Test

Test

"Anko, Itachi, the two of you will be responsible for watching Mr. Hongshan's warehouse from now on."

After Itachi and Anko acknowledged the order, he turned to Jirocho and said, "I understand what you said. If things are as you described, Mr. Wasabi's situation is probably not very safe."

After all, Wasabi Jirocho's initiative in seeking out Konoha ninja would be noticed and regarded as a threatening move.

Shuji had originally thought Jirocho would invite him over, but after hesitating, Jirocho said, "Things are fine on my end for now. I just have a few matters to arrange. If Jonin Shuji does not mind, please wait a while. Once I have handled them, I will personally come apologize."

"Then I will not disturb you, Mr. Wasabi. Please go ahead."

Jirocho left after apologizing. From upstairs, Shuji watched him depart with several guards, feeling somewhat puzzled.

"That guy was the one asking for help, yet now that you're willing to step in, Shuji, he's backing off instead." Anko understood that Shuji had intended to go directly to protect him, but Jirocho's attitude was clearly a refusal.

"He probably has people protecting him already, but they cannot be seen openly, so he needs to go back and make arrangements first," Shuji said calmly.

"This mission really is complicated." Anko sighed. "As expected of someone who became a Jonin, Shuji. You're so quick-witted. It's like none of this troubles you at all." As she spoke, she threw herself onto the bed, looking utterly exhausted.

Itachi glanced sideways at her.

"Since Lord Hokage accepted the Wasabi Clan's request, why couldn't he just say so when assigning the mission? Why be so secretive about it?" Anko complained. "If we had known about this earlier, we could have dealt with those people at the city gate."

The youngest member of the team finally could not hold back any longer. "As ninja, we cannot openly deal with official figures, Senior Anko."

"I get that, but then why bother with that cloth merchant's business? The mission should already count as complete, right? Since we can't do it openly, couldn't we just act at night? They're only ordinary people anyway."

"Because the village assigned two additional tasks. Those bandits are connected to rogue ninja, or there may be ninja among the bandits..." Itachi recalled the first mission he had carried out with Shuji. The intelligence had described only a small band of a dozen or so robbers, but their leader had actually been a rogue ninja. "That is why the captain decided not to act rashly."

"But..."

"Want some water?"

Shuji poured himself a cup, then looked at the two of them.

"I do." Anko got up and sat across from Shuji.

"Just as Itachi said, if the Tea Mountain Gang could be recruited, there must naturally be another force behind them. As for why Lord Hokage did not assign the mission directly..." There had actually been a similar case in the original story: the very first Land of Waves mission at the beginning. Because Tazuna could not afford the reward for a mission involving ninja, he had cleverly registered a C-rank escort mission in Konoha.

Before becoming a ninja, one might not think much of such things. But after becoming a ninja, especially a Jonin, one understood.

The village had its own review system. A mission was not whatever rank someone claimed it was. Tazuna was tied to the entire Land of Waves, so Konoha could not possibly have been completely unaware of the situation.

From a practical perspective, when Hatake Kakashi encountered the Demon Brothers, Kirigakure Chunin, he would inevitably have realized something was wrong.

Yet Kakashi still continued the commission and later fought an S-rank rogue ninja from Kirigakure to the death. It was hard to say there had been no other intention behind it—ninja villages did deal with rogue ninja, true, but that referred to low-level rogue ninja. If it could be done casually, they would deal with them along the way. Against someone of Zabuza's level, especially while leading three students, one would have to proceed with extreme caution.

The most likely possibility was that Konoha had just emerged from the upheaval of the Uchiha massacre and was preparing to seek new sources of mission commissions. They wanted to test the situation in the Land of Waves, so they pretended not to know what Tazuna was trying to do.

In the Land of Waves incident, the more reasonable explanation was that Konoha and Tazuna had been mutually seeking each other out.

This escort mission was not a case of mutual pursuit, though. It was simply that Hongshan Cheng had commissioned a top-tier C-rank mission, and the village took the opportunity to raise it to B-rank because the payment was sufficient, dispatching Team Five to handle affairs in Chujie Port.

Since they were unsure of the Black Erosion Corps' role in this, the two additional tasks were optional.

Only this B-rank escort mission had to be completed properly.

As for why they had not said so directly...

I am probably the one being tested... Shuji had a rough idea about that.

His way of doing things differed from the previous Shuji. From the first mission he chose after recovering physically to his attitude when accepting the second, none of it matched the Shuji who had once been single-mindedly determined to prove that the glory of Senju blood still remained.

Even in his previous life, if a company's model employee suddenly stopped working so hard, the supervisor would have to come down personally for a talk and ask whether something had happened.

That was why there was this mission.

It was a mission with no real difficulty. How far it was completed depended entirely on Shuji himself.

He could simply fulfill the most basic task of escorting the merchant caravan. When he returned, the village would not hold him accountable for failing to help Wasabi Jirocho, because Jirocho had no token proving that the village had accepted his request.

This B-rank mission could be treated as a reward for a war hero, adding another insignificant entry to his record. After that, the village could assume that Shuji had lost his drive after narrowly escaping death and make other plans for his future arrangements.

That was probably the path Grandma Toka hoped for most.

It also suited Shuji's own thoughts. He was merely an ordinary person who was both unfortunate and fortunate, without any great talent or wisdom.

But the future would not allow him to make such a choice. Take the possible Uchiha massacre as an example: it would fundamentally weaken the village and worsen his own living environment. If he wanted to prevent such things, he could not hold too low a position within the village.

"It is always inconvenient for a ninja village to openly interfere in another country's daily affairs. We can make our own arrangements according to the circumstances. That is precisely why a Jonin team with decision-making authority was assigned this mission," Shuji explained to Anko.

"Hehe, then I'll leave everything to Lord Jonin." Anko giggled. "Someone like me is only fit to obey orders."

The lazy manner of the purple-haired kunoichi made Shuji glance at her. If possible, he too wanted to only move his hands when necessary.

As Jirocho finished his visit with Shuji and the others, the current captain of Chujie Port's guard force reported what had happened at the city gate to a tall man wearing a sword at his waist, a brown kimono, and a white haori.

"Lord Beast Soldier Guard, how should we handle those ninja? As for the city gate tax..."

"Keep an eye on them. Do not clash with Konoha's ninja. Set aside the city gate tax for the next few days and wait until they leave." Beast Soldier Guard fixed the guard captain with a gloomy gaze. "Keep your men under control. Understand?"

The guard captain shuddered and immediately fell to his knees, hurriedly agreeing.

Meanwhile, after returning to the Wasabi Clan, Jirocho was speaking with another person.

"Oh... Jonin Shuji..."

"It does not matter. Since he intends to get involved, let him come."

"In that case, I will invite him over again. My earlier refusal likely gave Jonin Shuji many doubts. He may even wonder whether I can be trusted." Jirocho smiled at the person before him, then rose to his feet.

"Ah, it's fine. Once he sees me, he will understand."

"Of course."