna, the bridge expert from the Land of Waves, wants to return to the Land of Waves to build a bridge. So he deliberately issued an escort mission?"

Upon hearing that the mission level was C, the members of Class 7 were a little disappointed and not very satisfied with the mission.

Although C-level missions allow you to leave the village, you will not encounter any dangerous enemies during the escort process. At most, you will encounter some wild beasts on the road, which will not achieve the effect of training at all.

But if they do not accept this mission, they can only continue to take low-level missions in the village.

Helplessly, they could only say to the Third Hokage: "Grandpa Third Hokage, we have accepted this escort mission, but can we accept a more challenging mission next time?"

"Then it depends on your performance..."

The Third Hokage smiled and then took Team 7 to meet the client.

The client's name was Dazna, a skinny old man who looked more like a farmer than a bridge engineer.

When he saw that the ninjas escorting him were just a few young boys, he couldn't help but frowned:
"Hokage, I have invested a lot of money this time. You just sent a few young boys to escort me. If you are sure they are really in danger, won't I protect them?"

Dazna's words instantly angered Sasuke and Sakura, who looked at the former with a cold expression.

Naruto raised his head and looked at Dazna and said, "Mr. Client, if you feel that we are not strong enough, you can give up issuing the commission. The ninjas of Konoha Village cannot be questioned by outsiders."

After hearing this, Dazna was stunned, then he blushed and said to the Third Hokage:

"Hokage-sama, is this the service attitude of your village's ninja? I just said a few words casually, and you asked me to give up the commission. Is there anyone who drives customers away like this?"

"Naruto!"

The Third Hokage first stopped Naruto from speaking, and then explained to Dazna:

"Mr. Dazna, although Naruto and his companions are young, they are very strong. Their captain Kakashi is a famous jonin. Don't worry about their escort mission this time."

After being comforted, Dazna felt much better and reluctantly agreed to let Team 7 provide the escort. They agreed to gather at the village entrance in half an hour and set off for the Land of Waves.

After asking Naruto and the others to go back and prepare for the long journey, Kakashi asked the Third Hokage:

"Sir Sandaime, isn't it too dangerous to let Naruto and Sasuke leave the village now? Naruto is Minato-sensei's son, and he is also the village's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. What if the news leaks out and something goes wrong?"

The Third Hokage looked at Kakashi and said:
"I know Naruto might be in danger if he goes out, but Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, he can't stay in the village forever. I have already let him stay in the Ninja School for two more years. Isn't that enough?"

"Right now, although the situation in the ninja world seems calm, in fact, undercurrents are surging and full of murderous intentions. If Naruto cannot become a qualified Jinchūriki as soon as possible, the village will only become more passive."

"As for Naruto's safety, you can rest assured."

"I will send an Anbu team to follow you in secret. If you really encounter an enemy that you cannot deal with, you only need to retreat with Team 7, and the Anbu team will cover your retreat."

After listening to the Third Hokage's arrangements, Kakashi knew that he could no longer refuse this mission.

However, he still had a question in his mind that needed the Third Hokage's answer.

"Sir, that Dazna seems very abnormal. It's just a C-rank escort mission, but he is very picky about the escort mission. Is there something wrong with him?"

The Third Hokage nodded and said, "I have investigated Dazna. Dazna has a lot of problems. The mission to escort him is definitely not as simple as a C-level mission. We will definitely encounter ninjas..."

"Meet a ninja? Didn't that mean Dazna concealed the difficulty of the mission? According to the regulations, we can cancel the mission and confiscate his commission money...?"

Having said that, Kakashi seemed to remember something and looked towards the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage knew that Dazna was hiding something, but he did not expose him. He must have some plan in this matter, and the target of his plan must be the Land of Waves.

"Sir, your target is the Land of Waves and the wealthy Cardo?"

This time, the Third Hokage did not answer Kakashi. He just gave Kakashi a look and said, "Kakashi, just perform your mission well and don't worry about other things."

After hearing this, Kakashi had no choice but to leave the office and gather at the entrance of Konoha Village.

Being in the Anbu, he was no stranger to such missions as robbing small countries and seizing the money of wealthy businessmen, but he did not expect that the first official mission of Team 7 would be this kind of mission.

Soon, after gathering, Team 7 escorted Dazna out of the Konoha Village.

However, what Kakashi and others did not notice was that when they left Konoha Village, a black shadow quietly followed them.

After moving away from Konoha, the figure split into two halves, one half continued to track, and the other half rushed to an unknown small country somewhere in the ninja world.

The news that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had left Konoha had leaked out.

(End of this chapter)