Walking through street after street, for Sasuke everything felt both so familiar and so strange. The strangeness came from the changes that had happened in Konoha over the years, while the familiarity came from the fact that both Furina and Naruto remained exactly the same as before—unchanged.
Even that guy Kakashi was still the same as back then. It seemed the only one who had changed was him.
While he was lost in emotion, Furina—who had been walking at the front—suddenly stopped as if she had thought of something interesting. She turned around with a smile on her face toward the group.
"Don't you guys think this place looks really familiar?"
Hearing Furina's words, Sasuke finally realized that the group had already passed through the bustling streets and arrived near a training ground.
"Here?"
Looking at the somewhat familiar scene in front of him, Sasuke vaguely felt he knew what it was, but because he had been away for so long, he could not recall it right away.
Unlike Sasuke, Naruto—who was beside him—immediately gave the answer the moment he heard it. As he spoke, a trace of reminiscence flashed through his eyes.
"Of course! Isn't this the place where Kakashi-sensei tested whether we were qualified to become genin back then?
I still clearly remember how shocked Kakashi-sensei was at you, Furina. He definitely never expected you would actually manage to snatch both those bells."
Unlike the somewhat excited Naruto, Kakashi looked at Furina—who was now wearing a mischievous grin—and a bad premonition flashed through his heart.
And Furina's next words indeed did not disappoint him.
"That's right. This is the place where Kakashi-sensei tested us back then. And now that we've finally reunited after so long, and Sasuke hasn't been back in ages,
I feel like Kakashi-sensei, as our teacher, would probably also want to test our progress during this time and reminisce about the past. So I brought everyone here, hehe."
"…"
Listening to Furina slowly lay out exactly what he had been thinking, Kakashi's suspended heart finally sank completely. He had watched every one of his three students grow, and even if he really wanted to test them, he no longer had the ability to do so.
However, seeing Naruto's mood clearly soaring and even Sasuke showing a smile after hearing Furina's words, Kakashi had no intention of refusing.
After all, the atmosphere had already been built up to this point. He was not someone who couldn't read the room.
Moreover, although Furina said that, she definitely would not go all out. The ones he would mainly have to deal with would surely be Naruto and Sasuke. The pressure should not be too great.
After all, he had never slacked off in his training all this time. His strength had also made a huge leap compared to before. Testing just the two of them should still be doable.
Yeah, should be.
…
"Furina, I know you're extremely strong now, but this time I hope you won't make a move. Last time you stole the bells and gave them to me. This time it's my turn to return the favor."
"Hey, yeah, me too, me too! Sasuke, you're so sneaky—why didn't you tell me in advance? But just like Sasuke said, Furina, this time don't make a move. Leave it to us."
"Then we're coming, Kakashi-sensei."
"Mm, come on."
Listening to the two of them making noise, Kakashi felt quite good as well. His tone sounded somewhat cheerful, but that cheerfulness lasted only until the next moment…
"Kurama!"
"Susanoo!"
…
The End