The Second B-Rank Mission

The Second B-Rank Mission

A month later, Konoha, Lin Ke's home, early morning.

"Ring-ring~"

Lin Ke opened his eyes, casually silenced the alarm, then groggily climbed out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

At the same time, the shadow on the floor that looked exactly like him rose to its feet and headed into the kitchen to start cooking.

"Whoosh~"

The sound of flushing rang out.

Ten minutes later, Lin Ke finished washing up. He walked out of the bathroom while wiping his face with a towel, yawned, and sat down at the dining table. His shadow set out fried eggs, toasted bread, and hot milk one after another, then returned to its two-dimensional state.

"Today, I'm going on my first B-Rank Mission with Yan Shui Teacher. No, my second B-Rank Mission..."

As he ate breakfast, his mind gradually cleared, and he considered what he needed to do today.

His development of the Shadow Clone had wrapped up half a month ago, and he had also taken the opportunity to apply to the village for a huge pile of Ninjutsu Scrolls—

After all, judging by the Third Hokage's attitude, he seemed to think rather highly of him. If he had the authority, he might as well use it before it expired. This was the perfect chance to see whether his application would go through.

He had not gone too far, either. He had only applied for, uh, more than seventy Ninjutsu, including a large number of C- and D-Rank Release Techniques of various types, as well as B- and A-Rank Medical Ninjutsu. Oh, and the Summoning Jutsu and Sealing Jutsu too.

As for his merely average chakra level and the fact that he still had not completed his second nature transformation...

Well, no harm in trying.

He did not have the money to buy them himself. Now that he was a Chunin and the Third Hokage thought highly of him, he naturally had to shamelessly ask for them.

"Not bad. My cooking really is getting better and better." Lin Ke finished breakfast and nodded in satisfaction.

The Shadow Clone Technique was a debuff skill he used against enemies, but it also had a particularly interesting trick: once his own shadow split off, it would not return just because it had expended stamina.

In other words, it was basically a permanent skill for him. The stamina consumed by a Shadow Clone doing anything after splitting off was the same as if he had done it himself. As long as it was not fighting, the cost of everyday activities was incredibly low.

Once it returned to its two-dimensional state, the consumption dropped another level. Even if he maintained it around the clock, it was nothing to him.

Did you know what that meant?

It meant he had finally escaped the daily grind of household chores. He would no longer have to worry about cooking, laundry, cleaning, or even...

Lin Ke put on the clothes that had been washed and dried yesterday. Standing by the doorframe, he measured himself against the height marks on the wall while his shadow busily fitted him with his Scroll Kit, kunai holster, and various ninja tools.

"I'm already 136 centimeters tall. I've been growing so fast lately." Seeing that he had shot up another centimeter, he raised both arms and let his shadow pull the green vest over him, then straighten the wrinkled inner layer beneath it.

He turned toward the mirror and looked at the handsome Chunin, Lin Ke. Keeping a straight face, he struck a cool pose—first crossing his arms over his chest, then spreading his right thumb and index finger while curling the other three fingers, placing the gesture beneath his chin.

That was definitely cooler.

"Good. Let's go!" —Konoha's main gate.

"Morning, Yan Shui Teacher~" Lin Ke took the initiative to greet the Jonin, who had arrived last.

Nara Yan Shui nodded to his three subordinates. "Morning." Then he tossed over a scroll and said, "The intelligence for this mission."

Lin Ke caught the scroll and opened it. Yuan Wei and Xia immediately leaned over from beside him to read it as well.

They had learned the mission's details yesterday when they accepted it together.

Escort a Land of Fire Merchant to the Land of Rivers to participate in an auction for a Gold Mine.

The mission would last roughly two months. They were to escort the target from Konoha to a city in the Land of Rivers, protect him throughout the auction, and then continue protecting him until he returned to the Land of Fire.

It was an escort mission that was not particularly difficult, though combat with ninja was highly likely. The reward was 150,000 ryo, an exceptionally high amount even for a B-Rank Mission. Otherwise, they could not have hired a Jonin.

According to the intelligence Nara Yan Shui had provided, the hostile ninja would most likely come from Amegakure and Sunagakure.

The Gold Mine up for auction had originally been excavated by a Land of Rain merchant in the northern region of the Land of Rivers, near the Land of Rain. The merchant had been assassinated not long ago, leaving the mine ownerless. The Land of Rivers authorities had publicly put it up for sale, and only three parties were currently participating in the auction:

The Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Rain.

Thus, the opponents mentioned in the intelligence could very well come from Amegakure and Sunagakure.

Ninja were hardly an honorable profession, much less one concerned with justice or evil. It was common for commercial rivals to hire ninja to assassinate one another. If you did not want to be assassinated, you naturally had to hire ninja for protection.

With competition this cutthroat, business dealings in the Naruto World became slightly more realistic—

You just had to kill your competitors.

"Interesting..." Lin Ke looked at the intelligence scroll and suddenly recalled the first B-Rank Mission he had completed—the one where he had needed to meet up with a female ninja being pursued by Amegakure ninja.

He looked up. Nara Yan Shui blinked. He said nothing, yet it felt as though he had said everything.

"I heard Sunagakure's Kage can make gold, right?" Yuan Wei asked curiously. "Why would they fight over a Gold Mine?"

It was no secret that Sunagakure's Kage sold Quicksand Gold. He often used it to trade with other countries, and to demonstrate its wealth and capabilities, Sunagakure had not tried to suppress the spread of such rumors. Even a Genin who had been around for a while would have heard such information.

"First, the Fourth Kazekage does not make gold." Nara Yan Shui corrected him. Collecting Quicksand Gold with a special technique was indeed impressive, but it was nowhere near the level of creating gold. Otherwise, Sunagakure would not still be so poor.

"Second, the more capable they are of selling gold, the less they want a Gold Mine to fall into someone else's hands..."

He made that meaningful remark without explaining further, then said, "They're here."

A convoy of carriages slowly approached the open gate along the road. Nara Yan Shui took the lead in jumping down. After exchanging a few words with a man dressed like a samurai with a topknot, he called for his three subordinates behind him to join the main group.

Transportation in the Naruto World was bizarre too—

There were clearly bicycles, and certain areas even had vehicles similar to cars. In the future, there would be railways and "thunder trains," along with ships, sailboats, steamships, and all sorts of things that looked modern.

Yet nobles still traveled in sedan chairs carried by people, while merchants used horse-drawn carriages for travel and transport.

It was bizarre beyond belief. They had maxed out the tech tree but simply refused to use it, huh?

Lin Ke directed Yuan Wei and Xia to take up positions on either side of the convoy, while he followed behind it. Watching the carriages crawl forward, he could not help sighing at the utterly nonsensical technology tree.

No wonder the mission would take two months. They were moving way too slowly!