Kakashi had barely stepped out of the Hokage's office when he realized Naruto had disappeared.
So exhausting...
This team was so hard to handle!
They hadn't even left the village yet, and things were already going south. Kakashi couldn't even begin to imagine the chaos that would ensue once they were out in the field.
"Where's Naruto?" he asked.
Sasuke shrugged, uninterested, while Sakura thought for a moment before pointing back at the Hokage's office, somewhat unsure.
"I think I saw him turn around and head back... Maybe he went to see Lord Third?"
Kakashi looked up at the sky, feeling mentally and physically drained.
He was starting to understand how his teacher had felt back in the day.
And Naruto... this kid was proving to be even harder to manage than Obito had been.
With a sigh, Kakashi led Sasuke and Sakura back to the Hokage's office.
And there they found Naruto… in the middle of an argument with a short old man.
"You here to start something, old man?"
"I already told you, I'm a Genin from Konoha!"
"We can take your mission! The price I quoted was more than fair!"
Naruto was on the verge of losing his temper and taking out his client before the mission even started.
Just a few minutes ago, he had politely run up and greeted the man as "grandpa."
But this old man had waved him off dismissively, telling Naruto to buzz off and stop causing trouble, as if he was just some kid getting in the way.
Fine, so Naruto hadn't been wearing his headband at first. That was his mistake.
But even after he pulled it out to show the old man, the geezer didn't even give him a second glance. His eyes kept scanning the room, looking over the other Chunin and Jonin.
"How much would it cost to hire you?"
Unable to stand the kid anymore, the old man—Tazuna—grumbled, still eyeing the mission board, mentally calculating his funds.
Naruto, who had always skipped out on his ninja theory exams, was stumped by the question.
Even after watching Naruto in his previous life, he still had no idea how much it cost to hire a ninja, let alone the price for hiring all of Team 7.
He thought back to the mission the Third Hokage had just assigned them…
20 million ryo = C-rank mission.
Maybe that was a bit exaggerated, but reducing it by ten times should be reasonable, right?
Without thinking, Naruto blurted out, "200 million ryo!"
He figured a tenth of the price should be affordable for this old guy, no problem.
Tazuna's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.
"200 million ryo!?"
Why don't you just go rob a bank?!
Tazuna barely had 300,000 ryo on him, let alone 200 million!
Immediately, he waved Naruto off, telling him to get lost.
One thought he was being more than reasonable with his price, while the other felt like he was getting ripped off. Naturally, the two started arguing in the middle of the office.
"Get out, get out!"
"You're just here to cause trouble, aren't you, kid?"
"I'm here to post an escort mission, and you ask for 200 million ryo?!"
"Are Konoha's ninja made of gold or something?!"
Naruto was fuming.
Not only had the village scammed him into taking a bogus mission earlier, but now even the mission NPC wasn't handing out quests properly!
He was already being polite by not clicking "skip" when he first saw Tazuna!
Seeing that the mission wasn't going to him, how could he not be mad?
What Naruto didn't realize was that he had just quoted the equivalent of an S-rank mission reward.
"I think you're just here to stir up trouble in Konoha!"
Naruto, now seething, pulled a diamond sword from his system inventory, pointing it at the old man in anger. He was just seconds away from charging at Tazuna and cutting him down.
"Naruto, calm down!"
"Calm down! Let's talk this out!"
Izumo and Kotetsu rushed over, one grabbing Naruto around the waist, the other holding onto his arm, both struggling to restrain him.
They were genuinely terrified that the Jinchuriki would kill the client right in the Hokage's office.
But at the same time, they were completely baffled.
Where does this kid get so much strength from?
"Come on, guys! Let me go!"
"Where's the problem with quoting 200 million ryo for a mission?!"
Izumo: ...
Kotetsu: ...
Both of them froze at the amount.
No wonder the old man started yelling at him.
I mean, seriously, was it really okay to ask for S-rank mission pay from an elderly client?
"Uh..."
"Naruto, is there any chance you might've overestimated just a little with that 200 million ryo?"
Izumo finally spoke up after a long pause, his tone filled with disbelief.
"No way!"
"The Third just assigned us a C-rank mission to go on a month-long vacation, and the reward was 20 million ryo!"
"I'm already cutting it down to a tenth! How is that too much?!"
Izumo and Kotetsu fell silent again.
Because, well, they had both chipped in for that mission…
After all, didn't everyone have a few relatives who had just graduated from the ninja academy?
Hearing Naruto bring up the mission, the two of them felt genuinely awkward.
Also...
This kid clearly had a serious misunderstanding about mission rewards.
Did he have any idea what 20 million ryo even meant?
That was the combined effort of over 300 ninjas, more than 1,000 villagers, plus a generous donation from the Hyuga clan to gather that sum.
All just to stop Naruto from monopolizing the village's low-level missions.
At this rate, Naruto wouldn't need to farm fields anymore, but the rest of Konoha's ninja might have to, just to survive.
As for why the Hyuga clan contributed so much…
Well, let's just say everyone knew what that was about.
Kakashi twitched at the corner of his eye as he watched the scene unfold.
It had only been a few minutes...
How had Naruto already gotten himself into trouble again?
So exhausting...
When would Jiraiya finally come back to the village?!
Kakashi had never missed Jiraiya more than at this moment.
After all, Naruto was the son of Jiraiya's disciple…
Wouldn't it make sense to hand him over to Jiraiya once the Sannin returned?
It was the perfect plan—after all, even the Third Hokage had done the same thing with him.
Rubbing his temples, Kakashi wondered what kind of medicine the Third Hokage had been taking to deal with all of this.
He walked up to Naruto, placed a hand on the kid's head, and sighed.
"Naruto…"
"200 million ryo is S-rank mission pay."
Naruto's face immediately twisted in frustration. The anger boiled up inside him, and for a moment, he almost lost control of the Tailed Beast chakra within him.
The people in Konoha were just too much!
How could they possibly justify paying 20 times S-rank mission rewards just to send him away?!
Hadn't he, Uzumaki Naruto, made even the smallest contribution to the village?!
So furious...
Everyone watched Naruto, who was now fuming and breathing heavily. No one dared say another word, fearing the Tailed Beast chakra would explode.
Kakashi, who had been quietly observing from the side, had a pretty good idea of what Naruto was thinking.
He glanced over at the short old man in front of him.
"Sir, I'm this kid's team leader, a Jonin."
"What mission would you like to assign us?"
Hearing the word Jonin, Tazuna's face softened, though he was still a bit nervous.
Hiring a Jonin… That couldn't be cheap, right?
Still, this guy seemed way more reliable than the brat.
Tazuna's eyes flickered as an idea formed in his mind.
Maintaining his calm, he said to Kakashi, "I need you to escort me to the Land of Waves."
"I checked the mission board earlier, and escort missions are considered C-rank, so the reward…"
"I can only offer 250,000 ryo."
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