Chapter 137: Magneto Has Arrived!
In the Mission Assignment Hall, Kakashi searched for half a day but couldn't find a single suitable mission.
This was mainly because the power gap between the team members was too large. The weak links, Yakumo Kurama and Neji Hyuga, were at best exceptionally strong genin.
Moreover, both of their backgrounds were far from ordinary. One was the treasured daughter of the Kurama clan, and the other was the young master of the Hyuga branch family.
The only one with a seemingly less complicated background, Uchiha Ren, was still a genius in the eyes of clan head Uchiha Fugaku—a precious talent he was even willing to argue with the Third Hokage over.
Because of this, Kakashi didn't want any of them to get into an accident.
"Kakashi-sensei, have you picked one yet?" Uchiha Ren wasn't even playing with his feathers anymore. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would repeatedly activate his Gene Lock.
Kakashi looked at his state and thought he had a fever. He turned back with concern and said, "Why don't you go see a medical-nin?"
"No need, just assume I'm feeling weak," he said, pointing to an A-rank mission on the mission board. "I think that one looks pretty good. What do you think?"
Kakashi immediately shook his head. "An A-rank mission? Don't even think about it."
"Why can't I think about it?" Uchiha Ren frowned and pulled the mission details sheet down. Kakashi couldn't stop him in time and could only bow apologetically to the Anbu member in charge of distributing missions.
"Kakashi-sensei," Uchiha Ren said, pointing to the mission details, "pursuing the missing-nin Chunin Aoi Rokusho and Genin Morino Iken. For these two, you probably wouldn't even have to lift a finger, right?"
By now, Kakashi had a full understanding of Uchiha Ren's combat prowess. He shook his head. "If it were an ordinary chunin, I would be at ease letting you go. The problem is... the reason this Aoi Rokusho defected..."
Neji Hyuga asked curiously, "I remember him! I saw him when I first enrolled in the Academy. I was wondering why I hadn't seen him recently. He defected from the village?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes. Aoi Rokusho and Morino Iken stole the Scroll of Seals and the Sword of the Thunder God from the Second Hokage and defected not long ago. The Anbu chased them to the Land of Iron before losing their trail. We recently received intelligence that they might be taking a water route from the Land of Bears to the Hidden Mist Village."
"The problem lies in what they stole... The Second Hokage's Sword of the Thunder God is an incredibly powerful ninja tool. Even a chunin wielding it can unleash power comparable to a jonin. There might be escort ninja from the Hidden Mist Village near the Land of Bears. Getting close to a village we don't have diplomatic relations with is very dangerous."
"Especially..." Kakashi looked helplessly at his students' faces, then pointed to the eye beneath his mask that belonged to Obito. "The four of us possess four different kekkei genkai. If we were to fall into the hands of the Mist, the blow to Konoha... would be incredibly severe."
"Kakashi-sensei." Uchiha Ren interrupted Kakashi. He pointed to the small text at the bottom of the mission scroll. "This is a joint mission. Two squads can go together."
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Of course I saw that, but because..."
Uchiha Ren mercilessly exposed him, "Because you're lazy, unpopular, and don't know which team to ask to go with you, right?"
Kakashi threw up his hands. "Say whatever you want, my dear student."
"Let's just take it! No matter how dangerous an A-rank mission is, it can't be worse than encountering Orochimaru last time, can it?" Uchiha Ren looked so anxious he was about to crumple the mission scroll.
Kakashi sensed something was off. "Are you after the Sword of the Thunder God or the Scroll of Seals?"
"It has nothing to do with those things! I just despise missing-nin! Yes! Despise them! The debt of gratitude I owe Konoha can never be repaid in a lifetime! I will capture all missing-nin and bring them back to face the judgment of the sun!"
"I don't believe you."
"Kakashi!" Uchiha Ren gritted his back teeth. "You've done thirty or forty S-rank missions, haven't you? Getting rich all by yourself and not taking us with you? This is truly disheartening!"
Kakashi suddenly felt a little hesitant.
In his life, he had completed over two hundred A-rank missions alone and could probably reach three hundred with a little more effort.
The number of S-rank missions he'd completed had reached a terrifying 38.
Missions like pursuing missing-nin chunin were things he used to complete while slacking off on the side. Now, with two deadweights...
Uchiha Ren saw Kakashi's hesitation and nudged Yakumo Kurama beside him with his elbow.
Yakumo Kurama was a sharp one. She immediately said, "My... my uncle should be free recently! He's a chunin from the Kurama clan. If he comes with our team, there will definitely be no problem! Oh! His commission... doesn't need to be paid!"
The corner of Kakashi's mouth twitched slightly. This young lady was planning on bringing a chunin bodyguard along on the mission...
"In that case—"
Seeing Kakashi relent, Uchiha Ren directly unfurled the scroll, grabbed Kakashi's hand, pressed his thumbprint on it, and handed it to the Anbu ninja.
"Alright then, we'll meet... one hour—" Uchiha Ren glanced at Kakashi's dazed and sleepy-eyed expression. "Twenty minutes from now, right here. Hurry, hurry, hurry! We can't delay the pursuit of missing-nin for even a single minute!"
***
Pennsylvania Avenue had been jammed since five this morning. The reason was that someone had taken a photo of the world's second-largest economy's new fighter jet last night.
A group of high-ranking officials had come to the Pentagon early for a meeting, Stephen Fang among them.
Of course, he wasn't there to express his opinions as a high-ranking official.
He was here at the request of Nick Fury to act as a bodyguard at the Pentagon.
Beside Stephen Fang, Black Widow was reading from a file: "An organization you've probably never heard of has had a situation recently. A superhuman who was locked in prison has escaped. He can control magnetic fields. To put it simply, he can smash you with cars."
Black Widow felt her description was still a bit inaccurate. "What I mean is, all the cars on the entire street smashing you at the same time."
Stephen Fang's expression changed slightly. "I know. Are you saying he might come to the Pentagon today for a massacre?"
"It's hard to say. Because of the special nature of today's meeting, high-ranking officials from all over the country are here. The Director said that if it's Magneto... well, he's the guy I mentioned who can control magnetic fields."
"If he were Magneto, then..."
"Understood." Stephen Fang nodded gravely. "And I'm supposed to deal with him alone? Isn't that a bit much?"
"Of course not... oh, they're here!"
Following Black Widow's pointing finger, Stephen Fang saw several classic figures.
The red-headed Jean Grey.
Wolverine, whose hair looked like it had been ironed with an electric iron.
Cyclops, wearing cool red protective glasses.
And, the white-haired Storm.
Almost the entire original X-Men team had arrived!
Upon seeing Black Widow, Storm walked forward very amicably and shook her hand.
Black Widow explained to Stephen Fang, "We went through a life-and-death experience together during a crisis. We know each other well."
Storm smiled and gave Black Widow a hug, then looked at Stephen Fang. "And this is?"
"Reinforcements from S.H.I.E.L.D. He was the main player during the last hammer crisis."
Storm extended her hand. "A pleasure."
Stephen Fang didn't look like someone seeing a mutant for the first time. He asked strangely, "I thought the hatred between humans and mutants was irreconcilable. Do you really need to come and protect these high-ranking humans?"
"Hey, you've got a sharp tongue, kid. 'Humans' this, 'humans' that. What are we, monsters?"
Stephen Fang didn't even turn to look at Wolverine. A tail emerged from his body and then quickly retracted.
Seeing this, Wolverine's attitude softened a bit, but he was still bothered by how clearly Stephen Fang distinguished between mutants and ordinary people.
Storm sized up Stephen Fang with great curiosity. "Putting aside the human and mutant issue, are you interested in transferring to the X-Academy? It's a home for mutants."
"Forget it. Even among mutants, there's a distinction between people of color and not. Should I go there to be looked down upon?"
"This..." As a Caucasian and Black woman, Storm didn't know what to say.
Cyclops interrupted Storm's recruitment attempt. He walked ahead first. "Alright, we should head in. The enemy could arrive at any moment."
With Cyclops gone, Jean Grey's gaze wavered between Wolverine and her boyfriend Cyclops, ultimately choosing to follow Cyclops.
Stephen Fang commented, "Complicated male-female relationships. Fits my stereotype."
As a large crowd surged into the Pentagon, today's meeting officially began.
A white man stood up. "That's just a model! How could they have built it before us!"
Another fat white man chimed in, "Exactly!"
A black military officer slammed the table in anger. "They must have stolen our technological achievements! They always do this! Motherf*cker~!"
A white engineer in charge, wearing glasses, spoke weakly from the side, "We haven't even built a model yet..."
"Then they stole our old fighter jet blueprints and added an outer shell! Inside, it's still our jet!"
Outside the room, Stephen Fang found the people inside too noisy. He took a step toward Jean Grey, who was by the opposite window.
"What's wrong?" Jean Grey asked kindly.
"Nothing, it's just too loud."
"Ah, aren't you concerned about such important national affairs? I thought all men would want to know about this."
Stephen Fang shook his head. "My sights are set on the sea of stars."
Jean Grey covered her mouth and giggled. "I didn't expect you to have a dream of space."
"I suppose you could say that."
Looking at the "mutant" before her who wasn't from the X-Academy, Jean Grey was very curious. "You grew up just like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've never heard of you before," Jean Grey explained. "The environment for a mutant's growth is so harsh, misunderstood by everyone... Since you didn't grow up at the X-Academy, you must have endured a lot of scorn."
Stephen Fang shrugged. "Compared to that, I'm more concerned about whether I'll find a bug in the last bite of my fried rice... So you see, when I eat, I always try not to look at my food. That way, even if I eat a bug, I won't know. And if I don't know, it's just protein."
"Ah..." Jean Grey was about to laugh, but then she suddenly felt that his words contained a profound philosophy.
Perhaps this was great wisdom?
By not caring, it didn't matter whether one was a mutant or not?
"So you..." Just as Jean Grey was about to continue asking about Stephen Fang's personal situation, a cloud of black smoke suddenly enveloped the wooden door in front of them.
Immediately after, a creature with a devil's tail, unsettling yellow eyes, and black skin appeared inside the conference room.
Seeing this creature, Jean Grey shouted, "He's here!"
(end of chapter)