"Knock, knock, knock."

  Link rubbed his eyes and g the clock. It was just past seven in the m. Looking toward the window, he yawned and asked, "Ensui-sensei, what's sent this early?" While speaking, he got out of bed.

  "Sorry, sorry..." Nara Ensui casually pushed open the window and climbed into the room. Though he apologized, his face showed no trace of remorse.

  "Milk? Soda? Juice?" Link walked to the refrigerator and ope.

  Ensui waved his hand to dee and said, "I know you just got back from a missioerday afternoon, but there's something waiting for you."

  "Another special mission?" Link asked, shaking off his drowsiness and fog.

  "Do you remember the gold mine mission in the Land of Rivers?" Ensui asked.

  Seeing Link nod, he tinued, "The gold mine's operation is going smoothly, but the Land of Wind wants to iate gold prices. Our previous t has requested us again to escort him to the Land of Wind for the talks."

  "So, this is a vilge-assigned mission?" Link asked calmly.

  "Exactly," Ensui firmed. "That mert has been making waves tely. He's quite willing to spend generously."

  "An A-rank mission."

  "And he specifically requested for you to join this mission."

  Link thought for a moment before asking, "When do we leave?"

  "Two days from now. The t is currently in Tanzaku Town," Ensui replied, providing the time and location. "This time, the likelihood of bat is low, but the t..."

  There was o expin why the t was willing to pay A-rank mission prices. Last time, the mission was supposed to be low-risk, but they nearly lost their lives in the Land of Rivers. It wasn’t surprising the t was now more willing to pay up.

  "That’s all," Ensui said vaguely, trusting his mature subordio uand. "If there are no further questions, we’ll prepare to depart for Tanzaku Town in two days."

  Seeing Link nod, Ensui vanished in a fsh.

  Link didn’t bother closing the window. The weather leasant, with a gentle breeze carrying the warmth of early spring.

  "I should probably buy some new clothes..."

  He thought as he washed up. His growth spurt retly had been quite impressive. At seven years old, he was barely 120 cm tall. By the time he graduated at nine, he hadn’t even reached 130 cm. For two years, his growth was stagnant—likely due to his releraining and ck of proper nutrition.

  However, over the past year since graduating, he had shot up to 144 cm. Growing over teimeters in a year was incredible. Some might cry tears of envy.

  At only ten years old, not even a full decade of life behind him, his growth trajectory suggested he might eventually reach 180 cm if things tinued.

  Height wasn’t the only area of growth. His muscle development had been remarkable. Clothes purchased just two months ago now felt tight. Thanks to the overuse of the Delicate Illness Extra Teique in his training, he’d developed muscles that seemed out of p his short frame.

  bined with his still-small head...

  "Gulp."

  After finishing his m routine, he found that his shadow had already prepared breakfast. He downed a rge gss of milk a out a satisfied burp.

  Unlike Naruto, Link wasn’t particurly fond of milk, but everyone said milk helped with growth, so...

  After breakfast, he grabbed his wallet a out for the ercial district to buy new clothes and maybe some sweets. It had been too long since he’d st had roasted chestnuts.

  "Swish."

  Ensui reappeared, his voice trailing behind. "ht—"

  He paused, staring at the shadow that was currently helping Link put on his shirt. His expression grew plicated as he added, "Nara Shikaku wants to meet you."

  Ensui had only lear month about Link’s peculiar ability to manipute shadows, which had bee apparent during a mission where Link used it to kill an enemy and save another Konoha ninja. The neread, and it wasn’t long before Shikaku, one of the previous geion’s Ino–Shika–Cho trio, decided to talk to the boy.

  Link smiled awkwardly, taking the sleeve from the shadow and sending it back to his feet. "When?"

  "It’s not mandatory. Whenever you’re free, you visit the Nara pound," Ensui replied. His gaze lingered on the shadow briefly.

  Frankly, trolling one’s shadow to such a degree was eerie, even for a Nara.

  "Alright. Should I prepare a formal letter of introdu?" Link asked with a straight face.

  Ensui rolled his eyes. "What do you think this is, aimes? Just go directly." He started to leave but couldn’t resist gng back at the shadow.

  Se. Just one more look.

  With mixed feelings, he disappeared again.

  "So it’s finally e to this."

  Link wasn’t surprised. He had been anticipating this. His dispyed abilities were too diverse to avoid scrutiny.

  The overp between his shadow-based skills and the Nara ’s teiques was too signifit to ighat it had taken this long for someoo front him was only due to the cautious prote afforded by Hiruzen and the vilge’s moderates.

  However, that prote wasn’t indefinite. Sooner or ter, questions would need answering.

  "Squeak."

  Stretg, Link heard his clothes groan uhe strain. The fabric g tightly to his noticeably muscur arms.

  Looking into the mirror, he couldn’t help but think of another small, muscur figure with a K on his name—a certain bald hero with a beautiful wife and a life full of sacrifices.

  "I really shouldn’t keep bulking up like this."

  The thought crossed his mind, leaving him flicted.

  While muscle strength tributed to physical power, for a ninja, chakra capacity was tied more to stamina than sheer muscle mass. Overloading on muscle alone would lead to diminishiurns.

  Cardio, digestion, and a banced physique were just as important.

  Oh, but if you happeo be a Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, or the ails Jinchuriki?

  Then never mind.

  Bleam