(December, year 54 AK)
For the past four months it was a continuous routine for Yuta of going on some C-rank missions, that often tended to become more complicated than they should've been, then going back, have a couple days off, than a week of training with Shisui and others, rinse and repeat.
Yuta suspected that Shisui was selecting C-rank missions for them on purpose among those that he sees as potentially more complicated than the rank suggests. But Yuta doesn't mind that, he was actually preferring it this way. Regular boring C-rank missions usually just a snooze fest with nothing happening ever, but on the missions Yuta was going, at least half of the time it turns out more complicated than initially stated in mission's description, and there are opportunities to fight some ninjas here and there.
Although, most of the time those ninjas that Yuta's team has to fight on missions turns out to be nothing more than some Genins led by one Chunin, or sometimes not even a Chunin but a slightly stronger Genin. The time Yuta had to fight that genjutsu specialist Jun four months ago, it was the strongest opponent their whole team had encountered since then, and Jun wasn't a big challenge for them either.
When Yuta asked Shisui why their enemies are so weak, Shisui replied that those are the ninjas from minor hidden villages, and their standards are generally lower than their own. Shisui also said that genjutsu specialist Jun that they fought four months ago had a Jonin rank in his own village and that he was not even close to the standards of a Jonin by the Konoha's standards.
Turns out they didn't encounter any ninja teams from other major hidden villages yet, and that there is a reason why there are major and minor hidden villages in the world, it all comes down to power of their ninjas. There sure are exceptions and there are strong ninjas who come from minor hidden villages, but in general the majority of ninjas tend to be weaker, or so Yuta believed.
From what Yuta had learned so far, it all came from the time when the hidden villages were established fifty-four years ago. The five major hidden villages were formed by the majority of the strongest ninja clans, and the minor hidden villages were formed from the rest of the ninja clans that didn't join with the big five. And since then, the five major hidden villages had established the new world order, and only five major hidden villages are allowed to have a Kage.
There is only five Kage in the world, and the leaders of the minor hidden villages aren't allowed to call themselves Kage, since this title is reserved only for the strongest.
...
Majority of the time Yuta spent traveling, either to or from missions' destinations or during some escort, either way, by now Yuta hated traveling with all his heart.
The novelty and excitement of running at a speed of a car from his previous life had run out pretty fast, and other than that it was quite exhausting physically and mentally to have to run for days straight with almost no breaks.
Sadly, but that seems to be the reality of the ninja life in this world, there is no transportations for them other than their own two feet, with only some rare cases here and there, like Deidara's flying clay bird or Obito's Kamui, everyone else has to run on their own feet for days to get anywhere in the world.
Yuta wasn't very happy having to waste so much time on traveling and missions that most of the time seemed so insignificant, while he had to skip his physical training routine on most days because of it, since he can't perform it on the road or during missions.
At some point Yuta asked Shisui about whether they should spend more time on training during their current growing phase, since it looked more important to Yuta for their growth than wasting time on insignificant missions. But Shisui replied, that the three of them are already much stronger than they have any business to be at their age, and what they lack now is not more strength but experience, hence that was what they are focusing on right now with missions.
Yuta couldn't say that he completely agreed with Shisui's vision, but he also understood his point of view. The three of them, especially Itachi, they are much stronger than most ninjas in their teens or young adults, and they are only eight years old right now.
Itachi was already at Jonin level since he awakened his Sharingan, and Hikari was fighting in taijutsu with her sword almost on that level as well despite only having about 2.5C of chakra by now. Hikari also uses basic academy jutsus from time to time, but she was mostly relying on her speed with her sword and on direct taijutsu confrontation with any enemy. She wasn't on Jonin level yet, but she is not that far off, and Yuta believed that in a year or two she will get there as well.
And that when a Jonin level of power is considered an absolute peak of ninja career in the village, since among about fifteen thousand active ninjas in Konoha, only about two to three hundred are Jonin rank including special Jonins, and only two to three thousand are Chunin, while the majority of ninjas are Genin.
Surely, any Genin, if they are training actively over the years and go on missions and face dangers regularly, and if they live long enough, anyone could become Chunin eventually, usually by the age of sixteen-seventeen after about four years after academy if they are talented, and by the age of twenty-twenty five if not.
But Jonin rank is different. Only most talented individuals could ever rise up to Jonin rank. Also, a Jonin rank not only requires an incredible level of strength, but it also requires a ninja to not have any major weaknesses. They have to be strong in both taijutsu and ninjutsu, either be proficient with genjutsu or at least to have good skills of resisting it, they should be proficient in at least two elemental ninjutsu releases as well.
And that is only the general strength requirements. But becoming a Jonin is not only a matter of strength but also trust. The village has to trust the person before appointing them to the Jonin rank, because Jonin rank represents the elites of the village and has a lot of influence in the village and has the most clearance to the critical intel of the village, so the village couldn't afford to appoint someone to Jonin rank without sufficient trust in the person.
And a sufficient level of trust is not something that could be achieved without sufficient merit. A ninja has to prove themselves to the village by accumulating enough merit for the village by completing important missions or accumulating achievements during a war period.
Then and only then could they achieve the Jonin rank in the major hidden village like Konoha.
Itachi was already qualified for the rank of Jonin by strength, and Hikari was also almost there as well. And with Yuta's growing proficiency with genjutsu and rapidly growing chakra, at least from the outside's perspective, he also seemed to be reaching that level of strength soon as well.
Yuta suspected that Shisui, seeing how fast all three of them grow in strength, he wanted them to quickly accumulate knowledge and experience of the real world to match that level of strength. That's why they were spending so much time on missions instead of training, since there is usually one week of training between missions, and each mission takes anywhere from a week to three or even four weeks to complete and go back.
Yuta understood Shisui's intentions of prioritizing them getting enough experience, but he didn't fully agree on that, and having to spend so much time on traveling, the activity that he hates the most, is surely has nothing to do with that, nothing at all...
After these four months of doing missions actively, Yuta started to understand how so many of those characters from anime had become so arrogant and overconfident in the first place, while only possessing the strength comparable to a regular Jonin.
This level of strength is rare among ninjas and Yuta was already stepped into this realm with one feet, the majority of ninjas are Chunin or lower, and those aren't a real threat for Yuta at all by now.
The only truly serious and dangerous fight he had in his life was against Mist ninjas, and back then Yuta wasn't even on Chunin level of strength himself, but even then he was able to kill five out of six enemy Chunins himself.
During these four months Yuta has fought multiple enemy ninjas, but none of them was ever even close to the Jonin level of strength, hence none of them was a real threat for Yuta, and as long as Yuta was maintaining focus and stay on guard, there was absolutely no chance that he would lose to such enemies.
Going on missions for four months and having to fight enemies that aren't even a real threat, Yuta starting to feel that he was very powerful and that there is no one in the world that could stop him, so he understood now how so many characters in the original story seem so overconfident and arrogant as soon as they grow somewhat strong.
It was only natural.
But Yuta also understood how insignificant this level of power truly is in the big picture of this world, so he didn't allow himself to underestimate any opponent he meets. No matter what, Yuta always stays on guard, ready to act and even ready to time-travel at any moment if something happens or if he gets hit by some unexpected deadly jutsu or something.
--- AN ---
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