"You Konoha people protect your clients like this?"
The employer, retrieved by Renya and his team, trembled with fury, his layers of fat shaking with each breath.
He had thought the jonin leading the squad had gone missing and that the three genin under him had been killed.
In panic, he had run several kilometers non-stop—the most exhausting experience of his life.
But in the end, he found out the bandits had been killed. He'd run all that way for nothing, so of course he was furious.
He planned to return to the village and post the portraits of Renya's team everywhere, warning everyone he knew never to hire them again.
Their service attitude was abysmal. He hadn't felt safe for even a moment.
Especially that jonin captain—disappearing the entire time without a clue what he was doing.
Terrible review. Absolutely terrible!
"Sorry about that. We'll give you a 1% discount this time," Renya said with a forced smile.
These days, money was hard to earn and food was hard to eat; even ninja faced employment pressure.
Sometimes, a smile was part of the job—it affected the village's reputation, after all.
Mainly, he had been too busy controlling the bandits and hadn't noticed the client had fled.
Orochimaru and the others lowered their heads in silence.
If they had cooperated earlier, none of this would have happened.
"Hmph, a 1% discount? Who do you think you're fooling?" the employer snorted. "After making me run that far, I deserve at least 2% off!"
"No problem!" Renya agreed without hesitation.
The employer saw how quickly he accepted and knew immediately he'd been shortchanged.
But he didn't care much—he was still determined to leave a bad review.
No amount of money could change that!
At this moment, Renya still hadn't realized that his team's reputation was about to go down the drain.
"Let's get going," Renya said with a smile. "We're almost at the destination."
Since Tsunade and the others had already gotten their experience, there was no point wasting time here.
After a quick round of bandaging, they were on the road again.
...
Once the mission was over, he could finally return to the village and rest.
They had already wasted enough time on the way.
Every team had a minimum number of missions they needed to complete each month—once that was met, they could take a break.
Of course, if they needed more money, they could always take on more jobs.
Renya planned to spend the remaining half month lying flat and relaxing, while Tsunade and the others could handle D-rank missions back in the village.
That way, they could still meet their quota and earn a bit of money.
The best part—no danger involved, and he wouldn't need to tag along.
After all, missions like weeding, cleaning garbage, walking dogs, catching cats, or babysitting weren't exactly life-threatening.
Those were just job opportunities for fresh genin.
Since most lacked the ability to take on C-rank missions, D-rank tasks were their only source of income.
Not everyone was a genius. Most ninja spent their lives as chūnin.
Those with poor talent would remain genin forever.
Jonin were always a minority—perhaps one in thirty compared to chūnin.
D-rank and C-rank missions existed precisely for those newly graduated genin and for ninja without much talent.
"Our mission's complete."
Without any interference, they smoothly escorted the employer to his destination.
"Mm, here's your payment," the employer said, handing a pouch of money to Renya. "Forget the discount."
A 2% cut barely made any difference anyway.
Besides, he still needed to warn his acquaintances to steer clear of Renya's team.
If he accepted the discount now, how could he convincingly badmouth them later?
He needed a clean conscience for that!
"Ha ha, you're generous," Renya said, grinning as he took the pouch—completely unaware of how serious the situation actually was.
"Phew, finally done," Jiraiya exhaled in relief, afraid that another group of powerful bandits would jump them on the road.
Of the three, his injuries were the worst; if they ran into any more enemies, he'd only hold them back.
"Idiot, that's what you get for being reckless," Tsunade muttered.
"I know, I know, I won't do it again," Jiraiya replied weakly.
Who could have known those mountain bandits would be that strong?
Normally, such remote areas wouldn't even have bandits—and if they did, they should've been just ordinary thugs!
Still, a hard lesson learned was a lesson earned. He'd make sure not to lower his guard next time.
"Our opponents this time were indeed very strong," Orochimaru said, his eyes flickering with suspicion.
For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been manipulating things behind the scenes...
Thinking of this, he instinctively glanced at Renya walking ahead of the group. His intuition told him their teacher had something to do with it.
After all, those two bandits had hesitated at the end—as if someone had forced them to hold back.
Otherwise, the three of them wouldn't have gotten away with just a few wounds!
"Orochimaru, what are you staring at?" Jiraiya asked curiously.
Seeing Jiraiya's dumbfounded look, Orochimaru sighed helplessly.
"Nothing."
Even if he explained, this idiot wouldn't understand anyway. No point wasting breath.
Jiraiya scratched his head, confused as ever. What was Orochimaru's problem now?
"Ouch!"
Because of the exaggerated scratching, he accidentally tugged at the wound on his back, baring his teeth in pain.
"Idiot."
"Moron."
Jiraiya: "..."
"Here, split the money among yourselves," Renya said, tossing the pouch to Orochimaru.
This time, he didn't intend to withhold any of their pay—the amount was negligible to a jonin anyway.
He might as well give it all to them to help with their medical expenses.
Especially Jiraiya—his share alone probably wouldn't even cover his treatment.
"Renya-sensei, you're not taking any?" Orochimaru asked, staring blankly at the pouch in his hands, surprise flashing in his eyes.
Not only did Renya-sensei not dock their pay, he gave them everything?!
"No need, you three keep it," Renya said, waving his hand casually.
Since he was the one who had beaten them up while controlling the bandits, he considered it compensation for their injuries.
Anyone who hurt others secretly would feel a twinge of guilt and try to make amends.
"Yes!" Tsunade cheered, jumping up with joy.
Renya finally did something decent for once! With this money, she could head straight to the casino and win it all back!
She'd lost the ten thousand ryō she earned earlier in just a few minutes of gambling—now she finally had a chance to make a comeback!
"Renya-sensei, you're the best!" Jiraiya grinned brightly. Tonight, he could finally have a big dinner—and maybe buy some new kunai and shuriken too!
"Thank you, Renya-sensei," Orochimaru said, tightening his grip on the pouch, gratitude filling his heart.
For a civilian-born ninja, earning money wasn't easy. This amount would sustain him for quite some time.
"Ha ha, it's nothing," Renya said, basking in their praise. "I'm always good to my students."
It seemed he had completely forgotten about the part where he'd controlled bandits to beat them up.
"Thank you, Renya-sensei/san!" the three said together, their faces filled with emotion.
Renya-sensei really was a good teacher.
They silently promised themselves that someday, they would repay his kindness!
If only they knew the truth… they probably wouldn't feel that way at all.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo