At the mission office, the working chūnin were extremely busy.
Facing Bai Xing's question, one of them carried a thick stack of mission scrolls and placed them on the table. The other office staff looked utterly exhausted.
Only then did he answer:
"Genin Bai Xing, those missions aren't ordinary ones. Right now the village is short on manpower. We're counting on team leaders like you to train some capable students quickly so they can start handling missions."
"I see. Chūnin Yōsuke, thanks for taking the time to explain."
"No problem."
Nara Yōsuke sat back down at his desk. As the head of the mission office, he was quite familiar with Bai Xing.
After all, Bai Xing was famous here as a D-rank mission maniac—he barely even looked at the board before accepting them and always completed them perfectly.
Now he even had three followers tagging along.
"Teacher, the reward is 7,000 ryō. How should we split it?" Nono asked.
She had just received seven thousand-ryō notes from the chūnin in charge of distributing rewards. Behind her stood Dai, breathing heavily, and Mikoto, who was yawning—already bored with D-rank missions.
"Hmm… then let's do this."
"The teacher takes 4,000, and you three split 3,000."
"?" ×2
"Why?!" Mikoto clenched her fists.
Before, when the reward was 6,000 and he took 3,000, she had tolerated it.
But now the reward was 7,000 and he still wanted the bigger share?!
She didn't lack money—but they had worked hard for it!
"You'll understand when you become teachers yourselves."
Bai Xing casually took the four bills from Nono's hand and stuffed them into his waistband.
Just then, Nara Yōsuke, who had picked up a mission scroll to start working again, suddenly remembered something.
"Genin Bai Xing, registration for this year's Chūnin Exam has started. Are you signing up again?"
"Yes."
Ignoring the resentful looks from the two girls, Bai Xing tucked the money away.
"And it's still free this year, right?"
Yōsuke's mouth twitched slightly.
"Still free."
Bai Xing nodded, then turned toward his team.
"So—are you signing up too?"
"Yes!" ×3
Dai didn't care much about the money.
But the Chūnin Exam—this time he was determined to succeed.
Hokage Office
Inside the Hokage's office.
"Father, I believe my team has already reached chūnin-level strength. We just need one C-rank mission. Is there a simple one you could assign them for experience?"
A black-haired teenager stood before the desk.
Behind the desk sat a middle-aged man wearing the Hokage hat.
After glancing at the boy, he flipped through the mission files.
"Here. A mission to eliminate bandits. I'll assign it to you."
"Thank you, Father!"
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
The boy, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, took the mission file and prepared to leave for the mission office.
As he opened the door, he noticed Bai Xing arriving.
"You?"
"Are you here to request a C-rank mission too?"
Bai Xing looked speechless.
Since when did you need the Hokage's permission just to take a C-rank mission?
"I'm here to register for the Chūnin Exam. Also for Team Eleven."
Shinnosuke sneered and glanced at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen nodded slightly, signaling him to leave.
Shinnosuke stormed out, brushing past Bai Xing with a mocking snort.
Inside Bai Xing's mind:
What's wrong with that kid?
After the door closed, Hiruzen looked at Bai Xing and pulled out a report about Team Eleven.
He read for a moment.
In just a little over a month, Team Eleven had completed 37 D-rank missions.
That averaged almost one per day.
Meanwhile, Shinnosuke's Team Two had only completed 16 D-rank missions in the same time.
"Bai Xing," Hiruzen asked, "do you know why you've always been allowed to participate in the Chūnin Exam?"
"Why?" Bai Xing asked suspiciously.
This old man isn't about to start brainwashing me, is he?
"Because when you were still in Team Six, you had already completed a C-rank mission."
"But afterward, you clashed with Special Jōnin Yazaki and insisted on leaving the team."
"At the time, Yazaki said that if we didn't revoke your ninja status, he would resign. So we negotiated."
"The final result was that all mission records related to Team Six were erased from your file to resolve the conflict."
"I understand that part, but—"
"Young people are always impatient."
Hiruzen interrupted him and pulled out another document.
"This is a C-rank mission."
"To participate in the Chūnin Exam, you normally need to complete at least two C-rank missions."
"And your team clearly hasn't reached that level yet."
"They need to see blood at least once before they can be considered real ninja."
"Take it."
"It's just a simple escort mission. There might be assassins targeting the merchant, but intelligence says they're ordinary people—not ninja."
"I'm sure you can handle it."
Hiruzen believed that if he didn't push Bai Xing now, the same embarrassing situation might occur during the Chūnin Exam again.
He didn't want Bai Xing to remain a genin forever.
Bai Xing took a deep breath.
On the surface he looked calm.
Inside, he was terrified.
The document described a C-rank mission.
But in reality—
This kind of mission could easily escalate into B-rank, A-rank, or even S-rank if something went wrong.
"Can I refuse?"
"You can," Hiruzen replied calmly.
"But then your other two teammates won't be able to participate in the Chūnin Exam."
"The Uchiha clan is special. They'll arrange for Mikoto to complete a 'ninja mission' before the exam."
Hiruzen watched Bai Xing carefully.
Refusing missions was something only Bai Xing dared to do.
Other genin wouldn't even think about it.
"Fine."
"I understand."
Later at Home
The Chūnin Exam's first stage would begin in half a month.
Completing one C-rank mission in that time wasn't difficult—
If it was truly C-rank.
Bai Xing lay on the sofa reading the mission file.
"The merchant is from the Land of Hot Water."
"Name: Mizutani Shōto."
"Age: 34."
"He plans to open a hot spring inn in Konoha."
"On the way here, he offended a gang from the Land of Fire."
"The gang posted a bounty in the underground market—30,000 ryō."
"So far no ninja has accepted the bounty…"
Bai Xing frowned.
"This feels like a trap."
"What if someone accepts the bounty halfway through the escort?"
"Then suddenly a professional assassin shows up?"
"Wouldn't this mission instantly become B-rank… or even A or S-rank?!"
He sighed and tossed the document onto the table.
But once a mission was accepted, it couldn't be returned.
Even reading the details usually meant it had to be carried out.
"I guess I'll notify those two tonight."
"Maybe I should learn the Shadow Clone Technique. Running around personally to inform people every time is exhausting."
"But if I ask the Hokage for it, he'll probably use that as proof that my ninjutsu is good enough to promote me."
Genin were basically semi-freelancers.
Before accepting a mission, they could refuse it.
But chūnin had almost no choice.
Later — Commercial Street
Two girls left a cake shop chatting happily.
The shop owner smiled warmly. With the war ongoing, having customers at all was already rare.
At least today's business had made a small profit.
The two girls carried small cakes and walked toward a narrow stairway between shops.
Suddenly—
A black-haired boy appeared behind them and placed his hands on their shoulders.
"AAAAAAH!" ×2
"Relax."
"It's me."
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