Yuhi quietly whispered a few words to Asuma, her voice kept very low. The six younger Genin felt it was inappropriate to listen, so they all lowered their heads and ate their meat.
Asuma initially shook his head, but under Yuhi's insistence, he could only awkwardly nod.
He cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention: "Hahahaha, it seems I forgot to ask something earlier. Well, you all know me, I'm Asuma Sarutobi, and my dream is… I want to understand the true meaning of the Jade. Now it's your turn, please introduce yourselves one by one."
He had intended to say, "Just say whatever you like," but under Yuhi's gaze, he had no choice but to change it to a very serious "self-introduction."
Ino had been waiting for this question. She quickly raised her right hand and said brightly, "I'm Ino, and my dream is to become an excellent Female Ninja like Lady Tsunade!"
Shikamaru's expression was a little awkward. Seeing everyone staring at him, he casually replied, "I'm Shikamaru Nara. I don't really have a dream; I just want to marry an ordinary-looking woman and live a peaceful life."
Asuma's smile was a bit stiff as he finally looked at Choji.
Choji scratched his face. Did he have a dream? Did he? Probably not!
"My name is Choji Akimichi. I want… I want to eat all the delicious food? Does that count?" Seeing Asuma's half-smile, he quickly changed to a more appropriate statement for a Ninja: "I want to train hard and become an excellent Ninja, not allowing anyone to insult my comrades, and eat some delicious food during my breaks?"
Team 10 had finished, and now it was Team 8's turn.
Kiba Inuzuka was the most proactive: "I want to become Hokage!"
Ino smiled and nodded. 'Boy, even if you count this life, your next life, and the life after that, you still won't become Hokage!'
Shino Aburame thought for a moment: "I hope to become a Ninja who receives a lot of attention."
Finally, it was Hinata's turn. The young girl hesitated for a long time, then stammered, "I hope… I hope to become brave, just like Ino. I hope to gain my father's approval, I hope…" Unable to think of anything else, she summarized: "I hope to become an excellent Female Ninja."
Asuma and Yuhi exchanged glances, both feeling that this child had a clear understanding of herself. She indeed lacked courage and confidence, and compared to the confident Ino, her shortcomings were very obvious.
After the joyful meal, Team 10 was officially formed.
Since they were Konoha Village Ninja, they needed to work. Regardless of whether they came from a Ninja clan or were commoners, a Ninja's job was to carry out various missions.
Jiraiya's bankbook was found by Naruto, and the string of zeros on it dazzled Naruto's eyes. Did he really earn all that money writing novels? There were emaciated farmers everywhere, and with such a low literacy rate, how many people read books? Most of his money was accumulated from missions.
The Ninja World has a clear classification for missions.
First, there are S-rank missions, which concern national secrets.
Then there are A-rank missions, which concern the movements of Ninja Villages and nations.
B-rank missions require Ninja to engage in combat, with a high probability of injury or even death.
C-rank missions involve the possibility of injury during execution.
And D-rank missions, which do not require combat and pose no threat to life.
Strictly speaking, Mizuki's incident could be considered a B-rank mission, but it could not be made public. Considering that Inoichi and Shikaku were also present for protection, the Village credited them each with one C-rank mission, with a reward of 50,000 ryo each.
Genin missions are basically D-rank, occasionally involving C-rank missions.
Chunin are involved in most C-rank missions and all B-rank missions.
Jonin are powerful and are only responsible for A-rank and S-rank missions.
Newly promoted Ninja like Ino could only take on those exceptionally trivial D-rank missions at first.
She had no complaints about this. Even a character like Orochimaru, with his particular style, had done 16 D-rank missions, so what did she have to complain about?
Just imagine Orochimaru rolling up his sleeves, squatting in the dirt to weed, feed pigs, and pick up trash… Ino felt she had no right to be delicate! Time to honestly do the missions!
However, the first mission stumped her.
Weeding the farmlands in the Village!
It sounded easy, and it looked easy, but seeing the worried farmer sighing nearby, Ino felt that things were not simple. She didn't believe that a farmer who had tilled the land his whole life couldn't do weeding. The farmer's expression seemed to indicate that this weeding mission had a hidden catch.
Shikamaru was also someone who thought three steps ahead. He stood by the farmland, observing carefully.
Choji didn't have as many schemes as them. From the Fatty's perspective, with two people in the team thinking, it was only reasonable for him to exert his strength, and there was nothing wrong with that. He even liked this mode of cooperation.
He rolled up his pant legs and went into the field, grunting and weeding.
Two minutes later—
"Ouch…"
"Help, Shikamaru, quickly save me… Am I going to die soon…?"
Choji lay weakly in the mud, his back and thighs covered in fist-sized leeches.
The standing water in the farmland was twenty to thirty centimeters deep, and it was full of leeches.
This was the main reason the farmer had posted a D-rank mission.
Choji had strong defenses; two stabs with a Kunai or two kicks wouldn't even break his defense. Leeches were different; they sucked blood, making the Fatty's face pale, leaving him weak and listless, looking like he wouldn't last much longer.
Shikamaru highly valued his best friend. He said to Ino, "You handle the standing water problem, and I'll treat Choji?"
The leeches on Choji were actually not difficult to deal with, just salt and fire, but seeing the dense mass of them, Ino still felt a bit disgusted.
She thought for a moment: "Alright."
Shikamaru went to find salt, while she stood by the farmland, carefully examining the standing water in the field.
Water Dragon Bullet definitely couldn't be used here. The mission clearly stated it was to weed, not to destroy the farmland! One blast of Water Dragon Bullet and everything would be gone.
Should her main body stand by the field and send a Shadow Clone to weed? That wouldn't work either; with so many leeches, a Shadow Clone would disappear after being sucked a couple of times.
Asuma watched from a distance, clearly not intending to help. This mission had to be solved by them alone.
Ino circled the farmland and quickly found a low-lying area. After some calculations, she used Earth Release to dig a reservoir and a ditch. Then, she used Water Release to guide all the standing water in the farmland, along with the various messy insects inside, into the reservoir.
By the time Shikamaru had completely removed all the leeches from Choji, she had also nearly completed the initial clearing of the farmland.
With the biggest obstacle in the mission cleared, the remaining physical labor was left to Shikamaru and Choji. Seeing the sun about to set, the two young men still hadn't finished, so Ino had to go down and help.
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