After we accepted the D-rank mission, we went straight to the client's house. The mission request document, stamped and authorized, was our ticket to officially begin. The client—a wealthy woman with an air of self-importance—handed us a picture of her missing cat, along with its name, usual habits, and the areas it typically roamed. To her, this mission was a big deal, but for us, it felt like an over-glorified game of hide-and-seek.
"Great," Nora muttered under his breath, glancing at the picture. Of course, "A 'save the cat' mission. Can't wait."
We set off, trying to make the best of it. The search started slowly, each of us splitting up to cover different areas. At one point, we found ourselves in some dingy alleyways, with open sewers running along the sides.
"This place smells worse than the academy bathrooms," Baskin grumbled, wrinkling his nose.
Nora laughed. "You'd know. You practically live in there."
While we were scanning the area, Baskin was looking up at rooftops, convinced the cat would be perched somewhere high. "I swear, it's up there, trying to get a view of all the peasants," he joked.
But before he could finish his comment, he stepped on a loose stone and tripped. "Whoa—!" Baskin flailed as he fell headfirst into the sewer with a loud splash.
Nora, walking right behind him, didn't have time to react and stumbled in after him. "Ah, come on!" he yelled, as the murky water drenched him.
I couldn't hold back my laughter. "Baskin, Nora, you're supposed to be finding the cat, not joining it in the gutter!"
Even Sensei had to turn away to hide his smirk. "Focus, team," he said, though his voice betrayed some amusement.
Covered in filth and grumbling, Baskin groaned. "I hate this mission."
Eventually, after scouring the village for what felt like forever, we found the cat stuck in a tree. With some quick teamwork—mostly involving me climbing the tree and Nora and Baskin trying not to spook it—we managed to bring the cat down and returned to the mission center.
"Well, that was a pain," Baskin grumbled as he handed the cat back to the client, still soaked in sewer water. "Hope the next mission doesn't involve more sewers."
Nora, equally drenched, gave him a sour look. "You had to fall in, didn't you?"
Sensei went to submit the official report and even showed us a copy. "You should learn the correct format," he said. "This will help in the future." After what seemed like more paperwork than expected, he handed each of us an envelope containing 666 ryo.
"Uh, Sensei," I said, frowning as I looked at the small amount of cash. "Didn't the mission pay 5,000 ryo?"
Nora opened his envelope and snorted. "What a rip-off!"
"Yeah, where's the rest of it?" Baskin chimed in, his face scrunched in confusion.
Sensei explained, "The mission center takes 20%, which leaves 4,000 ryo. I take half, since I'm two ranks higher than you all. That leaves 2,000 for the three of you."
Nora's eyes narrowed. "Wait, you're taking half? For finding a cat?"
Baskin crossed his arms, clearly not impressed. "That hardly seems fair."
"Sensei further explained, 'A higher-ranked ninja takes a larger share—up to 25%. Since I am two ranks higher, I will take 50%. This is standard procedure.'
He added, 'Besides, I'm the one preventing us from messing it all up.'"
Nora and Baskin both shot me dirty looks. "Yeah, well, if you ever falls in a sewer, I'm not helping you out," Nora muttered under his breath.
By this time, it was around 4 p.m., and I expected Sensei to call it a day. To my surprise, he suggested we head to the training ground. My excitement was immediate. "Training? Awesome, let's do it!"
Nora, on the other hand, groaned. "We just spent all day chasing a cat... Can't we go home?"
Baskin rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Yeah, Sensei, I'm not sure I have it in me to keep going."
Sensei gave them both a firm look. "Training is important. You want to become stronger, don't you?"
Reluctantly, Nora and Baskin followed, though they were clearly not happy about it. As we arrived at the training ground, I couldn't help but smirk at their misery. "What's the matter?" I teased. "Can't handle a little extra work?"
"Keep smiling," Baskin shot back, "we'll see how cocky you are after this."
The training session was intense. Sensei had us doing everything—physical conditioning, shuriken practice, ninjutsu, chakra control, and sparring. He made it clear he was using this session to create personalized training plans for us.
During the chakra control exercise, Nora struggled, as usual. The leaf kept slipping off his forehead. "Stupid leaf," he muttered angrily. "Why can't this thing stay put?"
Baskin wasn't doing much better, but he managed to hold it longer. "At least I'm not as bad as Nora," he said, smirking.
I grinned, holding my leaf perfectly still. "It's all about control. You guys should really focus more."
Nora glared at me. "Easy for you to say, Mr. Perfect Leaf."
When it came time for shuriken practice, Nora and Baskin did decently, but I outperformed them, hitting more moving targets. Nora sighed. "Of course, he's good at that too."
As we moved to sparring matches, I was paired with Nora first. He came at me aggressively, but I could read his moves easily. I dodged his punch and landed a quick jab to his side.
"Ugh!" Nora grunted, stumbling back. Before he could recover, I swept his legs out from under him, ending the match quickly.
Baskin was next, and though slower than Nora, he was more cautious. He kept his distance, waiting for an opening. "I'm not rushing in like him," Baskin said, nodding toward Nora, who was still dusting himself off. But after a few failed attempts to land a hit, I managed to catch him with a punch and finished the fight the same way.
"Man," Baskin groaned, rubbing his arm. "You're too fast."
By the time we were finished, it was 10 p.m., and we were all exhausted. Sensei gathered us together. "From now on," he began, "we'll do a D-rank mission every two days. After the mission, we'll train for a minimum of five hours. If you don't finish your missions on time, you'll be training the whole day."
The three of us exchanged glances and looked back at Sensei, all silently thinking the same thing: This is going to be tough...
Nora groaned loudly. "Every two days? That's brutal!"
Baskin nodded in agreement. "Sensei, have mercy."
I, however, was more than ready. "Bring it on," I said, smirking. "The more training, the better."