From the night of genocide, marching towards the strongest.

Uchiha clan territory, training ground.

As usual, Sasuke got up early to train his physical fitness. After enjoying a highly nutritious meal, he looked up at the horizon.

It's almost time to meet.

The moment the thought flashed through his mind, Sasuke vanished from his spot in a flash.

A few minutes later, Sasuke saw Naruto and Sakura, who seemed to have arrived long ago, at the meeting point. To his surprise, Kakashi also arrived shortly after he did.

"Now that everyone is here, let me announce today's task assignments."

Kakashi coughed lightly and rubbed his sleepy eyes, indicating that he had gone to bed very late last night.

"The mission is as follows..."

"Huh!?" Naruto exclaimed as soon as Kakashi finished speaking, "Are we going to catch a cat again?"

"Kakashi-sensei, didn't we just complete a B-rank mission? That shows our class is really strong, so why can't we take on a few more high-rank missions?"

"This time is a little different." Kakashi crossed his arms and said casually, "This time, we're going to the neighboring village to catch the cat."

"Isn't that just catching a cat?"

Naruto retorted.

"Hmm..." Kakashi stroked his chin and replied, "This time we didn't catch an ordinary cat, but a ninja cat named Nekomata. It's said that this Nekomata is a very powerful being in the ninja cat world."

Naruto exclaimed excitedly, "Whether it's Nekomata or Nekomata, we should just leave these D-rank missions to someone else!"

As he spoke, Naruto looked at Sasuke, who had remained silent, and urged, "Right? Sasuke, say something already!"

"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke ignored Naruto and asked Kakashi, "who is the person who commissioned this mission?"

"It's Granny Cat who lives in the empty area."

Kakashi replied directly.

"Ok."

Sasuke nodded, then turned to Naruto and Sakura and said, "I'm going on this mission. What about you guys?"

"Huh?" Naruto was a little surprised, but he quickly realized what was going on.

"Team 7 is a team. Sasuke, you've decided to go, so of course we have to go too, right, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded quickly: "Yes."

Seeing this, Kakashi smiled slightly: "Then let's get ready and set off at noon. Today's mission will be completed by you alone, I won't be going."

Naruto gave him a disdainful look and snorted, "You talk like Kakashi-sensei was there during several D-rank missions."

"Heh..." Kakashi chuckled dryly, offering a defense for himself.

"I'm not slacking off this time. I have things to do today, to make arrangements for your upcoming tasks and training."

Naruto seized on the loophole in his words, pointed at Kakashi, and shouted at Sakura and Sasuke, "I told you Kakashi-sensei had been slacking off all along, didn't he? He even admitted it."

"........"

Kakashi's lips twitched.

"The empty area isn't far from Konoha. At your speed, you should be able to get there in less than half a day. If you complete the mission quickly, you might even be back tonight."

"Then, dismissed!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kakashi turned into a cloud of white mist and disappeared.

------------

Two hours later, Sasuke and his two companions arrived at the gate of the ruined city called the Empty Zone.

Although Kakashi said they would set off at noon, the three of them headed here as soon as Kakashi left.

It was still some time before noon.

"Sasuke, you seem very familiar with this place. By the way, what exactly is this place?"

As soon as they entered the empty area, Naruto looked around curiously and asked questions, while Sakura also looked at Sasuke with curiosity.

Sasuke replied calmly, "The owner of this place is an old friend of the Uchiha clan, and also one of my elders."

"An old friend or elder?"

Naruto and Sakura nodded, tacitly agreeing not to ask any further questions.

Collecting cat paw prints?

Sasuke's gaze was calm and indifferent. He had some recollection of this mission; it seemed to be a plot point that occurred before the Chunin Exams.

But he wasn't quite sure what it was.

In his previous life, he had read all the comics, watched the anime, watched the movies, and read the side stories of the novels.

However, 720 episodes of the anime is too long, so apart from the main storyline and some exciting side stories, he selectively skips some slice-of-life episodes.

According to the original owner's memories, when they were young, Itachi Uchiha often brought the original owner to this place to train, and the method of training was to catch cats!

They imprinted the paw prints of the cats they caught on the pages of a book, which was apparently made into a book called "The Complete Book of Paws".

However, even at the very end, Sasuke still had two types of cat paw prints left to collect.

Why didn't Grandma Cat tell me beforehand?

'Could this matter involve Itachi Uchiha? Is that why Granny Cat didn't tell me beforehand?'

Lost in thought, Sasuke suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Seeing this, Sakura and Naruto both looked puzzled, but seeing Sasuke's serious expression, they didn't ask any questions and instead became wary at the same time.

After a moment, Sasuke said in a deep voice, "Be careful."

Sakura asked softly, "Is he an enemy, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head: "Not necessarily, but the guy in front is very strong!"

Sasuke himself is not a sensory ninja, but in his previous life he had a talent similar to a sensory ninja. In this world, he trained in meditation for more than four years and was blessed with his own enormous spiritual energy.

In addition to his superhuman visual perception, Sasuke can now do things like a sensory ninja within a certain range.

In his perception, a ninja with an enormous amount of chakra appeared two kilometers away. The amount of chakra he possessed exceeded that of anyone Sasuke had ever seen, including Naruto.

Of course, this only surpasses Naruto before he mastered the Nine-Tails' power.

That person must be a Jinchuriki of a Tailed Beast!

Sasuke's gaze sharpened, and a name had already formed in his mind.

After the three of them slowly turned a corner, they saw a tall and slender young woman with long, straight, beige hair tied into a long braid that reached her waist, walking out of an underpass.

Two Yukito!

Sasuke thought to himself, "As expected." The "Complete Collection of Meatballs" is still missing two paw prints: one is Nekomata, and the other is Matatabi.

The mission of Class 7 is to collect the cat's paw prints, and the purpose of the two wooden figures coming here is also obvious.

Sasuke was puzzled, wondering how Granny Cat could have such influence that she could invite the two Yugitos from the distant Land of Lightning to come to the vicinity of Konoha in the heart of the Land of Fire.

It's important to know that Yugito is the Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails, essentially a national nuclear weapon.

Chapter 67 Conflict

Despite Kakashi's seemingly straightforward decision to send Team 7 out on a mission alone, Sasuke sensed the presence of at least two teams of ANBU ninjas along the way.

Yukito managed to penetrate into another country so easily.

Is it fair to say that Yugito is confident in her abilities?

Or should we say that the higher-ups in Kumogakure are carefree?

However, the fact that Granny Cat was able to invite her shows that Granny Cat also has certain connections in the Land of Lightning.

Or perhaps the Two-Tails Matatabi has some close relationship with the Ninja Cat Clan.

"Um!?"

Just as the members of Class 7 stepped into this area, Yugito also noticed them. He turned around, glanced at them arrogantly, and muttered something under his breath, revealing a faint disdain and disgust in his tone.

"People from Konoha? Pshaw!"

Just as Yugito was scrutinizing Class 7, the members of Class 7 were also observing each other.

The two Yugitos rarely appeared in the original timeline. As soon as they appeared, they were captured by Hidan and Kakuzu of the Akatsuki organization and died after having their tailed beasts extracted.

He appears to be just a weak, minor Jinchuriki, but Sasuke knows that Yugito suffered from underestimating his opponent and lack of information.

Yugito herself is a perfect Jinchūriki, capable of transforming into a complete Tailed Beast through her own will. Killer Bee once publicly stated that Yugito's relationship with the Two-Tails is even better than his own relationship with the Eight-Tails.

Unfortunately, this guy was too arrogant. He blocked all the exits, which restricted his own speed and cut off his own escape route.

Although they dominated the immortal duo in the early battles, they were caught off guard after a brief transition, losing not only their tailed beasts but also their lives.

"Sasuke, is this the guy you said was really strong? He doesn't seem that impressive."

Naruto cautiously approached and asked in a low voice, while glancing at Yugito repeatedly as he spoke.

"By the way, this guy doesn't seem to be a village ninja."

"Idiot! She's from Kumogakure." Sakura muttered under her breath, then asked Sasuke with some concern, "Sasuke, Kumogakure has come to the Land of Fire. Are they...?"

"It shouldn't be." Sasuke shook his head slightly and said calmly, "However, it's never a bad thing to be cautious."

"Ah."

During the conversation in Team 7, Yugito's gaze swept over the group. All three of them exuded a naive ninja aura, clearly not experienced ninjas.

"Looks like they're just a few low-level Konoha ninja brats."

Yugito sneered and was about to turn away when he inadvertently glanced at the hilt of the Raijin Sword at Sasuke's waist, and his gaze immediately sharpened.

Thor's sword?

Yugito's gaze finally became more serious, and he began to carefully examine Sasuke.

As for the two little devils next to her, she didn't pay them any attention at all.

An orphan of the Uchiha clan?