The Wrath of the Masses

"Rest assured, leave it to me, no problem." Facing Shinnosuke's doubts, Nawaki answered confidently.

Out of trust for their teammate, the other members of the squad stopped trying to dissuade him; Nawaki had never let them down before.

The Third Hokage asked with a stern face: "Are you serious, Nawaki? Once a mission is accepted, it must be completed within a day, or it counts as a failure. Not only will there be no payment, but the failure will be recorded in your ninja file as a stain that will follow you for life. You must know that there has never been a ninja who failed a D-rank mission; such a ninja would become the laughingstock of the entire Shinobi World! Have you thought this through?"

Might Dai also chimed in to persuade him: "Young man, it is true that youth is full of drive and passion, but one must also act according to one's ability and not be reckless!"

Nawaki, however, thought to himself: If I really became the laughingstock of the entire Shinobi World, I should be able to gain quite a lot of Wish Power points, right? It's a pity the cost is too high; it would be basically impossible to gain Wish Power through reputation in the future. It's a one-time deal, not worth it.

Nawaki looked up and said solemnly: "I would never make a joke out of the village's missions! Protecting the village is my ninja way! Since I have accepted the mission, I am certain I can complete it! Let me show you my resolve! Ninja Art: Multi-Shadow Clone Technique!"

"Poof, poof, poof..." After a series of crisp sounds, eighty identical Nawakis appeared in the Hokage office.

"Every one of these shadow clones has the chakra level of an ordinary genin. Two people per group plus the assistance of ninjutsu should be enough to complete all the missions, right, Third Hokage-sensei?"

"What kind of ninjutsu is this, to be able to create so many clones?" some newly graduated genin asked curiously.

"This is an A-rank forbidden jutsu that distributes the user's chakra equally among all clones. Once the clones are dispelled, all experiences are fed back to the original. If one's spirit is not strong enough, it is very easy to get injured or even face the danger of death, which is why it is a forbidden jutsu! Ordinary people cannot practice it!" a special jounin explained.

"Eighty clones with genin-level strength—his chakra volume already exceeds that of most chunin! What a terrifying talent!"

"After all, he is the descendant of the First and Second Hokage, the genius young clan head of the Senju Clan!"

"So cool." There are fangirls everywhere.

The Third Hokage was also shocked by Nawaki: "Have you grown to such a point? Since you have made up your mind, I will leave these missions to you!"

"Ah! This is youth! I can already feel my blood burning! Let's work hard together, young man!" Who else but that Bowl Cut would say such embarrassing things?

Afterward, Nawaki took the mission list and dispersed to various parts of the village to carry out the tasks. For cleaning up trash, he used Earth Release to burn it to ash and then washed it clean with Water Release. For construction tasks, he used Earth Release to finish them directly. Reclaiming wasteland? Fire Release plus Earth Release, and the fields were fertile and level! Wild beasts? Shunpo plus Finger Pistol, and the meat could be used for extra meals.

With the coordination of ninjutsu, the eighty shadow clones completed all the missions in just one morning, earning a reward of as much as 100,000 ryo—this was equivalent to the payment for completing a B-rank mission!

Moreover, with the accumulation of small amounts, the Wish Power and reputation he gained today had risen again, reaching the same level as a year ago.

If he took on all the D-rank missions in the village every day, not only could he earn millions of ryo a month, but his reputation and Wish Power would also be significant. Nawaki even hoped it would continue like this, but he knew that was impossible!

Sure enough, a week later, news about the speed and efficiency with which Nawaki completed missions, far exceeding other genin squads, spread rapidly through the village. Everyone began to specifically request him to complete their missions because he was efficient and the required pay was the same; naturally, everyone chose the faster Nawaki to complete their tasks—time is money, after all.

Konoha also had to comply with the reasonable requests of the employers. In just one week, Konoha, which had been short-handed, suddenly became overstaffed. Because one person was too capable, all the genin squads in the village had no missions to take. And if these newly graduated genin were to take on C-rank missions, it would be too dangerous, so these people could only remain idle.

However, these ninjas relied on mission rewards to practice, and some from poor families needed to subsidize their households. Without mission pay, how could they live? So these people stayed in the Hokage office every day, hoping the Third Hokage could solve the problem.

This morning, everyone gathered in the Hokage office again. "Third Hokage-sensei, hurry and give me the mission list! Recently, employers have had increasingly high requirements for mission efficiency, so we must hurry!" Nawaki ignored the resentful expressions of the other genin squads around him and urged directly.

The Third Hokage finally couldn't sit still. He said with a troubled face: "That... Nawaki! You have seen it yourself; ever since you started taking D-rank missions with shadow clones, the other genin squads haven't had any missions to do for a long time! Can you take a break? Although employers have the right to designate a ninja for a mission, ninjas also have the right to refuse..."

Before the Third Hokage could finish, he was interrupted by Nawaki: "That's too much! Protecting the village is our squad's belief! It's one thing that you haven't let us take C-rank missions for the past year, but now you even want to stop us from taking D-rank missions! Why is the Third Hokage targeting us like this?"

"That's right! Old man, what exactly are you trying to do? Why won't you let us take missions? Isn't it only natural for a ninja to accept missions?" Shinnosuke also completely exploded.

Uchiha Hikari nodded in agreement: "Everyone is working so hard to contribute to the village; the Hokage is truly going too far!"

Torifu Akimichi, who knew the reason, opened his mouth but finally sighed. He really couldn't find a reason to stop the progressive actions of his three subordinates. As a jounin instructor, not actively supporting such selfless dedication to the village was already dereliction of duty; if he were to add obstacles, it would be truly unjustifiable.

Hearing the words of Nawaki and the others, the genin who had previously harbored resentment toward them began to whisper.

"With the strength of Nawaki-senpai's squad, they should be able to take C-rank missions by now!"

"The Third Hokage has actually been making them do D-rank missions for over a year?"

"The genin squads that graduated in the same period as them seem to have already started doing C-rank missions!"

"Why would the Third Hokage do this?"

"Who knows? I heard his son, Shinnosuke, has been arguing with him about this for a while!"

"In that case, the Third Hokage is indeed going too far. Now he won't even let them do D-rank missions; he's completely cutting off their path!"

"Seriously! I was complaining earlier that Nawaki-senpai was too stingy, being so strong and not doing high-level missions but grabbing D-rank missions from us newcomers. I didn't expect all of this to be caused by the Third Hokage!"

"To actually stop ninjas from doing missions—the Third Hokage has gone too far this time!"

"Yeah! It left us with no missions for days. I have a younger brother to feed!"

"My training funds are almost gone too!"