Taking Missions

At the critical moment, Yichen rapidly formed hand seals with both hands at a speed far beyond before.

While Kitsuchi was still some distance away, he directly used the Substitution Technique to move several meters to the side.

He had thrown it over earlier while Kitsuchi and Shinohara were fighting at close range, taking advantage of Kitsuchi's attention being on Tana and Shinohara.

However, as a seasoned Ninja who had come off the battlefield, Kitsuchi would never overlook even the slightest change on a battlefield. He had long noticed that inconspicuous Substitution Wood in the distance.

So the moment Yichen's figure transferred over, he discovered that Kitsuchi had already changed direction and was charging at him.

He really is a Jonin. Yichen sighed inwardly.

But he did not panic. He formed hand seals again, and just as Kitsuchi's hand was about to grab him, he completed them once more and reappeared in his previous position.

It turned out that Yichen had left a double portion of Chakra in the Substitution Wood. That trip there and back created two transfers.

With a smack, the Yichen caught by Kitsuchi turned into a chunk of wood and was sent flying with a slap.

Kitsuchi was somewhat surprised. This time, he had failed to predict Yichen's move and lost the initiative, giving Yichen a chance to escape the range of Earth Splitting Palm.

Sure enough, just as Kitsuchi knocked away the Substitution Wood and charged at Yichen again, the now-safe Tana and Shinohara made their move first.

Tana's senbon and Shinohara's kunai directly sealed off Kitsuchi's path of pursuit, forcing him to shift sideways to evade the attacks.

After joining up with Shinohara, Yichen let out a sigh of relief. That had been far too dangerous. Luckily, he had kept something in reserve.

He immediately ducked behind Shinohara and began forming hand seals again.

But an accident struck the instant Yichen relaxed. At some point, a hand emerged from the ground and seized his ankle.

The next moment, Yichen felt the world spin. Once he steadied himself, he found that he could no longer move. His entire body had been buried in the earth, with only his head exposed.

Yichen knew he was out. Earth Release—Headhunter Jutsu. The proper use of this technique was to bury the enemy's entire body underground. The fact that his head had been left out was only because this was a spar.

With his body restrained, Yichen's field of vision was reduced to almost nothing, and he could not see what was happening around him.

He only heard a series of collisions. Before Yichen could judge the situation, two heavy thuds reached his ears one after the other.

Not long afterward, Yichen felt himself wrapped in a surge of Chakra before someone pulled him out of the ground.

Having regained the ability to move, Yichen turned to look around and saw Tana and Shinohara staring at him dejectedly.

Yichen was, in truth, more of a non-combat Ninja at the moment. His specialty was Sealing Jutsu, so losing did not hit him too hard.

But Tana and Shinohara felt completely differently. One was the strongest in their year, while the other was unmatched among his peers in speed.

Now they had discovered that their strongest areas had been effortlessly defeated by Kitsuchi, and in such a crushing manner that they could not even see the gap between them.

It was only natural for their confidence to take a blow.

After all, they had previously judged their specialties to be beyond those of ordinary Chunin. They knew they could not compare to a Jonin, but they had never expected the gap to be this vast.

At that moment, Kitsuchi, standing beside the three of them, patted each of them on the head. "All right, don't be discouraged, you three. You're still so young. Teacher wasn't even as capable as you when I was your age."

That was clearly meant as comfort, and Yichen did not really believe it. A Ninja as talented as Kitsuchi, with ample family resources, must have held advantages far beyond those of his peers as a child.

And setting aside Yichen's Sealing Jutsu level, although the three of them were in the top tier of their entire year, the gap between them and a Genius like Ikura was still obvious.

Kitsuchi was probably a Genius on Ikura's level.

Still, Tana and Shinohara genuinely felt much better after hearing that.

Seeing that none of the three were depressed anymore, Kitsuchi suggested, "To celebrate the establishment of Team Five, let's go have a big meal."

Yichen was the first to support the idea. "Great, let's go eat barbecue!"

Ever since he had spent all his savings to post missions last time, Yichen's finances had suddenly become tight.

It was not enough to leave him unable to make ends meet, but he no longer dared to spend extravagantly.

He had not eaten a luxury like barbecue in a long time.

Tana and Shinohara had not fully recovered yet, so naturally they were not as excited as Yichen.

Seeing that the other two had no objections, Kitsuchi waved a hand and directly declared that they were going for barbecue.

Yichen eagerly walked at the front, while Tana and Shinohara followed behind. Listening to Yichen mutter about what he would order and how much he would eat, they were somewhat speechless.

Kitsuchi followed behind the three of them, watching their behavior and recalling what it had been like when he had just graduated.

Before long, they arrived at the largest barbecue restaurant in the village. There were not many ordinary customers at this hour, but several squads led by their captains were there, much like Yichen's group.

Yichen swept his gaze around. "Hey, Ikura and Meikou are here too."

Hearing Yichen, Tana immediately looked in the direction of his gaze, while Shinohara watched Yichen with a wary expression, suspecting that he had arranged this with Ikura beforehand.

Noticing their reactions, Yichen laughed and ran toward Ikura's group.

"Ikura, Meikou, you're having a group meal here too?" After greeting his two classmates, Yichen looked at their captain. "Hello, Captain Mizuhara."

Mizuhara nodded at Yichen, signaling that he did not need to mind him and should go catch up with his classmates.

Then he looked at Kitsuchi and the other three walking over and greeted Kitsuchi.

Without asking anyone's opinion, Yichen directly called over a server and asked to combine their tables.

After they joined tables, Yichen forcibly pulled Shinohara away and refused to let him sit beside Ikura, leaving that seat for Tana.

Watching Tana sit beside Ikura in a fluster, helpless manner, Shinohara wanted nothing more than to grill Yichen like barbecue.

As people with experience, Mizuhara and Kitsuchi watched Yichen make mischief with amused smiles.

Once everyone had settled down, the atmosphere became somewhat awkward. Yichen therefore said to Meikou, "Meikou, introduce the classmate beside you."

Meikou shot Yichen a glance. "Uzumaki Yumi. We only met today as well."

Then she turned to Uzumaki Yumi and said, "These are all from our class. The girl is Tana, a speed-focused Taijutsu Ninja. That big guy is Shinohara, a strength-focused Taijutsu Ninja. The remaining one, the one acting all obnoxious, is Yichen. Just stay away from him when you can."

Yichen was somewhat speechless. How was he acting obnoxious? Speaking of which, his specialty was actually quite similar to Meikou's. They were both Ninjutsu-focused Ninja.

Other than Ikura, the two of them were the best at Ninjutsu in the class.

Originally, Meikou had been the first to learn the Three Basic Jutsu after Ikura, while Yichen had been third.

But after Yichen's Learning Progress accelerated, he overtook Meikou and became second in the class.

Meikou had been very unconvinced by that, while Yichen had been delighted at the time, giving her the feeling that he was smug over a petty success.

From then on, the two had not gotten along and often competed over the speed of their Ninjutsu training.

Originally, Meikou had her parents' support, and her training speed was roughly equal to Yichen's. The two of them were basically tied for second place.

But later, because of the reward from the S-rank mission, Yichen obtained a large amount of Medicinal Food.

His training speed immediately surged, and the gap between them was instantly widened.

Yichen had now learned nearly three C-rank Ninjutsu, while Meikou had learned only one, and it was the kind of Ninjutsu that required a teammate's cooperation in actual combat.

Just like Yichen's Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear.

Fortunately, Yichen understood Meikou fairly well by now and knew that, like him, she was just talking big.

Ignoring Meikou, Yichen directly said to Uzumaki Yumi, "Hello, Yumi. We're from Team Five, and this is our Guiding Jonin, Senior Kitsuchi."

Before chatting with Yumi, Yichen did not forget to introduce his team's Guiding Jonin.

Then Yichen began chatting with Yumi. "Yumi, do you know Sealing Jutsu?"

Uzumaki Yumi shook her head. "Although I'm a member of the Uzumaki Clan, I haven't studied Sealing Jutsu before. But Captain Mizuhara said today that he'll guide me in learning Sealing Jutsu in the future."

Yichen nodded in understanding. "I see. I was originally hoping we could compare our knowledge of Sealing Jutsu."

"That's all right. Teacher Mizuhara is the village's strongest master of Sealing Jutsu, and he has guided me before as well. I believe that under his guidance, you'll definitely be able to learn Sealing Jutsu. We can compare notes then."

"Hmph." Meikou made a dissatisfied sound. What angered her most about Yichen was that he already trained Ninjutsu faster than she did, yet his Sealing Jutsu level was also so ridiculously good.

Sometimes, Meikou felt that competing with Yichen was like comparing her specialty against his weakness. Winning was normal, but losing was humiliating. What was infuriating was that she had really lost.

Speaking of which, if he was so talented, why could he not be like Ikura and leave everyone far behind from the very beginning?

Why did he have to wait until she had grown accustomed to being second at everything before suddenly emerging and then advancing by leaps and bounds, leaving everyone behind?

Yichen made a face at Meikou. This little girl was just too competitive.

Seeing Meikou clash with Yichen again, Uzumaki Yumi felt somewhat awkward and did not know whether she should respond.

Fortunately, Yichen did not let the atmosphere go cold. He took a small notebook from the Ninja Tool Pouch he had made and handed it to Uzumaki Yumi. "Yumi, these are some notes from my study of Sealing Jutsu. They're for you. I hope they'll be helpful."

Uzumaki Yumi hesitated. She had been in Iwagakure for less than a year. Although life here was much better than before, she still somewhat regarded herself as an outsider.

So when Yichen suddenly gave her a gift, she did not know what to do.

At that moment, Mizuhara spoke. Smiling at Uzumaki Yumi, he said, "Take it. Yichen's Sealing Jutsu level is very high. His progress is only slow because his Chakra Amount is insufficient. But his understanding of Sealing Jutsu is quite unique, and his notes should be very helpful for your studies."

Only after hearing Mizuhara did Uzumaki Yumi accept Yichen's notebook.

Naturally, Yichen was not doing this because he was interested in her or anything. He was considering the village's greater interests. It would not be easy for the Uzumaki Clan to truly integrate into the village.

There were only so many benefits to go around. If some were given to the Uzumaki Clan, others would receive less.

Although the higher-ups understood the pros and cons, the people below might not necessarily be willing. What Yichen was doing was making an effort to give the Uzumaki Clan a sense of belonging in the village.

Though he was only a rookie Genin, thinking from the perspective of the Tsuchikage from a young age was a good way to cultivate a Ninja's bearing.

It was also a shortcut to gaining the higher-ups' recognition more quickly.

Could he not see Mizuhara looking at Yichen with an expression that said, I think highly of you?

No amount of concern from the higher-ups could compare to a small kindness from someone her own age.

Seeing Uzumaki Yumi accept the notebook, Yichen said to her again, "You don't need to thank me. We're all from the same village now. The Will of Stone is about unity, after all."

"She hasn't even thanked you yet, idiot," Meikou interjected at just the right moment.

Yichen awkwardly scratched his head. Uzumaki Yumi also let out a small laugh. She had been about to thank him, but Yichen had spoken too quickly and cut off her words.

Only then did she find an opening to say to Yichen, "Thank you, Yichen."

"Ha ha, hahahaha."

Yichen dissolved the awkwardness with loud laughter.