On This Matter of Thought, I Am a Professional!

"Asuma, is this really a B-rank mission?"

Shisui and Kurenai Yuhi arrived at the meeting point, and that was the first thing they both said.

"I don't know. I just... I just mentioned it casually, hoping to get a high-level mission."

Asuma was also clueless.

He had only mentioned it to the old man, and then that afternoon, he received the notice to gather.

"Let's leave the village first, and I'll explain on the way."

Kyoichi didn't say much more. Once everyone was assembled, they registered at the village entrance and then headed directly west.

After leaving Konoha, he explained the mission.

Then.

"For this mission, I will require you to operate under wartime conditions. We will not be cooking meals on the road; food will be entirely Ration Pills. Rest is not permitted until we reach the designated distance."

"Yes!"

"Depart."

While the three were surprised, a sense of tension also settled in their hearts.

Looking at their teacher's demeanor...

This mission might actually involve encountering enemy ninjas.

On the road, Kyoichi pondered in his mind.

This was the period when Akatsuki was growing stronger. The Land of Rivers had no ninja village; this purge was definitely related to them.

It all added up!

However.

If it's the current Akatsuki, they probably wouldn't attack Konoha ninjas. Besides, their mission was to escort Minato, not to fight, so there shouldn't be that much danger.

Even the Third Hokage didn't think Minato would be in much danger.

But.

What if danger arose?

These were troubled times, and they couldn't afford too many losses. Sending Kyoichi and the others was just an extra layer of insurance, and also...

If they could gather intelligence, that would be best.

Kyoichi knew this clearly.

"Teacher, does that mean Kakashi and the others also took a C-rank mission?"

After running a considerable distance, Asuma suddenly blurted out.

Kurenai Yuhi was instantly speechless.

You just found out?

Kyoichi couldn't be bothered to respond.

Kurenai Yuhi sighed and explained, "Kakashi is a Chunin. Their team's strength already surpasses that of ordinary Genin squads, so taking C-rank missions is very normal."

"Senior Might Guy's team also seems to have taken a C-rank mission."

"Oh."

Hearing Kurenai Yuhi and Shisui's words.

Asuma scratched his head. He had initially thought First Squad was special, but it turned out that the elite squads were basically already taking C-rank missions.

His initial elation subsided.

"C-rank missions are mostly for escort duty, with less combat. Our previous mission was an exception. This time, our mission is designated as B-rank simply because we might encounter ninjas, which raised the rank."

Kyoichi finally explained.

Generally speaking, C-rank missions paid between twenty thousand and fifty thousand ryo. The missions were mostly protective in nature, whereas their last mission had directly locked onto enemies and proactively eliminated them.

In simple terms, it was beyond the scope!

Of course.

The reward was also higher.

The final payment was sixty thousand ryo, a full twenty thousand more than the predetermined forty thousand, all because they had wiped out bandits and also recovered some of the treasures stolen from the village.

They pursued their path.

Soon, traces of Team 7 passing by appeared on the road.

Until the border of the Land of Fire, the traces suddenly disappeared—Minato and his team had begun to intentionally erase all traces of themselves.

"Proceed to the mission location."

Kyoichi took out a map, checked the direction, and then headed towards Minato's mission location.

Upon arriving here, there were no more tracks to be found.

Asuma looked around, appearing very curious, especially when passing through areas with people. But there were too few people here; you wouldn't see many even after walking a long stretch.

"Teacher, there are so few people in the Land of Rivers."

"It's too chaotic, they can't survive, so they leave. It's natural."

"Because there's no ninja village? But the Daimyo, can't he gather ninjas with his money?"

Asuma was confused.

Kyoichi was silent for a moment before continuing, "Because there are too many large countries around it, and the region is relatively large. Even if there were a ninja village, it would be almost impossible to survive."

"Then the Land of Rain..."

Shisui thought of the country located between the three great nations.

Isn't the Land of Rain even more miserable than the Land of Rivers?

But.

During the Second Great Ninja War, the Land of Rain almost stood alone against the three great nations, its prestige reaching an unprecedented height.

"The Land of Rain has Hanzo."

Kyoichi sighed.

Furthermore.

Hanzo was incredibly powerful in his early years, with his own ideals and pursuits. But after the Second Great Ninja War, Hanzo was also beaten into submission by the three great nations—

Hanzo's fame peaked, and it seemed he won.

However.

The three great nations could recover in a few years, but what about the Land of Rain?

Aside from the three anomalies, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, their educational and medical systems were on completely different levels. Producing another Hanzo would rely entirely on mutation.

This is the gap between large and small countries.

After hearing Kyoichi's words, all three fell silent.

For many years, they had viewed the situation from Konoha's perspective, believing that ninja villages like the Land of Rain initiating wars was detestable. But thinking from another angle, if they were ninjas from a small village, they would probably be even more desperate than Hanzo and the others.

Silence fell.

Asuma, Shisui, and Kurenai Yuhi all seemed lost in thought.

However.

A voice rang out from Kyoichi's side.

[Completed 'Asuma Sarutobi's' ideological guidance. He regards you as his life mentor.]

[Evaluation: Excellent]

[Reward: Flying Swallow]

Huh?

Asuma, you finally paid me back!

Kyoichi claimed the reward while running.

Flying Swallow isn't a sword; it's Asuma's close-combat taijutsu using twin knuckle blades, which, when combined with Wind Release nature transformation, makes his attacks incredibly fearsome.

You could say.

This is Asuma's bread and butter!

Of course.

Asuma hadn't even made his knuckle blades yet, so Flying Swallow was naturally out of the question.

Kyoichi savored the feeling, in a very good mood.

The technique itself was secondary.

Because Flying Swallow is paired with twin knuckle blades, it came with some benefits for dual-wielding weapons. Kyoichi could clearly feel that both his hands were more agile than before.

Especially his left hand.

This was a bonus that many ninjutsu couldn't provide.

Just for this, he had already profited.

What's more.

Flying Swallow isn't entirely a knuckle blade technique; it can also be performed with swords, albeit with slightly different methods.

"It seems getting a second chakra blade is pressing."

Kyoichi exclaimed happily, but couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

One wasn't enough!

After a moment of reflection, he glanced at Asuma.

The kid was deep in thought, but quickly remembered he was on a mission, shook his head, and cleared his mind.

Kyoichi chuckled.

Asuma had indeed grown a lot.

The Asuma of the past, while not comparable to Naruto in his early years, was still a child king, a troublemaker, otherwise he wouldn't have left the village over a minor conflict later on.

The current him was clearly very different.

It was all his own doing!

Of course.

As he mused, he secretly used Chakra Sensing to constantly scan the surroundings, searching for Minato's trace.

Finally...

"Found him! This way."

Kyoichi pointed in a direction.

Asuma and Shisui were stunned, while Kurenai Yuhi was not surprised at all.

She followed Kyoichi's pace, complaining as they ran, "You guys don't think the teacher would have us wander around Baiyun Town without sensing anything, do you?"

"So that's it..."

Shisui instantly understood.

The teacher had likely known the location of those bandits in Baiyun Town long ago; it was just a test for them at the time.

No wonder he had appeared so promptly later.

"I remember now! I heard my father say that the Second Hokage had a sensing technique that could detect others' locations from a great distance, even sensing their chakra strength."

"Stop spouting nonsense and keep up."

Kyoichi didn't deny it.

He wasn't planning to hide it anyway. If they guessed it, they guessed it. Now that his identity was recognized by Tsunade, he wasn't afraid of anyone from the village causing trouble. At worst, as Tsunade had said, he would just leave the village.

What a big deal!