The stars were sparse, outshone by the bright moon.
A pristine, round moon hung solitary in the vast expanse of the night sky.
Pushing open the door, there was no need to turn on a light; the silvery moonlight had already illuminated the room's interior.
"Old Man, is something the matter?" Naruto placed the food he'd just hunted into the refrigerator, seemingly unconcerned by the elderly man already present in his room.
"Naruto, you've grown up," Hiruzen Sarutobi remarked, his voice tinged with deep feeling as he watched the boy's back. "Time flies, doesn't it? You've already graduated. Is there anything you'd like as a graduation gift?"
"...No need." After a moment's thought, Naruto shook his head. For him, the most important thing was the Kusabimaru in his hand.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered asking for something extravagant, like some powerful ninjutsu from the old man. He believed that as long as it wasn't one of the Forbidden Jutsu his teacher had mentioned, the old man wouldn't refuse. As the Third Hokage, the Old Man possessed both the capability and the authority.
However, his understanding of such high-level ninjutsu was limited. Forcing himself to acquire advanced techniques might even hinder his training progress.
"How about I find you a swordsmanship instructor to be your supervising jonin?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, exhaling a puff of smoke.
"…" Uzumaki Naruto wasn't a fool. Connecting this with his own performance earlier that day, he understood he might have offended his would-be supervising jonin. He nodded slightly.
"Your new supervising jonin will come find you tomorrow. Get some rest." Scooping up the conical straw hat from the table, the old man slowly walked out of the room.
"A swordsmanship instructor…" Naruto rubbed his chin. Truthfully, in all these years, he had yet to witness the pinnacle of swordsmanship in this world. As high-level combatants second only to the Kage, jonin should have mastered quite a few top-tier sword styles.
Looked at this way, a change in supervising jonin might actually be more suitable for him.
After his customary teasing session with the Nine-Tails, he drifted off to sleep.
Knock, knock!
Looking at the man outside his door, clad in a jonin uniform and carrying a long sword on his back, Naruto's eyes lit up. There was a sense of familiarity about this person.
"Uzumaki Naruto? Cough, cough…" The man seemed to have some physical ailment; after just a few words, he coughed several times.
"Yes," Naruto affirmed.
"I am Gekko Hayate, your supervising jonin," the jonin introduced himself.
"Is there anything else that needs to be taken care of?"
"No."
"Keep up with me." As his words fell, Gekko Hayate appeared on the opposite rooftop.
Naruto went back inside, grabbed his Kusabimaru, and quickly followed.
Gekko Hayate glanced back, his peripheral vision catching the long sword in the boy's hand. He nodded slightly.
Training Ground Three.
Not long after Gekko Hayate stopped, Naruto's figure arrived close behind.
*[His fundamentals are solid, and his stamina is exceptionally high. Is it because of the Nine-Tails…?] *Hayate mused, then spoke, "Wait a moment. Your two teammates haven't arrived yet."
"Yes, sir."
Naruto also observed him discreetly. It seemed that his status as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, once one reached a certain level of awareness, was something of an open secret. His previous supervising jonin, Hatake Kakashi, had been like this, and now Gekko Hayate was the same. Their attitude towards him wasn't tinged with the disgust common among ordinary villagers. Of course, it was also possible that jonin were simply better at managing their emotions.
Before long, a boy and a girl arrived, fashionably late.
The boy was slightly overweight and was panting heavily when he stopped, whether due to poor physical conditioning or the length of the journey, it was hard to say. The girl had an average build and was rather pretty. The two seemed to know each other; as soon as they stopped, the girl rested her hand on the boy's shoulder, using him for support to avoid collapsing from exhaustion.
"Everyone's here. Let's do some self-introductions," Gekko Hayate said once the two newcomers had caught their breath.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said after a brief silence, noticing the supervising jonin looking at him.
"My name is Kaminarimon Etsureki! I like researching various moving contraptions, and my dream is to become a great ninja!" the chubby boy panted out.
"I'm Izuno Akigiku! I like cats, and my dream is to become Hokage!" Izuno Akigiku declared with great spirit.
"I am Gekko Hayate, a Special Jonin of Konoha. I specialize in swordsmanship, Wind Style ninjutsu, and genjutsu. For your future development, try to lean towards these areas so I can guide you more effectively," Gekko Hayate said, his words punctuated by coughs, managing to complete a somewhat incomplete self-introduction. "Cough, cough, our initial bonding will be done through missions."
"Yes, sir!" chorused the three genin.
Beside a river that flowed through Konoha's commercial district.
"Distribute your chakra evenly to the soles of your feet. Adjust the amount of chakra appropriately as the river flows, like this."
As he spoke, Gekko Hayate slowly walked to the center of the river, standing steadily on the water's surface.
"Each person's chakra output needs to be controlled according to their own body weight. I can't help you with that part; you'll have to figure it out yourselves. Begin."
Naruto held a pair of tongs, a basket on his back. That's right, their next mission was to clean up the trash in the river channel. The problem of littering… it existed in every world.
Truthfully, this ninja mission was not just a little different from his previous understanding of ninja missions; it was worlds apart.
In the world of the undying, what was his first ninja mission again? Eliminating the Interior Ministry's 'rats'? Or assassinating collaborators? It was so long ago, the details were a bit hazy…
"Hey?! Hey!"
Splash!
Kaminarimon Etsureki landed bottom-first in the river. Izuno Akigiku, who had been brimming with confidence beside him, suffered the same fate. It seemed that what was effortless for a jonin was quite a challenge for a genin.
The river wasn't deep, only knee-high. But the annoying part was the trash constantly floating by on the surface.
Naruto stepped forward to try, and unsurprisingly, he also fell in.
"Clean up the trash in this section of the river before evening." Seeing that the three had gotten into the swing of things, Gekko Hayate walked to a nearby shady spot and slowly sat down.
Besides fostering teamwork among the youngsters, the most important function of D-rank missions was to take the opportunity to cultivate the genins' relevant abilities.
Through repeated failures, summarizing their experiences, and with Gekko Hayate's occasional guidance, by evening, their water-walking skills were finally no longer so abysmal.
Clipping the last piece of trash within sight into his basket, Naruto let out a light sigh.
"I'll give you one hour to clean yourselves up. Meet at the yakiniku restaurant in an hour!" Gekko Hayate nodded with satisfaction, chuckling lightly.
For the next two months, the trio's missions were largely similar. Though they were all miscellaneous tasks, Gekko Hayate always interspersed his teaching within these chores, so the three of them experienced a mixture of pain and joy. Mundane tasks were the most annoying, but they also tempered one's character.
The most obvious change was that Izuno Akigiku no longer declared "I'm going to be Hokage!" at the start of every mission. It was a perfect example of having one's sharp edges smoothed down by reality.