"Eh? This is rare. Tenten, who comes from a wealthy family and never worries about food or clothing, actually took on a mission voluntarily."
"Hmph! Are you implying that I'm lazy? Let me tell you—I don't take missions for the money. I do them to gain experience and constantly grow stronger."
"That may be true, but a mere C-rank mission doesn't offer much room for growth."
The three people talking were the newly promoted Genin of Konoha's Team Five—Tenten, Rock Lee, and Hyuga Neji.
At this moment, the three of them were heading straight toward the weapon shop where Kirito worked.
"Yo! Hello, Kirito-kun!"
"Oh? This is rare, Tenten."
Kirito knew Tenten; they were fairly familiar with each other. In fact, the reason Kirito had been able to live and work at this weapon shop for so long was largely because of Tenten's help.
"Oh? Tenten, a friend of yours?" Rock Lee stepped forward enthusiastically and greeted Kirito. "Hello! Nice to meet you. My name is Rock Lee, Tenten's teammate."
"…."
On the other side, Neji simply glanced over with a frown.
As a member of the Hyuga clan, it was impossible for him not to recognize the infamous disgrace of the clan—Hyuga Kirito. Neji had always looked down on those without strength, so even though he knew Kirito, he didn't bother greeting him.
"Hyuga Kirito. Tenten's friend. Nice to meet you," Kirito replied politely to Rock Lee.
"Hyuga? Oh! Does that mean Kirito-kun belongs to the same clan as Neji?" Rock Lee widened his eyes in surprise, looking back and forth between Kirito and Neji.
The straightforward Lee didn't notice the obvious inconsistency—why would a member of the Hyuga clan have pure black eyes instead of the pale Byakugan?
Kirito nodded, then casually greeted Neji as well.
"Neji, it's been a while."
"Hmph."
Neji snorted coldly and didn't respond. He simply turned his head away, clearly unwilling to interact with Kirito.
Kirito didn't mind at all. The greeting had only been out of courtesy anyway; he had no real desire to talk with Neji either.
"Alright, alright, don't start arguing," Tenten quickly stepped in to ease the awkward atmosphere. Then she continued, "Don't forget—we actually have business to handle today."
Rock Lee spoke up.
"Our mission is to escort a batch of decorative samurai swords ordered by a noble. I see—the goods are from Tenten's shop."
"Exactly," Tenten said. "The destination isn't very far. We're delivering them to the Fire Daimyo's residence. Since it's unlikely we'll encounter ninja from enemy nations, the enemies we might run into are probably just bandits or thieves. That's why the mission is classified as C-rank."
As she spoke, Tenten turned to look at Kirito.
"Hey, Kirito-kun. It wouldn't be impossible to bring you along for this escort mission."
Kirito blinked, clearly intrigued.
Then he asked directly, "How much is the payment?"
"You're unbelievable…" Tenten sighed in exasperation. The first thing he asked about was money.
But then again, coming from a wealthy family who never worried about money, it was easy for her to think that way.
Rock Lee, however, came from a poor background himself, so he took money matters quite seriously. He nodded in agreement.
"Payment is indeed very important for missions."
Just then, Neji suddenly spoke.
"No."
"Huh? Why not?" Tenten asked in confusion.
For someone who normally didn't care about such small matters, Neji's objection was quite unusual.
Neji glanced at Kirito and said coldly,
"That guy isn't even a Genin. How can he go out on a mission?"
"Huh?! Kirito-kun isn't even a ninja?" Rock Lee asked in shock.
Neji sneered again.
"That guy couldn't even pass the Ninja Academy graduation exam. He's nothing but a useless failure."
"Hey, Neji…" Tenten frowned slightly. Although she usually respected Neji greatly, she couldn't help showing a hint of displeasure.
"That guy might be hopeless at ninjutsu and genjutsu, and his taijutsu is just average," she said, "but Kirito-kun is definitely not a useless person!"
Rock Lee blinked.
"He can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu? Then isn't he just like me?"
Tenten continued,
"Let me tell you something. Kirito-kun is extremely skilled with all kinds of weapons. When it comes to shuriken techniques, he's completely better than me!"
"Oh?! Amazing! Someone who's better than you at shuriken, Tenten?" Rock Lee exclaimed in disbelief.
In his eyes, Tenten's dazzling shuriken techniques were already incredibly impressive. Among people their age, he had never seen anyone who could rival her skill in that field.
Yet this Kirito—who couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu and whose taijutsu was only average—was receiving such high praise from her.
"…."
Even Neji looked at Kirito with slight surprise.
That failure is actually skilled with shuriken? he thought.
Neji had very high standards, but even he couldn't find fault with Tenten's mastery of shuriken techniques. Tenten herself was usually quite proud of her specialty, so for her to personally admit that Kirito was better than her… that was no simple matter.
Yet Neji had never heard such rumors before.
He was also certain the Hyuga clan had no knowledge of Kirito's skill in shuriken techniques.
A trace of doubt appeared in Neji's mind.
If Kirito had ever shown talent in even a single field, the Hyuga clan probably wouldn't have expelled him.
Kirito, however, didn't care much about the discussion.
He understood Tenten's good intentions. If he joined the escort team, he would naturally receive a share of the mission's reward once it was completed.
For someone like Kirito, who was currently struggling financially, this was practically help in a time of need.
There was no reason for him to refuse.
"I see," Kirito said. "So I'll be joining the transport convoy?"
"Smart," Tenten replied with a smile.
That way, even though Kirito wasn't a ninja, he could still participate in the mission.