CHAPTER 160

120 advanced chapters at Pat-reon. Check it out if you guys are interested.

https://www.pat-reon.com/ankit1

----------

NARUTO UZUMAKI POV

"The old man refused my request to remove Sakura from the team." Kirashi said. And judging by the deep scowl on her face, it was clear to him that she didn't like taking orders from someone else. Especially someone who was weaker than herself.

"What about Ruby?" Satsuki asked.

"The Hokage told me that I could take her as a side apprentice if I wished." Kirashi said with a snort before her expression turned pensive "He also allowed me to… adopt her."

"Aunty!!!" Ruby squealed in happiness and jumped at Kirashi who simply side-stepped the hug, making Ruby hit the tree behind her instead.

The tree cracked and broke in half, and he facepalmed himself.

"Control your power Ruby." He said and the girl gave him a sheepish laugh.

"Oh. Sakura's here." Satsuki informed and they looked and saw the pink-haired girl entering the training ground

"Hey, Satsuki-san. Kirashi Sensei. You're early." Sakura said as she ran up to them before giving Ruby a confused glance.

He noticed how she didn't even look in his direction.

Still, that's better than being insulted like the original Naruto so he saw it as progress.

"We're not early. You're late." Kirashi said with a growl.

Sakura looked even more confused at that. "But… I arrived just in time Sensei."

"And that's not good enough. The next time I call you at 8 in the morning, you better arrive here at 7. Understood?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

Kirashi nodded "Well. What are four waiting for? Go and run 50 laps around the lake. And be quick about it. We have a lot of things to do today."

"5… 50 laps!?" Sakura asked in shock.

Kirashi gave the girl a stern look "Did I stutter girl?"

"No Sensei. But 50 laps… Isn't this too much?" Sakura asked while looking at him and Satsuki for support.

She got none.

For Pyrrha who had inherited Sasuke's body, 50 laps warm up wasn't much. Same for him thanks to Naruto's near-unlimited stamina. Plus, they also had a large amount of aura that'll remove most of the fatigue they feel while running around the lake.

50 laps wasn't anything for them.

In fact, both of them were easily capable of running 500 laps around the lake.

Same for Ruby.

But not for Sakura.

It was unfair really and he felt a bit sympathetic for the girl. But she needed to understand that being a shinobi was not all fun and games.

"You either do it or you don't. If any of you fail to finish 50 laps within 2 hours, then you'll be out of the team and Ruby here will take your place in the team."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "But… I thought-"

"Does it look like I care about what you think girl?" Kirashi asked before she looked at the alarm clock she had brought with her.

"You only have 1 hour 49 minutes remaining. Do you want to waste even more time arguing?" She asked.

Sakura shook her head and quickly ran toward the Lake.

Satsuki and Ruby followed.

He gave Kirashi an exasperated look before he shook his head and joined his team.

It seems like this was going to be a really rough day for Sakura.

…

In the end, Sakura managed to limp her way to the 50th lap around the lake.

It wasn't a surprise to him that Ruby had started to support the girl halfway through the race. And Pyrrha had joined them around the end as well while he walked beside them.

If the real Kakashi was here then even he would've passed them because of their support for their teammate.

Kirashi on the other hand wasn't as impressed.

She looked at the unconscious form of Sakura and sighed.

"You should take her in." She said.

He blinked. "What?"

"I said that you should take her in. Capture her. Shroud her. Or whatever it is that you call the process. She's pretty useless otherwise."

"If she's useless then why would I take her?" He asked.

"She's our teammate Jaune. I mean Naruto." Ruby corrected quickly as she looked around to make sure that no one else had heard her slip up. Then she looked at him again. "Isn't that why you gave the offer to Weiss as well?"

"Weiss was… well, she was a brat. But she was also capable."

"And you yourself said that she'll become a pretty amazing medic in the future. If we support her then she'll reach there even quicker." Satsuki said.

He took a step back and looked at the three of them.

"Why are you girls suddenly asking me to Shroud her?"

Was there some kind of compulsion in the Shroud that subtly pushed his Waifu toward getting even more waifu.

If it was… then that would explain so many things.

"She's in our team whether we like it or not Naruto." Satsuki said "And if we want to stay in Konoha for the time being then she'll remain with us. Shrouding her seems like the wise choice. Especially since I have a feeling that sooner or later you're going to shroud her anyway."

Kirashi shrugged. "The girl is useless. If you shroud her then maybe she'll be of some use."

"She's our teammate Jaune. I mean Naruto." Ruby facepalmed herself "Sorry. But yeah. You should do it Naruto. The team dynamic will be strange with her being so weak. It's the right thing to do."

How the hell is taking away the choice to love someone from a girl the right thing to do?

But fuck it.

He brought out the Shroud and covered Sakura. She was captured within a second.

Sakura Captured for 3 points.

"There. Done."