The mission reception hall bustled with noise, yet Kakashi had been scanning the mission board for a long time without choosing a single suitable assignment.
The main problem was the enormous gap in strength within his team.
The weakest two — Kurama Yakumo and Hyūga Neji — were, at best, barely above genin level even on a good day.
And their backgrounds were anything but simple: one was the cherished daughter of the Kurama clan, and the other the young heir of the Hyūga branch family.
The only one whose background seemed relatively less complicated was Uchiha Yujin… yet even he was considered a prodigy by Uchiha Fugaku, a child so valued that the clan head would even argue with the Third Hokage over him.
Kakashi absolutely did not want any of the three to encounter unexpected danger.
"Sensei, have you picked one yet?" Uchiha Yujin asked.
Lately he didn't bother with feather manipulation anymore — whenever he had free time, he would repeatedly activate his genetic lock.
Seeing Yujin in that state, Kakashi assumed he might have a fever and glanced back at him with concern.
"How about you go see a medical-nin first?"
"No need. Just pretend I'm a little drained." Yujin pointed at an A-rank mission on the board. "I think that one looks great. How about it?"
Kakashi immediately shook his head. "A-rank? Don't even think about it."
"What's there to not think about?" Yujin frowned, then tore the mission sheet off the board before Kakashi could stop him.
Kakashi had no choice but to bow apologetically to the ninja handling missions.
"Kakashi-sensei," Yujin said, pointing to the mission details, "We'd be chasing a rogue chūnin, Midori Aoi, and a genin, Morino Itsuki. Those two don't even require you to fight, right?"
By now, Kakashi had a good grasp of Yujin's combat ability.
Even so, he shook his head. "If it were just an ordinary chūnin, I might consider letting you go. But the problem lies in the reason for his defection."
Hyūga Neji tilted his head. "I remember him! I saw him when I first entered the academy. I was wondering why he disappeared lately… he defected?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes. Midori Aoi and Morino Itsuki stole the Second Hokage's Scroll of Seals and the Sword of the Thunder God before fleeing the village. ANBU chased them all the way to the Land of Iron but lost track of them. Recently, new intel suggests they're planning to move by water through the Land of Bears to reach Kirigakure."
"The problem," Kakashi continued, "is what they stole. The Second Hokage's Sword of the Thunder God is an extremely powerful ninja tool. Even a simple chūnin could unleash strength comparable to a jōnin with it. And near the Land of Bears… there might be Kirigakure shinobi waiting to receive them. Approaching a village we don't have diplomatic ties with is extremely dangerous."
Kakashi let out a helpless sigh as he looked at everyone's expressions.
He then pointed at Obito's Sharingan under his mask.
"Especially this… the four of us all possess kekkei genkai. If we fall into Kirigakure's hands, the blow to Konoha would be… extremely severe."
Uchiha Yujin suddenly interrupted him.
"Kakashi-sensei," he said, pointing at the small line of text at the bottom of the mission scroll, "this is a coordinated mission. Two squads can go together."
Kakashi rolled his eye.
"Of course I saw that. It's just because—"
Uchiha Yujin mercilessly exposed him.
"Because you're lazy, have no friends, and don't know which team to ask to go with you, right?"
Kakashi shrugged.
"Say whatever you want, unfilial disciple."
"Just take it already! An A-rank mission is dangerous, sure, but still better than running into Orochimaru like last time, right?"
Uchiha Yujin was practically wringing the mission scroll into dust, looking extremely anxious.
Kakashi narrowed his eye, noticing something.
"You're after the Sword of the Thunder God… or the Scroll of Seals, aren't you?"
"This has nothing to do with that! I just hate rogue ninja! Yes! I hate them! Konoha's kindness is something I could never repay even in a lifetime! I'll drag every traitor back to face the judgment of the sun!"
"I don't believe you."
"Kakashi!" Uchiha Yujin ground his molars. "You've done what, thirty? Forty S-rank missions? You get rich all by yourself and don't take us? Truly heartbreaking!"
Kakashi suddenly hesitated.
In his life, he had already completed over two hundred A-rank missions.
If he pushed himself a little more, he could easily reach three hundred.
And the number of S-rank missions he'd done… was a terrifying thirty-eight.
Chasing rogue chunin was the sort of thing he usually completed while spacing out.
With two burdens tagging along, though…
Uchiha Yujin immediately noticed Kakashi's hesitation.
He nudged Kurama Yakumo with his elbow.
Yakumo, sharp as ever, instantly spoke up.
"M-my uncle should be free lately! He's a chunin of the Kurama clan. If he joins our team, there definitely won't be a problem! Ah— a-and his commission… you don't have to pay it!"
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
This young lady clearly planned to take a chūnin as her personal bodyguard for a mission.
"Then—"
Seeing Kakashi soften his stance, Uchiha Yujin immediately unrolled the scroll.
He grabbed Kakashi's hand, pressed it onto the seal, and then handed the scroll to the mission ninja.
"Alright. One hour—"
Uchiha Yujin glanced at Kakashi's confused, almost dazed expression.
"No—twenty minutes! We regroup here in twenty minutes!"
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! We can't waste even a single minute when chasing a rogue ninja!"
- - - - -
Pennsylvania Avenue had already been jammed since five o'clock this morning.
The reason was simple—someone had photographed the new fighter jet of the world's second largest economy last night.
A group of high-ranking officials arrived early at the White House for an emergency meeting.
Among them was Marvel Yujin.
Of course, he wasn't here as a government official to give opinions.
He had been sent by Nick Fury—to serve as a bodyguard at the White House.
Next to Yujin, Black Widow flipped through a folder as she spoke.
"There's an organization you probably haven't heard of, and something happened recently. A superpowered individual who had been locked up escaped from prison. He can control magnetic fields. Simply put—he can throw a car at you."
Black Widow paused, feeling her explanation was still not vivid enough.
"I mean… every car on the entire street thrown at you at the same time."
Yujin's expression shifted slightly.
"I've heard of him. You're saying… he might come to the White House today and start a massacre?"
"It's hard to say," Black Widow replied.
"Because today is special. High officials from all over the country are gathered here. And according to the Director, if he really is Erik Lehnsherr—yes, the one who controls magnetic fields—"
"If he truly is Erik Lehnsherr, then—"
"I understand."
Yujin nodded heavily.
"So you want me to deal with him? Isn't that a bit much?"
"Of course not. Look—they're here!"
Following Black Widow's finger, Yujin saw several familiar figures.
Jean Grey, with her striking red hair.
Wolverine, with hair that looked like it had been shaped by an electric iron.
Cyclops, wearing his iconic red visor.
And Storm, her long white hair flowing like silver.
The original X-Men—almost all present!
Storm saw Black Widow and walked up to her very friendly, extending her hand for a shake.
Black Widow explained to Yujin, "We went through life-and-death situations together during a crisis. We know each other well."
Storm smiled and gave Black Widow a hug, then turned to Yujin. "And this is…?"
"He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. During the last Hammer crisis, he was one of the main personnel."
Storm extended her hand. "Nice to meet you."
Yujin didn't seem like it was his first time meeting mutants. He frowned slightly and said, "I thought the hatred between humans and mutants was irreconcilable. Do you really need to protect these human officials?"
"Hey, watch your words! You keep talking about humans. Are we monsters or something?" Storm snapped.
Yujin didn't even look back at Wolverine. Wolverine's claws had just appeared for a moment and retracted very quickly.
Seeing this, Wolverine's expression softened slightly, though he still couldn't help but notice how sharply Yujin separated mutants from regular humans.
Storm studied Yujin with curiosity. "Setting aside human-mutant issues for now, would you like to visit the X-Mansion? This is home for mutants."
"Come on. Even among mutants, there are distinctions. Colored, non-colored… if I go, won't I get strange looks?"
Storm, being part Caucasian and part Black, didn't quite know how to respond.
Before she could say anything, Cyclops interrupted, walking forward. "Alright, we should go inside. The enemy could arrive at any moment."
Seeing Cyclops move ahead, Jean Grey's eyes lingered on Wolverine and her boyfriend, Cyclops, before finally choosing to follow him.
Yujin commented quietly, "Complicated male-female relationships… fits my stereotype perfectly."
As crowds poured into the White House, today's meeting officially began.
A white man stood up. "It's just a model! How could they have built it before us?"
Another white, overweight man chimed in, "Exactly!"
A Black soldier slammed his fist on the table in anger. "They must have stolen our technology! They always do! Damn it!"
Meanwhile, a bespectacled white engineer, the team leader, spoke weakly, "We haven't even made the model yet…"
"That's just it—they stole our old fighter design and slapped a new shell on it! But inside, it's still our fighter!"
Outside the room, Yujin found the people inside far too agitated. He took a step toward the window across from him, where Jean Grey was standing.
"What's wrong?" Jean Grey asked kindly.
"Nothing. It's just… too noisy in there," he replied.
"Ah, don't you care about matters of national importance?" Jean Grey teased. "I thought all men would want to know about these things."
Yujin shook his head. "What I care about is the stars and the ocean."
Jean Grey covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "I didn't expect you to have a dream about space."
"Yeah… something like that," he said.
Looking at the "mutant" who didn't belong to Xavier's School, Jean Grey was very curious, "Is this how you grew up?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've never heard about you before," Jean explained. "Mutants grow up in harsh environments, and no one understands them. You didn't grow up in Xavier's School, so I'm guessing you must have faced a lot of judgment."
Yujin shrugged. "Compared to that, I care more about whether there are bugs in the last bite of my fried rice. You know, I try not to look at my food while I eat. That way, if there's a bug, I won't know. And if I don't know, it's just protein."
"Ah…" Jean Grey was about to laugh but suddenly realized there was a strange kind of wisdom in his words.
Perhaps… this was true wisdom.
Not caring… maybe it didn't matter whether someone was a mutant or not.
"So you…" Jean Grey was about to continue asking about Yujin's past when suddenly a black smoke enveloped the wooden door in front of them.
Immediately, a creature appeared inside the meeting room.
It had a demon's tail, piercing yellow eyes, and black skin that seemed to absorb the light.
Seeing it, Jean Grey shouted, "He's here!"
****
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