Chapter 38: Clearing out Snoop Dogg’s stash

Chapter 38 - Clearing out Snoop Dogg's stash The silence in the Hokage's office was finally broken when Hiruzen gave his order "I will inform Utakata about the development. Until then, the Anbu will take over the duties." With that, the scene shifted to Team 1, who were rushing forward, following their sensei. Unlike before, Utakata did not flicker away this time. Instead, he kept his pace just ahead of his students, making sure they followed him closely. Ren, Yugao, and Hitoshi didn't question it and simply obeyed, sprinting behind him. As they ran, Ren quickly recognized the area they were heading toward. Training Ground 44. The infamous Forest of Death. He had visited the area once during one of his tours around Konoha, and he recalled that there were only a handful of houses in the vicinity. The team finally stopped in front of one such house, which looked so fragile it could collapse at any moment. The fences around the house were practically non-existent, and the overall condition made it clear that whoever lived here didn't care much for maintenance. Utakata stepped forward, his posture straight and expression unreadable. A moment later, a very, very old man shuffled into view. "Yoshido-san," Utakata greeted, his tone noticeably colder than usual. "Team 1 is here to complete the mission you posted." Ren was certain he had never heard his sensei speak in such an icy tone before. The old man made an indecipherable grunt, clearly not understanding what was said. Utakata didn't repeat himself immediately, simply waiting as the man took a moment to process his words. After a few seconds, the elderly man finally stepped forward incredibly slowly. "Ah, right... the mission," the old man muttered, his voice as frail as his appearance. He paused, squinting at the three Genin standing behind Utakata, and let out a dismissive scoff. "I told that brat to send a competent team, and he sends me a bunch of kids. Hmph." The three young shinobi blinked. Brat? The old man grumbled to himself, shaking his head. "Looks like I'll have to remind him how I kicked his ass back in the day..." By this time, Ren had already drawn a conclusion. 'This guy is old. Like, seriously old. If he can call the Hokage a brat, his age must be close to that of the First Hokage.' Utakata, still expressionless, didn't respond to the man's mutterings. Instead, the old man continued. "Alright, well, do your work. The weeds have grown so much in just a few days because of my back pain." He pointed lazily toward the area around Training Ground 44. The three Genin followed his gesture. Then they froze. The Forest of Death was huge. It had sixteen different entrances, each with a large open clearing for shinobi to gather before entering the dangerous forest itself. Yet, the old man wasn't finished talking. "The area around Entrances 13 to 16 hasn't been cleaned for a few days, so the weeds have grown wild. You kids take care of it." There was a long, tense silence. Then, in perfect sync, the three young Genin turned their heads back toward their Jonin sensei as if asking for confirmation. Yugao's eye twitched slightly, and she finally voiced what they were all thinking. "...Garden?" Utakata met her gaze without any change in expression. "He is the" He paused for a brief moment before finishing. "Caretaker." The Genin had no words. They simply accepted their fate as shinobi of the Leaf and nodded. "Understood, sensei." Utakata nodded approvingly. "We have received the mission. Divide the work, each of you will take one gate, and you will work together on the last one." With nothing else to say, the three flickered away. Yugao took Gate 13, Ren picked Gate 14, and Hitoshi took Gate 15. None of them spoke. They simply got to work. After a long day of training, Ren's entire body was sore, but his chakra reserves were still almost full. Since this was a D-rank mission, there was no restriction on using jutsu, so he decided to rely on Wind Style jutsus to finish the task more efficiently. The Wind Cutter Jutsu was the best choice. Unveiling his clawed gloves, he activated the jutsu, but instead of using all the blades at once, he focused on one blade from each hand to conserve chakra. The technique worked, slicing through the tall, overgrown weeds with precision. However, Ren quickly realized a problem. His height was still too short compared to the weeds growing around the gate, making it harder to trim the area evenly. After thinking for a moment, an idea struck him. He tightened his gloves, lowered his arms until his claws were at waist level, and began to rotate slowly on the spot. Gradually, he increased his speed, moving faster and faster until he was spinning like a beyblade. Then, he activated Wind Cutter. The moment he did, his body started moving uncontrollably. Wherever he spun, the weeds were shredded cleanly, their remnants flying through the air. The ground around Gate 14 quickly started clearing up, but Ren realized another problem that he couldn't stop. His body kept spinning and moving forward, and the only way he could think of stopping was digging his claws into the ground. The moment he did, his momentum halted abruptly, and his body lurched forward. Ren fell face-first into the dirt. For a few moments, his vision spun wildly, and he simply lay there flat on his back, trying to reorient himself. Noticing the sudden strom of weeds near Gate 14, Yugao walked over to investigate. As she arrived, she found Ren sprawled on the ground, eyes rolling as he tried to recover. She raised an eyebrow. "What exactly were you doing?" Ren, still breathing heavily, managed to reply between gasps. "Easy... huff method... huff trying..." Yugao looked at him skeptically before glancing at the partially cleared area around the gate. "You were trying an easy method?" she repeated, unconvinced, given his current state. Ren, who had managed to sit up by now, rubbed his head and chuckled. "I thought it would be easy... but it wasn't." Despite his exhaustion, he couldn't help but smile as his mind raced. This spinning technique might not have been the best for cutting weeds, but it had potential for cutting *cough* he stopped himself as he remebered he had read about Wind Jutsus that created hurricanes, and there were also Taijutsu techniques that used rotational force. 'If I can combine this idea with those two I can create a large-scale wind-based attack," Ren thought to himself. However, he immediately realized a flaw. 'I'll need to figure out how to stop myself without crashing... otherwise, I'll just be a self-destructive tornado.' Shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts aside for now and got back to work. By the time the three Genin finished the task, nearly two hours had passed. What made the mission more exhausting was that Yoshida-san wasn't satisfied with just trimming the weeds. He wanted them completely uprooted. So instead of just cutting them down, they had to dig and pull them out manually, making the work twice as difficult. Ren couldn't help but think, 'Sensei must have done this mission too in the past, that's probably why he was so cold to this old man. When they were finally done, Utakata collected Yoshida-san's signature as proof of completion, and the team once again rushed toward the Hokage Tower to submit the mission. Upon arrival, Utakata took Hitoshi with him to the mission center on the ground floor of the Hokage building. Before leaving, he instructed, "You will each take turns learning how to submit mission reports. Once I've shown you how, this responsibility will be yours." Ren and Yugao nodded while Hitoshi followed Utakata inside. When they reunited, Utakata gave his final instructions for the day. "Tomorrow. 8 AM." Then, with a flicker, he was gone. The three exhausted Genin didn't bother making small talk. With tired nods, they parted ways and headed home for some well-earned rest. After returning home, Ren wasted no time heading straight for a bath. The day's mission had left him completely covered in dirt and sweat, thanks to hours of digging up weeds. By the time he finished and sat down for dinner, he casually recounted the events of the mission to his father. The moment he mentioned Yoshida-san, however, Juichi's expression darkened visibly. Ren instantly caught on. 'So, they did this mission too... multiple times, maybe.' Once dinner was over, he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, still thinking about his father's reaction. 'I still don't know who the third member of their team was... and what kind of person their sensei was.' He decided he would ask his father another time. Lying in bed,Ren opened his system notifications to check for any rewards from his first mission. A message popped up. [CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR FIRST D-RANK MISSION.] REWARD: 20 SYSTEM POINTS (CONVERTIBLE TO 2 JONIN-LEVEL POINTS) [NOTE: THIS REWARD IS ONLY ISSUED FOR THE FIRST MISSION. THE USER WILL RECEIVE 1 SYSTEM POINT FOR EVERY 10 D-RANK MISSIONS COMPLETED. MISSION PANEL IS NOW OPEN.] Ren nodded as he processed the information. [MISSIONS: D-RANK – 0/10] He converted the points into 2 Jonin-level points and immediately invested them into Vitality. [VIT +2] [VIT: 56] As he lay in bed, Ren thought about the system's reward structure. '1 point for every 10 missions... That's basically 1 Jōnin-Level Point every three months at our current pace.' It was clear to him that the system rewarded growth relative to his own strength. 'If my strength wasn't already this high, maybe the rewards would've been better. But since I've pushed my stats to this level, the system recognizes that D-rank missions don't challenge me.' Ren stared at the ceiling, contemplating. 'If I had graduated earlier, the mission rewards might have been better... but my physical training wouldn't have reached this level. If I had graduated later, I might not have even received points from D or maybe even C-rank missions.' The realization reassured him. 'Staying in the academy for that extra year was definitely the right choice.' Satisfied, he let his thoughts drift away. Sleep quickly took over, and before he knew it, he was snoring lightly. {A/N:- Some might think that it was a nerf but think about it. If he received 1 point for every D rank mission he would get 3 jonin level points (10 system points= 1 JP) in a month and that too from D rank missions which would be totally broken something I do not wish happen. Anyway check if the math is correct and tell me what you think}