Chapter 53 : Half a Month Later

...

"Are you blaming me for not taking action earlier?" Chiri glanced at Higurashi.

Higurashi quickly denied: "That's not what I meant..."

"If I take action, what else do you need to do?" Chiri interrupted.

"I told you on the first day you all that there must be no useless people in my team.

You will become independent ninjas sooner or later. I can't take care of you for long. If you are still a weakling who only wants to rely on others then you should just give up the path of ninja as soon as possible."

Higurashi lowered his head in shame: "Teacher Chiri is right, I was ignorant."

Hyuga Zero smiled and said, "Teacher Chiri has put a lot of effort into teaching us. We will definitely not let Teacher Chiri down, right Watanabe-kun?"

'Why are you involving me...'

Watanabe nodded silently.

Hyuga Zero's injuries were not serious. After returning to Konoha, she only needed to go to the hospital to find a medical ninja for treatment and bandaging, and she would recover soon, and it would not affect the next mission.

Then everyone started to clean up the scene and dug pits to bury all the bandits' bodies.

Jigenro mustered the courage to come closer and he diligently helped to dig the pit. Seeing these evil bandits destroyed in front of him, the heavy stone in his heart finally fell.

Scarface and his companions had amassed a huge amount of wealth during the past three months as bandits. The gold, silver and jewellery filled up half of the wooden house. This money should naturally become the spoils of Chiri and his party, and were put into the sealed scroll by Chri.

After cleaning up everything, the four returned to Jigenro's village and they told the villagers who had been waiting anxiously about the bandits' demise.

When the villagers heard the news, they all cried with joy. They expressed their gratitude to Chri and presented her with the promised reward of 5 million ryo.

This B-level mission was successfully completed--

"Teacher, how much money can I get?"

On the way back, Watanabe asked Chiri.

Higurashi pricked up his ears. He was also concerned about this question but he was too embarrassed to ask.

Chiri replied: "According to the rules, the leader will take half of the mission reward. Add to that the spoils looted from the bandits' den, and you will each get about 1.5 million ryo."

Watanabe appeared calm on the surface, but he felt a sense of unreality in his heart.

No wonder everyone wants to become a ninja. Ninjas make money really quickly. In just half a day, they can earn as much money as ordinary people need to farm for several years to earn.

"One million and five hundred thousand ryo... that's a lot!" Higurashi couldn't help but be surprised.

"It seems that Higurashi really likes money." Hyuga Zero smiled, "I can share my reward with you and Watanabe-kun."

Only a fool could not tell that she was joking. Higurashi blushed and he waved his hands quickly: "No! No!"

"Eh, you don't want it? Then do you want it, Watanabe-kun?" Hyuga Zero looked at Watanabe.

Watanabe really wanted to curse her, but couldn't say it and he just ignored her.

Chiri said: "I suggest you use this reward to exchange for ninjutsu scrolls at the Ninjutsu Library, and buy some ninja equipment. Only when your strength is improved, can you take on higher-level and more rewarding missions next time."

Higurashi felt that she said this specifically to him. After all, Watanabe already knew a lot of ninjutsu, and Hyuga Zero was the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan, so she also had no shortage of ninjutsu equipment. Only he was weak and poor.

"Okay, I will use all the compensation to improve myself." Higurashi assured Chiri.

He made up his mind to hold on to Chiri's thigh tightly.

Thinking of this, Higurashi secretly glanced at Chiri's long legs, then looked away in a few seconds like a guilty thief.

…

The group returned to Konoha before evening.

Chiri first went to the mission hall to register their completed mission. As the staff recorded it, The B-level mission completed this time will accompany Watanabe, Zero and Higurashi throughout their ninja career and will be used in future promotion assessments.

Then came the money-dividing stage that Watanabe had been expecting. The actual reward he received was even more than Chiri had estimated, a total of 1.63 million ryo, and he went home carrying a sack of money.

That night, Maito Dai came to Watanabe's house again and he reported that he had taken a job guarding a house with his ninja forehead protector. He kept a record of the remuneration and he would give it to Watanabe as soon as his father's condition improved.

Watanabe already regarded Maito Dai as someone he could make friends with. He was never stingy with his friends, not to mention that he made a lot of money today. He pondered and said, "I also received a lot of rewards for taking on a mission today. I can lend you some to buy medicine for your father."

"No need for this!"

To Watanabe's surprise, Maito Dai refused without hesitation.

"You lending me the forehead protector is the biggest help I can get. Now I can make money with my own ability. My father also said that if you can rely on yourself, don't rely on others. Even if you are poor, you should still have high aspirations!"

After saying this, as if he was afraid that Watanabe would force money on him, Maito Dai turned around and ran. He ran so fast that he even raised the dust on the ground.

"You don't have to be so principled..."

Looking at Maito Dai's back as he rode away from the crowd, Watanabe felt a bit of a headache. He really wanted to help Maito Day overcome the difficulties, but unfortunately Maito Dai had his own persistence.

"Come to think of it, Maito Dai's speed is faster than mine?"

Watanabe recalled the scene of Maito Guy running away just now, and his expression became complicated.

This shows how poor his taijutsu is. Maito Dai is not even a Genin, but he can surpass him in speed.

"It's urgent to improve my physical skills."

…

In the following days, Watanabe lived a normal ninja life. Every day, under the leadership of Chri, he went out to perform missions with Hyuga Zero and Higurashi.

Unlike other team leaders, Chiri only accepts B-level tasks. If she doesn't encounter a suitable task on the day, she will  rather give Watanabe and the other two a day off and come to the task hall the next day.

Half a month passed in a blink of an eye.

In the past half month, Watanabe and others completed twelve B-level tasks under the leadership of Chiri, with a 100% success rate.

Even the staff of the mission hall were surprised by this data. They have been in this business for many years, but have never seen a team of newcomers who completed a mission so well. The ninja resumes of Watanabe and others are already better than those of some old Ninja who have been in the mission hall for many years.

'At this rate, it won't be long before I leave Teacher Chiri's team.'

Half a month later, Watanabe was lying in bed thinking.

  (End of this chapter)