Chapter 45: Chapter 45 : The First Mission
Exactly 1 month had passed since Renjiro had begun training his genins. After the morning workout and some rest, Renjiro announced, "Today, we'll do our first mission as a team." The squad reacted as soon as they heard that. Hoka said loudly, "Finally!" Mieko too excitedly said, "Yes! Now I'll show what an Uchiha can do. Sensei, what'll be our first mission? Will we fight with any enemy villages? Like Kumo or Iwa?" Hoka quickly followed up, "Yes sensei, what will our mission be? I want to use my Taijutsu to show how strong Konoha is to our enemies." Fujin looked at them and saw, 'Woah! Their eyes really are sparkling... I need to learn how to do that.'
Fujin just maintained an excited expression, but didn't say anything. His teammates' reactions made him feel very awkward. He thought, 'If only they knew what our first mission will be.... I wonder if all the adults have an unspoken truce to not mention this to any kid. Is it because they don't want to discourage anyone, or is it just the age old human behaviour - I had to go through this, so I want you to go through it too..... Eh, probably the second case. Just looking at Renjiro's smug face says it all!'
Renjiro thought, 'Ah, it never gets old. Seeing fresh genins so enthusiastic about their first mission. Now, I wonder if that cat has gone missing again or not.' He said, "The mission will be given by Lord Hokage. So wait till we reach there to know which mission you'll be doing."
They began moving towards the Hokage's office. Hoka and Mieko ran at a lot faster pace than usual. On the way, Fujin thought, 'I didn't think we'd need to wait 1 whole month before taking our first mission. Such intense training for a whole month. I guess my timing of transmigration was really lucky. Having missed the 3rd war and Kurama's attack, and growing at a time when Konoha is lacking in manpower. I hope that training under Renjiro continues for a long time. Though it doesn't leave me with much free time, it has been very helpful in increasing my strength.'
The team arrived at the Hokage building, and had to wait a few minutes to enter the Hokage's office. On entering the office, everyone respectfully greeted Hiruzen, "Lord Hokage". Hiruzen, like always, had multiple stacks of papers on his table. He looked at team 3 and said, "Oh, so you guys are finally doing your first mission." He stared at Renjiro while saying that. However, Renjiro just shrugged and ignored the stare. Hiruzen sighed internally thinking, 'He messed up all the protocols. No missions for his squad for a whole month. The only other instance like this was when Orochimaru didn't make his squad do any missions at all for 6 months! Well, at least he agreed to take a few rank D missions unlike my student.'
He then looked at his assistant and asked, "So which missions do we have?" His assistant pulled a paper out and handed it to him. Hiruzen looked at it and said, "Lady Saigo wants a squad to weed her garden. This will be your mission." He then smiled kindly and said, "Do the job properly. Ensure that she gives us good feedback, and make Konoha proud."
Hiruzen's words shocked Mieko and Hoka. Hoka was muttering softly, "Wee...ed a ga..rde...n?" Mieko too muttered something similar. Fujin was shocked too. However, it was for a different reason. He really admired Hiruzen now. He thought, 'Damn!! He said that with such a straight face and with such a kind smile! Screw Danzo, this old man here is the real evil incarnate! It's no wonder that despite being so scheming and commanding such a strong force, Danzo never could do anything to Hiruzen. Poor guy never even had a chance. It almost makes me pity him!'
Renjiro saw his genins' reactions and chuckled. He thought, 'It's a pity that the cat isn't missing right now.' He grabbed the paper, saw the address and said, "Follow me." The genins followed him, however, this time Mieko and Hoka were moving very slowly.
On reaching the estate, Renjiro asked the guard to call Lady Saigo. Fujin observed the estate. It was huge! Mieko and Hoka didn't have much of a reaction as their clan estates were even larger. In a couple of minutes, a lady arrived. She was around 40-45 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, had long blonde hair, looked very mature and carried herself in a proper manner. She greeted them, "Welcome Lord Renjiro. It's a great honor to have you here." Renjiro nodded and handed her the paper. She then looked at the kids and said, "So these strong ninjas will complete my missions. I am very fortunate to get ninjas as capable as you." Mieko and Hoka cheered up a bit on hearing the praise. However, Fujin could clearly understand that she was 'teasing' them. He sighed internally, 'There is no need for this mission to be given to ninjas. The only reason why she did that is for her own amusement. Sigh, these rich old ladies need to get a better hobby.'
She said, "Follow me, I'll take you to the garden." Team Renjiro followed her. They went behind the huge mansion. And soon, the 3 genins were shocked. Lady Saigo kindly said, "This is the garden you have to weed." Fujin was speechless. He thought, 'Garden? How the fuck is this a garden? Who the fuck has a garden that is more than an acre in area?' Hoka muttered, "This is a garden?" Mieko almost lashed out and yelled, "How the hell is this a garden? This is..." However, she was held in place by Renjiro. Lady Saigo suddenly showed a sad face and said, "I actually wanted it to be at least 5 acres. Sadly, that much land wasn't available in Konoha." It, once again, left the genins speechless. Mieko was pissed even further. Renjiro just chuckled and said, "That's enough talk. Get to work."
The genins began walking forward. Mieko softly asked Fujin, "Hey, can we use Fire-Wind Dragon jutsu?" Hoka perked up on hearing that. Fujin, too, was very intrigued by that idea. Though he'd definitely not act upon it. However, Renjiro heard that and announced loudly, "No using any elemental Ninjutsu. No using any tools. And increase the pressure of your training seals, Mieko by 1%, Fujin by 2.5% and Hoka by 5%." Mieko hung her head and walked forward. Fujin said, "Let's divide the garden into 3 parts and clear each." Hoka and Mieko reluctantly nodded and got to work. Their muscles still ached from the morning workout. And they still had more work to do under higher pressure.
While they were working, Lady Saijo returned to the mansion. She entered a balcony that faced the garden, and asked her servants to arrange a chair, an umbrella and a few snacks for her and Renjiro. She sat there monitoring the kids doing the work. That pissed the genins even more. Fujin muttered under his breath, "First that Hiruzen and now this lady. The Dao of Shamelessness is very very very strong in this world!"
Weeding the garden continued. Fujin got done with his part in an hour and half. He then returned to where Renjiro was. While he was returning, both Hoka and Mieko looked at him with angry gazes. He thought, 'Should I help them out?' After a few seconds he dismissed that thought, 'Nope, there's no need to.' He just ignored them and left the garden. He found a clean spot and sat down. Unfortunately for Fujin, Renjiro flickered behind him and said, "Until they are done, run around this estate. I want at least one round per minute." That nearly triggered him, 'What the fuck? It ain't my fault that I did the work faster!' Luckily, he held it in, put his head down and began running. Each round was over a kilometre long.
After 15 minutes, Hoka joined him. Mieko worked for another half an hour. Both Fujin and Hoka were sure that she was delaying on purpose and sent her a few glares. When she was done, Fujin and Hoka stopped after completing that round and glared at Mieko. Mieko smirked thinking, 'Serves you right for finishing before me.' That smirk pissed Hoka, but Fujin just sighed and said, "Who would have thought that the mighty Uchiha would need 2 hours and 15 minutes to merely weed a garden." Hoka quickly nodded and agreed, "Yes, this was so unexpected. Is this what she meant by 'I'll show what an Uchiha can do?'" That jibe made Mieko go red with anger and embarrassment. She was about to reply angrily when Renjiro stopped her.
Lady Saigo stepped forward and said, "Thank You for clearing the weeds in my garden young ninjas. You guys did an amazing job." This earned her a glare from all the 3 genins, but she maintained her smile. She then handed Renjiro a paper, and they left her estate. They returned to the Hokage building. Renjiro led his genins to a room on the first floor. He handed the paper to an employee there. The employee checked the paper, stamped and filed it. He then gave Renjiro a white packet and they left the room.
Renjiro then led them to another room. There were a few more employees working here. One of them was a chuunin, while the others were just normal civilians. Renjiro said, "Remember this room. In the future, if you ever want to take any missions, you can come here and ask the chuunin who is in-charge here. He will assign you your mission depending on your preference, past performance and ranks." The genins nodded.
They then moved to the ground floor. Renjiro said, "That's it for today. From now onwards, we'll be doing one mission every week. The remaining training continues as usual. Fujin, on the mission day, you won't have training in Samurai Saber Techniques." Fujin nodded. Renjiro then took out the white packet he had received earlier. He said, "This is the reward for our mission. We'll be splitting it 40-20-20-20. 40% for me, and 20% for each one of you. When you do missions with others in the future, remember that this is how the rewards are usually split. The leader gets more than the other squad members." The genins nodded, but all 3 had the same thought, 'But you didn't do any work at all sensei!' However no one spoke it out loud. After splitting the rewards, the squad dispersed.
On his way to Yakiniku Q, Fujin thought, 'Hmm, 10k Ryo reward for a 2 hours job. If I had made clones and worked with them instead of my teammates, I'd have finished faster. Not bad, but not as fast as earning money by selling scrolls. Either way, getting 2k Ryo per week would be much better than the 1k Ryo per month they provided me earlier. Though it won't be enough to allow me to make as big a purchase as I did earlier. I wonder if I should do a lot of rank D missions in a day or two sometime later to show that I've earned money via legitimate means.... Or, should I come clean with my ability to create storage scrolls?' He thought for a bit and decided, 'No, right now Renjiro barely gives me any free time. If I say that I'll study Fuinjutsu in the evening, then that'll be considered suspicious or stupid. I should leave it till my training under Renjiro is completed, or the training time is decreased. He is an Elite Jounin after all. I don't think Konoha can allow him to train 3 genins for very long.'
While thinking, he had already reached the restaurant. He went in and made the order. While waiting for the food to be delivered, he thought 'This world is pretty dangerous. While initially I was just being cautious, I'm now glad that I was so cautious and kept most of my abilities hidden. Even ignoring the crazy strong abilities so many here have, just the mere shamelessness of these people is alarming. Hiruzen saying what he said with a straight face, Renjiro taking 40% of the reward, today's client sitting on the balcony to enjoy the misery of little kids.... The Dao of Shamelessness is crazy strong in this world. Their skins are thicker than the Hokage monuments! The same will also apply to the enemies. Sigh, I hope Obito and Nagato play according to the script. If they don't, then it'll be chaos.'
The meal arrived. Fujin picked up the meat with tongs and laid it on the charcoal brazier. Waiting for the meat to roast, he thought, 'Well, no point in worrying about these things. There is nothing I can do about it anyways. Let's just hope for the best.' Concluding his thoughts, he turned his focus on his lunch.
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