After getting Kakashi's promise, Sasuke didn't say anything more.
A week later, the bridge in the Land of Waves was finally completed.
Originally, Tazuna wanted to name it the Yoruha Bridge.
Yoruha refused.
In the end, Tazuna named it The Bridge of Hope.
Yoruha had no interest in making his name famous right now.
It wasn't going to benefit him, so he saw no reason to agree.
After more than a month in the Land of Waves, they finally completed their mission.
What had started as a simple C-rank job had escalated into a B-rank mission.
Of course, for Yoruha, this mission had been incredibly profitable.
In just over a month, his strength had gone from genin…
to Kage level.
Right now, Yoruha was already stronger than Kakashi.
That was Kakashi's judgment.
Yoruha himself believed his strength was roughly on par with a jōnin.
In his opinion, his combat experience was still far from that level.
He was only "barely" at jōnin-tier because of his huge chakra reserves and his mastery of many practical jutsu.
Even he found it hard to believe a "barely jōnin-level" ninja could kill an elite jōnin in a short time—especially one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and then unleash a several-hundred-meter-scale jutsu to suppress a Version 2 cloak Naruto.
Yoruha had always been conservative in how he evaluated himself.
Maybe it was because he knew how things ended for Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in the Fourth Great Ninja War—
because of that, he habitually measured his own strength with extreme caution.
Kaguya had left too deep an impression on him.
She made him very careful.
Once the group returned to Konoha, they went straight to the Hokage's Office to report and submit the mission.
Since Yoruha had taken part, he also had to show up in person.
Hokage's Office
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, quietly watching the five people lined up before him.
His gaze lingered especially on Yoruha.
This was technically their first proper meeting.
Before this, Hiruzen hadn't really paid attention to him.
Even after hearing about Yoruha later, he had never had the opportunity to meet him face-to-face.
After Kakashi briefly explained what had happened in the Land of Waves, the Third nodded.
"This mission qualifies as a B-rank. Well done."
Only missions A-rank and above required direct commission by a nation.
So even though this mission had involved an elite jōnin-level enemy, it could only be evaluated as B-rank.
After all, the one who posted it was Tazuna—
a bridge builder acting in his own name, not on behalf of a country.
After chatting a bit more, the Third said,
"Kakashi, Yoruha, you two stay. The rest of you may go and rest."
Kakashi frowned ever so slightly.
Yoruha didn't react much.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all assumed the Third was going to praise Kakashi and Yoruha.
After all, during this mission, those two had performed the most outstandingly—especially Yoruha.
That matched the image of the Third Hokage they had always had in their hearts.
Even Sasuke—whose personality had turned cold and prideful after the Uchiha massacre—still held a favorable impression of the Third.
Hiruzen had truly looked after him, whether out of personal regard or because of Itachi's request.
In any case, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to resent him.
As for Naruto and Sakura, it was even more impossible for them to suspect anything from the Hokage.
So as they left, Naruto kept glancing back at Yoruha with envy, thinking,
"I'm definitely going to surpass Yoruha one day."
He liked to play pranks on the Third, sure.
But in his heart, he really did treat the old man like a grandfather.
So of course, he dearly wanted praise from him.
Once Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were gone, only three people remained in the office:
The Third, Yoruha, and Kakashi.
After a long silence, Hiruzen finally turned to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, tell me the details of this mission."
Kakashi sighed inwardly.
He'd only given a rough overview earlier precisely because he didn't want the Third thinking too deeply about it.
But with Naruto and the others present, there were many things he couldn't fabricate, so his report had been painfully vague.
That was exactly the problem.
The Third was an old fox.
He could easily tell Kakashi was glossing over something.
Yoruha also sensed that something was off.
Fortunately, he knew a fair bit about the Third's character, and he wasn't particularly worried anything bad would happen.
It just meant he couldn't keep what he'd done in the Land of Waves a secret anymore.
Not that he'd planned to.
He was a Konoha shinobi, after all.
With no scheming clan behind him constantly stirring up trouble, the Third had no reason to harbor ill intent toward him.
Still, Yoruha really didn't want the Third knowing just how strong he'd become.
The stronger he looked, the heavier the expectations—
and the heavier the burdens.
For all he knew, the Third might start treating him like a workhorse.
And right now, he was still officially just a genin.
If he got sent on high-level missions, the pay wouldn't match the risk.
Kakashi thought it over.
Of course he didn't want to reveal too much about Yoruha either.
But the mission in the Land of Waves hadn't involved just the two of them—
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had all been there.
If Kakashi's account differed too much from what they might say later, it wouldn't do Yoruha any favors.
He glanced at Yoruha, then, seeing no hint to hold anything back, had no choice but to give a full, detailed description of what had happened.
The Third had started off calm.
But the more he heard, the more shocked he became.
Yoruha had killed an elite jōnin—
and not just any elite jōnin, but Kuromaru Raiya, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
He'd also suppressed a rampaging Naruto.
Hiruzen knew the Seven Ninja Swordsmen very well.
They were one of Kirigakure's most formidable fighting forces.
They had been famous during the Third Great Ninja War—
even if they'd been turned into the "Three Swordsmen" by Might Dai's heroics.
Hiruzen knew their strength clearly.
Every single one of them was elite jōnin level.
With their blades, some could even reach Kage-class combat power.
Dai had only managed to defeat four of them by burning his life away with the Eight Gates.
To take them head-on, using normal methods, even Kakashi couldn't claim he'd definitely win.
What did that say?
That right now, Yoruha's strength was already on the level of an elite jōnin.
And all this had happened in just over a month.
When Kakashi finished his report, the Third fell quiet for a long moment, then turned to Yoruha.
"Yoruha, it seems the rank of genin no longer suits you."
Yoruha blinked, confused.
What did that mean?
Was the Third… about to promote him?
But he'd only done a handful of missions—just some D-ranks and this one C-turned-B-rank.
Seeing the look on his face, Hiruzen smiled.
"With your strength and capabilities, it's time to promote you to chūnin."
At his side, Kakashi's expression brightened.
Not just because Yoruha was being promoted—
but because, once he became a chūnin, Kakashi could officially take him on higher-level missions.
A chūnin was no longer considered a "trainee" ninja.
They were full-fledged shinobi.
They didn't have to stay under their original jonin instructor and could be called upon individually.
And with Kakashi's status, requesting Yoruha for missions wouldn't look strange at all.
If Yoruha remained a genin, things were awkward.
Kakashi wasn't his official team leader; constantly pulling him out on missions would look weird internally, and might not sit well with Yoruha's own jonin instructor, Honmoto Tōichi.
But as a chūnin?
It would be perfectly reasonable.
Kakashi could request Yoruha anytime.
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