I just returned to Konoha and found that all my clan members were gone.

"Really, this guy runs so fast!" Ye Lan couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard Naruto's complaints. How could he lose him?

After meeting up with Ye Lan, Sasuke couldn't help but say, "The other party is too familiar with this place, we lost track of them."

Ye Lan didn't say anything more. Now he decided to go find the person who issued the task to confirm it.

After a while, after asking around by Sakura and the others, they finally met the person who issued the task, Captain Wasabi Jiro.

"In short, the mission this time is to protect the contestants from being disturbed by other people." Chief Wasabi Jiro introduced the mission. A competition will be held here. People from two clans will each send one person to participate. They will go from here to a shrine to get a token and then return. Whoever reaches the finish line first will win, and the winning family will be able to manage the town until the next competition is held.

"Then why do you need to hire us?" Sakura couldn't help but ask since it sounded like the competition didn't require ninjas to participate.

"The other party has hired a ninja. If the ninja takes action, our contestant will be in danger. You are responsible for protecting him." Wasi Jiro said, "Come in, you can get to know the contestants."

As he spoke, a man pushed open the door and came in. To Sakura and the others' surprise, it was Ituotian who had just asked them to pay for the meal.

"It's you, brat!" Naruto got angry when he saw him. Not only did he trick them, but he also belittled the ninjas.

"Boss, I don't need ninja protection. I will definitely win and show you." Yituotian was also surprised to see Naruto and the others, and said to Jirocho, then turned and left the room.

Cilangchang looked at Ye Lan helplessly. He knew that this person was the strongest ninja on the other side. He hoped that Ye Lan would not mind and could complete the task well.

"Naruto and his friends are the ones who have accepted the mission this time. I will not take action unless there is an opponent at the Jonin level." Ye Lan bowed slightly and then left the room.

Until the day of the competition, Ye Lan rarely left his residence. No one knew what method Naruto used to make Yitutian agree to be protected by Naruto and others, but that face was still so ugly.

At the beginning of the race, Yituotian did not run along the prescribed route, but found another route based on the wind direction. There was a section in the race that required driving a boat across a body of water, and if the wind direction was not good, the speed would be much slower.

When Naruto saw the boat that Itoten had prepared, Naruto and the others understood his determination. However, things did not go against their will. Not long after they boarded the boat, they were attacked. Ye Lan saw that the other party was wearing a Yuyin forehead protector and was only a Genin, so he simply watched how Naruto and the others dealt with it. After some confusion at the beginning, Naruto used his newly learned Rasengan to directly defeat the other party.

This technique made Sasuke a little concerned. Although he already knew that Naruto had learned the Rasengan, this was the first time he saw Naruto use it. He didn't expect it to be so powerful.

After getting ashore, Ye Lan no longer followed Naruto and the others but hid himself. If he kept following them, it would only make them become dependent on him.

When Naruto and others were about to arrive at the shrine, a green-haired Amegakure ninja stopped them, and obviously knew Ituoten. He first mocked Ituoten and said nothing good about him. Only then did Naruto and others realize that they were both originally ninjas of Konoha. Morino Ituoten was a Genin and the younger brother of Morino Ibiki, and the Green Aoi who stopped them was originally Ituoten's teacher and a Chunin of Konoha. Now he has defected and become a Jonin of Amegakure.

Even so, Sasuke and the others did not give up. They kept attacking Aoi, but they were all neutralized by Aoi holding the Thunder God Sword, the weapon of the Second Hokage. Even using Chidori and Rasengan did not work. Naruto was knocked to the ground every time. Sasuke had to hold on longer, but there was nothing he could do to him. Aoi kept attacking the two with the sharpness of the Thunder God Sword. Soon, the two were covered with wounds. Sakura could not bear it, so she used the hardening that Ye Lan taught her and rushed towards Aoi.

As a result, the electric current from the Thunder God's Sword directly dissolved the hardening, and the soil was restrained by the thunder. Sakura, unwilling to give up, punched Midori Aoi before lying down. Midori Aoi didn't care at first, thinking that a little girl couldn't have any strength, but the punch almost killed him. He was in a bit of a mess and could only evacuate first.

"Sakura is awesome!" Seeing that the other party had retreated, Naruto helped Sakura up, "Are you okay, Sakura?"

Xiaoying's body was numb from the electric shock, so she forced herself to sit up and said, "I'll be fine after a rest, but what about the competition?"

"I'll take him to the shrine to get the token. You two can take a rest first. We'll meet again when I return." Sasuke was the least injured, and he felt that this was the best decision.

"Then this is the only way. Really, I don't know where Brother Ye Lan has gone! The opponent is a Jonin! Brother Ye Lan, why doesn't he take action?" Naruto said with some complaints. Sakura is still injured.

"The opponent is actually only at the level of Chunin, not even Jonin, mainly because his sword is hard to deal with." Sasuke said while holding up Itoten. Sasuke, who has become a Chunin, has also gained some experience. A person of Green Aoi's level is at most a slightly stronger Chunin, and does not bring him as much pressure as a Jonin.

"I didn't expect the opponent this time to be so difficult to deal with. As expected, without the jōnin around, it's still a bit difficult for us to carry out the mission." Sakura said as she took out some medicine and swallowed it. This was given to her by Tsunade before she left.

"Don't worry, Sakura. Even if Brother Ye Lan doesn't take action, we will still be able to deal with that Hidden Rain Ninja." Naruto comforted Sakura.

When Sasuke and Itsuki arrived at the shrine, it had started raining and they had to rest in the shrine for a night. Sasuke and Itsuki lived together. He looked out the window and couldn't help but worry about Naruto and Sakura.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are from the Uchiha clan, right?" Yituotian, who had been silent all the time, spoke.

Sasuke frowned, not knowing what the other party was going to say.

"Looking at your expression, I guessed right. The senior ninja with you is Uchiha Ye Lan, right?" Sasuke couldn't help but become alert when he heard Yituotian mention Ye Lan's name. Ye Lan never told them his name after they came here, so how could this person know it.

"You don't have to be so alert. Didn't the Rain Ninja tell you before? I used to be a ninja of Konoha." Yi Tuotian laughed bitterly, "Uchiha Ye Lan was once my classmate..."

"Huh?" Sasuke didn't expect that Yitutian and Ye Lan had this kind of relationship.

"Although we were classmates, Ye Lan-jun was different from people like me. He graduated from the Ninja School in just two years, and we never met again. I didn't recognize him at first, but I felt that he looked familiar. It was only after Naruto called him "Brother Ye Lan" that I was sure it was him." Yi Tuotian slowly recounted the past, "Ye Lan-jun didn't know me, but I had always targeted him. He was a genius in our class. When he was ten years old, I heard that he was going to perform S-level missions, and I hadn't graduated yet. After I became a ninja, I always wanted to be like him, but I didn't expect that I couldn't even pass the first round of the Chunin Exam..."

This is the gap between ordinary people and geniuses. Bloodline, learning ability, and experience make it impossible for the two people to have any intersection. Sasuke listened to Yi Tuotian's memories and understood some of Ye Lan's previous things.

"Look at him, he probably can't recognize me now. Well, this is the best I can do..." Yi Tuotian murmured as if he had found an excuse for himself.

"Boring." Sasuke's Sharingan was already open. "If you give up just like that, are you worthy of your boss's trust? Genius? Can the word genius negate other people's efforts? You don't know the weight of these three words Uchiha! Ye Lan and I are both working hard for a certain goal. Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, we will step over it. This has nothing to do with the strength of a person, but determination!"

Sasuke finally came to the door and opened it. The heavy rain outside had already swept onto Sasuke's face.

"If you still want others to be disappointed in you, then give up! This is not a question of whether you are worthy of being a ninja. You can't even be a good person right now!"

After saying that, Sasuke left the room. He was going to look for Naruto and Sakura.

...

"Really? I didn't expect that little girl to be so strong." Lu Qingkui in the room said as he looked at the Thunder God's Sword in his hand, "As expected, I am unbeatable with the Thunder God's Sword."

"Hmph. Do you feel pleasure from bullying Genin?" A strange voice sounded in the room. Green Aoi released the Thunder God's Sword and looked around vigilantly.

"who is it?"

At this moment, a chill rose from behind him, and a red light flashed behind him. It was a pair of three-magatama Sharingan. Midoriya didn't dare to turn around at all. His intuition told him that he would die if he turned around.

"The sword is not bad. I'll take it as your reward for bullying the Genin." Before he finished speaking, Lu Qingkui found that the Thunder God Sword in his hand had disappeared. After waiting for a long time, Lu Qingkui realized that the chill was gone. He wiped the sweat from his face and said, "Is it the leader of that group of Genin? Too scary! This mission is too dangerous. I can't continue!"

After saying that, he packed up his things and left the shrine overnight.