This Mission Is Fishy!

"What the heck? Why'd he suddenly run off?" Naruto grumbled unhappily as he bit into his rice ball.

"Maybe there was an emergency mission," Sakura guessed, looking worriedly in the direction Kakashi had disappeared.

Sasuke said nothing. He wolfed down his meal in a few bites, stood up, and said, "I'm leaving." With that, he walked away without looking back.

"Hey! You damn Sasuke! Wait for me!" Naruto hurriedly stuffed the last bite into his mouth and chased after him.

Sakura quickly followed as well.

Ling Yue watched them run off, but leisurely packed up her lunchbox.

The unease in her heart was becoming increasingly obvious. Kakashi's reaction, and the timing...

Early the next morning, Team 7 waited at the mission assembly point.

Kakashi arrived on time. He looked no different from usual, still wearing that lazy, half-awake expression.

"Morning, everyone."

"Kakashi-sensei! What happened yesterday?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"It was nothing, just a small problem. It's already been handled." Kakashi brushed it off casually, clearly unwilling to say more. "All right, starting today, we'll officially be carrying out missions. Let's go to the mission hall."

When they arrived at the mission hall, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was sitting there smoking his pipe. He smiled as he looked at the chattering genin below.

"All right, there are plenty of missions waiting for everyone today. Let's start with the easy ones."

And so, Team 7 began an endless stream of D-rank missions.

Pulling weeds, picking up trash, finding cats, babysitting, clearing river channels, painting walls...

"Ahhh! I'm bored to death!" Naruto was the first to snap, raising his paintbrush and shouting, "Why are they all jobs like this?! I want to do cooler missions! Like escorting a daimyo or something!"

"Shut up, Naruto! Get back to work!" Sakura punched him.

Sasuke said nothing, but even the way he painted the wall radiated impatience.

Ling Yue, on the other hand, worked quite diligently.

She discovered that using [Zetsu] to control the minute movements of her body let her paint especially evenly;

using [Paper Arts] to sense airflow let her find runaway cats faster;

and even wrapping her body in [Ren] made heavy labor far less tiring.

She could also quietly practice [Thunder Breathing] along the way.

After a few days, her chakra control had improved quite a bit.

But doing this every day really did get tiresome.

That day, Naruto caused another scene. He even staged a clumsy fake assassination attempt to get attention, only for Kakashi to see through it with ease.

"Honestly..." The Third Hokage sighed and tapped his pipe. "Since you're all so eager to take on higher-level missions... fine. There happens to be a C-rank mission here."

"C-rank?" Naruto's eyes instantly lit up.

"It's an escort mission." The Third Hokage took out a mission scroll. "The client has already arrived."

An old man wearing a worn coat and a hood, clutching a bottle of alcohol and reeking of liquor, staggered in.

"I am the world-famous bridge-building expert Tazuna! Until I return to my country and finish building the bridge, I want you to risk your lives to protect me!"

This old man... didn't look very reliable.

Kakashi scratched his head. "For a C-rank mission, we normally won't encounter ninja combat. Protecting you until you return safely and complete the bridge shouldn't be a problem. Team 7, make your preparations. We leave in an hour."

"Yeah! Awesome!" Naruto jumped up excitedly.

Sakura and Sasuke were looking forward to it too. At least it wasn't a D-rank mission.

But Ling Yue's heart sank.

The Land of Waves! It really was the Land of Waves mission! This old man was lying! This wasn't a C-rank mission at all!

She opened her mouth, wanting to warn Kakashi that there was something wrong with the old man. But how could she say it? That she had read the script?

Kakashi seemed to notice her hesitation and glanced at her. "Yue, what is it? Is there a problem?"

Tazuna immediately looked at her nervously as well.

Ling Yue swallowed the words that had reached her lips and could only shake her head. "N-No, it's nothing. I'm just a little excited."

Kakashi narrowed his eye but did not press further.

An hour later, the group of five left the Hidden Leaf Village.

At first, Naruto was still excited, bouncing around and curious about everything.

"Whoa! So this is the world outside the village?"

"What a huge tree!"

"Look! That river is so wide!"

Tazuna kept complaining—about the difficult road, the bad weather, and how the people assigned to protect him were too young and unreliable—before taking another huge swig of alcohol.

Sakura awkwardly dealt with him from the side.

Sasuke walked quietly with his hands in his pockets, remaining alert.

Ling Yue was on high alert as well. She maintained [Zetsu] the entire time, pushed her senses to their limit, and silently circulated [Thunder Breathing], ready for any sudden situation.

Kakashi still looked relaxed, reading Make-Out Paradise as though he had truly come out for a picnic.

They walked for more than half the day without incident.

A small puddle appeared by the roadside.

Ling Yue's gaze swept over that puddle, and tension rose in her heart.

They're here!

She immediately slowed down, instinctively moving a little closer to Sasuke and Naruto as her hand quietly reached for her kunai.

Kakashi seemed completely unaware. Still reading his book, he slowly walked past the puddle.

The moment Kakashi passed the puddle—

Two dark figures suddenly burst out of the water! They were unbelievably fast!

Two chains fitted with sharp iron claws shot out like venomous snakes, instantly wrapping around Kakashi's body as he remained "absorbed in his book"!

They twisted hard!

Kakashi's body was instantly shredded into countless pieces!

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura let out a terrified scream.

"First one!" The two vicious-looking ninja wearing Hidden Mist forehead protectors announced coldly, their gazes immediately locking onto the remaining four.

"Ahhh!!!" Naruto froze in place in terror.

Sasuke's face turned pale, cold sweat instantly breaking out across his skin. His body trembled slightly from fear, but he still forced himself into a fighting stance.

Tazuna collapsed onto the ground, his face ashen.

"Second one!" Without pausing in the slightest, the two Hidden Mist ninja swung their iron claws and pounced toward the closest person—Naruto—with cruel smiles.

The chains whistled through the air, about to tear Naruto apart!

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut in fear.

At that critical moment!

"Naruto! Get down!" A sharp cry rang out!

Ling Yue, who had been prepared all along, moved!

[Thunder Breathing] surged at full force! Chakra exploded beneath her feet!

Her speed shot to its limit as she shoved the terrified Naruto aside! At the same time, her own body arched sharply backward with the recoil!

[Paper Arts]!

The two vicious iron claws swept past her nose and chest by a hair's breadth, the force of their passage lashing her skin with painful wind!

She narrowly avoided them!

"What?!" The two Hidden Mist ninja clearly had not expected the seemingly most inconspicuous little girl to evade their sure-kill combined attack!

While they were stunned for that brief moment—

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Sasuke finally overcame his fear and seized the opportunity, spitting out a blazing fireball that forced the two ninja to retreat temporarily.

"Nice one, Sasuke!" Naruto snapped out of his shock and immediately formed hand seals. "Shadow Clone Technique!"

Several clones appeared, protecting Tazuna and Sakura.

"Oh? You've got some spirit." One of the Hidden Mist ninja sneered and closed in with his companion again, their killing intent growing even stronger.

Ling Yue quickly retreated, forming a triangular formation with Sasuke and Naruto to protect Tazuna and Sakura in the middle. Her palms were drenched in sweat.

That was way too close! Is this what real ninja combat is like? It's completely different from training!

"You're not ordinary rogue ninja..." Sasuke stared fixedly at their forehead protectors, his voice tense. "You're rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist!"

"It's too late to realize that now!" The two Hidden Mist ninja attacked again, their chains lashing out like a raging storm!

Sasuke and Naruto barely managed to hold them off, but they were constantly in danger. The gap in strength was obvious.

Relying on the speed and agility granted by [Paper Arts] and [Thunder Breathing], Ling Yue dodged frantically, but she had no chance to counterattack. Several times, the chains nearly struck her.

This can't go on!

"Hey! Your target is that old man, right?" Ling Yue suddenly shouted, trying to divert their attention. "If you keep fighting us Hidden Leaf ninja to the death, aren't you afraid of failing your mission?"

The two Hidden Mist ninja paused, exchanging a glance.

In that instant!

A kunai suddenly flew in from behind and accurately pierced one Hidden Mist ninja through the throat!

The other ninja turned around in horror, only to see Kakashi—who should have been torn to pieces—standing behind him completely unharmed. One hand remained in the pose of having thrown the kunai, while his dead-fish eye was utterly calm.

"Sorry, I got held up on the road."