This Naruto Is a Player!

"My boy, your youth is indeed passionate!" The youthful old man gave Naruto a thumbs-up, praising him.

The dazzling white teeth made Naruto's eyes ache, but he had nothing to say.

Because he had run a full 500 laps, he was now completely exhausted, lying on the ground, barely able to move a finger.

But why did the youthful old man still have so much energy?

Could a bowl cut and a green jumpsuit truly be the secret to eternal youth?

The thought of himself dressed like that made him shudder. Ugh.

Absolutely not.

However, looking at the still lively old man, Naruto almost doubted his own eyes.

He glanced at his panel.

[Muscle Burst: 90 (3/10) → 92 (8/10)]

[Stamina: 90 (1/10) → 92 (2/10)]

His attributes were as usual; even though he hadn't really trained his body much, his SSSSSS talent still allowed him to grow to 90.

He even gained more than two full points in attributes due to the recent burst of vitality.

These attributes weren't low at all; they even surpassed most Jonin.

The old man definitely had something going on.

"Yo? It's my dear friend, Kakashi! Let's have a youthful showdown!"

Following the old man's gaze, Naruto saw the big pervert—no, his respected Kakashi-sensei.

Kakashi ignored Guy, staring at Naruto with a complicated expression.

He had long heard of Naruto's title as the "Prank King," usually causing 'mischief' all over the village. Today, he had truly witnessed it.

But pranks were usually played on others, not on oneself.

Kakashi had lived for 25 years, and today he was truly enlightened.

"Kakashi-sensei, I've completed the mission," Naruto hinted.

Kakashi didn't play along at all. This kid impersonated him to issue such a mission; it was the perfect chance to subtly punish this prank king. "Did I? Was there such a mission?"

"Isn't this the mission you assigned, Kakashi-sensei?"

A panting Sasuke had arrived at some point and asked.

Sasuke's question momentarily chilled the atmosphere. Kakashi didn't answer but stared intently at Naruto, waiting for his explanation. Naruto's answer would determine his attitude.

The enthusiastic Guy-sensei also sensed the odd atmosphere.

Sakura had also arrived at some point. Seeing Kakashi-sensei and the stopped Naruto and Sasuke, she thought her assessment mission had failed.

She was almost in tears, feeling as if Sasuke had already left her.

"Kakashi-sensei, did my assessment mission fail?"

Kakashi was still staring at Naruto. Sasuke was also looking at Naruto, bewildered. Sakura, who had just arrived, had no other thoughts, only wanting to take one last look at Sasuke.

Seeing this, Naruto decided to activate his original Plan B.

"Alright, actually, this was all my..."

Before he could finish, Kakashi interrupted him.

"This was indeed the assessment mission I assigned."

Seeing Naruto willingly admit his mistake, Kakashi didn't intend to actually hold him accountable. What was the real assessment mission? It wasn't important. What was important was understanding teamwork. However, this answer surprised Naruto a bit.

"Are you serious, dude?"

"I was already on my second contingency plan, and you're pulling it back. Why didn't you say something earlier? Why didn't you say it sooner?"

Ignoring what Naruto might be thinking, Kakashi glanced at the other two. All three of them were fighting individually, without any sense of cooperation. He said in a cold tone, "But the result is: all three of you fail! You won't become ninjas!"

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura: ?

"What did you think this assessment was testing?"

Without giving the three a chance to speak, Kakashi answered his own question: "It was testing teamwork!

If the three of you ran together, supporting each other, even 500 laps, though difficult, could be completed."

Staring at the crying Sakura, Kakashi suddenly recalled what he had overheard them discussing yesterday afternoon.

His tone unchanged, he continued, "But all I saw was fighting on your own. Do you even know what being a three-person team means?"

"Teamwork, sharing glory and shame!" Sakura shouted.

This answerable question was her only light.

"Exactly, but what about you three?"

Kakashi remained silent for a long time after speaking, perhaps giving them time to think and comprehend.

Sakura quietly sobbed.

Sasuke frowned, but also cast bewildered glances at Kakashi and Naruto, seemingly noticing something off about them.

And Naruto kept staring at Kakashi, feeling like he still had something left unsaid.

Would Kakashi really send them back to the Academy?

No way.

No one would let him, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and the last Uchiha graduate and become ninjas.

Kakashi-sensei, hurry up and get to the point.

Kakashi indeed spoke up, "There is a second chance, though."

Sakura looked up in surprise. Sasuke grew even more confused.

Naruto had an "I knew it" expression.

This expression was noticed by Kakashi, who narrowed his visible eye, perhaps brewing some dark scheme.

"However, there's a prerequisite. Naruto!" Kakashi suddenly called him out. This prank king, unorganized and undisciplined, even dared to impersonate him and issue a fake mission. He planned to punish Naruto severely.

"Hm?"

"You really enjoy handstand running?"

Naruto, not suspecting a thing, said, "Sort of. I actually quite like it."

Noticing Kakashi's threatening gaze, he immediately changed his tune.

"Excellent. Since you enjoy handstand running, then today you will run another 500 laps—no, 5,000 laps alone. Once you're done, I'll give you a second chance tomorrow."

"Huh?"

Naruto realized that Kakashi-sensei was punishing him.

He had thought Kakashi-sensei, who was taking the blame for him, was pretty good.

But who would have thought, who would have thought?

You, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, are actually so devious!

And I thought you were cool yesterday!

"Time starts now!"

Kakashi pulled out a stopwatch from somewhere.

This expression, this action, Naruto found eerily familiar.

As if he had seen it somewhere before.

Before he could think too much, Kakashi had already begun the cold countdown.

"3... 2... 1. Go!"

"Damn it!"

Naruto yelled, immediately starting his handstand crawl.

Just consider it a punishment, giving those two a chance. 5,000 laps, that's all. It's nothing.

Give me some boosts!

Before he had crawled much further, a voice came from behind.

"Don't slack off, I'll be watching you the whole time."

This specific reminder finally helped Naruto solve the mystery.

That hateful Kakashi! He was using Naruto's own pranks against him now.

Kakashi had come in second in the 'Imitating Kakashi' game!

Looking at Naruto, who was handstand-running away, Sakura's face was full of sympathy.

5,000 laps, he'd probably be running until tomorrow.

"You two can go back now," Kakashi said.

After speaking, he whooshed away, seemingly to monitor Naruto.

"Hmph."

Sasuke let out a cold snort. He mostly understood what was going on.

But, for some reason, he also remembered 'Kakashi's' gaze.

Could such an intimidating gaze actually belong to Naruto?

He had a premonition during the earlier handstand run.

Now, he clearly perceived it: was the gap really that huge?

Sasuke subjectively didn't want to believe it, but the facts left him no choice.

"Sasuke-kun, let's go eat," Sakura said, her eyes sparkling as she walked up.

Although she didn't fully understand what had happened today, at least they had averted disaster, and she still had a chance to be with Sasuke.

And now, without Naruto being a third wheel, it was entirely their time alone.

"I don't have time."

Then, Sakura watched as Sasuke astonishingly started doing handstands again and ran forward, attempting to catch up with Naruto.

At this moment, Sasuke's face was expressionless.

He, Sasuke, was doing this only because he didn't want to lose to Naruto, not because Naruto was running 5,000 handstand laps to give him a chance, nor because of the teamwork Kakashi-sensei had just mentioned, and certainly not because of the "sharing glory and shame" they discussed yesterday.

Yes, that's right.

"Sasuke, Sasuke!" Sakura ran, chasing after Sasuke.

A little later.

Naruto, who had completed a lap and was returning, found the two ahead of him rather strange.

"What are you two doing?"

His answer was Sasuke's cold snort.

"Oh, I get it. That's right, we're a team! We must share glory and shame!"

Seeing Sasuke not refute, Sakura seemed to have come to a realization, and Naruto proposed again.

"How about we come up with a resonant name for our team?"

Sasuke was too exhausted to answer him.

Only the still relatively relaxed Naruto monopolized the microphone.

"It's better to name our team early, so people don't just give us some random nickname. 'The Sannin'? Listen, that name has no uniqueness or aesthetic value."

"If you ask me, we should call ourselves the 'Hokage Legends'! Hey, Kakashi-sensei, why are you waiting for us here?"

Kakashi's eye curved into a crescent, and he smiled, "Congratulations, all of you pass!"