Tazuna and Kosuke's Departure

Team Seven hadn't expected this.

After they left, an elderly man wearing glasses entered the Mission Assignment Office. Holding a bottle of liquor, he trembled as he said, "Hey, I'm here to post a mission request."

"May I ask your name?"

"Ta... Tazuna."

The drunken old man forced his eyes open and gave Iruka a chuckle. "Escort me to the Land of Waves and protect me while I build a bridge there..."

"Is that so? The Land of Waves has no ninja village, and the journey should be relatively safe. We'll classify it as a C-rank Mission for now!"

Umino Iruka nodded and sighed softly. "This kind of relatively easy mission should suit Elder Kosuke, right? When he comes back, I'll assign this mission to him!"

"...Oh? Your senior?"

Half-awake and half-drunk, Tazuna glanced at Umino Iruka, grabbed Iruka's sleeve tightly, and nodded. "Good... good... good... him it is!"

Iruka: "..."

There were always strange coincidences in the world.

When the first rays of sunlight fell upon the village, Konoha's gates opened.

It was the first time the three Genin of Team Seven had left Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki looked around curiously, but his gaze suddenly stopped on the old man who had appeared beside them. "Morning, Elder Kosuke. Are you leaving the village for a mission too?"

"I am! Good morning!"

Genin Maruboshi Kosuke smiled and nodded. Behind him stood another elderly man with a gloomy expression, who appeared to be Kosuke's mission client.

The atmosphere between the two old men did not seem particularly pleasant. That mood had carried over from yesterday until now.

Yesterday afternoon, Umino Iruka had handed this relatively easy C-rank escort mission to Maruboshi Kosuke almost as if it were a benefit.

The result was dissatisfaction from the client.

However, the countless completed C-rank Missions on Genin Kosuke's record left Mr. Tazuna of the Land of Waves with no grounds to object.

Unfortunately, judging by Tazuna's expression, he was clearly very dissatisfied that this elderly Genin had accepted his commission.

Then Tazuna's gaze fell on the energetic members of Team Seven nearby, especially Naruto Uzumaki, who was seriously scribbling in a notebook.

Tazuna could not help muttering, "I thought all you Konoha ninja were like those little brats over there!"

"Hehe..."

Maruboshi Kosuke said awkwardly, "After all, the missions those kids are taking on are much more difficult than mine!"

"Is that so?"

Tazuna tipped back his head and took a swig of liquor. In a low voice, he said, "The people who get to be their clients are truly lucky."

Maruboshi Kosuke scratched his head sheepishly. "I'm truly sorry, but I will still get you safely to the Land of Waves and help you build the bridge."

"I hope so!"

Tazuna's cheek twitched as he sighed helplessly. Yesterday, he had originally planned to use drunkenness to conceal his worries...

His worries had indeed been hidden, but Konoha had assigned him an elderly Genin. That was truly trying to steal a chicken and ending up losing the rice instead!

Long after the two old men had departed, Team Seven's Jonin leader, Kakashi Hatake, finally arrived. "Yo, good morning! You all came early! Sorry, but today I got lost on the road of life again!"

"Hey, Sensei Kakashi, that's enough already!"

Sakura Haruno tugged at his uniform, her face somewhat sour. "Our client is still here! He's been waiting with us for ages!"

"It's alright..."

The Guild Master hurriedly waved his hands and said with an ingratiating smile, "To have the famous Sharingan Kakashi accept our commission, it seems we can practically declare the mission complete already!"

"Ha, is that so?"

Kakashi Hatake scratched his head. "Do you have any detailed information about the goods that were stolen by the bandits?"

The Guild Master froze in surprise. "Uh... this is what happened. Some time ago, we purchased a batch of precious jewels from the Land of Water through the Gato Company in the Land of Waves. Because the Land of Water is closed off, those jewels are highly sought-after goods in the Land of Fire..."

Due to Kirigakure's Bloody Mist Policy, the Land of Water was regarded as a barbaric land in the ninja world and was not accepted by the nations on the mainland. Thus, the Land of Fire rarely traded with it.

These two great ninja nations could now only rely on the small island nation of the Land of Waves between them to transfer goods for trade.

How much trade could a small island nation's transport capacity support?

As a result, goods from the Land of Water had always been extremely expensive inland, with considerable profits. This Guild Master from the Land of Fire had connected with Gato, a major merchant of the Land of Waves, but just days after acquiring a batch of goods, he was robbed by bandits.

According to the unwritten rules within the Land of Fire, merchants only needed to make a trip to Konoha and hire its ninja to resolve the matter.

Usually, Konoha ninja only needed to show themselves, and those bandits would voluntarily surrender, hand over the stolen goods, and the Konoha ninja would generously spare their lives.

Occasionally, there would be bandits too ignorant to know better who stubbornly resisted. Good-tempered ninja would spare their lives, take the goods, and leave; if they encountered ninja in a bad mood, then that was another matter...

The whole thing was practically a farce...

What was even more interesting was that this practice could be traced back to the era of war between ninja clans. It was said that the two most useful clans in that era were the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan.

However, the two great clans had always been at each other's throats. They fought for who knew how many years without ever stopping, and the danger was correspondingly high.

Now that the Hidden Leaf Village had finally taken their place, safety had improved. Some merchants stopped commissioning ninja in order to save money, and later they were robbed into bankruptcy.

The merchants of the Land of Fire understood. Gradually, they realized that this was simply the ninja taking the chance to fleece them!

Later, these merchants of the Land of Fire came up with a rule: hire Konoha ninja to help transport large shipments, and gamble on smaller ones.

If they got lucky, they could save a considerable hiring fee. If they were unlucky, they could always go to Konoha and hire ninja afterward. It was only a C-rank Mission anyway.

Clearly, the Guild Master before them had not been very lucky. He could only spend money to hire ninja to recover his losses. The one thing that comforted him was that he had actually hired the legendary Sharingan Kakashi!

After explaining how his goods had been stolen, the Guild Master said with feeling, "As long as we can recover those precious jewels, I'll be satisfied..."

Naruto Uzumaki did not care much about that. In a deep voice, he said, "Don't worry. We'll clear out those bandits while we're at it. That road will be safe from now on."

"..."

The Guild Master did not take those words seriously.

These ninja might not have considered that, but merchants understood it very well. He was an honest businessman with a clear head!

Bandits and highwaymen had never disappeared from the Land of Fire. Merchants all knew, more or less, that those bandits robbing travelers on the roads had backing!

As for who exactly stood behind them, no one dared investigate.

For example, people from the Land of Lightning said it was Shimura Xzo, people from the Land of Earth said it was Shimura DanX, and people from the Land of Wind said it was ShiX Danzo. There were probably only a few possible suspects...

Second update

Shimura Danzō: I didn't do this!

Hiruzen Sarutobi: Does it really matter whether you did or not?

Shimura Danzō: Monkey, are you even human?

Hiruzen Sarutobi: For Konoha to endure, what's wrong with you making such a tiny sacrifice?