Mission

The days that followed were indeed not easy.

Only, the one having a hard time was not Kitagawa Gen, but Kakashi.

Kakashi had planned a fairly long trip this time. His idea was to train Kitagawa Gen while letting the kid carry out missions.

But along the way, he was stunned to discover that things were going far more smoothly than he had imagined.

This was not what he had expected. What happened to the promised tempering?

To be fair, when they first started carrying out missions, Kitagawa Gen had made a few jokes of himself due to his lack of experience.

But the kid adapted very quickly, and his performance was quite good. That had already pleasantly surprised Kakashi.

Yet that pleasant surprise turned into a fright after he began guiding Kitagawa Gen's training.

Because he discovered that Kitagawa Gen's fundamentals were extremely solid, and his talent was astonishingly good!

More often than not, all Kakashi had to do was teach him how to form the hand seals for a jutsu and how Chakra should circulate through the body when using it, and the kid could figure it out and learn it on his own.

And when he used it, he was not the slightest bit worse than people who had trained bitterly for a long time!

Even with taijutsu, the kid was the same. Kakashi's sword techniques, even when demonstrated with Kunai, were actually learned by him too.

After all this time, Kakashi seemed to understand a little of what the teachers who had taught him back then must have felt.

So this was what it felt like to teach a genius?

And this kid was even more outrageous than Kakashi had been back then. Not only did he learn fast, he also had many ideas of his own.

No matter what kind of jutsu it was, he seemed to want to change it somehow, whether it was the state of the jutsu or the omission of hand seals.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

After a series of hand seals that had clearly been shortened, Kitagawa Gen spat out a massive fireball.

The fireball roared toward the bandit camp in the distance, then turned into a blaze that covered the sky and earth!

And the bandits inside did not even have time to let out a scream before they were reduced to ash by the flames.

"Teacher Kakashi, mission complete."

Kitagawa Gen turned and looked at the silent Kakashi beside him.

"After scouting, all thirteen bandits were inside. There were no hostages, so there won't be any accidental injuries. If nothing unexpected happened, they should all be dealt with."

"Mm."

Kakashi nodded numbly, then mechanically offered a word of praise.

"Well done. Your progress has exceeded my imagination."

Kakashi himself had no idea how many times he had said similar things. He was getting a little tired of saying them.

He now truly felt that teaching a genius was not necessarily enjoyable, because if they learned too quickly, you might soon have nothing left to teach.

"Teacher Kakashi, it looks like our Rank C missions are basically done. Is it time to handle that Rank B mission?"

Kitagawa Gen blinked and asked curiously.

"I remember it seemed to be a noble from the Land of Waves. For some unknown reason, someone put a high-priced bounty on him in the Black Market, so we might run into ninja."

"Mm."

Once they were discussing professional matters, Kakashi immediately recovered.

"There's actually something off about this mission, because his bounty in the Black Market isn't low. We may run into some fairly capable ninja."

"Huh?"

Kitagawa Gen froze for a moment. Calculated like that, this mission was not easy at all.

"Then how is this mission only Rank B?"

"Because as a noble, he has personal samurai guarding him, the kind who can use Chakra. Those guys probably don't like having other ninja join in."

Kakashi shrugged and explained casually.

"That setup lowers the difficulty. Aside from that, he isn't paying much either, so it can only be counted as Rank B."

"So that's how it is."

Kitagawa Gen nodded, but he could not help complaining inwardly. So it was that kind of mission.

Low pay, uncertain circumstances, and samurai who disliked ninja.

If it were other ninja, they probably really would not want to take it, but handing it to a newcomer like him for practice seemed pretty good.

Fortunately, Kitagawa Gen did not mind this sort of mission either. He blinked and looked at Kakashi.

"Teacher Kakashi, although this mission doesn't seem that complicated, it's still a Rank B mission, so..."

"."

When Kakashi heard those words, his brows immediately twitched. He had truly heard similar lines far too many times along the way!

"What do you want to learn this time?"

"I heard Teacher Guy say that what Teacher Kakashi is best at is still Lightning Release."

Kitagawa Gen rubbed his chin before speaking. He had wanted to "legitimize" Lightning Release for a long time, then properly try out that Purple Electricity!

"After all, that's Teacher Kakashi's signature, and didn't the previous test also show that I have the Lightning Release attribute?

"So, before we rush to the Land of Waves to meet up, teach me first!"

"But that isn't suitable for you..."

"I know. Teacher Guy said that Teacher Kakashi's Lightning Release is used in combination with the Sharingan, but I still want to try."

"."

"Teacher Kakashi, you don't want your only disciple right now to not even know the jutsu you're best at, do you?"

"."

"Review complete. Mission finished. Take your money."

"Mm."

Inside an underground exchange in the Land of Hot Water, two people wearing black cloaks patterned with red clouds took the cash handed over by the administrator.

Then they casually accepted another mission before turning and leaving the place.

"Another mission done."

After walking out of the exchange, one of them spoke. He was carrying a greatsword, had sharp teeth, a cross-shaped scar on his face, and red stripes painted on it.

"Also, you're getting more and more used to this life, Itachi."

"It's already been more than a year. I got used to it long ago, Juzo."

The other man nodded. On his forehead was a Konoha forehead protector with a slash across it, displaying his identity.

Clearly, the two of them were Biwa Juzo and Itachi Uchiha!

The Akatsuki was still in its accumulation phase. Right now, they were constantly doing missions to save up money for the Akatsuki.

This kind of life was relatively dull, but it suited the two of them very well.

"What's the next mission? In the Land of Waves?"

Itachi Uchiha looked curiously at Biwa Juzo. As a newcomer who had joined only a year ago, he still listened to Biwa Juzo on many matters.

"Mm. Hunt someone down. Seems to be a noble."

Biwa Juzo glanced at the mission list, then directly put it away.

"But that has nothing to do with us. The more peaceful the world is, the more missions we get. If there's a commission, we take it, no matter what the content is.

"So no matter who this noble is, or who wants to kill him, there's no need for us to know.

"Even if it's a prank-style job, there's no need to know who commissioned it or why. We just take the money and do the work."

"You've said these things many times already."

Itachi Uchiha spoke calmly, his gaze turning toward the distance.

"Don't worry. I've already memorized them."

"Then that's fine. Let's go."

Biwa Juzo nodded, then walked forward without looking back.

"If we finish early, maybe we can still do a few things we want to do."