Starting D-Rank Missions: Weeding and Cat-Catching Were Too Boring

"Then... could I get one more bento for lunch?"

The Third Hokage cheerfully waved his hand and pushed Kakashi out of the office.

From that day on, Team 7 was officially formed.

This bizarre squad consisted of a Nine-Tails jinchuriki, a lone Uchiha survivor, a lovestruck girl, and a Wood Release freak who coasted through life.

They had officially begun the unavoidable phase of being genin—taking D-rank missions.

Yet these dull, tedious missions that ordinary genin found so boring...

Took on an extremely bizarre flavor with Team 7.

Early morning, at a farm outside Konoha Village.

"Damn it! There are way too many weeds! We'll never pull them all out!"

Naruto knelt in the mud, drenched in sweat, his hands rubbed red by the rough roots.

Beside him, Sasuke said nothing, but impatience was written all over his usually cool little face, now smeared with dirt.

Sakura held a small sickle and carefully cut the grass, afraid of dirtying the new clothes she had bought.

Under a large tree some distance away.

Their jonin leader, Kakashi, leaned against the trunk and flipped through a copy of Icha Icha Paradise with great interest, occasionally letting out a lecherous chuckle.

It was as if the grueling work in the mud had nothing to do with him.

As for the fourth member of the team, Sen Senju.

He was currently lying on the roof of the two-story building beside the farm.

Using the high-end sun umbrella Kurenai had given him to cast some shade, he lay comfortably in a newly purchased luxury recliner.

He wore sunglasses and had a foxtail grass stem, casually plucked from the ground, dangling from his mouth.

With how relaxed and content he looked, he seemed less like someone on a mission and more like a rich landlord supervising his workers.

"Big bro! Stop lying around and get down here to help!"

Naruto raised his head and shouted at the roof, his voice full of grievance.

"No time."

Sen did not even lift an eyelid as he lazily replied.

"I'm busy carrying out Photosynthesis. It's a matter of life and death for me, so I can't be distracted."

"You—!" Naruto choked on his words. All he could do was angrily resume his battle with the weeds.

Sasuke coldly glanced at the roof and gave a disdainful snort.

"Trash is trash. All you know how to do is slack off."

What they did not know was that...

While they struggled to pull weeds.

Three Wood Clones identical to Sen were working frantically in the other three corners of the farm with terrifying efficiency.

One Wood Clone clapped his hands together, and countless tiny vines burst from the ground. Like a lawn mower, they tore out every weed by the roots wherever they passed, leaving nothing behind.

Another Wood Clone directly grew several huge herbivorous wooden figures, which opened their mouths and devoured the waist-high weeds with loud crunch, crunch sounds.

The most outrageous one jumped straight into the nearby river and used Wood Release to create a massive net. Not only did it fish every bit of trash from the river, it even casually hauled up dozens of plump fish!

Less than an hour later.

By the time Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were exhausted enough to collapse like three dead dogs in their respective little patches of land.

The entire farm had already been cleaned spotless by the three Wood Clones, and even the soil had been turned over again.

Seeing his freshly renewed fields, the farmer was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes. He gripped Sen's hand and thanked him over and over, even forcibly giving him a hefty extra bonus.

"Good work, everyone."

Sen slowly jumped down from the roof and waved the heavy bag of bonus money in front of Naruto.

"Come on, big bro's treating you to grilled fish."

Naruto looked at the bag of money, then at his mud-covered hands. Something felt off, but he could not put his finger on it.

The next day's mission was to help the daimyo's wife find her lost pet cat, "A-Fei."

A famously fat and crafty cat.

"Damn it! This stupid cat runs way too fast!"

Naruto leaped all over the rooftops in pursuit, throwing everything into chaos and nearly falling several times.

Sasuke even activated his Sharingan, trying to use its dynamic vision to track the fat cat's movements.

But A-Fei was incredibly cunning, always darting into narrow alleys and sewers, leaving the two of them a complete mess.

Meanwhile, Sen was still the same as ever.

He found the highest clock tower in the village center, set up his recliner on top, and began enjoying a sunbath.

"Big bro! You're slacking off again! Get down here and help catch the cat!"

Naruto clung to the clock tower's windowsill and shouted furiously.

"What's the rush? Let the cat run around a little longer. It could stand to lose some weight."

Sen turned over, his tone perfunctory.

In truth, he had long since locked onto the fat cat's location with the Divine Tree Origin's powerful sensory ability.

He had even secretly used Wood Release to arrange a little "surprise" along the cat's path.

Sure enough.

Not long after.

Just as the fat cat smugly shook off Naruto and prepared to jump into a garbage bin to hide.

A green cat paw woven from vines suddenly stretched out from inside the bin.

A bell dangled from its paw.

"Meow?"

A-Fei froze for a moment, then instinctively reached out with its own paw to bat at the bell.

Jingle, jingle...

The instant the bell rang.

A huge vine net sprang out of the garbage bin and wrapped the caught-off-guard fat cat up like a rice dumpling.

"Done."

Atop the clock tower, Sen snapped his fingers and withdrew the chakra thread connected to the vines.

By the time Naruto and Sasuke arrived, panting heavily.

All they saw was the cat that had been so arrogant moments ago hanging pitifully in midair, crying "meow, meow" in surrender.

After doing these utterly meaningless D-rank missions for an entire week.

Every day was either weeding, cat-catching, or picking up trash from the river.

Naruto was the first to break down.

"I'm done! I've had enough!"

When they gathered that morning, Naruto rolled around on the ground and refused to go to the mission hall no matter what.

"I'm going to become Hokage! I'm not here to be some handyman!"

"I want to do better missions! At the very least, C-rank or higher!"

Even Sasuke, unusually, did not argue. His cool little face was filled with gloom.

What he needed was battle—real combat that could make him stronger.

Not wasting his precious time on such boring trivialities.

Even Sakura, who was usually so good-tempered, pouted unwillingly.

Kakashi leaned against the bridge railing, looking at the three troublesome children as he helplessly scratched his head.

He knew it was time to give them a real challenge.

Sen, meanwhile, squatted nearby and looked at his completely inactive system panel, sighing as well.

[Life Drain]

This skill could only be triggered by killing hostile targets.

Was he supposed to kill a few stray cats or weeds?

That would be way too beneath him.

"Looks like these D-rank missions really don't give any experience points at all."

Sen stood and dusted the dirt off his backside.

He had also had enough of this slacking-off life without the slightest challenge.

If this kept up, his bones, which were practically starting to mold, would truly rust over.

He walked up to Naruto, who was still rolling around on the ground, and kicked him to his feet.

"Enough whining. You're making a fool of yourself."

Sen turned toward Kakashi, who was still pretending to read, impatience in his voice.

"Say, Kakashi-sensei."

"Can't we take on something with at least a little technical difficulty?"

"Like... taking a trip abroad and seeing some scenery or something?"