Life after becoming Genin was far less exciting than they had imagined. It was mostly filled with trivial, ordinary things. The early period of building up their mission records, in particular, was almost entirely taken up by an endless stream of D-rank missions.
That day, at the mission assignment office, Chiba Akimichi eagerly took the mission scroll and read it aloud. "D-rank mission! Help Mr. Kojima, a villager, harvest the ripe white radishes in his backyard! Mission reward: five thousand ryo!"
"White radishes..." Himawari Uzumaki still wore her warm smile, but a hint of disappointment crept into her voice. This was already the third farming mission of the same sort that week.
"Tch." Kakashi Sakuya leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, making a faint sound of disdain at this waste of time. Beside him, Hatake Lian stood silently with his head lowered, his expression unreadable.
Nadeshiko Haku, standing on the other side of the group, knitted her pretty brows slightly. As an exchange student from Nadeshiko Village, she was also expected to experience the mission process for Konoha Genin, but she clearly hadn't expected "missions" to involve this sort of work. It was a far cry from the kind of work she'd imagined a ninja did.
"Come on, come on!" Chiba was full of enthusiasm—or rather, she was enthusiastic about any mission involving "food." "White radishes are great too! We can make delicious pickled radishes or stew! Let's get going!"
The mission took place at a farmhouse on the outskirts of the village. Mr. Kojima was a kind old man. When he saw five ninjas had come to help, he grinned from ear to ear and cheerfully led them to the backyard. A lush green radish field came into view, with plump white radishes half-buried in the soil, their enticing white roots peeking out.
"Okay, everyone, let's get started!" Himawari rolled up her sleeves, picked up a hoe, and demonstrated how to carefully pull the radishes out of the soil without damaging them or scattering dirt everywhere.
Chiba immediately followed suit, working with gusto as she chattered away. "This one's huge! It must be really sweet!" "Oh, this one's such a weird shape. It looks like a person's face..."
Lian quietly picked up a tool and chose a row to work on. His movements were even more careful and precise than Himawari's, as if he weren't digging up radishes but creating a work of art.
Haku looked at the farming tool in her hands, then at the soil. A note of hesitation—and faint distaste—flickered in her ice-blue eyes. For a Nadeshiko ninja accustomed to spotless elegance in battle, this really was a challenge. But she took a deep breath, crouched down, and tried to imitate Himawari's movements. Her actions were stiff, though, and the radishes she pulled out either came up covered in too much dirt or nearly had their leaves torn off.
And Sakuya...
He stood on the ridge with his arms crossed, making no move to help. His dark purple eyes swept over the field as if he were assessing a battlefield unworthy of deploying troops to. Use those hands—hands that had faced life-and-death battles and formed deadly hand seals—to pull radishes? Absurd.
"Sakuya?" Himawari looked up and wiped the sweat from her brow, gazing at him in confusion. "Aren't you going to join us?"
Sakuya glanced at her and coolly uttered two words. "Boring."
Haku stopped her clumsy attempts and looked at Sakuya. Her voice was cool as she said, "A mission is a mission. No matter its rank, accepting and completing it is a ninja's duty." She seemed to be trying to persuade him with the principles of a ninja, and perhaps persuade herself as well.
"That's not my duty." Sakuya retorted without a hint of courtesy.
Just as the mood was starting to grow tense, Chiba suddenly cried out, "Whoa! This radish is huge! I can't pull it out! Someone help me!"
She was gripping a clump of exceptionally lush radish leaves with both hands, her little face flushed red with effort. Her feet were nearly off the ground, but the giant radish hadn't budged an inch.
Lian instinctively started to go over and help.
But someone was faster.
The moment Chiba's words left her mouth, a figure appeared beside her like a phantom.
It was Sakuya.
He didn't even bend down. He simply reached out with one hand, seemingly without a care, and gripped the exposed white part of the radish.
The next instant, a grating CREAK rang out!
POP!
The stubborn giant radish, along with a huge clump of surrounding soil, was yanked straight out of the ground with brutal force! The dirt kicked up by the effort splattered all over Chiba beside him.
"..." Covered in dirt, Chiba stared dumbfounded at the gigantic radish, which looked much smaller in Sakuya's hand. Then she looked at Sakuya's expressionless face, unable to say a word.
Watching this, Haku's mouth seemed to twitch almost imperceptibly. This way of solving a problem was very "Kakashi Sakuya."
Sakuya tossed the radish into a basket as if he'd done something trivial. He looked at his dirt-stained hand and furrowed his brow so slightly it was almost unnoticeable.
Still, after that, he seemed unable to keep standing around doing nothing. He stopped complaining, picked up a hoe, and began to "harvest" the radishes in an extremely efficient and destructive manner.
His movements were fast, precise, and ruthless! Each time he swung the hoe, he loosened the soil around a radish with perfect accuracy, then yanked it out and tossed it into a basket. The whole process was smooth and highly efficient. The row he'd worked on, though, looked as if a miniature Explosive Tag had gone off there. It was a complete mess...
Himawari watched Sakuya's "wild" harvesting style and couldn't help covering her forehead with a rueful smile. Haku continued her awkward attempts, occasionally watching Sakuya's powerful movements from the corner of her eye. A faint, hard-to-detect glimmer passed through her ice-blue eyes.
Lian continued working quietly. The row he was responsible for was neat and tidy, and every radish was intact.
Chiba had regained her energy. She hummed as she sorted the radishes by size, already imagining all the ways she could cook them.
Sunlight fell over the radish field as five very different Genin went about completing this seemingly boring D-rank mission in their own ways. The air was filled with the earthy scent of soil and the sweet fragrance of radishes.
There had been a few little mishaps along the way, but in the end, they harvested all the radishes and filled several large baskets.
Old Mr. Kojima was delighted by the abundant harvest. He thanked them again and again, then promptly paid their reward.
On the way back to the village to submit the mission report,
Chiba happily counted the money. "Five thousand ryo! I can buy so many delicious things!" Himawari smiled. "Even if all we did was pull radishes, it still feels nice to help someone." Lian nodded lightly in agreement. Haku looked at her dirt-stained fingers, still seeming to adjust to this entirely new "mission experience."
Sakuya gazed toward Kage Rock in the distance and said blandly, "Next time, let's take a mission where we can fight."
As soon as he finished speaking, Haku, walking beside him, replied softly, her voice still cool but less distant than usual. "Agreed. At least... it'd be more meaningful than pulling radishes."
Sakuya turned to look at her, a little surprised.
The sunlight stretched their shadows out long. Haku smiled slightly at Sakuya. He froze, looking completely dazed—just like a goofy husky.
"Ha ha..." Haku's laughter rang out like silver bells. It wasn't very noticeable in the setting sun, but Sakuya's skin was so pale that his slender neck turned bright red. "Stop laughing..." he muttered. Haku's laughter was infectious, and soon the others were laughing along with her.
"I don't know why, but that somehow seems polite," Lian said, wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes.
"Wait, so even the ice-cold monster can smile!" Chiba exclaimed, looking Haku up and down as if she'd discovered a whole new world.
The five of them laughed and joked as they headed back into the village...
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