Chapter 125 (Patreon)

Yujiro picked up his black blade and leisurely left home.

As he walked through the streets of Konoha, he spread his senses across the village. Naruto and Sasuke’s chakra signatures were pinpointed almost instantly.

They were both inside the Hokage Building.

Yujiro made his way to the second floor, where he found Minato assigning missions. Yamato stood behind the Hokage’s desk.

Yamato was now the captain of an ANBU squad and spent most of his days at Minato’s side.

Yujiro greeted him with a smile before walking over to Kakashi.

“Yujiro-nii!”

Naruto and Sasuke immediately brightened upon seeing him.

Sakura stood beside them, gazing at Yujiro with unmistakable admiration and affection. Just seeing him was enough to fill her heart with joy.

“Minato-sensei, do you have a mission for them?” Yujiro asked with a smile.

Minato rose from his chair and glanced at the scroll in his hand.

“I have a C-rank mission here. It involves escorting someone to the Land of Waves.”

He looked toward Naruto and the others.

“I think it’s time we let Team Seven attempt something more challenging.”

“A C-rank mission?!”

Naruto rushed over to Minato and confidently thumped his chest.

“Dad, leave it to me! I’ll complete it without any trouble!”

“Naruto, you’re the reason I haven’t assigned your team a C-rank mission until now,” Minato said helplessly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What?! Fine, then! I’ll go home and tell Mom that you were bullying me!”

The corners of Minato’s mouth twitched when he imagined Kushina’s explosive temper.

“Let’s not be hasty. We can still discuss this properly…”

“A C-rank escort mission?”

Yujiro walked over and took the mission scroll from Minato.

The Land of Waves…

Dazuna’s escort mission.

A trace of surprise appeared in Yujiro’s eyes.

So this mission still existed in this timeline?

Would Zabuza appear again? Was their encounter somehow inevitable?

As for Haku, Zabuza would have to manage without him this time.

Several years ago, Yujiro had brought Haku back from the Yuki clan in the Land of Water. Haku had since become an excellent medical-nin and one of Tsunade’s disciples.

He now lived with Shizune and worked at Konoha Hospital.

Thinking about it, Yujiro realized that it had been quite some time since he had last visited Haku. He would have to stop by when he had the chance.

“Minato-sensei, we’ll accept this mission,” Yujiro said with a smile. “I’ll accompany Naruto and the others as well.”

“You’re going with them?”

Minato was slightly surprised, but he quickly nodded.

“That works for me.”

“Are you really the legendary Yujiro-sama?”

At that moment, a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat approached Yujiro, his face filled with excitement.

Dazuna.

Yujiro smiled faintly.

So it really was him.

“I-I can’t believe I’m actually seeing you in person…”

Dazuna was already overwhelmed by the sight of Yujiro. When he realized that one of Konoha’s most renowned shinobi would personally escort him, he became so excited that he could barely speak.

“The escort mission will begin tomorrow morning at eight,” Yujiro told him.

He then turned toward Naruto and Sasuke, intending to call only the two of them.

However, the moment he noticed Sakura staring at him with tears gathering in her eyes, he could only relent.

“You three, come with me.”

Unlike the Sakura Yujiro remembered from the original story, this Sakura did not possess the same explosive temper.

In the original course of events, Sakura had often snapped at Naruto because she was infatuated with Sasuke.

This time, however, the person she admired was Yujiro.

When Sakura was still very young and had only just entered the Ninja Academy, she had secretly made a promise to herself.

When she grew up, she would marry Yujiro.

Because of that innocent dream, Sakura had worked hard from childhood to become a gentle and considerate girl.

Her change in personality had also allowed her to become close friends with Ino and Tenten.

Without realizing it, Yujiro had changed the lives of many people.

Fortunately, most of those changes appeared to be for the better.

That was enough for him.

At Training Ground Seven, Yujiro stood beneath a large tree and faced Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be undertaking your first real mission.”

His expression gradually became serious.

“You must understand that shinobi losing their lives during missions is nothing unusual.”

The three Genin immediately focused on him.

“To prevent any of you from dying during this mission, I’ll be putting you through special training for the rest of today.”

“Special training? All right!”

Naruto immediately clapped his hands in excitement.

Even Sakura’s eyes lit up with anticipation.

“You think that sounds exciting?”

Yujiro’s smile turned cold.

“One careless mistake during this training could cost you your life.”

His voice became utterly indifferent as a trace of killing intent pressed down upon them.

The three Genin instantly stiffened.

Of course, Yujiro had no intention of carelessly gambling with their lives.

His true objective was to test the dormant powers of Indra and Asura.

From what he understood, those powers could be forced to emerge when Sasuke and Naruto were pushed to the brink of death.

However, Yujiro could not guarantee that they would awaken this early. In the original course of events, the powers of Indra and Asura had not fully surfaced until much later.

Yujiro would never entrust their lives to an uncertain assumption.

Fortunately, if any abnormal energy appeared within Naruto or Sasuke, Yujiro’s senses would detect it immediately. He would be able to intervene before either of them suffered a truly fatal injury.

He needed to test them now.

This special training would allow him to push Naruto and Sasuke as close to the boundary between life and death as he safely could.

“I could really die…” Sakura murmured.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura swallowed in unison. Despite their fear, determination remained in their eyes.

Naruto wanted to catch up to Yujiro-nii.

Sasuke wanted to catch up to both Itachi-nii-san and Yujiro-nii-san.

As for Sakura, her reason was much simpler.

She was doing it for love.

All three nodded at the same time.

“Very good.”

Yujiro calmly looked over them.

“I’ll give you ten minutes to hide. If you can keep me from tracking you down, it will prove that you possess the skills needed to survive a dangerous mission.”

He held up one finger.

“This exercise will continue until midnight. If you can endure without surrendering before then, you’ll pass my special training.”

Yujiro smiled faintly.

“Your ten minutes begin now.”

The instant those words left his mouth, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke fled in three different directions.

Yujiro remained beneath the tree, leaning against its trunk with his black blade held loosely at his side.

Their decision to separate suited him perfectly.

It would give him the opportunity to judge each of their abilities individually.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

Yujiro opened his eyes, lifted his black blade, and strode off in one of the three directions.