The problem with D-rank missions was that they were all pointless busywork. Naruto figured the only reason they existed was to keep Genin too distracted to question why they weren't doing anything important. But even pointless tasks could be made tolerable with the right mindset.
Sasuke and Sakura didn't seem to share that sentiment.
"Are all our missions just going to be chores?" Sasuke muttered, standing stiffly with his arms crossed as an elderly farmer explained his missing herb situation.
"Well, we are new," Sakura said, trying to be reasonable. "They're not going to send us on anything big yet. Besides, how hard can it be to find some plants?"
The farmer was an old man with hunched shoulders, a wrinkled face, and a mouth that seemed permanently twisted in either irritation or exhaustion. "Ain't hard, just annoyin'. Kids these days don't know their weeds from their cabbages. Every time I send my grandson out, he comes back with garbage. If you lot can find the right herbs, I'll pay the village well for it."
Kakashi gave them all an eye-smile. "Well, you heard the man. Get to work."
Sakura sighed and rolled up her sleeves. Sasuke just walked toward the fields with his usual brooding expression. Naruto stood there, looking over the land, sniffing the air once before walking in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" Sakura called.
"To get the herbs."
"How do you even know where they are?"
Naruto pointed at his nose. "I can smell them."
The farmer squinted. "Boy, are you telling me you can sniff out plants?"
Naruto just nodded.
The old man grunted. "Well, I ain't gonna stop ya. If you find 'em first, you find 'em first."
Sasuke and Sakura took the logical approach—checking plant beds, carefully comparing the leaves to the pictures in their mission scroll. Naruto, on the other hand, crouched low, inhaled deeply, and just walked straight to a small patch near a fence. He plucked the right herbs with zero hesitation, placed them in a basket, and walked back to the old man before the other two even found one.
Sasuke and Sakura turned to see Naruto standing there, arms full of perfectly gathered herbs.
Sakura's eye twitched. "No way."
Naruto blinked at her. "What?"
"You just—you didn't even look!"
Naruto tilted his head. "I smelled them."
The old man took one look at the basket and nodded. "Well, I'll be damned. That's the exact batch I needed. Good work, kid."
Sasuke scowled. "That's not possible."
Naruto shrugged. "Okay."
Kakashi hummed, tapping his chin. "You know, if the whole Hokage thing doesn't work out, Naruto, you could always be a professional truffle hunter."
Naruto frowned. "I don't like mushrooms. Dattebane."
The next mission involved finding a missing dog.
Naruto had already proven his affinity for dealing with animals, so Kakashi didn't even bother pretending this was going to be difficult. The client—a woman in her mid-thirties—was already red-eyed and sniffling when they arrived.
"My little Maru-chan has been gone for two days! He's such a delicate thing, he won't last in the streets!"
Sasuke stared at her blankly. "It's a dog."
She gasped. "Not just any dog! He's my sweet baby!"
Naruto sniffed the air.
Sakura crossed her arms. "Don't worry, ma'am, we'll find him."
Naruto started walking.
"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked.
"To get the dog."
"You don't even know where it is!"
Naruto pointed at his nose again. "I can smell it. Dattebane"
The woman blinked. "Wait, are you saying you can track him just by scent?"
Naruto nodded.
Sasuke scoffed. "You're not an Inuzuka."
Naruto blinked at him. "Okay."
Ignoring them, he followed the scent down an alley, through a fence, over a rooftop, and finally to the marketplace, where a tiny, pampered Pomeranian was stuffing its face with free samples from a kind old food vendor.
Naruto crouched down. "Maru-chan?"
The dog looked up, mouth full of rice ball, then jumped into Naruto's arms like it had been expecting him.
Naruto returned to the client within five minutes.
She gasped, scooping up her pet. "Maru-chan! Oh, my baby, I was so worried!"
Naruto dusted off his pants. "He was eating."
Sasuke and Sakura arrived moments later, panting slightly from trying to keep up.
Sakura groaned. "Again?!"
Sasuke gritted his teeth. "This is ridiculous."
The client hugged Naruto tightly. "Oh, thank you so much, young man! You must be so gifted!"
Naruto, still trapped in her grip, blinked at Kakashi for help.
Kakashi only eye-smiled. "Looks like you're popular with animals and their owners, Naruto."
Naruto sighed.
The third mission of the week was retrieving a missing necklace.
Sakura was relieved. "Finally! Something that doesn't involve chasing animals!"
Sasuke nodded. "We should check for any pawnshops first. If it was stolen, that's the most likely place it would end up."
Naruto sniffed the air once, then started walking.
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me guess. You can smell it."
Naruto didn't answer, just kept walking.
Kakashi hummed. "Well, no harm in following him."
Naruto led them behind a bakery, where a crow was currently trying to peck at a glimmering pendant caught between the cobblestones.
He reached down, plucked it up, and held it out. "Found it."
Sakura groaned. "Of course you did."
Sasuke looked personally offended. "How?!"
Naruto blinked. "It smelled like metal and perfume. Plus I know where a crow might hide a stolen necklace."
Kakashi chuckled. "Well, that's another one done."
Sakura flopped against a nearby wall. "Why are we even here?"
Naruto tilted his head. "Teamwork."
"That's not teamwork! That's you doing everything in five minutes while the rest of us run around like idiots!"
Sasuke glared at Naruto. "This isn't normal."
Naruto shrugged. "Okay."
Kakashi patted Sasuke on the back. "Don't take it too personally. Sometimes, people are just built different."
Naruto nodded. "I was a crow once. Dattebane."
Sakura squinted at him. "What?"
Naruto blinked. "Nothing."