Chapter 56: The first “Mission”

The next day, Team Seven and Yuna had their first mission. Yuna could be seen, crouched down in a huge vegetable field and pulling out some weeds with a serene smile on her face. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were, naturally, there as well but all three of them seemed to be pretty annoyed.

“Nee-san, why do you look so happy? Isn’t this really boring?”

“Mhh? Not really? I actually enjoy garden work, you know?”

This earned her weird looks from everyone present. Even Kakashi looked like Yuna had just grown a second head. Yuna, actually, had a bit of a green thumb in her previous life. She was pretty horrendous in alchemy but could grow herbs rather reliably and grew to enjoy gardening.

It took another 2 hours for their first “mission” to finally be over. After reporting the completion of the mission to Hiruzen, they walked out of the Hokage office and to their respective homes. While Kakashi left immediately the four remaining genins walked together a while longer. Yuna looked at Team Seven and immediately noticed that there was pretty much no communication at all.

‘Should I help them out? On one hand, Naruto will probably leave this team rather soon, on the other hand, bonding with a few more people his age might be good for Naruto.’

Yuna glanced at the brooding Sasuke and Sakura, who was still fawning over him, and only shook her head.

‘Bonding with people his age is good, but I would prefer if he became friends with more stable people. What about Chouji? Except for his eating habits, he is a pretty normal person.’

While Yuna was contemplating whether to set up a “play-date” for Naruto or not, Sakura broke the silence.

“Why do I feel like a lot of people are glaring at us?”

At this point in time, not just Yuna, but even Naruto was completely ignoring the people staring at them, but for someone like Sakura, who had never experienced something like this, it was a rather unusual experience, even if those looks weren’t directed at her directly.

“No need to worry about that, Sakura-chan. These people are just jealous of how handsome I am.”

Hearing Naruto’s answer, Yuna could only scoff.

“Aren’t they glaring at you for that bright orange jacket you are wearing? They are simply irritated by its brightness.”

Naruto, however, only returned the scoff.

“If we are talking about brightness, shouldn’t we talk about your hair first? Crimson-red and blue aren’t exactly subtle, are they?”

“Oh, yeah? Then what about…”

Like that, the twins kept bickering until Sakura completely lost interest and walked away from the group after noticing that Sasuke had left as well.

Truth be told, neither Yuna nor Naruto cared whether the secret about Kurama gets out or not, but they decided that, at least for a bit longer, they would keep it hidden. The fewer people that know about it the better after all. Although technically, pretty much the whole village knows about it. Very few people actually know the reason why everyone keeps calling the two “Demon Twins”. If someone were to look deeper into it, it would be rather easy to discover the truth, but no village had time to have their spies investigate two random children whose results in the academy are pretty much at the bottom of the whole class.

A few minutes later, Hinata caught up to them with a happy smile on her face. After becoming a genin, she no longer bothers to keep up her mask in public and just acts like she usually would when the trio is at home.

“Good afternoon, how was your first mission?”

Yuna only shrugged her shoulders, indicating that it was fine, while Naruto had a wry smile on his face. He looked at the clothes Hinata was currently wearing and could see paint all over them, showing that Hinata’s first mission was rather similar in nature to their own.

“Pretty boring, we spent a few hours pulling out weeds and that was it.”

Hinata nodded her head in understanding and then told the twins about her own mission.

“I spent half a day painting a wall, so I didn’t see much action either.”

Yuna decided to say a few things as well.

“I actually did some research about how the mission system works, and it appears that the D-rank missions we are currently doing are only available during times of peace. During wartime, the D-rank missions are usually something like supply runs and actually have a chance for combat instead of the simple chores we are doing. The only chance to actually see some action is if you can coax a C rank mission out, somehow.”

Naruto’s eyes sparkled with determination when he heard that. He had, just now, decided that he will definitely coax a C-rank mission out of Hiruzen.

Yuna could only shake her head at that. In her opinion, there was no way a bunch of fresh graduates could get a C rank mission no matter how strong they seem to be. After all, if you give one team preferential treatment, the other teams will come asking for the same treatment. It will probably take a few months for them to get anything worthwhile for a mission. Truth be told, Yuna doesn’t mind that. These so-called “missions” were still more interesting than the absolute boredom that was the shinobi academy after all. Whether it is pulling out weeds or painting walls, she doesn’t mind a bit of manual labor. Yuna was the first one to resume speaking.

“Well, Hinata, what did you think about your new teammates?”

Hinata pondered for a while and then gave her answer.

“They are fine I guess, but they are rather weak. I think I could only get a chance to work together with them if I hold back a lot. I am not really sure what to do about it.”

Yuna shrugged her shoulders at that.

“Just do what you want to do. If you want them to get stronger, then match their strength in dangerous situations so they gain combat experience. If you don’t care about them, then just power through everything. As I said, I will no longer babysit you. Make your own decisions and do what you consider to be the right answer. The same is, naturally, true for Naruto as well. If you don’t want to work together with these two, then don’t. Just be acknowledged for your strength and you should be able to get a promotion rather quickly without bothering about those two too much.”

Naruto and Hinata only nodded in acknowledgment when they heard Yuna’s explanation. Both of them weren’t entirely sure what to do with their teams yet, so they had to put some thought into it.

After arriving home, Yuna and Hinata made their way to the kitchen to cook dinner while Naruto was left in the living room to do some light chakra exercise.

Just when he was about to start, someone knocked on the door, surprising Naruto a little. The only people that would occasionally visit them were Ino and Iruka and both of them certainly wouldn’t come this late. Naruto walked towards the door and opened it, revealing Hiruzen, dressed in common clothes and with a mischievous smile on his face. Naruto, however, only scanned his face for a moment and then turned towards the kitchen.

“Nee-san! Old man Hokage is here, just like you said!”

“Okay, just lead him to the dinner table!”

Hiruzen almost face-planted into the ground when he heard that Yuna, somehow, expected him to come here. But he wouldn’t lose his dignity this easily. Although the smile on his face was a little strained, he still followed Naruto to the dining table and sat down. He spent a few minutes idly chatting with Naruto before Yuna and Hinata served dinner.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but let us eat before I answer any of them. Can’t have a serious conversation on an empty stomach after all.”

Although Hiruzen noticed that Yuna’s tone was rather casual, he couldn’t help but feel like something was really off about the whole situation.

‘Was it a mistake to come here?’