Taking a Mission

After that, Shin tested Yomotsu Hirasaka. The technique could be used offensively to shorten the distance of long-range ninjutsu, disrupt and ambush opponents, and evade danger or escape when necessary. It was extremely versatile.

Yomotsu Hirasaka's chakra cost was manageable, and Shin could handle it. He had no problem using it normally in battle.

Shin's chakra reserves could withstand the cost, but his ocular power couldn't. After all, he only had the Mangekyō Sharingan, and its ocular power was limited.

Without the Perfect Sage Body, using these two ocular techniques just a few times would even leave him at risk of going blind.

Blindness was caused by exhausting one's ocular power. Once the ocular power of the Mangekyō

Sharingan was depleted, it couldn't be replenished. There were two ways to solve this: evolve it into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, or implant First Hokage Cells and survive.

Shin had the same Perfect Sage Body as the First, so he didn't need to worry about his ocular power being depleted; it could recover. But he was worried that he wouldn't have enough ocular power to use!

Recovery took time, too. In the middle of a battle, where would he find the time to wait for his ocular power to recover?

If he evolved his eyes into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, he would be able to use his ocular power almost freely, and it would recover about as fast as he used it.

He needed to find a way to evolve his Mangekyō Sharingan into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan as soon as possible

, or his ocular power really wouldn't be enough.

Shin wasn't worried about evolving into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Given enough time, he could do nothing at all and still evolve.

After his Three-Tomoe Sharingan had evolved into the Mangekyō Sharingan, Shin had felt the eyes resonate with his body.

Under the influence of his Perfect Sage Body, Shin's ocular power was slowly increasing. Once it reached a certain level, his Mangekyō Sharingan would transform into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

As expected, the Sage Body and the Sharingan were interdependent. They represented yin and yang, and their union was the true path.

"Let's head back first, or Kushina will come looking for me."

Shin took his sword and walked toward the Senju Clan Grounds.

The sword in Shin's hand was no ordinary blade. It was the one he had taken from the Uzumaki clan shrine back then.

After looking through some records, Shin found that it was probably one of the Kusanagi Swords.

There was more than one Kusanagi Sword in the Naruto World. There were eleven in total, and Uchiha Itachi's Totsuka Blade was one of them.

The Kusanagi Sword Shin wielded couldn't extend like Orochimaru's, nor could it seal things like Uchiha Itachi's Totsuka Blade. It did have the ability to channel chakra, like the one used by Uchiha

Sasuke.

The greatest strengths of Shin's Kusanagi Sword were probably its resilience and sharpness. It could slice through steel with ease, cutting through metal as though it were mud.

It didn't matter that it had no other special abilities. Shin only needed a sword that could bring out his swordsmanship. In his hands, it was the strongest divine weapon.

When he got home and saw the meal that had been prepared, Shin's expression shifted slightly.

"Who made this?"

Shin looked at Tsunade and Kushina warily. The food looked delicious and smelled wonderful, but to Shin, it was

the deadliest poison.

"I made it." Mikoto came out of the kitchen carrying miso soup.

"Oh, Mikoto made it. Then it's fine."

Shin let out a sigh of relief and sat down, completely ignoring Tsunade and Kushina's extremely dark expressions.

"Mikoto, you didn't go home?"

"What, Shin? Are you saying you don't welcome me?"

Mikoto gazed at Shin with a slightly tender look, making him feel a little uneasy. Was it his imagination? Mikoto was so gentle—how could she be dangerous? It had to be his imagination.

"Of course you're welcome here, Mikoto. I was just curious, that's all."

"I was the one who asked Mikoto to come with me," Tsunade said.

Knowing that Mikoto had no family, Tsunade had invited her over to sleep with Kushina, so Kushina would stop sneaking into Shin's room every night.

Shin and Kushina were both grown up now. How could they keep sleeping together? At any rate, Tsunade didn't want to see the two of them sharing a room.

Early the next morning, Tsunade took Shin and the other two to the Hokage Office. They were there to take a mission, of course.

There was no need to ask the Hokage to approve ordinary missions. Otherwise, the Hokage would be worked to death.

.

But since Shin and the others had only just graduated, they needed the Hokage's approval to take missions above D-rank.

"Third Hokage, I want to take a higher-level mission. Sign the application for me."

Tsunade took the application and placed it in front of the Third Hokage.

"A higher-level mission?"

The Third Hokage furrowed his brow slightly. He glanced at Shin, Kushina, and Mikoto, then shook his head. "No."

"They've only just graduated. They should start with D-rank missions to get some experience."

"What's there to get experience with? How to do farmwork? So they can plant crops and raise pigs if they can't make it as ninja?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's mouth twitched. Tsunade wasn't wrong, really. D-rank missions were mostly useless and couldn't serve as proper training.

"But what if something happens to them on another mission?"

"I'll take responsibility if anything happens. Just tell me whether you'll sign it."

Tsunade slapped the application down on Sarutobi Hiruzen's desk.

"Fine."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded, then signed the application. With Tsunade leading the team, he was quite confident they could handle an ordinary mission.

Afterward, Tsunade took Shin and the others to the mission counter.

"What kind of mission do you want to take?" Tsunade asked them.

"One where we draw blood."

Shin glanced at Kushina and Mikoto before answering Tsunade.

The specific mission didn't matter. Ideally, it would help Kushina and Mikoto grow.

For a rookie ninja who had just become a Genin, the best way to grow was to kill someone with their own hands.

If you didn't have the resolve to kill, you shouldn't become a ninja, because it wasn't a merciful profession. Killing was always part of a ninja's life.

Tsunade nodded. "Then let's take that C-rank mission to eliminate bandits."

Tsunade handed the application to the mission administrator and accepted the bandit-clearing mission.

Nearly every ninja team had taken a bandit-clearing mission at some point, so being a bandit in the Naruto World was a rough business.

Newly graduated Genin would move on to higher-level missions after completing D-rank missions for a while.

Taking on other ninja was out of the question. Bringing newly graduated Genin along to fight real ninja would be no different from sending them to their deaths.

They had to experience bloodshed firsthand—even kill someone themselves—before they could become ninja with real combat strength.

They wouldn't slaughter innocent people. Ninja weren't executioners, so the only option was to kill bandits. Bandits were a blight, after all, committing every kind of evil, and killing them was a service to the people.

In the Naruto World, bandits were both despicable and pitiful. They were often killed by ninja, serving as whetstones for rookies.

"Notice, Master: a new mission is available. Would you like to view it?"

The system's voice rang in Shin's mind.

The system

spoke in Shin's mind. He silently opened the mission panel in his mind and saw a bandit-clearing mission.

[Eliminate the Bandits: Eliminate the bandits near Xitian Village. Mission reward: One Common Copy Card. No penalty for failure]

.