After a night's rest, the spring morning carried a slight chill, but the moist air felt incredibly refreshing.
Uchiha Clan Compound, Training Grounds.
Sasuke rose early as usual for his physical training. After enjoying a highly nutritious breakfast, he gazed skyward.
'It's almost time to gather.'
The thought had barely crossed his mind when Sasuke vanished from his spot in a blur.
A few minutes later, at the designated meeting point, Sasuke found Naruto and Sakura already there, seemingly having arrived earlier. To his surprise, Kakashi arrived shortly after he did.
"Now that everyone's here, I'll announce today's mission assignments."
Kakashi cleared his throat and rubbed his bleary eyes, looking as though he'd stayed up late the night before.
"This mission is as follows—"
"Ehhh!?" Naruto exclaimed as soon as Kakashi finished. "Are we catching cats again?"
"Teacher Kakashi, we just completed a B-rank mission! That proves our team is super capable, right? Can't we take on more high-level missions now?"
"This time is a bit different," Kakashi said calmly, his arms crossed. "We're going to a neighboring village to catch this cat."
"So it's still just catching a cat?" Naruto grumbled.
"Hmm," Kakashi replied, stroking his chin. "This isn't just any ordinary cat. We're dealing with the ninja cat Nekomata, rumored to be a formidable presence even among ninja cats."
Naruto waved his arms wildly. "I don't care if it's a Nekomata or a Mataneko! D-rank missions like this should be left to someone else!"
As he spoke, Naruto turned to Sasuke, who had remained silent the entire time, and urged, "Right, Sasuke? Say something already!"
"Teacher Kakashi," Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto's outburst. "Who's the client for this mission?"
"Cat Granny, who lives in the Empty District," Kakashi replied directly.
"Alright." Sasuke nodded and turned to Naruto and Sakura. "I'm going on this mission. What about you guys?"
"Eh?" Naruto looked surprised but quickly recovered.
"Team Seven is a unit. Sasuke, you've already decided to go, so of course we're going too, right, Sakura?"
Sakura nodded eagerly. "Mm-hmm!"
Seeing their enthusiasm, Kakashi smiled faintly. "Then get ready. We'll depart at noon. You'll handle today's mission on your own; I won't be joining you."
Naruto shot him a scornful look and scoffed, "As if Teacher Kakashi has ever shown up for a D-rank mission before!"
"Heh heh," Kakashi chuckled dryly, offering a weak defense. "I'm not slacking off this time. I have important matters to attend to today—planning your future missions and training."
Naruto pounced on the loophole in Kakashi's words, pointing at him and shouting to Sakura and Sasuke, "See? I told you Teacher Kakashi's been slacking off all this time! He just admitted it!"
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
"The Empty District isn't far from Konoha. At your pace, you should reach it in less than half a day. If you complete the mission quickly, you might even be back by nightfall."
"Now, dismissed!"
The moment the words left his lips, Kakashi dissolved into a puff of white smoke and vanished.
Two hours later, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura arrived at the entrance of the ruined city known as the Empty District.
Though Kakashi had said they would leave at noon, the trio had hurried here as soon as he left. It was still some time before noon.
"Sasuke, you seem really familiar with this place. What exactly is this place anyway?" Naruto asked, looking around with curiosity as soon as they entered the Empty District. Sakura also turned to Sasuke with a curious expression.
Sasuke replied nonchalantly, "The owner here is an acquaintance of the Uchiha Clan, and also an elder of mine."
"An acquaintance and an elder?" Naruto and Sakura nodded, tacitly agreeing not to press further.
'Collect Nekomata paw prints?'
Sasuke's gaze remained as calm as still water. He vaguely recalled this D-rank mission, likely from a plot arc before the Chunin Exams. But the specifics remained hazy.
In his previous life, he had consumed the manga, anime, films, and novel spin-offs.
However, with 720 anime episodes being overwhelmingly long, he had selectively skipped daily life filler episodes, focusing instead on the main storyline and particularly compelling side arcs.
Through the original Sasuke's memories, he recalled that Uchiha Itachi used to bring him to this place for training when they were children. The training method was... catching cats!
They would imprint the paw prints of the captured cats onto the pages of a book, which they had even compiled into a volume titled The Complete Paw Print Collection.
However, even until the very end, Sasuke had failed to collect the paw prints of two particular cat species.
'Why didn't Cat Granny tell me about this beforehand?'
'Could this matter involve Uchiha Itachi? Is that why Cat Granny kept it from me?'
Lost in thought, Sasuke suddenly stopped walking.
Sakura and Naruto exchanged puzzled glances, but seeing Sasuke's grave expression, they refrained from asking questions and simultaneously tensed, ready for battle.
After a moment, Sasuke said in a low voice, "Be careful."
Sakura asked softly, "Is it an enemy, Sasuke?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Not necessarily, but the one ahead is very strong!"
Sasuke wasn't a sensory ninja by nature, but in his previous life, he had possessed a latent talent for sensing.
Over four years of meditation training in this world, combined with his immense spiritual energy, he had developed capabilities similar to a sensory ninja within a certain range, in addition to his already exceptional visual perception.
Two kilometers away, Sasuke sensed a ninja with immense Chakra, far surpassing anything he had ever felt, even Naruto's.
'Of course, this only applies to Naruto before he mastered the Nine-Tailed Fox's power.'
'That person must be a Tailed Beast Jinchūriki!'
Sasuke's gaze sharpened, a name already forming in his mind.
As the trio slowly rounded a corner, they saw a slender, graceful young woman with long, straight, light brown hair braided down to her waist emerging from an underground passage.
'Yugito Nii!'
Sasuke mentally confirmed his suspicion. The Paw Encyclopedia was still missing two paw prints: Nekomata's and Matatabi's.
Team Seven's mission was to collect Nekomata's paw print, and Yugito Nii's presence here clearly indicated her purpose as well.
Yet Sasuke remained puzzled. He couldn't fathom how Cat Granny had enough influence to summon Yugito Nii from the distant Land of Lightning to Konoha, deep in the heart of the Land of Fire.
After all, Yugito Nii was the Two-Tailed Jinchūriki, essentially a national nuclear weapon.
___
This Sasuke Is Strange 165 advanced chapters: (5 ch updates everyday)
Patreon.com/rashta
Be a member so you can also read:
1. 345 adv ch of Talent System In Naruto (Completed)
2. 487 adv ch of This Danzo Is Weird
3. 270 adv ch of Uchiha Madara's Cousin
4. 163 adv ch of WDQK: Divorcing Ling Qingzhu (Completed)
5. 560 adv ch of Qian Renxue's Younger Brother
6. 274 adv ch of I'm Huo Yuhao's System
7. Adv chapters of Naruto: Galgame System (Upcoming)