At nine o'clock sharp, the mentor jonin of Asahi's group finally showed up. Unexpectedly, he was an old acquaintance, Nara Shikaku, the brain of Konoha, they have met in the Konoha camp.
It seems that the Third Hokage really spared no effort in attracting the Ino-Shika-Cho family. Now, he entrusted his youngest son, Asuma, to the hands of Shikaku. In the future, he would hand the successor of these three clans into his own family's hands, the Third Hokage had fully realized the value of these clans.
Maybe it's because the noble clans like Uchiha and Hyuga were not so easy to draw, so the Third Hokage was targeting the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clan.
However, it's obviously not the time to consider this issue. Asahi was feeling the pressure of facing Shikaku, who is called "The Brain of Konoha". Perhaps this guy was far behind Orochimaru in strength, but in terms of brain, he's definitely better than Orochimaru.
Relying on his acting in front of this guy was too risky.
Almost the moment when he saw Shikaku's figure for a split of a second, Asahi had made a decision. In the future, in front of this guy, he would try to perform as little as possible, as long as he kept his attitude of caring for his companions and loving Konoha and maintained it, there should be no issue.
"Asahi! We meet again." Shikaku greeted him first.
"Hello, Shikaku-sensei." Asahi replied calmly.
"Good morning Shikaku-sensei!" Asuma and Kurenai both stood up.
"Well, looks like you're all familiar with each other, so there's no need to introduce yourselves." Shikaku said casually.
"Shikaku-sensei..." Asuma said with red eyes.
"It's ok, I know about it." Shikaku sighed and whispered softly, "Since the moment we choose becoming a ninja, we must be aware that we could end up sacrificing at any time. Asahi should already have this realization."
After a period of time talking, Asahi understood the reason Asuma's former teammates sacrifice.
Shikaku went to the frontline to battle with Sunagakure during this period of time. And so Asuma's team took a mission with a chunin. Originally it was just a simple C-rank mission, but an unexpected accident occurred. They got in an encounter with a Suna ninja team. The two sides had a big battle and Asuma's teammates were unfortunately killed.
"If you want to keep your life, you have to work hard to become stronger." Asahi said.
Kurenai hearing this glanced at him, thinking of what Asahi had said while training. Indeed, when they met that Sunagakure's team at the time, maybe if they were stronger, their teammates wouldn't have had to die.
"I already have a certain understanding of Asahi's strength. I believe he also knows me and it is needless to say about you both. So, let's avoid the test. Let's go to take a mission." Shikaku said lazily.
After a period of time of contact, Asahi found that Shikaku, like his son Shikamaru, was a bit afraid of trouble, but he was also a bit colder and less naive than Shikamaru, well it was a matter of experience.
Such people were undoubtedly more terrifying. Shikamaru might still get emotional at some points, but Shikaku would not. Many years of ninja career had long hardened his heart.
In other words, with Shikaku's intelligence, he had seen enough things, so he doesn't take many things too seriously.
Thinking of this, Asahi became more vigilant. In front of this person, he must be very careful.
Actually, Asahi had never done anything detrimental to Konoha since the beginning, and even so far, no such idea had even appeared on his mind. But compared to these original book characters, Asahi's love for Konoha was fake, and his love and care for his companions were also fake.
Especially now that Asahi was also doing human experiments with Orochimaru. If this thing was discovered by the Third Hokage, it could be almost fatal to his current situation.
Soon, a group of four people came to pick up a mission.
After Konoha's victory over Sunagakure, their prestige in the shinobi world had greatly increased. Many clients would consider Konoha's ninja first when they issue a mission.
Seeing that there was still a lot of unfinished in the C-rank missions, Asahi could easily guess how busy Konoha ninjas were now.
Mission commissions have increased, which was both a good thing and a troublesome thing for the village.
If Konoha refused these missions, it would give people a view that they lost too much strength in the battle against Sunagakure, which would greatly reduce Konoha's credibility.
But if they accepted these missions, they must send ninjas to complete it. The Third Hokage must be having a headache at this moment over this matter.
However, compared to Konoha, the defeated Sunagakure should be even worse. Konoha was both happy and helpless after all, meanwhile Sunagakure was just outright miserable right now.
Losing the war meant a decrease in credibility. The number of missions entrusted to Sunagakure must have probably been reduced to the lowest point in recent years.
"Escorting goods and merchandise. What do you think about this one?" Asuma chose a mission of escorting and asked everyone.
"Too far away." Asahi said.
"Not a good choice." Shikaku also refused.
"Why?" Asuma wondered, blinking at Asahi.
He immediately understood why Asuma chose a mission to escort goods, and a very long-distance one. He probably wanted to enjoy the road with Kurenai and develop their relationship on the way.
However, this kind of escort mission, if there was no ninja battle, would be of little help to Asahi, and it would waste a lot of training time. He would never willingly choose such a mission.
As for Shikaku's reason for rejection, it's even simpler, it's because he's lazy and unwilling to go too far.
"It's better to do this mission!" Asahi pointed to a B-rank mission and said, "Go to the border of Kirigakure to spy on the movements made by Kirigakure."
This was a good mission, the duration was also short, and there was even a possibility of getting involved in combat against Kirigakure.
"No." Shikaku still refused.
This mission was too dangerous for Asuma and Kurenai, especially since Asuma was also the youngest son of the Third Hokage, he shouldn't go on these missions. Kurenai was also a ninja from a famous genjutsu clan. During this rookie stage, the village would never arrange dangerous missions for them.
It's unlike Asahi, who performed spying missions just after graduation, and also went into combat with ninjas of Sunagakure.
"Let's go with this one." Shikaku finally made a decision and chose a simple C-rank mission to help the residents of the Land of Fire drive out wild beasts.
It took less time, no difficulty, and so Asahi also did not refuse.
To be honest, Asahi really had a feeling of being underwhelmed now. Following accomplishing two dangerous missions, this mission was just a waste of time and had no chance to deepen his ninja experience. It also does little to no help to Asahi's strength.
Fortunately, under normal circumstances, in such mission, a team would not encounter any danger, and he would just have more free time to learn more from Tsunade.
*****
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