"Are there any D-rank missions available?" Mutsuki asked the registration ninja as he entered the mission hall of the Hokage Building with his disciples.
Doing D-Rank Missions to enhance Chakra was quite enjoyable; completing ten of them could yield around four hundred and fifty Chakra points.
"Eh, Yumi-sensei, aren't we doing C-Rank Missions today?" Obito couldn't help but ask.
Having just fought for life and death against enemy ninja from hostile villages in the previous mission, and now being tasked with finding cats or picking up trash in the next, Obito felt the contrast was quite significant.
"Have you forgotten what tomorrow is? If we take missions outside the village now, Guy will have to spend his birthday alone," Mutsuki reminded Obito with a tap on his head.
This time, he didn't employ the same strategy as he did with Shisui before. After all, using the same approach repeatedly would seem somewhat perfunctory. He had already informed his students beforehand that Guy's birthday was approaching, and on that day, they would all gather together to celebrate.
"Oh right, Guy's birthday is coming up. I've been so occupied lately, I forgot about the time," Obito chuckled, scratching his head.
"It's okay, if it weren't for Yumi-sensei's reminder, I would have forgotten myself," Guy said, rubbing his chin.
Indeed, they had been quite occupied recently. Before going on the mission outside the village, it was either training or non-stop missions. Once outside the village, they had to constantly ensure the safety of the client and hastily return after completing the task.
Kakashi glanced at Mutsuki, sensing that there might be something between Mutsuki and Obito and Guy that he wasn't aware of.
Normally, with such a short time as disciples, they shouldn't be so close.
However, considering that Mutsuki was an Academy sensei, and Obito and Guy were students, it was highly likely that they were already familiar with each other during their time at the Ninja Academy.
"There are some." The registration ninja opened the mission scrolls for Mutsuki to choose from.
D-Rank Missions were all more or less the same. Mutsuki randomly selected five and took the students to complete the tasks.
For some reason, Obito seemed particularly enthusiastic today about competing with Kakashi. Although they usually didn't see eye to eye, today's rivalry was even more intense.
Meanwhile, Mutsuki's team quickly completed the five tasks he had accepted. Because they were competing on both the speed and quantity of task completion, they even spurred Guy into action, and the three of them worked on the tasks enthusiastically.
However, when Mutsuki checked the reward information, he noticed a problem: the rewards had decreased. The settlement for the first task was still similar to the previous average, with a total of forty-five Chakra points for the three disciples. But starting from the third task, the rewards began to decline. The three disciples together only received a little over thirty points for the third task, and for the fifth task, it was just thirty points exactly.
Although difficulty would affect the rewards, based on previous experience, the disparity between D-Rank Missions shouldn't be this significant. Mutsuki speculated that it might be because the system judged that D-Rank Missions were providing diminishing returns in terms of growth for the disciples, so the rewards were reduced.
This wasn't a baseless guess. From the training tasks and a series of reward distributions, it was evident that the system placed great importance on the growth of disciples. Rewards were given in stages as disciples' strength grew, and the more improvement during a task, the higher the reward.
With Obito and Guy's current strength, starting D-Rank Missions was still beneficial for familiarizing themselves with the mission process and developing teamwork. However, after completing dozens of them, it became apparent that there wasn't much meaning in continuing.
To confirm his hypothesis, Mutsuki decided to take on another five D-Rank Missions.
After completing them, Mutsuki checked the rewards and found them even lower. The total reward for the tenth task was just over twenty Chakra points for the three of them.
Mutsuki calculated the rewards for the ten tasks, totaling just over three hundred Chakra points.
While this wasn't a poor harvest, considering that a single large lesson also yielded forty Chakra points, it was definitely less than before.
"I should do fewer D-Rank Missions in the future and focus more on other tasks and training," Mutsuki thought to himself.
Maintaining a yield of three hundred Chakra points would be fine, but at this rate, if they continued, they might end up with no rewards at all.
After handing in all the tasks, Mutsuki led the students back home for dinner.
Obito also noticed a strange issue: Minato Namikaze, who bore a striking resemblance to Mutsuki, was visiting Mutsuki's house again, just like last time, helping out and then taking food away with him.
"Yumi-sensei, what's your relationship with that Jonin Minato? It seems like he comes to your house every day to bring food," Obito asked curiously.
He felt a strange sensation he couldn't quite place. Even if they were neighbors, it was odd to eat together every day, let alone Minato taking food away.
"We're good friends and also mentor-disciple, I guess. He teaches me Sealing Jutsu, and I teach him cooking," Mutsuki answered after some thought.
"We used to eat together before, and sometimes he cooked, and I would join. But now he's very busy, so we rarely sit down together for a meal."
"Why would he be so busy but still take food away?" Kakashi felt it didn't make sense.
"Of course, it's because Yumi-sensei's cooking is just too delicious. Even if there's no time to eat together, he has to take it away to enjoy," Obito nodded in agreement, believing Minato's judgment was spot-on.
Kakashi instinctively wanted to refute, but upon recalling the taste of Mutsuki's cooking just now, he found it wasn't that illogical after all.
"Tomorrow morning, normal training. Afternoon and evening, make your own arrangements," Mutsuki said, discussing tomorrow's plans after the meal.
Just as the disciples were preparing to leave, Mutsuki called Guy aside.
"Guy, wait a moment before you go," Mutsuki said.
Guy obediently turned back and sat down.
"I'll go back with you. I have something to discuss with your father," Mutsuki explained with a smile after finishing up.
"That's fine. My father should be at home at this time," Guy nodded in response.
Just a moment ago, he was wondering if it was about training or his birthday, but he hadn't expected it to be related to his father.
By now, the sun had completely set, and the moon had taken over the sky.
Guy's house was in a remote location. As they walked towards it, the sounds of human activity dwindled, replaced by various sounds of nature.
"I'm back," Guy called out after opening the door.
"Yumi-sensei is here too, he's looking for you,"
"Oh, Yumi-sensei is here? Then I better make some tea," Duy quickly rushed out to check.
"No need to trouble yourself. I'm just here today to discuss something with you, Senpai. I won't stay long," Mutsuki said with a smile.
Although Mutsuki declined, Guy insisted on eagerly going to boil water and brew tea.
"Senpai, do you want to become a higher-level ninja?" Mutsuki asked directly.
Based on Mutsuki's analysis of Guy, instead of extravagant gifts, making Guy's father better would have a greater impact on him.
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