Chapter 39: Yoruha's Reminder to Sasuke
Naruto's actions made Kakashi quite pleased.
Walking over to him, he said, "If you don't stop the bleeding, you might die."
Naruto, who had looked utterly determined a moment ago, panicked the instant he heard he might die. "Ah? I don't want to die."
Kakashi sighed and was just about to bandage the wound.
But when he took Naruto's hand, he saw that the injury on it was already starting to heal.
Kakashi was startled. "So this is Kurama's power? Its recovery ability really is incredible."
While bandaging Naruto, Naruto kept asking, "Kakashi-sensei, am I really going to die?"
Kakashi shook his head. "Enough already."
After finishing the bandaging, Kakashi came over to the others. "The mission from here on out will be dangerous. Sakura, Sasuke, do you want to return to Konohagakure, or continue with this mission?"
Sasuke glanced at Yoruha and said, as if competing with him, "Of course we're continuing."
Sakura actually didn't want to. The two ninja had nearly killed her just now, and she was badly shaken.
But since Sasuke had said so, she forced herself to be brave despite her fear. "Whatever Sasuke does, I'll do too."
Naruto, who had just walked over, also said with a determined expression, "Next time, I absolutely won't be like I was just now."
Kakashi nodded. "Good. Then we'll continue the mission."
The group set out again.
Along the way, Sasuke kept his eyes fixed on Yoruha.
Yoruha's performance just now had been far stronger than his.
Even though, for a first real battle, Sasuke had already performed the best out of the three in Team 7.
But compared to Yoruha, the gap was simply too big.
"This guy obviously doesn't even have the Sharingan, yet he's that fast. He instantly killed two Chunin. He's the same age as me, but I'm nowhere near his level."
"If this keeps up, how could I ever kill that man?"
At the thought of Itachi, Sasuke's drive to grow stronger intensified.
Yoruha had truly shocked him.
"Maybe if I can defeat Yoruha, then I can defeat that man too."
In Sasuke's eyes, Yoruha had the same kind of talent his older brother once had.
And when Itachi wiped out the clan, he had only been thirteen.
At thirteen, he had possessed the strength to slaughter the Uchiha Clan.
At thirteen, he had already possessed Kage-level strength.
If Yoruha knew Sasuke regarded him as someone with the same talent as Itachi, he definitely wouldn't agree.
He had no confidence that he could reach Kage-level in just one year.
After all, strictly speaking, he still hadn't learned a single truly powerful offensive ninjutsu.
His first release of "Chidori" had seemed successful, but in Yoruha's eyes, it had been a complete failure.
Because he hadn't controlled it.
Sakura was also watching Yoruha the whole time.
She was very curious about him.
Back at the Ninja Academy, she hadn't known Yoruha was this strong.
Or rather, back then, she had barely even known he existed.
At that time, Yoruha had simply lacked too much presence.
And the strength Yoruha was showing now also proved that he had completely hidden his real ability while at the Ninja Academy.
What kind of temperament did it take to suppress the urge to show off one's talent in front of peers at such a young age?
Sakura couldn't understand it.
Walking beside Yoruha, she asked curiously, "Yoruha, why do I barely remember you from the Ninja Academy?"
As he walked, Yoruha said lightly, "Maybe I was too ordinary."
Sakura shot him a glance. "What about you is ordinary? I think your strength now might already be on the same level as Kakashi-sensei's."
In Sakura's eyes, Yoruha and Kakashi were already about the same.
After all, what Yoruha had done—instantly killing two Chunin right in front of her—had been far too shocking.
Yoruha waved a hand. "That just means you don't understand how strong Kakashi-sensei is. He's currently the strongest Jonin in Konohagakure."
"Don't be fooled by how lazy he usually seems."
"In reality, he's famous throughout the ninja world. At our age, he had already become a Jonin."
"And he had already built up tremendous military achievements."
"And back then, his teacher was the Fourth Hokage."
Sakura had only wanted to know more about Yoruha, but when she heard all that, she was dumbfounded.
She had heard some things about Kakashi from Ino before.
But all she had known was that Kakashi was strong.
Ino had never said Kakashi was Konohagakure's strongest Jonin.
Sasuke hadn't expected Kakashi to be this formidable either.
Naruto, meanwhile, looked completely unconvinced. "How is that possible? Kakashi-sensei is a Jonin, sure, but how could he be that amazing? And his teacher was actually the Fourth Hokage!?"
The Fourth Hokage was the person Naruto admired most.
Even though he didn't know the Fourth Hokage was his own father, the fact that the Fourth Hokage had sealed Kurama, saved Konohagakure, and become the village's hero was exactly why Naruto admired him so deeply.
And because he had constantly heard stories about the Fourth Hokage, Naruto had dreamed since childhood of becoming Hokage one day.
To become a hero like the Fourth Hokage, and make the whole village accept him.
So when he learned Kakashi had actually been the Fourth Hokage's student, he was stunned.
Yoruha looked at Naruto and said, "None of this information is classified."
"Kakashi-sensei became a Jonin at only twelve years old, about the same age as us, because of his military achievements."
"And throughout the ninja world, he's known as the 'Copy Ninja.'"
"He carries a great deal of deterrence in the ninja world."
"And yes, the Fourth Hokage really was Kakashi-sensei's teacher."
"During the Third Great Ninja War, Kakashi-sensei was already quite well known on the battlefield."
"And he graduated from the Ninja Academy at five, then became a Chunin at six."
As Yoruha recounted these achievements, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all stared blankly at Kakashi.
This lazy-looking guy in front of them was really that powerful?
They simply couldn't believe it.
But the three of them also knew there was no reason for Yoruha to lie to them.
Even Tazuna, who was being protected, now looked at Kakashi like he'd struck gold.
After all, getting a ninja this powerful as his escort while only paying the fee for a C-rank mission was an absolute bargain.
And with Kakashi around, he felt the Jonin hired by Gato probably wouldn't be able to hurt him anyway.
Kakashi, meanwhile, had a bit of a headache.
"Alright, enough about the past."
Yoruha smiled. "Just making conversation."
In truth, Yoruha was mainly saying all this for Sasuke's benefit.
Sasuke had always pursued power.
For revenge, he had even been willing to join Orochimaru's side, risking having his body taken over, all for the sake of obtaining strength.
Yoruha was saying this to make Sasuke understand that he could also become very strong by following Kakashi.
In Yoruha's view, what Sasuke needed most wasn't any curse mark, but deeper development of the Sharingan.
If the Sharingan wasn't developed properly, then no matter how powerful a curse mark was, its upper limit would at most be Kage-level.
And while Kage-level was already tremendously powerful for an ordinary ninja,
it was clearly nowhere near enough for the Fourth Great Ninja War to come.