Teacher's Petting Zoo (And Other Dangerous Missions)

"Um, Kurenai..."

Asuma, standing to the side, hadn't expected that the girl from his class would be interested in a guy from Yuhi Kurenai's class.

What a coincidence?

"Want to grab dinner tonight?"

"I can't. We're on a mission outside the village. Won't be back for a while."

Yuhi Kurenai was still trying to figure out the complex relationships between her students and didn't have time to deal with her childhood friend, who had disappeared for over a decade and then returned.

"Mission outside the village?"

Asuma looked surprised.

"It's been a month. Shouldn't your class be taking on more advanced missions?"

It wasn't wartime. Only missions outside the village could teach young ninjas about the harsh realities of the Ninja World.

Yuhi Kurenai didn't think Asuma would be unaware of that.

"I, I was thinking of having them exterminate wild boars in the neighboring village first. Consider it a trial run."

Asuma scratched his head. He really couldn't bring himself to be strict with his students.

"You can't protect your students too much."

"Yuhi Kurenai-sensei is right! We really should be doing missions outside the village!"

Ino reluctantly let go of Uchiha Kage's arm, then eagerly tugged on Yuhi Kurenai's sleeve.

"Teacher, you're so pretty! Great figure, and your skin is so nice. How do you take care of it?"

"I..."

Yuhi Kurenai had never experienced anything like this. Her teammates on missions only talked about boring ninjutsu and observations, never about women's grooming.

But she knew this Yellow-Haired Girl was just transferring her affection to Kurenai because of Kage and plotting to get closer to her in order to get to Uchiha Kage.

Hmph, sorry, but she was Hinata's teacher, naturally on Hinata's side, and wouldn't–

Ahhh, why is she smiling at me again? Such a nice, enthusiastic girl...

Yuhi Kurenai found herself unable to resist the Yellow-Haired Girl's advances.

So she could only turn her pleading gaze to her female student.

Hinata, Hinata, say something! Help your teacher get out of this.

But unfortunately, Hinata didn't say a word to intervene. Instead, she even slightly lowered her head and greeted Ino, as if her 'lord' had already surrendered before the battle even began.

"No matter how much you suck up to the Female Teacher, it won't work. Even if we take a mission outside the village, we won't be together."

Thankfully, Shikamaru's words made Ino's smile falter.

"Tch."

Ino clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

Why were all the men in her Team 10 so clueless? So boring.

"Goodbye, Teacher. Next time you come to the flower shop, I'll have my Mama give you a discount."

But her gloomy expression was fleeting. The girl quickly switched back to a smile and continued to look at the Female Teacher.

"Thank you... You're such a sweet girl, but Teacher is really busy right now. Gotta go."

Yuhi Kurenai finally found an opportunity to escape.

"Wait, Kurenai..."

Asuma wanted to ask Yuhi Kurenai out again, but by the time he opened his mouth, Yuhi Kurenai and her group were long gone.

He could only sigh at the empty air.

"What a useless teacher. Can't even pick up a Female Teacher."

Seeing Asuma's uselessness, Ino couldn't help but mock him.

"Don't talk about your Teacher like that. Besides, Kurenai and I aren't like what you think."

Asuma was quite embarrassed that his disciple had seen through him.

"Then you don't like Yuhi Kurenai-sensei?"

"I... it's not that I don't..."

Because of his machismo, Asuma didn't want to admit such personal matters in front of his disciples.

"Sigh, Asuma-sensei will definitely be whipped in the future."

Not only was he useless, but he didn't even have the guts to admit who he liked. He was far from Kage.

But there was no comparison between Asuma-sensei and Kage at all. What was she even thinking?

Ino shook her head, deciding to ask Uchiha Kage out as soon as the mission was over.

"I don't think you're any better than Asuma-sensei."

Choji, who had been watching the show while eating Potato Chips, suddenly spoke up fairly.

"What did you say, you fat..."

"Okay, let's go get the mission. Otherwise, the whole day will be wasted on arguing."

After stopping Ino from saying the forbidden word to Choji, Shikamaru finally breathed a sigh of relief and urged Asuma.

"Shikamaru, am I really that useless?"

However, Asuma had fallen into a depressed state because of Ino's words.

"No, Teacher is very useful. Like being a Jonin, I think that's pretty amazing."

"Really?"

Although Shikamaru seemed to be praising him, why did it sound like sarcasm?

Sarutobi Asuma thought for a while but couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking.

----

Outside the gates of Konoha.

"Whirlpool Country was destroyed a long time ago, wasn't it? Are you sure there are still treasures waiting for us to find there?"

Even Aburame Shino was a little excited about his first mission outside the village.

So he spoke more than usual.

"Teacher doesn't really know either, but the intelligence says that many Villages are keeping an eye on it, and even people from the Kumogakure have set out... Maybe there really is a treasure!"

Yuhi Kurenai was also a little interested.

She had taken on many missions, but this was her first time looking for treasure.

"I heard that Whirlpool Country and the Land of Fire had a good relationship at the beginning, or rather, a good relationship with Konoha. I don't know how it was destroyed."

Uchiha Kage remembered that Whirlpool Country and Whirlpool Village were still around when he was a kid.

"That's because other countries were wary of Whirlpool Country's powerful sealing technique, so..."

Wait, almost forgot to get down to business!

Yuhi Kurenai now really wanted to ask this disciple she liked the most, which side was he on? Hinata or that Yellow-Haired Girl?

"Come here for a second, I have something to ask you!"

Slightly avoiding Hinata and Shino, Yuhi Kurenai grabbed Uchiha Kage's arm and took him to a shady spot.

"What's wrong? So mysterious. Is there something else about this mission?"

After hearing Yuhi Kurenai say that people from the Kumogakure might also be coming to compete for the "treasure," Uchiha Kage had become extra cautious.

"It's not about the mission. I just want to ask you, what's your relationship with that Ino girl?"

"We're classmates."

Turns out... it was personal business unrelated to the mission.

Uchiha Kage immediately lost interest.

"How is that possible? What kind of female classmate hugs a male classmate the moment they meet?"

"Didn't Teacher kiss me the first day we met?"

"I, that was... that doesn't count!"

Besides, she was an elder. Kissing his forehead was just a sign of affection and closeness. How could there be other thoughts?

However, although she thought so in her heart, Yuhi Kurenai's face was a little flushed.

She never expected that she would be outmaneuvered by her own disciple.

"Even if you're close, you wouldn't hug like that, right?"

"Maybe she likes me. That's normal. After all, I'm handsome."

"You... so you were lying about being classmates?"

This guy was so thick-skinned and said such things so confidently.

He was obviously a legendary playboy.

No, she had to correct him while he was still young!

"If we're not classmates, what else could we be? We're not dating."

"Then you don't like her?"

So it was just a one-sided crush?

Yuhi Kurenai couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

"It's not that I don't. She's very pretty, and her personality isn't bad. I have no reason to dislike her."

"What about Hinata?"

"I don't dislike her either. And Teacher, you're very pretty too."

"You, you..."

Yuhi Kurenai was a little confused.

Was this guy even letting his teacher go?

"Wait, you must have misunderstood what 'like' means. What I mean by like is..."

"I understand, Teacher, but right now I just want to focus on Revitalizing the Uchiha clan. We can talk about other things in the future."

Ino and Hinata were still a bit underdeveloped. Once they were more mature, Uchiha Kage promised he wouldn't let any of them go.

After all, he was an evil Uchiha.

"Oh, is that so?"

She almost forgot that he was an Uchiha, and the Uchiha were now...

Thinking of this, Yuhi Kurenai felt a lot more relaxed. It seemed that this disciple wasn't a scumbag. It was just that he was carrying too much, so he didn't have any thoughts in that area yet.

What a poor Little Kid.

It seemed that she should be nicer to him in the future.

----

"Let's set up camp here."

After leaving Konoha, Yuhi Kurenai and her group traveled all day and were finally approaching the border of the Land of Fire.

"Kage, you set up traps. Shino, you're in charge of perimeter security. Hinata, scout out the surrounding terrain."

"Yes!"

The three Genin went their separate ways, and Yuhi Kurenai leisurely set up the tent.

It was just a C-rank mission, and they were still in the Land of Fire. There shouldn't be any danger at all...

"Teacher, there are a lot of carts and strange people in the forest ahead!"

After activating her Byakugan to scout the surroundings, Hinata quickly noticed the anomaly in the nearby area.

"It should be a merchant caravan passing by."

Although she was startled by her disciple's sudden report, Yuhi Kurenai quickly returned to her calm and peaceful state.

"No, Teacher, someone is fighting them!"

Hinata shook her head with a serious expression.

"Oh?"

Yuhi Kurenai frowned and went to the Hill with Uchiha Kage and Aburame Shino, who had heard the commotion.

On a small road below, a group of bandit-like people were indeed robbing a passing merchant caravan.

"Teacher, should we go down and help?"

Aburame Shino first sent a few of his bugs over, then turned to ask his teacher.

"Well, they just seem to be ordinary bandits. Since we've encountered them, go take care of them."

Ordinary people were no match for ninja, even Genin.

But the few of them who had been in the Village all the time probably had never seen blood. This was a good opportunity to train them.

Thinking of this, Yuhi Kurenai naturally decided to deal with the bandits.

"Yes."

Watching the ordinary merchant caravan being slaughtered by the bandits below the Hill, Hinata and Shino couldn't stand it anymore.

The two of them couldn't wait to jump down the hillside and rush towards the bandits.

"Why aren't you going with them?"

Yuhi Kurenai admired her two disciples' heroic figures in battle with the bandits, and curiously glanced at Uchiha Kage, who was still squatting beside her, watching the show with her.

"Wait a minute, it looks like there are other people coming."

"You..."

Yuhi Kurenai was just about to say where the other people were when she saw a few strange figures suddenly emerge from the forest not far away.

And judging from their speed, they should be ninja.

This guy... was his perception higher than hers?

Besides being surprised by the appearance of other ninja, Yuhi Kurenai was even more surprised by her disciple's insight.

He didn't have the Sharingan or the Byakugan, so how could he see further than she could?

Wait, these ninja don't seem to be wearing headbands.

If they weren't wearing headbands, they were either spies from other countries, ninja from the wilderness, or simply rogue ninja who had escaped from Shinobi Villages.

And all of them were troublesome.

After observing this, Yuhi Kurenai almost immediately wanted to call her two disciples back.

"However, these ninja seem to be here to save the merchant caravan too."

But after seeing that these ninja who had joined in were also dealing with the bandits, Yuhi Kurenai temporarily decided to observe for a while longer.

"Teacher, the timing of these ninja's appearance seems a little too coincidental."

Uchiha Kage only watched for a while before realizing that these bandits weren't really fighting the suddenly emerging ninja. They were basically retreating as soon as they made contact.

And Hinata and Shino, who were really fighting the bandits, were gradually surrounded by these suspicious ninja who had suddenly emerged without realizing it.

"It seems like they have bad intentions."

Yuhi Kurenai quickly noticed this too.

Although she was still surprised by Uchiha Kage's observation skills, what worried her more was the safety of her two disciples below.

"We're the ones who came. Teacher, they're obviously in cahoots with those bandits. The bandits rob the merchant caravan first, and then they drive away the bandits and extort the merchant caravan again as a reward for driving away the bandits. This way, they can collect the merchant caravan's 'toll' one more time, and they won't be wiped out by the nearby Shinobi Village after they receive a mission."

Uchiha Kage quickly analyzed the ninja's purpose.

"But they didn't expect that we would pass by here today, so they're in a bit of a bind now."

After all these years, he didn't expect that these rogue ninja's highway robbery routine hadn't changed.

This Ninja World really hadn't changed anything.

"You, you even know this?"

Did they even teach this in school now?

Yuhi Kurenai had also seen similar things, but she only understood after going on many missions.

But this Little Kid saw through it instantly.

"Teacher, this place isn't far from the original Whirlpool Country. We can catch them and ask them if they have any other information about our mission."

"Oh... okay."

Something was wrong. She was the Jonin instructor, yet why did it feel like he was leading *her*?

Yuhi Kurenai couldn't help but be stunned. But after she recovered, she quickly took out her dignity as a teacher–

And pinched Uchiha Kage's cheeks.

"Don't steal the teacher's lines, and don't order the teacher around!"

"Teacher, save the groping for later..."

After so many years, this Female Teacher was the first to dare to pinch his face.

He decided that he would definitely pinch her back a thousand times, a hundred times, in the future.

"Who, who's taking advantage of you! And don't talk back to your teacher in the future!"

After playing with Uchiha Kage's cheeks, Yuhi Kurenai finally released her fingers, feeling refreshed.

"Teacher, if we don't go down now, those ninja might kill Hinata and Shino."

This Female Teacher below was actually bullying and harassing him in the workplace again.

"It's okay. Hinata and Shino shouldn't lose to a few ninja who aren't from a Shinobi Village!"

Despite her confident words, Kurenai's actions betrayed her true feelings, and she stealthily moved down the hillside with Uchiha Kage.

If Hinata and Shino were in danger, she would strike immediately.

"Hey, don't slack off. You go deal with them too!"

Seeing Uchiha Kage still standing next to her, Yuhi Kurenai quickly pushed him out.

It had been so long, and she hadn't seen this guy actually fight an enemy.