When he reached the first floor of the Mission Hall, Watanabe spotted Might Duy again.
He stood at the edge of a corner, looking bewildered as people came and went. Like an outsider who had stumbled into another world, he seemed completely out of place.
Uchiha Chiri noticed Might Duy too. An idea struck her, and she had been about to seize the opportunity to continue teaching Watanabe a lesson.
See? Even if you bring Might Duy into the Mission Hall, it won't help. No client will entrust a mission to an ordinary person—
"You two go ahead. I'll catch up."
Watanabe hurriedly left them with those words and headed toward Might Duy.
Uchiha Chiri stayed where she was, curious to see what Watanabe was up to this time. Hyuga Rei and Hiruzen looked curious as well.
"Didn't get a mission?"
A familiar voice came from beside him.
Might Duy turned around. When he recognized Watanabe, he scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh. "It's definitely difficult to get a mission without being a ninja."
Watanabe paused to think.
In fact, on his way over, he had seen a few low-level missions involving finding lost cats and dogs or watching over houses. Even ordinary people could handle those.
But clients had their own preferences. If they were going to pay anyway, they would rather hire ninjas, whose status gave them the feeling their money was well spent.
"You can borrow my Ninja Headband."
Watanabe untied his Ninja Headband and handed it to Might Duy.
"I can't do that!"
Might Duy hurriedly waved his hands and refused.
"It's fine. Use it to fool them for now. You can return it after you finish the mission." Watanabe spoke without any hesitation. Without using special methods, Might Duy had almost no chance of getting a mission.
Then he told Might Duy where he lived and turned back to join Chiri and the others, who were waiting for him at the entrance.
Might Duy stared blankly at the Ninja Headband in his hands. His eyes gradually brimmed with tears, and a long-missed warmth welled up in his heart.
"Are Watanabe and that man close?"
On the way to the barbecue restaurant, Hyuga Rei asked curiously.
Chiri and Hiruzen quietly pricked up their ears.
Watanabe shook his head. "We only met for the first time today."
Hyuga Rei couldn't understand. "You lent him your Ninja Headband when you'd only just met?"
"He doesn't have any teammates. Having a headband will make it easier for him to get a mission."
Hyuga Rei seemed thoughtful. After a moment, she said, "Looks like Watanabe is a very kind person after all."
Watanabe didn't respond to her assessment. He felt he had merely done what he could to help someone he wanted to help. People could call him foolish, kind, hypocritical, or a bleeding heart for all he cared. As far as he was concerned, his conscience was clear.
"If you're so kind, Watanabe, why couldn't you go easy on me in the arena yesterday?" Hyuga Rei's expression suddenly turned plaintive, like an innocent girl who'd been hurt by a scoundrel.
Watanabe felt a chill run down his back and sighed. "It's not that I couldn't go easy on you. I had things I wanted to do, too."
"There's no deep grudge between us, and the graduation exam is already over. If you're still holding it against me, I can apologize. I just hope you'll stop treating me like an enemy."
Watanabe wanted to clear the air between them. He couldn't afford to provoke this fickle girl; he might not even realize it if she stabbed him in the back one day.
Hyuga Rei looked completely innocent. "You misunderstand me, Watanabe. I'm not treating you like an enemy."
Watanabe's brows twitched slightly.
You're not treating me like an enemy?
Then why did you just say your dream was to defeat me? Did you think I'd fall for it as easily as Jiraiya?
He steadied himself and stopped paying attention to Hyuga Rei. Whatever she did was up to her. If she wanted to stab him in the back, let her. As long as she didn't stab him in the butt, she wouldn't be able to hurt him anywhere.
Hiruzen pondered beside them. He felt Watanabe had done the wrong thing.
A headband symbolized a ninja's identity. How could he lend it to someone so casually?
But even Uchiha Chiri hadn't said anything, so Hiruzen had even less standing to tell Watanabe what to do.
Before long, the four of them arrived at Konoha's busiest barbecue restaurant.
Uchiha Chiri was both one of Konoha's elite jonin and a core member of the Uchiha Clan's leadership. Her wallet was never empty, so she treated them generously, ordering a lavish feast for the whole table right away.
The meal was pretty good. Watanabe didn't want to leave himself hungry, but he didn't dare eat too much, so he focused on sampling the tastiest dishes.
Hiruzen kept trying to get closer to Hyuga Rei and Uchiha Chiri, making an effort to keep the conversation going at the table. One moment he thanked Chiri for the treat; the next, he asked Hyuga Rei to guide him in the future.
Hyuga Rei was easygoing about it. She was very gentle and polite toward Hiruzen, keeping a sweet smile on her face the whole time.
Uchiha Chiri, however, was aloof to the extreme. She remained cool and distant from beginning to end, and didn't smile once before the meal was over. Hiruzen grew increasingly uneasy, wondering if she regretted taking him onto her team.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll lead you in taking on missions. It won't be like your life at school. You could encounter all kinds of dangers while carrying out missions, so you need to be prepared."
Chiri gave the three of them a perfunctory warning. After setting a time and place for them to meet tomorrow, she sent them on their way.
"A ninja's life is finally about to begin for real."
On the way home, Watanabe was filled with emotion.
Carrying out missions was a ninja's duty. The more missions they completed, the more respect they would earn among the villagers. If he wanted to join Konoha High Command, he had to make a name for himself and complete as many missions as possible.
"It's been a while since I saw Tsunade. I miss her."
Watanabe murmured to himself. Even now, he still regretted not becoming one of the Third's disciples.
The Third was utterly unreasonable.
At first, he had genuinely treated Tsunade only as a friend. But after she had confessed her feelings and kissed him that day, Watanabe had realized just how much she meant to him.
She was like a ray of light shining into his life.
Watanabe had once wondered what his life would have been like if he had never met Tsunade. Maybe he would have joined Danzo's Root and helped him take care of unsavory business. Maybe he would have left Konoha and wandered the world. Whatever the case, it couldn't have been better than his life now.
That evening, Watanabe practiced Taijutsu while waiting for Might Duy to come by and return the headband.
He had already learned enough ninjutsu. He didn't need to learn any new techniques for the time being; instead, he should shift his focus to Taijutsu.
He couldn't leave this weakness unaddressed. If his Taijutsu had been even a little better yesterday, he would definitely have beaten Hyuga Rei instead of having the Third declare them tied.
"If only there were a technique that was both powerful and could damage the body!"
Sweat pouring off him, Watanabe once again yearned for the kind of Taijutsu that existed only in his imagination.
Training in Taijutsu was grueling, and there were no shortcuts. Watanabe reckoned that if he took the conventional path, it would take him ten or twenty years to achieve anything in Taijutsu.
But he didn't have that much time. The Second Shinobi World War was about to break out, and he had to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
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