C-rank Mission

As Uchiha Kiyoshi finished learning the Earth Spike Jutsu, Nawaki and Sarutobi Saku, who had been sparring nearby, noticed the commotion as well. They both stopped and ran over to see what had happened.

"Wow! Kiyoshi, that's incredible! It's only been a week, and you can already cast Earth Spikes. You learned it much faster than the Earth Style Wall last time."

"Obviously. Even though the simplified version of the Earth Style Wall used less Chakra, its difficulty still met the threshold for a B-rank Ninjutsu. How could they possibly be equally difficult to learn?"

After three months together, the three had become familiar with one another. Sarutobi Saku would occasionally retort to Nawaki's thoughtless remarks like this.

"I still need more practice. Right now, I can only cast the Ninjutsu once, and I have to focus all my attention while doing it. I can't use it in actual combat at all. I still can't guarantee I'll be able to pull it off."

Neither of them believed Uchiha Kiyoshi's modesty. Learning to initially cast a new Ninjutsu in just one week was already remarkable. The practice afterward was not difficult—the hardest part was already over. How far away could using it in combat be?

Nawaki looked at Uchiha Kiyoshi with the greatest envy. He envied Kiyoshi's ability to learn Ninjutsu so quickly. In truth, he had possessed enough Chakra to practice Ninjutsu since he was six. Yet in four years, he had only learned five C-rank Ninjutsu: three Water Release techniques and two Earth Release techniques. Over these past three months, Orochimaru had strictly drilled him in Ninjutsu mastery and Chakra control, so he had not learned any new Ninjutsu. Seeing his deskmate rapidly master one technique after another left him envious and jealous—and under immense pressure as well.

Though he was modest on the surface, Uchiha Kiyoshi was quite pleased inside. Mastering a new Ninjutsu so quickly not only meant gaining another means to fight enemies in a short time, but more importantly, it proved that his idea of learning a large number of Ninjutsu and then organizing those small Chakra circulation loops was viable. He could get results within ten years.

Just then, a cold, sinister presence appeared. The three of them were already accustomed to it and knew that Orochimaru had arrived.

Orochimaru came before the three of them and glanced at the spot where Uchiha Kiyoshi had just used the Earth Spike Jutsu. He silently praised his student's talent for Ninjutsu.

It felt like he had picked up a bargain.

That was indeed the case. Back at the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Kiyoshi had not displayed much. He had only revealed his high aptitude for Medical Ninjutsu and a particularly flawed personality, which was why few people had ever bothered him. Even Danzo did not think Uchiha Kiyoshi's talent was particularly outstanding. Perhaps the pressure of death had simply awakened his potential, allowing him to learn Medical Ninjutsu a little faster? After all, Uchiha Kiyoshi had spent four years going to the Uchiha Clan Archives. Overall, he had spent quite a long time studying Medical Ninjutsu.

The reason Uchiha Kiyoshi was gradually exposing his talent for Ninjutsu now was also because he had Orochimaru as a teacher. He was now considered part of Orochimaru's faction, and with his clan's protection, his safety had a basic guarantee.

Besides, only by showing talent for Ninjutsu could he squeeze more Ninjutsu scrolls out of Orochimaru. It was a mutually reinforcing process.

"Over the past three months, you have become familiar with the mission process, and your strength has improved considerably. You are qualified to undertake more advanced missions now. Today, you will accept a C-rank Mission."

After hearing Orochimaru's words, all three were extremely excited, but none of them made a sound. Nawaki in particular even covered his mouth to keep himself from cheering. There had been a time before when Orochimaru was speaking and Nawaki had interrupted him with a shout. The consequences had been, well, intensely unpleasant. Nawaki was still traumatized by it.

Though they could not immediately celebrate out loud, they were truly excited. Whether escort missions or bandit-suppression missions, C-rank Missions generally required leaving the village.

That was highly appealing to them, since none of them had ever left the village since birth. Uchiha Kiyoshi was no exception. Ever since coming to this world, he had never gone out to see it. Now that he had the chance, he was naturally delighted.

Not to mention that C-rank Missions offered merits that D-rank Missions did not.

Unlike D-rank Missions, which were little more than daily chores, C-rank Missions were the missions real ninja were meant to carry out.

A ninja could accept two or even three D-rank Missions in a day, with each mission paying seven or eight thousand ryō. C-rank Missions were different. Even the shortest took three or four days, while the final reward was only fifty or sixty thousand ryō. And in terms of danger, C-rank Missions were far more dangerous than D-rank Missions.

Even so, many ninja were willing to accept C-rank Missions.

That was mainly because starting from C-rank Missions, the rewards included merits. Though there was no specific quantification, these merits were extremely useful.

A certain amount of mission merit was required to advance in ninja rank. Even registering for the Chunin Exams required it.

Furthermore, merits were the main way for ninja to exchange for Ninjutsu from the village. Generally, after completing around ten C-rank Missions, one could choose a C-rank Ninjutsu. Higher-rank Ninjutsu could likewise only be selected after completing ten missions of the same rank.

This was the main way civilian ninja obtained Ninjutsu. Even some clan ninja acquired Ninjutsu through this route.

The village's Ninjutsu collection was quite comprehensive. Even clan ninja would inevitably need certain Ninjutsu their clans did not possess, and could only obtain them this way.

Although Uchiha Kiyoshi had Orochimaru as a source and could learn many Ninjutsu from him, he could not possibly obtain everything through Orochimaru. That would inevitably allow Orochimaru to grasp the progress of all his training, which was not ideal.

As Uchiha Kiyoshi continued to deduce the functions of those small Chakra circulation loops, he would learn Ninjutsu faster and faster, perhaps even beyond what was reasonable. Therefore, he needed to divert some attention and slow down the pace at which he learned the Ninjutsu Orochimaru gave him.

Orochimaru led the three excited youngsters to the Mission Office beside the Hokage's office building and walked inside.

A-rank Mission: Go to the Rain Country and gather intelligence on Amegakure. Note: Must determine Amegakure's movements. Details available after accepting.

B-rank Mission: Escort a Sun Moon Trading Company caravan into the Land of Earth. A ninja assassination attempt may be encountered. Note: Chunin may be encountered. It is recommended that a team of three Chunin accept this mission. Details available after accepting.

B-rank Mission: Investigate Cloud Ninja within the Land of Fire. Note: It is recommended that multiple Chunin accept this mission. Details available after accepting.

C-rank Mission...

After selecting for around ten minutes, they finally found a satisfactory mission. They walked over and accepted it.

C-rank Mission: Bandits have appeared near Ryūgetsu Village. Please go and eliminate them.

After accepting it, they received the detailed mission information as well: A group of bandits had appeared near Ryūgetsu Village, and Samurai with strength comparable to Genin were suspected to be among them... Mission reward: seventy thousand ryō.

There was nothing special about it. It was just a simple bandit-suppression mission. However, because Samurai might be present, it was considered somewhat difficult among C-rank Missions. The reward of seventy thousand ryō was also quite substantial.

Of course, the mission itself was ordinary, but assigning it to Team 3 was somewhat abnormal. Uchiha Kiyoshi could not figure out why Orochimaru had accepted such a mission. Was it really a good idea to start with something like this?

Suppressing bandits meant they would definitely have to kill quite a few people. That was difficult for rookie ninja who had never seen blood. If they could not bear it psychologically after killing someone and reacted too intensely, they might even be killed in return!

However, seeing Nawaki so excited that he seemed about to float as he walked, Uchiha Kiyoshi roughly understood something.

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