3: Chapter 03: An Unexpected Encounter with an S-Rank Missing-Nin!
3: Chapter 03: An Unexpected Encounter with an S-Rank Missing-Nin!
The weather was beautiful today.
Clear skies with a gentle breeze.
And with it being a summer morning, there wasn’t even a hint of chill in the air.
When Aoba arrived at the Takeda family’s doorstep, Takeda-san was already waiting there.
Three children stood around her, two boys and a girl.
“You’re here,” Takeda-san greeted him with a smile.
“I’m leaving Shota and the others in your care.” “Don’t worry.” Aoba nodded.
“Hello, nii-san!
My name is Satsuki.” The little girl was the first to greet him.
“Hello, Satsuki.” Aoba smiled back.
“I’m Kotoharu.” “Hello, Kotoharu.” “Aoba-niisan, let’s go!” Shota took the five 200 ryo bills of pocket money from Takeda-san and urged Aoba to hurry up and leave.
The three children were already bursting with excitement over today’s forest adventure.
“Then let’s get going!” Aoba took the lead and headed toward the village exit.
The three children bounced along behind him.
The entire way, the children chatted excitedly.
They went from talking about catching a frog yesterday to folding a thousand paper cranes.
Eventually, the topic turned to shinobi.
Shota proudly patted his chest.
“My dad said that in two months, I’m going to enroll in the Ninja Academy!” “Whoa!
You can become a shinobi?
That’s so cool!” “Will you still play with us after you become a shinobi, Shota?” The two children were filled with envy.
From an early age, the people of Konoha were taught about the strength of shinobi.
Many children dreamed of becoming shinobi and protecting the village when they grew up.
“Of course!
Even if I become a shinobi, I won’t forget about you guys!” Shota made the promise with complete seriousness.
“Yay!” Satsuki was delighted.
Kotoharu looked a little disappointed.
“My dad won’t let me attend the Ninja Academy.
Otherwise, I could become a shinobi with you.” “There’s nothing I can do about that.” Shota helplessly spread his hands.
Listening to the children chatting happily, Aoba casually joined the conversation.
“Why do you guys want to become shinobi?” The shinobi world wasn’t nearly as glamorous as it appeared on the surface.
An ordinary child who graduated from the Ninja Academy might remain a genin for their entire life.
With enough luck, they might become a chunin.
Being an ordinary genin wasn’t so bad.
As long as they didn’t encounter wartime or some unexpected incident, they could spend their entire lives accomplishing little while remaining relatively safe.
But once they became chunin and started stepping into the darker side of the shinobi world, they would face all kinds of life-or-death missions.
The possibility of being treated as expendable and dying as cannon fodder was considerable.
As for becoming a jonin, an ordinary person without the advantage of a powerful bloodline would find reaching that level extraordinarily difficult.
If Aoba hadn’t obtained the system, after failing the Chunin Exams three times in a row, he might have given up already.
“Because my dream is to become Hokage,” Shota said with a completely serious expression.
“And of course, I have to become a shinobi first if I want to become Hokage!” “Whoa!
Shota, that’s such an amazing dream!” The other two children looked at him with admiration.
Aoba thought to himself, Sure enough, in the shinobi world, becoming Hokage is the dream of so many people.
I’m much more practical.
I just want to make money.
Looking toward the Hokage Rock in the distance, he asked, “Are you guys especially fond of the First Hokage?” “Yes!” “That’s right!
The First Hokage-sama was the greatest person in the village!” Kotoharu and Satsuki nodded vigorously.
Shota, however, had a different answer.
“No.
The person I admire most is the Fourth Hokage-sama!” “My dad saw him with his own eyes when he was fighting in the war.
He was known as Konoha’s Yellow Flash.
He was so cool!” Hearing this, Aoba immediately understood.
So Shota’s father, Takeda-san, is a fan of Minato Namikaze.
As they continued chatting, they soon left the inner part of Konoha and arrived at their destination.
The forest in the early morning carried a hint of coolness, while the lively cries of birds occasionally echoed through the trees.
The three children immediately began playing their so-called “adventure.” Shota firmly rejected the idea that they were merely playing a game, insisting that this was a trial they had to undergo before becoming shinobi.
Aoba, meanwhile, jumped onto a tall tree and began carefully observing his surroundings.
Everything was normal.
It was completely safe.
Making sure the three children didn’t stray beyond his field of vision, he pulled out a copy of Make-Out Paradise and occasionally flipped through a page or two.
It wasn’t that he was obsessed with this kind of book.
He was merely approaching it with the scholarly spirit of researching a bestseller.
After all, Make-Out Paradise was one of the famous works of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha.
Kakashi carried the book around with him every single day.
That made Aoba quite curious about what exactly was inside Make-Out Paradise.
Once he’d actually read it, though, there really wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about it.
The plot was old-fashioned and lacked much originality.
However, Jiraiya’s experience was extensive, and his observations were extremely meticulous.
His descriptions of the details were remarkably thorough.
As an introductory book, it was actually pretty decent.
Something to flip through when bored.
And so, the morning quietly passed.
The children remained perfectly safe and didn’t encounter any ferocious beasts.
Wonderful!
Aoba liked missions like this the most.
No danger.
No exhausting physical labor.
And the money came easily.
It was noon now, so it was time for everyone to head back.
Aoba leaped down from the nearly ten-meter-tall tree.
His clean and decisive landing brought the children’s fun to an abrupt end.
Naturally, the children wanted to keep playing.
Every one of them wore an unwilling expression.
But they were well-behaved.
Despite the reluctance on their faces, their bodies obediently followed Aoba.
“Once we get back, I’ll treat you guys to a huge feast!” Shota waved the five large bills in his hand and proudly announced that he would pay for everyone.
Then he carefully folded the money and tucked it into his pocket.
Seeing this, Aoba couldn’t help feeling emotional.
Sure enough, you can live pretty well in any world if you have money.
Even in a world belonging to shinobi.
Even ordinary shinobi had to run around constantly just to make money.
They had been walking for about ten minutes when Aoba noticed two blurry figures in the distance.
Both of them had their backs turned toward him.
But their clothing and those distinctive purple belts wrapped around their waists like snakes made their identities obvious.
At a glance, he knew they were shinobi from Otogakure.
One of the figures felt somewhat familiar to Aoba.
And judging from the way he sank into the ground to leave, it was undoubtedly Orochimaru.
“Orochimaru-sama, leave this to me.
Please take your time.” The other Oto shinobi lowered his head, watching Orochimaru depart.
Damn it!
Aoba immediately realized something was wrong.
The entire morning had passed without a single problem.
And yet, right when they were almost back at the village, trouble had appeared!
Orochimaru was an S-rank missing-nin of Konoha!
According to the original timeline, the Chunin Exams wouldn’t officially begin for another two days, and Orochimaru wasn’t supposed to reveal himself until then.
If an outsider happened to witness his movements ahead of schedule, Orochimaru would definitely kill them to silence them!
The three children hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
They were still chatting and laughing.
Aoba immediately put a finger to his lips, signaling them to keep quiet, then swiftly led the children into a patch of grass nearby.
Only after Orochimaru’s figure had completely disappeared did Aoba finally breathe a sigh of relief.
If a shinobi at the level of a Kage had his eyes on me, I’d probably be finished.
If that happened, he’d be in serious trouble.
At that moment, Aoba began observing the Oto shinobi who hadn’t left yet.
His features were unmistakable.
He was completely different from an ordinary person.
He had six arms.
Information about him instantly surfaced in Aoba’s mind.
Kidomaru, one of the Sound Four.
His strength is at least at the level of a Special Jonin!
The differences in strength between shinobi were stark.
Setting aside various plot advantages and bloodline abilities, the hierarchy was clear.
Jonin.
Chunin.
Genin.
The difference in strength between ranks was enormous.
An ordinary chunin could easily crush an ordinary genin.
A Special Jonin, meanwhile, stood somewhere between a chunin and a jonin.
Their overall ability might not reach the standard required of a full-fledged jonin.
But beyond ordinary ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, they possessed specialized abilities capable of significantly increasing their combat power.
Against an ordinary chunin, they held an overwhelming advantage.
The chances of losing were almost nonexistent.
As one of Orochimaru’s elite subordinates, Kidomaru naturally possessed a Cursed Seal.
His strength was nothing to scoff at.
Whatever happens, I absolutely cannot let him discover us!
Aoba remained on high alert.
He covered the mouths of the frightened and uneasy Satsuki and Kotoharu with his hands, preventing them from making a sound.
Shota, however, didn’t require his attention.
As expected of a shinobi’s child, despite being only six years old, he was able to keep himself completely silent.
Although he was terrified, he still managed to suppress his fear.
“What a pain~” Kidomaru casually patted his forehead and began walking away in the opposite direction as though nothing had happened.
His pace wasn’t hurried or slow.
He seemed not to have noticed the presence of outsiders, and he gradually moved farther and farther away.
Aoba held his breath and concentrated, daring not to relax for even a moment.
Whoosh!
A kunai with an explosive tag attached suddenly shot out from Kidomaru’s hand!
Its target was the four people hiding in the grass!