Chapter 77: Naruto?
The rogue shinobi leader led the remaining two toward the entrance where the Wind Dragon had entered.
However, upon entering the corridor, he saw no one. He only saw the corpses of other bandits and a shinobi.
Seeing them dead, he panicked and became even more cautious. He said, "Be careful, they might still be nearby. Let's stick together..."
Suddenly, he jumped upward, looking down. The ground beneath him shifted, trying to trap his feet.
Although he dodged, Kaito sneered from underground, "Got you."
He had already trapped the other two bandits using Earth Release.
Mieko saw this and appeared at the doorway. She quickly formed hand seals and unleashed Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu. The trapped bandits couldn't dodge and were engulfed by the explosion.
Only the leader barely escaped. He watched his last two comrades burning in the flames, disbelieving.
"It's all over... I have to escape."
He quickly turned to flee.
However, Kaito quietly launched a chakra-enhanced shuriken at his left leg.
Due to fear and his desperate need to escape, the bandit leader didn't notice it.
The shuriken struck his left leg from behind, cutting clean through it.
Suddenly losing his left leg, he crashed to the ground, wailing in agony.
Kaito then used Body Flicker Technique to appear directly above him, driving his sword into the man's heart.
The bandit leader died, his face frozen in despair.
Kaito looked at Mieko and said, "It seems this is over."
Mieko asked, "Aren't there still a few people alive in the Main Hall?"
Kaito chuckled and said, "No."
Then he walked toward the Main Hall. Mieko followed him.
Inside the Main Hall, Hodaka had already eliminated all the bandits who survived the combined Fire and Wind Dragon attack.
Just then, Renjiro also appeared in the Main Hall. He thought, "Not bad, they eliminated everyone. It seems they've adapted to killing."
He said, "Well done. This mission is successfully completed."
Then he looked at his squad and added, "I'm pleased to see you're able to handle combat deaths properly."
The genin nodded. Although they were still disgusted by the blood around them, they could control themselves from vomiting.
Renjiro then led his team out of the bandit hideout and began preparing to use Earth Release jutsu.
Kaito quickly stopped him and asked, "Sensei, isn't it wasteful to destroy such a well-built base?"
The unexpected question stopped Renjiro from destroying the underground hideout. He asked, "What do you mean?"
Kaito said, "Can't we leave this base for our own shinobi to use?"
Renjiro asked, "How would our shinobi use this base?"
Kaito thought for a moment and replied, "Well, it could serve as a forward base during wartime, a temporary safe house, or we could convert it into an underground supply depot."
Renjiro shook his head and said, "The closest hidden village to here is Kusagakure, and they're allied with us. Even if they weren't, they couldn't penetrate this deep into the Land of Fire."
"If there's any real threat, it's Iwagakure, which lies beyond Kusagakure. If they could penetrate this deep into the Land of Fire, this base would be useless anyway, because most Iwa shinobi are masters of Earth Release. They'd simply bury our troops underground. As for supply depots and safe houses, there are already enough established, so there's no need for this one."
Kaito pondered, then realized, "Yes, that makes sense. Konoha has existed for decades. Their infrastructure is now first-rate, and they must have already identified all suitable locations within the Land of Fire."
Then he nodded to Renjiro, who used Earth Release jutsu to collapse the entire bandit hideout.
On the way back to town, Mieko asked, "Sensei, were they really shinobi? Only one person could actually use ninjutsu, and it was just E-rank techniques. They couldn't resist us at all."
Renjiro replied, "They were just ordinary bandits who accidentally or fortunately unlocked their chakra. Only their leader was likely a former shinobi. However, he had almost no formal training, so it's not surprising that he was no match for genin trained by me."
Hodaka excitedly asked, "Sensei, is there a bounty for rogue shinobi?"
Renjiro shook his head and said, "Unless they're particularly notorious, those who barely qualify as genin-level won't have bounties."
This immediately dampened Hodaka's excitement. His shoulders slumped as he continued following the team.
Mieko was still bothered that her opponents were too weak, so she asked, "Sensei, when will we get to fight real shinobi?"
Renjiro turned his head and stared at her. He thought, "This is a clever indirect way of asking me for a B-rank mission."
Realizing Renjiro had seen through her intentions, Mieko felt a little embarrassed, but she didn't let it show on her face.
Kaito noticed this and thought, "These Uchiha really are shameless."
Renjiro smiled and replied, "When you've caught Tora a hundred times."
This answer instantly made Mieko's face fall.
Hodaka glared at her disapprovingly. Kaito, however, chuckled and thought, "It seems no one can match the shamelessness of experienced jonin."
Mieko then began apologizing to Renjiro and attempted some playful banter.
However, unfortunately for her, she was completely outmatched by Renjiro.
Team Renjiro rested in town for a day. The next morning, they departed and returned to Konoha.
Upon arrival, they headed to the Hokage Building to submit their mission reports.
Renjiro handed the reports to the chunin in charge of mission verification. After reviewing them, the chunin handed four payment vouchers to Renjiro.
The four missions combined yielded 280,000 ryo. After Renjiro divided it, the three genin each received 56,000 ryo.
Kaito thought, "These few missions actually paid 280,000 ryo? I'm certain I could complete these missions alone in a single day! This is much faster than earning money by creating storage scrolls with sealing techniques. Although there is some risk if a powerful shinobi is hidden among the bandits... However, if I take on multiple missions, I should be able to save enough money quickly to buy a chakra metal sword."
Unlike Kaito, Mieko and Hodaka weren't particularly concerned about money. With fairly wealthy clan backgrounds, they never had to worry about finances.
After dividing the payment, Renjiro dismissed them, saying, "No training tomorrow. We'll resume our regular training schedule the day after tomorrow."
The genin nodded and then dispersed.
Since it was already lunchtime, Kaito decided to go to Ichiraku Ramen. Along the way, he thought, "Seven D-rank missions, four C-rank missions. Don't the Chunin Exams only require eight missions total? I wonder when Renjiro-sensei will let us take the Chunin Exams. Will it be the next round, or will we follow a similar timeline to Teru's squad?"
Thinking of Senju Teru, new thoughts arose in Kaito's mind.
"That's right, isn't Teru's squad participating in the Chunin Exams? I wonder how things are going for them. Have the exams already started, or is there still some time?"
This question made Kaito realize something important.
He thought, "Now that I think about it, I really don't know much about what's happening around me. Besides what I remember will happen in the future canon timeline, I don't know what's actually occurring now. I need some way to gather current information. But how do I do that..."
He thought for a moment and decided, "Well, at least I should start subscribing to newspapers delivered to my apartment. Although newspapers won't contain any critical classified information, they can at least keep me generally informed. Besides that, I might also need to build my own intelligence network. Although I don't think I can make it as sophisticated as Jiraiya-sama's, it doesn't need to be that extensive. Just being able to get unfiltered, timely news will be sufficient."
"Well, alright, I'll deal with this later. Actually building it will require considerable effort, time, and money. Right now, I have almost no money and no free time..."
His thoughts were interrupted by an enthusiastic shout. He heard, "Old man! Give me three bowls of miso ramen!"
Kaito turned to his right and noticed, "Uh, Naruto? I didn't even realize I'd already arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. But considering Naruto is here..."
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+10 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Review!
P*atreon/DarkFoxx (40+ advanced chapters)