D-rank missions sucked. I'd heard as much from canon Naruto and fanfiction alike, but that still hadn't prepared me for the monotony of them.
Now, the monotony wasn't really what I didn't like about them. I'd worked as a janitor for a couple years in my first life, and I didn't have a problem with doing the same thing over and over again so long as I felt the compensation was good.
That was the issue – the compensation wasn't very good. I could probably rifle through my couch and find more money than I'd get working a D-rank. Granted, the D-rank pay I received was split from the sum my whole team received, as well as the percentage retained by the village, but it was still cheap to buy a D-rank mission. That was probably by design though.
Making D-ranks so cheap made them affordable to everyone. Pretty much the entire village could hire a team of genin for a D-rank every once in a while. That let the villagers see ninja to know they were protected, as well as humanize ninja in their eyes from spooky scary village defenders to 'that nice kid that cleaned my carpet the other day'.
Still, there was one D-rank that was nowhere near as difficult as my previous life had led me to believe.
"Got it." I said, freezing the Daimyo's wife's cat in my shadows. Tora, the cat, had tried to flee, but between my shadows that could immobilize it and Misa's byakugan that could track it wherever it went, we'd made short work of a mission I'd heard was the bane of genin for years.
I didn't know how this cat had been around long enough to terrorize the previous generation of genin while it would still be around for Naruto's team to face. Maybe the Daimyo's wife just kept getting new cats and kept naming them Tora? Or maybe it was a ninja cat and can live much longer than a normal cat.
I didn't know, and I really didn't care. It was just another job. The only reason it was semi-noteworthy was because I recognised it from the anime.
"Well done, my talented little genin!" Ren sensei cheered as the three of us exited the Hokage building with our meager pay in our pockets.
"Can we do real missions now?" Kenji begged. He'd been the most vocal about his dislike of D-ranks, and had been the most frustrated with our work during the last few days. Honestly, I was still surprised that Ren was letting us go on missions at all this early, so, despite my dislike of D-ranks, I couldn't be too mad.
The sooner we are done with D rank missions and improve our teamwork, the sooner we could move to C rank missions.
Ren frowned, pointing a finger at Kenji chidingly. "Now, Kenji, D-ranks are real missions, and all missions a shinobi undertakes should be done with the same level of discipline. When you understand that, and you've all mastered team tactics, we can go on our first C-rank."
He took a pause before saying,"And we would have to wait for Kagen to have a little more proficiency with his Kekkei Tōta before we take on much dangerous missions.
Kenji groaned. "Fine. But what is a Kekkei Tōta anyways? Why is there so much fuss about Kagen having one?"
This made me, Misa and sensei to pause in our walk and look at Kenji weirdly.
"Did not you pay attention in the academy? They taught us about them." Misa said
Kenji rubbed his head in embarassment before puffing his chest and saying,"Duh, there is a reason that I came last in our class."
That was nothing to be proud of but whatever helps him.
Misa answered with a sigh,"For you to understand a Kekkei Tōta, you need to know what's a Kekkei Genkai is. Every shinobi has chakra affinities for a single element. But sometimes a shinobi has affinities for more than one element. They can combine these two elements to form a Kekkei Genkai."
Ren sensei added, "These Kekkei Genkais are generally also called Bloodline release because they are often inherited by blood."
"Some of these Kekkei Genkais don't form because of a certain affinity towards elements. One of the examples of such a Kekkei Genkai is my dojutsu Byakuyan or the Uchiga's clan Sharingan." Misa said and then then pointed towards me.
"Kagen here has a natural affinity for three chakra elements. When three chakra affinities are combined to form a new release, it's called a Kekkei Tōta." Misa finished her explaination as Kenji fell in thought as he looked towards me.
Sensei said,"As for why it's very important, there is only one person in the world that currently is known to possess a Kekkei Tōta and that is the third Tsuchikage who was taught by the second Tsuchikage. They both possess Particle Release while Shota here has Crystal Release."
He looked at Kenji,"Now you know why Kagen is extremely important for the village. The higher ups want to make sure that he is strong enough to survive out there."
Kenji groaned,"So he has a super cool thing that allows only him to do some crazy stuff. Why could not I be born with the Crystal Release? I could have defeated you sensei if I had it."
I smiled wryly at that. It seemed that Kenji was too straightforward with his jealousy. But I liked it. It was better to let out your feelings than having that thing consume you.
Ren sensei smacked Kenji's head.
"You are too young to beat your sensei. A Kekkei Tōta or not."
"I think that's enough for today. We'll start again tomorrow at 7. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to say before we separate for the day?"
"Um…" Kenji looked around nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "My mom wanted me to invite you over for dinner. She said she wanted to meet my team."
"That sounds fun." Ren said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jonin jacket. "When did she want us to come over?"
"…Tonight?" Kenji said hesitantly.
Sensei sighed. "A little more warning would have been appreciated, but I'm free. Misa? Kagen?"
Misaki and I looked at each other.
"I have to let Aiko-san know I won't be home for dinner, but I can come." I said.
"I will also need to speak to my parents, but I can come." Misa said.
"Then it's settled. When did your mother want us to be there, Kenji?" Sensei asked.
"Five o'clock." Kenji said, looking a little surprised everyone had so easily agreed.
"Okay, team, we meet at Kenji's house at 4:45. See you there!" Sensei body flickered and he disappeared, a trio of leaves spiraling to the ground where he once stood.
"I'll see you both there. I need to go home first." I said, nodding goodbye to my teammates before hopping up onto the nearest roof and running towards the Nara Compound.
---------Author Notes--------
You can now read 16 extra chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon.
pat*reon.com/BoogieWoogie266
Thankyou for your support!