Mission Rewards and Guidance (First Update)

Upon hearing this, Third Hokage and Iga Kawaji exchanged glances.

Iga Kawaji whispered, "The Hokage will judge the value of the intelligence. You should state the situation first."

Gong Yi was not annoyed, and he recounted the intelligence he had gathered at the time, word for word.

"I saw Kitsuchi from Iwagakure holding a secret meeting with ninjas from Sunagakure!"

Third Hokage clenched his fist abruptly!

Kitsuchi, the biological son of that fellow Ōnoki.

This man could fully represent Iwagakure, and he was in contact with Sunagakure.

If the target of their conspiracy was Konoha, it could indeed involve the survival and security of the village!

"Sunagakure proposed to cooperate with Iwagakure to ambush and kill Konoha ninjas on missions!"

Iga Kawaji gasped; no wonder they were later pursued by a team led by Rasa.

Gong Yi had actually obtained such intelligence.

Whether it was the Sunagakure side or the Iwagakure side, neither would ever want this information to leak.

Third Hokage tapped on the table, "Missions are the lifeblood of the village. Beyond being a source of income, the higher the mission success rate, the more support we receive from the Land of Fire. If two ninja villages were to join forces to ambush our mission ninjas, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"If missions fail on a large scale, the success rate drops, the economy shrinks, and the support from the Land of Fire diminishes, the village will be unable to keep up with the resources needed to train ninjas. This is a vicious cycle. If they truly achieve their goal, the strength of our village will be slowly eroded."

Hatred is never the root cause of combat and war!

The so-called elimination of hatred through mutual understanding between people to prevent war is nothing but a colossal joke.

Profit! That is the source of all disputes!

The outbreak of the First Shinobi World War was because Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama wanted to pacify the ninja world, allowing their clansmen to rest and achieve better development.

It was just that after establishing Konoha, Senju Hashirama felt it was enough.

If they had followed the will of Uchiha Madara and joined forces to unify the ninja world, they could have maintained peace for at least several hundred years, and there would never have been a Second or Third Shinobi World War.

The outbreak of the Second Shinobi World War was because the strength of Konoha threatened the major ninja villages and infringed upon their interests.

The Third Shinobi World War was the same, only it was initiated by Sunagakure.

The reason for this was simply that Konoha ninjas had snatched too many missions from Sunagakure, leaving them barely able to survive.

Think of Sunagakure after the Third Shinobi World War; even the dignified Fourth Kazekage Rasa had to personally extract gold from sand to maintain the village's financial expenditures.

One can see how dire their situation was.

The judgment of Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was also based on the interests of the village.

Soon, he reached a conclusion.

"This is indeed intelligence that affects the interests of the village, but it is not yet a matter of survival."

Third Hokage smiled slightly, "The strength of Konoha is not as simple as it appears on the surface. Gong Yi, you are overthinking it."

Gong Yi remained silent, offering no rebuttal, nor was there any need to object.

The signs of the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War were already visible; now, it only lacked a trigger point.

He did not believe that the old man before him could not see it, but since the other party said so, it was likely just to comfort the hearts of the younger generation of ninjas.

"Alright, I am aware of this intelligence. I will have someone verify its authenticity. Iga Kawaji, take your team downstairs to apply for the completion of this mission first. As for the intelligence Gong Yi brought back, I will consider the mission reward separately."

The mission Iga's team had been executing was the collection of intelligence on the distribution of ninjas in the Land of Rain.

The intelligence Gong Yi brought back was an unexpected harvest, so the two matters would be rewarded separately.

That afternoon, Iga Kawaji, as the captain, had already received the relevant mission rewards.

It was an A-rank mission with C-rank danger difficulty, but considering the hardships during the execution, it was comparable to an A-rank, even resulting in Iga Kawaji losing an arm.

The total reward amount reached two million ryo!

Among them, Hyuga Senso and Ogawara each received 150,000 ryo.

Gong Yi received 700,000 ryo, becoming instantly wealthy!

The remaining one million was Iga Kawaji's personal share.

This was not just because he was the captain; it also included his disability pension.

After all, having lost an arm, Iga Kawaji could no longer leave the village to perform missions in the future and would have to live within the village.

He might become a teacher, or perhaps go into business and open a shop.

One million ryo, combined with his previous savings, was enough to cover his expenses for the rest of his life.

When they ate grilled meat that evening, the atmosphere was somewhat gloomy.

Iga Kawaji's lost arm meant that this team would be disbanded.

For the young ones, this was a very sad thing.

Especially for Hyuga Senso and Ogawara, as they had already experienced such things three times.

Iga Kawaji, however, was very open-minded; the mortality rate for Anbu missions was high, and he had seen too many such things.

"Let's have a toast to Gong Yi's safe return!"

Iga Kawaji drank his sake while Gong Yi and the others sipped their juice, the atmosphere gradually lightening.

With the long-awaited break, everyone relaxed, eating grilled meat until they couldn't take another bite before heading home.

As they parted ways, Iga Kawaji suddenly called out to Gong Yi.

"That mission of yours is of immense value; it might even reduce the mortality rate for future village missions. The Naruto's reward won't be small, so you need to prepare yourself and choose your reward wisely."

"Please, Captain, enlighten me!"

"If there's an opportunity, I suggest you seek apprenticeship under one of the Sannin. Your talent is high enough, but you lack a proper mentor to guide you. I originally intended to be your teacher, and the Naruto shared that sentiment, but unfortunately, right now..."

"Captain..."

"Let's not dwell on that. Back to the point! Becoming a student of the Sannin is the best-case scenario, but that depends not only on your wishes and the Naruto's, but also on the thoughts of those three individuals. You must have a backup plan—perhaps a powerful Ninjutsu, a large sum of money, or even attempting to join the Anbu to gain the Naruto's favor!"

"The Anbu?"

"With my recommendation and guarantee, plus your strength, it shouldn't be a problem!"

"Understood, I will think it over carefully. Thank you for your guidance, Captain!"

PS: Since I cannot post in the comment section, I will briefly explain a few things for some friends.

The system only provides auxiliary research skills; the protagonist is simply using them flexibly to cultivate and grow stronger.

Corresponding research requires research subjects, materials, and the like. The protagonist is not strong in the early stages, lacks a secret base, and has no channels to acquire materials, making in-depth research very difficult.

However, as he develops, he will be able to carry out more specific research projects.

For example, take Orochimaru.

He also began his research only after becoming powerful and establishing his own influence. The corresponding research materials, such as First Hokage Cells, Sharingan, and Sage Curse Mark, were also collected slowly through his own channels.

In the end, Orochimaru even defected from Konoha to conduct his research without restraint.

For those who are confused, just think: if the protagonist were to conduct such research in the early stages, wouldn't that be suicide?

Well, my advice is to keep reading; the system's capabilities will be gradually developed later on. I am definitely not the kind of guy who puts up a sheep's head but sells dog meat!