Naruto: As a genin, I just want to live a normal life.

Page 10

Uchiha Mikoto: "..." She always felt that Shirahoshi was acting, but no matter how she looked at it, it didn't seem like it. That little look of despair in her eyes when facing the future didn't seem like acting at all.

—In fact, if you go outside and see that there are zombies everywhere, you can also experience the despair that only exists in this kind of environment, as your body goes from strong to weak and you return to being an ordinary person.

"Never mind, you can have the cake." Uchiha Mikoto placed the strawberry cake she bought for 3,000 ryo in front of Shirahoshi, and thoughtfully put a spoon on the cake.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony, teacher. I'm going to start eating."

Upon hearing this, Shirahoshi's expression changed instantly, going from dejection to calm in just a moment, leaving Mikoto no time to react. When she came to her senses, she finally realized that she had been completely deceived by this bastard!

But the dog coin has already taken a big bite out of the cake, so there's no way to get it back.

In a matter of seconds, the palm-sized strawberry cake was completely devoured by Shirahoshi. This kind of rare and incredibly expensive delicacy in the ninja world was something he was usually reluctant to eat: getting it for free was a different story.

"Alright, alright, Mikoto, you can have half of my cake."

"You're still the best, Nono."

The two girls huddled together, and Bai Xing subconsciously thought of some scenes that were not suitable for children: the untold story of a proud black-haired young lady and a gentle blonde maid.

But soon, he shook his head and began to talk about some things to pay attention to during the mission, and went through the contents of the mission scroll with them. Normally, it would be enough for a Jonin to know, but he was not a Jonin and it was his first time leading a team to carry out a C-rank mission. It would be a lie to say that he was not under any psychological pressure.

After speaking for ten minutes, all matters were explained.

"That's about it. Before we meet tomorrow, don't forget to buy the supplies you need for the mission tonight or early tomorrow morning. This mission won't take more than a few hours or a day; it will take at least ten days to go round trip."

"By then, you'll only have a few days left to prepare for the Chunin Exams. If you get injured along the way..."

"Then we'll take the test again next time." Bai Xing couldn't bear to see his disciple and friend, with whom he had spent so much time, die on the battlefield.

I wonder if this butterfly will cause the second woman, who could have lived until a few years before the start of the original story, and Dai, who was in the third war, to die prematurely.

"How can this be! I'll definitely pass on the first try!" Uchiha Mikoto clenched her little fist, full of confidence. "A mere C-rank mission and the Chunin Exams? Watch me take care of them!"

"Mikoto can definitely do it," Yakushi Nonou encouraged, while also mentally encouraging herself to complete the C-rank mission and the Chunin Exams in one go.

Seeing that the two women were in good spirits, Shirahoshi nodded slightly. Before leaving, he casually asked, "By the way, Mikoto, do you know the Shadow Clone Technique?"

"Sure. This is something anyone can do with their hands~" Mikoto waved her hand.

"Can I show this to the teacher? The teacher is trying to develop a technique recently, and I'd like to see if we can use it as a reference."

"They've developed those weak D-rank ninjutsu again..." Mikoto muttered, but without any warning, she immediately began forming hand seals: Snake-Sheep-Tiger.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

With a bang, a figure exactly like Mikoto appeared beside her. After observing Mikoto's hand seals, Shirahoshi memorized them and nodded slightly: "How many can you summon at most?"

"two."

Shirahoshi wasn't surprised by this answer. Shadow Clone Jutsu is a ninjutsu that consumes a lot of chakra, and it's already quite an achievement for Mikoto at this stage to be able to use two—not everyone is Naruto Uzumaki.

Immediately, Shirahoshi told Mikoto to dispel the shadow clone, and that the two of them should get a good rest tonight. She also told Mikoto to tell her family if there was anything she needed to tell them. She implied that Mikoto should also go home to see her grandfather, and not let that old man, who had one foot in the grave, sneak over to watch Mikoto do her missions from time to time.

#

Si-Wei-Yin

"The art of shadow clone."

Bang!Bang!Bang!

In the living room, Shirahoshi controlled her chakra. Using one-fifth of her chakra, she could summon three shadow clones. If she used her full power, she could summon fifteen.

The living room was rather plain, with a modern television, sofa, coffee table, two of his casually drawn paintings hanging on the wall, and a brown fur tail hanging alone. The team members had asked where the tail came from, and Bai Xing told them that he had found it during a mission and kept it because he thought it had some sentimental value—in reality, it was his.

Shirahoshi didn't want to turn into a gorilla during the full moon and ruin all his six years of hard work.

"The main body of the mission is quite difficult. I have a feeling we'll run into Kakuzu or something."

"Remove the feeling."

"Exactly, this kind of bullshit task should be rejected."

"I didn't call you out here to make sarcastic remarks." Bai Xing looked at his three shadow clones, who seemed to regard this place as their home, speechless. "Think of an image, so that if we need to do something shady, it will be easier."

"A stand-in? Interesting."

"How about we call him Ah Xing?"

"We can register the name 'Akatsuki' in advance, and then when Yahiko and the others come out, we can ask them for the copyright!"

"good idea!"

Shirahoshi: "......"

These three are definitely not my shadow clones.

After much discussion, they finally decided to name him Surgeon. He didn't know medical ninjutsu, but he had learned a lot about human anatomy from the library. After a few real battles, performing surgery and treating patients should be a piece of cake, right?

Moreover, he had already researched the slight alterations of life return through transformation techniques: changing one's height, appearance, hair, and physique.

However, like Devil Fruit abilities, this kind of thing consumes stamina when used. Given his previous stamina and without consuming his lifespan, the reason he was able to instantly kill a single Jonin was simply because that Jonin's body was relatively fragile. But to say that he could instantly kill a group of ninjas was absolutely impossible.

Perhaps now.

"Well then, let's eat first." Bai Xing had figured out her next plan and started cooking dinner. Those little cakes weren't enough; she still needed to exercise afterward.

Being a teacher is also very troublesome. During the day and afternoon, I have to keep an eye on the team when they do tasks, and the training time is basically in the evening.

Chapter 16: A C-Rank Mission with All the Fears (or Bad Luck)

Hokage Building.

In front of the gate, a nicely decorated carriage, spacious enough to accommodate six adults, is pulled by two strong horses.

"What! Genin! Four genin at that!"

"I gave you 80,000 taels! 80,000 taels! And all you gave me were four low-ranking ninjas?!" A slightly overweight, round-faced middle-aged man slammed his hand on the mission director's desk. Nara Yosuke looked helplessly up and down.

"Mr. Mizutani, this task was personally assigned by the Hokage. You can rest assured and have faith in the team's capabilities."

"Bullshit! Even an idiot knows that a team needs at least one Chunin to lead it, how could there be a team with only four Genin!"

Upon hearing this, Yosuke Nara's eyes narrowed. "Mr. Mizutani seems to know a lot about ninjas."

If he remembered correctly, although Mizutani Shoto had been to the Land of Fire twice, this was the only time he had come to Konoha Village and assigned a C-rank mission. Logically, he shouldn't have...

"Nonsense! Do you think I'm doing business in your Land of Fire?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But Shirahoshi's team is definitely capable of completing this task. He is already strong enough to become a Chunin, but he has some regrets about certain aspects and is determined to complete them before advancing."

"What's going on?" Mizutani Shoto immediately had a bad feeling.

"This involves classified information, but you can rest assured that Shirahoshi genin always completes 100% of his missions. You can completely trust him!"

As soon as these words came out.

Shoto Mizutani immediately stopped making a fuss and gasped for breath.

"hiss--"

"Could he be a genius ninja with some eccentricities?"

"Pretty much." Nara Yosuke wiped the sweat from his brow, thinking to himself, "If I said Shirahoshi's goal is to use ninjutsu without making a mistake during the Chunin Exams, you'd be furious."

"In short, if there are no problems, then let's leave it at that for now?"

“Hmm. Since it was the Hokage’s arrangement, there must be a reason. I’ve entrusted my safety to you Konoha ninjas.” Mizutani Shoto said, crossing his arms.

"Then, the time is set for noon today. Just head to the west gate of the village then."

After Yosuke Nara finished speaking, Shoto Mizutani nodded in response and left the Hokage Building. Shirahoshi, who had used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as a Chunin and pretended to observe the information in the mission panel, also deactivated his transformation at this moment.

"How about it? I've taken care of the employer for you."

"You know I don't like doing village quests; I'm simply not strong enough."

“There’s nothing I can do about it. You’ve already accepted the mission, you can’t just not do it,” Nara Yosuke chuckled. His gaze fell on the public mission board, his eyes dimming slightly. “Come back alive, Shirahoshi Genin.”

"Don't set a high bar for me."

"You're saying things I don't understand again."

#

The west gate of the village had two large gates on either side of it wide open. During the war, the village was almost under the highest level of security. Passersby had to be checked at every turn, let alone people leaving the village.

After receiving the client's request for a C-rank ninjutsu, Shirahoshi and the client's team gave a brief self-introduction.

"My name is Akin. I am Lord Mizutani's bodyguard and also his groom."

"My name is A-Yin..."

In short, the two black-haired youths who looked like knights-errant and had knives hanging from their waists were twin brothers, both bodyguards of Mizutani Shoto, and also worked as grooms.

“Well, I understand now. If there are no problems, let’s set off.” Bai Xing nodded to indicate that he had a general understanding of the three people’s situation, and then led the convoy to complete the procedures for leaving the village.

After completing a series of formalities, the carriage convoy officially set off.

The sweltering heat of late June was mixed with a cool breeze that rustled through the green trees surrounding the avenue, bringing some liveliness and energy to the sultry weather.

Inside the carriage,

When Mizutani Shoto asked why there were two girls and one young man in the class, Shirahoshi explained that Might Guy's situation was similar to his; they were both lacking in some aspect, so they couldn't improve.

This surprised Mizutani Shoto slightly.

"A young girl from the Uchiha clan, wouldn't you look down on your teacher being a genin?" Mizutani Shoto was more curious about the fact that the Uchiha clan was rumored to be composed of rather aloof ninjas, such as the members of the Security Division. It was quite unexpected that a cute girl like Uchiha Mikoto would be willing to become a genin's apprentice.

“Shirahoshi-sensei is not weak,” Uchiha Mikoto said. “Genin and Chunin are just different levels. It doesn’t mean that Chunin are necessarily stronger than Genin.”

The pharmacist on the right in the same row nodded slightly, "Shirahoshi-sensei is very strong!"

“Don’t underestimate Shirahoshi just because she’s only a genin; her strength is definitely more than enough,” said Might Guy, who was sitting to Mikoto’s left.

Upon hearing this, Mizutani Shoto couldn't help but show a hint of surprise. He turned to look at the handsome black-haired boy sitting next to him and wondered what kind of charisma this kid possessed that earned the admiration of three genin.

Ahead, Ah Jin and Ah Yin, one driving the carriage and the other carrying a knife, guarded the surroundings as they traveled along a rather uneven road, making the carriage sway more noticeably.

To reach the Land of Hot Water, one must pass through the territory of the Land of Iron. One must take a ship from a port city called Iron Ridge Fortress in the Land of Iron to reach the Land of Hot Water.

Tieling Fortress is an area surrounded by deep mountains and close to the coast, but its economic development is very ordinary, which can be seen from the clothing and appearance of the people walking on the streets.

At this time, the air temperature in the Land of Iron is closer to autumn, with a temperature of only four or five degrees Celsius, as if it will snow lightly in a few days, while in the Land of Fire it is currently scorching hot.

Located in a slightly off-center area of ​​the fortress city, there is a small tavern with a sign, its brightly lit and colorful decorations clearly indicating that this is not a proper tavern.