Chapter 21: Pakkun Appears
Sasuke seemed determined to make Naruto take the spar seriously. He was far more generous than Kakashi and directly treated the two of them to barbecue!
The meal lasted from 6 PM to 8 PM — a full two hours — and cost six thousand ryo.
That was more than Naruto's entire savings.
Yet Sasuke didn't even blink when paying the bill.
Such wealthy behavior genuinely made Naruto a little envious.
After eating their fill, the three returned to the training ground.
Sakura acted as referee while Naruto and Sasuke faced off.
"You go first."
After accepting Sasuke's treat, Naruto decided to go easy on him and play along for a while.
Sasuke also knew the gap in their strength, so he didn't hold back. He charged forward first.
He moved quickly, throwing two kunai as a probe.
The two kunai traced graceful arcs as they flew toward Naruto.
But Naruto didn't dodge at all. He let the kunai pass straight through his body.
Both Sasuke and Sakura were startled.
Sakura even cried out in panic, "Naruto!"
"Huh? What?"
Naruto looked at Sakura in confusion, showing no sign of injury.
"You… you're okay?"
Both Sakura and Sasuke looked stunned and uncertain.
"Elementalization."
Naruto turned his hand into golden light and explained to them, "You can think of it as the Light Transformation Technique. In this state, I'm completely immune to physical attacks."
"Whew!"
Sakura and Sasuke both breathed a sigh of relief, but soon they were amazed by Naruto's ability.
"That's such an amazing ninjutsu. If you're immune to physical attacks, doesn't that mean no one can hurt you?" Sakura said enviously.
Naruto just smiled and didn't answer.
Even with teammates, he wouldn't casually reveal his weaknesses.
Sasuke stared at Naruto, thought for a moment, then quickly closed the distance and formed hand seals.
If physical attacks didn't work, what about fire?
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A sizable fireball shot from Sasuke's mouth toward Naruto.
But Naruto still didn't dodge.
He took the full force of the flames head-on, then stood there completely unharmed.
"How can fire burn light?" Naruto looked at Sasuke with a teasing smile.
Physical attacks were useless. Fire Release was useless.
Sasuke suddenly felt powerless.
What was the point of fighting anymore?
He dropped his stance, turned around silently, and left.
Until he found a way to counter Naruto, he wouldn't challenge him again.
Sakura wanted to chase after him, but Sasuke rejected her once more.
Naruto shook his head at the lovesick Sakura and also turned to leave.
Being a simp never ends well.
...
In the following days, Team 7 continued carrying out missions together.
They did all kinds of trivial D-rank tasks — weeding, picking up trash, finding lost people, harvesting corn, delivering love letters… until today's mission: helping the Fire Daimyo's wife, Shizumi, find her missing cat, Tora.
Naruto remembered that after this mission, the bridge builder Tazuna from the Land of Waves would come to Konoha to request a mission.
The current Naruto wouldn't throw a tantrum at Hiruzen to demand better missions, so he didn't know whether Team 7 would still receive that particular C-rank mission.
"Here, one for each of you."
Kakashi handed out communication earpieces to the three of them. "This mission might be a bit more difficult. We may need to search the entire village. With these, we can quickly share information."
Naruto put the earpiece in his left ear and listened to the others' voices, feeling a bit emotional about this world's technology.
They had televisions, radios, cameras, video recorders, and Orochimaru had even developed cloning technology… yet people still traveled by carriage and mostly relied on messengers or summoning beasts for communication.
If telephones became widespread, maybe Jiraiya wouldn't have to sacrifice himself later.
"Alright, each of you take one street. Let's go find the cat Tora!"
"Yes!!"
The three answered together and headed off in different directions.
Tora was a brown cat with a distinctive butterfly bow — easy to identify. However, finding one specific cat in all of Konoha was still not easy.
Naruto and the others searched all morning, combing through every street and comparing hundreds of cats, but they still couldn't find it.
At noon, while resting and eating bentos, Sakura couldn't help complaining, "Kakashi-sensei, why wasn't the cat the one blocking your path today?"
Kakashi: "..."
"Let's search the forest this afternoon. It looks like the cat isn't in the village," Kakashi changed the subject.
"Guess we have no choice~"
Sakura looked completely unmotivated.
"If only we could talk to animals. Maybe they've seen the cat," Naruto said casually, glancing at Kakashi.
Kakashi noticed Naruto's pointed look and understood he was hinting at him.
But… how did Naruto know he had a way to communicate with animals?
He couldn't shake the feeling that he had no secrets in front of Naruto.
"But how can humans talk to animals? Animals can't speak human language. And if an animal could talk, that would be terrifying, right?" Sakura thought Naruto was joking and teased him.
"Animals might not speak, but summoning beasts can," Naruto replied.
"Summoning beasts?"
Sakura and Sasuke's impression of summoning beasts was still limited to Kiba's Akamaru — a dog that couldn't talk.
"Ah, I really can't do anything with you guys. In that case, I'll find you some help."
Kakashi scratched his head, looking somewhat helpless.
During this period, he had never helped Team 7 with any missions.
Partly to give them more experience and train their ability to handle tasks themselves.
Partly because the missions were too simple and he was too lazy to act.
However, searching for a cat was indeed more troublesome.
If they couldn't finish today, it would delay Team 7's mission progress.
Kakashi had originally planned for them to complete one D-rank mission per day and start taking C-rank missions on the eleventh day.
To keep the plan on track, he decided to help as Naruto wished.
"Summoning Technique!!"
Poof!
A puff of smoke exploded and dispersed.
A strange-looking pug suddenly appeared.
"Summoning Technique?"
"A dog?"
Sasuke and Sakura focused on completely different things, but both looked at Pakkun with surprise.
Then, suddenly, Pakkun raised his paw toward Kakashi and said, "Yo, Kakashi. Long time no see!"
"The dog talked!!!!?"
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