Naruto then turned around and walked in the direction of his apartment.
The first step had already been taken. Whether Sakura could grow before the Chunin Exams would now depend on Sasuke's teaching ability and her own efforts.
Naruto also had his own things to do. For others, five days might just be a short break between missions, but Naruto needed to advance the Flying Thunder God Technique from the first stage to the second stage, and then utilize Kurama Chakra Mode to its full potential in actual combat.
"Tch, that loser..."
Sasuke looked at Naruto's retreating back and made a clicking sound.
He was clearly the one dragging everyone down in the class before, yet now he was talking to him in this tone, as if arranging training for his teammates.
What made Sasuke even more annoyed was that this arrangement was logically sound and irrefutable, leaving him no room to refuse.
Sakura stood beside Sasuke, watching Naruto walk to the corner of the street and disappear, silently saying "thank you" in her heart.
Then her attention turned completely in another direction: Sasuke was going to teach her next.
Five days!
She had to seize this opportunity.
Sakura was already planning in her head what kind of bento to prepare for the training ground.
...
Naruto didn't go straight back to his apartment, but instead strolled along the main road towards the Ninja district.
Konoha's Ninja district was a place concentrated with ninja tool shops, herbal medicine shops, custom equipment workshops, and various services exclusively for ninjas. It was about three blocks away from the ordinary commercial street, and there were significantly fewer pedestrians on the road compared to the bustling area.
As Naruto walked, he kept his Negative Emotions Sensing in a constantly active state. Now, he could maintain large-scale surveillance without needing to focus his attention deliberately.
Then, he felt malice. Not just one or two, but a whole wave of it.
From the moment he entered the Ninja district, the malice around him pierced into the reception range of his Negative Emotions Sensing like dense needles.
This malice came from shop owners, middle-aged women chatting on the street, and workers moving goods.
When they saw the "Fox Demon" walking over from afar, although they didn't show any abnormality on their faces and some even deliberately avoided direct contact with him, the malice they emitted was as clear as day under his Negative Emotions Sensing.
Perhaps the village leadership had given them a heads-up beforehand because there were many ninjas from other villages, and they couldn't embarrass Konoha in front of foreigners. So these villagers didn't curse at him as a "demon fox" to his face like usual, nor did they throw rotten vegetables at him, but the disgust and fear in their hearts hadn't diminished at all. They had just switched to a more covert way of expressing it.
Naruto's expression remained indifferent. With his current strength, these villagers weren't even worth counting as ants if they said something unpleasant to him.
Would a normal person stop to argue with an ant because it waved its antennae at them on the side of the road?
No.
Returning to the main point, Naruto continued walking, his eyes scanning the shop signs one after another on both sides of the street, while simultaneously going over the characteristics of Tenten's ninja tool shop in his mind.
When watching Naruto in his past life, Tenten didn't appear much, but he remembered very clearly that Tenten's family ran a ninja tool shop, and it was quite large. It was a long-established shop in Konoha's ninja tool supply circle, with various rare ninja tools in stock.
She herself was a member of Team Guy, on the same team as Neji and Rock Lee, and would also be participating in the Chunin Exams this year.
The problem was that he only knew Tenten's family ran a Ninja tool shop, but he didn't know what the name of that shop was.
There were at least five or six Ninja tool shops on one street, each with different signs and featured products. He couldn't just go into each one and ask.
Naruto wandered back and forth in the Ninja district for nearly twenty minutes, stopping briefly at the entrances of several Ninja tool shops.
One shop had a wooden sign hanging at the entrance that read "Yamada Ninja Tools," and the display window was filled with various shuriken and Kunai. Naruto glanced through the glass and then looked away.
They were all ordinary iron ninja tools, without even a decent roll of rune paper, let alone Chakra Metal.
Another shop called "Ninja Tool Maruchu" had a fairly large storefront, but the fat boss standing at the entrance, who had been smiling while greeting customers, had his smile stiffen when he saw Naruto. Then he turned around at lightning speed, pretending to organize the shelves.
Naruto walked straight past with his hands in his pockets, not even pausing his stride.
It wasn't this place.
Just as he was about to give up on today's search and return to his apartment to rest before heading to the waterfall to train at night, a very conspicuous hairstyle flashed at the end of his line of sight.
Two round buns were tied on both sides of her head. She was walking out of a herbal medicine shop that sold military rations, carrying a small cloth bag in her hand.
Naruto's footsteps paused.
Buns, Chinese-style outfit, the way the ninja tool pouch was worn was completely different from ordinary Konoha Genin.
This was Tenten!
Target found.
***
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