"You flatter me, sensei! These are all just the basics!"
Akira shook his head modestly.
"Hehe!"
Yuhi Shinku smiled slightly, then turned to Kakashi and said, "Kakashi did very well at first too. As expected of White Fang's son. You were indeed careless later on, though. Remember this lesson well and don't make the same mistake again. On the battlefield, any carelessness can cost you your life. Understand?"
"A dead genius is no genius at all."
Across the thousand years of ninja history, had there really been few geniuses who died because of carelessness?
"Yes, sensei! I understand!"
Kakashi kept his head lowered in shame.
"Lift your head. Let's go turn in the mission."
Yuhi Shinku said that to Kakashi, then called for them to follow and headed back toward the village more than ten kilometers away.
Kakashi and Akira followed behind with the rescued villagers.
"Thank you, ninja-sama! Thank you for wiping out the bandits and bringing back the girls from our village!"
Once they returned to the village, Akira and the others received heartfelt thanks from both the village chief and the villagers.
"No need to thank us. This was just our mission."
Yuhi Shinku waved his hand calmly and continued, "It's already late. We'll need to rest here for the night. We'll have to trouble the village chief to make arrangements."
"Of course! Please come with me. I already made preparations in advance!"
The village chief immediately took the lead and guided them onward.
Nothing happened that night.
Early the next morning, Akira and the others set out once again toward the village.
For the next month or so, they were either on the way to missions, or in the middle of carrying them out.
In just one month, they completed a full eighteen missions, all of them C-rank suppression missions.
After that month, both Akira and Kakashi were nearly sick from all the killing.
Now, after finishing yet another mission and returning to the village covered in dust, the moment they saw those familiar gates, Akira and Kakashi both found them unusually comforting. Even their minds and bodies seemed to relax a little.
After letting out a long breath, Akira turned to Yuhi Shinku and said bitterly, "Sensei, we're not going to keep doing suppression missions from here on out, right? I feel like I'm about to throw up. Surely Kakashi feels the same?"
Was this level of high-intensity suppression work even something a normal human should be doing?
Beside him, Kakashi also shot Yuhi Shinku a deeply resentful look.
"Hahaha!"
Hearing that, Yuhi Shinku immediately laughed. "Seeing that you still have the energy to joke around tells me you're doing just fine! But from here on out, even if you wanted to take suppression missions, there won't be any left."
"In this past month, everything that needed clearing out has already been dealt with."
"Also, I received orders from the village yesterday while we were on the road. I'm to head alone to the northwestern front near the Land of Earth to carry out an important mission. That means I can't continue accompanying you on missions anymore."
During wartime, the fact that he had been able to stay with them for a full month doing low-level missions was already his limit.
"So, for the next while, you can rest properly in the village."
At present, Konoha had already been at war with the Sand for over half a month.
The Stone, Cloud, Mist, and Rain were all showing signs of unrest as well. The village's higher-ups were all overwhelmed with work.
When Akira and Kakashi heard that, not only were they not upset, their eyes actually lit up.
"That's great news!"
Yuhi Shinku found their reaction amusing and immediately added, "However, I also have a mission for you."
"Because of the war, you skipped the usual D-rank stage and started directly with C-rank suppression missions."
"That means your ninja careers are incomplete. So I've decided that for the next stretch of time, you must complete at least one D-rank mission every single day, until I'm free again or the village gives other orders. Understood?"
You thought suppression missions were tedious?
Perfect. Recently, so many ninja had been transferred out of the village that plenty of D-rank missions were left undone.
Since you hate suppression missions now, you can go handle D-rank ones for me instead.
He had heard that some areas in the village hadn't even been cleaned for days.
That simply wouldn't do.
Yuhi Shinku felt it was his responsibility to help ease the village's burdens and maintain a proper quality of life for the civilians.
War may have come, but that didn't mean the villagers' quality of life should be lowered, right?
"Hah?"
Akira and Kakashi were completely dumbfounded.
Then Akira stared at Yuhi Shinku and couldn't help complaining, "Sensei, please, just be human! You know our strength better than anyone, yet you're sending us to do this kind of mission? That's way too much."
He would rather keep slaughtering bandits than go do D-rank missions.
At Akira's words, Kakashi silently gave him a thumbs-up in his heart.
That was exactly what he had wanted to say too.
Sensei really wasn't acting like a human being.
"What did you say, brat? Hmm?"
Hearing that, Yuhi Shinku immediately shot Akira a glare.
Akira instantly shrank his neck and thought inwardly, If not for the fact that you're Kurenai's father—my future father-in-law—do you believe I'd just beat you flat?
At this point, if Akira fully unleashed his strength, he was properly Kage-level. Yuhi Shinku really wouldn't be able to beat him.
Yuhi Shinku declared decisively, "In any case, it's settled. Alright, dismissed!"
As he finished speaking, he vanished in a few Body Flickers.
Only Akira and Kakashi were left behind, both utterly speechless.
"So what now? Are we really going to do D-rank missions?"
Kakashi turned to Akira gloomily.
Akira spread his hands. "What else can we do? Sensei already said it."
"But we can just send shadow clones, can't we? And we can choose the missions too. There should be plenty of D-rank ones right now, right? Things like sweeping the streets don't suit us. That's too much of a waste. Let the other genin teams handle those. What do you think?"
Akira looked toward Kakashi.
"Good idea. Let's do that."
Kakashi thought it was an excellent plan and agreed immediately.
The two then started walking back into the village.
"Akira-kun! Kakashi-kun!"
Just as they were about to turn a corner on the way back, they suddenly heard someone calling out to them.
When they turned around, they saw Kurenai and Nohara Rin running toward them with delighted expressions.
Not far behind them were Obito and Asuma.
Akira smiled and raised a hand in greeting. "Kurenai, Rin, long time no see!"
"It really has been over a month! What have you two even been busy with? We haven't seen either of you at all! My father too!"
Kurenai couldn't help asking.
Her gaze remained fixed on Akira, utterly unwilling to move away.
"Just going out of the village to deal with bandits and brigands. With the war against the Sand already started, and even the Stone making moves, there was no helping it. It really wore us out."
Akira spread his hands helplessly as he explained.
"So that's how it is."
Kurenai nodded in understanding, then asked, "Then are you two still going out of the village for missions from now on? Also, why don't I see my father?"
As she asked, Kurenai even looked around.
"Sensei went to the Hokage Building. Seems like he has another mission."
Akira replied at once, "As for Kakashi and me, we won't need to leave the village for now. Just D-rank missions. Those can be handled by shadow clones. We're planning to train intensively for a while. If you've got time, you can come too."
Besides, with the war clearly approaching, Kurenai and the others would sooner or later be pushed onto the battlefield as well. It would be good to train them further, just in case something unexpected happened later.
Although in the original story Kurenai and the others all survived more than twenty years into the future, who could say for certain now?
The little butterfly he had become had already caused no small number of changes.
"Huh? Really?"
When Kurenai and Rin heard that, their eyes lit up at once. "That's great! We're joining!"
At worst, they could just ask their teachers for leave or skip class directly.
Compared to what they could learn from Akira, missing a few school days meant nothing.
After all, a student life without ever skipping class was an incomplete one.
At this moment, Obito, who had been standing off to the side, finally couldn't hold himself back anymore and shouted, "Are you seriously pretending not to see us?"
"Exactly!"
Asuma also chimed in, "Ignoring us should at least have some limits, shouldn't it?"
They both felt Akira and Kakashi were doing it on purpose.
"Ah!"
Akira reacted as if he had only just noticed them, then turned and looked at the two. "Oh, it's you guys. Long time no see."
Then he turned right back around and resumed chatting with Kurenai.
Obito: "…"
He really wanted to beat this guy to death.
Sadly, he couldn't win.
Otherwise…
"At least have the self-awareness to know when you're extra. Why show up if you know you're unnecessary? Seriously clueless."
At that moment, Kakashi coldly added another jab from the side.
The veins on Obito and Asuma's foreheads immediately bulged.
These two bastards.
"Alright! Since we ran into each other, let me treat you all to something to eat. Follow me!"
At that point, Akira called out and took the lead with Kurenai.
Kakashi and Rin followed close behind.
"Wait for us!"
Obito and Asuma hurried after them as well.
Asuma looked at Akira and Kurenai ahead of him, chatting happily and acting intimately, and sighed inwardly. So Kurenai's heart was completely occupied by Akira already. I thought Akira graduating early would give me a chance, but in the end…
Heh. Kurenai still didn't spare him a glance.
"Maybe… I really should step back?"
This whole time, Asuma had been driven by Akira's presence to train hard. His mentality had matured a lot too, and he was already starting to think about giving up.
He had finally realized that feelings were not something that could be forced.
To Read More Advance Chapters Head Over To My Patreon
patreon.com/ted11