It didn't take long for Asuma, Shikamaru, and Choji, three strong young men, to work together and finally carry the semi-conscious Rock Lee into the Curry of Life Restaurant.
Rock Lee, looking extremely listless, took a bite of the curry rice, and immediately, his eyes lit up with spirit. Then, with a look of firm determination, he ate the entire large plate of curry rice.
Only then did he look around.
"Ah! It's Asuma Sensei! Thank you for saving me!" He bowed ninety degrees very formally. Asuma, who was sitting there with his legs crossed, still with a cigarette in his mouth, quickly stood up and returned the bow.
Then he looked at Ino, first with confusion, then with excitement: "You're Miss Yamanaka, the one who defeated Uchiha Sasuke, right? I heard you were the top student in your class! That's amazing. I heard Neji mention your name, the genius Ninja Ino! If I defeat you, I'll be qualified to challenge Neji, right? This is great, I'm going to challenge you!"
Ino covered her forehead; she knew this would happen.
Just as she was trying to figure out what to say to put him off, Rock Lee asked Granny Sansho for two more plates of curry rice.
He mumbled as he ate, "Today's training mission must be completed today. If I can't do it, I'll jump rope three thousand times... Mmm! So delicious! Challenge... Mm, delicious, delicious, next time, I will definitely challenge you! Granny, another plate!"
He ate three large plates of curry rice, said to be ten times spicy. His face was beet red from the spice, but he didn't drink any water.
He left a mumbled sentence, then, just as he had arrived, he rushed out of the room and sprinted into the distance.
Anyone who didn't know would have thought he'd dined and dashed.
Ino looked in his direction, then looked up at the sun, and quickly shouted, "Hey, if you keep running west, you'll reach the Land of Wind! Run back! Run back!"
Her voice was a little soft, and he was a bit far away, so Rock Lee didn't hear what she said clearly.
The strong man turned back, extended his right arm, gave a thumbs-up, and said something completely irrelevant: "Thanks for the support! I'll keep working hard!"
Thanks for what?! Ino's face was covered in black lines. She watched helplessly as Rock Lee ran all the way west. What the heck, our Konoha Village is in the east! What are you going to do? You're not planning to go early and kick Gaara to death, are you?
Lee ran extremely fast, but he was still overexerted. Not long after he ran out, his speed dropped. Asuma chased after him and brought him back to the Curry of Life Restaurant.
He needed rest and to replenish his energy now, and the Curry of Life Restaurant was clearly not suitable.
They couldn't just ignore him, but the biggest taboo during a mission was to have unexpected complications. Team 10 couldn't abandon their mission to accompany Lee; doing so would violate a whole host of Ninja regulations. What to do? Call someone to take him back to the Village.
Asuma understood Might Guy and Rock Lee, the master and disciple, very well. He scratched his head, wrote down the situation on a scroll, released a messenger hawk, and then stayed in the curry shop to await the Village's reply.
Ino had nothing to do, so she bought two fish from Granny Sansho and continued to practice the entry-level Medical Ninjutsu she called the "Salted Fish Revival Jutsu."
The two fish were quickly tortured to death by her. They lay where they fell; revival was impossible.
Ino complained a bit about the difficulty of Medical Ninjutsu, then continued to practice.
Granny Sansho mainly made curry rice, and there weren't many live fish in the kitchen, so she sent Shikamaru to fish by another river and gave the dead fish to Choji for dinner.
Ino–Shika–Choji began to cooperate: Shikamaru fished, Ino was responsible for "killing" the fish, and Choji used Granny Sansho's kitchen to cook the fish.
The next morning, Lee's teacher, Might Guy, arrived.
"It's alright! I'll take this idiot back to the Village, don't worry, nothing will happen." Might Guy flashed what he considered a charming smile and sparkling teeth, then raised his arm to the four, giving a thumbs-up. He hoisted Lee over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and, without a second's delay, sped off into the distance.
It must be said, he truly ran fast. It took Ino and the others two days, traveling day and night, to get from the Village to the Land of Rivers. Considering the time it took for the messenger hawk to fly back to the Village, the cipher team to decipher the message, and finally for the message to be relayed to Might Guy, removing these delays, Teacher Guy might have completed the entire journey in just two or three hours.
He told them not to worry, and Asuma was very relieved, Ino even more so.
Are you kidding?! Who is Might Guy? He's Might Guy! The man Lord Madara called the strongest in Taijutsu.
The four bid farewell to Granny Sansho and headed to Oxalis Mine.
Actually, this mountain wasn't far from the Curry of Life Restaurant; it could be seen from inside the shop. However, looking at a mountain from afar can be deceiving. They only found the mission client, a local official of the Land of Rivers, on the afternoon of the second day. The official didn't provide much information about the Kurosuki Family.
Team 10 arrived at the small Village at the foot of Oxalis Mine that evening.
Dilapidated, that was the first impression upon entering the Village. There was a burnt smell in the air, and the villagers were all sallow and emaciated, like a group of walking corpses.
"Be careful, we might have already entered the enemy's sights," Asuma said.
Not only Ino and Shikamaru, but even Choji took out his Kunai, looking around with great vigilance.
Ino closed her eyes and formed the "Untouched" hand sign.
"Perception!"
She used her perception ability to search for Chakra reactions within the Village, and the result was quite surprising: this Village seemed very ordinary. Besides the four of them, there was no one else with a Chakra reaction.
Ino searched again and said, "Asuma Sensei, it's a bit strange... My perception ability hasn't detected any Chakra reactions in the Village or around the mine."
Asuma asked, "Do you think this mission doesn't involve enemy Ninja?"
Ino hesitated. Of course, she hoped the mission would be as simple as possible, and she had quite a bit of confidence in her perception ability, but the situation in this Village still felt odd.
No enemies at all? That was too fake.
She tried to voice her deduction: "No, I think there's a certain chance that enemy Ninja will appear. Their perception ability should be stronger than mine, which is causing suppression."
Asuma smiled: "Always stay vigilant; that answer is correct. Hmm, I agree with your statement. This Village and the Kurosuki Family are not simple. Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru enjoyed the feeling of playing chess against an enemy. He immediately came up with a strategy: "The enemy is hidden, we are in the open. Assuming our whereabouts have been exposed, they definitely don't want us to escape and attract more Konoha Village Ninja. We'll withdraw from the Village! If the enemy pursues us, we'll set an ambush and annihilate them. If they don't pursue, we'll return and secretly enter the Village to investigate."
---------------------------------
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!