Chapter 43: Kakashi, Please Hurry Up and Find a Girlfriend

"Kakashi-sensei, can I beat him up?" Naruto stared viciously at the man. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep tonight unless he dragged this kill-stealer down and put him through a five-minute "flying human kite" torture package.

Even if he did fall asleep, waking up in the middle of the night and suddenly remembering this would make him slap himself across the face.

It was just way too infuriating, damn it.

"Naruto."

Kakashi leaped over and gently patted Naruto's shoulder, stopping him from acting on his impulse.

This guy was a legitimate Kirigakure ninja, specifically a tracking ninja belonging to the Anbu. He had status and backing, completely different from a stray bandit like Zabuza whom nobody wanted.

Besides, most things in life don't go your way, so you just get used to it. Look at me, Kakashi, did I ever complain about my life?

He bent down to check Zabuza's corpse.

"He's dead."

Kakashi looked at the newly arrived Kirigakure ninja. Indeed, a heavy blow had been dealt; the man was killed outright.

"Sigh~"

Hearing the result, Naruto sighed and turned to check on his little teammates. "Are you guys okay? Can you manage?"

Sasuke and Sakura were standing and sitting respectively, both panting heavily, with numerous wounds on their bodies and quite a bit of blood flowing.

Zabuza was a combat-experienced Jounin. No matter how distracted he had been, his strength was formidable. Although the two of them had pushed past their limits to defeat him, they had sustained heavy injuries themselves.

"I'm fine, just minor injuries." Sasuke forced himself to stand, seemingly unwilling to show weakness in front of Naruto.

But Naruto had already seen right through his bravado. With a gentle push, Sasuke collapsed straight onto the ground.

Still trying to act tough with me.

Sasuke glared at him in annoyance.

"Is the battle over?" Sakura asked, sitting on the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

Although she had only just learned monstrous-strength taijutsu and it had worked only intermittently during the fight, Naruto genuinely felt that the damage Sakura dealt was higher than Sasuke's.

Looking at Zabuza's damage output ledger, Sakura's numbers should undoubtedly rank first.

He, Naruto, as the support, ranked second.

As for Sasuke, he was dead last without a shadow of a doubt.

"It should be over."

Glancing back at the ninja on the tree branch, Naruto added, "Unless he wants to fight."

Looking at the two who were bleeding and exhausted, Naruto pulled out a Red Xiaoyao Pill and handed it to them. "Stop talking so much, hurry up and take your medicine."

"Thanks, Naruto." Sasuke knew this wasn't the time to be polite; he took the Xiaoyao Pill and popped it straight into his mouth.

Sasuke wasn't short on money.

After all, he was the young master of the Uchiha clan. Even though his family had been wiped out, he had inherited all of their assets.

Sakura, however, hesitated. She had heard back at home that a single pill like this could bring a dying Chuunin back to full health, and using it on her minor wounds right now was a complete waste.

Moreover, this pill was worth twenty thousand ryo and often required a markup just to buy it, so... Sakura felt reluctant to part with it.

"Naruto, my injuries aren't that serious. Shouldn't we save it for next time?"

"It's yours, you decide when to use it."

Naruto roughly understood Sakura's thoughts, and this was indeed a problem.

The reason he hadn't noticed this before was, firstly, because he was rich. Little gadgets from the store worth a thousand ryo could be eaten like jelly beans; it didn't matter.

Secondly, he basically had no use for these pills before graduation. The only ones who could afford them were Jounin, and anyone else who could buy them naturally wanted the strongest possible effect.

However.

Now it seemed there was still plenty of room for market expansion.

He could try dividing the system-produced Xiaoyao Pill into two, four, eight, or even sixteen portions.

Even if divided into sixteen portions, it could still restore 625 HP, which was more than enough for a Genin. For an ordinary person, it would be enough to fully heal five times over with some to spare.

Well, I'll give it a try when we get back.

On the other side, after some negotiation, the pursuing Kirigakure ninja carried away Zabuza's corpse.

Watching the long-haired ninja leave, Naruto felt deeply emotional.

This person seemed to be around their age, yet his strength was already that of a tracking ninja?

And the one he was tracking was none other than Zabuza—an opponent who required Naruto to stand guard on the sidelines and Sasuke and Sakura to exhaust every ounce of strength before they could finally take him down.

Truly, there are people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens.

Still, that was a close one!

If that guy had shown even a shred of malice just now, he would have taken him out right then and there.

What a pity...

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei!" The moment he turned around, Naruto saw that Kakashi-sensei had collapsed and fallen fast asleep.

What is going on here?

Wasn't Kakashi-sensei just acting as a spectator on the sidelines the entire time?

Could you get side effects just from watching?

Not understanding, Naruto ran over to check. There were no wounds; exactly where was the problem?

He tried taking out a Blue Xiaoyao Pill and feeding it to him.

Kakashi-sensei performed a sit-up and popped right back up.

This agile sit-up left Naruto completely dumbfounded.

Could it be that Kakashi-sensei's chakra reserves were depleted again?

That can't be right!

Naruto was utterly baffled. Does the Sharingan consume that much chakra?

He hadn't felt that way at all.

And wasn't Kakashi-sensei still single? How could his stamina be so drained that even opening the Sharingan was a struggle?

From the looks of it, that naughty-naughty book consumed way more chakra than having a girlfriend ever could.

As expected, he should read fewer adult novels.

Maybe he should talk to Kakashi-sensei and have him hand over that book for him, Uzumaki Naruto, to safely keep in custody.

And as for you, Kakashi-sensei, since you can't read adult books anymore, you should just go find a girlfriend and get married along the way.

You're already getting up there in years, why are you still punching at thin air?

"Kakashi-sensei, you..." The other two gathered around as well, looking at him with concern.

Sasuke and Sakura considered Kakashi to be the true backbone of their team; they didn't dare to imagine the consequences if anything happened to him.

Naruto, on the other hand, purely wanted to get his hands on the adult book—no, wait, "keep it safe."

"It's nothing, just an old ailment." Kakashi-sensei touched his left eye, which was covered by his forehead protector, filled with deep emotion.

Seeing him like this, Naruto offered a suggestion: "Why don't you just find a girlfriend, Kakashi-sensei?"

Huh?

The three of them turned to Naruto in unison. How did the conversation pivot to getting a girlfriend?

Naruto continued his pitch: "Hua-jie, who lives one street away from me, is 23 years old, still single, very gentle, looks gorgeous, and has a great figure."

"She's only single because she's too pretty for anyone to dare chase her."

"I'm not lying, Kakashi-sensei, really. Hua-jie has an amazing figure; I checked for myself." As he spoke, Naruto imitated Might Guy, flashing a brilliant smile while giving a thumbs-up.

That expression conveyed one single word: Fantastic!

Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Tazuna, who was just watching the drama: Huh?

Uh... did he accidentally spill the beans?

Whatever.

Naruto thought to himself: Don't ask how I saw it; if you ask, it was involuntary.

No, wait, it was the system that forced him to go to the public bathhouse, where he accidentally bumped into her.

Not only that, Hua-jie was one of the few people who didn't discriminate against him. She was pretty, had a great figure, was gentle, and her age even fell within his preferred range.

It was just a pity that he, Naruto, was still too young and his little elephant hadn't fully grown yet.

It was precisely because he thought Kakashi-sensei was handsome, strong, and a good guy that he was introducing her to him.

The four of them stared in unison at Kakashi once again.

The three genin genuinely wanted to watch a good show. Is there any drama better than watching Kakashi-sensei trying to find a girlfriend?

Tazuna was purely a spectator eating melon seeds, thoroughly enjoying the gossip.

"Ahem~ Well, let's put this matter aside for now."

Kakashi-sensei successfully changed the subject, looking solemnly at Tazuna. "Mr. Tazuna, I have something important to ask you."