With the coffee bean bucket training, I was not only training my chakra control and pain tolerance but also being able to perform hand seals no matter how hurt my hands were so that I could fully heal them before any of the glass pieces entered my body through the cuts.
But given how much it hurt to have my hand stabbed by several pieces of glass, it took me a week to simply be able to heal myself on my own without Shizune's help.
At the end of the week, however, Shizune escorted me to a random alleyway and stayed hidden on top of the roof of a dingy bar that looked to be on its last legs with her appearance changed using the transformation jutsu which I copied.
"What are we doing here?" I asked looking at the stray people in the alleyway who were dressed up as beggars but were clearly more than that.
They constantly scanned the street under the dim lights that kept it lit. They waved their coin box for donations every few minutes even if there were no passersby just to communicate with each other.
We stayed hidden for a while and Shizune only flickered out of her hiding spot when nothing of note happened in all the time we spent observing the area.
I followed Shizune and quickly noticed that the beggars all around us were instantly put on alert.
I wanted to ask Shizune many questions but I kept them to myself so as to not disturb the silent aura that had enveloped the entire corridor.
We walked for a few minutes and reached the back door of a house.
Shizune looked around for a second before opening the door and walking in casually. I followed similarly.
'Are we going to an underground market or something?'
The stairs that formed from the gate didn't carry us upstairs into the home it was connected to, but under the ground towards a smelly bar.
I could smell the absolutely disgusting smell of piss, shit and dead rats that filled the place but Shizune ignored them very easily.
'She's used to places being like this?'
Entering the dirty bar, Shizune walked up to the counter and stabbed a kunai into the table.
"Give me the missions list in the area, preferably close by but I'll accept it if it's within ten miles."
I looked at the table that had several holes in it, supposedly from other people doing the same thing and then at the bartender, he looked calm in spite of Shizune's temper.
He finished cleaning his glass and placed it on a shelf before calmly walking over to a different shelf and pulling out a thick book.
"If you're looking for missions for the newbie behind you, this book should suffice."
Shizune calmly took the book but I was offended!
'Newbie!! Brother, I can serve you a death more painful than anything else you could ever imagine! I'm no newbie!! I'm a pro!!'
The bartender looked at me as if he could hear my thoughts and then laughed!
'The audacity of thi-'
Before I could move, Shizune lightly stepped on my toes attracting my attention.
"What do you think of this mission?" Shizune asked when I scooted closer to look at the book on the table in front of her.
Mission: Assassinate a genin squad turned rouge from the Land of Lightning.
Reward: One Million Ryo delivered for each body returned. Ten Million Ryo if the Jonin accompanying them is brought dead or alive.
I frowned as I read the page.
'Killing?'
'I've killed animals and humanoid-looking monsters before but humans…'
'And children at that?'
I wanted to reject the mission and looked at Shizune but when I saw her scrutinizing me while maintaining a thin smile I *sighed* and nodded. I understood I didn't have a choice. Shizune wanted me to take this mission.
"Alright."
Shizune nodded and tore the page from the book as she did so she used her other hand to reach into her sleeve and flicked out a tag at the bartender.
The bartender caught the tag and looked at it. I also paid close attention since I hadn't seen anything like that before today.
It was a silver ornament. It looked like a small shogi piece and had a name carved into it.
I couldn't read the name from so far away but I didn't have to because-
The bartender's eyes widened as he spoke with horror, "The Midnight Butterfly."
Shizune had already turned around and was walking out of the room and I quickly followed her.
We walked out of the door again and after a while of using the body flicker jutsu arrived at the forest surrounding the village.
"Why are we taking this mission Shizune?"
Shizune didn't even spare me a glance before she spoke calmly, "Rouge shinobi are worse than trash."
"Hmm…?"
'Why is she so mad about rouge shinobi that belong to an entirely different country?'
And as if hearing my thoughts Shizune responded in a plain tone.
"Because there are only two reasons to run away from the village that helped you grow, at least the ones that end up on the black market. Either you committed a crime so egregious that the village can no longer stand you or you were an enemy that infiltrated into it to weaken the village."
"What if the shinobi saw something they shouldn't have?"
"They wouldn't end up on the black market. They'd be dispatched by the ANBU in secrecy. The only time when shinobi end up on the black market is when there is no need for any secrecy with them and they've committed crimes grave enough that no sane human would join them."
"How do you know it's not a trick that the Land of Lightning is using?"
"Firstly its because it's the Land of Lightning, they're pretty strict about such things and second because issuing tasks in the black market isn't as easy as walking up to an access point and paying money to have the task posted."
"If the mission information is wrong and the shinobi are truly innocent then the Land of Lightning will lose their credibility for issuing missions and no one likes to do that."
"What about other villages gaining information from the dead body or making a deal with such a shinobi?"
"Possible. But usually, such a task is only issued when there is no key intel on the shinobi. They're just scum with no worth."
I nodded, understanding some of it, but it was largely still a little confusing for me.
'What could a team of genin and a jonin have done that the Land of Lightning wants them dead? So that they go to the extent of asking other villages to take care of the body?'
We ran through the forests as Shizune seemed to know the exact direction that we needed to head to come in contact with our targets.
I kept pace with her and was nearly exhausted when we stopped but managed to control my breathing so that I wasn't too loud. Punching glass for the last week had helped me get a handle on my breathing because panicking only made the pain worse, almost always.
'I wonder how this mission will go.'