Kakashi sighed as he stepped out of the BBQ restaurant, closing his wallet with visible pain. The bill had been far heavier than he expected.
"Next time I won't come late," he muttered internally. "My pocket might not survive another punishment like that."
Naruto suddenly raised his hand as Kakashi turned to leave.
"Oh hey, Kakashi-sensei, before you go we have something to ask you."
Kakashi immediately shivered and raised both hands defensively.
"Nope. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I already feel the biasness in the air."
Naruto rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Relax, sensei. It's important. We want you to help Sakura learn medical ninjutsu."
Kakashi paused at that and tilted his head slightly.
"Medical ninjutsu?"
Sakura clenched her fists nervously but stepped forward anyway.
"I'm not really a good fighter, but my chakra control and my mind are better than most."
She looked directly at Kakashi with determination in her eyes.
"Naruto said medical ninjutsu would be perfect for me. So please Kakashi-sensei, let me learn it."
Kakashi scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.
"Well… honestly, I also think that's the best path for you."
He looked slightly apologetic as he continued speaking.
"But I thought you might not agree right away. I assumed you needed some time to accept that."
Sakura quickly shook her head.
"I know I'm not a very talented ninja, so I want to work harder and prove I'm not a bur—"
Bonk
"Owww!"
Sakura grabbed her head and glared at Naruto.
"What was that for, Naruto?!"
Naruto huffed and crossed his arms.
"Stop talking like that. You're always worried about this and that."
He looked at her seriously for a moment.
"We never thought of you as a burden. So stop seeing yourself like one."
Kakashi watched the scene quietly with a small smile hidden under his mask.
"Yep… he resembles Kushina-senpai far more than Minato-sensei."
Kakashi almost imagined Kushina standing there instead of Naruto.
"And that punch… like mother, like son."
Sakura bit her lip for a moment before slowly nodding.
Naruto smiled and raised his fist toward her.
Sakura smiled back and bumped her fist against his.
Inside her mind, she made a silent promise. "I will become someone you can proudly call your teammate."
Kakashi clapped his hands once, breaking the moment.
"Alright then. Tomorrow after our first mission we'll visit the hospital."
Sakura's face brightened immediately.
"Yes, sensei!"
Soon after that, the team went their separate ways and headed home.
The next day, Team 7 officially began doing missions.
Unfortunately, most of them were boring D-rank missions.
Catching runaway cats, helping villagers carry groceries, and pulling weeds in farms.
Naruto groaned loudly while holding a gardening tool.
"This is psychological torture."
Sasuke ignored him completely while working.
Kakashi simply stood nearby reading Icha Icha Paradise.
Despite the boring missions, Kakashi kept his promise.
After finishing the missions that day, he took Sakura to Konoha Hospital.
Sakura immediately began reading medical textbooks and learning basic theory.
Her natural chakra control made the doctors quickly notice her potential.
Life slowly settled into a new rhythm for Team 7.
During the day they completed D-rank missions around the village.
In the evenings everyone trained in their own ways.
Sakura studied medical theory and practiced precise chakra control.
Sasuke trained alone, constantly pushing his body to become stronger.
His determination to surpass Naruto burned fiercely inside him.
Meanwhile Naruto finished his daily workouts and sat quietly under the open sky.
The wind gently moved his hair as his Six Eyes activated.
His mind processed countless fuinjutsu formulas at incredible speed.
Naruto carefully designed new seals and wrote them down inside a notebook.
After finishing the calculations, he closed the notebook calmly.
Then he stored the book inside his wrist storage seal.
Far away, two other girls were also training hard.
Hinata practiced her Gentle Fist techniques repeatedly.
Thanks to the gravity gear and Naruto's constant supply of pure Yang chakra, her body was becoming stronger day by day.
She was slowly refining a powerful technique — the Twin Lion Fists.
Ino trained in a completely different way.
Inside the mind-space training seal Naruto had created for her, time flowed much slower.
While only minutes passed outside, she trained for hours inside her mind.
She practiced nature transformation again and again.
Everyone was growing stronger in their own ways.
Naruto occasionally checked on them using his Six Eyes.
To the Six Eyes, distance and obstacles meant nothing.
He could clearly observe how everyone was progressing.
Sometimes he even looked at other figures within the village.
Danzo Shimura… and the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Naruto simply watched silently without interfering.
His calm blue eyes reflected quiet calculation.
Days passed like this.
Training, growth, and endless D-rank missions.
For now, life inside Konoha remained peaceful.
But that peaceful rhythm would not last forever.