First Mission

When Sakumo and the other two were at the Barbecue Restaurant, Torifu Akimichi's appetite truly shocked them. The three of them ordered meat by the plate when they ate barbecue, but what about Torifu Akimichi?

He ordered barbecue by the basin. With a wave of his hand, he said, "Five basins to start." Who could possibly keep up with that?

Shinku asked blankly, "Sensei, are you sure this restaurant has that much meat?"

Torifu burst into laughter at that. "Don't worry. This place will always have enough meat, because the restaurant is owned by our Akimichi Clan."

The corner of Hoshi's mouth twitched when he heard that. No wonder he dared to eat so much—it was his own clan's business.

In truth, Hoshi and the other two were full after less than half an hour. They spent the rest of the time watching Torifu eat meat.

Even Hinata, who could wolf down forty-six huge bowls, would have to admit defeat before their teacher's appetite. Maybe only Luffy from One Piece could rival him.

Two hours later, Torifu gently patted his stomach, indicating that he was finally full. He set down the last basin of barbecue, wiped the grease from his mouth, and said to his three disciples, "All right, everyone's full too, right? Now that we've eaten and drunk our fill, it's time to begin the mission."

At the word "mission," Sakumo and Hoshi's eyes lit up. They had been looking forward to their first mission for a long time.

Shinku's body trembled involuntarily beside them. But when he looked at Sakumo and Hoshi at his side, then at Sensei Torifu, who looked like a vajra, a tiny bit of confidence rose in his heart.

There shouldn't be any problems... right?

The current Konoha was nothing like Konoha in Naruto's era. In such turbulent times, there were no leisurely missions like finding cats or picking up trash with children in the Original Story. Even the lowest D-rank Missions involved killing people, such as exterminating bandits.

The war had only just ended, and Rogue Ninja and bandits were everywhere outside Konoha. Taking advantage of the major nations being too preoccupied with the war to spare them any attention, they had ravaged the villages around the Land of Fire.

Now that the war had finally ended, every major ninja village was mobilizing manpower to clear out these scum of humanity. Missions to exterminate bandits were the most common kind in Konoha right now.

Hoshi and the others' first mission was exactly this: eliminate the bandits plaguing Spark Village.

The client for Hoshi and the others' mission was a dark-skinned middle-aged man dressed in leather. One glance was enough to sense his honest, simple nature. He was clearly the sort of hardworking, down-to-earth man who faced the soil with his back to the sky.

The middle-aged man had initially been delighted when he saw someone had accepted his mission, but when he saw Torifu, his smile froze on his face.

Good heavens, are you sure that man is a ninja? Compared to him, even the bandit chief would be more docile than a sheep in a pen.

Seeing the client, who looked ready to collapse in fright, Torifu helplessly shook his head. He had seen this sort of thing many times and had grown used to it.

He patted Hoshi on the shoulder, signaling for Hoshi—the little fellow who looked easier to approach—to handle the conversation. He had no intention of explaining himself; there was no way to make ordinary people understand such things.

Understanding his meaning, Hoshi stepped forward and said to the middle-aged man, "Uncle, don't worry. We're all Konoha ninja. We won't do anything to you."

After looking at harmless-looking Hoshi, the middle-aged man's terrified heart calmed considerably. Hearing Hoshi's explanation, he immediately came to his senses.

That was right. This was Konoha. He had hired people to eliminate bandits; they were just doing work for money. Why was he afraid of them?

Seeing that the middle-aged man had visibly relaxed, Hoshi continued to press the point.

"Uncle, let me tell you, you really struck it lucky this time. Sensei Torifu is a Jonin. With our teacher here, even if there were thousands upon thousands of bandits, they still wouldn't be enough for him to kill alone."

Hearing that, the middle-aged man unconsciously stretched his neck and once again sized up Torifu Akimichi, who looked like a glaring vajra. One look frightened him into quickly lowering his head.

The kid wasn't wrong. With that ninja lord's size, he could probably crush bandits to death with a single finger. Thinking this, his worry turned to joy once more. Now their village could be saved.

He hurriedly grabbed Hoshi's hand. "Young man, you're right. I believe you. You must save our village. If you don't help us, our village is finished."

The mission's story was a tired old one: traditional bandit extortion. Gather the money within three days, and if the money didn't arrive, the entire village would be slaughtered.

Hoshi and the others did not listen long to the middle-aged man's tearful pleas. After completing the procedures to leave the village, they followed him straight toward Spark Village.

On the way out of the village, Shinku remained somewhat timid and jumpy, afraid that another scouting squad might leap out from somewhere and try to kill him. But the war was already over, so that naturally would not happen again.

Because the situation was urgent, they did not bother considering the middle-aged man's feelings. Torifu grabbed him by the collar and, following his directions, arrived at Spark Village.

Hoshi and the others traveled quickly, reaching Spark Village in less than two hours.

Desperate to save his village, the middle-aged man did not even enter when they reached the village entrance. Instead, he said to Hoshi and the others, "Sirs, those bandits live on the mountain across from us. They don't know that I went to Konoha for help. If I lead you up the mountain now, they'll never expect it."

Hearing this, Torifu followed his lead and said, "Then let's go now. If we finish early, we should still make it back to the village in time to sleep."

No one objected to Torifu's suggestion. Without lingering, the group headed straight for the bandits' hideout. There were a few sentry posts along the way, but they could not escape Hoshi and the others' notice.

They might not be able to deal with a ninja deliberately concealing themselves, but the traps and hiding places set up by ordinary people were far too crude for them.

Hoshi and the others easily dealt with several hidden sentries. Sakumo raised his hand and knocked those men unconscious with a single chop each.

After knocking them out, Sakumo hesitated. Looking at those men, who had no ability to fight back, he did not know whether he should kill them.

Torifu noticed his hesitation and suddenly said, "Most people who become bandits deserve to die. Even if you don't kill them and only break their arms and legs, once they lose the ability to move, they won't survive anyway."

Sakumo hesitated for a moment after hearing that, but ultimately nodded and raised the White Fang, bringing it down in a single slash.

Without encountering much resistance, Hoshi and the others arrived directly at the bandits' main camp. At that moment, the bandits were indulging in revelry.

The bandits gathered together, drinking and loudly talking about which villages they had plundered that day, how much money they had stolen, and what pretty young girls they had violated.

Hoshi and the others frowned deeply as they listened, becoming certain that Torifu had been right. These people truly deserved to die.

Torifu held them back and quietly instructed, "This is your first mission. I want you to complete it independently. I won't intervene unless it's a life-or-death moment. Be careful. Go."

Since I have classes in the afternoon, the update will be a little later. Also, regarding the general plot arrangement, many readers feel that constantly writing child-focused storylines makes it hard to immerse themselves, and Ye Zhi feels the same way.

Therefore, the plot will begin speeding up from here on. There may be large gaps of time between each small arc, which I'll briefly gloss over in one or two sentences. I hope readers can prepare themselves for that.