C-rank Mission

While Uchiha Kiyoshi learned the Earth Spike Jutsu, Nawaki and Sarutobi Saku, who had been sparring nearby, also noticed the commotion. They stopped and ran over to see what was happening.

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

"Of course. Even though the simplified Earth Style Wall used less Chakra, its difficulty still reached the threshold of a B-rank Ninjutsu. How could they possibly be equally hard to learn?"

After three months, 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. It can't be used in actual combat at all. I still can't guarantee that I'll be able to cast it."

Neither of them believed Uchiha Kiyoshi's modesty. Learning to initially cast a new Ninjutsu in just a week was already rare enough. The process of becoming proficient was not difficult. The hardest part was already over—was using it in battle really that far away?

Nawaki looked at Uchiha Kiyoshi with the greatest envy. He was deeply envious of Kiyoshi's ability to learn Ninjutsu so quickly. In truth, Nawaki had possessed enough Chakra to practice Ninjutsu since he was six. Yet over four years, he had only learned five C-rank Ninjutsu: three Water Release techniques and two Earth Release techniques. Over the past three months, Orochimaru had been ruthlessly drilling him in Ninjutsu mastery and Chakra control, so he had not learned any new Ninjutsu. He envied and resented this desk mate who could rapidly learn one Ninjutsu after another, and he felt enormous pressure as well.

Though he spoke modestly, Uchiha Kiyoshi was quite pleased inside. Learning a new Ninjutsu so quickly not only meant gaining another means of dealing with enemies in a short time, but more importantly, it proved that his idea of learning large numbers of Ninjutsu and then organizing the functions of those small circulation cycles was feasible. He could get results within ten years.

Just then, a cold, sinister presence appeared. The three had grown accustomed to it and knew 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 inwardly praised his student's talent for Ninjutsu.

It felt like finding an overlooked bargain.

And that was indeed the case. Back at the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Kiyoshi had not revealed much. He had only displayed outstanding talent as a medical ninja, along with certain unusual personality flaws. That was why few people had troubled him all this time. Even Danzo did not think Kiyoshi was particularly talented. Perhaps the pressure of death had simply awakened his potential, letting him learn Medical Ninjutsu a little faster? After all, Kiyoshi had spent four years visiting the Uchiha Clan Archives. Overall, he had spent a long time learning Medical Ninjutsu.

The reason Uchiha Kiyoshi was gradually revealing his talent for Ninjutsu now was because he had Orochimaru as his teacher. He could already be considered part of Orochimaru's faction, and with the 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 these three months, you've become familiar with the mission process, and your strength has improved considerably. You're qualified to undertake some higher-level missions now. Today, you'll be taking a C-rank Mission."

After hearing Orochimaru's words, all three were extremely excited, but none of them made a sound. Nawaki especially covered his mouth with his hand to keep himself from cheering. There had been a time before when he had shouted and interrupted Orochimaru halfway through speaking. The consequences had been... quite unforgettable. Nawaki still had lingering trauma from it.

Still, even if they could not immediately celebrate out loud, they were genuinely thrilled. Whether escort missions or bandit-suppression missions, C-rank Missions generally required leaving the village.

That was highly appealing to them, who had never left the village since birth. Uchiha Kiyoshi included. Since arriving in 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 could earn merits unavailable from D-rank Missions.

Unlike D-rank Missions, which were little more than everyday chores, C-rank Missions were the kind of missions real ninja were supposed to carry out.

A ninja could take on 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 far surpassed 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. Although they were not specifically quantified, those merits were extremely useful.

Ninja ranks required a certain amount of mission merit to advance. Even registering for the Chunin Ninja Exams required them.

Furthermore, merits were the primary means by which ninja exchanged for Ninjutsu from the village. Generally, after completing around ten C-rank Missions, one could choose a C-rank Ninjutsu. Higher-ranked Ninjutsu could likewise only be chosen 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 method.

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

Although Uchiha Kiyoshi had Orochimaru as a channel through which he could learn many Ninjutsu, he could not get everything from him. Otherwise, Orochimaru would inevitably grasp all of his cultivation progress, which would not be good.

As Uchiha Kiyoshi's small Chakra circulation cycles with categorized functions became more effective, he would learn Ninjutsu faster and faster, perhaps even beyond what was reasonable. So he needed to redirect 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 acceptance.

B-rank Mission: Escort the Sun Moon Trading Company's caravan into the Land of Earth. Ninja attacks may be encountered. Note: Chunin may be encountered. Recommended for a team of three Chunin. Details available after acceptance.

B-rank Mission: Investigate Cloud Ninja within the Land of Fire. Note: Recommended for a team of multiple Chunin. Details available after acceptance.

C-rank Missions...

After searching 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 proceed there and eliminate them.

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

There was nothing unusual about it. It was merely a simple bandit-suppression mission. However, because samurai might be involved, it was considered difficult among C-rank Missions, and the seventy-thousand-ryō reward was not small.

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

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

However, when he saw Nawaki walking as though he might float into the air from excitement, Uchiha Kiyoshi roughly understood something.