"Sakura!"
Sasuke, who had just stepped onto the bank, changed expression at once and instinctively moved to rush over. But he was too far away, and the current was moving too fast. The suddenness of it all caught him off guard.
Under the shade of the tree, Kakashi also tossed aside his book and straightened, ready to intervene.
He wanted to train his students, yes—but he would never allow them to face real danger.
But someone moved even faster than he did.
The instant Sakura was swept downstream, Naruto—who was not far from where she had fallen in—did not hesitate for even a moment. He threw away the shovel in his hand and dove straight into the water.
Fighting the current with all his strength, he seized the right moment and grabbed Sakura's wildly flailing arm.
"Ugh… guh… Naruto?" In the middle of her panic, Sakura felt a solid force latch onto her. Acting on pure survival instinct, she clutched Naruto's wrist with both hands, her nails almost digging into his flesh.
"Don't panic, Sakura! Relax your body!" Naruto shouted calmly.
At the same time, he braced himself against a jutting rock with his other hand, forcibly anchoring the two of them in place so the current would not drag them farther away.
Horrified, Sakura saw that in order to hold himself steady, Naruto's arm and side had slammed against the rough stone, instantly opening several obvious gashes. A faint red stain spread through the river water.
But he acted as if he could not feel it at all.
Step by step, with immense effort, he dragged her back toward the bank.
By then, Sasuke had finally reached the water's edge. Dropping low, he stretched out an arm toward them.
"Grab on!"
With Naruto pulling from below and Sasuke hauling from above, Sakura was finally dragged safely onto the bank.
She was soaked from head to toe and still trembling from the shock. Sitting on the ground, she coughed violently as tears mixed with river water and ran down her face.
"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"
Naruto was soaked through as well, and the fresh scrapes on his body stood out sharply, but he seemed to pay no attention to himself at all. All he did was look at Sakura with concern.
Sasuke stood nearby without saying anything, but the way he looked at Naruto had become much more complicated.
Compared to worrying over Sakura, what truly occupied his mind was this:
If it had been him in that situation just now, would Naruto have jumped in without hesitation the same way?
"I-I'm okay. Thank you, Naruto."
Sakura looked up at him, and warmth slowly welled up in her chest.
"As long as you're okay."
Seeing that she had only been badly frightened, Naruto let out a quiet breath of relief and gave her a reassuring smile.
"The mission's basically finished too. Let's clean up the tools and head back to report to Grandpa Hokage."
Only then did Kakashi stroll over at an unhurried pace, as if nothing important had happened at all.
"Mm. Good work. The mission was completed nicely, even if there was a small accident. Let's head back and report to the Hokage."
A small accident?
Naruto almost laughed inwardly.
He had noticed that Kakashi's gaze kept lingering on his wounds.
[Ding!]
[Special Mission — Clean the River Channel completed.]
[Reward: +50 gold. New feature unlocked: Ninja Recruitment!]
[Current gold balance: 200.]
Naruto's heart stirred.
He suppressed the urge to immediately study the new function and instead followed Kakashi in cleaning up the tools.
On the way back to the Hokage Tower, the atmosphere felt strangely awkward.
Wrapped in a dry towel Kakashi had found for her, Sakura kept glancing at Naruto, then at Sasuke, then back again, as if caught in some thought she could not sort out.
Sasuke remained as silent as ever, but from time to time his eyes flicked toward Naruto's back as he walked ahead.
Kakashi, meanwhile, followed along behind them with Icha Icha open in his hand, but most of his attention was clearly on Naruto as well.
Naruto, for his part, walked while splitting off part of his consciousness and sinking into the system interface in his mind.
[Ninja Recruitment:
Spend gold to recruit. Each recruitment grants a random small number of ninja fragments. A ten-pull is guaranteed to yield either a larger number of fragments or a ninja template.
Form bonds with canon characters to obtain ninja fragments. The higher the favorability, the more fragments acquired.]
[Fragment Synthesis: Spend a required number of ninja fragments to synthesize ninja templates ranging from C-rank to S-rank.]
[Note 1: After obtaining and equipping a ninja template, the host may use all skills contained within that template. However, please note that only by collecting all templates belonging to one ninja can the host obtain that ninja's full capabilities.]
[Note 2: To celebrate the activation of the Ninja Recruitment function, the host has been gifted one C-rank template — Uzumaki Naruto [Ninja Academy Student] x1. (Already automatically adapted to the host's current status and skills. May be equipped or removed at any time.)]
Naruto slowly processed the information, and waves rose in his heart.
This function really was powerful.
Not only could he gain strength through what was basically a gacha system, he could also farm fragments for free by building favorability with canon characters.
That meant he was no longer limited to increasing his base stats or learning a narrow set of techniques.
He now had a path toward obtaining abilities from the many powerful figures across the entire shinobi world.
His eyes fell on the gifted template—
[C-rank Uzumaki Naruto — Ninja Academy Student]
The listed skills were as follows:
[Paint Prank: Splash paint from the user's hand at an enemy. If it hits, the enemy is slowed for 3 seconds. If it misses, it leaves behind a slick patch that also causes slow.]
[Clone: Double Strike: Summon a clone to launch the enemy into the air, then have the main body follow up with a finishing strike to slam them back down.]
[Harem Technique: Use multiple clones to transform into beautiful women and perform a "mental" attack on the enemy.]
"…So it's this version, huh."
Naruto could not help muttering a complaint, though he understood perfectly well where the value of this template lay.
Its true worth was in proving the system worked and in helping him understand the process.
Looks like my decision to manage my image was the right one… Naruto thought inwardly, his eyes sweeping casually over Sasuke and Sakura nearby.
And then he suddenly felt that something was off.
From the left, the right, and behind him, he could feel three separate gazes locked onto him—each carrying an unusual kind of warmth.
A bead of cold sweat slid down Naruto's temple.
This was bad.
Had he overacted?
Becoming the emotional center of Team 7 in Sasuke's place—becoming their so-called white moonlight—absolutely not. He wanted no part of that.
Over the following several dozen days, Team 7, under Kakashi's leadership, carried out one D-rank mission after another.
Helping an old woman look for her missing pet. Working in the fields to pull weeds and harvest crops. Painting walls. Babysitting children.
During that entire stretch, any conflict that showed even the slightest sign of escalating was quietly smoothed over by Naruto before it could fully surface.
As a result, Team 7 practically skipped over the usual adjustment period and became the most harmonious squad among their graduating class—without ever once having a serious internal dispute.
Naturally, their efficiency in completing missions far exceeded that of the other teams. Hiruzen Sarutobi began assigning them more and more work, to the point that even missions like helping Lady Shijimi, the Daimyō's wife, search for a lost pet were handed to them.
To everyone else, catching a cat was just another ordinary little mission.
But Naruto, with his knowledge of the plot, knew perfectly well what came after that mission.
After this would come a C-rank mission—
or, more accurately, an A-rank mission disguised as a C-rank one:
Escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves so he could finish building the bridge.
And the enemies waiting for them there would be the chūnin-ranked Demon Brothers, the elite jōnin Demon of the Hidden Mist Zabuza Momochi, and Haku, the Ice Release user whose strength likely stood at least around special jōnin level.
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