"Then, I want to be the team leader." Naruto demanded.
"No!" Tsunade refused without hesitation, "The members of Team 3 are all honest people. If I let you be the team leader, you'd have them wrapped around your finger in no time."
"If things go wrong, the reputation of the entire Konoha will be ruined by you alone."
"It's not that exaggerated, right?" Naruto scratched his face, "I'm also an honest person."
"Huh?" Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she quickly walked over, grabbing Naruto by the collar. Her large chest pressed against him, almost making it hard for him to breathe, "You'd better not trick them into doing anything weird."
"If I find out, you're dead!"
"I won't, I won't!" Naruto laughed awkwardly.
Tsunade let go of him, still looking displeased as she poked his forehead and said, "Jiraiya offered to take you for training, but you refused to go. If you don't take on more missions, how are you going to improve your strength? I went out of my way to pick a mission for you, and now you're being picky."
"Next time I hear you say something like that again, you're going to be doing office work as a punishment!"
"Got it."
Seeing that Naruto had finally behaved himself, Tsunade tossed him back into the Hokage chair and poured herself a cup of water.
"This mission is a little special." Her red lips parted as she said bluntly, "A mining village in the Land of Rivers has been occupied by a group calling themselves the Kurosuki Family."
"It's highly likely that the person in charge of Kurosuki Family is Kurosuki Raiga, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
"Is that guy strong?" Naruto couldn't really remember who the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were. His impression was that the previous generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been turned into a laughingstock by Might Duy.
The only one he vaguely remembered was Biwa Juzo, Itachi's former teammate, who was an Elite Jonin of Kirigakure, but was kicked into a nobody in the Shinobi World by Might Duy.
Whenever he meets a Shinobi from Konoha, he will ask if they know a Genin named Might Duy.
"Strong? Not really." Tsunade thought for a moment before tapping her head and said, "But that group of Seven Ninja Swordsmen escaped from the Blood Mist Period, so they're generally not quite right in the head."
"Originally, I was going to let Guy lead the team, but he was specifically asked by the Daimyo of another country to take on a protection mission, so I had no choice but to send you."
Upon hearing this, Naruto's face turned dark and he crossed his legs while sitting on the Hokage's chair.
"What do you mean you had no choice but to send me there? Being a temporary worker is already tiring enough. If I'm going to work like a horse, there should be some real benefits, right?"
"Hmm?" Tsunade's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"No, I mean... paid leave."
"What do you think of me? Although I am the Hokage, I can still clearly distinguish between public and private affairs." Tsunade dragged Naruto to the door and tossed him out directly, "If you can't complete this mission, you might as well stop doing missions altogether and come work in the office."
As soon as she finished speaking, the office door slammed shut with a bang.
'Distinguish between public and private affairs?' Naruto felt a bit speechless, 'That was not what she said some time ago. Women are really fickle.'
After shaking his head, he stood up, patted the dust off his clothes, and left.
There were still two hours before departure, and he was planning to go home and pack his things, but the client urged them to hurry up, so before he even left the Hokage Tower, Lee called him from behind.
"Naruto, wait up."
"We have to leave now." Lee, dressed in his signature green bodysuit, said.
Hearing this, Naruto looked back.
Lee stood under the sunlight with expression serious, as if something monumental had occurred.
In the irregular shadows cast by the Hokage Tower, two figures emerged, one on each side, slowly walking out. They were Neji and Tenten, both of whom Naruto had met before.
Both looked unusually stern, a seriousness that Naruto could tell wasn't directed at him but rather at the mission itself.
In other words, the preparation time for the mission had been canceled.
"What do you mean by leaving now?" Naruto asked with a smile, "Don't we still have two hours to prepare?"
"Sorry, but Rokusuke is too worried about Kanpachi in the village." A burly, rough-looking man stepped out of the Hokage Tower. He was dressed like a villager, with a bushy beard covering his face.
His face was wrapped in bandages, as if he'd been hit by a blunt object like a shovel.
Behind him, two more men, also dressed as villagers, emerged. They were both skinny, looking to be in their thirties, with thick calluses on their hands from hard labor.
One was dressed in a deep blue outfit, with thin lips and an expression that screamed he wasn't easy to fool. The other was a man with squinted eyes, who appeared to be a mild-mannered and straightforward person.
After a quick glance, combined with the information Lee just said, and the bearded man said that Rokusuke was worried about Kanpachi. He guessed that Rokusuke should be the one with thin lips, and Kanpachi was probably a villager who was in danger.
Naruto couldn't recall every detail, but he vaguely remembered that Team 3 had once taken on a mission to eliminate Kurosuki Raiga. The entire process had been somewhat frustrating to watch.
As for the source of the frustration… Naruto looked at the three villagers who had requested the mission, his brows furrowing instinctively.
'So this was the special aspect of the mission that Tsunade had hinted at.'
"Let me explain." Neji stepped forward, his voice devoid of any emotion, "Their village is currently being oppressed. Anyone who offends the Kurosuki Family will be nailed into a coffin and buried alive."
"These three risked their lives to escape and seek help, hoping Konoha can help eliminate the Kurosuki Family and free them from living in constant fear of death."
"Their companion, Kanpachi, was buried alive. We might need to leave immediately."
"Exactly!" Lee agreed energetically.
Tenten also seemed to have no objections. The three of them looked at Naruto, as if waiting for him to say something like 'Let's set off now!'
But…
"I disagree."
Naruto's response caught everyone off guard, and the atmosphere instantly became tense. Most of the resentment and dissatisfaction came from the thin-lipped villager, Rokusuke, while Lee, Neji, and Tenten were more surprised than anything else.
"Why?" Neji asked, not in an accusatory tone but out of genuine curiosity.
"I don't have anything ready for the trip," Naruto explained, " Besides, Lee obviously had just finished training. If he doesn't rest, he won't be able to keep up the pace for long."
Lee scratched his head, "I can hold on."
Neji didn't argue, instead, he took a few seconds to think it over seriously, then nodded, "Then, we'll set off at the scheduled time. No need to rush."
Tenten gave a faint smile, indicating she was fine with whatever decision was made.
But the thin-lipped villager, Rokuro, who had been silent until now, suddenly became agitated, and shouted loudly, "Are you kidding me?"
"My companion is still buried alive and his fate is unknown. You cold-blooded Shinobi have no heart at all!"