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Despite all of Akio's efforts to argue his case, he still lost in the end and had to start doing D-rank missions. But strangely enough, every time he arrived at the mission site, the client would treat him super warmly—and then the actual task would get dumped on Lu Jiu.
Akio wasn't heartless about it though. He used his Shadow Clone Jutsu to help Lu Jiu out, and Lu Jiu eventually realized that Akio could use shadow clones now.
Since there's no sun at night, and no shadows either, Akio could only train his ninjutsu during the evenings, not his Shadow Manipulation Technique. Without shadows to work with, his progress in that area had been completely stalled.
"Morning, Lu Jiu-sensei." After two whole months of D-rank missions, Akio could finally take on a C-rank one.
"Mhm. Today we'll be teaming up with Team 3 for a C-rank escort mission. We're guarding a merchant caravan beyond the Land of Fire's border. Ninja from a neighboring country will meet us for the handoff," Lu Jiu said directly.
"Got it. So, the most we'll probably run into are some bandits, right?" Akio nodded, asking casually.
"Yeah, usually just regular thieves. But it's not impossible we might run into other ninja."
"Alright." Akio nodded again and followed Lu Jiu out.
They met up with Team 3 at the main gates of Konoha.
Guy, Lee, Neji, and Tenten had just arrived too.
"Hey~ Akio!" Tenten greeted him enthusiastically. Out of everyone there, she was the one most familiar with him.
"Long time no see, Tenten." Akio smiled and waved back. The two of them quickly stuck together.
"Alright! Let's set off on our youth-burning mission!" Guy shouted dramatically the moment everyone had assembled.
"Yes, Guy-sensei!" Lee yelled back just as loudly.
"..." Lu Jiu and Akio both sweatdropped at the ridiculous master-student duo. These two were seriously a perfect match for each other.
"Try not to drag us down, rich boy," Neji said coldly, clearly not fond of Akio.
"Don't worry." Akio just smiled at him calmly, which only made the contrast between their attitudes more obvious.
The five of them set out and met up with the merchant caravan in a small village. Two people were pulling a wagon covered by a cloth. With that, they officially started the journey.
Things went pretty smoothly. They handed off the goods to the neighboring country without any issues, and no bandits showed up along the way.
"This mission's kinda boring," Akio muttered with a sigh. Even though it was his first time leaving the village, there wasn't anything interesting to see—just forest after forest.
"Still better than chasing cats and dogs back in the village," Tenten said, walking beside him the whole way.
"True." Akio nodded. Then he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "So, how's it feel to be in the same team as your crush?"
"Wh-what are you talking about!" Tenten blushed furiously.
"Still won't admit it, huh?" Akio chuckled and casually put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
Tenten instinctively tried to break free, but Akio tightened his hold, making it impossible for her to escape. She looked at him in confusion.
"Look at Neji. I'm holding you like this, and he hasn't reacted at all. That guy has zero interest in you." Akio leaned in closer as he spoke.
"..." Tenten turned to look at Neji, only to see that he was calmly following Guy, totally expressionless. Not even a flicker of emotion.
She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
Akio let go of her. "So yeah, looks like you haven't made any progress. He's just not into you."
"Yeah… You're right. He's never noticed how I feel," Tenten sighed.
"Which is why you should—wait, who's there!" Akio suddenly raised his hand and threw a lightning-style kunai.
Boom!
With a loud crash, the kunai pierced through a tree, splitting it cleanly in half and sending it toppling over.
Everyone was stunned by Akio's sudden move—except for Lu Jiu. Even without Wind Release to amplify it, a Lightning-style kunai was still as strong as a C-rank jutsu. Taking down a tree like that was no big deal.
The others quickly snapped out of it and shifted into combat mode, eyes on the fallen tree.
"Impressive, Leaf ninja." A figure leapt down from another tree. There was a scorched burn across his cheek—courtesy of Akio's kunai.
"Sound ninja," Akio muttered when he saw the ninja's headband. It was from the Land of Grass, but he was clearly one of Orochimaru's men.
"What's a Sound ninja doing here?" Lu Jiu narrowed his eyes.
"Just passing through," the ninja replied coolly.
"Passing through? Then why'd you give off killing intent?" Akio asked. Moments ago, he'd suddenly felt uneasy, like he couldn't breathe. He tracked the sensation and threw the kunai—right where this guy had been hiding.
But anyone who could dodge a sudden lightning-style kunai and only get a scratch on the face… definitely not an ordinary ninja.
Everyone understood that, so none of them made any rash moves.
"My mistake. Thought you were someone else," the Sound ninja said.
"Lame excuse." Akio hurled another lightning kunai. This one looked a bit different. The Sound ninja tilted his head slightly to dodge it with ease.
But then, his expression changed. His eyes narrowed—something was wrong. Akio had vanished.
"Flying Thunder God!" Guy's eyes widened as he recognized the technique.
"Rasengan!" Akio had teleported to the kunai's location—Watergate's special Flying Thunder God kunai—and appeared right behind the Sound ninja, slamming a Rasengan into his back at lightning speed.
BAM! The body twisted grotesquely from the force of the hit and was sent flying from the tree. Akio landed exactly where the guy had been standing a second ago.
"Fake," Akio frowned. He hadn't hit many people with Rasengan before, but he had used it on the ground before. That impact wasn't right.
Sure enough, the body hit the ground and turned into a pile of mud.
Akio immediately jumped down and returned to the group—safer that way.
The five of them stayed on high alert for a bit, but the Sound ninja never showed himself again. They exchanged glances, then gradually lowered their guard.
"Didn't expect Akio to be this strong." Guy looked at him with genuine admiration and dropped his usual silliness for once. "As expected of the Fourth Hokage's son! That's youth for you!" he shouted again—so much for staying serious.
"....."