First Mission

In the southern part of the Land of Fire lies the City of Flowers, a hub for commerce and travel.

"So this is the City of Flowers... it really is bustling." Ranwu looked at the small city before her, feeling a wave of emotion.

"Indeed, the City of Flowers is the center of trade in the southern Land of Fire, so it's naturally lively. The only downside is that food and lodging here are far too expensive," Jiraiya said.

"Expensive is an understatement... if you calculate the reward for this C-rank mission, it barely covers our expenses for this trip," Akaseki muttered, his mouth twitching.

"Just think of it as a graduation trip," Minato said, not letting the mood dampen.

Jiraiya then asked with a scrutinizing look, "You all remember the mission details, right?"

"Of course! After entering the City of Flowers, we are to go to the Flower Capital Office to meet with the magistrate," Ranwu replied immediately.

Previously, the three of them had been lectured by Jiraiya for not reading the mission scroll carefully, so they were now well-versed in the details—this was a mission issued by the Flower Capital Office, hoping that Konoha ninjas could help them catch a group of thieves that had been running rampant in the city lately!

Since it didn't involve other ninjas, it was only a C-rank mission.

However, given the cost of living in the City of Flowers, if they dawdled for too long, the reward might not even cover their expenses!

The reason the City of Flowers dared to post the mission this way was that they were waiting for ninjas passing through on other missions to stop by and handle it.

Jiraiya, however, had specifically chosen this C-rank mission that required leaving Konoha to train his three students—it wasn't too dangerous, yet it had a certain level of difficulty, and most importantly, it provided the experience of traveling far from home.

After entering the City of Flowers, Jiraiya became even more hands-off.

"Right, I'm going off to gather some material. You can find the office on your own, right?" Jiraiya said nonchalantly.

"Eh? This... of course we can." Ranwu was taken aback, seemingly surprised that they would have such a high degree of freedom on their first mission.

One had to remember that all three of them were still genin. Even ignoring the fact that they had "just graduated," they theoretically had no authority to complete a C-rank mission independently; even for veteran genin, a chunin leader was usually required!

However, the three of them were quite confident in their own strength, which was far beyond that of an average chunin; all they lacked was experience in executing missions.

"Take this for your expenses first; we'll settle the rest once the mission is complete," Jiraiya said, tossing a coin purse to Akaseki.

Although Jiraiya also felt that the youngest, Minato, had a more stable personality, he understood that with their temperaments, if Akaseki took the lead, Minato wouldn't object, and Akaseki would actually listen to Minato. But if Minato were to lead, Akaseki would definitely throw a fit.

Seeing Jiraiya really wave his hand and walk away, the three of them followed the map to find the location of the office.

The City of Flowers was very lively, almost rivaling Konoha.

Of course, its area and population were significantly smaller than Konoha's...

Soon, the three arrived at the office and, using their Konoha ninja credentials, met with the magistrate, Naiku, who had issued the mission.

"Eh? Children?" Magistrate Naiku couldn't help but look conflicted when he saw Akaseki and his companions.

"Don't you worry. Have you heard of the Uchiha Clan of Konoha? Konoha has no thieves precisely because we are there!" Akaseki said, patting the clan crest on his chest.

"The Uchiha Clan... I have heard of them." The magistrate still seemed uneasy about their age.

Seeing that Ranwu was becoming impatient, Minato stepped forward and said gently, "Sir, we did indeed just graduate from the ninja academy, so we actually have a jonin instructor supervising us from the shadows. We would appreciate a good review once the mission is complete."

A jonin instructor?

Hearing the blond boy say this, Naiku's eyes lit up. He felt the money was well spent—if you can call for backup, then I can rest easy!

"Then... please follow me, the three of you." Magistrate Naiku's attitude improved immediately.

"Heiji, these three... ahem, they are ninjas from Konoha. You will assist them later. You must help them catch those audacious thieves!" Naiku then called over a catcher.

Heiji looked to be in his thirties and appeared quite capable, with a jitte tucked into his belt. Hearing Naiku's words, he also looked at the three "children" with surprise.

However, the reputation of "Konoha" must have had an effect, as Heiji immediately said, "Yes! Three ninja-sama, if there is anything you need me to assist with, just give the order!"

"Understood, then we will trouble you, Catcher Heiji." Akaseki nodded, maintaining a composed posture.

Afterward, Naiku left first; clearly, the "magistrate" was very busy, which was why he had arranged for Heiji to act as their "guide."

"Three ninja-sama..." Heiji started to say something else.

Ranwu interrupted him first: "You can just call us by our names. I'm Ranwu, and they are Akaseki and Minato."

"Yes. Shall we go take a look at the Flower Street first?" Heiji asked.

The current wave of thefts was concentrated in the Flower Street, which was also the area where the most tourists and merchants gathered in the City of Flowers.

"No, before that, let us see the case files regarding the thefts," Akaseki said unhurriedly.

After receiving the files, Akaseki said to Heiji, "We'll study these first. Let's meet at the Flower Street at four o'clock this afternoon."

"Ah? Yes." Heiji seemed surprised that these three children were so serious.

Afterward, the three left the office. Akaseki found a reasonably priced inn and rented a room—they were used to sleeping on the ground in the wild anyway, so there was no need to worry about gender differences at a time like this.

Once inside the room, the three began to discuss the mission.

"The surge in thefts started two months ago and is concentrated in the Flower Street, where there are the most tourists. On the worst days, there are over a hundred reports a day. It's already affecting the image of the City of Flowers, which is no wonder they went to Konoha to post the mission," Minato said, analyzing the files.

Usually, this kind of petty theft maintains a "dynamic balance." As a commercial city, the City of Flowers had the ability to solve it themselves, given how many catchers they employed...

But now, with so many incidents occurring at once, it had shattered the reputation of the City of Flowers.

"What does this 'pickpocketing' mean?" Ranwu asked, pointing to a term on the file with a puzzled expression.

This was not covered in the curriculum at the Ninja Academy.

"It's just a method of theft involving picking someone's pocket on the street; conversely, 'burglary' refers to breaking and entering. The vast majority of reports from the Flower Street are for pickpocketing, while the number of burglary cases hasn't changed much." As a member of the Uchiha Clan, Akaseki understood this terminology; after all, the Military Police Force was not only responsible for "ninja surveillance" but also for "internal village security."

The fact that Akaseki asked for the case files right away also showed that he was quite professional in this regard.

"However, the troublesome part is that the number of cases has been decreasing since seven or eight days ago..." Akaseki noticed the change in the figures within the case files.

"Isn't it a good thing that they've decreased?" Ranwu asked, puzzled.

"Of course it's not! If he doesn't commit any crimes, how are we supposed to complete our mission?" Akaseki said as if it were obvious.

Perhaps fearing that Ranwu still didn't understand, Akaseki specifically emphasized: "Given the bounty for this mission and the cost of living in the Flower Capital... if we don't solve this in more than three days, we'll have to pay for our own food and lodging!"