Night fell.
By the campfire, Drake stretched lazily after a long, satisfying nap.
Refreshed. Energized. Perfect condition.
But when he looked around, everyone else looked like they'd just crawled out of a battlefield — pale, exhausted, borderline dead.
"You guys finish the warehouse?" he asked casually.
He was immediately met with a volley of murderous stares.
"Some people slept from afternoon till now without a shred of shame." Obito sighed dramatically.
He originally wanted to insult him properly, but he was far too tired to even muster the energy for that.
After all, they'd been working nonstop.
Drake walked around the half-built structure, clearly unimpressed.
An entire afternoon… and they hadn't even completed one wall?
At this rate, rebuilding the supply station would take a week.
"You guys chopped the trees into planks and nailed them together?" Drake frowned, eyeing a half-split trunk.
"Yeah? What's wrong with that?" Ibiki replied.
"Did it ever occur to you to just dig holes and stick the trunks upright?" Drake asked seriously.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Ibiki froze.
…Right.
Why didn't I think of that?
This was supposed to be functional, not pretty. Vertical logs in a row made a perfectly solid wall.
"Why didn't you say this earlier?!" Obito jumped up, furious.
They'd wasted an entire afternoon for nothing!
"I thought you already knew." Drake shrugged calmly.
Rin almost cried.
She'd spent hours collecting planks that now meant absolutely nothing.
Trying to shift focus, Kakashi steered the conversation elsewhere.
"Drake, I need to talk to you. About your taijutsu."
The others immediately leaned in.
This was serious.
"Go on." Drake's expression turned focused.
"You should stop charging in first during fights."
"Why?"
"Because your fighting style has a fatal flaw. If the enemy figures it out, you'll die."
Drake narrowed his eyes slightly.
He knew Kakashi wouldn't say something like this without reason.
Kakashi continued gravely:
"Imagine this — the enemy hides their real body and sends a clone covered in paper bombs to lure you in. The moment you punch it… boom."
Drake fell silent.
He knew Kakashi was absolutely right.
A bait clone. Elemental clone. Bomb-laced decoy.
One punch… and he'd go down with it.
"I'll remember that." he said sincerely.
"And there's more." Kakashi added.
"Genjutsu. You can't even use the Replacement Technique properly. That means you're extremely vulnerable to illusion types."
"Genjutsu, huh…"
Drake glanced at his status panel — Super Immunity.
He nodded anyway. "Got it."
Frontline Command Headquarters
Minato handed the captured Sand ninja over to Orochimaru, carefully explaining Drake's intimidation strategy.
Orochimaru gave a dry chuckle.
"Impressive foresight, Minato."
"This wasn't my idea." Minato admitted. "It was my student's."
"Kakashi?" Orochimaru raised a brow.
"…Drake."
"Oh?" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed faintly. "The one vacationing in the back mountains?"
Minato coughed and made a strategic retreat.
Something about Orochimaru's tone made him very uncomfortable.
Once Minato left, a quiet voice echoed from the corner.
"You can come out now."
Anko stepped forward awkwardly.
"You again." Orochimaru eyed her. "Why aren't you at Supply Point Five?"
"I… I ran into a problem, Sensei."
"Speak."
"If I encounter an extremely strong taijutsu specialist, how do I fight them?"
Without hesitation, Orochimaru formed hand seals.
A clone rose from the earth.
He slapped explosive tags all over it.
"Understand now?"
Anko's eyes widened. "That's it?!"
"Use clones as bait. Keep distance. Suppress them with long-range ninjutsu."
Then he tossed a porcelain vial to her.
"Corrosive serpent venom. One drop melts flesh."
Another Day
CRACK!
A massive tree snapped in half as Drake pulled back his fist.
"Incredible!" Obito gasped.
"That tree's thicker than a barrel…" Ibiki muttered in disbelief.
"Drake is amazing…" Rin stared in awe.
"I chopped one too, but nobody said anything…" Kakashi murmured quietly.
Dusting his hands, Drake walked off nonchalantly.
"The rest is up to you. Don't disappoint me."
He leapt onto a tree branch and sprawled out lazily.
Status Panel:
Name: Drake
Age: 12
Strength: 458 [Super-tier]
Constitution: 576 [Super-tier]
Agility: 186 [Jonin-tier]
Spirit: 320 [Super Immunity]
Chakra: 1540
Skills: None
Ninjutsu: Gravity Sphere (A+ Rank) – Quality Evolution
Overall Rating: Genin
"The Constitution doubled again…" he murmured.
With a satisfied sigh, he closed his eyes.
At noon, a messenger ninja arrived at full speed.
"Team Nine! Direct order from the Hokage — return to the village immediately!"
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