This Naruto is a player.

Chapter 26 Genin Naruto Uzumaki
"Young man, your youth is indeed very vibrant!" The older man gave Naruto a thumbs-up and praised him.

Those bright white teeth were so dazzling they hurt Naruto's eyes, but he had nothing to say.

Having run a full 500 laps, he was now completely exhausted and lying on the ground, barely able to move a finger.

But why are these young, older men still so energetic?

Is a watermelon head and a green bodysuit really the secret to eternal youth?

Just thinking about myself dressed like this... ugh!
Ugly rejection.

However, looking at the still lively and energetic old boy, Naruto began to doubt his own eyes.

Take a look at the panel.

[肌肉爆发：90（3/10）→92（8/10）]
[耐力值：90（1/10）→92（2/10）]
His attributes remained the same, even though he hadn't exercised much, his SSSSSS talent still allowed him to grow to 90.

The burst of life energy just now even caused his attributes to increase by more than 2 points.

These stats are pretty high, even surpassing most Jonin.

Old Boys definitely has a problem.

"Yo? It's my best friend Kakashi! Let's have a youthful showdown."

Following the old boy's gaze, Naruto saw the big pervert—no, his respected teacher Kakashi.

Kakashi ignored Guy and stared at Naruto with a complicated expression.

I had long heard of Naruto's reputation as the King of Pranks, and how he was always up to no good in the village. Today I finally witnessed it for myself.

But pranks are usually played on others; I've never seen someone play a prank on themselves.

Kakashi has lived for 25 years, and today he's really learned something new.

"Kakashi-sensei, I've completed the mission," Naruto hinted.

Kakashi completely ignored the accusation. This kid was impersonating him and issuing this kind of mission, so he took the opportunity to punish this prankster a little. "Really? Is there such a mission?"

"Isn't this a mission you issued, Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke, panting heavily, arrived at some point and asked.

Sasuke's question caused an awkward silence. Kakashi didn't answer, but stared intently at Naruto, waiting to see how he would explain. Naruto's answer would determine his attitude.

Even the enthusiastic teacher, Mr. Kai, noticed that something was off.

Sakura had walked over at some point. When she saw Kakashi-sensei and Naruto and Sasuke who had stopped, she thought she had failed her assessment mission.

She was almost in tears, feeling as if Sasuke had already left her.

"Kakashi-sensei, did I fail my assessment?"

Kakashi continued to stare at Naruto, and Sasuke stared back at Naruto, equally puzzled. Sakura, who had just arrived, had no other intentions; she simply wanted to take one last look at Sasuke.

Upon seeing this, Naruto selected to activate Plan B.

"Okay, actually these are all mine."

Before he could finish speaking, Kakashi interrupted him.

"This is indeed the assessment task I issued."

Seeing that Naruto had taken the initiative to admit his mistake, Kakashi didn't intend to hold a grudge against him. What was the real assessment task? Actually, it wasn't important. What was important was understanding teamwork. But this answer surprised Naruto a little.

Not a buddy?

I've already implemented the second contingency plan, and you've pulled it back again.

Why didn't you say so sooner?
Ignoring Naruto's thoughts, Kakashi glanced at the other two. All three of them were lone wolves, lacking any sense of teamwork. He said coldly, "But the result is: all three of you are unqualified! You shouldn't be ninjas!"

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura: ?

"What do you think this assessment is testing?"

Without giving the three a chance to speak, Kakashi answered his own question: "It tests teamwork!"
If the three of you run together, supporting each other, even if 500 laps is difficult, you can still finish.

Looking at Sakura, who was already crying, Kakashi suddenly remembered what he had overheard the three of them discussing yesterday afternoon.

His tone remained unchanged, "But all I see is each fighting their own battles. Do you even know what it means to be in a group of three?"

"Teamwork, sharing both glory and shame!" Sakura shouted.

This answerable question was her only light.

"That's right, but what about you?"

Kakashi remained silent for a long time after speaking, perhaps allowing them to think and understand.

Sakura sobbed softly.

Sasuke frowned, but also glanced at Kakashi and Naruto with suspicion, seemingly noticing something was off about them.

Naruto kept staring at Kakashi, as if he had something left to say.

Will Kakashi really send them back to school?
nonexistent.

No one would allow him, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the only remaining member of the Uchiha clan, to fail to graduate and become a ninja.

Kakashi-sensei, please bring it up quickly.

Kakashi spoke up as expected, "It's not like there's no second chance."

Sakura looked up in surprise, while Sasuke was even more puzzled.

Naruto looked as if he knew it was true.

Kakashi noticed this, and his single exposed eye narrowed slightly, as if some dark secret was brewing within.

"However, there's a condition. Naruto!" Kakashi suddenly called out, referring to the king of pranks, who was disorganized and undisciplined, and even dared to impersonate him to issue fake missions. He was prepared to severely punish Naruto.

"Ok?"

"You really like running upside down?" Naruto asked without suspicion. "It's alright, but I actually quite like it."

Noticing Kakashi's threatening gaze, he promptly changed his tune.

“Very good. Since you like running upside down, then you will run another 500 laps by yourself today. No, 5000 laps. After you finish, I will give you a second chance tomorrow.”

what?
Naruto realized that Kakashi-sensei was punishing him.

I thought Kakashi-sensei, who took the blame for me, was actually quite nice.

I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it.

You, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, are actually so cunning!
I thought you were really handsome yesterday.

"Start the timer now!"

Kakashi pulled out a stopwatch from somewhere.

That expression, those movements... Naruto seemed to recognize them.

It seems like I've seen it somewhere.

Before he could think any further, Kakashi had already begun his chilling countdown.

"3...2...1. Now begin."

"hateful!"

Naruto let out a loud roar and immediately began to crawl upside down.

Consider it punishment, give those two guys a chance. 5000 laps, that's all.

Give me some more!

Before we had climbed far, a voice came from behind.

"Don't slack off, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

This special instruction finally helped Naruto solve the case.

That darn Kakashi! He actually brought his prank stuff to play on him now.

Kakashi came in second place in the game where he imitated Kakashi!

Sakura's face was full of sympathy as she watched Naruto walk away upside down.

5000 laps, I'll probably have to run until tomorrow.

"You two can go back now," Kakashi said.

After saying that, he jumped away in a flash, seemingly to keep an eye on Naruto.

"Humph."

Sasuke snorted coldly; he roughly understood.

But for some reason, he thought of Kakashi's gaze again.

Such a commanding gaze, could it really be Naruto?

I had a premonition about it when I did the handstand run before.

Now I clearly realize that the gap is actually this big?

Sasuke was unwilling to believe it, but the facts left him no choice but to.

"Sasuke-kun, let's go eat." Sakura walked forward with stars in her eyes.

Although she didn't understand what had happened today, thankfully she escaped danger and still had a chance to be with Sasuke.

Moreover, without Naruto as a third wheel, it's entirely just the two of them spending time alone.

"I do not have time."

Then, Sakura saw Sasuke start doing a handstand again and running forward upside down, trying to catch up with Naruto.

Sasuke remained expressionless at this moment.

Sasuke did this simply because he didn't want to lose to Naruto, not because Naruto was going to run 5000 laps upside down to give him a chance, nor because of the teamwork that Kakashi-sensei just mentioned, nor because of the shared honor and disgrace that the three of them discussed yesterday.

Yes, that's true.

"Sasuke, Sasuke!" Sakura ran after Sasuke.

after awhile.

Naruto, who had just returned from his run, found the two people ahead of him rather odd.

"This is what you are doing?"

Sasuke responded with a cold snort.

"Oh, I get it! That's right, we're a team! We'll share both glory and hardship!"

Seeing that Sasuke did not object, Sakura seemed to have realized something, and Naruto made the suggestion again.

How about we give our group a catchy name?

Sasuke was already too exhausted to answer him.

Only Naruto, who was relatively relaxed, was left to use the microphone.

"It's better to come up with a group name sooner rather than later, so people don't give us any more nicknames. The Three Ninjas? Listen to that, the name has no uniqueness or beauty at all."

"If you ask me, we should call it 'The Legend of Naruto'! Hey? Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here waiting for us?"

Kakashi's eyes curved into crescents as he smiled and said, "Congratulations, you've all passed!"

Thank you to Youle for the amazing monthly pass, and thank you to wseldenring, book friend 20190701171449905, and book friend 20200311234641281 for their two monthly passes. Thank you!

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(End of this chapter)