Recently, Naruto had also been training hard.
But as a result, the missions assigned to their team were skipped by Sasuke, using training as an excuse.
What annoyed Naruto most was that Hiruzen had approved Sasuke's request but made him continue doing missions.
"Bias! Grandpa Hokage is biased!"
Naruto shouted discontentedly.
Sakura shook her head with a wry smile.
Shikamaru walked along bored, looking up at the sky.
Soon, a suspension bridge appeared before them.
The bridge looked quite old.
"After crossing this bridge, we should be near the client's village."
Shikamaru looked at the map and said.
"Then let's hurry over!"
Naruto immediately ran over excitedly. He just wanted to finish the mission quickly and go back to training.
"Wait! Naruto!"
Sakura futilely reached out a hand, but how could she catch the impatient Naruto?
Snap!
Naruto ran quickly to the middle of the bridge, then stepped through a rotten plank.
The broken plank fell into the deep valley hundreds of meters below. Quick-witted, Naruto grabbed the bridge, sweating profusely.
He had almost fallen.
Luckily, his reflexes were fast enough.
Sakura and Shikamaru were also startled.
Seeing Naruto hadn't fallen, they breathed a sigh of relief.
But Sakura immediately felt even angrier.
"Didn't you see the sign up ahead saying 'Bridge Dangerous, Proceed with Caution'?!"
Sakura transformed into an angry goddess, roaring furiously. "It wouldn't matter if you fell, but what if the ferret fell?!"
"Sakura... that's so mean..."
Naruto said pitifully.
Not only was he uncared for, but he was also disliked by his teammate.
Especially since this person was the one he liked.
After crossing the bridge, they observed the client's village from a hilltop.
"Something's off."
Shikamaru shrewdly sensed a problem.
"What's wrong?"
Sakura didn't understand. As far as she could see, there were no ambushes, and the weather was fine with no sign of storms.
So what was wrong?
"It's already this time of day, but there's not a single sign of life down there. It's just too abnormal."
Shikamaru frowned.
"Now that you mention it, it does seem very quiet."
Sakura also realized something was wrong.
"Alright, you two go deliver the target. I'll provide cover from the shadows."
Shikamaru quickly formulated a plan, tossing earpieces to Naruto and Sakura. "We'll use these to communicate."
"No problem."
Neither Sakura nor Naruto thought Shikamaru was being overly cautious.
After all, Shikamaru was the team captain for this mission.
As Genin, it wasn't their place to contradict his judgment.
And Shikamaru had the best mind among their peers; even Naruto acknowledged that.
Of course,
Takumi had been excluded from their peer group long ago.
The gap was just too vast.
After separating, Shikamaru went ahead to confirm the situation.
Naruto and Sakura walked openly, but were actually cautiously on guard for possible traps or ambushes.
"What is this?!"
Shikamaru soon arrived at the client's village.
What he saw was a scene of smashed houses.
But there didn't appear to be any casualties.
Either the bodies had been removed, or there were originally no people here.
But regardless, the mission had gone wrong.
The problem now facing Shikamaru was how to complete the mission handover.
"This is troublesome."
He scratched the back of his head.
Bang!
A sound came from the distance. He quickly turned his head. "Damn it!"
He rushed over quickly.
At that moment,
Naruto and Sakura, unsurprisingly, had run into trouble.
Armored soldiers wielding large hammers attacked them separately, splitting them up.
Sakura, with her excellent shuriken throwing skills, quickly turned one into a pincushion.
But the enemy was unaffected, still swinging its hammer.
"What's going on?"
Sakura immediately sensed something was wrong, but having been a Shinobi for some time, she had experienced quite a lot.
Stranger things than this were not unheard of.
"Well then, how about this!"
She threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached. The enemy made no move to block it.
With a loud bang, the soldier was blown to pieces.
"Take that!"
She cheered, but the next moment, she was dumbfounded.
Another soldier had appeared behind her without her noticing.
On the other side,
Naruto had also used a barrage of Shadow Clone attacks to pound his soldier deep into the ground.
But behind the dust cloud, another figure appeared.
Naruto immediately heightened his alertness.
The dust settled.
Revealed was a figure different from the soldiers.
Somewhat shorter, with more ornate armor.
Silver-white armor and a half-face helmet concealed his features completely.
He didn't speak, just extended his thumb towards Naruto, then turned it downwards.
He provoked Naruto with his actions.
"So you're the boss of these guys?!"
Naruto immediately took the bait. Several Shadow Clones charged forward.
But the other party effortlessly dispelled Naruto's clones into puffs of smoke.
He didn't even move an inch while dealing with these clones.
But all the clones disappeared into smoke.
So where was Naruto's original body?
The answer was underground.
This was Naruto's most skilled at tactic.
Use clones to distract, then have the original launch a surprise attack from an unexpected angle.
The silver knight also seemed not to anticipate Naruto attacking from underground.
But his reflexes were extremely fast. Dodging Naruto's punch, he pushed off the ground, spun quickly, and delivered a powerful kick that sent Naruto flying.
Bang!
Naruto crashed into a rock, creating a large crater.
The silver knight landed gracefully after his spin.
A slight smile curved beneath his helmet; he seemed very satisfied with his reaction.
…
On the eve of Takumi's departure, inside the Akatsuki's secret base in the Land of Rain.
Konan felt a sense of loss, unsure of herself.
After seeing Takumi leave with Kurotsuchi, she felt very dejected.
Thinking it was late, she left Konoha and returned to the base.
But the empty feeling in her heart only grew stronger.
Whenever this happened, she involuntarily thought of Takumi's face.
Then she would feel a little better.
But thinking of Takumi reminded her of him leaving at night with Kurotsuchi.
This immediately made her feel miserable again.
After repeating this several times, she finally made a choice.
"Nagato, I have nothing to do recently. I might as well go to Konoha and monitor Takumi."
Konan said expressionlessly. "Black Zetsu is helping Kakuzu find a suitable heart. Relying solely on intelligence from White Zetsu isn't accurate enough."
"Hmm, go ahead."
Pain nodded. He trusted Konan implicitly, never suspecting she might have other intentions.
So, leaving behind a paper clone, Konan left the Land of Rain and rushed quickly towards Konoha.
But when she arrived in Konoha, she found Takumi had already left.
After using some means, she learned of Takumi's destination.
So, she changed course and flew after Takumi and his group.