Kapitel 51: Chapter 51: The Wave Country Mission Ends
Based on his judgment, even if Naruto pushed his speed to the limit, getting Sakura to the nearby town within half an hour and finding someone to treat her wouldn't have been an easy task.
If Naruto had been alone, he might have barely managed it.
But carrying Sakura along was a different story. While short sprints wouldn't be an issue, longer distances would drain his stamina much faster, and it wasn't certain he'd make it in time.
Still, the situation wasn't dire at most, Sakura would just need more time to recover.
But now, Sakura looked completely fine, as if nothing had happened.
"Surprised?"
Kakashi seemed to notice Sasuke's confusion.
Sasuke nodded, while Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Well, it was a close call, but I managed to get Sakura to the town within half an hour! We even ran into a woman who's an excellent medic, though she has a pretty bad temper!"
"She helped Sakura as soon as she saw we were ninja from Konoha."
"Unfortunately, I didn't have time to ask for her name!"
A skilled medic, but with a fiery temper?
Sasuke frowned. "What did she look like?"
"How should I put it? She had blonde hair and wore clothes with the kanji for 'gamble' on them!"
"Oh, and she had a big chest!"
…
Sasuke froze for a moment. Alright, with that last detail, there was only one person in the entire ninja world who fit that description.
Tsunade!
He hadn't expected Naruto and Sakura to run into Tsunade.
Without Tsunade's help, Sakura probably wouldn't have recovered so easily.
No wonder Tsunade was a renowned expert in medical ninjutsu.
Looking at the situation now, Sasuke couldn't help but think, As expected of the protagonist's luck. Naruto managed to encounter even Tsunade like this.
Kakashi studied Sasuke's expression. "It seems like you've guessed something."
Hearing this, Sasuke shook his head, paused, and then replied, "I was just wondering how big her chest must have been."
Kakashi's eyes shifted slightly at Sasuke's response.
As expected, no man is immune to such thoughts!
Sasuke is growing up, after all, Kakashi thought with a laugh.
Nearby, Sakura froze and glanced down at herself. So Sasuke-kun likes girls with big chests? Ugh, why haven't I developed yet?!
Naruto raised his hands, gesturing to show the size. "About this big!"
"You idiot! Naruto, who told you to describe it in such detail?!"
Sakura smacked Naruto on the head with her fist.
Sasuke frowned slightly. No doubt about it it really was Tsunade. She's truly formidable…
"Ahem!"
"Alright, since everyone is fine, let's clean up and prepare to head back to the village tomorrow!"
Hearing this, Naruto, who had been knocked to the ground, got back up and looked at Sasuke.
"Sasuke! Did you really take down that guy with the big sword all by yourself?"
"Yeah, that's right," Sasuke replied.
Clenching his fists tightly, Naruto's face turned pale with frustration.
The reason he was able to rescue Sakura and reach the town before she collapsed was that he seemed to have broken through his limits. Both his strength and speed had improved significantly.
Initially, Naruto was thrilled, thinking that this time he had managed to catch up to Sasuke a little.
Even if he wasn't yet a match for Sasuke, the gap between them shouldn't be as vast anymore.
But Sasuke…
He had single-handedly defeated an enemy whose strength wasn't far off from Kakashi-sensei's.
If it had been him instead, Naruto doubted he could've pulled it off.
Even with his current improvements, there was no way he could take down that big-sword guy alone.
But Sasuke did it.
The gap between them remained just as wide.
Naruto felt deeply frustrated.
At that moment, Kakashi walked up to him, patting him on the shoulder.
"Don't lose heart. You've already done very well. The future is long…"
Naruto froze. He hadn't expected that, as the "dead last," Kakashi-sensei would praise him as being impressive!
Sasuke looked at Naruto and nodded. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd really manage to reach the town within half an hour. Actually, even if you'd arrived in 40 minutes, Sakura would've been fine."
"I only gave you a time limit of 30 minutes to ensure there would be no room for error and to push you to unleash your full potential."
Naruto raised his head to look at Sasuke.
"So… that's what it was all about…"
With the battle over, the mission was also complete.
That evening, Tazuna seemed to have made up his mind and expressed his willingness to hire the Konoha ninja to take down Gato.
Since the mission wasn't officially issued in Konoha, Kakashi had the right to refuse.
But Sasuke accepted it and led Naruto and Sakura to carry out the task.
"A flower raised in a greenhouse can never grow into a towering tree."
"As ninja, bloodshed is inevitable. This mission is the perfect opportunity for Naruto and Sakura to adjust to it in advance."
Gato was a scumbag, and killing him was essentially doing the world a favor.
Kakashi had no reason to oppose Sasuke's suggestion.
Under the cover of night, the three of them easily dealt with Gato.
However, since it was their first time killing someone, Naruto and Sakura didn't look well.
Still, after their earlier experiences with Zabuza, neither of them had an extreme reaction.
The psychological hurdle of the first kill was challenging, but after that, time would take care of the rest.
Soon enough, they would be able to recover from it.
On the way back to Konoha, Sasuke decided not to waste the time they had while traveling.
He made a request to Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei, could you teach me swordsmanship?"
Kakashi was a bit surprised. "Why the sudden interest in learning swordsmanship?"
As soon as he asked, he thought of Zabuza. Perhaps the battle with Zabuza had left some kind of impression or inspiration on Sasuke.
However, learning swordsmanship wasn't a simple matter.
Moreover, the Kenjutsu of the Hatake clan wasn't something that could be easily passed on to others.
"Wanting to train and grow stronger is a good thing, but you need to take it step by step. I'll start by teaching you chakra control."
"First, you'll practice climbing trees and walking on water!"
Naruto and Sakura immediately grew interested.
However, Sasuke cut in directly, saying, "I've already mastered those two exercises."
"Kakashi-sensei, please teach me swordsmanship!"
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