-----
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It didn't take long for the water-carrying task to end.
"Give me another mission!"
"Huh?"
Iruka Umino froze, but when he met Jiraiya's eyes, he quickly assigned another D-rank.
This time it was chopping firewood.
But—
That didn't take long either.
"Next."
…
Half a month later.
"Third Hokage, this won't do! You need to make him stop—at this rate, we're going to run out of D-rank missions!"
Iruka Umino couldn't take it anymore and ran upstairs to complain to the Third Hokage.
He really had no choice.
It wasn't that he refused to assign missions—Jiraiya's team had simply burned through more than half of the village's D-ranks in the last two weeks.
At this pace, in a few days the village would be completely out of D-rank missions.
And then what? What were the other teams and regular genin supposed to do?
Lose their only source of income?
It was becoming a real problem.
Hiruzen rubbed his aching forehead, thinking it over.
Jiraiya's team really was ridiculously strong.
No need to mention the captain.
Among the members were Kakashi, already a chūnin; Kurenai, talented at genjutsu; and Leo…
C-rank missions wouldn't trouble them.
"Next time, let them take a C-rank."
"Yes, sir."
Iruka Umino sighed in relief.
It wasn't that he didn't want to assign C-ranks, but the international situation still wasn't stable.
Sure, the nations were in a ceasefire, but it wasn't true peace—there were still plenty of small conflicts.
Not to mention…
After the war, the land was crawling with wandering ronin and bandits.
Right now, C-rank missions were far more dangerous than in peacetime.
Iruka only issued missions—he didn't have the authority to decide which missions rookie teams could take.
Since the Hokage had given the word, he didn't have to fight this battle anymore.
…
[As Hokage, your practical contributions to the village have been widely acknowledged.]
[Reward: Water Release – Wild Water Wave increased by 1 level.]
Huh?
Leo, waiting at the Hokage building that morning, blinked in confusion.
What was that?
Where did the reward come from?
All he'd done recently was grind D-rank missions… how did that earn him a mysterious reward?
He checked his panel:
[Name: Leo]
[Age: 7]
[Bloodline Limit]: None
[Skills]:Transformation (Mastered), Clone Technique (Mastered), Substitution (Mastered), Body Flicker (Expert), Water Release: Wild Water Wave (Mastered), Water Release: Water Formation Wall (Proficient)
Over the last two weeks, Leo had been focusing on taijutsu and two Water Release jutsu, but he'd only managed to raise them to "Proficient."
Now, Wild Water Wave had jumped straight to "Mastered."
A flood of new knowledge filled his mind—mostly about controlling water-type chakra more efficiently.
Wild Water Wave was basic—there was no nature-transformation complexity involved.
But—
At the "Mastered" level, it consumed way less chakra.
Theoretically, using the same amount of chakra, he could now spray about 30% more water than before.
And that wasn't all: Water Release techniques shared many fundamentals.
Especially Wild Water Wave and Water Formation Wall.
Neither required advanced nature transformation. As long as you could extract water-type chakra, you could use them with ease.
In fact, some of the knowledge he gained from "Mastered" Wild Water Wave could be directly applied to Water Formation Wall.
Leo secretly grinned.
This was a huge upgrade!
Sure, ninjutsu didn't matter much in large-scale battles later in the story, but right now? He needed to think about the Third Shinobi War.
At the level of ordinary shinobi, Water Release was extremely useful.
"Leo!"
A soft voice called from behind.
Leo turned—
Kakashi and Kurenai were running toward him.
The three gathered.
"You're here early," Kurenai said between breaths.
"Didn't wait long. I was running past, so I stopped here."
Leo replied casually.
Kakashi hesitated—he looked like he wanted to ask something, but after glancing sideways, swallowed the question.
"Hahaha! Everyone's early today!"
Jiraiya arrived.
He held two packs of popsicles, snapped them apart, and handed one to each of them.
"Alright, let's start today's mission. The sooner we finish enough of these, the sooner we can take a harder C-rank."
Jiraiya was beyond done with D-ranks.
For normal genin teams, D-rank missions were good for teamwork and basic skill-building. But his team…?
Forget it.
Kakashi already understood everything a chūnin should know—his problem was emotional, not practical, and Jiraiya hadn't found a solution yet.
Leo—
He was the one Jiraiya worried about the least.
Kurenai only lacked raw ability. As for leadership… she still had a long way to go.
For them, what they really needed were C-rank missions and higher—actual fights against ronin, bandits, and even enemy shinobi.
Since he couldn't get C-ranks before…
Then they would simply clear every D-rank in the village.
Jiraiya had committed himself.
He stormed into the mission hall and went straight to Iruka Umino.
"Give us—"
"Jiraiya-sama, the Hokage says you may take C-rank missions now."
Iruka reported immediately.
Jiraiya grinned. "Oh? So we don't need to do D-ranks anymore?"
"No, no—you've done more than enough. Please look through the C-rank board."
Iruka gave a helpless smile and handed him the new mission list.
Leo glanced at it.
Looks like that reward earlier probably came from the village's recognition.
He shifted his gaze to the mission board.
Most tasks involved escorting merchant caravans.
The destinations…
Usually the troubled areas like the Land of Rivers or the Land of Waves. Destinations like the Land of Earth definitely wouldn't be given as C-rank missions.
"That one."
Jiraiya pointed at one entry—
Travel to Tanzaku Town and protect a creditor during debt collection.
A grin tugged at his lips.
"This one. Where's our client?"
"This request was posted yesterday," Iruka replied. "Just go to the Aoflower House in Tanzaku Town and look for a man named Kashin Kōji."
He hesitated. "But… the reward offered is almost B-rank level. I suspect this debt collection might not be simple."
"No problem. As long as the money's good. And I know the way to Tanzaku Town."
Jiraiya waved his hand, smiling from ear to ear.
Leo's expression twisted.
Tanzaku Town was… not exactly a wholesome place.
A ninja going there risked breaking at least one of the Three Ninja Prohibitions.
It was hard not to suspect—
His teacher probably took this mission just for some fun on the side.
He silently mocked him.
Kakashi and Kurenai looked unbothered—either they didn't know about Tanzaku Town's reputation or didn't care.
Either way, Jiraiya happily accepted the mission.
But—
As he walked out of the hall, a figure appeared in front of him.
"Jiraiya-sama. The Hokage requests your presence upstairs."
An ANBU.
Jiraiya sighed, nodded, told Leo and the others to wait, and went upstairs.
"Leo! Kakashi!"
Someone called from nearby.
Kurenai's expression changed subtly.
Not again. This weirdo…
Might Guy had arrived.
"....."