Chapter 69
Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata quickly entered the training ground.
"Which way should we go?" Sasuke asked first, seeking the others' opinions.
Naruto rested his chin in his hand and shared his line of thinking.
"The training ground terrain is complex. The teachers probably placed the scrolls in more scattered locations. Let's start by following the edge inward."
"The forest is good for hiding things. We should begin scouting from the perimeter toward the center."
Sasuke had no objections, and Hinata certainly wouldn't contradict Naruto.
They soon crossed the perimeter fence and entered the woods.
"The Byakugan should be able to find some clues, right?" Sasuke observed the forest surroundings and signaled Hinata to carefully scout the area.
"Mm!" Hinata wouldn't refuse. She responded softly.
She formed a seal with both hands and activated her Byakugan.
A 360-degree, no-blind-spot field of vision instantly unfolded. Hinata controlled her perspective, peering through the forest interior.
She reported the surrounding terrain and any suspicious points she spotted to Naruto and Sasuke.
The Byakugan's x-ray vision was very convenient for locating targets in specific directions or observing abnormal chakra fluctuations.
But in such a large area, searching for random and very small objects wasn't so easy.
Even for the Hyūga clan with the Byakugan, the brain couldn't simultaneously process every detail seen through its field of view.
After continuously scanning a fairly large section, she found only normal forest scenery.
Helpless, Naruto temporarily stopped this method that would waste Hinata's stamina.
Exhaustively checking every location was still too taxing for Hinata at her current level.
"Don't rush."
Naruto spoke softly to comfort her: "The exercise has only just begun, and Iruka-sensei and the others wouldn't hide the scrolls in places impossible to find."
"There might be some clues waiting for us in the training ground."
"The Byakugan gives us a vision advantage. Let's focus on finding the traps and prop animals first—maybe the clues are on those things."
At that moment, a gentle breeze brushed across Naruto's cheek.
The wind carried the fragrance of grass and trees. Naruto instinctively looked up in its direction.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, noticing Naruto seemed to have spotted something.
Naruto didn't answer. He only looked ahead with puzzlement.
There was an indescribable feeling—like this breeze was trying to tell him something.
"That way…" Naruto reached out and pointed toward a large tree not far ahead.
"Hinata, check over there straight ahead—see if there's anything."
It was just a tree that looked thicker and more densely branched.
But in the middle of the entire forest, such a tree blended in and appeared completely ordinary.
"What about it?" Sasuke asked in confusion.
"I don't know… I just suddenly felt like that tree looks like it could be hiding something."
Sasuke and Hinata both looked at Naruto, confusion in their eyes.
But since Naruto had now specified a direction, the check was much easier for Hinata.
She reactivated her Byakugan and looked over.
Her vision zoomed directly to the tree's surroundings, observing every detail on it.
"Naruto-kun, there's a very small hollow in the tree trunk—there seems to be something inside!"
Hinata withdrew her gaze and looked at Naruto in surprise.
The three quickly approached the large tree. Sure enough, inside the hollow in the trunk, they found a hidden scroll!
"Found it!" Sasuke pulled the scroll out.
In the center of the scroll was written the character "九" (nine).
A spark of excitement rose in all three hearts—this was the first mission scroll they had obtained!
"But… Naruto-kun, how did you know there was something there?"
Hinata asked Naruto in confusion.
Naruto scratched his head in puzzlement too.
He had only followed the direction the breeze had come from. When he saw that tree, he inexplicably felt something was off.
He had just told Hinata to check on a hunch—never expecting they would actually find something.
Just as he was about to explain to Sasuke and Hinata,
from somewhere not far away in the training ground came a commotion, accompanied by what sounded like Inuzuka Kiba's shouting.
"Akamaru! Stop biting it! That's the mission item we need to turn in…"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata exchanged glances.
How had someone else already found a mission scroll so quickly?
…
Inside the seal space.
"Big Fox! I helped Naruto, right!"
Yuta was dancing excitedly in circles around the cross-legged Xuanming.
He had been wandering all over the village earlier and happened to notice the academy teachers setting up the training ground.
So he turned into a breeze and guided Naruto's attention toward that tree, making him subconsciously feel something was strange about it.
Not only that—before coming to Naruto, he had also noticed Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru circling nearby.
It seemed the teachers had erased the scent trails, so the trail had broken off in that area.
Unable to pick up the lost scent, Kiba and Akamaru couldn't find the next direction for a while.
Then Yuta kindly re-condensed the air around the scroll,
letting the scent ride the wind in waves straight to Akamaru's nose.
Very quickly, he helped Inuzuka Kiba locate this mission scroll.
"Mm, you really did help them."
Xuanming opened his eyes, a gentle smile on his face as he quietly watched the innocent Yuta before him.
Hearing the affirmation, Yuta grinned even wider.
His eyes narrowed into crescents: "Hehe, friends should always help each other!"
"Then I'll go out now and look for Shikamaru, Sakura, and the others—help them finish their tasks too!"
Hearing this, Xuanming couldn't help but laugh.
He reached out and gently pressed down on the head of Yuta—who was just about to turn back into cloud-mist.
Xuanming's voice remained gentle, yet carried a hint of guidance: "Yuta, think carefully—why did Iruka organize this exercise for Naruto and the others?"
Yuta blinked in confusion, tilted his head, and thought for a moment.
"To… to play?"
Yuta answered uncertainly.
"It's to teach them how to become real ninja."
Xuanming patiently explained: "In real missions, you won't always be there to guide them in the right direction."
"Every difficulty they encounter now, every moment of thinking, is nourishment for their growth."
"This exercise is to test all their abilities."
"If you directly deliver the scroll locations to them, it's like giving them the answers in advance during an exam."
"Would skipping this entire process of progress truly be helping them?"
Xuanming's voice was soft, yet it slowly froze the excitement on Yuta's face.
"Though your intentions are good, doing this means Naruto and the others lose the chance to truly solve problems themselves."
"The meaning of the exercise would disappear."
He continued explaining to Yuta: "If you keep helping like this, the exercise really will become nothing more than child's play."
Yuta blinked half-understandingly. The excitement had faded from his face, replaced by a newborn trace of realization.
"I… I think I did something wrong yo." He lowered his head, his consciousness fluctuating much more quietly.
"It's not wrong—just good intentions leading to bad results."
Xuanming didn't let Yuta stay depressed: "So from now on, let's quietly be spectators, okay?"
"Trust your friends—they will all become excellent ninja in Konoha's future."
"Mm!"
Yuta nodded vigorously. The motion was so big that wisps of cloud-mist shook off his body.
He immediately perked back up.
"Then I'll just watch their exercise from the side—no more interfering!"
This child Yuta had a pure heart, but he wasn't stupid. With just a little guidance, he quickly understood the reasoning.
Only then did Xuanming close his eyes again in peace.
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