Bab 74: Chapter 74: The Land of Waves Mission
"Take a look. Don't say I'm not looking out for you. Normally, a newly formed team like ours wouldn't be eligible for missions outside the village. I pulled some strings to get us these assignments. Go ahead, take a look."
Hearing that they could go on an outside mission, Naruto eagerly rushed over.
"Let me see! Let me see!" Sasuke and Karin's interest was piqued as well, but after rummaging through the assignments, they looked disappointed.
"What's this? Just a few villages around Konoha. We've already been to these places. Is there nothing further away?"
"Heh," Aoba chuckled, pulling one last mission scroll from his pocket. "There's only this one."
"What's special about this mission?" Sasuke asked, more cautious. Seeing Aoba set it aside separately piqued his curiosity.
"The mission itself? Not much. But the pay is low—practically a charity job from Konoha. You three decide if you want to take it or not."
"A C-rank mission, an escort job. Land of Waves. Do you know where that is?"
Out of the three, only Karin had heard of it, from a story Aoba told her once. The other two were clueless, their knowledge of geography hazy at best.
"It's a small, distant country. Apparently, it's pretty poor, which would explain the meager reward."
"The reward doesn't matter. What's important is that we finally get to go on a mission outside the village! I'm in!" Naruto declared immediately.
Sasuke thought it over. He knew Aoba had chosen this mission for a reason, so he agreed. As for Karin, her mother had already advised her to listen to Aoba's guidance outside the village.
"With the majority in favor, it's settled. Prepare yourselves; we'll depart tomorrow."
Tazuna, their client, was thrilled. He had come all the way to Konoha because of its reputation for employing dependable ninja. If he could appeal to their sense of morality, he thought he'd have a good chance of securing help.
He hadn't expected that he'd actually succeed. A team of supposedly strong ninja had accepted his commission.
The next day, when Tazuna met the team, he was a bit disappointed. Only one of them looked like an experienced ninja; the other three were just kids.
"What? I thought they said it was a strong team. Why are there just a bunch of kids?"
The old man had plenty of complaints, but Aoba ignored them. This wasn't the time to deal with him yet.
Naruto, however, couldn't take being underestimated and nearly lashed out.
"Go ahead and teach him a lesson if you want. But let me remind you, this old man is over fifty and just a regular civilian. One punch from you would probably kill him, so hold back a bit, or there'll be trouble back in the village."
Naruto: "..."
Tazuna: "...Actually, you guys look pretty strong. I must have misjudged. Haha…"
And so, the altered Team 7 embarked on their first C-rank mission.
Not long after leaving Konoha, they were ambushed.
The Demon Brothers, the enemy ninja pair, were roughly at genin level. Together, they could reach the strength of a chunin, but that was about it.
Aoba's wind-based sensory skills had already detected the two hiding nearby. Karin's sensory abilities were even sharper.
"There are enemies."
"What? Enemies? Where?" Naruto exclaimed.
Sasuke, kunai in hand, moved to shield Tazuna. Once again, Naruto's potential as a ninja was purely the result of the author's intervention; if he were alone facing the Demon Brothers, Tazuna would have been dead a hundred times over by now.
But Naruto wasn't without his strengths. His adaptability in combat was surprisingly high. Occasionally, he'd come up with odd, unpredictable tactics. There was a reason he was known as the "most unexpected ninja."
It was just that he was Naruto, so he got a lot of chances to make mistakes. In the world of ninja, a single mistake could be fatal.
Suddenly, the puddle nearby burst open, and two figures leapt out, aiming for Aoba.
Aoba just sighed, standing still as a whirlwind rose around him.
He'd always tried to emulate the First Hokage's style—minimizing the need for hand signs wherever possible.
But this approach wasn't easy. At present, he could only do it with a few wind and lightning techniques he'd developed himself.
The whirlwind repelled the attackers without causing harm, as it was meant more as a defensive measure than an offensive one.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Aoba, watching from a distance, was left speechless by the spectacle before him. Sasuke's Great Fireball Jutsu had actually hit its target.
One of the Demon Brothers was engulfed mid-air, while the other tried to flee, only to be hit in the leg by several kunai and tumble to the ground.
Thanks to Aoba's training, Karin's combat skills had significantly improved. With her natural talent and Aoba's guidance, she was the strongest of the three, so long as Naruto didn't tap into the Nine-Tails' power.
The entire fight lasted less than five seconds. The Demon Brothers, who had planned the ambush, were defeated, one dead and the other injured.
The only one unsatisfied was Naruto, as he hadn't had the chance to join in. He even demanded that they release the surviving brother so he could fight him one-on-one.
But Karin quickly subdued him with a punch. In the trio, Sasuke and Naruto were constantly at odds, while Karin had the upper hand over Naruto. She was a bit of a looker and treated Sasuke better as a result.
Aoba had already taken measures to prevent her from becoming infatuated.
Ignoring the captured enemy ninja, Aoba turned to Tazuna.
"Mr. Tazuna, it's time for you to explain yourself."
Tazuna opened his mouth, ready to resort to the same sob story and moral blackmail as in the original storyline. But one look at Aoba's eyes told him that this jonin wasn't going to be fooled easily.
"I… I'm sorry. I truly didn't…"
"No, you do know. If you don't admit it, we can return to Konoha and use genjutsu to extract the truth from you. What do you think the result would be?"
Tazuna felt a pang of regret. Weren't Konoha's ninja supposed to be kind-hearted and easily persuaded? Why did the one he'd met give off the impression that he'd kill him at the slightest provocation?
Aoba didn't care much for Tazuna's well-being. A single bridge couldn't save an entire country. Tazuna wasn't the benevolent figure he was in the original story.
What he cared about was what he could gain from this mission.
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