Chapitre 24: Land Of Waves Arc (1).
Back home, Tachibana woke up slowly as rays of light fell on his face disturbing him from his short sleep.
'Yesterday was wild…'
'I mean I get Hiruzen being worried about me knowing things I should not with the help of divination but isn't this a little too much?'
'What if there really was a god protecting me?'
'What if they upset 'Him'?'
'Tsk. I guess even though there's the cult of Jashin in this world, people just treat them as weirdos.'
'Will their opinion change once they come across a deity's decent?'
'*sigh* what a life. Being suspected by the village you work in. Isn't this the same as telling me they don't trust me?'
Getting out of bed, Tachibana freshened himself and walked to the Hokage tower to meet Maruboshi.
"You're late.", Maruboshi complained as he spotted Tachibana walking to the Hokage tower.
'Tell that to the Hokage who kept me awake for so long last night.'
"Yeah, I had a few nightmares…"
That seemed to have caught Maruboshi off guard since he immediately surrendered and took on a compassionate look, "...I understand."
"We taking a new mission today?"
"Of course we are. Unless you want to go back to doing those D-Rank missions again?"
"No way! No way!" Tachibana shook his head in disagreement, "I worked so hard to get the rights to perform missions! I don't want to become like you! Carving figurines all day."
The veins on Maruboshi's forehead twitched as his posture stiffened but then deciding to be the bigger man he shook his head and calmed down.
"It takes a truly peaceful man to delve into the intricacies of art.", Maruboshi explained as they stepped into the Hokage tower.
"If you'd said, it takes a truly peaceful man to delve into the intricacies of a fart, I'd have believed you. Art can be made only when you're passionate about something. Not when you're half dead."
"PFFFTTTT~~! Fart! HAHAHAHAH-" A random voice tried to control their laughter unsuccessfully.
"-Naruto! Shut it! It's rude to eavesdrop." A girl shouted while closing Naruto's mouth.
"See old man, they agree with me too."
Maruboshi looked at all the kids with displeasure and Kakashi stepped in to apologise, "My apologies Maruboshi-san."
"Ah~ it's alright Kakashi-kun. How are you doing now? I heard you quit the ANBU not long ago?" As soon as those words dropped, Tachibana saw all the kids in his team look at him with surprise.
"What's ANBU Kakashi-sensei? Is it something related to the book you always read?" Naruto innocently asked.
Sasuke instantly turned his face away to hide his laughter while Sakura blushed and smacked Naruto's head. "ANBU are the Hokage's guards you fool!"
"Huh? The old man's guards? Why does he need guards? Isn't he the strongest because he's the Hokage?" Naruto complained causally.
Kakashi and Maruboshi looked at each other and exchanged a glance that only meant one thing.
'So you've got a student like that huh?'
'Yes. He's a little dumb but he's good at heart.'
'Mine's not dumb but he talks back a lot.'
'I hope you have an easier time in the future.'
'You too.'
"By the way, who're you?" Naruto asked walking up close to Tachibana and looking at him with a frown. "I can't seem to remember you. Are you new in this village?"
Kakashi also lent an ear to their conversation since he found Maruboshi coming out of retirement to take on a student interesting.
"I'm Tachibana Rei. I joined Konoha only a month ago."
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! But a month ago!? And you're already a ninja!?" Naruto asked with surprise.
"Yep! I'm good, aren't I? I can already perform the academy's three jutsu."
"Seriously!?" Naruto asked with shock. "It took me close to six years to learn them!"
"Wanna see and compare who's the best at it!?" Tachibana asked for fun.
Naruto nodded, "I'll go first!", his fingers quickly formed a single seal and he shouted, "Clone jutsu!"
A *puff* of smoke later everyone was greeted with a single clone of Naruto. It looked exactly like him. Even Sasuke was a little surprised with how good it looked.
Tachibana smiled and said, "That's a good challenge! But look at this!" quickly forming three hand seals Tachibana performed the same jutsu, "Clone jutsu!"
With another *puff* of smoke, a fragile-looking Tachibana appeared at his side.
Except Maruboshi who'd expected it everyone else became a little dumbfounded at how bad it looked, but Naruto only cheered on, "That's quite good for a month! I hope you are able to become as good as me someday!"
"As good as you!? I'll cross you before you know it!" Tachibana challenged.
Naruto seeing this got even more fired up.
"No way will I let you surpass me! I'll become the Hokage someday!!"
"And I'll become the God of Shinobi someday!" Tachibana stated with enthusiasm.
Suddenly Naruto felt like he was at a loss of words, "What's a God of Shinobi?"
"He's the god that all shinobi pray to for victory in battle! This position belonged to the first Hokage! None other than Hashirama Senju! With a simple clap, he could grow an entire forest!"
"An entire forest!? Seriously!?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.
That was when the gate to the Mission distribution office opened and after the previous team walked away, Hiruzen called out from inside.
"Come in all of you."
Maruboshi and Kakashi walked into the hall, with their teams, with a little doubt about why they were called together.
As soon as Naruto entered, he shouted, "Old man! I want a B-rank mission this time!!! I'm bored of pulling weeds and painting houses!!!!"
Hiruzen looked at Kakashi and when he nodded subtly he looked at Naruto and smiled, "You're bored?"
"Yes! I thought being a shinobi meant I could participate in glorious battles! Fight enemies that could generate an entire forest like the first Hokage!!! Not babysit a child!"
"Haha~ It's good that you're interested in Konoha's history Naruto. Because you're studying well, I shall give both your teams a good mission this time. It will be dangerous too!"
Naruto's eyes widened while Sakura and Sasuke also straightened their backs as they heard his words.
It was only Tachibana that froze.
'Seriously!?'
'I'm going on the mission to the Land Of Waves with them!?'
'What the hell! I should've divined if it was good for me to leave the house today! Damn it!'
"What's the mission old man!?" Naruto asked impatiently.
"You have to escort a builder and architect to the Land of Waves and keep him safe for as long as the bridge he's building is finished."
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura immediately deflated.
"Old man that's just a simple escorting mission. How's that dangerous!?"
"*Ahem* *Ahem*" Hiruzen coughed before sending one of the guards in the room to bring the man they had to escort into the room.
As soon as the man entered the room he looked around at the two teams assigned to him and frowned.
"What's this? A bunch of kids are going to protect me?"
Naruto immediately flared up. "Who're you calling a kid you drunkard!!!"
Kakashi effortlessly picked up the kid of his teacher by the scruff of his neck and calmed him down, "We're supposed to protect him Naruto. Not attack him."
They ended up accepting the mission and left the Hokage office to grab their supplies for the mission.
As they gathered at the village gates, Tachibana took Kakashi's delay to brag at Naruto, "I've already been on a C-rank mission! So I'm your senior Naruto!"
"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted loudly, causing Sakura to beat him on the head to quieten him. "Seriously?" Naruto whispered after coming closer to Tachibana. Sakura and Sasuke also leaned in while Maruboshi stood to the side admiring their youthfulness.
"Hahaha~ Jealous aren't you? It was a Bandit subjugation mission where children were kidnapped and sold! I and my Sensei killed the bandits and saved the children too!"
"Waaaa!!!" Naruto exclaimed softly with admiration as he looked at Tachibana who had his chin up with pride.
Even Sasuke and Sakura had a little bit of admiration for Tachibana. And he enriched himself in their gazes filled with admiration.
'Admire me, mere mortals! For the distance between you and me is like the distance between Heaven and Earth!'
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A/N : How were the character interactions in this chapter? Too slow? Too fast? Alright? Thank you for reading!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone