The young master of the Nara Clan, the young lady of the Yamanaka Clan, and the chubby young master of the Akimichi Clan—none of them had ever done farm work before. Choji was still feeling dizzy from blood loss, Ino had little strength to begin with, and Shikamaru, the poor guy who loved lying around watching the clouds, ended up being the main force in weeding. By the end, his back was so sore he could barely straighten it.
"Hmm, not bad. Let's go eat barbecue tonight. Your classmates will be there too," Asuma said casually, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
While Choji perked up at the mention of barbecue, Ino and Shikamaru were too exhausted to even speak. They trudged along to the barbecue restaurant.
As soon as they entered, they noticed quite a few familiar faces. Not only was Yuhi Kurenai's Team 8 there, but Kakashi's Team 7 was also present.
Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura—this was the first time the nine of them had gathered since leaving the academy. However, the atmosphere wasn't exactly lively.
Ino pinched her nose and looked at Sakura with disdain. "Forehead girl, why do you smell so bad?"
Sakura immediately snapped back, "Ino-pig, you're one to talk! Look at your hair—it's a complete mess, like a bird's nest!"
As they sat down and started talking, they quickly realized that everyone had a rough first day with their D-rank missions.
Team 10 (Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji) had been assigned to weed and remove pests from a field.
Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura) had been tasked with picking up trash from a river. The water was so foul-smelling, and the amount of garbage was overwhelming. Sakura and Sasuke were nearly suffocated by the stench, but Naruto, ever the brave soul, finally found an opportunity to use his Shadow Clone Technique. He sent out his clones to collect the trash, but when all hundred of them returned to his body, the accumulated stench knocked him out cold.
Team 8 (Hinata, Kiba, and Shino) had been assigned to babysit at a kindergarten. Hinata's soft-spoken nature made the children completely unafraid of her. Kiba's impatient temperament scared the kids to tears three times, earning him a stern warning from the kindergarten director. Shino's words fell on deaf ears, and the three of them were utterly tormented by the unruly children.
After hearing everyone's stories, Ino couldn't help but wonder—was this intentional?
With her Water Release skills, cleaning the riverbed would have been the easiest task for her. She wouldn't even need to control her strength—a single Water Dragon Bullet could have solved the entire problem.
Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clone Technique would have been perfect for handling the kindergarten kids.
And Shino's Insect Manipulation Technique would have been ideal for clearing the farmland.
It seemed the village had deliberately assigned the wrong tasks to the wrong people. What a bunch of jerks.
Everyone was too exhausted to chat much. They ate, drank, and soon went their separate ways, heading home.
Despite the mission, Ino still maintained two shadow clones for training. For her, missions offered little room for improvement—far less effective than her own training. But missions were a ninja's duty, and she couldn't skip them.
Ino wanted to stay low-key in the village, but not everyone felt the same way.
At Naruto's insistence, the village assigned Team 7 a standard C-rank mission. Considering that these Genin had never seen blood, only trained in ninja techniques, and lacked real combat experience, it was deemed necessary for them to gain some practical experience. Team 10 was also roped into the mission.
The Third Hokage personally handed them the mission. When Ino saw the details, she realized it wasn't the expected mission to the Land of Waves. Instead, they were to head to the border of the Land of Fire to eliminate a group of bandits.
Bandits were nothing more than moving targets in the face of ninjas who wielded Chakra. However, ninjas were a profession with high offense but low defense—or rather, all humans shared the same level of defense. Flesh and blood, without proper precautions, ninety-nine percent of ninjas could be killed by a single Kunai. From this perspective, ninjas and bandits weren't all that different.
To ensure the new generation of ninjas in the village could experience real combat, the Third Hokage had gone to great lengths.
The sixteenth generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and the last surviving member of the Uchiha Clan—these individuals were far too important.
They had to complete their transformation from students to full-fledged ninjas, and bandits were the perfect targets for this. However, the protection detail had to be meticulous.
For a C-rank mission, not only was Kakashi, an elite Jonin, dispatched, but Asuma, the Hokage's own son, was also brought along.
The core idea was simple: the two of them were to ensure the safety of the group. Kakashi's offensive capabilities were unquestionable, but he often acted on a whim.
Asuma, who had served as a guardian ninja for the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, had more experience in protection duties than Kakashi. His easygoing personality made him effective in safeguarding the new generation, including Ino.
Before departure, the Third Hokage, holding his pipe, specifically reminded them: "You are all the future of the village. While on this mission, you must follow the orders of your Jonin leader, but also exercise your own judgment. These bandits have committed countless atrocities, often plundering innocent civilians. As ninjas of the Land of Fire, as ninjas of Konoha, you must eradicate them! Only by eliminating these bandits will the nearby civilians truly be safe."
The Third's speech was long-winded and repetitive. This wasn't a Jonin meeting, and Kakashi didn't want to leave a bad impression of being negligent in front of the younger generation, so he forced himself to appear attentive.
Asuma, being the Hokage's son, had no such reservations. Seeing the old man drone on and on, repeating the same points, he simply wandered off to smoke by himself.
Ino and the others endured the lecture for an hour. Even Sasuke, who usually kept a cold expression, was frowning by the end. Finally, the old man finished listing all the precautions.
His words completely washed away Naruto's initial excitement about the C-rank mission. When the group of eight left the village, the future Seventh Hokage walked with a lack of energy.
When heading out on a mission, aside from their usual ninja tools, Ino and the others each carried a black backpack.
These backpacks contained a lot of items, including tents, supplies, medicine, and food for camping in the wild. Even if someone were separated from the group, they could survive for several days with these provisions.
Choji carried the most, lugging around items like iron pots, shovels, and seasonings. It didn't look like they were going on a mission, but rather a picnic.
The Land of Fire was a plain, and the village where the mission was located lay in the southwest corner of this plain. The climate there was hot and humid, and crop yields were poor. The civilians were so poor they couldn't even afford food, forcing them to become bandits. These bandits then robbed other civilians, creating a vicious cycle that led to an increasing number of bandits.
Konoha had always taken a hands-off approach to this issue. If the Land of Fire were peaceful, what would the ninjas have to do for a living?
When the bandits possess some combat capabilities, they are sent out like Genin for training to harvest a wave of experience. After a few years, when the bandits increase in number, Konoha sends people to harvest another wave, creating a cycle of utilization.
Ino had a general understanding of this. She did not refuse the mission.
After all, ninjas are meant to kill. It doesn't matter whether those guys are the "notorious bandits" as described by the Third Hokage. If they are, that's good; if not, it doesn't matter either. She needed these bandits to test her own "capacity"!