"Lady Fifth Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto has returned to the village." The moment Naruto's foot crossed into Konoha, an ANBU operative delivered the message to the Hokage's Office.
"He's finally back. The mission in the Land of Demons was completed beautifully. It seems Uzumaki Naruto's growth is even faster than we anticipated," Tsunade said, standing by the window, a flicker in her eyes.
"After I started training him, he already had the strength of a Jonin. After these past few months of experience, his power has definitely seen a huge improvement," Jiraiya said from his seat at the desk, processing official documents without looking up, a pained expression on his face.
"Tsunade, you do it. I really can't take any more of this."
"Hm? You can't take it?" Tsunade turned, a murderous glint in her eyes.
Jiraiya miserably lowered his head and continued with the paperwork.
"A free-spirited Toad Sage like myself shouldn't be wasting his life on this paperwork! My life is meant for freedom, for romance!"
"If you do a good job, I'll give you a reward~" Tsunade's expression suddenly turned bewitching, her breath fragrant.
"Hiss~~~~" Jiraiya instantly looked like he'd been shot up with hormones, and his speed at processing the documents doubled.
"Hehehe, my request isn't that high. If, if…" Jiraiya shot a lecherous glance at Tsunade's chest, swallowed hard, and said with a sleazy grin, "Let me take a look. Just one peek."
CRASH. The next moment, a human-shaped cannonball flew out of the Hokage's Office.
The ninja below continued their work dutifully, their faces impassive.
Clearly, this was a common occurrence.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade murmured to herself with great interest. "I'll have to find a chance to meet this kid."
The next day, at a Konoha training ground.
Naruto and Rock Lee met up with Sasuke and Sakura.
Naruto and Sasuke were both receiving guidance from Jiraiya, while Sakura had become the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju.
Rock Lee, of course, was the student of Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey. Each of them had a renowned master.
The one who had changed the most was, without a doubt, Sakura.
After training under Tsunade, she had learned the art of monstrous strength. Even a Jonin wouldn't dare to underestimate her power.
Sasuke's strength had hit a plateau.
He needed more battles to improve.
After a bit of catching up, the four of them began their individual training.
Sakura first used medical ninjutsu to heal the latent injuries in the other three's bodies, then began her training with monstrous strength.
Feeling refreshed and comfortable after the treatment, Rock Lee was deeply moved.
As an extreme taijutsu user, his body had naturally accumulated numerous injuries, large and small. The ordinary medical-nin at the village hospital couldn't properly heal these latent wounds, so they had just been left to linger.
Lee had originally thought Sakura was just a useless pretty face who would only hold them back. He never expected to see such a change in her after being apart for a while.
He was completely won over by her medical ninjutsu.
He couldn't help but exclaim, "Sakura-chan is such a gentle girl."
At that moment, Sakura was in the middle of her strength training. She walked up to a large tree.
She took a deep breath, centered her power, and threw a straight punch.
BOOM. With a deafening crash, the massive tree, which would have taken two adults to wrap their arms around, had a huge hole punched straight through it.
Wood chips flew everywhere, and the very ground seemed to shake.
"Erk." Lee immediately fell silent, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
"Hmph! How could that violent woman possibly be associated with the word 'gentle'? You're still too young, Lee," Sasuke snorted with disdain.
WHOOSH. As soon as the words left his mouth, a massive object shot past Sasuke's pale, delicate face at lightning speed, landing in the forest far in the distance.
CRASH. A loud explosion echoed as a swath of trees in the forest was instantly flattened. Looking closely, they realized the object that had been thrown was the very same tree with the hole punched through it.
They looked back at Sakura. Her eyes were filled with killing intent, her fists tightly clenched.
Her arms were slender; it was impossible to guess that such fair, delicate-looking limbs could throw such a massive tree.
Gulp. The sound of swallowing saliva was heard in unison.
Sasuke quickly shrank back, his eyes wide with lingering fear.
He was Sakura's teammate. During missions, Sakura, the one in charge of healing, had countless ways to get revenge on him.
"A-Amazing," Lee said, his eyes shining.
"With that kind of power, I'd love to have an arm-wrestling match with you!"
"Oh my, Naruto-kun, I wonder who's destroying the forest? I'm so scared~~~" After throwing the tree, Sakura's expression changed in a flash. She waved at Naruto, who was looking over, acting as delicate as a little bird.
"Stupid… woman," Sasuke couldn't help but mutter under his breath as he looked at the dumbfounded Lee and the cutesy-acting Sakura.
The group began their training.
Sasuke was bathed in lightning, continuously practicing the nature transformation of his lightning-style chakra.
However, his nature transformation was already quite proficient, and with his summoning jutsu, his strength was already quite formidable.
At this point, simply continuing his intense training regimen wouldn't have much effect.
He could only improve through battle.
Speaking of battle…
"Naruto, interested in a fight?!"
Sasuke stopped his training and shouted at Naruto.
"Eh?! Sasuke versus Naruto! This should be interesting!!!" Lee stood to the side, excited.
Sasuke wiped his nose excitedly and said with pride, "I'm really strong now. If you're not serious, you might die, you know."
"Interesting. I accept your challenge," Naruto said, sheathing his Zanpakuto with a smile.
"Sasuke versus Naruto. Not bad. One is the genius of the Uchiha, the other is the most talented Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in history. This fight is worth watching."
In the Hokage's Office.
Tsunade and Jiraiya were watching the start of the battle through the crystal ball.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was also in the office. He held his pipe with his one remaining arm, a faint smile on his face.
But when his gaze swept over his severed arm, his eyes held a hint of emptiness.
"Uchiha Sasuke's talent is impressive. His Sharingan has already developed to three tomoe, and he's learned my ninjutsu. But he's still a little lacking if he wants to beat Naruto," Jiraiya said, smacking his lips.
"That's still not enough?" Tsunade was quite surprised.
She had gotten a glimpse of Sasuke's strength by chance and had been shocked by it.
"Then I'm very interested to see what Uzumaki Naruto is capable of," she said, staring intently at the crystal ball.
At that moment, the battle had already begun.
Sasuke was the first to close the distance. Naruto met him head-on, and the two began with a taijutsu exchange.
Thwack, thwack, thwack. The sound of hand-to-hand combat filled the clearing, their figures flashing continuously.
After a dozen or so rounds of simple probing, Sasuke landed a side kick on Naruto's blocking right arm.
Taking advantage of his opponent's retreat, he closed the distance again and sent Naruto flying into the air with a rising dragon punch.
Lightning sparked from his feet, and he appeared above the airborne Naruto at an even greater speed. His right leg shot out straight, smashing down with immense force.
"Lion's Barrage!"
Naruto was struck by the tremendous force and slammed into the ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust.
"Naruto!!!" Sakura cried out, her face full of worry. She shot Sasuke a vicious glare. "You jerk, Sasuke! Go easy on him!"
"Don't worry. An attack like that won't hurt Naruto."
Rock Lee, who was watching from the sidelines, said casually as he munched on an apple.
Poof. Sure enough, the Naruto in the crater turned into a block of wood.
At the same time, Naruto's voice rang out.
"Hado Number 31: Shakkaho."