Chapter 142: The Upcoming Dungeon
And so, after successfully recruiting Kakuzu and Uchiha Shisui, the Ember organization welcomed its third core combat member—the explosion release genius from Iwagakure, Deidara.
After that heart-shaking "art demonstration" in the desert, Menma looked at the burning, fanatical, worshipful gaze Deidara directed at him and was already certain—even if he told this golden-haired youth to leave right now, he would absolutely find every possible way to cling on until he was acknowledged.
What followed became simple and straightforward. Menma successfully activated the Flying Thunder God Technique once again, bringing the still-immersed-in-ultimate-excitement Deidara directly back to the Ember organization's hidden underground base in the Land of Hot Water.
He brought Deidara before Hiashi for simple introductions. Looking at this youth who had been listed on intelligence scrolls not long ago as the Third Tsuchikage Onoki's personal disciple, now truly "recruited" so swiftly by their leader, Hiashi couldn't help but feel sincere admiration. The leader's execution was always so remarkable.
However, after brief admiration, a rather awkward practical problem presented itself—the current Ember organization didn't seem to have an immediate use for Deidara.
Unlike Kakuzu who could immediately get to work and demonstrate amazing talent in financial management and business operations, or Shisui who could quickly reorganize the Uchiha clan members and establish and train an Anbu force, Deidara's highly destructive explosion release art couldn't find a suitable position where he could truly shine during the organization's current phase focused on hiding, operating, and accumulating.
Faced with this situation, Menma provided a practical and long-term solution. He clearly pointed out that the current Deidara was in the golden period of rapid strength growth, and rather than forcing him into unsuitable duties, it would be better to let him focus wholeheartedly on self-improvement.
"At this stage, your task is to honestly train your art, deeply develop and study your explosion release, and continuously refine it," Menma told Deidara. "What you need is a place where you can freely practice without worrying about attracting outside attention."
Hiashi immediately understood the leader's intention and efficiently mobilized the organization's resources in the Land of Hot Water, quickly constructing a fully-equipped private training ground for Deidara in a remote mountainous area far from towns and populated areas.
This place was spacious and hidden enough to let him freely experiment with various explosives and develop the higher-level "art" he envisioned.
Menma also fulfilled part of his promise, thoroughly explaining the core principles of the Rasengan Ring's most basic energy compression and form stabilization to Deidara. Deidara listened with utmost focus, his eyes sparkling with understanding as he nodded thoughtfully.
Finally, he suddenly clapped his hands, his face blooming with incredibly excited and inspired expression.
"Decided! The name of my ultimate art's secret technique from now on—will be called 'C5: Explosive Spiral Ring'! Yeah!"
...Whatever, as long as he's happy. Menma looked at Deidara's self-satisfied appearance, as if he could already see new art blooming, and decided not to worry about naming issues.
Before leaving, Menma's final instruction to Deidara was that if he encountered technical difficulties during training that were hard to understand or overcome, he should record them in detail, and Menma would answer them all together during his next visit.
Thus, Menma's mission to recruit Deidara came to a successful conclusion.
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The scene shifts back to Konoha Village. During this time, Naruto, Satsuki, Sakura, and their supervising Jonin Kakashi had almost completely fallen into repetitive "working person" mode.
Finding cats, finding dogs, helping villagers with shopping, babysitting noisy children... the monotonous D-rank missions day after day were hair-pullingly tedious. Today, Team 7 had taken on what appeared to be another ordinary cat-catching mission.
However, this employer was far from ordinary. The client was actually the Fire Country Daimyo's wife, and what needed to be found was her beloved Hakimi—a small tiger.
What breed of cat is this? Naruto was quite puzzled. He remembered the Fire Country Daimyo's residence was in the Fire Capital, so why had this cat run all the way to Konoha?
The mission process wasn't difficult. Using ninja tracking techniques, they quickly found the escaped Hakimi in the woods at the village's edge.
But when they watched the portly Daimyo's wife press her powder-covered face intimately and almost suffocatingly against that clearly frightened, desperately struggling cat, Naruto seemed to understand why this cat would choose to escape again and again.
After completing the mission handover and receiving quite generous compensation, the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen sitting behind the mission desk and Iruka-sensei standing nearby both looked at them with relieved expressions.
"Kakashi, Naruto, Satsuki, and Sakura," the Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe and said slowly, "over this period, your team's efficiency and performance in completing missions have been quite outstanding and stable. I think it's time to assign you higher-level missions."
Hearing this, Satsuki and Sakura, who had been somewhat listless from doing menial work for so long, immediately brightened up, showing expectant expressions.
"Wait, Hokage-sama," Iruka-sensei seemed somewhat concerned, "might this be a bit too early for them? After all, they only became Genin recently..."
"Don't worry, Iruka." The Third Hokage gently interrupted him. "Naruto and the others aren't ordinary Genin. Moreover, what I'm preparing to assign them is just a C-rank mission—mainly escort work that theoretically won't involve ninja combat. Plus with Kakashi personally supervising, there won't be any problems."
After reassuring Iruka, Naruto immediately understood. It seemed the Land of Waves dungeon was about to officially begin. That famous NPC skilled in moral blackmail and mission rank falsification—the bridge builder Tazuna—was finally about to make his appearance.
But at the same time, another thought rose in Naruto's mind. This time, if the mission destination really was the Land of Waves... it would be an excellent opportunity. He could take the chance to pull those two people into the Ember organization, saving him from searching for them all over the world.
Just as Naruto was secretly calculating, the Third Hokage said toward the door, "This C-rank mission requires you to escort someone. Alright, client, you can come in now."
As his words fell, the office door was pushed open. A man reeking of alcohol and walking somewhat unsteadily entered. He wore a bamboo hat, carried simple luggage, and most conspicuously, he was still gripping a bottle, pouring alcohol into his mouth without any restraint, looking completely drunk.