Chakra. It was the combination of one's spirit and physical strength.
Every academy student knew this to be trueโฆ At least every academy student who had paid any attention.
However, while physical strength was easy to understand and improve, one's spiritual strength was quite the nebulous concept.
Over the years, Hikaru had come to understand several things concerning chakra. One thing he had learned was that being able to split his thoughts and perform several tasks at the same time improved his spiritual strength. Just as being able to concentrate under challenging circumstances improved his spiritual strength. In addition, possessing strong willpower and the ability to endure pain or harsh environments also benefits one's spiritual strength.
Essentially, anything that stressed, heavily used, or improved one's mind increased their spiritual strength, which in turn improved their chakra, provided they had a suitable body to match.
Right now, the young Uchiha struggled to remain in a state of meditation while he subconsciously shifted chakra around his body. However, it wasn't the chakra shifting that disrupted his concentration, but rather the screaming boy that dashed through the village. Bushy of brow, with an almost offensive hairstyle and an even worse choice of fashion, Might Guy energetically screamed of youth or some other nonsense, disturbing everyone still sleeping at this early hour.
With his feet planted firmly on Guy's back, Hikaru Uchiha shook intensely with every movement the other boy made. Not only was he shaken constantly, but he was also suffering from Guy's shouts and screams.
This was an exercise the Uchiha had devised after seeing Guy regularly run through the entire village at the crack of dawn. It was beneficial to both of them.
Guy had to endure someone else's weight on his back, but more than that, he had to constantly endure and adjust to the imbalance of having someone's entire body hanging vertically off of his back.
As for Hikaru, it was a four-pronged approach. He had to apply chakra to his feet, he had to cycle chakra through the rest of his body, and all the while, he had to meditate despite both internal and external distractions that constantly broke his concentration. The fourth prong was the constant use of chakra, draining his spiritual energy even as he tried to meditate.
They had been doing this training for the last several months, yet so far, Hikaru had been unable to stay in his meditative state for more than a few seconds before being broken out of it. The constant entering and breaking of said state was also in and of itself good training for his mental fortitude and spiritual energy.
This was but one of many methods Hikaru had undertaken to increase his power.
His chakra control was already excellent, so much so that he believed himself to be comparable to Sakura at the age of 12. However, while his chakra reserves had steadily increased as well, it was still not to an extent that he could be proud of. He didn't understand, was he just simply so untalented, or was he doing something wrong in his efforts to enlarge his pool of chakra?
With his level of chakra control, there was virtually no wasted chakra in any jutsu he performed, meaning that he could outperform those of similar chakra levels as he, but it still wasn't enough. He wasn't strong enough. Feeling frustrated at his slow progress, he completely forgot about the training he was currently undergoing.
๐๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ
With a start, he found himself flying backward and slamming into the ground. Thankfully, he had enough time to cushion his fall using chakra, preventing any serious injuries from forming.
๐๐ฉ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฉ๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
Sighing, he picked himself back up from the floor and dusted himself down.
๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ.
"Hikaruuuu!" A dust trail appeared before his eyes as a bright green figure dashed toward him.
"Are you alright?" Guy stopped right before Hikaru and began to check him for injuries. Injuries were a natural part of training, no one knew that pain more than Guy, but even still, he was worried for his friend.
Hikaru just offered the boy a bitter smile, "I'm fine. It seems like I hit my limit without realizing it. Sorry, I guess you will have to continue on with your training without me."
Guy flashed a sparkling smile as he patted the Uchiha on the shoulder, "Do not worry! I will carry your power of youth with me! It is wise to know when to rest and when to continue!"
Following those words, Guy began to perform some exercises, "Good luck on your first mission, today!" Giving Hikaru one final thumbs up, Guy then sprinted away, resuming his training once more.
Letting a small laugh out at the cartoonishly energetic boy, Hikaru then made his way to the Ninja Academy. Since it was so early in the morning, it shouldn't have been busy, yet people constantly shuffled in and out of the building, not even taking a second to greet each other as they passed by one another.
๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด? ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ, ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
Sighing, he felt a bit overwhelmed. From the Second Shinobi War to the Third Shinobi War, to the Nine-Tails rampage, to the Uchiha Massacre, all of these things happened one another in 5-7 year intervals. So he had to use his time wisely and grow as quickly as possible.
There were several options he had in mind. Becoming a jinchuriki was an extremely difficult process, let alone finding a free beast in the first place; it also planted a massive target on his back. Genetic modification was even less likely to happen or produce good results. Developing his sharingan would be most idealโฆ But even then, that was something generally out of his control, and if he managed to acquire the mangekyo sharingan, that would put him on a one-way track to blindness.
๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต. Sakumo's approving face flashed through his mind for a split second before being overlaid with the expression of pure despair he later had after Hikaru's play. All he could do was shake his head and begin going through the fundamental forms of kenjutsu that the White Fang drilled into him, clearing his emotions and useless thoughts away with training.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ถ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ด๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต'๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
Flowing from one movement to the next, Hikaru created a seamless dance so alluring that even those passing by who were too busy even to greet one another glanced at him. He had thoroughly perfected each and every step of the process as if he were but a doll on a marionette, bending to the whims of his blade.
In the end, Hikaru only came to one conclusion: '๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด.' It had been something he'd had in mind for quite some time, but unfortunately, his chakra reserves were just not at a level high enough to create even one Shadow Clone, never mind the fact that he didn't even know how to perform the jutsu.
๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐-๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ถ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐-๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ.
๐๐ฉ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ถ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช. ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ.
There were few things that genuinely irritated the young Uchiha. His lack of talent, however, was one of them. He had so much knowledge at his disposal, but it was all useless in his weak hands. This irritation didn't mean he felt inferior to others, such as Kakashi. On the contrary, he didn't care for others; he only cared that he wasn't as strong as he could be.
Swinging his tanto in a wide arc in front of him, he flicked it to the right side as if shaking off the imaginary blood he had coated it in during his shadow sparring. Following this flick, he spun it with a bit of flair before sheathing it on his back.
Although most would not train so heavily before a mission, he knew that the mission wouldn't be anything demanding, so he wouldn't waste the chance to train just to fetch a lost cat.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ, ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ, ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ
"That was quite the show you put on!"
"It was nothing. Just the basic movements my master taught me," he said as he stretched his head from side to side before turning to greet the girl who had been watching him.
"No, it was definitely a good show! Who is your master?" Anzu asked, cocking her head.
Another voice cut in on their conversation, "Sakumo Hatake, my father."
"Hello, Kakashi." Hikaru gave a small wave as they walked toward one another.
"Yo. I heard you became a genin."
"Yeah, I finally graduated from the academy. What about you? I hear you've leading teams by yourself."
"It's not easyโฆ People tend not to like being put under my command."
"Ah, right, because of your age."
Kakashi just nodded his head, "I see you've continued to follow my father's footsteps."
It was Hikaru's turn to nod this time. "Yes, as master Sakumo's student, it is only right that I carry on his legacy. What about you?" He asked, pointing towards the blade that rested on Kakashi's back, the very sword that Sakumo himself once treasured.
"Hmm, kenjutsu has never really been my thing." The silver-haired boy's hand unconsciously gripped his father's blade.
The two then stood in silence for several seconds. Although they were somewhat close on account of their shared connection through Sakumo, they couldn't be considered friends. In truth, Kakashi probably wouldn't have approached the Uchiha, even to congratulate him on becoming a genin, were it not for getting caught up in the boy's training and being reminded of his father.
"Well, I should get going. Things are only getting worse, too many missions going around, not enough shinobi." With that, he waved his goodbye and entered the building.
Only after Kakashi disappeared from view did the girl gather the nerves to walk over to Hikaru.
"You never told me you were friends with THE Kakashi!" She then froze, eyes widening, "You never told me you were the apprentice of THE White Fang!"
Hikaru could only twist his lips into a small smile. "Well, you never asked me."
"Hmph!" Pouting, she expected him to cave in and apologize or tell her that he'll be more forthcoming in the future.
Alas, she was sorely mistaken as the boy just ignored her and began to meditate, much to her annoyance.
Leaning against a building several meters away, the haughty visage of Ren Hyuga gazed at the scene with a thoughtful expression. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต.
Ren had known of Hikaru's existence at the academy, but the boy kept to himself most of the time, only interacting with a select few students such as Obito Uchiha and Guy Might. Thus, given such company the boy had kept, Ren had dismissed him as yet another mediocre student. Perhaps most importantly of all was the fact that when it came to their respective kekkei genkais, only Ren had access to his, making him look down on the Uchiha more than he would others.
It didn't take long for the trio's team leader to appear. Strolling toward Hikaru and Anzu, who were closer to the academy's entrance, he signaled for Ren to join him as they all gathered together.
"Hey, guys!" Grinning, the jonin seemed to be in a better mood than he had been yesterday.
No, Kazuya wasn't in a better mood; in fact, the opposite was true. With the pressure of imminent war upon the village, things were only getting worse, just as Kakashi had earlier said. Minor skirmishes had already begun between various villages, and unaffiliated shinobi began marauding and roaming, looking to catch the attention of those who needed their services and plunder what they could.
However, he couldn't afford to let his own stress leak into his genin squad. This was not their war, not right now.
"Well, since we're all here, why don't we get to it? I'm sure we can all knock out 2 or 3 missions in one day!"
Leading the three away from the large building, they soon arrived at the academy and were promptly admitted into the room housing the Mission Assignment Desk.
Although Hiruzen had many duties to attend to, he still had enough time at the moment to assign missions to the village's shinobi. Although he and Danzo differed significantly on viewpoints and philosophies, there wasn't a day that went by that he wasn't thankful for his friend easing his workload and burden.
He was not above ordering and performing unscrupulous actions, but it weighed on his conscience and took time from other essential duties. Furthermore, he believed that a Hokage should be one who basks in the light, a shining beacon for the entire village, not some cloak and daggers schemer.
Say what you want about Danzo Shimura, but he was nothing if not proactive, and his dedication to the village's wellbeing was second to none. At least, this was what Hiruzen believed.
As Kazuya's Team 5 entered the room to receive their first mission, Hiruzen's eyes flickered with recognition. He remembered every one of the village's children, but the Uchiha before him was memorable in more than one way. His appearance itself was unique enough, but what made him really stand out to Hiruzen were two things: the boy's parents, one a renowned Uchiha and the other a special refugee from Kirigakure; secondly, the boy had apprenticed under Sakumo Hatake shortly before the latter's death.
Although he found the boy's talent to be somewhat lacking, that was only in comparison to prodigies like Kakashi or Orochimaru. Hikaru certainly wasn't that inferior to even his own son, Asuma.
With these thoughts in mind, the Hokage's eyes shined with interest as he gazed upon the boy. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. As a boy separated from the Uchiha clan in many ways, he could be invaluable in bridging the still-existing gap between the clan and the village.
All of these thoughts occurred within a split second; to Hiruzen, the boy was a relatively insignificant existence, only demanding a few seconds of his attention before being dismissed for a possible later day. That was how he saw most things and people as the Hokage, something to take note of and check up on at a later date, nothing more. He had much more pressing concerns than wasting any time on frivolous thinking.
As for the other two members of Team 5? They warranted an even shorter amount of attention.
The reason for Ren is that Hyuga clan members were never a serious part of any considerations when thinking of future potential or their role in the Hokage's plans of eventually destroying the line between clan and village. This was all on account of the cursed marks imprinted on every member of the branch family; it meant they were little more than extensions of the head family and, as such, had no possible role in any hopes or schemes that Hokage could have.
Hiruzen's lack of interest in the girl was even less complicated since she didn't originate from any clan or possess any interesting background or talent. She had an affinity for medical ninjutsu, but that was the extent of Hiruzen's thoughts on her.
Taking a puff of his pipe and exhaling smoke, the aging Hokage gave a smile to the four approaching shinobi. "Ah, Kazuya and his newly established Team 5. It's your first mission today, isn't it?"
The jonin nodded respectfully to the Hokage.
"Yes, it is our first mission together as a team. I'm hoping that we can find a suitable mission to establish some level of coordination and teamwork."
"Hmm, yes, that's reasonable." Flipping through the pages and pages of available missions, the Third Hokage couldn't help but sigh. Due to most of the village's manpower being used to perform reconnaissance, patrolling the borders, and establishing outposts, the majority of the low-rank missions had been neglected.
However, this was not something the village could sustain for long. A village and, by extension, its country depended on commissions given by those with problems, so if they began to garner a reputation for being unreliable, no matter the circumstances, then the number of missions they would receive would be heavily impacted.
If the number of missions they received sharply dropped, then Konoha would not only lose political power and favor within the Land of Fire but would also be deemed weak by other nations.
This personnel shortage prompted an acceleration of academy graduation since they needed boots to fill in for the absence of shinobi within the village, to tend to all the small missions while the more experienced shinobi prepared for war.
Glancing back up at the team once more, he found himself admiring the relatively high level of its members, compared to the majority of genin squads, that is. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ด; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
After searching through the documents for a few more seconds, he finally landed on 4 C-rank missions that would be most appropriate.
"Here. You will go to a village to the north of Konoha and see to its protection. It seems that there is a bandit group operating within the area and the village elder requests our help in putting a stop to their operation."
The three genin had their mouth agape. They were not at all expecting to be given such a serious mission straightaway.
Kazuya himself was even more taken aback, and he found himself almost scowling at the Third Hokage. Then, quickly correcting his facial expression, he bowed his head respectfully, begging the Hokage to reconsider.
Hiruzen could only sigh. His eyes had instantly picked up on the jonin's distorted features, but he chose to ignore it. "I understand that this is perhaps unorthodox, and at any other time I would never assign such a mission to your team. However, I'm sure you are aware of the current circumstances."
"Yes, but-"
"Don't worry, Kazuya, I'm sure your team will perform splendidly. What better chance to show off their prowess? Besides, they will have you with them, should any serious issue arise."
Defeated, the jonin knew he wouldn't change the Hokage's mind, and he didn't have the willpower or shamelessness to argue any further.
"Yes, Lord Hokage. We won't let you down." He took the document from Hiruzen's hands and exited the room with his team.