Kakashi Hatake's wallet had just taken another hit—but clearly, people didn't always share the same kind of joy or pain.
Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto watched as Hinata Hyuga and the others prepared to leave, eyes full of envy.
Naruto was the first to speak.
"Hinata, Ino, Kurotsuchi… I heard you guys completed an S-rank mission? That's so cool. I'm seriously jealous."
An S-rank mission!
That was the absolute ceiling of all shinobi missions.
Especially in this time of peace, completing one was nearly impossible.
Any ninja who had ever completed an S-rank mission was a figure of prestige, admired by all.
Hinata and the others were from their same class—back at the Academy, their grades hadn't even been better—but now they'd already left the rest of them in the dust…
It was frustrating, to say the least.
Kurotsuchi gave a casual wave at Naruto's words.
"Eh, we just saved the shinobi world a little. Nothing major."
Haruno Sakura blinked in surprise. "Saved the shinobi world?!"
"What do you mean by that?"
Seeing Sakura's reaction, Yamanaka Ino flashed a smug grin.
"All S-rank missions are top-secret, you know. We're not allowed to talk about the details with outsiders."
"Anyway, you've probably only completed B-rank missions at best, Sakura. It's normal you don't get it."
"Oh, and by the way—the reward we got for this S-rank mission? A cool five million ryō."
Sakura looked at Ino's cocky expression and felt her inner demon stir.
They'd been rivals since they were kids, always butting heads over everything. Now Ino was showing off like this right in front of her? Sakura felt like dying.
Uchiha Sasuke didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes said it all—he wasn't taking this well either.
It wasn't even about the money. As the self-proclaimed heir of the Uchiha name, being outshone by his classmates was a hard pill to swallow.
Sensing the tension in the air, Hinata took the initiative to comfort them.
"Um… Actually, we were only able to complete the mission because of our teacher, Mirai-sensei. If it weren't for him, we…"
Her voice trailed off as her mind wandered back to Uchiha Mirai's lessons.
Then she corrected herself.
"Of course, we did put in a lot of effort too!"
"In Mirai-sensei's own words, we were the MVPs of this mission!"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura nearly coughed up blood on the spot.
At first, they'd thought Hinata was trying to be considerate, to make them feel better.
But she suddenly changed tone and started boasting?
That was shameless bragging, plain and simple!
Kakashi Hatake sighed inwardly.
So that's what happens when you spend too much time around a certain someone—these three even sounded like that guy now.
Naruto's gears were already turning.
"Hinata, do you think you could ask Mirai-san to meet with us?"
"We wanna try an S-rank mission too."
Sasuke's eyes lit up.
Exactly!
If they had the chance to take on an S-rank mission, they wouldn't lose to Hinata and the others. No way.
Seeing the hopeful expressions on their faces, Hinata hesitated, sneaking a glance at Kakashi.
"I don't know… Isn't that kinda inappropriate?"
Sasuke let out a snort. "What's wrong with it? We're just asking for a chance to take on an S-rank mission. I doubt Kakashi would mind."
Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Right? I mean, Kakashi-sensei's great and all, but he's not on Mirai-san's level. I bet he knows that too."
Kakashi stared at his students, expression unreadable.
Not only had he just suffered a major financial loss today, but now even his students were getting stolen away from him.
Why did it feel like he'd just been utterly humiliated?
Unable to handle the emotional damage, Kakashi silently vanished with a flicker, using the Body Flicker Technique.
A night like this… was best spent curled up under a blanket with Make-Out Paradise.
…
As Kakashi disappeared, Sakura turned to Ino.
"Ino… you're not, like, scared we'll outshine you or something? Is that why you don't want us to meet Mirai-sama?"
Ino snorted.
"Get over yourself. I'm not that petty."
"Fine, then. Meet us at the training ground where we used to spar. I'll get Mirai-sensei to come."
"You better! It's a promise!"
…
The next day.
It wasn't until around noon that Uchiha Mirai finally arrived at the training ground with Ino and the others in tow.
After hearing Ino's summary of events, Mirai's interest was piqued.
He was curious to see how far Naruto and Sasuke had come over the years.
The moment they arrived, they saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura sprawled on the ground, parched and exhausted.
"Took you long enough!"
Ino shrugged. "We never said what time exactly. We show up when we want."
"And for the record," she added, "Mirai Squad doesn't do early mornings."
Sasuke didn't bother arguing. He walked straight up to Mirai and said coldly,
"Ino probably told you—we want to take on an S-rank mission too."
Mirai raised an eyebrow, eyeing Sasuke.
"I get that you want to improve. But I don't like your tone."
A sudden, crushing pressure radiated from him, and Sasuke felt like he'd fallen into an icy abyss.
Only now did it hit him—this man wasn't Hatake Kakashi.
What the hell was he thinking just now?
Sasuke wanted to apologize, but under Mirai's gaze, he found he couldn't move a single muscle.
Not even his mouth.
Say something, dammit! Open your mouth!!
Cold sweat drenched his back as his pupils shrank.
He could feel it—if he didn't apologize soon, things were going to go very, very badly.
Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the pressure vanished. Sasuke let out a shaky breath and nearly collapsed on the spot.
Terrifying.
Just a look, and it nearly broke him.
Was this… the strongest shinobi in the world right now?
Naruto and Sakura exchanged confused glances.
Why was Sasuke sweating so much?
Finally, Sasuke spoke, voice low.
"Mirai-sama… I was out of line. Please forgive my disrespect."
Mirai didn't seem interested in dragging it out. He gave a slight nod.
"If you really want to take on an S-rank mission… then first, let me see whether you're up to the task."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+80 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo