Getting a first mission

Immediately on the day right after graduation, Team S were all called up to meet Aoto at the Kage building.

"Yo, big bro," Kiyoshi greeted as he walked in with Ryuuya and Haru also greeting him.

"Firstly, congratulations on graduating," Aoto spoke as a rare smile appeared on his face, "How have you all been?"

"Good. Thanks for putting all three of us on the same team," Ryuuya answered as he slightly bowed towards Aoto.

"There's a request for help somewhere in the dry forest on the North side. The client has told us that there are animals that are a huge threat to the villagers nearby. I need you all to go there and suppress them." Aoto informed the trio.

"Is that our first mission?" Kiyoshi asked with excitement.

"Yes," Aoto replied, "This is a C-Rank mission. This scroll has a copy of the mission details and you will also accompany the client back to the village as well."

"Understood," said the two of them while Haru nodded his head in understanding.

"Please leave as soon as possible," Aoto instructed as the group turned around and began to make their way out of the room, "Ryuuya will lead the mission."

Upon leaving the room, the group immediately got ready as they made their way home to pack while Ryuuya was tasked with collecting the client.

In the next half an hour, the trio and the client could be seen making their way out of the village's North entrance.

A sour expression could be seen on the client's face as he stared at the kids in front of him. He was Daiko, the village trader who would often make his way to nearby towns to sell the village's produce.

When Ryuuya found him and told him about the team that was allocated to them, Daiko was immediately furious and he charged into the Kazekage's office.

He asked for a change in the team that was to oversee this mission but much to his disappointment, Aoto rejected him as he informed them that the team that was going to help him solve this issue was probably the most qualified out of all the new recruits.

In the end, Daiko was left with no alternative and forced to accept the trio unhappily.

'The village is not taking me seriously at all,' he thought in his head with unhappiness, 'They sent a whole team of fresh Genins with me. Even better, one is mute and the other is blind...'

His thoughts were soon interrupted as Ryuuya walked over to him and asked, "Daiko-san, could you please tell us more about the animals?"

At this, the man sighed, "There are around ten of them. They mostly come out at night and attack our livestock and crops."

"Omnivorous..." Ryuuya commented as he began to ponder, "Do you know what the animal looks like?"

Hearing this, a slightly downcast expression appeared on Daiko's face as he replied, "They are very fast and extremely good at sneaking around. Many of us are not able to see the animal because it blends in perfectly with the night's darkness."

"Have any of the villagers been attacked before?"

A sad expression appeared on Daiko's face as he spoke in a looming tone, "Yes... That's actually the reason why I came over to ask for your help. One of the animals attacked our farm when my son was on night watch. By the time we made it to him, he was on his last breath and we were not able to save him."

The atmosphere instantly took a depressing turn.

"I'm sorry about that," Kiyoshi spoke as he patted the man on the back, "I know that with our age, we don't look reliable and that you would much rather have an older team."

"But don't worry," Kiyoshi's tone turned into one of confidence, "I can guarantee you that we won't let any of you die while we are at the village."

Hmm! Hmm! Haru also nodded in acknowledgement as he also patted Daiko's back.

"Haha..." Daiko weakly laughed as he saw that the kids actually felt his pain.

"Tell me about yourselves, how did you end up getting the injuries that you have," he asked.

Hearing this, a sad expression appeared on all the boys' faces.

"We're all orphans who used to live in the slums of Suna," Kiyoshi answered.

"Huh? How did you end up here then?" he asked curiously.

"All the kids in the slums were invited to a shinobi recruitment exam in the slums," Kiyoshi answered, "But it turned out to be a sham and it was actually there to get rid of all the kids in the slums."

Daiko began to understand what must have happened but kept silent as he let Kiyoshi continue.

"We retaliated so that the other kids could have time to run away but we got captured. They interrogated us for answers on where the kids had run off to... They ended up pouring boiling hot water on Ryuuya's eyes and down Haru's throat."

At this, both Ryuuya and Haru seemed to flinch as it caused them to re-live an unwanted memory.

Daiko became completely downcast as it was his turn to pat the back of the kids.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," he stated, "That's no way for the shinobi of one of the great five villages to act."

"I know," Kiyoshi answered.

"Daiko-san, despite this. Please continue to use our village's services for your needs," Ryuuya requested, "There are a lot of bad ninjas in the village. We have suffered from them, but there are also those who working their asses off to feed their family and friends. Our village is getting fewer jobs which is pushing our economy to the ground."

A shocked expression appeared on the man's face as he began to feel extremely bad for the kids and he felt extremely disappointed at Suna for how they were handling things.

"Why don't you just quit and go to other villages?" he asked, "The living conditions will be better than here."

At this, Ryuuya let out a loud sigh as he spoke, "It is those kids that are keeping us here."

Daiko was caught off guard.

"The reason why we became ninjas and worked out asses off is for the sake of those kids," Ryuuya elaborated, "The moment I lost my sight, I knew that we were too weak to do anything for the kids. So we decided that we would work towards developing the village so that there would no longer be any more kids who should have to live under the same conditions that we were once under."

A week later...

"Finally! I can see the village!" Daiko exclaimed as he pointed at a faint silhouette in the distance. In that instant, Ryuuya could be seen making some hand signs as he then placed his hand on the ground.

In the distance, a series of trees could be seen densely packed together. It could have been called a forest but the issue was that there was not a single green leaf that was visible. Next to the forest, the outline of a village could be seen.

They stopped for a whole minute as they waited for Ryuuya to finish. The atmosphere then suddenly turned negative as a worried and tense expression appeared on Ryuuya's face as he shouted to them, "I'm not sensing any movement in the area. Something bad may have happened! Let's hurry!"

At this, the group left off in a sprint as Kiyoshi carried Daiko on his back and they all ran towards the village.

___________________

Hello, welcome to today's chapter upload.

There is nothing special going on today. I will see if I can be free in the next few days to write some extra chapters but it is completely reliant on my mood (sadly)

Enjoy reading.

If you have any questions, please ask here.

Also, we are currently in the top 60 of power rankings in the last 30 days. Could we try to get to top 30 in the next 20 days?

If we do succeed, I will post my original plan for the Hitori version as a one off special chapter so you guys will know what you were in for if I had completed the other version.

Thank you so much for 500 'adds to library' as well.

I'll grant you all a special treat.