From Hokage to Visionary

Although Sasuke and Sakura were still worried about Naruto's current condition, they respected his choice and quietly left the ward.

In the empty ward, Naruto sat alone on the bed.

In his mind, he kept thinking back to what Orochimaru had said to him that day: If you want to know the whereabouts of your parents, go find him.

What flashed next was Gaara's cold and disdainful eyes.

He was so weak that he had no power to resist, even though he was determined to find the whereabouts of his parents, to make the villagers recognize him, and to become the greatest Hokage.

But in the end he couldn't do anything.

"I'm too weak."

Naruto lowered his eyes and looked at his bandaged palm, and suddenly a strong desire surged in his heart.

He wants to become stronger!

He wants to find his missing parents!

If I had the power, it wouldn't be like this.

If he was stronger, he wouldn't lose to Gaara.

If you are strong enough to ignore everything, then you don’t need to care about other people’s eyes!

Even Naruto himself didn't realize that his thoughts suddenly changed unconsciously.

If Sakura and Sasuke were still here at this moment, they would definitely notice that there were amazing mysterious patterns spreading in Naruto's eyes, revealing an indescribable weirdness.

After leaving the ward, Sakura was still worried and looked back at the window of the ward: "Is Naruto really going to be okay?"

"Don't forget, he is Naruto."

Sasuke smiled slightly, lifted his hair and tucked it behind his ear, his eyes seemed to be shining: "From childhood to adulthood, he has suffered so many blows, has he ever been beaten?"

After thinking about it, it seemed to be true. Sakura felt relieved immediately. She turned her head and stared at Sasuke with a mischievous look.

"What. What's wrong?"

Sasuke took two steps back in fear.

But Sakura came closer again, her eyes seemed to be burning with gossip, and her expression was hard to describe.

God knows why a cute girl can make such an obscene expression.

"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke trembled.

Sakura came closer, holding Sasuke's arms with both hands to prevent her from breaking free, then leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Do you like Naruto?"

hum!

In an instant, Sasuke's head was like a boiling kettle, with white hot steam coming out.

Then her whole face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and her crystal clear earlobes were even redder, like steamed shrimps.

"No, no, no, no!"

Sasuke was visibly flustered, and his speech was not smooth: "I, I, I, I, no, no, no, no, who has a crush on Naruto!"

"Hahahaha"

However, in Sakura's eyes, this scene was undoubtedly the most direct evidence.

"Still pretending? Look how red you are!" She nudged Sasuke with her elbow, like a cunning fox: "Tsk tsk tsk tsk, who would have thought that our class's genius girl, Uchiha Sasuke, would fall into the hands of a loser, this is big news!"

"No! I'm not! Don't talk nonsense!"

Sasuke waved his hands in panic, denying three times.

But as Sakura said, that face that turned red due to shyness was the best evidence.

"Hey, can you tell me why you like Naruto?" Sakura felt her gossipy heart burning.

"I didn't," Sasuke's rebuttal became increasingly weak.

"Oh, okay, okay, I don't like you." Sakura cunningly changed the subject: "Then tell me, why do you admire Naruto? What are his strengths?"

"Probably. It was the time in Wave Country."

Sasuke's eyes were blurry, as if he was lost in memories.

"The Land of Waves?"

Sakura was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Yes, that mission was indeed very dangerous."

However, Sasuke just smiled and didn't explain.

The mission to Wave Country was probably the most difficult escort mission for their team.

They encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist Village, the demon Zabuza and the ice-style ninja Haku, who almost forced them into a desperate situation.

When she and Naruto were trapped in Bai's magic mirror ice crystal, and their chakra and physical strength were on the verge of exhaustion, facing the ice spikes attacking from all directions, it was Naruto who acted decisively, protected her in his arms, and used his body to block the fatal attack for her.

Perhaps, it was from that moment that Sasuke began to understand Naruto again.

She had secretly watched Naruto collapse from exhaustion from practicing several times, and had also seen the lonely look on his face when he was alone.

They are the same, yet somewhat different.

It is precisely for these reasons that Sasuke can't help but want to get to know each other more deeply.

"Really? Kakashi-sensei is so irresponsible!"

Sakura sighed and complained with a face full of resentment: "The Chunin Exam is almost here, and instead of coming to cheer us up, you can't even be found all day. Really!"

Sasuke had long given up hope for that irresponsible instructor: "After this Chunin Exam is over, I will report to the Hokage and ask him to replace us with a new instructor."

"what?"

Hearing this, Xiaoying was a little surprised, but then she said worriedly: "Will it be bad to do this?"

Generally speaking, replacing the guiding jonin rarely happens, except in extremely special circumstances, such as the team's guiding jonin being killed in battle, betraying the village, losing his ninja qualifications, etc.

"I would rather offend him than have an irresponsible person direct us."

Sasuke also complained to that 'Kakashi' and said firmly: "I can't just watch him waste our time like this."

"uh-huh?"

Sakura suddenly seemed to understand something, and asked cunningly: "Is it for 'us' or for 'Naruto'?"

"It's us."

Sasuke emphasized again.

But unfortunately, her sparkling red earlobes betrayed her true thoughts.

"Hahaha"

Sakura covered her mouth and chuckled, seeing through it but not saying it out loud.

"By the way, you have to train during this period, right?" she asked suddenly.

"Ah."

Sasuke nodded, then said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I can't accompany you, Sakura."

"It's okay~ You must keep trying!"

Sakura clenched her fists and said fiercely, "When the time comes, we must defeat that gourd kid from the Sand Village and avenge Naruto!"

"Don't worry, it will happen!"

Sasuke's eyes were full of confidence. Half a month's training time was enough for her to fully master the 'Instant Coax'!

night.

A mysterious man suddenly came to the remote memorial stone in Konoha.

The man with silver hair and wearing a half mask was none other than the long-missing Hatake Kakashi mentioned by Sasuke and Sakura.

He put down a bunch of pure white flowers, stood silently in front of the memorial, looked at the names carved on it, and finally fixed his gaze on a certain place, his eyes full of complexity, and he said to himself: "Lord Zong Yue, what would you do if it were you?"

He came here to seek an answer.

But obviously, a 'dead man' couldn't answer his question.

Kakashi looked at the moonlight and sighed, "Is it really that hard to be alone for a while?"

In the pitch-black night, several dark shadows suddenly appeared around like ghosts, without even making the slightest movement.

In the moonlight, all those people were wearing animal masks on their faces.

"Hatake Kakashi, I finally found you."

The cat-faced Anbu was surrounded by a cold aura and said coldly: "The Hokage has ordered that if you are discovered, you must be brought before him immediately."

Looking at the dozen or so Anbu, Kakashi scratched his head, looking helpless: "Well, it suddenly occurred to me that the cat at home has not been fed yet, how about I wait until I get back to feed it?"

As he said that, he tried to take half a step, but a kunai nailed him directly into the grass.

"Kakashi, don't try to resist."

The cat-faced ANBU kept throwing out the kunai and said coldly, "Otherwise, we have the right to regard you as a traitor and execute you immediately!"

"Is it necessary to be so serious?"

Kakashi put away his playful expression, looked seriously at the surrounding Anbu, and said in a deep voice: "Let's discuss it. Can't you let me leave?"

Although the cat-faced ANBU remained silent, his actions expressed his opinion.

More than a dozen Anbu spread out and surrounded Kakashi. A cold murderous intent was brewing under the moonlight.

"We were all companions in the past."

Looking at the Anbu around him, Kakashi lowered his eyes slightly, revealing a trace of sadness: "If I can, I really don't want to do anything to you."

"on!"

The cat-faced ANBU's voice was without any fluctuations as he waved his hand and issued an order: "Kakashi will be considered a traitor if he resists capture, regardless of life or death!"

The next moment, several figures flashed and rushed towards him!

But Kakashi was faster, and he used the substitution technique to create distance before being hit.

"Stop him!"

The cat-faced ANBU guessed immediately that Kakashi was planning to simply run away.

The moment the words fell, several figures chased out and blasted a wind escape directly towards somewhere on the ground.

The powerful wind jutsu tore the ground apart, and Kakashi's figure was immediately exposed.

"Fire Release·Hao Fireball!"

"Wind Escape·Big Breakthrough!"

The two Anbu performed ninjutsu together.

boom!

With the help of wind escape, the huge fireball became more and more fierce.

Looking at the approaching fireball, Kakashi even felt that his eyebrows were about to be lifted. He decisively formed a seal and pressed his hands on the ground: "Earth Style: Earth Array Wall!"

A half-meter-thick earth wall rose up to block the fireball.

Boom!

The scorching flames splashed and the earth wall was directly shattered.

Kakashi took advantage of this gap to condense chakra at the soles of his feet, and his speed suddenly increased greatly, and he broke through the encirclement of the Anbu.

Looking at the direction Kakashi fled, the other Anbu were about to chase him, but were stopped by the cat-faced Anbu.

"No need to chase."

The cat-faced Anbu sneered, his eyes indescribably weird.

Kakashi, who escaped from the encirclement of the Anbu, was thinking about what the cat-faced Anbu had just said, and his expression was a little solemn: "Sure enough, the Third Hokage has been replaced. Those people are here to eliminate me. It seems that I can never go back to Konoha. I must go find Master Jiraiya!"

However, at this moment, his brain was sending out crazy warnings.

The extremely strong smell of death corroded every inch of his skin, and the icy murderous intent spread in the dense jungle.

Kakashi suddenly stopped and looked ahead vigilantly: "Who? Come out!"

Swish~Swish~~