"Hmm… if I get the chance, I should probably make use of Konoha's intelligence network and see if I can find any information on the Kusanagi Sword. If that doesn't work, finding a suitable ninja blade would be fine too."
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Yuya casually tossed away the broken sword hilt in his hand and turned to leave.
He walked through the streets of Konoha.
Yuya's original plan was to head straight to ANBU, using their internal channels to investigate information about ninja blades.
Ninja blades were rare items.
Even if he became a full ANBU member, they wouldn't just be handed out for free—he would still have to find one himself.
However, after making a round through ANBU, Yuya came up empty-handed.
Or rather—
His rank was too low.
Certain materials and intelligence were simply beyond his authorization.
That was… pretty frustrating.
Left with no other choice, Yuya considered visiting a ninja tools shop.
Even though most shops only sold standard equipment, who knew—there might be a ninja blade hidden among them.
Ever since becoming an ANBU candidate, all of Yuya's daily expenses—food, clothing, housing, travel—were covered by the village.
Walking through Konoha's streets, passersby couldn't help but glance at him.
Although news of Yuya killing Uchiha Han, or single-handedly crushing everyone during ANBU training, wasn't public knowledge—
His achievement of taking first place in the Ninja Academy's combat ranking exam, surpassing even Minato Namikaze, was well known.
"That's the genius Yuya."
"Hey, isn't he from an outer village?"
"Shh—his village was destroyed long ago. He grew up in Konoha. He's basically one of us now."
The gazes and whispers around him no longer carried disdain.
Yuya wasn't surprised.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had probably done something quietly behind the scenes.
As Hokage, shifting public opinion inside the village was as easy as saying a single sentence.
Eventually, Yuya arrived at the ninja tools shop.
The shop owner's attitude toward Yuya was completely different from before—exceptionally warm.
But when Yuya asked about ninja blades, the man showed a troubled expression.
They had some.
But—
They were bad.
Even among ninja blades, there were differences in quality.
The few special blades in this shop were poorly made, oddly shaped, and awkward to handle.
Yuya didn't like any of them.
In the end, he could only leave helplessly.
After exiting the shop, Yuya was about to head back toward ANBU—
When, after turning a few corners, he stumbled upon an unusually lively area.
"…The Hokage's mission desk.?"
He paused in mild surprise.
Looking at the sign on the building, Yuya immediately understood.
This was Konoha's public mission distribution center.
ANBU missions were handled covertly.
This Hokage's mission desk., on the other hand, dealt with the village's open assignments.
In the original canon, Naruto and the others always accepted missions directly from the Hokage.
But realistically—
With tens of thousands of shinobi and countless missions every day, how could the Hokage personally oversee everything?
Team Seven was simply a special case.
Their leader, Kakashi Hatake, was an elite jōnin and part of Konoha's upper command.
Shaking his head lightly, Yuya passed by the Hokage's mission desk. without intending to enter, merely glancing inside out of curiosity.
That single glance—
Made him stop.
Inside, the Hokage's mission desk. was arranged like a large counter.
Behind it sat shinobi managing documents and records.
In front were shinobi submitting or accepting missions.
And in one corner—
Yuya spotted a familiar figure.
Might Duy.
"So that's where he's been… doing missions."
Yuya stopped and smiled faintly.
In truth, during his training periods, Yuya often trained with Might Duy.
Mostly with Duy acting as his sparring partner.
But recently, while Yuya had been developing Shock Release and training the Rasengan, he hadn't seen Duy at all.
After all, Duy wasn't part of ANBU.
To support his daily life, he had to rely on mission rewards.
At this moment, inside the Hokage's mission desk.—
Might Duy was arguing with someone.
"You won't let me take a B-rank mission, fine—but why can't I take this C-rank mission?!"
Duy looked furious.
He was extremely confident in his own strength.
So when accepting missions, he always aimed for the highest-paying ones available.
But as a genin, the highest he could officially accept was C-rank.
He had already swallowed that reality.
Yet now, the C-rank mission with the best reward was being denied to him.
"Although this mission is classified as C-rank and doesn't explicitly require combat," the mission clerk explained patiently,
"there's a high probability of unavoidable fighting. Its difficulty is actually closer to B-rank."
"Then why is it listed under C-rank at all?!" Duy argued stubbornly.
"If it's in the C-rank category, I have the right to take it! Otherwise, why not list it as B-rank?"
Duy clenched the mission form tightly.
The reward was nearly equal to a B-rank mission.
Completing it would solve his financial problems for quite some time.
"The reason is simple," the clerk said calmly.
"This mission is intended for team execution. Going alone would be extremely dangerous."
"Team execution…"
Duy's face twisted painfully.
He didn't have a team.
Just then—
A voice came from behind him.
"Does two people count as a team?"
"That counts—huh? Wait!"
The clerk replied instinctively, then suddenly froze.
His eyes widened as he stared at the figure behind Duy.
"…Yuya?"
Duy turned around as well.
Seeing the familiar face, he was momentarily stunned—then broke into a simple, honest smile.
"Oh! Yuya, it's you!"
Yuya smiled back and nodded, then stepped beside Duy and looked at the mission clerk.
"Then if the two of us form a team," Yuya said calmly,
"there shouldn't be a problem with us taking this mission, right?"
The moment those words left his mouth—
Not only did the clerk freeze—
Even Might Duy stared at Yuya in shock.
"Absolutely not!!"
The clerk shook his head without hesitation.
"You're still a kid who hasn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy yet. Don't cause trouble—go on, move along!"
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