Mission

As Shiro prepared kunai and scrolls, he said, "Watch carefully. This technique has quite a few hand seals."

After saying that, Shiro began forming hand seals while Nakamura and the other two watched intently.

Five seconds passed, and Shiro was still forming seals.

Ten seconds passed, and Shiro was still forming seals.

Nakamura and the others: "..."

After roughly thirty seconds, Shiro finally completed the Sealing Jutsu. Still, his hand seal speed was fairly decent at the moment, barely reaching three seals per second. That was already quite good.

Before transmigrating, Shiro had read posts claiming that some people could perform twelve seals per second! Back then, he had dismissed them as bragging. Only now did he realize that they really were that incredible!

Because if Shiro were merely forming seals, he could also reach twelve per second. But what use was that? The hand seals required for ninjutsu also had to be coordinated with Chakra—that was the real difficulty. What was the point of having empty form alone?

In short, this Sealing Jutsu was very good for practicing hand seals. The process was just a bit painful.

Sure enough, Shiro was now shaking out his hands as he said, "Mm, that's all of them. Eighty-three seals in total."

Nakamura and the others stared speechlessly at Shiro's calm expression. Eighty-three! Even Nakamura needed twenty seconds to complete them all! For certain members of their squad, it would absolutely be torture!

Sure enough, Shikaki immediately protested from the side, "Are you kidding me?! How could I possibly learn such a troublesome technique? Even if I died outside the village, I'd never learn it!"

Taichi said nothing, but his expression made it clear that he did not want to learn it either.

"Hehe, Teacher Nakamura, I'll have to trouble you to supervise them. This technique is quite effective for practicing hand seals," Shiro said with a smile.

At that, Shikaki and Taichi immediately looked toward Nakamura, hoping he would show them mercy. Nakamura did not disappoint their trust and agreed at once!

"Don't worry. I'll supervise them."

Shikaki and Taichi: orz!

Nakamura looked at Shikaki and Taichi, who seemed to have turned gray all over, while Shiro laughed heartlessly beside him. With Nakamura's experience, he immediately saw the value of this technique. Since even Shiro could see it, there was no way Nakamura could not.

After a full day of training, Shiro had little Chakra left, yet he had still successfully used it. Moreover, Nakamura discovered that with Shiro's remaining Chakra, he could use it another one or two times!

That was quite rare, and it slightly raised the value of this technique. With such low consumption, they could practice it four or five times even while on missions without causing any significant impact.

Of course, Shikaki was not unable to see that. He was simply lazy.

But Nakamura was both their captain and their teacher. Since Nakamura had spoken, they could only train.

Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, Nakamura immediately had Shiro start teaching them.

Since Nakamura had said so, how could Shikaki dare refuse? All he could do was curse his loose mouth! Why had he agreed to Shiro's suggestion?!

But it was too late now. What else could he do? Train. Shikaki sighed as he thought.

Compared to Shikaki's misery, Shiro was delighted. Sure enough, sharing pain not only reduced it, but also brought joy! The ancients truly had not deceived him!

It did not take long for Shikaki and Taichi to learn the Sealing Jutsu. After all, its only difficulty was the staggering eighty-three hand seals. But both of them could be considered geniuses, so it was nothing to them.

After training ended, they did not immediately return to rest. No matter when, a meal together was always the fastest way to strengthen bonds. Naturally, the captain was treating. Shiro had been in the hospital for a week, and his little stash of savings had long since been emptied. He was currently living off his mother's support, and he could not bring himself to treat others using his parents' money.

Besides, as the captain, Nakamura would feel embarrassed letting new team members pay.

Also worth mentioning was that Uchiha Taichi's attitude toward Shiro had clearly changed. After all, they had trained together for a day, and he had gained some understanding of Shiro's strength.

Shiro was rather pleased by this as well. First, they would be carrying out missions together in the future, so it was better for their relationship to be harmonious.

Second, to be honest, Uchiha were quite trustworthy as friends. Their strength was not lacking, and there was little need to worry about them betraying you over trivial matters. After all, everyone in that clan valued their feelings deeply.

Of course, that was before they went dark. Once they did, they became extremely dangerous.

The clearest example was Uchiha Obito. After the death of the girl he secretly loved, he went from a good kid who often helped old ladies cross the street to a demon bent on destroying the world. Madara had guided him down that path, but it still clearly showed how terrifying that clan could be!

Still, that was understandable. Rin had been incredibly important to him. The moment he saw Rin die, he went directly from Two-Tomoe to Mangekyo Sharingan! Three-Tomoe had merely been a transition! That alone made it obvious.

How should he put it? Obito was still a decent person. Even after going dark, he had still wanted to save the world. Unfortunately, Madara had led him astray.

After letting his thoughts wander for a while, Shiro faced the great enemy before him once more! Those matters were still far too distant from the current Shiro.

"Damn it, leave some for me! You two animals!"

"Haha, once this is gone, there won't be any left!"

"What?! Nakamura, you animal! You stingy bastard! In the Hokage's name, I curse you to never find a wife!"

"You little brat! Isn't that curse a bit too vicious?!"

The next day, Shiro got up early. Today, he would carry out his first mission since joining the Nakamura Squad. When they had parted yesterday, Nakamura had already explained that this mission was rather important. They were to leave early and gather directly at the village entrance.

Yesterday's gathering had not lasted long. First, they had a mission today. Second, Nakamura's wallet could not take it. He still had to save money to marry a wife, so how could they casually hurt his wallet?

When Shiro arrived at the village entrance, he saw that Nakamura and Taichi had just arrived as well. Only Shikaki was missing.

Shiro figured Shikaki would probably show up exactly on time. Everyone in that family was a high-IQ genius, but unfortunately, they were too lazy. Their laziness had practically become hereditary.

Sure enough, Shikaki arrived at precisely the agreed-upon time, neither early nor late.

"Yo, you all came so early."

None of the three responded. Shiro and Taichi looked toward Nakamura, waiting for him to explain the mission.

"This mission is a bit troublesome. Shikaki, you'll need to put in more effort this time!"

"No problem, Teacher Nakamura. But what is our mission?"

"Our mission this time is to hunt down a rogue ninja squad! According to intelligence, they have one Jonin, three Chunin, and four Genin!"

"!!!"

The three of them stared at Nakamura in shock. Honestly, this mission was rather difficult. Judging from the numbers alone, Shiro's group had no advantage at all!

"It can't be helped. The village is short-handed, so this is the only way. Therefore, Shikaki, we'll be relying mainly on you this time!"

Shikaki put away his lazy expression, seriously agreed to Nakamura's request, then took the intelligence report from Nakamura and carefully read through it.

Shiro and the others did not disturb Shikaki. They simply watched quietly from the side.

After a while, Shikaki raised his head and said with a frown, "Let's set off first. The target is in the Land of Rivers. I already have a general idea, but I haven't figured out some of the details yet. I'll think them through on the way."

"Mm, no rush. We still have time. Let's go!"

"Yes!" x3