Grinding Missions

Although he had some reservations, since he was already here, Aozora still introduced himself to Might Guy in a friendly manner.

When he learned that Aozora was also a dead last, Might Guy nearly threw his arms around him and burst into tears.

If Aozora had not resisted with all his might, his first hug would have been ruined by this muscle-head.

Though the hug had failed, their shared status as dead lasts gave Might Guy a sense of kinship with Aozora.

So, when Aozora said he admired his taijutsu and wanted to practice with him, Might Guy readily agreed.

The two arranged to get up early every day for morning runs around Konoha, while weekend plans would be made separately depending on the circumstances.

Once they had settled it, Aozora hurried home on the excuse that he had something to do.

The next day, Aozora practiced the Great Dragon Fire Technique and Hana Claw Red in the morning, spent some time with Might Guy in the afternoon, and thus ended his two-day break.

On Monday, after morning training with Might Guy, Aozora arrived at the Hokage Building early.

Sai and Hayate seemed to be on the same wavelength as Aozora and also arrived at the mission hall ahead of time.

Once Aburame Shibi arrived, Sai impatiently tried to line up to accept missions, but Aozora rolled his eyes and dragged her back.

"Don't rush to take missions yet. Let's discuss this first!"

Sai struggled twice but could not break free. She then turned back around dejectedly.

The three found a slightly secluded corner and began their discussion.

"First, the three of us need to reach a consensus. None of us wants to keep doing D-Rank Missions. We want to take on higher-level missions." Aozora raised one finger and spoke seriously to the other two.

Sai immediately echoed him, shouting, "That's right! We don't want to keep doing these low-level missions. Looking after bratty kids, running errands, buying things—those jobs are completely beneath elite shinobi like us. We can't waste our time on such boring missions."

"Mm." Hayate nodded lightly. He too had grown tired of these tedious missions.

Aozora struck while the iron was hot. "But without enough experience in low-level missions, we aren't qualified to accept higher-level missions."

"Yeah..." Sai lowered her head like a defeated dog.

Seeing this, Little White bit her pant leg and barked twice in encouragement.

Aozora said, "Since mission experience is required, then we just need to meet that requirement."

He then laid out his plan.

To accept C-Rank Missions, they needed to complete at least 50 D-Rank Missions.

At the pace they had completed missions last week, they would still need at least nine weeks—nearly two months.

None of the three wanted that.

So Aozora proposed splitting into three groups and grinding missions.

Aozora had noticed that some D-Rank Missions did not take much time or manpower. As long as one was strong enough, a single person could complete them quickly.

After explaining the plan, Aozora assigned their tasks. "Sai, your scouting skills are excellent, and you're agile. Catching cats and dogs or finding lost items should be easy for you and Little White. You can handle pet-finding missions alone. Catching three to five animals a day shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Sai quickly nodded. "No problem. As long as there are missions to catch pets or find lost items, leave them all to Little White and me."

Little White hurriedly made her own promise. "Woof! Woof!"

Aozora turned to Hayate. "Hayate, you're pretty fast. Can I leave letter delivery and errand-running missions to you?"

Delivering letters and running errands were a little more tiring, but compared to tasks like working in the fields, they were still much easier.

Hayate coughed, then nodded in agreement.

Seeing that both she and Hayate had been assigned tasks, Sai asked, "What about you, Aozora?"

Aozora straightened up. "As the strongest person on the team, I've decided to give myself a heavier burden."

"I'll take missions to clean rivers and look after the elderly and children."

Thinking of the foul, stinking river from last week, Sai and Hayate could not help giving Aozora a thumbs-up.

After dividing the work, Aozora said, "Before we start, let's settle the accounts."

"Since we'll be doing missions separately, logically, each person should receive their own reward. But because the missions differ, that would be somewhat unfair. For example, if Hayate takes a letter-delivery mission and the destination is far away, it might take two or three days to finish one mission. By then, Sai might have already completed five or six."

"I don't mind," Hayate said.

"Me neither," Sai said. "Aozora, distribute it however you think is fair!"

Aozora shook his head. Why am I even talking about mission rewards with two shinobi prodigies?

"Then it's settled. We split the mission rewards evenly."

"Alright. Let's go accept missions!"

"Let's move out!"

Aburame Shibi, who had been "invisible" throughout the entire conversation, could not help pushing up his sunglasses as he watched his three students.

This was somewhat different from what he had expected.

Team 3 was strong enough. They only needed to temper their mindsets a little before they could accept higher-level missions.

Aburame Shibi had originally planned to wait until the three could no longer resist complaining, then go with the flow and let them accept C-Rank Missions. He had not expected them to think of this method instead.

After considering it, he realized it did not violate shinobi discipline, so Aburame Shibi was happy to let it happen.

After negotiating with the front desk staff for quite some time, Team 3 accepted five missions, then split up in front of the Hokage Building.

Sai directly took Little White to pursue a Big Grey Dog that had run away from home.

Hayate took two letters and began his career as a mailman.

Aozora created two Clones. One went to chat with elderly people, while the other picked up trash from a stinking ditch.

Before noon, Sai had captured the big dog and then went to look for a lost kitten.

After Aozora finished cleaning one stretch of river, he returned to the Hokage Building and accepted a mission to clean the Training Ground.

That evening, the three turned in their missions.

Hayate completed two letter-delivery missions to Neighboring Villages.

Sai completed two pet-capturing missions and one lost-item search mission.

Aozora completed missions to clean a river, clean the Training Ground, and keep an elderly person company.

In a single day, Team 3 completed eight missions in total.

Sai had spent the entire day chasing cats and dogs, and her clothes were covered in stains, but she did not care in the slightest.

"One, two, three..." As she counted the mission rewards, Sai said excitedly, "Haha, there are actually seventy-five bills—7500 Ryo."

Hayate had run around all day, yet his tired face was full of smiles. "If things can keep going like today, then we'll be able to accept C-Rank Missions next week."

Seeing this, Aozora could not help pouring cold water on their excitement. "Don't get ahead of yourselves. We deliberately picked these kinds of missions, so there will be fewer and fewer of them later on. These quick and easy missions won't keep appearing forever. Once they run out, our mission completion speed will slow down."

"Still, in two weeks at most, we'll be able to accept C-Rank Missions."

As he said that, he smiled as well.

It was indeed worth smiling about. Besides the 7500 Ryo in mission rewards, he had gained four Golden Droplets of Merit in one day.

The next day, Team 3 went all out and completed ten D-Rank Missions in a single day.

On the third day, suitable missions gradually became scarce, and Team 3's mission-grinding speed slowed. They only completed six.

Looking at his gradually bulging money pouch and the increasing number of Golden Droplets in the Heavenly Book, Aozora felt twice the joy.