Chương 66: Missions

Okami, fully roused up after his morning exercise, headed to the Pokemon Intelligence Division after eating his breakfast. He remembered Deira reminding them that they were going to have their first mission as a team. Fully aware of what the mission was, he abhorred the idea of catching some lost cats and assisting someone in their shopping sprees. He trudged the path towards the office with a heavy heart.

Taeho was already busy with paperwork when he arrived. Even the rest of the workers were cooped up in their cubicles.

Okami waved his hands as soon as their eyes met and approached his teammates. "Good morning, guys. Are you ready for today?"

Taeho stopped writing and lifted his gaze. "Hello, Okami. Of course! You've promised to let us see the Pokemon Safari today, right? How can't I be excited? If we are - "

"Simmer down, Taeho. I'm talking about our first mission as a team."

"Oh..." Taeho's expression changed in an instant. "I don't know. I hope that it's not something so dragging and boring."

"I think our first mission is about apprehending someone..." Okami said mysteriously. "I think it's about a beast or something."

Taeho stood up and pounded his fist against the table. "Is it a pokemon?!"

Okami tried hard not to laugh. "I'm not sure. But I'm sure there's a furry beast involved."

"Now, I'm hyped about it!" Taeho scanned the room and frowned. "What's taking Anita so long?"

"Huh? Anita's not here?"

Taeho shook his head. "She was here around 7 am but she left with her Sensei to get something."

"She's with Inoichi-san so I'm sure she'll be safe." Okami heard the sound of a creaking door and turned around. "Speak of the devil, she's here."

Anita grinned at them and ran while carrying a knapsack on her back. "Hello, Bro Okami. Sorry, I'm a bit late. Sensei gave me a surprise gift for doing a great job yesterday."

Taeho glimpsed at her knapsack. "What's inside the bag?"

"Oh, this," Anita said as she looked behind, "they're just supplies. This is our first mission and I don't want us to be unprepared. So I just brought some food. Courtesy of Dad."

Okami could not wait for their reactions when they found out about the first mission. They spent their time discussing pokemon stuff when Deira entered the room ten minutes later.

"Very good for making it early, everyone. Are you ready to receive your first mission for today?"

Taeho was unusually pumped up, lifting his clenched fists while shouting a resounding 'Yes!' Anita looked at Okami as if asking what's happening with Taeho. Okami answered by just shrugging his shoulders.

"Good! That's the spirit, Taeho," Deira complimented him while giving a slight nod as a sign of affirmation. He then shifted his attention towards the two and said, "I hope that both of you will be as passionate as him in helping our clients. Anyway, let's proceed to the Missions Board. The Hokage will be there too."

Anita raised her hands and waited for her to be acknowledged by Deira before asking, "Why is Hokage-sama doing such a boring job?"

Deira shook his head. "It's been a tradition in Konohagakure that the Hokage will be the one to give the first mission to every shinobi. So, better prepare and be the best that you can be."

Everyone agreed and followed Deira. After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived at a corner east of the Academy. They entered through the door and saw a lot of people inside the spacious hall.

At the end of the room was a long desk where several scrolls were laid down. At the left section, a client was paying his reward money to the officer after his request was fulfilled.

At the center area, Hiruzen sat down while checking some documents. He was in his haori and garb, the standard attire of the Kage in Konoha. His face was full of smiles when he saw the kids arriving, greeting them as he signaled them to come closer.

"Oh, it's Deira's Team number 16, you're here to receive your first mission?" Hiruzen opened the parchment for the lists of missions under Rank-D and said, "It will be a search operation. Our client this time is the Fire Country Lord's wife, Madam Shijimi. The target this time is Tora."

Okami sighed when he knew that his suspicion was correct.

Anita looked concerned. "What happened? Did her daughter gets kidnapped by someone?"

"Whoever the culprits are, they must be apprehended at all cost," Taeho added.

Deira cleared his throat. "Listen to the whole briefing first before jumping into conclusions."

Hiruzen chuckled. "Tora is not her daughter, Anita-chan. It is a cat and it looks like it got lost again."

"Ah, a cat pokemon, that's much better!" Taeho looked at Deira and said, "Sensei, I think we should not waste time and search for the poor pokemon."

Deira facepalmed. "It's not a pokemon, Taeho. It's just a normal cat. The one that meows and eats rats."

Taeho had a blank look on his face after realizing that his hopes were dashed. He gave Hiruzen another glance before sighing deeply, "it was bad of me to expect too much."

Anita giggled. "Don't feel down, Taeho. Let's just do the best that we can do. Who knows we might be given important missions after proving to them that we can do these things efficiently."

"I agree. How can you be trusted with greater things if you can't even be trusted with simple things like this?" Okami cited a famous quote he remembered from Earth to make an impression. "Let's just prove to them that our team is trustworthy."

Deira appreciated what the two did to boost Taeho's enthusiasm and patted their heads. After pepping them up, he approached Hiruzen to officially receive the mission. "We're ready to accept it, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen gave him the stub and wanted to start a conversation with his nephew but hesitated. He was not sure if Deira had forgiven him already. After a few seconds of struggle, he opted to say, "I've heard from Kakashi that you were able to execute 'Katon: Karyu Endan'."

Deira paused for a brief moment, his breathing became ragged before choosing to leave without replying to his statement.

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Deira looked down and saw the kids hiding behind the trees while talking through the wireless earpiece, "What's the distance to the target?"

"Five meters. Ribbon on the left ear. Should be our target, Tora," Taeho answered while peeking through the branches.

"Should we just catch it the old way?" Okami asked lazily, his body leaning on the tree bark. "I can just teleport behind it and end this mission."

"Wait! Let me do it the pokemon way." Anita summoned her Zubat, did several hand seals and covered the bat with mists, rendering her almost invisible to the eye. "Go on, Zubee. Kick that cat's ass."

Zubat squeaked before flying over to Tora's location. After positioning himself, he attacked it with Confuse Ray, and soon the cat was scratching herself and pounding her face on the ground.

Everyone surrounded Tora, only to see the cat doing some weird actions.

Okami summoned Drowzee and instantly put it into sleep via Hypnosis. When he saw that the cat was bleeding, he called Chansey to heal the wounds using Softboiled.

Taeho completed the capture by tying her hands and feet with Metapod's String Shot. When everything was done, he shouted, "Team Pokemaniac wins. Mission accomplished."

Deira jumped down and landed on the ground. "Good job, everyone. A good application of your Pokemon Jutsu and Ninjutsu. The target was hurt but at least you made some countermeasures."

Anita giggled. "The way the cat banged her head against the ground was hardcore. I wished it lasted longer."

Okami chuckled, his eyes fixated on the poor cat which was tied like a captive. "I never knew you were good in Mist techniques."

"Inoichi-sensei taught me a lot after finding out my chakra nature through the Chakra Induction Paper last month. He said that water release was a good skill for Zubat to increase his fighting ability."

Deira cut the strings off the cat's hind legs and forelegs. "We don't want them to think that we tortured our target. Let's head to the Missions Board to report."

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"I'll let Zubee eat all the pests flying around!" Anita exclaimed and instructed Zubat to destroy all the swarming insects.

"I'll be the one to till the ground." Okami summoned Diglett and let him do what he was proficient with.

"Then I'll just weed out all these unwanted grasses. Come on, Cuter! Time to eat some leaves!" Taeho stooped down and pulled out their roots while Metapod hopped around and started munching his meal.

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"Zubee, please knock that bag down the cabinet. I can't reach it," Anita requested and positioned herself to where she suspected the bag to fall on.

Zubat complied with her instructions and pounded against the bag.

Meanwhile, Taeho spread out the scroll and summoned the cleaning tools he had prepared earlier. He then proceeded to scrub off the floor while Squirtle washed the dirt away with Water Gun.

Okami wiped the window dry using a weak Gust skill while telling Kangaskhan to transfer the unused boxes inside the storage room.

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"Look, Pidgeotto's back."

Pidgeotto landed beside Okami, informing him of the things that he wanted to know. Okami nodded and thanked her for a job well done.

"She said that the shop is not yet opened," Okami explained as he unsummoned Pidgeotto. "Should we go now?"

The client affirmed and went ahead as he let Kangaskhan carry the other things he purchased from the furniture shop. The pokemon looked at Okami for further instructions and slightly nodded when she heard what their mission was this time.

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"Here is the 8th Rank-D mission that we just accomplished." Deira gave the stub to the person beside Hiruzen, who upon checking that the mission was indeed completed, stamped a seal on it and submitted it to the filing clerk.

"I can't believe that you've finished the requirements," Hiruzen said, his face full of smiles. "With this, their application for the Chunin Selection Exam will be officially approved."

"Thanks, Hokage-sama." Deira took the passes from him and left immediately.

Hiruzen sighed as he shook his head. "Deira-san..."

Deira went to where his team was and gave them some inspiring words for a job well done. After everything was fully settled, he then led them back to the Pokemon Intelligence Division before showing them the passes.

Okami inspected the pass he received from Deira. It was similar to the report card he received in his junior years. Even though he knew about the card's purpose, he still opted to ask, "What's a Chunin Selection Exam?"

Taeho and Anita were curious as well and stared at their Sensei.

Deira explained what the Chunin Selection Exam was all about as well as the different rankings that ninjas had within the village.

Taeho scratched his head. "Do we have to take this exam? I can just be a Genin and stay inside the Pokemon Intelligence Division."

"Hey! That's bad thinking. We should desire to be promoted so other people will treat us seriously. Titles can be a good thing, you know," Anita rebuked him as she hid her pass inside her knapsack.

"I agree with Anita-chan. If you want to have greater funds for our pokemon research, then we must have the proper rank to impose our wants," Deira seconded with great conviction. "Anyway, the exam will be next week, so starting tomorrow, you will have to train extensively, especially your teamwork and individual abilities."

Taeho grumbled, knowing that his studies were put on hold again. "Fine. But we still have to go to the Pokemon Safari today."

Deira nodded and turned his face towards Okami. "It's time, Okami."