At the Mission Assignment Office, the administrative chūnin were extremely busy. When faced with Baixing's question, one of them—arms full of mission scrolls—dumped the stack onto the desk. Several clerks wore expressions of utter despair. Only then did the chūnin speak.
"Genin Baixing, these missions aren't ordinary ones. Right now the village is short on manpower. We're counting on team leaders like you to step up and quickly train capable students to handle missions."
"I see. Thanks for taking the time to explain, Chūnin Yōsuke."
"No problem."
Nara Yōsuke returned to his seat. He was the head of the Mission Office and an old acquaintance of Baixing—after all, Baixing was a notorious D-rank mission maniac, someone who barely even looked at the D-rank listings before taking them, and still completed them flawlessly.
And now, he even had three followers.
"Sensei, there's seven thousand ryō total. How should we split it?" Yakushi Nono asked. She had just received seven thousand-ryō bills from a clerk sitting in the corner who was in charge of distributing mission rewards.
Behind her came Might Duy, panting slightly, and Uchiha Mikoto, yawning as if D-rank missions were child's play.
"Hm. Then… the teacher takes four thousand, you take three thousand. Simple, right?"
"?" ×2
"Why?!" Mikoto clenched her fists. Normally, out of six thousand, him taking three was bad enough—but now there were seven thousand and he still wanted four?!
She wasn't short on money, but this was their hard-earned pay!
"You'll understand once you become a teacher," Baixing said calmly, taking four bills from Nono's hand.
At that moment, Nara Yōsuke—who had picked up a mission scroll to resume work—suddenly remembered something.
"Genin Baixing, registration for this year's Chūnin Exams has started. Are you signing up again?"
"Yes," Baixing replied, completely ignoring the two girls' furious glares as he stuffed the four thousand ryō into his pocket. "Still free this year, right?"
Yōsuke twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Still free."
Baixing nodded, then turned to the three of them.
"Well? Are you signing up?"
"Yes!" ×3
As for the money, Duy didn't really care how much he got—as long as there was some. But this time, the Chūnin Exams were something he was absolutely determined to pass.
Hokage Office
"Father, I believe my team has already reached chūnin level. We're just missing a C-rank mission. Is there an easier one they can use as experience?"
Standing before the desk was a black-haired youth. The middle-aged man seated behind it—wearing the Hokage hat—glanced at him, flipped through the mission files, and pulled one out.
"A mission to eliminate bandits. I'll leave it to you."
"Thank you, Father!"
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke took the mission file from Sarutobi Hiruzen and was about to head to the Mission Office when he turned and noticed Baixing arriving.
"You?" Shinnosuke sneered. "You here to pick up a C-rank mission too?"
"?" Baixing looked speechless. Since when did picking up a C-rank mission require the Hokage's approval?
"I'm here to register for the Chūnin Exams. Me—and my Eleventh Team."
Shinnosuke let out a cold laugh and turned to look at Hiruzen. The latter gave a slight nod, signaling him to leave.
Only then did Shinnosuke storm out. As he brushed past Baixing, he snorted in disdain.
Baixing's inner thoughts: Is this guy acting up again?
Once the door closed, Hiruzen finally turned his attention to Baixing. He pulled out recent intelligence on Baixing's team and skimmed through it.
In just a little over a month, the Eleventh Team had completed thirty-seven D-rank missions—almost one per day on average.
By comparison, his son Shinnosuke's Second Team had only completed sixteen D-rank missions in the same period.
"Baixing, do you know why you've always been allowed to participate in the Chūnin Exams?" Hiruzen asked.
"Why?" Baixing replied, puzzled, half-wondering if the old man was about to start lecturing him.
"Because back then, your class did complete a C-rank mission. But afterward, you had a conflict with Jōnin Yazaki and demanded to cut ties with the team."
Hiruzen continued calmly.
"At the time, that Jōnin—Yazaki, a Special Jōnin—told me he would resign unless your ninja registration was revoked. That's when I discussed it with you. In the end, we cleared all mission records related to Team Six from your file, resolving the conflict between you and Yazaki."
"I understand that. But—"
"Young people are always impatient," Hiruzen interrupted. He glanced at the documents in his hand and pulled out another scroll.
"This is a C-rank mission."
"Normally, to participate in the Chūnin Exams, one must complete at least two C-rank missions."
"And they clearly haven't met that requirement yet."
"These kids need to see blood. Only then can they be considered qualified ninja."
He handed the scroll forward.
"Go. Don't worry—this is just a very ordinary escort mission. There may be assassins targeting the merchant along the way, but intelligence indicates they're just ordinary people, not ninja. I believe you can handle it."
Hiruzen felt that if he didn't push Baixing now, the boy would just mess around again during the Chūnin Exams, leaving him no choice but to deny promotion once more. He didn't want to temporarily elevate Baixing to some half-baked probationary rank—that would just make him cannon fodder.
Baixing took a deep breath. On the surface, he looked calm; inside, he was already terrified.
On paper, this was a C-rank mission. But in reality, it looked like something that could turn into a B-, A-, or even S-rank nightmare at any moment.
"Can I refuse?" Baixing asked.
"Yes," Hiruzen replied. "But then two members of your team will not be allowed to participate in the Chūnin Exams. The Uchiha are a special case—they'll arrange for Mikoto to complete a 'ninja's duty' before the exams."
Hiruzen carefully observed Baixing's reaction. Refusing a mission like this—only Baixing would dare say it out loud. Any other genin wouldn't get this level of patience from him.
"Fine. I understand."
There were still half a month until the first exam. Completing a single C-rank mission shouldn't be difficult—as long as it really was C-rank.
"Merchant from the Land of Hot Water. Name: Mizutani Shōto. Age: thirty-four. Planning to open a hot spring resort in Konoha. On the way from the Land of Hot Water to Konoha, he offended a gang in the Land of Fire. The gang placed a bounty on him in the black market—three万 ryō. No reports of ninja accepting the job yet…"
"The more I look at this, the more it feels like a trap."
"What if halfway through, someone suddenly takes the contract and a hitman shows up? Wouldn't this instantly turn into a B-, A-, or even S-rank mission?!"
At home, Baixing lay sprawled on the sofa, fiddling with the files and the official mission scroll he'd picked up from the Mission Office. Every line of information screamed that this was not an ordinary C-rank mission.
But now that he'd seen the contents, there was no returning it. Missions worked like that—once you read them, you couldn't just pretend you hadn't.
"Guess I'll notify those two tonight… Should I learn Shadow Clone Technique? Running around in person every day is exhausting. But if I ask the Hokage for it, he'll probably use it as an excuse to say I meet the ninjutsu standards and promote me. Then I'd really be screwed."
Genin were basically freelancers—you could refuse missions you hadn't accepted and avoid promotion if you wanted. Chūnin, on the other hand, had far less freedom.
In the commercial district, two girls exited a cake shop, chatting happily. The shop owner smiled warmly—war had broken out, and having customers at all was rare these days. Today's sales barely turned a profit, but it was still a good day.
Carrying small cakes, the girls headed toward a stairwell tucked between shops.
Suddenly, a black-haired youth appeared behind them and placed both hands on their shoulders.
"AAAAAH!" ×2
"Don't panic. It's me."