Ryuu, Kakashi, and Sakumo reached the Hokage's office…
"Hokage-sama is waiting for you."
Two Anbu members said.
"Kakashi, wait for us out here."
Sakumo said.
Kakashi nodded, then waited outside.
"Ryuu, Sakumo, good to see you again."
The Hokage welcomed us as we entered his office.
"Good to see you too, Sarutobi-sensei, but I'm kind of shocked to see you up this early. You're usually lazy and asleep."
I joked
Sakumo was shocked and tried to shut me up.
"Ryuu!"
He said as he covered my mouth with his hand.
Sarutobi-sensei was smiling, but I could see I hit hard he hehe.
"Sorry for that, Hokage-sama," Sakumo said as he bowed respectfully.
"Putting all that aside, I called you here to give you two a mission, first for you Sakumo." He took out a file and tossed it on his desk.
Sakumo grabbed it and read through it quickly.
"As you can see, it's an A-rank mission. We need you to protect the daimyo of the land of fire. You and your team are to meet up near the from suna borders and protect and escort him to Konoha." Sakumo nodded.
"And what about me?" I asked.
He took out another file but held it.
"I'm waiting for your teammates to arrive."
My teammates?
As Ryuu was thinking, he felt three familiar chakras heading towards the Hokage's office.
They entered the office…
"You wanted to see us Hokage-sama?"
A man with a raspy voice entered and two others.
"Long time no see Ryuu, what could you be doing here?" Shikaku asked.
"I called you all here to give you an important mission." The Hokage said.
"Us four!?" Ryuu asked.
The Hokage nodded and gave us files on the mission.
"As you can see, this next mission is as dangerous as it is important.
One of the richest merchants in Konoha believes someone has kidnapped his son, and he wants us to investigate and recover him. I've selected you four specifically because of your skills." He said.
"But Hokage-sama, this is at least a B-rank mission and Ryuu is just a kid. Do you think he can handle it even with us?"
Choza asked.
"Choza I already told you, Ryuu possesses enough skill and knowledge to be a jonin captain within two or fewer years. His first mission was a C-rank, and he completed it with no difficulty."
Shikaku responded.
"He's right, even I had some doubts about him going on a mission at such a tender age, but from what I've heard about him from Minato, I have no reasons to doubt him."
Inoichi said.
Choza nodded, "Shikaku's word was enough, but now even Inoichi? If these two agree on it, then I have to trust their judgement."
He said to himself.
"Alright, now that we agree, you're dismissed. Get ready for your next mission."
We bowed in respect, then we left his office.
"Kakashi, let's go!" Ryuu said.
We left to buy some equipment for my mission.
"So what's your new mission about?" Kakashi asked as he helped me pick up some stuff.
"Oh well, it's more like a rescue mission. Someone's son was kidnapped, and we were the ones called to help. It's also my first B-rank mission, so I'm sure it'll be fun."
Kakashi smiled and said.
"I can't wait to be doing missions with you once I graduate. Oh, and by the way, how are you going to pay for all of this?"
Some cold sweat dropped out of my forehead. Looking back, I got a lot of stuff.
"Well, my first mission should've been a B-rank as well, so I got paid more, still I hate seeing my money reduce it hurts."
I responded.
Kakashi nodded and kept on putting stuff.
After we finished, there was one more stop I had to make.
"Ryuu, why are we here?" He asked.
"I'm just placing a seal here. I plan to place a seal in important places so that I don't have to waste time getting everywhere." Kakashi nodded.
After placing my seal, Kakashi and I teleported back home with the things I bought. He helped me sort them out. I placed my seal on some Kunai. I packed them up, and he took his food pill.
"Alright now that I'm ready, let's go!" I teleported Kakashi near Guy and the rest.
"Ryuu!" Obito and the others ran towards me.
"Where have you been? We haven't seen you in a while." He said.
"Well, I've been training and doing missions now that I'm a leaf shinobi."
I said as I showed off my forehead protector.
"Wow, it's even shinier than I expected, man you're so lucky."
He said.
"Ryuu! And my eternal rival Kakashi!" Kakashi and i both sighed. We both knew who was talking.
"I challenge you to a race!"
I shook my head and said.
"I can't I have a mission. Kakashi will be glad to take my place."
I could feel Kakashi's cold glare at me, so I decided not to look back.
"Hold on Ryuu, come with me."
Obito said as he pulled me to the side.
"Huh, what's the matter, Obito?"
He whispered something in my ear.
I nodded, and we went back.
"What was that about?" Kakashi asked.
"Oh, nothing, just a secret." I responded.
I did not satisfy him with that.
"Come on, tell me Ryuu."
I shook my head.
"Kakashi, I can't say a word unless you want me to expose your secret as well."
Kakashi was shocked and asked.
"My secret?"
I nodded and whispered it in his ear.
I could feel him shivering.
"Ho-how did you find that out?"
I smiled and said.
"I know everybody's secret don't worry about it."
I said as I teleported to the gate.
"Ryuu can be quite scary sometimes." Kakashi said, and they all nodded in agreement.
I reached the gate. It isn't where we're supposed to meet, but it's the closest to it. When I reached the gate, I found them waiting for me…
"Let's go. We don't have time. We have to hurry." Inoichi said.
We left the village and headed to the merchant's home.
He lived in an expensive mansion outside of the village.
We reached the mansion; it was easy to find.
"Shikaku-sama, what does he sell exactly?" I asked.
"He's in charge of almost all trades in the land of fire. His father was a friend of the 2nd Hokage Tobirama he was gifted land and some money after retired from the second shinobi war because of injuries. His land was full of rich resources and he used that to build all this."
Ryuu nodded.
We entered the merchant's home, and it surprised us people were able to actually kidnap his son. He had guards searching us from the moment we entered through the gate and other guards were surrounding the property.
We knocked on the door, and someone came to open for us. Once we entered, we were all stunned.
"Wow, I've never seen such a large house. It looks even bigger than Sarutobi-sensei's"
Choza nodded.
"this is definitely bigger than Hokage-sama's home."
We all nodded as we were staring at the home.
"All of you snap out of it. We have a mission." Shikaku said.
"Right! Sorry for that."
"No need to say sorry to me. Tell him."
He pointed at the stairs.
A man sitting in a wheelchair came down. Even though he was being pushed on a wheelchair, but he still looked fit. He looked pretty young. He had dark long hair that looked well kept.
"Welcome to my home. My name is Daisuke Sato and I'm the one who hired you. No disrespect to you all, but we must hurry. I don't have time to welcome you, so let's go. Follow me."
We all nodded.
He gestured for us to follow him, and we did.
He led us to a shed nearby his home. The journey was silent and awkward, so I brought up a conversation.
"So, what happened to your legs?"
I asked
Shikaku and the rest dropped their jaws in Ryuu's boldness. Ryuu's approach and question shocked them.
"Oh, sorry to be so rude, if you don't want to talk about it."
Ryuus realised his attitude towards the merchant.
"No harm done. I hired you, so it only makes sense if we trust each other, right?"
Wheew I thought I messed things up.
"Just like my father I fought in the ninja war, but I was on a mission that went terribly wrong, then I lost the ability to walk or move my legs, luckily I had Kenji before I went otherwise they'd be no heir or successor to all of this."
"I see…" Ryuu said.
"Is this him?" I asked as I grabbed an old photo from a desk.
It looks like his mother died before he was born. She's not in any photo.
This must be Kenji.
Ryuu saw a photo of a kid smiling. He was about the same age as him and Kakashi. He had short spiky brown hair and dark eyes.
Daisuke nodded
"Indeed, Kenji's mother died on the same night he was born, she was attacked by mercenaries sent to get me, after what happened to her I couldn't take it anymore, I left Kenji to be raised by my Father as I fought in the war, but I got hurt and came back, my father died a year later.
Neither one of us knew what to say…
I broke the silence by changing the subject.
"Is this where he was last seen, or what?"
I asked.
He nodded.
"This is where he comes to play with his ninja equipment. He wants to become an excellent ninja like you."
He pointed at Ryuu, and everyone looked at him.
"Me?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Stories about the famous Genius of the leaf who graduated the academy on his first day in the academy gave him motivation to work harder and be just like you."
Ryuu frowned and folded his fists.
"I swear, I won't let him down."
He smiled and nodded.
"Just what I'd expect from Kenji's Hero." He said to himself.