This Buck Was Passed So Decisively!

"Cough, cough!!!"

Speechless, the Third Hokage choked badly on his own smoke. He looked helplessly at Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, then shook his head. "These are your forehead protectors, and this is your mission as well, Uchiha Hiko."

"Yes, Teacher." Hiko stepped forward.

With a stern expression, the Third Hokage handed the forehead protectors and Mission Scroll to Hiko, leaving him completely baffled. Shouldn't the Mission Scroll have stayed with the Third Hokage?

Even if he could not lead the team around at all times, it still needed to remain with him.

Why was he giving it to him?

"When carrying out missions, you will need to lead the team. As Konoha's Third Hokage, I cannot casually leave the Hokage Office Building, nor can I leave the village for long. From now on, the team's heavy responsibilities will rest on your shoulders."

"Huh?!"

Hiko froze for a moment. What was this? I'm still a student. Why are you dumping everything on me? Isn't this Teacher being a little too shameless? He's passing the buck awfully decisively!!!

You want me to lead the team around, but I'm not the team's teacher—I'm one of its members!!!

Hiko looked at the Third Hokage with deep resentment written across his face, as though asking, Teacher, is this really appropriate?

"Cough, cough!!!"

Under Hiko's gaze, the Third Hokage coughed and changed the subject.

"Oh, right. Once you have completed these current missions, I will personally take you on other missions. Though it will not be often, I still need to teach you."

"You may go prepare first."

Because the previous class of students had graduated, the Third Hokage was quite busy, so he dumped everything onto Hiko.

It looked like a great deal of authority, but Hiko would rather not have it. This was practically making him play both father and mother. It was utterly ridiculous.

"Yes."

Since the Third Hokage had already said so, what else could Hiko say? Looking at Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, Hiko's head began to ache. The three of them were all excited. No one wanted someone hanging over their heads. If given the choice, they would rather follow Hiko around than follow the Third Hokage.

"Mm. You may leave now. Remember, you must do your best to complete every mission. Otherwise, it will affect the team's reputation. If that happens, it will be difficult for you to receive important missions in the future."

The Third Hokage reminded the four of them.

Other than temporarily assembled Rogue Teams, fixed teams accumulated reputations. If a team's mission failure rate was too high, then important or better missions would basically have nothing to do with them in the future.

Do not underestimate even the lowest-level D-rank missions. Only by doing them well and satisfying the clients could a team's reputation gradually build up.

"This student will keep that in mind. Please rest assured, Teacher."

Hiko nodded and led Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya out of the Hokage Office Building.

"Child, do not disappoint me."

After the team left, the Third Hokage muttered to himself and picked up a Mission Scroll to read. He was practically swamped now, and having Hiko lead the team on missions truly saved him quite a bit of trouble. As for teaching them, that could only wait until he had free time.

This was also a major drawback. The Third Hokage wanted to know whether Hiko had the ability to shoulder the banner. If he did, the Third Hokage would gradually loosen his control. If he did not, it would not be too late for him to take over again.

They were only the simplest missions anyway. With him, the Third Hokage, around, was there any need to worry about something like team reputation?

It was simply not something he could say in front of the students.

Hiko also knew that although this was rather absurd, it counted as the Third Hokage testing him. No matter what, he needed to lead the team well. If anyone refused to behave, hehe~~~~ he had countless ways to make people suffer. He just had never used them before.

"Put on your forehead protectors. Let me see what missions Teacher assigned us."

After distributing the forehead protectors to the others, Hiko opened the Mission Scroll in his hand. After only two glances, the expression on his face turned strange.

Holding the scroll with a strange expression, Hiko said nothing as the others happily put on the forehead protectors that marked their identities as ninja.

Seeing Hiko's expression, Tsunade curiously leaned over. "What is it? Is the mission something especially strange?"

"You... see for yourselves."

Hiko did not know how to put it. He stuffed the scroll into Tsunade's hands, then raised a hand to cover his ears so they would not be blasted.

"This is impossible!! What does that Old Man Third mean by this!!! Isn't he just messing with us?"

Sure enough, after Tsunade picked up the scroll and read its contents, she immediately let out a furious roar. Hiko had been prepared and suffered no harm, but Jiraiya and Orochimaru were startled. Jiraiya in particular exaggeratedly jumped far away and shouted, "What happened? What happened? What's going on?"

"This is outrageous!!!" Tsunade clutched the Mission Scroll, her fair little face flushed red with anger. She had the urge to tear it apart.

"Uh..."

Orochimaru and Jiraiya leaned in and looked at the Mission Scroll. They were instantly dumbfounded. What kind of mission was this?

Wasn't catching cats and walking dogs supposed to be the lowest-level missions? What was this supposed to be?

"Cough, cough!!!"

Hiko knew it was time for him to step in. Although the mission was a little bizarre—more accurately, a little scammy—it still had to be done. Even if the others were unwilling, Hiko had to find a way to get them to comply, not just so he would not disappoint the Third Hokage.

More importantly, if they did not start doing missions soon, Hiko would go hungry.

He had once been able to rely on subsidies from the village and the clan, but from now on, he could only earn money for himself. And if he wanted to earn money, he had to do missions.