C-Class Mission!

On the crowded street, a dark shadow suddenly darted out from beneath the feet of the crowd, and then three figures quickly moved to surround it.

"This is Sasuke, reached Point A!"

Sasuke stood behind a wall and shouted into his headset.

"This is Sakura, reached Point B!"

"This is Naruto, reached Point C!"

Before long, the voices of Naruto and Haruno Sakura rang out over the headset.

"Don't startle the target!"

Standing on a rooftop monitoring the shadow's movements, Kakashi listened to the reports coming through the headset and couldn't help but call out.

"Alright, the target has stopped moving. How far are you from the target?"

A moment later, Kakashi asked softly.

"Four meters, ready to move at any time!"

Naruto said, full of confidence.

"We can move in!"

Sasuke agreed.

"I'm ready too!"

Haruno Sakura responded.

"Very well, commence the operation!"

Receiving the confirmation, Kakashi immediately issued the order.

"Ah... watch this!"

With a stomp of his feet, Naruto was the first to rush out, quickly tackling the dark shadow.

"Woof! Woof!"

"I caught it!"

Holding the struggling black dog, Naruto shouted loudly.

"Is it the missing Black Fang?"

To ensure they hadn't caught the wrong one, Kakashi asked over the headset.

"It has a black collar around its neck, no mistake, it's definitely Black Fang."

Sasuke observed the black dog in Naruto's arms and confirmed.

"Very good, the mission to capture the lost pet Black Fang is successfully completed!"

Leaping across several rooftops before landing on the ground, Kakashi immediately announced.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't there any higher-level missions?"

Staring at Kakashi, Naruto complained loudly.

Two months had passed since their first mission of weeding for someone else. Now that they were still doing these low-level tasks, Naruto had long since lost his patience.

"Yeah, continuing to do these missions won't improve our abilities much."

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

At the beginning, Sasuke had been able to accept low-level missions, but two months had passed, and the results of their desperate training could no longer be utilized in such menial tasks.

"I knew you guys would lose your cool soon!"

Putting away his headset, Kakashi sighed.

In truth, Kakashi was also quite helpless about continuing with low-level missions. Ten days ago, he had requested a C-rank mission from the Third Hokage for his team, but Sarutobi Hiruzen had refused on the grounds that Sasuke and the others were still too inexperienced.

"Kakashi-sensei, our missions are nothing more than cleaning, babysitting, finding pets... if this keeps up, I'm going to go crazy..."

Hearing Kakashi's sigh, Naruto continued to complain.

"Sigh, alright then. I'll take you to see the Hokage. If he agrees, we'll take on a higher-level mission."

Not knowing how to persuade the stubborn Naruto, Kakashi sighed and replied.

"Then let's go! If the old man doesn't agree, I'll use the Sexy Jutsu to dazzle him."

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.

However, knowing that was just Naruto's mischievous personality, Sasuke and the others shook their heads in silence, and then they headed toward the Hokage Office Building.

In Konoha, the most famous landmark is the Hokage Rock, where the faces of the four Hokage are carved.

Directly below the Hokage Rock lies the center of power in Konoha, the Hokage Office Building, with a massive "Fire" character hanging from the railing on the top floor.

The Hokage Office Building is not just a place for the Hokage to work; it houses a mission hall accessible to clients, as well as a ninjutsu storage room, the Konoha Intelligence Department, and more.

At the mission hall, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his chair, pipe in hand. He glanced at the four members of Team Kakashi, who had just completed their mission, and said indifferently, "Your next mission is to purchase sweet potatoes."

"No way! Don't come to us for that kind of mission anymore!"

Naruto shouted his objection.

"We want to carry out more impressive missions!"

"You are all inexperienced novices; you must accumulate experience starting from the simplest tasks."

Hearing Naruto's plea, Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and said softly.

"But we've been doing boring missions for two months already! Give us something else!"

Naruto responded with dissatisfaction.

"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 we in the upper echelons assign them to ninjas with appropriate abilities. Since you have only just become Genin, you can only perform D-rank missions at most."

Ignoring Naruto's frustration, Sarutobi Hiruzen explained slowly.

"But through diligent training, I've been getting stronger! I'm not the weak brat you imagine!"

"Please, just give us a chance!"

Clenching his fists, Naruto stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen, anxious.

"With Kakashi-sensei here, even if we take on a C-rank mission, we can complete it successfully!"

Feeling it necessary to support Naruto, Sasuke spoke up as well.

"Heh heh... the brat who used to love playing pranks seems to have grown up..."

"Fine. Since you are all so insistent, I will assign you a C-rank mission: to protect someone."

After pondering for a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen found Sasuke's words reasonable and responded with a smile.

"Really? Protect who?"

Naruto was incredibly excited, finding it hard to believe.

Sasuke and Haruno Sakura exchanged glances, both of them feeling very expectant.

Ordering his subordinate behind him to call the client from the next room, Sarutobi Hiruzen then said to Naruto, "Don't be so impatient."

Not long after, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, a kind-looking man walked in, wearing a white apron tied around his waist and various seasonings hanging from his shoulders.

"Let me introduce you. This is the famous grilled fish master from the Land of Waterfalls, Master Qianwei."

After the man entered, Sarutobi Hiruzen gave a brief introduction.

"A grilled fish master?"

Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Naruto were all stunned.

From the title alone, it was clear that the man before them was certainly an expert at grilling fish.

"A restaurant owner paid a high price to invite me to Konoha to teach my grilling techniques. All the techniques will be taught by this afternoon, so I plan to leave the Land of Fire tomorrow and return to my home, the Land of Waterfalls."

Knowing that the ninjas before him were the team assigned to his request, Qianwei said politely.

"Haha, no problem! I'll bet my life on it—I will safely escort you home, sir!"

Laughing loudly, Naruto declared resolutely.

"Then I'll leave it to you!"

Qianwei bowed respectfully to Kakashi and the others, and the mission was officially confirmed.

After accepting the escort mission, Kakashi told Naruto, Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura to go home and prepare. After all, the trip to the Land of Waterfalls would take several days. They needed to bring enough food, tents, clothing, and other essentials.

With his mother Uchiha Mikoto there, Sasuke didn't need to pack his own things. Using his spare time, Sasuke went to the Forest Training Ground to find Shisui; since he was going out on a mission, he still needed to inform Shisui in advance.