With the Chūnin Exams over, Konohagakure returned to its usual peace and quiet. In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed.
It was now August, during summer vacation, and Makoto's dōjō was noticeably quieter than before.
After more than eight years of development, Makoto's training philosophy had spread widely throughout Konoha. Compared to the past, the Ninja Academy's curriculum had undergone major changes.
Children no longer needed to come to the dōjō for their foundational education. After all, he couldn't spend the rest of his life running a kindergarten.
These days, aside from Makoto's family and friends, only children recommended by old acquaintances or particularly promising students from the Ninja Academy came here for advanced training.
He had already transformed Konoha's training system and put it on the right track. From here on, the village itself would naturally continue refining and improving it.
There was no way he could spend his entire life babysitting children.
An individual's strength had limits. One should never underestimate the motivation a shinobi village could unleash when striving to become stronger.
Thanks to the giant tree in the courtyard constantly converting energy day and night, the environment throughout Konoha's barrier had become virtually indistinguishable from that inside the dōjō.
Even people without the aptitude to train in natural energy would undergo subtle, passive improvements to their bodies simply by living in such an environment year-round.
Konoha was gradually transforming into a secondary White Natural Energy training sanctuary.
However, the giant tree's influence extended no farther than that.
Once those secondary White Natural Energy particles drifted beyond Konoha's barrier, they were quickly assimilated back into primordial natural energy that ordinary people could not effectively utilize.
At present, the only way to change that would be for Makoto to expend his own life force and travel across the shinobi world planting special trees with Wood Release.
But that was never going to happen.
He wasn't that noble. He had no intention of sacrificing his own lifespan just to reshape the entire shinobi world into a better training environment.
...
Morning.
Today, only Team Seven remained at the dōjō.
As their jōnin instructor, Higashino Makoto naturally spent time with them whenever they weren't on missions.
Normally, aside from Tenten, his chief disciple, many of the first generation of students who had trained here also visited frequently. However, they were all active shinobi now and usually had missions to complete.
At that moment, Naruto and Sasuke were sparring in the plaza using pure taijutsu.
Nearby, Sakura was practicing medical ninjutsu on injured animals while simultaneously serving as the two boys' personal healer.
Whenever either of them got hurt during their fight, she would provide treatment immediately.
Before long, the match came to an end.
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Naruto grinned. "Have you already given up on your obsession with defeating me?"
"Hmph." Sasuke snorted. "It's pointless. We know each other too well. Continuing to fight won't improve my strength any faster. You feel the same way, don't you, Naruto?"
"You've got a point there." Naruto nodded. "But why do I get the feeling you're just making excuses for failing the exam?"
"Shut up, idiot. That was just an accident." Sasuke's eye twitched. "Try using that stupid jutsu again and see if I fall for it a second time."
Naruto: "..."
Of course he wouldn't.
The Sexy Technique only worked on the same person once. The second time, it lost the element of surprise.
Though there were exceptions.
Super perverts like Jiraiya, for example.
More importantly, Kushina had strictly forbidden him from using that tactic again. If he dared do it another time, she'd probably break his legs when he got home.
Ignoring Naruto, Sasuke looked toward Makoto, who was sitting atop the roof immersed in natural energy.
"Sensei, can't you get us some higher-level missions lately? I need real combat."
Makoto opened his eyes.
"Sorry, Sasuke. We can't take higher-level missions."
"Why not?"
"Because you're still genin."
"But we clearly passed the Chūnin Exams. Why haven't we been promoted yet?"
Makoto laughed.
"Who told you passing the Chūnin Exams automatically makes you a chūnin?"
"And besides, Konoha isn't short on manpower these days. There's no need to promote a bunch of brats like you to chūnin."
"Your job right now is to train hard and keep growing."
"Konoha no longer needs underage shinobi risking their lives on dangerous missions."
Perhaps this was the ideal state Senju Hashirama had always envisioned for the village.
All missions would be handled by adults.
Children would only take the occasional assignment to familiarize themselves with the world, while spending the rest of their time safely training, studying, and growing up within the village.
A childhood free from the shadow of war.
Sasuke looked unwilling to accept it.
"Damn it. If this keeps up, how am I supposed to catch up to my brother? How am I supposed to catch up to Shisui-niisan?"
Makoto shook his head.
"The times are different now, Sasuke. Shisui grew up during an era of war, just like I did. Even though Itachi only saw the battlefield once, he still had to deal with the complex political situation of both the village and the shinobi world after graduation."
"But this is an era of peace."
"So cherish it. Train hard. Don't be in such a hurry to fight. Building a solid foundation is the most important thing."
From the side, Sakura couldn't help teasing him.
"Sensei, I think you just don't want to leave the village. Isn't it because taking us on missions is too much trouble?"
"Nonsense," Makoto replied. "Sakura, how can you slander your sensei's good name out of thin air?"
Naruto immediately chimed in.
"So that's how it is, Sensei. Tell me, do you even have a good name left to slander?"
Makoto was just about to wri—explain himself when he suddenly sensed a strange spatial disturbance somewhere inside Konoha.
It wasn't caused by the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Nor was it Obito's Kamui.
This disturbance felt deeper, as though something had arrived from beyond the world itself.
After extending his active perception, Makoto quickly discovered something extremely interesting.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Uzumaki Naruto. Haruno Sakura."
"Present!" ×3
The three answered on instinct.
Then Sakura blinked in confusion.
"Huh? Sensei, why are you suddenly being so serious?"
"Didn't you want a mission? Very well."
"I'm assigning you an S-rank mission right now."
"A moment ago, I sensed intruders entering Konoha."
"There are two targets. One adult and one child. The younger one is around your age and fairly average in strength. The older one is very powerful."
"So? Do you have the confidence to capture them and bring them to me?"
Sakura stared at him.
"Sensei, you're messing with us, aren't you? You have to be. There's no way something this convenient could happen. We complain, and suddenly a mission falls from the sky?"
Makoto smiled.
"Sakura, do you really think I'd joke about something like this?"
"Oh, right. The Barrier Team has already detected the spatial anomaly and reported it to the ANBU."
"If you don't hurry, the ANBU will take over the mission."
"I think Itachi is on duty in the village today. Looks like he's about to earn himself some merit."
To prevent Obito from treating Konoha like his personal living room and casually coming and going whenever he pleased, the village-wide barrier had long since been modified by Makoto.
One of its functions was detecting fluctuations caused by spatial transportation.
The moment Sasuke heard Itachi's name, he was instantly fired up.
"Sensei, which direction are the enemies in?"
Naruto followed up immediately.
"Which way are they moving?"
"Northwest section of the village, approximately two kilometers from the Hokage Tower. They haven't left the area yet."
"I understand." Sasuke turned and headed out at once. "Leave it to us, Sensei."
Watching the three of them rush off to carry out the mission, Makoto's smile widened.
This was going to be fun.
...
Northwestern Konoha, above the forest surrounding one of the village training grounds.
A spatial distortion rippled through the air.
A sphere of light suddenly appeared in midair.
When the glow faded, two figures emerged—one large, one small.
Then gravity reminded them how the world worked.
The larger figure reacted quickly, adjusting his posture in midair and landing smoothly on both feet.
The smaller one let out a scream and introduced his face directly to this unfamiliar world.
Fortunately, they hadn't fallen from very high up.
And ninja were notoriously hard to kill by falling.
The kid climbed back to his feet, brushed the dirt off his face, and looked completely unharmed.
The two newcomers were none other than the adult Sasuke and Uzumaki Boruto who had traveled here through time.
One was the genuine weathered veteran whose life had been filled with hardship.
The other was none other than the pineapple-haired Boruto, who wasn't exactly his father's biggest fan.
Using the faces carved into the Hokage Monument, they quickly confirmed that this was indeed Konoha.
The number of faces on the mountain also gave them a rough idea of what era they had arrived in.
Soon afterward, they consulted Karasuki and learned the basic information they needed, including the rules and restrictions governing time travel.
Only then did they begin a more detailed investigation.
The two swiftly crossed the forest and entered Konoha's residential district before leaping onto a rooftop.
To adult Sasuke, this version of Konoha felt both familiar and strangely alien at the same time.
Fortunately, he knew the village's streets well enough to identify the era through certain buildings and landmarks.
After surveying the village panorama, Sasuke finally nodded.
"That's right."
"This should be around the time I graduated from the Academy."
"But why do some parts of Konoha look different from what I remember?"
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