The three bickered for a while, and after about ten minutes, Aburame Shibi finally reached the front and walked up to the counter.
The person handing out missions was a lady in a professional outfit.
She asked gently: “Individual or team?” Aburame Shibi replied: “Team, newly graduated!” “Alright.” The lady stretched out her slender white hand, “Ninja Registration Cards!” While the lady was registering, Aburame Shibi asked: “How many D-rank missions are there in the village right now?” The lady handed him a booklet and replied: “Look it over yourself first; the ones checked off have already been accepted.” Aburame Shibi randomly flipped through a couple of pages, then pointed at one of the missions and said: “This one!” The lady took the booklet and confirmed: “D-rank mission, Number 35, correct?” “That’s right!” “Alright, here is the number tag.
Please go to the side to receive the mission scroll.” After saying that, the lady handed him a number tag.
Aburame Shibi walked to the side, handed the number tag to the anxious Inuzuka Aya, and said: “Go fetch the mission scroll.” Soon, Inuzuka Aya walked over holding the scroll, looking dejected.
“What’s wrong?” Gekko Hayate hurriedly asked.
Inuzuka Aya handed the mission scroll to Gekko Hayate, then stared indignantly at Aburame Shibi.
Gekko Hayate took a look, and his face also turned dark.
Uchiha Aozora took the scroll last.
As he expected, the first mission had absolutely nothing to do with the word “ninja”.
Squad Three’s initial mission was helping a lonely old man harvest rice.
The mission client was a rather wealthy disabled old man.
His family owned over twenty acres of land, all planted with rice.
The soil in Konoha village is fertile, and rice ripens twice a year.
Right now, it was exactly the time for the first crop to be harvested.
Because the land was vast and the rice was abundant, he couldn’t harvest it all alone, so he commissioned ninjas to do the harvesting.
Although Uchiha Aozora was mentally prepared, he still frowned.
It takes a normal person about half a day to harvest one acre of rice.
If the weather or terrain is bad, the time required is even more.
Dividing over twenty acres among the three of them meant each person was responsible for about eight acres.
Even though they had much better stamina than normal people, it would still take them three to five days.
The only good news was that the mission reward wasn’t bad.
Because the task was relatively heavy, the commission fee was much higher than typical D-rank missions, reaching a full 6,000 ryo.
After the ninja village took its 30% cut and the sensei took his 20% cut, the three of them could each get 1,000 ryo.
While Uchiha Aozora was calculating the accounts, Inuzuka Aya was complaining to Aburame Shibi.
“Sensei, we are ninjas, not farmers!” “Sensei…” Unfortunately, Aburame Shibi acted like an ostrich, pulling up his high collar and treating Inuzuka Aya’s complaints like wind blowing past his ears.
After a while, Uchiha Aozora really couldn’t stand Aya’s nagging anymore, and said: “We’ve already accepted it, we better complete it properly, otherwise the first mission on our ninja records will be a failure.” Hearing this, Inuzuka Aya glared at Aburame Shibi hatefully, then said reluctantly: “Fine.” After Inuzuka Aya quieted down, Aburame Shibi led the three listless members to the destination.
The mission client lived in a courtyard on the outskirts of Konoha, surrounded by endless fields.
Now that the rice fields were ripe, the heavy ears of rice undulated rhythmically; the wind sounded like rice waves, like a moving musical piece.
Walking into the courtyard, they found a huge ancient tree inside.
The old man was lying on a rocking chair under the tree, slowly waving a fan with his right hand to drive away the heat.
Seeing the four people come in, the old man rejoiced, his facial wrinkles squeezing together.
“Are you the ninjas here to harvest the rice?” Aburame Shibi nodded and showed him his ninja registration card.
The old man glanced at it twice and handed it back to Aburame Shibi, then took them outside to look at the fields.
After he stood up, Uchiha Aozora realized this old man was very tall and had a straight posture.
He pointed to a large flat expanse of rice paddies in the courtyard and said: “This is the field.” “The weather is getting hotter, it must be completely harvested in the next few days, otherwise the rice will all fall off.” Saying that, he raised his fan to block the climbing sun.
Looking at the two football-field-sized rice paddies and the gradually climbing sun, the three teammates looked at each other, bad premonitions arising in their hearts.
Aburame Shibi nodded and promised: “No problem.
But these children have never learned how to harvest rice, so please trouble yourself to teach them a bit, old sir.” The old man had no objection to this and took them into the rice paddies.
By the edge of the rice paddies, sickles, bamboo hats, bamboo baskets, and other tools were already prepared.
The old man picked up a sickle and walked into the rice bushes.
He bent his waist and back, held the sickle with one hand, grabbed the rice stalks with the other, and skillfully harvested the rice.
The harvested rice was then put to the side.
After harvesting about a bundle, the old man stopped and showed the three how to tie the rice.
“Just like this.
You harvest and tie the rice, and after everything is harvested, transport the rice to the threshing floor.” After demonstrating the correct harvesting posture, the old man went inside the house with Aburame Shibi to enjoy the cool air.
In the field, the three looked at each other, unexpectedly no one wanting to make the first move.
Seeing the sun getting bigger and bigger, Uchiha Aozora had no choice but to lead by example.
With someone taking the lead, Gekko Hayate and Inuzuka Aya also started working.
At first, the three were a bit unaccustomed.
Their speed was slow, they kept getting cut by the sharp rice leaves, and their eyes almost got stabbed.
Fortunately, the three had agile reactions and tough skin, so they didn’t get injured because of it.
Ninjas have agile bodies and strong learning abilities; soon they skillfully mastered the rice harvesting techniques.
By the time it was past 10 o’clock, the sun was too hot, and the three had to retreat to the courtyard.
In the afternoon, when the temperature was slightly lower, the three continued harvesting rice.
When the sun finally dipped below the mountain peak, Squad Three finally finished their first day of the mission and went home to rest.
After Uchiha Aozora ate dinner, he practiced the “Guided Qi Cultivation” method a few times, his body gradually washing away the fatigue under the nourishment of chakra.
He didn’t continue studying “Samadhi True Fire”, but instead found the box storing the ninjutsu scrolls and picked out the scroll for the “Shadow Clone Jutsu”.
“Samadhi True Fire” was a long-term grand project.
The most pressing matter right now was dealing with the busy and trivial D-rank missions.
Undoubtedly, the Shadow Clone Jutsu could quickly help him out.
Moreover, he also wanted to try out the protagonist’s cheating method.
Acting on his thoughts, he began to study the Shadow Clone Jutsu scroll carefully, word by word.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu is a B-rank ninjutsu developed by Senju Tobirama, widely spread across the ninja world.
Unlike the normal Clone Jutsu, Shadow Clones have physical bodies, possess the main body’s consciousness, can attack enemies, and upon dispersal, the clone’s memories and experiences return to the main body.
Compared to the powerful effects of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, its learning difficulty is surprisingly low.
As long as one has enough chakra, they can easily learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Although Uchiha Aozora had only been refining chakra for a year, his body, tempered for seven years, was comparable to the Uzumaki clan.
Therefore, his current chakra level was no lower than an ordinary Chunin, having already met the basic conditions for practicing the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
After carefully reading all the details of the chakra circulation, he didn’t even form seals; his chakra moved according to his will.
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” As soon as he spoke, a wisp of white smoke appeared out of thin air, and behind the smoke was a figure as tall as him.
When the smoke cleared, he saw the person standing with his back to him, and a lonely voice was heard.
“When the sea reaches its end, the sky becomes the shore; when the ninja way reaches its end——” (END CHAPTER) Thank you for the support, friends.