Chương 71: Missions and Training

Shin finally understood what it felt like to be a genin. The first thing you did as a genin, apparently, was… Weeding. He stood in the middle of a flower field, the corner of his mouth twitching. That morning alone, Squad Two had tracked down a lost cat, babysat a toddler, and run a string of household errands — D-rank missions, one after another. Their sensei called it "team bonding." He looked over at Yugao and Sōen, sitting off to the side, sipping tea, talking and laughing without a care in the world.

"Aren't we supposed to be a team?" he called out.

"Ahem." Yugao cleared her throat.

"As your instructor, staying out of it is your training." Shin stared at her without expression. Yugao turned her head and looked the other way. He turned to Sōen.

"You'd really make a girl do this kind of work?" She blinked at him with wide, deliberate eyes and a pitiful tilt of her head. Shin immediately backed down. He had no answer for that look. It wasn't that he minded the work itself. He just didn't see the point in burning time on things that led nowhere.

"D-rank missions have been part of every genin's path for a reason," Sōen said, her tone shifting, leveling out into something quieter.

"This system's been around a long time. Have you ever stopped to ask why?" She didn't wait for him to answer.

"Fresh graduates walk out of the Academy confident. That's natural. But they've spent their whole lives in a controlled environment — they have no real sense of how dangerous things get out there. That blind confidence clouds their judgment on missions. And sometimes, one small mistake is all it takes." She paused.

"These dull, repetitive D-rank missions exist to sand down the rough edges. To knock the certainty out of you before it gets you killed."

"Well said," Yugao murmured from the side.

"Something I learned the hard way." Sōen's smile was faint. Yugao thought of Sōen's two dead teammates. She looked away and let out a quiet breath.

"We've still got a lot of missions left today. Keep at it." One week later.

"Shin?"

"Shin!" The voice pulled him up through the fog of a half-dream, and he surfaced slowly, got his body back, opened his eyes. A face hovered directly above his, close and familiar.

"Yuko…" He reached up toward her. Sōen watched him with an odd expression as his hand came up and touched her cheek. She didn't move away. Who is this Yuko? she thought. Someone who has him this tangled up. Do we really look that much alike? She turned it over and came up empty. Then she plucked his hand off her face, straightened up, and looked down at Shin where he lay in the grass beneath the tree.

"Still half-asleep?" His hand dropped. He came back to himself all at once — Sōen's face, not Yuko's — and pressed his palm lightly to his own forehead. He sat up. They'd finished their morning missions and he'd stretched out under the tree for a midday nap. He stood and brushed the leaves and dirt from his clothes.

"Another mission?" he said, as if nothing had happened. He'd settled into this rhythm. A week of D-rank work, one after another.

"Yeah. Yugao-sensei called us over. Sai's already there." Sōen watched him with a half-smile, clearly entertained by how cleanly he'd moved on.

"Then let's go." He turned to leave. Sōen stepped in close.

"Hey. Shin." She leaned in before he could react, close enough that her breath was warm against his ear. He shifted his head slightly to the side. It tickled.

"You touched my face just now," she said softly, barely above a whisper.

"Didn't you." He turned — and found her face almost against his, close enough that he couldn't look away.

"We're cousins," Sōen said pleasantly, without moving back an inch. He looked into her eyes. They were clear and bright, and his own reflection stared back at him, startled and blank.

"Is that something you should really be doing with your cousin?" He couldn't say anything. She smiled wider, then reached out and hooked a finger under his chin, tilting his face up so he had no choice but to meet her gaze.

"You are absolutely adorable, you know that?" She let go, stepped back two paces, and turned to walk ahead.

"Come on. Yugao-sensei's waiting." Shin stood where he was for a few seconds. Then he blinked, fell into step behind her, and said nothing the rest of the way. He'd expected another name on the usual errand list. But instead of handing them a task, Yugao led them straight into the Hokage Building. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The Hokage's office.

"Squad Two has been putting up excellent numbers." The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, a file in hand, and looked at the four of them.

"Yugao, for a newly-promoted jonin, this is impressive work."

"You're too kind, Lord Hokage." Yugao bowed her head.

"I mean it." The old man's eyes crinkled. Then he looked at Shin, standing there with the quiet, well-mannered posture of a model student.

"Shin. How has life as a genin been treating you?"

"I feel like I still have a long way to go," Shin said.

"I'd like to get stronger. Strong enough to be like my father someday." The Third Hokage looked genuinely pleased. He had no reason to doubt a child would say something like that. Sōen glanced at Shin from the side. The old man asked Sōen and Sai a few questions each, said encouraging words to both. As for Sai — the Third had harbored doubts early on. He'd reviewed the file carefully, even sent people to check the border. Nothing had come back irregular. The paperwork was clean. The background was clean.

He'd had to set those doubts aside, for now, and choose to believe this boy.

"Given Squad Two's strong performance — and the fact that you've had time to come together as a unit — you're ready to take a mission outside the village." The Third's expression settled, a touch more serious.

"We have a C-rank assignment for you." He picked up a document and held it out. Yugao stepped forward and took it. C-rank. Something in Shin's chest eased. He'd gotten used to the pace of daily D-rank work, but a week of it was more than enough. Something with actual stakes. The corner of his mouth curved slightly. Yugao read through it and passed it to Sōen, who skimmed it and handed it to Shin. C-rank mission: assist a village in driving off a bandit group that has been harassing the settlement.

Below that: the client name, the pay, the location, and the full roster of Squad Two — stamped with the Hokage's seal. A fight. Nothing that looked especially complicated. He passed the document to Sai, who glanced at it briefly and returned it to Yugao, who folded it away.

"You've all seen the mission details. Once you're outside the village, stay careful, stay sharp, and come home." The Third settled back. Squad Two said their farewells and filed out. On the stairs of the Hokage Building, they came face-to-face with Squad One — Might Guy's team — heading up.

"Shin! Sōen-nee!" Tenten waved.

"Guy-sensei." Yugao inclined her head.

"Also heading up for a C-rank?"

"Of course! Youth must always press forward!" Guy flashed a thumbs-up, teeth catching the light.

"We'll be going, then." A small cough from Yugao, and she moved them along. Shin and the others followed without a backward glance.

"We'll finish before Squad Two does!" The shout rang out behind them.

"Yes, Guy-sensei!" …… They stopped outside the Hokage Building.

"It's still a C-rank, which means we don't know exactly what we're walking into. Go home, pack some spare clothes, get your gear sorted. We meet at the village gate tomorrow morning." Yugao looked at each of them. Squad Two split up. Shin walked back to the Inuzuka compound and told Tsume, Hana, and Kiba that he was leaving tomorrow for a mission outside the village. Kiba immediately stared at him with the look of a person watching someone else win a prize. Tsume told him to follow his jonin instructor's lead.

Hana rattled off a list of things to watch out for, then disappeared to pack his bag. He slept well that night. …… The next morning. Hana had packed his bag — light travel gear, a change of clothes, and a carefully made bento. Shin slung it over his shoulder, picked up his blade, and headed for the door. Hana caught him on the way out. The whole list again: be careful, be smart, listen to Yugao-sensei. They stood in the doorway until the sun had climbed.

He finally left, Hana's gaze trailing after him down the path until he turned the corner and was gone. She worried, and he knew it. This was his first outside mission that involved actual combat. The previous one with Tsume barely counted — that had been an escort job with low risk and his mother's presence to anchor everything. This was different. He didn't look back. Sai was already at the gate. The entrance to Konoha was quiet at this hour — just Shin, Sai, and two chunin on guard duty.

"You're here early," Shin said.

"Good morning, Shin Takami." Sai smiled.

"I've said this before — just Shin is fine."

"I know. Shin Takami." Shin exhaled and let it go.

"I heard you transferred into the graduation class," he said, looking for something to talk about. Tenten had mentioned it once.

"Yes. I lived near the border before."

"The border…" Shin had been there once, briefly, and hadn't really seen enough to form a picture. Just the crowds.

"What's it like, living out there?"

"Chaotic. Fights happen often."

"Fights? I thought we were in a peacetime period."

"There are always people who try to cross without going through inspection. The guards deal with them. The border draws all kinds of people — disputes are common." Sai spoke evenly. The words had the feel of something prepared well in advance. They talked a little longer. Sai wasn't much for conversation, but Shin didn't push. Eventually, Yugao appeared, walking over at an unhurried pace. She raised a hand when she spotted Shin.

"Morning."

"Morning, Yugao-sensei." He smiled. She returned it. Between her and Sai, though — Shin had been noticing it for a while — there was almost no exchange at all. Sai never spoke to her first. The two of them felt off in a way he couldn't name, nothing like what you'd expect between a teacher and a student. Maybe they knew each other before. Maybe something went wrong between them. He was still turning that over when Sōen's silhouette finally drifted into view down the road, unhurried as ever.

"You took long enough," Shin said when she reached them.

"Are you scolding me?" She turned a bright look on him.

"…No." He looked away.

"Good." Yugao brought them to the guard post at the gate to check out. The two chunin on duty apparently knew her. One of them grinned.

"You got promoted and didn't even invite us to celebrate?"

"Sorry, Izumo — things have been hectic. When I get back, dinner's on me."

"Deal. Bring Aoba and the others from our cohort." Yugao exchanged a few more words with him, finished the paperwork, said her goodbyes. …… Squad Two walked out through the gates of Konoha. Shin's second time leaving the village. It felt different from the first. That time had been a routine escort job with Tsume by his side. This time, there'd be a fight at the end. He glanced at Sōen and Sai beside him — both of them settled, unhurried. One had grown up near the border. The other had been a genin for over a year.

Neither of them was doing this for the first time. He let it go and matched their pace. The mission site was still inside the Land of Fire. Once they cleared Konoha's patrol range, they picked up speed. Shinobi travel — quick and quiet. They stopped once to rest, took soldier pills and drank some water, and arrived two hours later. A small settlement backed against a mountain. From the ridge above, they counted maybe a few dozen houses.

"This is the place." Yugao checked the briefing.

"The village has been repeatedly harassed by a group of bandits. Our job is to drive them off." Nods from everyone. They dropped down from the ridge and approached the settlement's entrance. A row of wooden barriers and spiked fences had been set up across the path — clearly there to keep the bandits out. A squat watchtower stood nearby, manned by a young man who spotted them immediately.

"Who goes there?!" A handful of young men stepped out from behind the barriers, armed with iron farming tools, eyes sharp.

"We're shinobi from Konoha. We're here to help." Yugao held up the mission documentation.

"We have our credentials. We need to speak with your village chief."

"Konoha shinobi?" The men looked at each other. They weren't about to trust that on its own.

"What proof do you have?"

"You can see our headbands and uniforms," Yugao said, keeping her voice level.

"That's what Konoha shinobi look like." The group huddled. Yugao's team waited. After a moment they seemed to reach a decision. Two men stepped forward and moved a section of the barriers aside, opening a gap.

"Follow me," said the one who had been speaking.

"I'll take you to the chief." Yugao nodded. They fell in behind him. People drifted out of the houses to watch as they passed — mostly elders, women, and small children. Young men were scarce. Their guide brought them to an open doorway. Inside, a man of about fifty sat at a low table. He looked up at the four of them, startled for a moment — then rose quickly and came out to meet them.

"You're finally here." He bowed to Yugao, his voice shaky with relief.

"Please." Yugao returned the bow.

"There's no need for that."

"If you'd come any later, this village would have been finished."

"You don't have to worry about that now. We're here." She held his gaze.

"Tell us what's been happening. We'll handle it from there."

"Yes. Of course."