novel-bin Chapter 41 Weaving Destiny
Chapter 41 Weaving Destiny
Newly arrived ninja teams are ill-suited for combat-related tasks; most D-rank missions are simple and tedious. Weeding, farming, finding cats, scavenging—basically anything that requires physical strength. Other teams might be fine with this, but assigning such tasks to Team 7 is somewhat of a waste of their talents. The world has never been truly peaceful; bandits and wandering ninjas have always existed, and escort and extermination missions are the main source of income for ninja villages. While relations between nations have appeared calm in recent years, the competition has actually gone underground. On the surface, the principle of the five nations' ninjas remains one of avoiding conflict unless absolutely necessary.
Summer and autumn are the peak seasons for escort missions. Konoha is short-handed and can't afford to miss out on any combat power that can go toe-to-toe with Kakashi. Sure enough, before the three little ones even had a chance to complain, a mission came knocking on their door.
"Lord Hokage, the master says his child is quite young and he's worried that too many adult ninjas might frighten him, so he hopes the hired ninjas can be younger." A tall, strong young man was gesturing to indicate the child's height in the mission posting office. His skin was a sun-kissed bronze, and a rough hemp rope was tied around his forehead. Although his clothes were no different from ordinary people, a faint fishy smell could be detected if you got close.
The seventh class "just happened" to enter at this moment, ready to take over their task for the day.
"Mr. Keisha, what do you think of these guys?" The Third Hokage pointed his pipe in the direction of Class 7, looking completely at ease.
The man named Keisha's eyes lit up when he saw the three children, but then he said with some concern, "Thank you for your kindness, Hokage, but the Land of Waves has been attacked by river pirates several times recently. Your own men can't handle it, so you asked me to ask the ninja for assistance. They look even younger than Mr. Shiro..."
“There’s no need to worry about their strength. This team is the best graduating class of this year, and they are ninjas no matter what. Besides, a Jonin will be going with them.” The Third Hokage added a few more words of persuasion, and only then did Keisha stop refusing, still somewhat doubtful.
Team 7 was assigned a C-rank mission without any explanation, but they gathered at the gates of Konoha a few hours later.
"It all feels a bit unreal..." Sakura already knew from her parents how difficult it was to traverse the ranks of missions. Her father became a ninja during the Third Shinobi World War, but it took him half a year of manual labor before he could even take on C-rank missions on the battlefield. And now, she'd only been a knin for a few days and was already going out to fight bandits and samurai? Wasn't that too fast?!
However, her companions, one of whom maintained a smile and the other who seemed cold but was actually a little excited, did not see anything wrong with it.
Is this the pain of being matched with god-tier teammates? This is outrageous! Looks like she needs to work twice as hard!
"Finally, I can go out! I've never seen what the outside of Konoha looks like before!" Naruto had trained to the point where he could lie without even breaking a sweat. But he was genuinely excited, after all, this was the first time in his newly restarted life that he could leave Konoha openly! Before, he couldn't even stroll around the vicinity! If he got even a little closer, the surrounding Anbu would start to tense up.
"Don't you have a ton of travel guides?" Sasuke seemed aloof, but his cat-like eyes were constantly darting left and right. Curiosity is a child's nature, and influenced by Naruto, he actually longed for the outside world, only to have it suppressed by his obsession with becoming stronger.
Naruto retorted loudly, "That's not the same! How can the beautiful scenery we see with our own eyes be the same as a photo? Besides, the Land of Waves is an island, so we're going to see the real sea!"
Keisha asked with some surprise, "Do you know where the Land of Waves is?"
"Haha, it's just a personal hobby. I like to look at maps, travel guides, and books on local customs and products, so I roughly know where it is."
“Before Mr. Taoli came to my hometown, there was nothing worth mentioning. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to say that.” Keisha said this with a face full of respect, which easily aroused curiosity.
This time, Kakashi was the first to ask, "Who is Mr. Tori? Is he the lord of the Land of Waves?"
"No! Mr. Taoli is the guide of the Land of Waves! It is because of his help that we were able to drive away the bully, reclaim our land, and live the good life we have now! Mr. Taoli hates it when people call him that, so you'd better not provoke him."
Driving away the bully? Does it involve a change of lords? I have a feeling there'll be trouble. Kakashi glanced at the three little ones listening intently to Kaisa's story and ultimately chose to remain silent. Sasuke and Naruto's strength is astonishing; if they're not allowed to actually go to the battlefield, they probably won't be able to improve any further. Anyway, they still have him as their teacher, right? If they're just wandering ninjas, he can still control the situation.
As it turns out, he may have spoken a little too soon.
Not long after leaving Konoha, the forest was suddenly covered by thick fog. Naruto, who was always the center of attention, shut his mouth and reached out to stop Kaisa, who was about to continue forward.
"The fog is caused by chakra. There are four people nearby, two adults and two teenagers. Their strength is one Jonin, two Chunin, and one Genin." The advantage of having a sensory type is fully demonstrated; the enemy has not even shown himself yet, but has already been detected. Moreover, sensory types like Naruto are extremely rare; he can even know the strength of his opponents.
Kakashi relies on ninja dogs for reconnaissance; he definitely couldn't do this much intelligence gathering. Besides, in his memory, no sensory-type teammate could be this outrageous... Oh well, the more information he knows, the higher his chances of survival. And with so many ninjas coming at once, is Kaisa really clueless, or is he just pretending to be stupid to trick the ninjas into working for free?
"Where is the location?"
"The Jonin is at six o'clock; he's probably planning to ambush you, teacher."
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, a massive water dragon roared in from behind. Kakashi and Naruto simultaneously formed hand seals, barely managing to block the dragon's momentum with five layers of earth-flow walls. However, while they were dealing with the ninjutsu, two figures flew out of the dense forest and directly confronted Sasuke and Sakura, creating a huge gap in Kaisa's defenses. The last enemy wouldn't let such an opportunity pass, instantly leaping out of a tree and aiming a slash straight for Kaisa's head.
Is the mission going to fail?
A cloud of smoke erupted from Kaisa's body, and a Naruto suddenly appeared out of nowhere, kicking Kaisa aside to dodge the attack. Then, a Wind Release technique blew away the ninja who had ambushed him.
A single breakthrough thwarted the enemy's planned surprise attack. A whistle rang out from the direction where the water dragon bullet was fired, and the other three attackers immediately retreated in an orderly manner.
"A miscalculation, a miscalculation. You actually have a sensory-type ninja." The mist quietly dissipated, revealing a graceful woman who casually wiped the water from the corner of her mouth. The newcomer had long reddish-brown hair that covered one eye, while the other eye, which was dark green, was full of cunning.
At this moment, only those who do not know the other person's identity can appreciate the beauty; Kakashi is already sweating profusely.
"Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, I've heard so much about you~ You look even more handsome than the rumors say~"
"You're joking, Miss Terumi Mei."
So just how big of a problem is it that it would attract the attention of the real Hidden Mist ninja?!