Are You Some Kind of Nepotism Hire?

"Heh, since you, the brother-obsessed fool, came right to my door, of course I'm going to take you in!"

That was easy to say, but whether he could actually take down Uchiha Setsuna was another matter. Setsuna was no pushover.

As for his own strength, he was about on par with a Special Jonin, still some way off from being a Jonin.

And he only had one unit of Chakra. If he used a few high-level jutsu in battle, his reserves would be drained.

The fastest way to increase his Chakra was through the system shop, but he hadn't found a reliable way to earn Calmness Points yet, so he didn't dare use them carelessly.

Otherwise, if he couldn't save up sixty thousand Calmness Points to redeem that item by the time Madara Uchiha attacked Konoha, he'd be in danger.

"Ugh! Why are all these Uchiha always looking for trouble?"

He could understand a little better now why Tobirama paid special attention to the Uchiha Clan. They really did love stirring up trouble.

Still, there were plenty of Uchiha he didn't mind, like Kagami and Uchiha Chirori.

After turning the matter over in his mind without coming up with a way to deal with Uchiha Setsuna, he simply stopped thinking about it and went to bed!

That was Torifu's usual approach. Worst-case scenario, he could just move in with his teacher. He refused to believe Uchiha Setsuna was so brazen that he'd dare assassinate him in the Senju Compound!

The moment Torifu climbed into bed, he was fast asleep. Everything that had happened that day had left him exhausted.

Luckily, Torifu wasn't the sort to dwell on things. There was nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix.

And so the night passed. The next morning, Torifu and Uchiha Chirori were strolling down the street, looking relaxed and smiling.

Torifu stretched and grinned at Uchiha Chirori. "Today's been a lucky day. Teacher was busy, so he let us go without much training."

Uchiha Chirori pouted, not looking very happy. "I wanted to practice a little longer, but Lord Hokage dismissed us. When am I ever going to be able to beat you like this?"

Torifu shrugged and said casually, "Then next time, I'll take it easy. Why are you so determined to beat me?"

"Even though my brother has some influence in the clan, he still can't stand up to those old fossils. I want to grow stronger quickly so I can help him."

Uchiha Chirori looked a little downcast. She was strong for a child, but that level of strength was nowhere near enough.

Seeing her like that, Torifu stopped teasing her and tried to cheer her up instead.

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself. There's a time for everything. Was your brother able to rally a group of clan members when he was six? No."

"As long as you make progress every day, that's enough."

Uchiha Chirori was touched, but she was still worried about her brother.

"Don't worry. Your brother is Lord Tobirama's student. He has powerful backing."

"All right..."

She reluctantly accepted that, but she knew Lord Tobirama didn't think much of the Uchiha Clan. She had no idea what had made him take her brother on as a student.

"What should we do now?" Uchiha Chirori asked, her mood gradually improving as she returned to her cheerful self.

Once you got to know Uchiha Chirori, you'd realize that she only acted like a haughty young lady around people she didn't know. The real her was a lively little girl.

"I don't know. It's still early. Why don't we go see what your brother and the others are up to?"

"They're probably taking missions or something, right? We've got nothing else to do, so let's go."

With that settled, the two headed for the place where shinobi in the village accepted missions, hoping to run into them—or wait for them there.

The closer they got to the mission office, the more people they saw. Most were adults, and even the youngest looked to be around fifteen or sixteen.

Two little kids like Torifu and Uchiha Chirori naturally drew a lot of attention. Some people even asked if they were lost.

Torifu could only explain helplessly that they were there to meet someone.

Quite a few people recognized Torifu, since it was impossible to keep his status as the Hokage's student a secret.

Even so, nobody gathered around him in a crowd. Everyone was busy, after all.

Being the Hokage's student didn't give him any real authority. Why would anyone crowd around a little kid?

Torifu was quite pleased with that. Just imagining himself surrounded by people gawking at him made him feel suffocated.

"Torifu, look! It's my brother and the others!"

Following the direction of Uchiha Chirori's finger, Torifu spotted Kagami Uchiha and the others.

"Let's go over."

With that, Torifu walked over with Uchiha Chirori.

"Hey, hey, hey, mister! Don't you have any harder missions?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked the middle-aged shinobi handing out missions, sounding as if he found the assignment the man had given them completely unsatisfactory.

The middle-aged shinobi wasn't bothered by Hiruzen Sarutobi's complaint in the slightest. He replied calmly.

"With your qualifications, this is the hardest mission you can take."

He'd seen plenty of rookies like this. When he'd first started out, he'd also complained in the same way, so the man had given him a higher-ranked mission.

The result was that he'd never seen that shinobi again.

Seeing that the middle-aged shinobi seemed to look down on his strength, Hiruzen Sarutobi rolled up his sleeves, ready to show him what he could do!

But Danzo grabbed Hiruzen Sarutobi from the side, stopping him from making a fool of himself.

"That's how it is, sir. We're Lord Tobirama's students, and our teacher told us to take on a mission that's harder than usual as a test. Here's his letter."

Danzo explained the situation clearly and methodically, then pulled a letter from inside his clothes and handed it to the middle-aged shinobi.

The man unfolded the letter and glanced at it, confirming it was in Lord Tobirama's handwriting.

Since that was the case, there was nothing he could do to refuse them.

"Fine, then. Take this one."

The middle-aged shinobi pointed at a mission marked A on the scroll. It was already the kind of mission that only a first-rate shinobi in the village could accept.

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately rushed forward to look at the mission they were about to take.

"Clear out bandits? Seriously? This is an A-rank mission?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't the only one confused; his companions were, too. Usually, bandits were just ordinary people who happened to be strong.

They were no match for shinobi, so missions to clear out bandits were generally given to rookies who had just become shinobi.

The main purpose was to train them to kill. A shinobi had to get used to killing to be considered a proper shinobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were long past that stage, so they were naturally surprised to see a bandit-clearing assignment.

"Hey, mister, you didn't just mark a C-rank mission as A-rank on purpose, did you?"

The middle-aged shinobi looked up at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Kid, are you some kind of nepotism hire who became Lord Tobirama's student? Why are you so reckless?"

Hearing the man mock him sent Hiruzen Sarutobi's temper flaring! He was just about to snap back when Danzo stopped him again.

Kagami stepped forward to examine the mission scroll carefully. Only then did he understand why a mission to clear out bandits had been classified as A-rank!