The young master of the Nara Clan, the young lady of the Yamanaka Clan, and the chubby young master of the Akimichi Clan had never done farm work.
Choji was still a bit dizzy from blood loss, and Ino had no strength at all.
The main force for weeding was Shikamaru, and the poor Shikamaru, a wealthy young master who loved to lie down and watch the clouds roll by, was so tired that he could barely straighten his back.
"Hmm, well done.
Let's go for barbecue tonight; your classmates are also there," Asuma said, walking over leisurely with a cigarette in his mouth.
Except for Choji, who recovered some blood after hearing about the barbecue, Ino and Shikamaru were too exhausted to speak, stumbling along to the barbecue restaurant.
Upon entering, they found quite a few familiar faces; not only Kurenai Yuhi's Team 8 was there, but Kakashi's Team 7 was also present.
Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura—the nine of them were reunited for the first time since leaving the academy, but the atmosphere of this reunion was not enthusiastic.
Ino pinched her nose, looking at Sakura with disdain: "Wide Forehead, why do you smell so bad?"
Sakura immediately exploded: "Ino, how are you any better than me? Look at your hair, it's a mess like a bird's nest!"
The group sat down and, after some conversation, discovered that everyone's D-rank missions on the first day had been incredibly painful!
Ino's Team 10 had gone to clear pests and weed.
Naruto's Team 7's mission was to pick up trash from a river; the river water stank, and not only was the smell strong, but there was also a lot of trash!
Sakura and Sasuke were both choked by the stench, but Naruto was truly a brave warrior; he finally found an opportunity to use his Shadow Clone Technique in front of others.
He assigned his Shadow Clones to pick up trash, and in the end, over a hundred Shadow Clones all returned to the main body, literally knocking him unconscious from the smell.
Hinata's Team 8's mission was to take care of children at a kindergarten.
Hinata spoke softly, so the children weren't afraid of her at all; Kiba was impatient and scared the children to tears three times, receiving a stern warning from the kindergarten director; and no one listened to Shino when he spoke.
The three of them were tormented to death by the mischievous children that day.
Ino understood immediately after hearing this: "This must be intentionally arranged, right?"
With her Water Release proficiency, the task of cleaning up riverbed trash should have been the easiest; she wouldn't even need to control her strength, as a single Water Dragon Bullet could solve all problems.
For taking care of children at a kindergarten, Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clone would be the most convenient.
For clearing farmland, Shino's insect control Ninjutsu would be the most suitable.
The Village's current arrangement clearly assigned unsuitable tasks to unsuitable people.
What a bunch of jerks.
Everyone was very tired and not in the mood for much conversation, so after eating and drinking, they quickly dispersed and went home.
Even with missions, Ino still kept two Shadow Clones training.
For her, missions generally wouldn't provide much improvement and were far less effective than her own training, but missions couldn't be avoided as they were a Ninja's primary duty.
Ino wanted to lay low in the Village, but some people didn't think that way.
At the strong request of Naruto from Team 7, the Village gave Team 7 a standard C-rank mission.
Considering that these Genin had never seen blood, only practiced Ninjutsu, and lacked real combat experience—not having killed anyone was unacceptable—Team 10 was also brought along.
The Third Hokage personally assigned them the mission.
After Ino saw the mission details, she realized it wasn't the Land of Waves as she had expected, but rather to eliminate a group of bandits on the border of the Land of Fire.
Bandits were merely moving targets against Ninja who possessed Chakra; however, Ninja are a high-offense, low-defense profession, or rather, all humans have the same defense, being flesh and blood.
Without precautions, ninety-nine percent of Ninja could be killed by a single Kunai; from this perspective, there wasn't much difference between Ninja and bandits.
To let the new generation of Ninja in the Village see some blood, the Third Hokage also put in a lot of effort.
The sixteenth Ino–Shika–Choji, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and the sole heir of the Uchiha Clan—these individuals were too important.
They had to complete their transformation from students to Ninja, and bandits were the best targets, but security work also had to be done well.
For a C-rank mission, not only was Kakashi, an elite Jonin, dispatched, but Asuma, the Hokage's own son, was also brought along.
The core idea was one: for the two of them to do a good job of protection.
Kakashi's offensive power was fine, but he often acted on impulse.
Asuma, who had served as the Lord of the Land of Fire's Guardian Ninja, had more experience in bodyguarding than Kakashi and had a gentle personality, making him capable of effectively protecting new generation Ninja like Ino and her teammates.
Before their departure, the Third Hokage, holding his pipe, specifically reminded them: "You are all the future of the Village.
When carrying out missions, you must obey the orders of your leading Jonin, but also have your own judgment.
This group of bandits has committed many atrocities, often abducting civilians.
As a Ninja Village of the Land of Fire, as Ninja of Konoha Village, you must eliminate them!
Only by killing all these bandits will the nearby civilians achieve true safety."
The Third Hokage's speech was long and tedious; this wasn't a Jonin meeting, and Kakashi didn't want to leave a bad impression on the younger generation of the Village as being negligent, so he could only pretend to listen attentively.
Asuma, as the Hokage's son, had fewer concerns; seeing the old man babble on endlessly, repeating himself, he simply went off to smoke by himself.
Ino and her team endured an hour of listening, and when even the always-cold-faced Sasuke was frowning deeply, the Third Hokage finally finished all his Precautions.
His words completely washed away Naruto's joy at receiving a C-rank mission, and as the group of eight left the Village, the future Seventh Hokage walked weakly.
When going on missions, in addition to their usual Ninja tools, Ino and her team each carried a black backpack.
These contained many items, including tents for outdoor camping, supplies, medicine, and food, so that even if someone became separated from the main group, they could survive for several days in the wild with these items.
Choji carried the most items, a large pile of things like iron pots, shovels, and seasonings, making it look less like he was going on a mission and more like he was going on a picnic.
The Land of Fire is a plains region, and the Village where the mission was located was in the southwest corner of this plain.
The climate there was hot and humid, and crop yields were not good; the common people were poor, too poor to eat, and could only become bandits in the mountains.
They became bandits and then robbed other common people, and so on, until there were more and more bandits.
Konoha Village had always adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards this; if the Land of Fire were peaceful, how would their Ninja make a living?
When the bandits gained some combat capability, Genin would be sent to harvest a wave of experience as if for training; a few years later, when there were more bandits, Konoha would send people to harvest another wave, recycling them.
Ino had a general understanding of this and did not refuse the mission.
Ninja ultimately had to kill people, and regardless of whether those guys were the "evil-doing" bandits mentioned by the Third Hokage, it was best if they were, and it didn't matter if they weren't; she needed these bandits to test her "capacity"!
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!