Hiruzen smiled and added,
"You must get used to your fighting style, improving it each time. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu—these are just means to achieve your goal.
"Strong ninjutsu or weak—if it helps defeat the enemy, it's good ninjutsu. Besides, there are no weak techniques, only weak ninja.
"A C-rank technique in a master's hands can unleash power surpassing S-rank. I hope you can skillfully use every ninjutsu you learn," the Third instructed Satoru again and again, warming the boy's heart with his words.
The image of the weak, indecisive old man from the original story didn't match his teacher at all.
"During this training period, you've made great progress. Now I have one request for you! I must assign you a mission," Hiruzen was very straightforward and handed Satoru a scroll.
The boy was a bit surprised. Previously, he got missions with a team, but this time, it seemed he was alone.
Reading the scroll's contents, the transmigrator asked excitedly,
"What?! Teacher, why didn't you tell me about something so important sooner?"
The scroll actually contained a distress signal. And it was clearly from his own team, meaning something bad had happened to them.
"I only received it recently myself. Uzumaki Kushina from our Uzumaki clan was kidnapped. Minato Namikaze went to rescue her, but so much time has passed with no word from him.
"Minato left in a hurry without filing any exit documents, so Danzo is planning to accuse him of treason and declare him a rogue ninja," the Third added somewhat embarrassedly.
"What the hell is this? Does Danzo have nothing better to do?!" the system slave couldn't hold back his mental outburst. Why did this guy have to ruin everyone's life?
"Minato is Konoha's hope; I believe in him. ANBU aren't suited for this. I hope you two can complete this mission," Tobirama's protege confessed.
"You two? Besides me, who else?" Satoru asked.
"Of course, me."
The boy turned and saw Yoshime with her purple hair already waiting there.
"Why couldn't I almost sense your presence?" Satoru was surprised. After all, he was considered a sensor ninja, and though focused on the Third, he should have noticed her.
"These past few months while you trained desperately, I trained desperately too, and my power has grown significantly," Yoshime wasn't lying. Satoru clearly saw the girl's chakra had become much more abundant than before.
"Rescue Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina! Mission rank preliminarily set as B! But you're very likely to face strong ninja! Be extremely careful!" the village leader instructed them.
"Teacher, who exactly kidnapped Kushina? And which direction did Minato go?" Satoru immediately asked the most important questions.
"Satoru, come with me."
Then she grabbed the boy's hand and ran to the village outskirts. Reaching the edge, the Senju clan girl pointed to a tree in the middle and explained,
"Minato and I fought there. He noticed something and ran southeast."
"Minato noticed something?" the Earth native immediately approached the tree. He spotted several red hairs on the ground.
"Red hair? Must be Uzumaki Kushina's hair. Very likely, she left them intentionally as a clue," he thought.
"What's this?" Satoru noticed some tracks on the ground. Using his one-tomoe Sharingan, he examined them.
There were only two types of tracks. That meant Kushina was kidnapped by just one person, and the second set belonged to Minato.
"One person dared enter Konoha directly and kidnap Kushina? And succeeded? That person's strength must be considerable, and such confidence suggests he's definitely an experienced ninja," Satoru analyzed thoroughly.
"He ran southeast?" Satoru shook his head and asked, "Yoshime, did you see Minato run southeast with your own eyes?"
"Yes, since it was an emergency, he ran straight southeast," the girl replied.
"Very likely, he left some clues," Satoru believed Minato, though in a hurry, hadn't lost his head. Otherwise, in the original story, he wouldn't have become Hokage.
Heading southeast, the transmigrator indeed found a secret mark from Minato on one of the trees.
These were Konoha ninja directional signs. Satoru and Yoshime naturally trusted them completely and followed the direction Minato indicated.
However, this time, before going far, they realized they'd fallen into a trap.
Suddenly, a group of ninja surrounded them. They were either ronin or rogue ninja.
"Ha! Senju Yoshime from the Hidden Leaf Village and the Third's young disciple, Satoru! Didn't expect you'd fall into our hands so easily!" one ronin was extremely smug.
"Catching you in Konoha would be tough, so we deliberately used Konoha secret signs to lure you out. Now, even if you had wings, you couldn't fly away!"
The ronin didn't talk much, just waved his hand, and his subordinates charged at Satoru and Yoshime.
"Leave one alive! Kill the rest!" Satoru was polite to friends, but felt no pity toward enemies who dared scheme against him.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!" Satoru unleashed the powerful Sarutobi clan technique right away. The mighty flames surged toward the enemies.
This time, the opponents were noticeably stronger. Facing Satoru's fire technique, they immediately used Earth Release: Mud Wall!
They couldn't use Water Release techniques—only talents like the Second Hokage could freely use Water Release even on land.
The Great Flame Technique instantly heated the Mud Wall red-hot.
"Ha-ha!" the ronin laughed smugly. "Two snot-nosed brats dared to take us on?! What arrogance!"
"Ha! I'd say those two should be lying on the ground exhausted and begging for mercy right now!"
The ronin were completely carefree. In their opinion, how strong could a genin from Konoha be? An undeveloped genius would still become their prisoner.
Who could have thought that the scene unfolding in the next second would make their jaws drop.
*BOOM!*
Satoru punched the Mud Wall with force. Several months of rigorous training had significantly increased his physical power. He already possessed Monstrous Strength, and now, after such long practice, it had grown even more.
This time, Satoru didn't even use Armament Haki: Hardening, yet he still shattered the Mud Wall with one blow.
"No way! The Mud Wall shattered from a single strike?!"
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan