Chapter 59: C-Rank Mission
Chapter 59: C-Rank Mission
The young master of the Nara clan, the young lady of the Yamanaka clan, and the chubby young master of the Akimichi clan, none of them had ever done farm work. Choji was still a bit dizzy from blood loss, and Ino had no strength at all. Shikamaru became the main force for weeding. Poor Shikamaru, a young master who liked to lie down and watch the clouds, ended up so tired he could barely straighten his back.
"Hmm, good job. Let's go eat yakiniku tonight, your classmates are there too." Asuma strolled over leisurely, cigarette dangling from his lips.
Apart from Choji, who regained some energy at the mention of yakiniku, Ino and Shikamaru were too exhausted to speak, following him to the yakiniku restaurant with unsteady steps.
Upon entering, they found quite a few familiar faces. Not only was Kurenai's Team 8 there, but also Kakashi's Team 7.
Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. The nine of them were reunited for the first time since leaving the academy, but the atmosphere wasn't lively.
Ino pinched her nose and looked at Sakura with disgust. "Forehead, why do you smell so bad?"
Sakura immediately exploded. "Ino-pig, are you any better? Look at your hair, it's like a bird's nest!"
After they settled down and chatted, they found that everyone had a very difficult first day of D-rank missions!
Ino's Team 10 had to get rid of bugs and weeds.
Naruto's Team 7 had to pick up trash from the river. The river stank, not to mention the amount of garbage! Sakura and Sasuke were both overwhelmed by the stench. Naruto was a true warrior, finally finding an opportunity to use the Shadow Clone Technique in public. He assigned his shadow clones to pick up the garbage, and in the end, hundreds of shadow clones returned to the main body, knocking him unconscious from the smell.
Hinata's Team 8 had to look after children in kindergarten. Hinata spoke softly, and the children weren't afraid of her at all. Kiba was impatient and made the children cry three times, receiving a stern warning from the kindergarten principal. No one listened to Shino when he spoke. The three of them were tortured by the brats all day.
After hearing this, Ino understood. This was deliberately arranged, wasn't it?
With her Water Release skills, the task of cleaning up the river bottom garbage should be the easiest. There was no need to control her strength, one Water Dragon Bullet could solve all the problems.
Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clone Technique would be the most convenient for taking care of children in kindergarten.
Shino's Insect Control Technique would be the most suitable for cleaning up the farmland.
The village's arrangement was clearly assigning unsuitable tasks to unsuitable people.
What a cunning move...
Everyone was tired and not in the mood to talk much. They ate and drank, then quickly dispersed, each returning to their own homes.
In addition to missions, Ino still maintained two shadow clones for training.
For her, missions basically didn't provide much improvement, far less effective than her own training, but she couldn't avoid doing missions. It was a ninja's duty.
While Ino wanted to continue living a low-key life in the village, some people didn't think so.
At the strong request of Naruto from Team 7, the village gave Team 7 a standard C-rank mission. Considering that these genin hadn't seen blood, only practicing ninjutsu without actual combat and killing experience wouldn't do. In the end, Team 10 was also brought along.
The Third Hokage personally assigned the mission to them.
After seeing the mission details, Ino found that it wasn't the Land of Waves as she had expected, but to exterminate a group of bandits at the border of the Land of Fire.
Just bandits. They were basically moving targets against ninja who possessed chakra. However, ninja were a profession with high attack and low defense, or rather, all humans had the same level of defense. They were flesh and blood, and without any guard, 99% of ninja could be killed by a kunai. From this perspective, there wasn't much difference between ninja and bandits.
In order to let the new generation of ninja in the village see blood, the Third Hokage really went to great lengths.
The sixteenth generation of Ino-Shika-Cho, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan, these people were too important.
They must complete the transformation from students to ninja, and bandits were the best target. However, protection also had to be in place.
For a C-rank mission, not only was Kakashi, an elite Jonin, dispatched, but Asuma, the Hokage's own son, was also brought along.
The core meaning was for the two of them to do a good job of protection. Kakashi's attack power was no problem, but he often acted on his own whims.
Asuma, who had served as the bodyguard of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, had more experience in being a bodyguard than Kakashi. He had an easygoing personality and could effectively protect the new generation of ninja like Ino and her team.
Before their departure, the Third Hokage held his pipe and specifically reminded them, "You are all the future of the village. When carrying out missions, you must obey the orders of the Jonin leader, but you must also have your own judgment... This group of bandits are guilty of many crimes, often abducting civilians. As a ninja village of the Land of Fire, as ninja of Konohagakure, you must eliminate them! Only by killing all these bandits can the nearby civilians truly be safe..."
The Third Hokage's speech was long and tedious. This wasn't a Jonin meeting. Kakashi didn't want to leave a bad impression of laziness on the younger generation in the village, so he could only pretend to listen attentively.
Asuma, as his own son, didn't have so many concerns. Seeing the old man rambling on and on, repeating himself, he went off to smoke alone.
Ino and the others listened patiently for an hour. When even the always cold Sasuke frowned, the Third Hokage finally finished all the precautions.
His words completely washed away the joy Naruto felt when he received the C-rank mission. When the eight of them left the village, the future Seventh Hokage walked listlessly.
Going out on a mission, in addition to their usual ninja tools, Ino and the others each carried a black backpack.
It contained many things, including tents, supplies, medicine, and food for camping in the wild. Even if someone was separated from the main group, they could survive for several days in the wild relying on these things.
Choji carried the most things, including iron pots, shovels, seasonings, and other things. He looked less like he was going on a mission and more like he was going on a picnic.
The Land of Fire was a plain area. The village where the mission took place was located in the southwest corner of this plain. The climate there was hot and humid, the harvest of crops was poor, and the civilians were very poor. So poor that they couldn't afford to eat and had to become bandits in the mountains. After becoming bandits, they robbed other civilians, and the cycle continued, resulting in more and more bandits.
Konoha had always adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards this. If the Land of Fire was peaceful and quiet, how would they, the ninja, make a living?
When the bandits had some fighting ability, they would send genin to gain experience like harvesting crops. After a few years, when there were more bandits, Konoha would send people to harvest experience again, recycling them.
Ino had a general understanding of this. She didn't refuse the mission.
Ninja ultimately had to kill. It didn't matter whether those guys were the "wicked" bandits in the Third Hokage's words. If they were, it was for the best. If not, it didn't matter either. She needed these bandits to test her own "caliber"!
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