Chapter 103: Anyway, I've Already Given Them the Tickets, You Guys Figure Out How to Ship the CP
Pfft~ Sakura, who had been stiff with embarrassment just a moment ago, couldn't help but let out an unkind laugh. When this kind of thing happened to her, it was indeed a case of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. When it happened to someone else, it instantly became an excellent comedy...
Little Prince of the Cold Face? The Black-Haired Sasuke with Red Eyes? Biri Biri?
"Biri Biri? Hahahaha!" She had tried hard to cover her mouth, but the sound of her laughter still escaped through the gaps in her fingers.
The tsundere, electric, tea-haired girl and the tsundere, lightning-style, black-haired boy?
Hehehehe, their character settings are actually quite similar!
"Please calm down, sir," Sakura finally managed to stop laughing and pulled the stout uncle. "We are preparing to accept this mission. So we need to confirm, are you the client for this mission?"
She waved the mission sheet in her hand.
"Phew, phew, my apologies, my deepest apologies. I was too excited. I'm just so thrilled to see you in person," he said, panting heavily. After that bout of excitement, his head was already covered in sweat.
"Thank you, thank you, I've made a fool of myself," he took the tissue Sakura handed him and roughly wiped his forehead, then carefully looked at the mission sheet in her hand. "Ahem, let me introduce myself first. I am the director of the 'Princess Gale - Great Adventure' film series, and also the client for this mission, Asama Takehiko!"
A director? No wonder. It's normal for artistic people to have somewhat strange thoughts and behaviors... Sakura kind of understood him now.
She had seen a few so-called classic films from the Naruto world. Due to the long-term wars, the cultural and entertainment activities in this world had not been well-developed. In terms of film, whether it was special effects or filming techniques, they were still in the early stages of development. Therefore, the ninja battles in the Chunin Exams, in terms of the splendor of their visual effects and the twists and turns of the process, completely blew the so-called movies out of the water.
Therefore, it was actually very normal to gain countless fans from just one battle. Or rather, this was Konoha's purpose to begin with—to promote its own ninja through the Chunin Exams, to gain prestige, to increase their fame, and then, to receive more mission commissions.
As for the purpose of selecting Chunin, that was secondary. Otherwise, in the original story, a grand competition wouldn't have promoted only one Chunin.
"It's really great that you can take on this mission," Director Asama said, rubbing his hands, the flush on his face not yet completely gone, his voice still high with excitement. "Do you have any questions about this mission? We can discuss any requirements and questions to try and satisfy everyone!"
"Asama-san," the dispatcher, who hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise, finally found a chance to speak.
He was actually already a bit dumbfounded. Asama Takehiko's attitude towards Haruno Sakura and the others was clearly unusually warm, and it seemed that these three young people who hadn't even fully matured were not some ordinary Genin and Chunin—he, who usually didn't care about current events or gossip, was one of the many ignorant ninja in Konoha—in short, his intentional obstruction seemed to be going up in smoke.
"Is there something?" Asama asked, turning his head.
"They are still just Genin. Only Haruno Sakura is a Chunin—"
"Oh! A Chunin!" the old man let out another strange cry, interrupting the dispatcher. "You've already been promoted to Chunin? But for a powerful ninja like you, being promoted to Chunin is to be expected! In any case, congratulations, Snow Princess!"
Sakura let out an awkward laugh. "You flatter me, Asama-san. I'm just an ordinary Chunin. Please don't call me Snow Princess. That title is really... I'm not used to it. You can just call me by my name, or Sakura is fine too."
Asama Takehiko chuckled. "Snow... uh, Miss Haruno Sakura, that title was thought up by us fans. If it makes you uncomfortable, then it loses its meaning. I'll just call you Miss Sakura for now. We'll think of a better proposal for you to choose from later."
Meaning this title isn't chuunibyou enough, and they have to choose an even more chuunibyou one? Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Just then, Naruto, who was listening in a daze, wrinkled his nose and interjected, "Fans? The kind you eat?"
"You idiot, 'fans' refers to a group of people who all like a certain person," Sasuke explained, then turned to Asama. "Director-san, let's stop the idle chat for now and get to the main topic!"
"That's right, Asama-san. We can chat after we've finished with the important business," Sakura said with a smile. "The mission sheet doesn't say, so I have to ask you clearly, how long will this mission take?"
Asama Takehiko said with a serious expression, "Hn, because we're not too sure about the time, after all, filming is full of accidents, so it wasn't good to write it on the mission sheet. Of course, we do have a schedule. If everything goes smoothly, we can probably finish filming in about ten days. At the latest, it shouldn't exceed three weeks. We can add all of this to the mission sheet. If we exceed the time limit, we will pay a reasonable compensation, or you will be allowed to forcibly end the mission."
"Then we'll have to trouble you, Director Asama," Sakura said, not being polite with him. It was always better to clarify these things beforehand than to have a dispute later. After all, if they exceeded the time limit and didn't return to the village, there was a suspicion of defecting!
She continued to ask, "Then what about the mission content? If it's just simply filming a movie, we shouldn't encounter any dangerous enemies, right? The Land of Snow doesn't have a ninja village either, so why is the mission rank B?"
"This... we originally reported it as a C-rank mission, but your side said the reward was higher than the standard for a C-rank, so it was changed to a B-rank. So in reality, it's still a C-rank mission," Director Asama said with a smile. "However, the Land of Snow does have ninja. Of course, their level is far from yours. And we're just filming a movie, so we won't have any conflict with them. The main problem is that most of the filming locations are in the desolate wilderness, and we're worried about the safety of the crew, so we posted this mission."
"Hn... understood," Sakura said, exchanging a look with Sasuke and Naruto. "Then one last question, when does the mission start?"
"Currently, the crew is still filming in Konoha, but there's not much left to film. We estimate it will be finished in a week at most, so we've tentatively set the departure for ten days from now. We will notify you of the specific time then."
Hearing this, the girl nodded. "Then I have no more questions. Naruto, Biri Biri, is there anything else you want to ask?"
"A long-awaited mission outside the country? I don't have any more questions either... And, my name is not Biri Biri!" A black line appeared on Sasuke's head when he heard that name.
Naruto followed suit and pretended to think hard for a while. "Hn... very good... you've considered this aspect... you've also thought about that matter... It seems you've considered everything thoroughly... Then, I think... there are no more problems!"
Sakura rolled her eyes at him and gave him a long-overdue bonk on the head.
Asama Takehiko quickly modified the mission sheet with a few strokes. After stamping his private seal, the three of them also signed their names. They had the grim-faced dispatcher register it, and the mission was officially accepted.
"My sincerest apologies. I'm very busy on my end. The movie is still filming, so I have to rush back to the set now. I also have to quickly notify the crew that the mission has been accepted to arrange the subsequent itinerary, so I don't have time to entertain you. It's truly rude of me!" Asama said with an apologetic look after checking the time.
He took out three movie tickets and stuffed them into Sakura's hand. "This is a small token from our crew. Please accept it. We've been filming on the movie street recently. If you have time, you're welcome to come and visit the set! We can chat again when we have time. I have to go now. My sincerest apologies!"
"Take care!" "Goodbye!" "Bye-bye~" Seeing this, the three of them didn't try to keep him and waved goodbye to this interesting director.
Sakura looked down at the movie tickets Asama had given her. It was for "Princess Gale," which was showing tomorrow at noon. This movie was very popular recently, and it was hard to get a ticket. One of the tickets Asama had given was a regular one for a seat in the front and center. The other two were VIP tickets for a couple's box.
The corner of the girl's mouth twitched into a smile that wasn't quite a smile as she thought—Hehe... I knew it. These guys are shipping random CPs again... You can tell from the nicknames, 'princess,' 'prince,' and so on.
A forty-year-old uncle still stanning... Interesting.
She nonchalantly folded the regular ticket and put it back in her pocket, then handed the remaining two tickets to Naruto and Sasuke. "Since it's a kind gesture from someone, let's not waste it. I hear this movie is pretty good. Let's go see it tomorrow."
Hehe, anyway, I've already given out the tickets. You guys can figure out who the official pairing is...
Sasuke and Naruto were puzzled by the strange smile that had suddenly appeared on Sakura's face, but they didn't mind. "Whatever. Since that's the case, let's go see it."
And so, the next day, the gossip of Naruto and Sasuke going to the couple's box to watch a movie spread throughout Konoha...
Let's not mention for now how Haruno Sakura's girlfriends chased her down to ask about Sasuke and Naruto.
For the next few days, in the time before they set out on their mission, Team Kakashi still maintained their normal training—and mission—rhythm.
Of course, the missions they accepted were all simple ones that didn't require leaving the village and could be completed in one day, so that the mission wouldn't drag on for too long and cause them to miss the time for the Land of Snow mission.
The ninja with whom they had had a small conflict before seemed to have been transferred. They hadn't seen him in the past few days.
Sakura paid no mind to this matter. Of course, she also didn't think of using her status to pressure him or show off—this wasn't a cheap webnovel driven by face-slapping and acting weak to stomp on noobs.
But for her to encounter such an oddball on her first day of accepting missions as a Chunin, what did that say? Having lived in Konoha for so many years, Sakura was also very clear about the undercurrents that existed. To put it more bluntly, there was a group of people—and a considerable number at that—who were currently dissatisfied with Konoha. The middle-aged ninja's attitude was nothing more than a manifestation of this sentiment.
Sakura was all too familiar with this sentiment—a certain country in her previous life had once been number one in the world, and then in recent years had suffered a series of heavy blows, its strength greatly declining. After barely surviving, it had internal troubles, and outsiders were causing trouble, and it had no choice but to endure it, to turn the other cheek and let others slap it—in this situation, what people felt and what had happened, wasn't it obvious?
In any case, she had already experienced it more than once.
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