"Ah—"
Kakashi Hatake let out a painful scream as his Sharingan was blinded by a kunai.
Coupled with his already depleted chakra and his increasingly weakened body after the battle, his consciousness gradually faded, and his body slowly collapsed.
As he fell, he saw that the Uchiha Sasuke who had been standing behind Naruto, waiting for his chance, was actually a shadow clone of Naruto.
At that moment, the clone was running towards him.
"Hey, Sasuke, how could you gouge out his eyes?"
"I didn't do it on purpose. I thought he could dodge it. Besides, wasn't it him who told us to kill him?"
"That makes sense. He was quite agile before, so how come he couldn't dodge your attack?"
"Don't think about it too much, just take him to the hospital!"
Before Kakashi's consciousness faded, he heard the two of them complaining about him. He almost suffocated, but then he jumped up again.
But he eventually ran out of strength, and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier until he finally closed his eyes slowly.
"Obito, I'm sorry. I failed to protect Rin before, and now, even the Sharingan you gave me has been destroyed."
"I really am a complete and utter waste. You're probably laughing at me with Lin from the afterlife, aren't you?"
With that thought in mind, Kakashi completely lost consciousness.
...
Konoha Ninja Hospital.
Upon receiving the news, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, rushed to the scene immediately.
"What exactly happened? Wasn't this a survival exercise? How did Kakashi get injured like this?"
When Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, his gaze lingered on Naruto Uzumaki for a few seconds.
He suspected that Naruto had secretly gone berserk again without his notice.
Otherwise, how could Kakashi have been beaten up like this?
He had heard that even his Sharingan was gouged out.
From then on, the name 'Kakashi with Sharingan' was no more in the ninja world.
"Grandpa Hokage, this really isn't Sasuke's or my fault," Naruto Uzumaki said with an innocent expression. "Kakashi-sensei made us steal the bell."
"They told us to act as if we wanted to kill him, so the two of us fought with him, and as a result, he ended up in the hospital."
After listening to Naruto Uzumaki's account, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't say he understood the situation; he was simply more confused.
Given Kakashi's strength, Naruto shouldn't have been able to injure him this badly unless he went berserk.
"Hehehe—" Black Zetsu, who was watching Naruto's misfortune with amusement, was extremely happy at this moment. "This is the price you paid for attacking Mother in your previous life!"
In this life, Obito Uchiha, with only his Kamui remaining, would rebel again.
It would also be impossible for it to have enough power to freely enter and exit the mother's primordial space.
From the time of Black Zetsu's rebirth until now, all it had done was cause Naruto Uzumaki pain.
The rest of the time was spent either ruining one's eyes or planning to ruin them.
Now, Black Zetsu could say it with complete confidence.
Mother, you are safe!
They could no longer seal you away!
It would start planning now to collect the tailed beasts, and it would make sure you were resurrected in the best possible condition.
"Sasuke, you tell me, what exactly happened?"
Seeing that Naruto Uzumaki couldn't explain, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned his gaze to Sasuke Uchiha.
"It's basically as Naruto said; we used a few tactics..."
Uchiha Sasuke described the situation in detail.
As for the part where he blinded Kakashi, he only said that he thought Kakashi could dodge it, but he didn't expect that Kakashi didn't even dodge.
He insisted on taking the kunai with his eyes, which led to the destruction of his Sharingan.
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
At this point, he no longer knew what to say.
Should he praise their abilities?
Or should he go and comfort Kakashi, who had lost his Sharingan?
"Grandpa Hokage, do we count as having passed the survival exercise?"
Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent, Naruto Uzumaki immediately spoke up.
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded helplessly. "You've beaten our jonin teacher to this state, so his strength is beyond doubt."
"It seems we need to get Jiraiya back as soon as possible," Hiruzen Sarutobi thought to himself. "Besides him, one of the Legendary Sannin, there are probably very few ninjas who can lead Team 7."
After receiving Hiruzen Sarutobi's acknowledgment, Naruto and the others inquired whether Kakashi was in any danger.
After confirming that he was simply overworked and needed to rest for a while, and that there was no danger to his life, the three left the hospital.
Looking at Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha walking ahead, Sakura Haruno felt a little uneasy.
I feel like I'm completely useless?
She barely passed her graduation exam, and during the survival exercise, she could only be a spectator.
At this moment, she couldn't help but start to doubt herself, wondering if she really deserved to be their companion.
"Naruto, I want to go for a walk by myself." Finally, Sakura Haruno mustered up her courage and said to Naruto Uzumaki.
She desperately needed to calm down, but she needed Naruto's permission to leave alone.
This is the domineering nature of the Konoha Little Tyrant.
"Huh?" Naruto Uzumaki turned around and glanced at her. "Okay, if anything comes up, remember to tell me."
Naruto could tell that Sakura Haruno was indeed preoccupied, so he didn't stop her.
After parting ways with the two, Sakura Haruno walked alone on the wide street, still pondering that question.
Am I really worthy of being teamed up with these two?
"Sakura, congratulations on successfully passing the survival exercise and becoming a real ninja."
Just as Sakura Haruno was lost in thought, a voice suddenly pulled her back to reality.
Looking up, she saw Mizuki, the teacher at the Ninja Academy, smiling at her.
"Mizuki-sensei," Sakura greeted him, but didn't say anything more.
Because, to her, Mizuki's words carried a hint of sarcasm.
"Sakura, are you in a bad mood?" Mizuki didn't care about her attitude and instead chatted with her very warmly. "Although you have graduated, you can still talk to your teacher if you have any worries."
Sakura Haruno found Mizuki's enthusiasm somewhat strange.
However, she did need to talk to someone right now.
"Mizuki-sensei, I just feel that the gap in strength between myself, Naruto, and Sasuke is too huge."
"In Squad 7, I felt completely useless; I could only watch them fight from afar."
As Sakura Haruno spoke, she clenched her fists with some resentment.
"I see. You want to improve your strength and fight alongside them, right?" Mizuki immediately understood what Haruno Sakura meant.
"I do have that idea, but my strength..." Sakura Haruno pursed her lips tightly, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Then you've come to the right person. Let me tell you, there's a Scroll of Seals in our village..."
...
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