Kakashi calmly took in the reactions of his three students. As the Jonin in charge, he had a responsibility to observe the state of each student.
After returning from the Land of Waves, Sasuke was even more silent than before, but the nature of his silence had changed from arrogant to thoughtfulness.
Naruto's change was even more obvious, it was as if he were a completely different person. However, having experienced the life-and-death battle against Zabuza and Haku, this change showed that he was truly growing.
As for Sakura, she had basically not changed at all, which couldn't be blamed on her. She had barely participated directly in the main battles of the Land of Waves mission, so naturally, she lacked the realization that comes from having walked the line between life and death.
Kakashi clapped his hands, drawing the attention of the three back to him.
"Now, dismissed."
As his voice faded, he used Body Flicker Technique and vanished from the spot.
After Kakashi vanished, Sasuke turned his head to look at Naruto. He clearly wanted to say something, his lips moving, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
Then he turned around and walked away alone along the main road of Konoha, not even saying goodbye.
Seeing Sasuke's retreating figure, the expression on Sakura's face instantly collapsed. She had originally wanted to take advantage of the holiday to ask Sasuke to go to that newly opened dessert shop, but he hadn't even given her a chance to say a word.
Sakura stood there, feeling somewhat dejected, and then subconsciously turned to look in Naruto's direction. She discovered that Naruto had left too.
He was walking in the opposite direction from Sasuke, walking further and further away.
"That's so rude, Naruto!" Sakura couldn't help but blurt out.
Naruto didn't even pause his steps, and it was unclear whether he truly hadn't heard or just couldn't be bothered to respond.
He continued walking, soon turning a street corner and disappearing.
Sakura stood on the spot and let out a huff. She stomped her feet twice, and then arranged her hair, put on a ladylike expression, and turned to walk in the direction of her own home.
...
Naruto walked forward along the route in his memory.
The proprietress of a dango shop was packing up her stall. She looked up, saw Naruto walking past, and habitually revealed a polite smile. Then, realizing it was Naruto, her smile stiffened, and she lowered her head to continue tidying up.
Naruto didn't pay attention to any of this, his focus was only on the road beneath his feet.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, he turned into an old apartment complex.
A three-story cramped apartment building appeared before him. Large patches of yellow paint on the walls were peeling, flapping in the evening breeze. Half of the hallway lights were out, and at the corner of the second floor, a few cardboard boxes were piled up.
Naruto stood under the apartment building and looked up, then leaped a few times to the second floor, walking along the corridor to the door at the very end.
He took the key out of his ninja tool pouch, inserted it into the keyhole, and the door let out a harsh, creaking sound.
The door swung wide open, revealing the inside which was pitch black.
Naruto reached out to find the switch on the wall and pressed it, illuminating the entire room. Then, he saw an apartment that could only be described as a disaster zone.
At the entryway, at least five or six pairs of worn socks were piled up. On the low table in the living room, seven or eight finished instant noodle cups were strewn about.
Empty milk cartons were piled into a small mountain, a few of which had toppled over and rolled onto the floor, leaving stains on the floorboards.
Dirty clothes were thrown everywhere. One was draped over a chair, a pile was heaped by the foot of the bed, and even the window handle had a pair of wrinkled shorts hanging from it.
The entire room was permeated with a complex odor of instant noodle broth, expired milk, unwashed socks, and dust all mixed together.
Naruto looked at the scene before him, his lips twitching uncontrollably.
Although he had long known from the original Naruto's memories that his living environment was not great, seeing it with his own eyes was completely different from the images in his memory.
This could no longer be described as just sloppy. It was clearly the inevitable result of an orphan with absolutely no self-care skills living alone for many years.
Naruto walked to the low table, picked up a cup noodle container and brought it close to his eyes to check the production date. Then he picked up a milk carton and flipped it to the bottom to find the expiration date. Both dates were two months past due.
"Eating expired stuff, how could I not get diarrhea?"
Naruto threw the empty containers back, wiped his hands on his apron, and then, using the memories in his mind, sorted out the sequence of events.
In the past, because of Naruto's special status, he couldn't afford fresh meals, not to mention he was ostracized by the villagers, so naturally, he couldn't eat outside either.
Relying on the meager orphan allowance issued by Hiruzen, in a place like Konoha where a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost sixty ryo, it wasn't enough to eat properly, so he could only hoard the cheapest cup noodles and milk, keeping a pile at home to eat slowly.
On top of that, being reluctant to eat them, they just sat there and naturally expired without him realizing it.
"Fine..."
Naruto shook his head, rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, looked around the room, and decided, "Then it's time for a deep clean."
Starting from the door, he picked up all the worn socks and threw them into a large trash bag.
Then came the cup noodle containers and milk cartons on the table, all of which were swept into the trash bag, leaving none behind.
***
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