"Obito, you're late again," Kakashi frowned at Obito, who was rushing in.
"You should have woken up earlier instead of making everyone wait for you alone," he said.
"I woke up very early, but I was late because there was an old lady asking for directions on the way," Obito explained.
"Your excuse never changes," Kakashi said speechlessly, recalling how Obito had always used this excuse even back when they were in school.
"Because it's the truth," Obito retorted defiantly.
"Kakashi, sometimes you have to trust your comrades. I believe Obito really did help the old lady and wasn't just making excuses for being late," Mutsuki said with a smile.
"Are there really that many elderly people in need of help?" Kakashi remained skeptical.
"Is Obito's youth all about helping old people?" Guy wore a serious expression as he pondered.
"Why does doing good deeds sound so strange when you say it?" Obito couldn't help but retort, feeling that he simply helped whenever he saw someone in need.
"Alright, now that we're all assembled, let's go together to the Hokage Tower to receive the mission," Mutsuki suggested.
Most matters related to Konoha and ninja affairs typically required a visit to the Hokage Tower.
"What kind of mission could it be? Protecting our country's princess? Or defeating the leader of an enemy nation?" Obito gazed at the towering Hokage Tower with a longing expression.
"What are you thinking? An intern ninja like you, who isn't even a real ninja, wouldn't possibly be assigned such high-level tasks," Kakashi ruthlessly shattered Obito's fantasies.
"Genin can only take on D to C-rank missions. You interns are at most comparable to Genin, and the tasks you're talking about are likely S-rank missions, which only Jonin are allowed to undertake due to their extremely high difficulty."
Kakashi has been a ninja for several years and is already familiar with Konoha's mission rules. According to his estimation, Obito and the others probably can't even handle C-rank missions, only D-rank ones.
"What kind of D-rank missions are there?" Obito inquired.
"Catching cats and dogs, cleaning up trash, and babysitting," Kakashi replied.
"Isn't that just doing odd jobs?" Obito was shocked; the ninja life he imagined was completely different.
Smack!
"You have to take it step by step, even with missions," Mutsuki tapped Obito's forehead and said.
Mutsuki also had some expectations, but not for missions. He didn't long for the life of a ninja at all; he was only hopeful that his disciples completing missions might lead to rewards.
"Why aren't they wearing forehead protectors?" The ninja registering the mission noticed that Obito and Guy were not wearing them and asked.
"Show them your intern certificates," Mutsuki interjected.
Intern ninjas don't receive forehead protectors, but they are given an intern certificate, which serves as a temporary substitute.
"Ah, so they're intern ninjas. Then they can only take D-rank missions. Choose from these," the registering ninja handed Mutsuki a scroll to select from.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had already issued a notice that there would be a batch of intern ninjas doing missions soon, treating them as just graduated genin.
Obito and Guy both leaned in to look.
"Retrieve a lost pet cat, help take care of a three-year-old child, clean up the training ground garbage..." Obito discovered they were indeed all odd job missions, just as Kakashi had told him.
"Then let's go with retrieving the lost pet cat," Mutsuki glanced over and said.
Taking care of the child would consume an entire day at a fixed time, so that's definitely out. The others are all more or less the same.
"Wait, finding one cat earns us five thousand ryo!" Guy, after seeing the reward for finding a cat, showed a shocked expression.
He remembered that when his father didn't negotiate, meat only cost a hundred ryo per pound. Five thousand ryo could buy fifty pounds of meat.
"It's not five thousand ryo per person; it's a total of five thousand ryo," Mutsuki explained to prevent any misunderstanding on Guy's part.
"If we split five thousand ryo among four people, it's still quite a bit," Guy said enthusiastically.
"Indeed, a bowl of ramen only costs sixty ryo, so finding a cat could get us more than twenty bowls of ramen each," Obito agreed.
Although he felt underestimated by doing odd jobs, he felt the mission's reward was still acceptable.
Seeing Guy and Obito so excited, Mutsuki didn't break their pleasant fantasy for now. Of course, equal sharing was impossible. Generally, the Squad Captain would get a little more, and Konoha would also tax it.
But Mutsuki didn't care about the money and was willing to split it equally.
"Guy, should Kakashi join in to see who completes the mission first?" Obito suggested.
"Alright, that's the spirit of vibrant youth—full of competition!" Guy approved enthusiastically.
"Pointless competition," Kakashi responded nonchalantly.
"Kakashi, are you afraid of losing to us? After all, it's quite embarrassing for a Chunin to lose to intern ninjas," Obito teased.
Although knowing it was just provocation, when it came from Obito, Kakashi felt uncomfortable. He responded coldly, "Just worried about discouraging a rookie like you."
"Who discourages whom is yet to be seen," Obito retorted.
"Alright then, the first Mutsuki Team Cat-finding Contest begins now," Mutsuki announced cheerfully.
"Let's go, let's go! Whoever finds the cat first wins!" Guy exclaimed excitedly.
Kakashi glanced at Mutsuki, feeling somewhat uneasy. He sensed that this Academy's sensei had a different style compared to every other mentor he had experienced before.
Because of Obito's challenge, Kakashi became unusually serious, dispersing several Shadow Clones to search for the cat as described in the mission.
Guy treated the task as training, swiftly running to various corners to find any traces of the cat.
Seeing Kakashi using Shadow Clones, Obito also summoned two Shadow Clones to search for the cat.
All three of them were full of energy.
However, to Kakashi's surprise, in less than an hour, Obito found the cat described in the mission.
"Hehe, looks like I've won!" Obito proudly announced, lifting a slightly chubby orange cat high in his hands.
"Meow!" The sudden lifting frightened the orange cat, causing it to scratch wildly at Obito, who instinctively let go.
But before the cat could hit the ground, a hand swiftly grabbed its nape, preventing it from moving further.
"Quite sloppy," Kakashi shook his head at Obito, holding the cat.
"Still, I found it first," Obito protested.
"It's just luck," Kakashi thought it was just luck that Obito stumbled upon it first, which didn't mean much.
"Very well, the mission was completed quickly. Let's go and pick up another one," Mutsuki announced calmly.
Then, Mutsuki led his disciples to the Hokage Tower to report the completion of the mission.
"Completed so quickly." The registering Ninja was also somewhat surprised. Catching a cat wasn't an easy task. Firstly, Konoha was vast and not easy to navigate, and those cats that often ran away were quite cunning. Not only were they fast, but also agile, making them difficult to catch.
[Disciple Guy diligently completed the entrusted mission and earned Chakra+10. Additional reward of Chakra+5 led by the sensei himself]
[Disciple Uchiha Obito diligently completed the entrusted mission and earned Chakra+10. Additional reward of Chakra+5 led by the sensei himself]
"Fifty minutes for thirty Chakra, much faster than attending classes," Mutsuki thought as he looked at the rewards.
In his morning classes, he would earn only twenty Chakra for a small class and around forty for a large class. There was no need to compress every task into an hour. By completing two D-rank missions in the morning, the Chakra gain would be equivalent to attending three small classes in a morning.
And that was without Shisui's participation. If Shisui joined, it would be forty-five Chakra in one go, further increasing the rewards.
"Still, it can't completely replace attending classes. Even if all three disciples have bonuses, it adds up to only fifteen points. Moreover, constantly having students do missions without practicing will affect various rewards such as apprenticeship, returning to master's practice, and so on." Mutsuki pondered for a moment and felt that mission rewards were just an extra, at least with the current reward level.
"Let's do another task of finding lost items," Mutsuki glanced at the mission scroll and suggested.
"Kakashi, you're not backing down, are you? Then let's compete again and see who finds the lost item first," Obito challenged once more.
"This time you might not be so lucky," Kakashi accepted directly. He didn't believe that, with his experience, he would keep losing to Obito.
"Everyone's spirits are high!" Guy also prepared enthusiastically to search for the lost item with full force.
"Mutsuki's class Lost Item Search Contest begins now," Mutsuki announced with a smile.
Obito, eager to win against Kakashi, Kakashi, determined to turn the tables, and Guy, who was very enthusiastic for some reason, all quickly set out to complete the task first.
Kakashi still employed the Shadow Clone tactic, this time creating even more clones. Each clone didn't retain much chakra and lacked combat abilities, but they were more than capable of searching for things. Kakashi refused to believe that he and his eleven Shadow Clones, acting separately, could lose to Obito and his two clones. Even luck had its limits.
About an hour later, something unexpected happened that left Kakashi speechless.
"It's done. Sorry, Kakashi, but once again, I win," Obito said, holding a box and a bag.
Kakashi, after dispelling his Shadow Clones: ...
"What's in that bag? Wasn't the lost item just the box?" Guy curiously asked.
"It's homemade pastries. When I was searching, I ran into the old lady who asked for directions earlier this morning. She insisted on giving me these as a reward," Obito scratched his head, smiling.
"They look delicious. Yumi-sensei, could you help me divide them?"
After finishing the pastries, they returned to the Hokage Tower to deliver the task.
[Disciple Guy diligently completed the mission and earned Chakra+8, with an additional reward of Chakra+4 led by the sensei personally]
[Disciple Uchiha Obito diligently completed the mission and earned Chakra+8, with an additional reward of Chakra+4 led by the sensei personally]
"It's even less this time. Is it because finding lost items is slightly easier than catching cats?" Mutsuki speculated.
So Mutsuki took on another task to catch a dog.
After Obito and Guy departed, Mutsuki stopped Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, do you still think Obito's quick completion is just luck? Come with me."
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