The moon hung high, stars few and far between.
A bright, full moon stood alone in the vast night sky.
Naruto pushed open the door. There was no need to turn on the lights—the silvery moonlight had already illuminated the room.
"Old man, what is it?"
Naruto placed the food he had just hunted into the refrigerator, paying little attention to the elderly man already inside.
"Naruto… you've grown up."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the boy's back, his voice tinged with emotion.
"Time really flies. You've already graduated. Is there anything you want as a graduation gift?"
"…No need." After a brief pause, Naruto shook his head.
To him, the most important thing he had was Kusabimaru in his hands.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered asking for something extravagant—powerful ninjutsu, for example. He was confident that as long as it wasn't a forbidden technique, the old man wouldn't refuse.
As the Third Hokage, Hiruzen had both the authority and the confidence to grant such a request.
But Naruto's understanding of high-level ninjutsu was limited. Forcing himself to acquire techniques beyond his current grasp might actually slow his progress.
"How about this," Hiruzen said, exhaling a puff of smoke. "I'll find you a kenjutsu instructor and have him serve as your new jōnin teacher?"
"..."
Naruto wasn't stupid. Thinking back to his performance earlier that day, he understood that he'd likely offended his not-yet-official jōnin instructor. He nodded slightly.
"Your new instructor will come find you tomorrow. Get some rest."
Picking up the straw hat from the table, Hiruzen slowly left the room.
"A sword instructor…"
Naruto rubbed his chin. To be honest, in all these years, he hadn't truly seen what top-tier swordsmanship in this world looked like.
Jōnin—elite shinobi just below the Hokage—should possess some of the finest sword techniques available.
Seen that way, changing instructors might actually suit him better.
After his usual verbal sparring with the Nine-Tails, Naruto drifted off to sleep.
---
Knock, knock.
Naruto opened the door.
Outside stood a man in a jōnin uniform, a long sword strapped to his back. Naruto's eyes lit up—there was something familiar about him.
"Uzumaki Naruto?"
The man seemed physically frail; after just one sentence, he broke into a coughing fit.
"Yes."
Naruto nodded.
"I'm Gekkō Hayate. I'll be your jōnin instructor from now on."
"Anything you still need to take care of?"
"No."
"Then follow me."
As soon as the words fell, Hayate was already standing on the rooftop across the way.
Naruto went back inside, grabbed Kusabimaru, and quickly followed.
Hayate glanced back out of the corner of his eye, noticed the long sword in the boy's hands, and gave a slight nod.
---
Training Ground Three
Hayate had barely stopped before Naruto arrived as well.
'Solid fundamentals. And that stamina… must be because of the Nine-Tails.'
As he pondered this, Hayate spoke up. "Wait a moment. Your other two teammates aren't here yet."
"Yes."
Naruto also observed him quietly.
At this point, the fact that he carried the Nine-Tails had become an open secret of sorts.
His previous instructor, Kakashi Hatake, had been like this. Now Hayate was the same—neither of them treated him with the disgust common villagers showed.
Of course, it might also be that jōnin were simply better at controlling their emotions.
Before long, a boy and a girl arrived, both clearly late.
The boy was somewhat overweight and was panting heavily as soon as he stopped—either poor stamina or a long distance traveled.
The girl was average in build, with a mildly pleasant appearance. The two seemed to know each other; as soon as they stopped, the girl braced herself against the boy to avoid collapsing from exhaustion.
"Now that everyone's here, introduce yourselves," Hayate said once their breathing steadied.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
When Hayate looked his way, Naruto spoke after a brief pause.
"My name is Raemon Koshiki," the chubby boy said between breaths. "I like researching various mobility tools. My dream is to become a great ninja."
"I'm Izuno Akigiku," the girl said energetically. "I like cats, and my dream is to become Hokage!"
"I'm Gekkō Hayate," Hayate said, half-speaking, half-coughing. "A special jōnin of Konoha. I specialize in kenjutsu, Wind Release, and genjutsu. Try to plan your development around these areas—it'll make it easier for me to teach you."
He barely managed to finish the not-so-complete introduction.
"Ahem… We'll handle team coordination through missions."
"Yes." ×3
---
Inside Konoha Village — Along the River by the Market District
"Distribute your chakra evenly across the soles of your feet. Adjust the output according to the flow of the water—like this."
As he spoke, Hayate calmly walked to the middle of the river and stood steadily on the water's surface.
"Everyone's chakra output needs to match their body weight. That's something I can't help you with—you'll have to figure it out yourselves. Begin."
Naruto held a trash grabber and wore a basket on his back.
That's right—their mission was to clean garbage from the river.
Littering existed in every world…
To be honest, this ninja mission was nothing like what he imagined a ninja mission should be.
It wasn't just a little different—it was worlds apart.
In the world of immortals, what had his first shinobi mission been again?
Eliminating rats in the Interior Ministry?
Assassinating collaborators?
It was so long ago that it had become hazy…
"Eh?!—Hey!"
Splash!
Raemon Koshiki plopped straight into the river. Izuno Akigiku, who had been full of confidence, followed suit.
Apparently, what a jōnin did casually was a real challenge for genin.
The river wasn't deep—only up to their knees.
What made it irritating, though, was the trash drifting along the surface from time to time.
Naruto stepped forward to try it himself—and, unsurprisingly, fell in as well.
"Have this stretch of the river cleaned before nightfall."
Seeing the three of them finally get into it, Hayate moved to the shade and sat down.
Aside from fostering teamwork, D-rank missions primarily existed to train basic skills in new genin.
Through repeated failures, reflection, and Hayate's occasional guidance, by evening their water-walking no longer looked completely disastrous.
After placing the last piece of trash into his basket, Naruto let out a quiet breath.
"I'll give you one hour to clean up," Hayate said with a satisfied nod. "One hour from now, meet at the barbecue restaurant."
The next two months followed a similar pattern.
The missions were mostly the same—odd jobs and chores—but Hayate always wove instruction into them. The three of them were miserable and happy at the same time.
Menial tasks were annoying—but they tempered the heart.
The most obvious change was that Izuno Akigiku no longer shouted "I'm going to be Hokage!" before every mission.
A perfect example of youthful edges being smoothed away by reality.