A new day began.
Drake stretched lazily and rolled out of bed.
The first thing he did was check his status panel — and his eyes lit up.
Constitution: (×) Chūnin Level
"It has already reached chūnin level?" Drake grinned.
He clenched his fists.
Mm.
That solid, powerful feeling... very satisfying.
In an unusually good mood, he actually arrived on time today.
Training Ground No. 7.
The moment Drake appeared, he was greeted by three pairs of astonished eyes.
"What's with those looks?" Drake frowned. "Am I not allowed to be punctual now?"
"I thought you'd be late again today," Obito chuckled.
"Keep it up, Drake!" Rin encouraged warmly.
"To be honest, whether you come or not doesn't really matter." Kakashi folded his arms, voice cool and sharp.
And just like that — he stepped on a landmine.
"Did you hear that?! He's mocking you!" Obito instantly pointed at Kakashi and shouted.
"Oh." Drake shrugged, completely unfazed.
"You're not even mad?" Obito stared at him.
Your temper is way too good, isn't it?!
"Obito, do you know what kind of people mock others?" Drake asked seriously.
"What kind?" Obito leaned closer, curious.
"Clowns. Only clowns belittle others to prove their own superiority."
"Hah! You're right!" Obito burst out laughing.
"Only clowns laugh at people! You hear that, Kakashi?!"
At this exact moment, Kakashi's expression beneath the mask stiffened slightly.
Because the "clown" Drake referred to not only hit Kakashi — it also dragged Obito down with him.
So what exactly were you laughing for, genius?
Truly moving levels of IQ.
At the same time, Minato silently appeared behind them.
He had witnessed the entire farce.
His internal evaluation of Drake instantly updated:
Combat power: weakest.
Verbal firepower: strongest.
Today's Mission
Clearing his throat, Minato announced their special task.
"Today's mission difficulty will increase significantly!"
"I've taken an official C-rank mission for you."
"Don't underestimate it. Its danger might even surpass some B-rank missions."
He tossed a scroll to them.
"Remember — for this task, Kakashi will be the temporary captain. If he performs well, he'll become Team Nine's long-term leader."
"But what if he messes up?" Obito immediately objected.
Let Kakashi lead?
How were he and Drake supposed to survive in this team then?
Wouldn't Rin completely fall for him?!
Minato smiled.
Conflict? Good.
That's how motivation is born.
After a moment's thought, he said:
"Then we'll use this mission as the judging standard. Whoever contributes the most becomes captain!"
The Mission
On the surface, it seemed simple.
An elderly woman from the village had reported that a wild boar had been destroying her farmland. She requested the ninja capture or kill it.
After reading the scroll, each of them reacted differently.
Obito was excited —
If he killed the boar, he'd become Team Nine's captain!
Rin felt uncertain —
Wasn't this mission a little too easy?
Kakashi remained calm —
This was trivial work.
Drake, however, fell into deep thought.
Because he saw potential complications.
At the Old Woman's Farm
The four arrived at the old woman's home and began questioning her.
Leaning on her cane, she led them to the damaged farmland.
"Look, it's right here!"
"I came to check my field yesterday morning and found everything trampled, with clear boar tracks everywhere."
Pointing at the messy field, she sighed painfully.
"Please… please get rid of that boar for me."
With that, she left.
Lying in Wait
Under the blazing sun, the foursome climbed slightly elevated trees around the field and waited.
With temperatures like this, none of them were foolish enough to stand directly under the sun.
Otherwise, the boar wouldn't even need to attack — they'd collapse first.
"When the boar shows up, don't move. Leave it to me!" Obito declared, gripping his kunai tightly.
The captain position was his for the taking.
"Heh." Kakashi let out a cold chuckle.
"We could just work together and trap it," Rin suggested.
Unfortunately, she was completely ignored.
"Eh? Wait… where's Drake?" Rin suddenly noticed.
She turned her head — and he was gone.
"Drake?"
"Yeah?" came his voice.
On a higher branch above them, Drake was already lying down comfortably, hands behind his head.
"Dude! Why are you lying up there?!" Obito shouted up at him.
This guy was clearly preparing for a nap.
This was the moment to fight for team captain, and he was planning to sleep?!
"What's wrong with sleeping?" Drake replied lazily.
"Aren't you planning to catch the boar?!" Obito's face twisted.
"The boar won't show up today." Drake yawned.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The other three immediately jumped up and surrounded him on the branch.
Explanation. Now.
"Proof?" Kakashi asked curtly.
"Yeah, how would you know that?" Obito frowned.
"Drake, did you figure something out?" Rin asked softly.
Being stared at by three people, Drake looked slightly annoyed.
He was more worried the branch might snap under their combined weight.
"Fine, I'll explain."
"Village back hill doesn't have boars. So this one likely came from the Forest of Death."
"And boars usually forage at dawn and dusk. But once they enter unfamiliar territory, they become cautious and shift their feeding time to night."
"Do you get it now?"
The three of them froze — then nodded in realization.
Even Kakashi had to admit it.
When it came to understanding boar behavior, Drake was more knowledgeable than him.
No wonder his combat strength was terrible — he clearly spent his time reading weird books.
"So... we wait for it at night?" Kakashi murmured.
Night watch meant danger would skyrocket.
That must've been what Sensei warned about.
"Wait?" Drake blinked. "Why wait?"
"It's just a boar. Why do we need to camp out for it?"
He yawned again.
"We just dig a trap."
Complete silence.
Kakashi: "..."
Obito: "How did I not think of that?!"
Rin: "Oh! That makes total sense!"
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