Playing As Gojo Satoru in Naruto

Sarutobi Hiruzen set the Chunin Exams to take place seven days from now.

Kakashi and Satoru both understood what that meant and started getting ready.

But the three kids still doing D-rank missions had no idea yet.

Since coming back from the Land of Waves, Naruto and Sasuke hadn't gotten closer—in fact, there was even more tension between them.

They were constantly trying to one-up each other, even if they didn't say it out loud.

But the more they argued, the more it slowed things down and caused other problems.

"What's wrong with those two…? They've already been through dangerous missions together."

Sakura looked ahead, puzzled, at Sasuke and Naruto, who were both turning their heads away from each other and refusing to speak.

Kakashi moved his eyes from his book and looked at the two kids who clearly weren't getting along like before.

He scratched his head helplessly. He could kind of understand Naruto's frustration—he owed Sasuke, but couldn't find the right moment to pay him back.

Still, he had no idea how to fix things between them.

Kakashi was a teacher, but he wasn't good at handling team problems.

After all, when he was a kid in a three-person team, he was the genius of the group, like Sasuke.

Trying to fix things between Naruto and Sasuke… he honestly didn't know where to start.

And he wasn't great at dealing with a loud, reckless kid like Naruto either.

"Well… our teamwork's been kind of a mess lately."

"Exactly! Totally! And it's all Sasuke's fault—he's always trying to steal the spotlight!"

The second Naruto heard Kakashi speak, he jumped up and pointed at Sasuke, ready to blame him.

"You're the one always messing things up! If you don't wanna owe me, then just get stronger!"

Sasuke wasn't the type to just take that. He glared back, annoyed.

He hadn't been in the best mood lately. He'd realized there were others his age outside the village who were way stronger than them.

And here they were, stuck doing boring, pointless missions.

What a waste of time.

Kakashi could hear the frustration in Sasuke's tone. He wasn't shouting like Naruto, but it was obvious he wasn't happy with their recent tasks either.

Whatever. Kakashi was just a jonin leader. These little problems would probably go away once the Chunin Exams started.

Unlike Asuma or Kurenai, who were more hands-on with their teams…

Kakashi was more like someone letting the sheep roam free. As long as they didn't die, he didn't really interfere.

They'll figure it out. Kids arguing wasn't a big deal anyway.

He casually tossed out a line.

"Today's mission is over. I've got a report to write. Alright, dismissed."

Then he disappeared on the spot.

Sakura had hoped Kakashi would say something to calm them down, but to her surprise, he bailed just like that.

She looked around a bit, unsure what to do, then quickly caught up to Sasuke to try and build some better teamwork.

Uchiha Sasuke—fan of strong people, serious big brother complex.

Romance meant nothing to him. Not that it was totally his fault.

Most of the well-known Uchiha, besides his dad and maybe Obito, didn't exactly seem like the dating type.

"Instead of clinging to me to improve teamwork, how about training on your own? You're not even as strong as Naruto."

Sasuke frowned, clearly annoyed, and turned her down without hesitation.

You're not even as strong as Naruto…

That hit hard.

And the worst part was, if she really thought about it, both Naruto and Sasuke had fought in the Land of Waves mission. She was the only one who didn't really do anything.

After getting rejected, Sakura turned toward Naruto with a pout.

Konohamaru, Moegi, and their friends had been eyeing Naruto for a while, hoping to get him to play with them. As soon as the team split up, they ran straight over.

Being admired by little kids felt kind of nice, but playing with them didn't really seem fun anymore.

Naruto tilted his head, wondering how to politely turn them down.

"Huh…?"

As Naruto turned around, he saw Sakura walking toward him with a serious look. But her eyes had been following Sasuke the whole time.

It landed on him at the worst time, and he felt a little awkward being seen like that.

Even though Konohamaru was just a kid, he could still tell—Sakura looked like she wanted to eat Naruto alive.

They were on the same team, so why was she looking at him like that?

Konohamaru thought hard, and suddenly an idea popped into his head.

"Ah! Boss! Is this woman your girlfriend?!"

Only a girlfriend would look at Naruto like that…

"Hahaha… You're small, but you sure know a lot!"

Naruto scratched his head and laughed.

"? What are you admitting on your own over there?"

At least say stuff like that when she's not around!

Sakura instantly punched both of them—one punch each. It was bad enough that a kid was saying nonsense, but why was Naruto playing along?

Boys are so childish and annoying!

Two bumps popped up on Naruto and Konohamaru's heads right away. Sakura, still mad, turned to walk away.

"A fat and ugly person like that—how can you even call her a woman?"

Konohamaru stood up while rubbing his head and mumbling to himself.

Messing around only leads to trouble. Talking trash when you can't win a fight? That's a one-way ticket to getting beat up.

Sakura turned back with a face that screamed, "You're already dead." Konohamaru and Naruto quickly scrambled to their feet and dashed off in the other direction.

"Uwah!"

Konohamaru, who was running in front, slammed straight into someone and was immediately lifted up by the collar.

"That hurt, you little brat. Don't you know how to watch where you're going?"

A stranger's voice rang out. Naruto and Sakura stopped and looked at the two people in front of them.

Kankuro's face was painted, while Temari stood nearby with a big fan on her back and her hands on her hips.

"Don't cause trouble here. You're gonna get yelled at later."

Temari looked around, clearly not fully okay with what Kankuro was doing.

They looked about the same age, but Naruto and the others were sure they had never seen these two before.

"…Outsiders?"

Sakura dropped her aggressive tone and looked at their forehead protectors with surprise.

Even though the village was open, it was still rare for them to see people from other villages.

Especially ones wearing forehead protectors and looking this tough.

"Hey jerk! Let him go right now!"

Konohamaru might be small, but he was one of Naruto's crew. Seeing him being picked up like that, Naruto wasn't having it—he shouted and rushed forward.

Kankuro twitched his fingers, and Naruto suddenly lost his footing and fell flat on his butt.

"Shinobi from Konohagakure are pretty weak, huh."

"Eh—That's kinda rude, don't you think~"

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