Chapter 12: D-rank missions
Konoha Forest
Kaito stood amidst the trees, motionless, before he began making various hand signs, and a large amount of water gushed from his mouth, colliding with a tree.
Boom!
With a loud noise, the tree came crashing down, its trunk broken due to the impact.
These sounds were heard several times that night, and many trees fell victim to this forest massacre.
Hashirama would be deeply disappointed to see such a young person destroying so many trees.
After a few more explosions, the forest finally fell silent, but the trail of water remained wherever he had passed.
Kaito lay on a distant tree from the scene he had caused, fearing being caught by an Anbu ninja.
'Well, I guess I'll rest for a bit now and try to use Water Dragon Ninjutsu.' The young man causing this major deforestation was Kaito.
After resting enough, Kaito prepared to use the jutsu, starting to form the hand signs with concrete precision, with each sign made increasing his concentration. Once Kaito finished, a large water dragon materialized above him, formed from the moisture in the air and Kaito's chakra.
At least, that's what Kaito hoped for – a dragon. But all he saw at most was a water serpent. Nevertheless, Kaito launched it forward.
Booooomm!
With a massive explosion, many trees were shattered at once, branches were thrown far away, and a large amount of water gushed among the broken trees.
'Oops! I guess I overdid it this time.' Kaito thought as he began walking out of the forest.
As soon as Kaito exited the forest, two ninjas appeared near the spot where he had been a few minutes earlier.
"Hmm, someone was practicing Water Style Ninjutsu here, but judging by the damage, it seems like basic training. Only here did it appear that he used a higher-ranked jutsu," one of the masked ninjas said.
"But there aren't many people in the village who use Water Ninjutsu. Let's report this to the Hokage." Without saying more, the other masked ninja turned and left.
Kaito left the forest and quickly arrived at his home. His mother was cleaning the kitchen, while his father was studying fuinjutsu.
His father looked at him and called him to sit nearby.
"Come here, son. I want to teach you more about fuinjutsu. I know I've taught you the basics, but we didn't spend much time learning, so I'll teach you a bit more today."
"I've asked you to get fuinjutsu books in your free time and learn the necessary hand signs, so now all that's left is for you to practice your calligraphy to draw the symbols. Here's the paper and ink." His father pulled out various papers and ink for him.
Taking the materials, Kaito sat at the table and began drawing various symbols, while his father corrected his mistakes, creating a harmonious scene.
After many attempts, Kaito managed to draw the symbols correctly.
"Now it's time for you to infuse them with chakra," his father instructed.
Following the instructions, Kaito began to infuse his chakra slowly, continuing until he couldn't infuse any more. His father took a scroll to evaluate.
"Hmm, the quality is reasonable. Congratulations, son, on creating your first sealing scroll. You can now seal your katana or other objects inside it and retrieve them whenever you want." Saying this, he passed the scroll back to Kaito, who promptly sealed his katana inside with a hand sign.
"I have several other seals for you to learn. Practice them diligently when you have free time; fuinjutsu is a powerful art. Now, go to sleep, and tomorrow we'll start doing some D-rank missions." After finishing speaking, his father left the table.
Kaito also got up after writing a few more seals and went to sleep.
6:00 AM.
Haruki and his genin team were inside the Hokage's office.
"Today will be your first ninja mission. Your first mission as a ninja is to capture a missing cat."
Hikari and Ryuji couldn't believe what they were hearing. Their first mission was to capture a cat? They had hoped for missions outside the village, but their expectations were shattered. On the other hand, Kaito, who already knew about it, didn't mind.
After receiving the mission briefing, Haruki and his team left the Hokage's office.
"Now that we have the mission, let's get it done. You'll search for the cat and return when you find it." Saying this, Haruki disappeared in front of them.
The three were left dumbfounded by how Haruki didn't let them speak and just left.
With no other choice, they discussed their plan.
"Well, let's split up and search. We know the cat has brown fur, so if we find fur of that color, we might be close to it. Let's go." After Kaito spoke, the three agreed.
Soowh! Soowh! Soowh!
The three went in different directions to search for the cat.
Jumping across rooftops, Kaito covered various parts of the village, leaping from one rooftop to another.
Soon, Kaito stopped on top of a tree and saw a branch with many brown hairs. It seemed that some animal had rubbed against the branch not too long ago. Creating a shadow clone with a hand sign, it went in a different direction, while Kaito moved forward.
Jumping through the trees, Kaito spotted the cat on the highest branch of a tall tree.
Without waiting any longer, Kaito walked towards the tree and began climbing using chakra in his feet. He soon reached the top, near where the cat was. However, as he got closer, the cat jumped to another branch, and every time he got close, it would jump to another.
Kaito could have captured it, but he didn't feel like it. Instead, he formed a hand sign, and a small wind blade emerged from his hand, cutting the branch the cat was on. The branch fell, taking the cat with it.
The cat fell from the high tree, and it would have been a deadly fall, but as it neared the ground, Kaito's shadow clone was below, using a gentle wind jutsu to slow the cat's descent.
Behind the shadow clone, Ryuji and Hikari, who had been summoned by Kaito's clone, arrived. They were startled by Kaito's method of capturing the cat, dropping it directly from the treetop.
Descending the tree rapidly, Kaito reached his team members.
"Mission accomplished! All that's left is to return the cat," Kaito said, raising his thumb, while his clone walked ahead with the cat in its arms, its face scratched up because the cat didn't appreciate being dropped and having a gust of wind to cushion its fall, which left its fur standing on end.
"I think your way of capturing it was a bit too aggressive, don't you think, Kaito? Look at how scared it is," Hikari commented, looking at the cat being held by Kaito's clone.
"Well, at least we found
and got the cat," Ryuji defended Kaito.
"Haha, yeah, we got it. Hikari, you don't need to worry; I had everything under control," Kaito smiled at Hikari, who was getting more irritated.
"It's not about control; it's about the stress the cat went through. Look at its eyes; you can see the terror. Poor thing," Hikari complained as Kaito walked away, still smiling.
"Let's get going; I think it's going to be a long day. We have many D-rank missions ahead," Kaito said, and then he walked ahead with Ryuji, his clone, and the cat.
Meanwhile, Hikari stomped her feet and huffed in frustration.
They quickly reached the spot where Haruki had bid them farewell and found him sitting, waiting for them.
"I think your way of capturing it was a bit too aggressive, don't you think, Kaito? Look at how scared it is," Hikari said, looking at the cat, which seemed quite terrified.
"Well, it was just a sudden change of mood," Kaito replied, and Ryuji, who understood the pun Kaito had made, smiled slightly, while Hikari huffed in annoyance at the pun.
Haruki didn't understand what was going on but didn't care enough to ask. He drew their attention and they all headed back to complete the mission.
A few minutes later, they returned with more D-rank missions. This time, the mission was to cut the grass at a civilian's house.
Once again, Haruki left it to them to handle on their own.
"These missions are so dull. When are we going to leave the village for missions?" Ryuji, who was trimming the grass with a sickle, complained.
"They are indeed dull," Hikari said, wiping sweat from her forehead.
Meanwhile, Kaito was contemplating whether he should use ninjutsu to finish it quickly, just like with the cat. However, he decided it would be better to do it manually this time. He wanted more time with his team.
"You don't need to complain too much. My father said we need to do these types of missions to build bonds with the villagers and train our ninja skills. The cat mission, for example, was excellent for tracking." After saying this, he noticed thoughtful expressions on his teammates' faces.
"Now that you mention it, it makes sense," Hikari said after a few seconds.
"But still, how many more missions do we have to do?" Ryuji asked, still dissatisfied.
"I think we'll keep doing them until the Hokage thinks it's enough and that our team is ready for a C-rank mission. Of course, the Hokage will know this from our team leader," Kaito explained.
"But I think we'll have to do a few more missions. Well, at least we get paid for it," Kaito chuckled after thinking about the money. Although he didn't lack money, as his father was a ninja, having his own money and earning a monthly income were different things.
When he mentioned money, Ryuji stopped complaining, as he genuinely needed money. His family was civilian, and they had nothing to rely on for income other than his father's work as a carpenter.
Hikari, on the other hand, was the least concerned about the money she earned from the missions.
Thirty minutes passed quickly. They were now resting after finishing cutting all the grass, taking a break before delivering the mission and receiving a new one.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone