First Mission

Ye Wuyue rolled his eyes and played along. "All right, Itachi-sensei."

Itachi couldn't help smiling helplessly at his perfunctory attitude.

"This is another member of our team, Sai."

The two of them walked to the entrance of the Ninja Academy, where Sai came over to them.

"Hello, my name is Uchiha Sasuke. Please take good care of me from now on." Ye Wuyue extended his hand toward Sai as he spoke.

Sai wore an obviously fake smile, trying to win others' trust with it. But honestly, Ye Wuyue felt that Sai looked more trustworthy when he didn't smile.

The way he narrowed his eyes and smiled falsely was exactly like Gin Ichimaru's, making anyone who saw him feel at first glance that he wasn't a good person.

"Hello, my name is Sai. I hope we'll get along well from now on." Sai smiled as he took Ye Wuyue's hand.

After observing him from close up, Ye Wuyue discovered that Sai's skin was even fairer than his own, and his looks were good enough to threaten him—though of course, that only applied when Sai wasn't fake-smiling.

"All right, let's find a quiet place to talk first. You two, make sure you keep up." As Itachi spoke, he used the Body Flicker Technique and ran off in one direction.

"Let's follow him too, Sasuke-kun." Sai turned around and gave Ye Wuyue a fake smile.

Ye Wuyue said nothing. He used Shunpo to catch up with Itachi, and Sai followed with the Body Flicker Technique as well.

Before long, the three of them arrived in a spacious forest within Konoha. Ye Wuyue glanced at Sai and noticed that his breathing was still steady. His physical abilities and Chakra reserves should both be quite good.

"Hmm... Why don't you two introduce yourselves first and get to know each other?" Itachi thought for a moment before speaking to them. This was his first time serving as a team's Jonin, and he didn't really understand the process of forming a ninja team. Only after asking the Jonin who had previously led him, Minazuki, did he more or less figure out what to do.

"Huh? Itachi-sensei, shouldn't you introduce yourself first? Don't other team leaders introduce themselves before asking their students to do so?" Ye Wuyue asked with a mischievous smile. Although he could more or less guess what Itachi would say during his introduction, seeing someone who didn't like talking introduce himself in front of others still made him quite happy.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I suppose that is how it works. Then I'll go first." Unable to escape this ordeal, Itachi had no choice but to begin.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi. My favorite food is Tricolor Dango. I hate war, and my dream is for there to come a day when war no longer exists anywhere in the shinobi world, and everyone can understand one another." Itachi gave a brief self-introduction, then looked at Ye Wuyue, indicating that it was his turn.

Sai listened quietly from the side.

Ye Wuyue sat on a tree stump and began, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like grilled fish, fried eggs, and hot pot..."

Itachi listened from the side and silently memorized the several foods Ye Wuyue had mentioned.

"What I hate... Hmm... Uh, I can't think of anything I hate for now. But my dream is to keep defeating powerful enemies and surpassing myself, as well as living happily with the people who love me and the people I love." What Ye Wuyue said was more or less sincere. In his original world, he could be said to have had no relatives at all.

His parents had abandoned him when he was eight or nine, and the grandparents who raised him had passed away only a few years after he entered high school. He had used all the inheritance they left behind to bury them. Afterward, he worked part-time while studying and relied on government aid to get into university. Unexpectedly, less than a year after starting, he was bound to a system and transported to this world.

He didn't know whether he had actually died suddenly because he had fallen asleep from exhaustion while teaching an online class after taking on too many part-time jobs in the two days before his transmigration.

That was why he yearned deeply for a happy family life, though he had basically never shown it.

Part of the reason he trained so hard every day was related to those past experiences.

"All right, it's Sai's turn, isn't it?" Ye Wuyue looked toward Sai.

After hearing him, Sai thought for a long while before finally saying, "My name is Sai. I don't have any favorite foods, there's nothing I hate, and I don't have any dreams."

Ye Wuyue wasn't surprised by Sai's answer. He had been trained as a killing machine in Root. Danzo's will was his will, and he had no will of his own. The concepts of liking and hating might be difficult for him to even imagine.

Itachi felt a little sympathy for Sai after hearing his self-introduction. At this point, he still didn't know Sai's identity. The file Sai had given him described him as an ordinary Chunin from the village who had passed the Chunin Exams the previous year.

"Since everyone knows each other now, let's go accept our first mission as Team 11."

After hearing both their introductions, Itachi spoke directly.

Ye Wuyue was dumbfounded. He felt that his big brother wasn't very suited to being a team-leading Jonin. Were they really going to accept a mission without even going through the necessary procedures?

"What's wrong, Sasuke? Do you have a question?" Seeing that Ye Wuyue seemed confused, Itachi turned and asked him.

"Uh... Itachi-sensei, don't we have to snatch some bells or something?" Ye Wuyue asked.

Itachi looked at him twice before speaking. "There are only two of you in our team besides me, so the bell test wouldn't be appropriate. Besides, since both of you already know about the test, how would it be effective? And Sai is already a Chunin of the village. I don't have the authority to make him repeat the Ninja Academy.

"As for your test, I'll observe whether you're suited to become a ninja during the missions to come."

After hearing Itachi's explanation, Ye Wuyue felt that he had been rather foolish. The problem was so obvious, yet he hadn't noticed it and had even asked about it.

"Oh, then let's go accept a mission."

Now that he knew the reason, Ye Wuyue naturally had no more questions. Sai had no questions either. After all, the only mentality instilled in him every day was that everything existed for the sake of missions.

The three of them arrived at the mission hall. Itachi glanced at the mission board and discovered that not a single D-rank mission was left.

"Are there currently no D-rank missions in the village?" Itachi asked the ninja managing the mission hall with a frown.

"Because this year's Ninja Academy students graduated today, all the D-rank missions in the village have already been taken. However, there are still several C-rank missions with low risks that don't require leaving the Land of Fire. Would you like to take a look?" The ninja smiled apologetically at Itachi and explained.

The moment Ye Wuyue heard this, he felt that it was false. Although today was indeed the day the Ninja Academy students graduated and were assigned to teams, all the other teams basically had to pass the bell test before they could start accepting missions. How could they possibly have taken every D-rank mission available today?

Looks like some people are trying to cause trouble again. But... I'll play along for now. This is the perfect chance to see what you're really plotting!

With great skill came great boldness. With Ye Wuyue's current strength, there was no need for him to be so cautious anymore. Besides, he had a big brother who doted on his younger brother and was comparable to a Kage Level shinobi by his side.

"Itachi-sensei, how about we accept a C-rank mission..."