On a crowded street, a dark shape suddenly darted out from beneath the feet of the crowd. Three figures quickly moved to surround it.
"This is Sasuke. I've reached Point A!"
Standing behind a wall, Sasuke spoke into his headset.
"This is Sakura. I've reached Point B!"
"This is Naruto. I've reached the point!"
Before long, Naruto and Haruno Sakura's voices came through the headsets.
"Don't startle the target!"
Watching the dark shape from a rooftop and listening to the reports over his headset, Kakashi couldn't help calling out.
"All right, the target has stopped moving. How far away are you?"
A moment later, Kakashi asked calmly.
"Four meters. We can move in at any time!"
Naruto answered confidently.
"We're ready to move in!"
Sasuke agreed.
"I'm ready too!"
Haruno Sakura replied.
"Good. Begin the operation!"
After hearing their responses, Kakashi immediately gave the order.
"Ah... Leave it to me!"
Naruto pushed off with his foot and rushed out first, quickly grabbing the dark shape.
"Woof! Woof!"
"I've got it!"
Holding on to the black dog as it struggled, Naruto shouted loudly.
"Is it the missing Black Fang?"
To make sure they hadn't caught the wrong dog, Kakashi asked over the headset.
"It's wearing a black collar. There's no mistake—it's Black Fang."
Sasuke examined the black dog in Naruto's arms, then confirmed its identity.
"Good. The mission to catch the lost pet, Black Fang, is complete!"
After leaping across several rooftops and landing on the ground, Kakashi immediately announced the mission's completion.
"Kakashi-sensei, don't you have any higher-ranked missions for us?"
Naruto stared at Kakashi and complained loudly.
Two months had passed since their first mission, when they'd helped someone pull weeds. They were still doing these low-level missions, and Naruto had long since grown impatient.
"Yeah. Continuing these missions won't do much to improve our abilities."
Sasuke nodded in agreement.
At first, Sasuke had been willing to accept low-level missions, but after two months, they'd trained so hard that they couldn't put the results of their efforts to use on such easy assignments.
"I knew you'd soon run out of patience!"
Kakashi took off his headset and sighed.
Truthfully, Kakashi was just as frustrated about continuing to take low-level missions. Ten days ago, he'd asked the Third Hokage to assign his team a C-Rank Mission, but Sarutobi Hiruzen had turned him down, saying that Sasuke and the others were still too inexperienced.
"Kakashi-sensei, all we ever do is clean, look after other people's kids, and search for pets... If this keeps up, I'm going to lose my mind..."
Hearing Kakashi's sigh, Naruto continued to complain.
"Sigh. How about this? I'll take you to see Lord Hokage. If he agrees, we'll accept a higher-ranked mission."
Unsure how to talk the stubborn Naruto out of it, Kakashi sighed and replied.
"Then let's go! If the old man won't agree, I'll use Sexy Jutsu to knock him out!"
As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, Naruto shouted excitedly.
Only Naruto would say something like that. Sasuke and the others rolled their eyes at him.
But they knew that was just Naruto's mischievous nature. Sasuke and the others shook their heads helplessly, then headed toward the Hokage Office Building.
The most famous landmark in Konoha was Hokage Rock, where the faces of the four Hokage had been carved.
Directly beneath Hokage Rock stood the seat of Konoha's power: the Hokage Office Building, whose top-floor railing bore an enormous "Fire" symbol.
The Hokage Office Building wasn't just a place for the Hokage to work. It also housed a mission hall where clients could come and go, a ninjutsu archive, Konoha's intelligence department, and more.
At that moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen was seated in the mission hall with a pipe in his hand. He glanced at the four members of Kakashi's team, who had just returned from a mission, and said calmly, "Your next mission is to buy sweet potatoes."
"No! Don't give us missions like that anymore!"
Naruto objected loudly.
"We want to take on more challenging missions!"
"You're all inexperienced rookies. You need to build up experience with the simplest missions first."
Hearing Naruto's request, Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe and spoke softly.
"But we've been doing boring missions for two months already! Give us something else!"
Naruto replied in frustration.
"Naruto, you should have learned at the Ninja Academy that missions are divided into four ranks: A, B, C, and D. The village receives many requests every day, and the higher-ups assign each mission to shinobi with the right abilities. You've only just become Genin, so the most you can take on are D-Rank Missions."
Sarutobi Hiruzen calmly explained, paying no attention to Naruto's dissatisfaction.
"But I've been getting stronger through hard training. I'm not the weak brat you think I am!"
"Please, just give us one chance!"
Clenching his fists, Naruto stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen and pleaded anxiously.
"With Kakashi-sensei here, we can complete a C-Rank Mission without any trouble!"
Thinking Naruto deserved some support, Sasuke spoke up too.
"Heh... The prank-loving brat seems to have grown up..."
"All right. Since you're all so determined, I'll assign you a C-Rank Mission to protect someone."
After giving it some thought, Sarutobi Hiruzen found Sasuke's argument convincing and replied with a smile.
"Really? Who are we protecting?"
Naruto was so excited he could hardly believe it.
Sasuke and Haruno Sakura exchanged glances, both filled with anticipation.
Sarutobi Hiruzen instructed an aide behind him to fetch the client from the next room, then said to Naruto, "Don't rush."
Before long, footsteps sounded, and a kindly-looking man walked in. He wore a white coat tied around his waist and had various seasonings slung over his shoulder.
"Allow me to introduce him. This is Master Qianwei, a famous grilled-fish chef from the Land of Waterfalls."
After Master Qianwei entered, Sarutobi Hiruzen gave a brief introduction.
"A grilled-fish chef?"
Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Naruto stared in surprise.
Judging by his title, the man before them must have been very skilled at grilling fish.
"A restaurant owner has paid me a great deal to teach him how to grill fish here in Konoha. I'll finish teaching him everything this afternoon, so I plan to leave the Land of Fire tomorrow and return to my home country, the Land of Waterfalls."
Knowing that the shinobi before him were the team assigned to his mission, Master Qianwei spoke courteously.
"Ha ha, no problem! I swear on my life that I'll escort you home safely!"
Naruto laughed loudly and declared.
"Then I'll be counting on you!"
Master Qianwei bowed respectfully to Kakashi and the others, officially confirming the mission.
After accepting the escort mission, Kakashi told Naruto, Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura to go home and get ready. The round trip to the Land of Waterfalls would take several days, so they needed to bring enough food, tents, clothes, and other essentials.
With his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, at home, Sasuke didn't need to pack his own things. He used his free time to visit Shisui at the Forest Training Ground. Since he was leaving on a mission, he still had to let Shisui know in advance.
(Thanks to Qiu Mingyue and Boss Du for the tips!
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