"Phew, phew, phew... I'm exhausted, but it's finally done!"
Naruto collapsed on the ground after dispelling his shadow clones, the sheer volume of information from them making him gag. The smell was too strong.
"How about it, Sasuke? We only finished this mission so quickly thanks to me!"
Despite his exhaustion, Naruto hadn't forgotten to boast to Sasuke; after all, that was his goal.
"Idiot."
Sasuke, after cleaning the dirt off himself, turned to Kakashi and asked, "The mission is complete for today. Can we go?"
Every day, he was assigned tedious D-rank missions that didn't improve his strength at all. This was not the ninja life Sasuke desired.
Compared to doing missions, Sasuke preferred to return to the training grounds to practice ninjutsu and shuriken throwing.
"Well, it was supposed to end here, but I have a temporary engagement. It depends on whether you want to go."
"An engagement?"
Kakashi's usual laziness vanished as he said, "In a little while, the village will be hosting a joint Chunin Examination for the entire ninja world."
"Joint Chunin Examination for the entire ninja world!"
Naruto shouted excitedly, "Whoa! That means a lot of people will be participating!"
Kakashi nodded, "Theoretically, yes."
"But this has nothing to do with us, right? We just graduated," Sakura said timidly, not very confident in her abilities.
"No, quite the opposite! This will be more challenging!"
Sasuke clenched his fist, his eyes burning with excitement. Fighting against geniuses from all over the ninja world would surely accelerate his growth. He absolutely couldn't miss this!
"Personally, I don't recommend you participate, but there are still over three months until the exam begins. So, what's your choice?"
Naruto shouted, "Of course, I'll participate! I want everyone to acknowledge my strength!"
"Hmph!"
Sasuke snorted, but his attitude was clear. He was also eager to participate.
"I..."
Seeing that both of her peculiar teammates had decided to participate, Sakura could only say with a wry face, "Then I'll participate too."
"Don't worry, don't feel pressured."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Because with your current strength, you'll be eliminated very quickly."
"Don't underestimate me!"
Naruto was about to step forward to argue when Sasuke stopped him and said, "So, the engagement you mentioned earlier was about this?"
"As expected of Sasuke, much calmer than Naruto."
Kakashi ignored the indignant Naruto and held up the piece of paper in his hand, "That's right. Since Team Seven is participating, I, as your teacher, must also put aside my own matters and give you a special training session."
...
Training Ground 123, Konoha.
"You're quite early, Guy."
"Kakashi, men cannot waste their youth! Let us both shine with the brilliance of our youth!"
"Teacher Guy, you speak so beautifully! *Mmph!*"
Kakashi looked at the two green "cucumbers" with an embarrassed expression. If he didn't trust Might Guy implicitly, Kakashi would almost believe that Guy had secretly gotten married behind his back.
"Guy, this child..."
"You mean Lee? He's a student I have high hopes for. Lee, this is my greatest rival in life, Kakashi."
Rock Lee bowed politely, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Rock Lee."
Kakashi returned the bow, silently grumbling, "He looks so much like a biological son! Did Guy really get married!"
Might Guy then introduced the other two students behind him, "This is Tenten, and this is Hyuga Neji."
"Behind me are Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno."
"Please take care of us."
The two groups nodded at each other amicably. They had all met at the Ninja Academy before, but this was their first formal meeting, and the atmosphere was decent.
However, it was only decent at the beginning...
"Teacher Guy, are these the members of Team Seven who will be training with us?"
Neji crossed his arms and stared at Naruto and Sasuke coldly, "With all due respect, they just graduated from the Ninja Academy. They should be focusing on missions and have no need to participate in this Chunin Exam."
"What did you say!"
Naruto lunged forward and confronted Neji, "What do you mean, kid? Are you saying your strength is inferior to mine?"
"The meaning is obvious!" Neji's attitude was firm. He harbored neither good nor bad feelings towards Naruto; he simply felt he was stating a fact.
"You! Let's fight! Don't think you can look down on me just because you graduated a year earlier!"
"Tch, impulsive, reckless. It seems you haven't learned anything at the Ninja Academy."
Seeing the argument escalating, Kakashi could only rub his forehead in exasperation. He knew this would happen. With Naruto around, there was no need to worry about the atmosphere becoming cold.
Unlike Kakashi, Might Guy didn't try to stop their argument. Instead, he seemed to approve.
"Good! Youth should be filled with arguments! Only through battle can we find the true meaning of youth! Let us all seek our own youth!"
"Teacher Guy, you speak so beautifully! I'm so moved! *Sob sob sob!*"
Sakura: This team doesn't seem very normal either.
Tenten: With teammates and a teacher like this, I feel so embarrassed!
The two girls seemed to share a telepathic connection, glancing at each other and nodding in understanding. It seemed they had found kindred spirits.
Unlike Naruto, Sasuke stood calmly to the side. He could feel that this guy named Neji was very strong, and he exerted a significant pressure on him.
He seemed like a good training partner.
"Alright, alright. The reason I gathered you all here today is not for you to argue and fight. Remember, this is special training."
Kakashi pulled back the flailing Naruto and said, "If you want to fight, it's not too late to do so during the Chunin Exam."
"Fine, then we'll settle this during the Chunin Exam!"
"Hmph, I hope you don't get eliminated in the first round."
"You bastard! What did you say?!"
Kakashi dragged Naruto back with one hand and said helplessly, "To put it simply, the focus of this special training will be on ninjutsu and taijutsu. In the initial phase, we will focus on enhancing your strengths. For example, Sasuke has the Sharingan, making him suitable for learning high-difficulty, fast-paced ninjutsu."
"And then there's this student, Rock Lee. From what I can see, he should excel at taijutsu. Although taijutsu cannot be rapidly improved overnight, you can still improve through sparring with each other."
Rock Lee scratched his head sheepishly, "I do excel at taijutsu, but I'm completely clueless about ninjutsu. I probably won't be of much help to everyone."
"Lee, don't underestimate yourself. Low self-esteem is not the spirit of youth!" Might Guy said, clenching his fist.
"I understand, Teacher Guy!"
"Guy is right. Taijutsu ninjas are never inferior to ninjas proficient in ninjutsu. On the contrary, I find ninjas like Guy, who are proficient in taijutsu, to be the most troublesome."
Kakashi said no more and exchanged a look with Might Guy. Together, they said,
"Then, for the next few months, please take care of us."