A Genin's Daily Life

That evening, after the dinner gathering ended, Kakashi told the three of them to meet at the mission hall early the next morning. Then he pulled out Yamashiro Aoba's wallet, supported him as they went to settle the bill, and left.

The others also went home.

Early the next morning, the three arrived together at Konoha's mission hall. Under Kakashi's lead, they found the Chunin in charge of issuing missions.

"Yo, isn't this Iruka? Back from the border?"

Kakashi knew this pineapple-haired Chunin, and Menma knew him too.

However, perhaps due to the influence of the parallel world, Iruka was not teaching at the Konoha Academy. Instead, he was active at Konoha's borders as an experienced Chunin.

"Ah, Kakashi." Iruka, his hair styled like a pineapple and a scar running across the bridge of his nose, greeted him with a smile.

"The missions at the border haven't been too demanding these past few years, so I applied for a transfer back. It just so happened that Sadoru and I could hold our wedding while I was here.

"I'll send you an invitation when the time comes. Remember to bring a big red envelope to the wedding banquet!"

Iruka looked over the three people behind Kakashi and teased him.

"I heard as soon as I got back that you've started serving as a Jonin instructor. It really makes one worry about the fate of those Genin."

"Well! You should worry about yourself first. It's not your place, a mere Chunin, to worry about me." Kakashi curled his lip.

"I'm still a Chunin for now, but I'll be promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin soon." Iruka was not angry at all. Instead, he spoke smugly.

"Is that so? Congratulations." Kakashi offered his congratulations halfheartedly.

"Hey, is one congratulations all I get? Where's my gift?" Iruka asked unhappily.

"Well, I'll give you the gift together with your wedding present when you get married.

"For now, help me see whether there are any suitable missions for newly graduated Genin." Kakashi brushed him off.

"Yeah, yeah. The moment money comes up, you change the subject." Iruka grumbled, but he still flipped through the mission list in his hands, checking through it one item at a time.

"How about this one? A D-rank mission: help the Ide Household look after their child for a day. The reward is 1,000 ryo. The village won't take a cut."

"Pick another one. I already have three children with me. Let's not add another." Kakashi refused.

"Then this one: help Lady Mary find her lost kitten.

"The reward is fairly generous, 3,000 ryo, and the village won't take a cut either," Iruka said.

"Forget it, this mission isn't suitable either...

"I'll be direct. Are there any combat-type missions? I want to give them some training," Kakashi asked.

"Hey, Kakashi, isn't combat for their first mission a little too soon?" Iruka voiced his concern.

"It's fine. My subordinates are all excellent, and besides, I'll be watching from the side. Nothing will go wrong." Kakashi acted as if it were no big deal.

"Alright, then how about this one? Help villagers drive away wild boars that have been destroying their farmland. The reward is 10,000 ryo!

"According to the villagers' reports, the wild boar is rather large, so you only need to drive it away.

"If you can kill it, there will be an additional reward of 10,000 ryo." Iruka pointed out the mission on the list for Kakashi.

"Then we'll take this one. Genin Team Seven will handle it." Without a second thought, Kakashi accepted the mission. After saying goodbye to Iruka, he led the three out of the mission hall.

Kakashi led the three toward the mission site. Along the way, Menma asked, "Kakashi-sensei, did you know that Chunin just now? It seemed like you two were close."

"Yeah. His name is Umino Iruka. He's a very outstanding ninja, and his combat strength is no weaker than mine," Kakashi said.

Menma's eye twitched at that. Was this world's Kakashi also a fifty-fifty fighter?

Or was Iruka really that strong?

"Then why is he still only a Chunin?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, some things happened before that delayed his promotion, and he was even sent to the border between Konoha and the Land of Hot Water.

"This time, he returned because the effects of that incident had faded, and his promotion was put back on the agenda." Kakashi explained.

"What happened?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Classified. You're not qualified to know yet." Kakashi did not answer directly.

"Hey, hey, hey! Kakashi-sensei is too sly. You're just too lazy to explain, so you call it classified." Menma complained.

"Well, let's just say that's the case." Kakashi did not argue.

The four hurried toward the mission location. After more than an hour of travel, they finally arrived at their target village.

The village was located roughly thirty kilometers west of Konoha. Several dozen small houses were arranged in an orderly fashion throughout it.

It was noon. Farmers who had spent the morning working in the fields were gradually returning home to eat and rest.

Kakashi stopped a villager and asked where the village chief lived. Then he led the three toward the chief's house.

The village chief's house was on the western edge of the village. It was slightly larger than the other villagers' homes.

After hearing Kakashi's purpose, the village chief hurriedly welcomed them inside. Unfortunately, the chief's family had already eaten lunch, so they only made tea and pretended not to notice Menma and the others' hungry looks.

After asking for the wild boar's exact location, Kakashi took the three and left. In the woods beside the village, the four found a shady spot beneath a tree and sat down to rest.

The three, who had long been hungry, immediately took out their soldier pills to eat, but Kakashi stopped them. "You three are planning to eat soldier pills?"

"What else are we supposed to eat? That village wasn't going to feed us." Menma answered irritably.

"What is this mission's target?" Kakashi asked.

"A wild boar," Menma answered.

"Exactly!" Kakashi waved a hand. "Soldier pills aren't very nutritious. Children should eat less of them whenever possible. We'll have roast wild boar for lunch today!

"I'll gather firewood and start a fire. You three go kill that wild boar. Bring it back within half an hour, and we'll roast it!"

"What? We're still hungry!

"Leaving aside whether we can finish the mission, finding that wild boar within half an hour is already a problem!" Menma loudly voiced his dissatisfaction.

"No problem, I'll give you some help." With that, Kakashi formed hand seals with both hands and pressed them to the ground. "Summoning Technique!"

With a bang, a pug wearing a Konoha forehead protector appeared on the ground.

"This is Pakkun, my summoned ninja hound. He'll help you find that wild boar," Kakashi said.

Pakkun sprang onto Menma's head and said, "Nice to meet you. Please take care of me!"

"Don't just jump onto my head whenever you feel like it!" Menma grabbed Pakkun by the scruff of his neck and lifted him down.

"Alright, the timer starts now. If you don't bring back that wild boar within half an hour, all of you will be considered unqualified!" Kakashi said.

"Damn it. Sasuke, Sakura, let's go! Pakkun, lead the way!" Menma gave the order.

Pakkun barked and ran toward the depths of the forest.

The three followed Pakkun deeper into the woods.

Before long, Pakkun stopped in front of a patch of bushes and said,

"This is the place. I can sense a massive beast ahead. It should be the mission target, that wild boar."

The three quickly crouched down and parted the leaves. Sure enough, a gigantic wild boar was rooting around beneath the roots of a tree.

"Hey, hey, hey, isn't this wild boar way too big?" Menma stared at the boar, which was as tall as a one-story building, black lines appearing across his forehead.

When he turned to look at Sakura and Sasuke, their expressions were equally grave.

"Sakura, Sasuke, do you have any plans?" Menma asked.

"Hmph, it's just a wild boar. Let's attack it together!" Sasuke snorted and immediately threw a shuriken at the boar.

"Hey, calm down! Don't act recklessly!" Sakura hurriedly tried to stop him, but it was too late. The shuriken had already struck the wild boar, only to be deflected with a clang.

"Roar!" Feeling the attack and pain, the wild boar threw back its head and roared, then turned to glare viciously at Sasuke.

Sasuke jumped in front of the wild boar and rapidly formed hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge fireball flew toward the wild boar's face, then exploded with a bang, scattering sparks in every direction.

Although the Great Fireball Technique looked immensely powerful, wild boars liked to root around in the dirt, and this one had a thick crust of mud covering its face. As a result, the attack had limited effect.

Other than the fur on its face being singed and curled by the flames, it had not suffered any real damage.

However, the wild boar was thoroughly enraged by the attack. It lowered its head, revealing its long tusks, scraped its front hooves against the ground, and charged at Sasuke like a knight wielding a lance.

"Watch out!" Seeing Sasuke pull out a kunai and try to block the wild boar's charge, Menma shouted as he rushed out of hiding.

He hooked one arm around Sasuke's neck, tucked him under his armpit, and rolled away from the wild boar's attack at the last possible moment.

Rumble!

Amid a tremendous crash and a cloud of dust, the wild boar slammed straight into the tree behind Sasuke.

Looking at the enormous tusks buried deep in the trunk, if Menma had not pulled Sasuke aside just now, Sasuke would not even need to be rescued. He would have gone straight to meet the First Hokage.

It was worth mentioning that in this world, the First Hokage was not Hashirama Senju, but Madara Uchiha.

"Menma, who told you to meddle?"

Sasuke climbed up from the ground and vigorously dusted off his clothes and hair. Though still shaken, he shouted at Menma anyway.

Unusually, Menma did not argue with Sasuke.

Because of their position, Sasuke's head had been clamped under Menma's arm and slammed into the ground several times while they were rolling.

The damage was minor, but it had still left him filthy and disheveled.

"Alright, alright, don't worry about that." Sakura stepped in to smooth things over.

"Instead of arguing here, we should think about how to deal with our mission target."

The three looked closely and saw that the wild boar was only grunting continuously and struggling against the tree trunk. It did not turn around to attack them.

The three circled around to the side and finally saw that the boar's tusks were buried too deeply in the trunk to pull free. It had vividly reenacted the ninja world's version of waiting by a tree stump for a rabbit—no, waiting by a tree stump for a boar.