Taking Missions II

Yichen's thought process was intermittently abnormal. As classmates of four years, the others had long grown used to it. They merely rolled their eyes at his strange behavior and stopped paying attention.

Mizuhara knew Yichen fairly well too. From the novel ideas he had come up with while developing Sealing Jutsu, he knew Yichen was not normal.

As for Kitsuchi, his impression of Yichen was becoming more complete—and deeper by the day.

Ikura had wanted to talk with Yichen about the progress of his ninjutsu training, but Yichen deliberately ignored him and went to chat with the two girls instead, leaving him a little embarrassed.

Shinohara was sulking by himself at the moment and had no mood to speak.

Tana wanted to talk to Ikura, but she was too nervous to open her mouth. Yichen watched anxiously.

After thinking it over, Yichen could only ask Ikura, "Ikura, did Captain Mizuhara test your team?"

"Yeah. The three of us fought Captain Mizuhara, but we lost. What about you?" Ikura asked.

Yichen said, "Same for us. My ninjutsu was far worse than yours, so I held Tana back."

"If the two of you were in the same group, then with your ninjutsu skills and Tana's agility, you might have a chance to keep the captain occupied. If the tank didn't mess up, you should have a chance of winning."

Ikura thought seriously for a moment, then shook his head. "The Chance of Winning would indeed be higher, but it still wouldn't be enough. Jonin are too fast. It would be hard for us to coordinate our full strength, and we'd be easily picked off one by one."

Yichen was speechless. Was this what I wanted to talk to you about? Seeing that Tana still did not dare to interrupt, Yichen felt somewhat deflated.

Ikura did not think much of it, but his two teammates seemed to understand something. Their gazes swept back and forth between Ikura and Tana, making Tana even more nervous.

As classmates for four years, Meikou also knew quite a bit about Yichen and the other two. She had long guessed Shinohara's feelings, and when she thought of how Yichen and Shinohara usually bickered—

She immediately understood a certain little man's malicious amusement. She glared fiercely at Yichen again, leaving him utterly baffled.

Yichen thought, What did I do this time? Then he heard Ikura begin asking about the progress of his Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear training.

Yichen could only answer listlessly, "There hasn't been much progress. I've spent this past year dealing with Sealing Jutsu, so I haven't had the mind to train Earth Rising Spear."

Until the dinner gathering ended, Tana had not managed to say more than a couple of words to Ikura. On the way back, she was quite dejected, keeping her head down and saying nothing.

Yichen was dispirited as well and remained silent. Shinohara, on the other hand, was bursting with energy, as if he had beaten Yichen in a round. He kept provoking him all the way back.

Walking at the rear, Kitsuchi stepped forward and rubbed Yichen and Shinohara's heads. He said to the three of them, "All right, go home and rest for today. Tomorrow morning, meet at the Mission Hall. We'll take on a mission together."

As soon as he said that, the three of them were indeed distracted. Tana and Yichen perked up somewhat as well.

Yichen directly asked, "Captain Kurotsuchi, what rank of mission are we taking?"

Kitsuchi smiled. "You performed well. Starting tomorrow, we'll take C-rank missions directly."

"Oh!" Yichen was a little excited. He could finally take missions. Although these past four years had been fulfilling and he had worked hard all along, everything had ultimately been preparation for leaving the village.

Yichen might have seemed like such a homebody before, but that was only because he wanted to be safer when he eventually left the village to roam around.

As a transmigrator who knew the plot, no matter what his personality had been before, he could not possibly suppress that restless heart after transmigrating.

The fact that he had endured four years without wandering off was partly due to the restrictions of his identity, but more importantly, it was because he feared this dangerous world.

Now that he had the Tsuchikage's son as his captain, Yichen's Sense of Crisis immediately eased considerably, and his yearning for the outside world could no longer be suppressed.

Early the next morning, Yichen arrived at the Mission Hall fully equipped.

Given the enormous number of Ninja, it was impossible for every mission to be arranged by the Kage of a village.

In fact, nearly all D-rank and C-rank missions were issued by the staff of the Mission Hall.

Even most routine B-rank missions were issued by the Mission Hall.

For example, routine patrols, garrison duty, and most non-combat missions that were difficult and specialized but low-risk were all issued by the Mission Hall.

If every mission had to be arranged by the Kage, then the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages would probably die from exhaustion.

In fact, because Ninja villages were war organizations, each major department in a village was authorized to issue missions of certain ranks in order to prevent inadequate responses in special circumstances.

Furthermore, during wartime, frontline commanders could even decide whether to issue S-rank missions.

Yichen guessed that in the original story, Kakashi's team had all their missions personally handled by the Hokage because of the special identities of its members. Others probably did not receive such treatment.

Therefore, Team Five's mission had been selected from the Mission Hall by their Squad Leader Jonin.

Since Team Five had just been established, and Yichen's group had only just become rookie Genin, the highest rank of mission they could take was C-rank.

Yichen searched the Mission Hall's notice boards for a mission he wanted.

Kitsuchi watched from the side without urging them.

Driven by the novelty of taking their first mission, there was no way Yichen and the others would pick a satisfactory one without reading through the entire mission list.

Sure enough, nearly half an hour passed before the argument between Yichen and Shinohara finally ended with Tana's mediation. The three reached an agreement and chose an escort mission.

Since the war had just ended and the village had suffered heavy losses, there were especially many missions compared to the number of Ninja.

There were also many missions that had been backlogged for a long time, so Yichen's group had plenty of options.

They chose this mission because it seemed more challenging. Among the many missions, it had a relatively high chance of encountering combat, and it would not take especially long.

According to the mission description, Yichen's group first needed to go to a town near Iwagakure, find the client there, and escort him to the capital of the Land of Earth within seven days.

Seven days later, he was to attend a meeting hosted by an important official of the capital.

At a Ninja's speed, reaching the town would not take long. Even Yichen, the slowest of the four, would need only around half an hour if he traveled at full speed.

However, the ninja world was filled with danger. Unless necessary, Ninja would not travel at full speed.

A qualified Ninja had to remain aware of their surroundings at all times. Any detail might help them spot signs of an enemy in advance.

Things like Kakashi noticing a puddle and realizing there was danger, as in the original story, were common in the ninja world.

If those two Ninja had been a little more meticulous back then, or if it had rained in the past couple of days, perhaps Kakashi would not necessarily have noticed the danger.

In that case, when the Demon Brothers went berserk and attacked, they might have lasted two more moves against Kakashi.

As Yichen's group traveled, Kitsuchi ran alongside them while introducing the three to all kinds of knowledge about the ninja world.

Some of it had been taught at the Ninja Academy, while some came from Kitsuchi's own insights.

They learned as they traveled. Although their pace was slower due to Yichen holding them back, Team Five still reached the town an hour later.

After arriving in town, Kitsuchi was no longer as relaxed as before. In the wilderness, while danger still existed, the situation was not complicated. As long as he was careful, it was not difficult for a Jonin of his strength to protect Yichen's group.

But in a crowded place, it was different. If enemies blended into the crowd, they would be hard to spot.

And given the strength of Yichen and the other two rookies, if an enemy suddenly attacked, even Kitsuchi might not be able to rescue them in time.

So as soon as they entered the town, Kitsuchi began scrutinizing the passing pedestrians, looking ready to act at any moment. The sight made passersby keep their distance from Yichen's group.

This was actually normal for Ninja. Staying alert and on guard was something Ninja had to maintain their entire lives. It also caused civilians who did not understand to misunderstand Ninja, believing them to be unapproachable. Gradually, Ninja became more and more mysterious in these people's eyes.

Yichen remained vigilant as well. Ninja had high offense but low defense, and he was no exception. In a direct confrontation, he could trade a few moves with a Chunin.

But if he faced a Chunin's Sneak Attack, he would definitely die. There was no second possibility.

Tana and Shinohara were clearly not reckless fools either. Of the four, Kitsuchi was at the front, Shinohara at the rear, while Yichen and Tana stood on either side in the middle.

They maintained their combat formation as they walked forward at an unhurried pace. Kitsuchi had assigned this formation earlier on the road.

Even after they reached the mission location and met the client, the four did not break formation.

The client was not an ordinary civilian, but an official of the town. He was already accustomed to the ways of Ninja, having hired them more than once or twice, and did not care about such minor details.

On the contrary, it proved that this team of Ninja was reliable.

That was precisely the impression Kitsuchi wanted to give the client. After all, Yichen's group was far too young.

They were three nine-year-old children. Neither Yichen nor Tana was even one and a half meters tall. Shinohara was slightly better off, but no one could hide the childishness on their faces.

Once the client saw that the Ninja assigned to escort him had arrived and checked the mission document, he packed his things and prepared to head for the capital.

On the way to the capital, Yichen learned from the client's attendant that the client was the official in charge of governmental affairs in the town. He had not hired Ninja because he expected an assassination attempt or anything like that.

It was simply because the war had just ended, and the ninja world had not yet fully returned to peace.

The next six months to a year would be the most chaotic period in the entire ninja world. The number of Ninja in every major country had sharply declined, and defenses that had once been sufficient were now stretched thin.

Many Rogue Ninja had become increasingly restless, and the war had also turned many Ninja into new missing-nin.

These missing-nin had only recently defected, and every one of them was like a frightened bird. At the slightest disturbance, they would imagine they were being hunted down.

Some missing-nin believed they had little hope of escaping their villages' pursuit and might commit extreme antisocial acts.

Such as assassinating officials or attacking civilians.

Therefore, escort missions were the most common during this period. After all, wealthy people did not want to put themselves in danger.

Unlike the client's group, who hoped for a peaceful journey, Yichen and the other rookie Ninja kept hoping something would go wrong so they could better adapt to this cruel world.

They also wanted to see whether the skills they had learned were actually useful.

Unfortunately, things did not go as they wished. Five days later, the group safely reached the capital without encountering any incidents, and Yichen never got a chance to show what he could do.

On the return journey, the three rookies who had just completed their first mission were all somewhat disappointed.

Kitsuchi had long grown used to such situations. He had completed many missions like this before the war broke out, and he found it rather amusing.

If every mission had so many twists and turns, Ninja would have died out long ago.