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Even if you gave Sasuke ten guts, he wouldn't dare.
What the hell kind of "extra teammate to help out" was this?
This was straight-up adding an empress dowager!
An extra grand ancestor!!!
"…Okay."
Hinata didn't dare ask any more questions. She obediently stood up from her seat, walked to the door, and left with Kaze and Sasuke.
On the surface, Sasuke looked perfectly calm the whole way, but inside he was panicking hard.
After picking up Hinata, Kaze headed straight for Orochimaru's research lab and collected Karin.
Now the whole squad was assembled.
Leading the three of them, he walked all the way to the small river on the edge of the village before finally stopping. He turned around and looked at his three new students.
Sasuke's expression was neutral; Hinata was visibly a little nervous.
No matter how special her status was, facing her new jonin sensei still made her heart race.
Fortunately, she managed to keep herself steady.
Karin, on the other hand, had been stealing glances at Sasuke from the moment she joined them. It was so obvious that even a blind man could tell—she was totally drooling over Sasuke.
"Cough cough!!!"
'Kids these days!'
Kaze cleared his throat loudly, pulling everyone's attention back to him.
"Because the Elder was the one who promoted me to lead you all, the usual "test" for new genin isn't necessary. I'll just say a couple of things."
He first looked at Karin. "Karin, if you keep staring at my junior like he's a piece of meat, don't blame me for being harsh. If you affect the team's harmony, I will personally ask the Elder to arrange a marriage for Sasuke."
"Eh?!"
Karin, who had still been sneakily peeking at Sasuke, froze. The next second her whole face exploded into panic, her mouth hanging open so wide it nearly hit the ground.
Arrange a marriage for Sasuke… meaning there'd be no chance for her?!
Hiss——
'That absolutely could not happen! No way, no how!'
Karin instantly forced herself to calm down, putting on the most serious, well-behaved expression she could manage, trying desperately to look like a good, obedient girl.
"Sasuke, all I ask is that you follow orders. Nothing else. If you can't even do that…"
Kaze glanced at him once and then looked away. There was no need to finish the sentence—he trusted Sasuke already knew the consequences.
Not only would he get beaten black and blue by his big brother here, he'd go home and get another round from the clan.
"Alright, dismissed. Assemble at the village gate tomorrow morning at eight."
Having to talk this much all at once was honestly torture for Kaze.
If he had the choice, he would rather stay captain of the Police Force than come babysit three kids.
This was nothing but a painful chore, but he had no right to refuse.
Kazuki had directly appointed him; he didn't even dare voice an objection.
He could only grit his teeth and accept.
'What about my test?'
Hinata blinked in confusion and raised a hand to point at herself.
Before she could speak up, Kaze had already vanished in a puff of smoke.
If he knew what Hinata was thinking, he would definitely say: Give me a break—I don't want to die.
Unless Hinata committed some unforgivable mistake, in the entire Uchiha clan, besides Kazuki himself, literally no one would dare punish her.
Not even Fugaku would dare.
Sasuke's face darkened a bit. Luckily Hinata had an easy-going personality; otherwise the team would have major problems.
Sighing inwardly, Sasuke adjusted his mood and took the initiative:
"Since we're officially a team now, we'll have to support and rely on each other from here on. Let me introduce myself first. I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I specialize in taijutsu and kenjutsu. In the team, I can serve as the main attacker."
"I'm Karin! I'm really good at sensing chakra. If anything happens, you can count on me!"
Karin immediately puffed out her chest with a huge smile, then—without missing a beat—sidled right up next to Sasuke, practically hanging off his arm like they'd known each other forever.
"I'm Hyūga Hinata. I specialize in taijutsu, and I can also provide reconnaissance with my Byakugan." Hinata's voice was soft and gentle.
'…Maybe this won't be so bad after all.' Once he calmed down, Sasuke started thinking it through.
In a three-person team: he would be the main damage dealer, Hinata the sub-damage dealer plus scout, and Karin the support/healer.
That was practically a dream lineup.
They had crowd control, coordination, reconnaissance, and a dedicated healer.
In comparison, the original canon Team 7—Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura—was completely illogical, especially right after graduation. It was just one decent attacker dragging along an idiot and a bigger idiot.
Naruto was the idiot, Sakura the bigger idiot.
Sure, Naruto was a goofy drag for a long time, but at least he created chemical reactions within the team.
He wasn't strong, but he was qualified to be the team's annoying glue.
Sakura, on the other hand… couldn't do anything right.
That's why, after Naruto went from short story to long-running series, countless fans ended up hating Sakura's guts every time she appeared.
Only after she forcibly became Tsunade's disciple did her situation improve.
Compared to that, even though Karin's chakra reserves weren't top-tier, at least she had a brain.
And Karin's sensing ability was genuinely useful in actual combat—at least way better than early-series Sakura.
In just a few years she could already reach jonin-level sensing strength; that wasn't just for show.
Right now, Karin's mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to figure out how to make Sasuke notice her good points as fast as possible.
After Hinata finished her introduction, she fell silent again. She was naturally shy; expecting her to take the lead and liven up the atmosphere was impossible.
Karin, meanwhile, had already glued herself to Sasuke and was chattering away happily.
"…"
'There's still a problem here.'
Sasuke felt a headache coming on and reluctantly suggested:
"How about we go grab a meal together first and get to know each other better?"
Hinata quietly agreed to follow Sasuke's lead, and Karin naturally had zero objections.
And so, the new three-man squad had their very first team dinner.
While the team was eating, Jiraiya finally returned to Konoha with Naruto in tow.
Given Naruto's circumstances, he technically didn't need to be placed in a standard three-man cell—just like Sasuke.
Yet the village still stuffed both of them into teams anyway.
Whether it was truly for growth or for the sake of those so-called "bonds"… well, opinions differ.
"Tsunade…"
"Get lost! I'm busy—go bother Kazuki. He's the one who made all these arrangements!"
Jiraiya had just been leaning happily on the windowsill, about to greet her, when Tsunade roared at him. He shrank back and scurried away like a scolded dog.
"Weird… where's all this anger coming from in the middle of winter?"
Scratching his head in confusion, Jiraiya decided not to poke the bear while Tsunade was clearly in a foul mood.
Instead, he climbed through the corridor window into the Hokage office building and headed straight for Kazuki's office.
As for Naruto—he had already ditched Jiraiya and bolted toward the Ninja Academy, dying to fly straight into the arms of his beloved Sakura.