B-Rank Mission

The Elder nodded with satisfaction. Good, truly very good.

And so Tianqi took his leave of the Elder and returned home.

The next day, he began taking on missions with Sarutobi. Of course, the ninja world was temporarily at peace for now, and genin missions wouldn't be too high-level—mostly D-Rank Missions.

Thus, for several days in a row, the two of them stayed in the village, either helping people deal with trash or searching for cats and dogs.

During this time, Sarutobi also taught Tianqi how to climb trees and walk on water using his feet. But for Tianqi, these posed no problem at all—he mastered them in just a few minutes. This made Sarutobi sigh in admiration at Tianqi's truly exceptional talent.

During this period, Tianqi also used Points to exchange for ninjutsu. An S-Rank Ninjutsu cost Points, an A-Rank Ninjutsu cost 5000 Points, a B-Rank Ninjutsu cost 1000 Points, a C-Rank Ninjutsu cost 500 Points, and a D-Rank Ninjutsu cost 100 Points.

With the support of the Elder and the Clan Head, Tianqi didn't want to waste Points on ninjutsu the clan already possessed, but learning them on his own would take too much time.

In the end, he chose the Crow Clone, a technique originally created by Uchiha Itachi in the future, spending 500 Points. This ninjutsu was a combination of genjutsu and the Clone Technique, making it a skill that could both disrupt enemies and save one's own life.

With the remaining five hundred Points, he exchanged for the Water of Life from the system. The Water of Life had the effects of repairing human cells and strengthening the physique, and using more of it could even increase Chakra.

Small bottle: 100 Points, optimal usage stage—Genin

Medium bottle: 500 Points, optimal usage stage—Chunin

Large bottle: 1000 Points, optimal usage stage—Jonin

Tianqi exchanged for five small bottles of Water of Life. After using four bottles, his Chakra directly reached the level of a Chunin.

And so, day after day passed in the search for cats and dogs, until one day.

"Tianqi, let's go. There's a mission today."

"Another cat-and-dog search, or weeding?" Tianqi looked at Sarutobi with a speechless expression. He was starting to get a bit fed up with this kind of life.

"What cat-and-dog search? This time it's a B-Rank Mission."

"What mission?" Hearing it was a B-Rank Mission, Tianqi perked up with interest.

"Don't rush. Let me tell you. This mission is to wipe out a group of mountain bandits. Here's their information," Sarutobi said, handing Tianqi a document.

"This operation is entirely in your hands. Just a bunch of small-time bandits. For you at your current level, it shouldn't be a big problem. Of course, as your captain, I'll be following you from the shadows. Unless you're in life-threatening danger, I won't show myself. Understood?"

"Understood. Just a bunch of bandits. Easy," Tianqi replied.

"Then good luck to you," Sarutobi said, and vanished before Tianqi's eyes.

At that moment, the system also issued a mission: System Mission—Wipe out all the mountain bandits. Completion reward: 5000 Points. Failure penalty: immediate erasure.

Hearing "erasure" again, Tianqi rushed out of the village without a moment's pause.

Damn system, trying to erase me? Dream on!

That night, in an inn, Tianqi looked over the information in his hands. They really were just small-time bandits—only three genin, and the rest were ordinary people. And this was supposed to be a B-Rank Mission? With strength like this, shouldn't it be a C-Rank Mission?

Seeing the note that said "complete annihilation," Tianqi wasn't worried at all. Just a few bandits—wiping them all out was too easy.

Whatever, he'd find out tomorrow when he went to see. After a day of travel, Tianqi went straight to sleep.

A night without incident. Early the next morning, Tianqi headed toward the bandits' stronghold.

Hidden in a patch of grass near the stronghold, Tianqi watched a large group of patrolling bandits. Holy crap! How many people were in this stronghold? At least two hundred or so. No wonder it required a full wipe—it was because of the complete annihilation that this mission was B-Rank.

If only I'd learned Shadow Clone earlier. With this many people, if I get discovered, they'll all scatter. If they all run, this mission is ruined.

What to do, what to do? Tianqi racked his brain. How could he go unnoticed?

Got it!

Night fell. During the day, Tianqi had observed the stronghold's layout. Now he found a building that looked easy to set on fire. That's right—he was going to start a blaze, throw the whole camp into chaos, and then reap the harvest.

Boom! The fire roared to life.

Seeing the flames, the bandits panicked and began rushing to put it out, running east and west. Tianqi took the chance to harvest heads. For his first time, Tianqi felt no discomfort at all—as if he were born without any such feeling.

As Tianqi was taking down one bandit after another, the three genin leaders of the stronghold finally realized something was wrong.

"Don't panic! Everyone, don't panic! Gather up! An enemy has infiltrated!" the Third Boss shouted loudly.

Seeing that only about a hundred remained, "We've lost half our men without even noticing. If Third hadn't caught on, I'd still be in the dark. Damn it!"

The First Boss looked at the missing half of his men, his heart aching. These were all his assets. To lose half in such a short time—who wouldn't be furious?

At that moment, the Second Boss spoke up, "Friend, since you're here, why not show yourself? If there's a conflict, we can talk it out. There's no need to kill."

Tianqi watched as the bandits all gathered together. He ignored the leaders. His primary target was these ordinary bandits. Even if he couldn't sneakily pick them off, having them gathered saved him the trouble of hunting them down.

Tianqi formed hand seals. "Fire Release—Great Fireball Technique!" The massive fireball shot straight toward the three genin leaders.

The genin leaders weren't pushovers either. Seeing the fireball coming, they immediately formed seals. "Earth Release—Earth Style Wall!"

Three earthen walls rose in front of the leaders, blocking the great fireball. Taking advantage of the moment, Tianqi cut down another dozen men.

As the earthen walls fell, the three saw a young boy madly reaping their subordinates' lives and grew furious. "And here we thought it was some formidable opponent. Turns out it's just a brat. Die!"

Seeing it was a child, the Third Boss charged without a second thought, Kunai in hand, thrusting it toward Tianqi.

Tianqi sensed the Third Boss rushing at him. Just as the Third Boss reached him, Tianqi suddenly accelerated, firmly grabbing the hand holding the Kunai.

"With strength like yours, how do you have the nerve to charge at me?" Tianqi mocked as he held the Third Boss's hand.

The Third Boss struggled desperately to break free from the grip, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape.

"Go stand over there and stay put," Tianqi said, then kicked the Third Boss flying with one foot. He turned and charged back into the chaotic crowd, beginning his harvest.

"Third!" The Boss and Second Boss watched as the Third Boss was sent flying, quickly rushing over to help him up.

"Third, you alright?"

"I'm fine, Boss. That brat's no ordinary person—his strength is terrifying. I'm afraid only if the three of us join forces can we have a chance at beating him."

"Second, gather everyone. We'll fight him to the death today."

"Yes, Boss," Second Boss shouted at the panicked crowd.

"Brothers, stop running! Gather around me! If you keep scattering like this, you'll all die."

Sure enough, the words took effect. The chaotic crowd began regrouping around the three of them.

Looking at the blood and flesh strewn across the ground, then at the dozen or so men gathered together, Tianqi, his face splattered with blood, stared at the three.

The three Genin leaders felt their scalps go numb at the sight of the men Tianqi had slaughtered.

Second Boss spoke, his voice lacking confidence. "Boss, can we really win? I think this brat is nothing short of a madman."

The Boss ignored Second Boss. He looked at Tianqi and said, "Brat, where did you come from? Why are you targeting us? Don't think we're easy to bully."

Tianqi, for once, deigned to explain. "I'm a Konoha Ninja. I took a mission to wipe you all out."

"If you know what's good for you, don't resist. That way, you'll at least keep your corpse intact. If you still refuse to see reason, don't blame me for being ruthless."