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[ 1 MONTH LATER.... ]
The cool evening air in Konoha whispered gently through the trees. The sun had dipped low enough to cast a soft amber hue across the village, washing the rooftops and stone paths in gold. The streets were quieter than usual, the usual daytime chatter replaced by the occasional bark of a dog or the distant clinking of metal shutters being drawn for the night.
Everything was normal..as normal as it could be.
That is, until a sudden blur of orange streaked across the road.
An orange cat with white stripes and a too-bright pink collar bolted through the narrow alleys of Konoha, tail flicking wildly behind it as it weaved through laundry lines and trash bins.
Ducking a thrown mop bucket, the cat sprinted down another narrow alleyway only to find..
A dead end.
The alley was boxed in by three tall walls, too high for a normal cat to scale easily… but this wasn't any normal cat. This one had tried to run five times this week and it was only Wednesday. Its eyes scanned the area quickly before locking onto a rusty green dumpster tucked against the far wall. With a leap, it sprang up on the lid, crouched low...
And just as it was about to make the final leap over the wall..
SNAP!
A hand clamped around the scruff of its neck, lifting it effortlessly mid-jump.
"Where'd you think you're going..." came a dry, tired voice.
The cat hissed and flailed in protest, paws swinging wildly, but the hand didn't budge. It simply turned the cat around until they were eye to eye.
Kuro stared at it, unamused.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
The cat hissed again, trying to claw his face, but he was already gripping it from the back of the neck where it couldn't reach him. Classic hold. Army instincts, baby.
He gave the cat a little shake, not rough, just enough to make his point.
"You're lucky this is a mission. If it was up to me, you'd be put down."
The cat meowed in defeat. It knew it couldn't escape.
Kuro sighed, turning around and hopping down from the dumpster. He glanced up at the darkening sky. 'God, I hate this mission.'
_______________________
NOTICE!!
[ YOU'VE COMPLETED THE "THE SLIPPERY CAT." QUEST! ]
distrubting rewards...
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[ SELECT YOUR REWARD!! ]
CHOOSE A REWARD FROM THE LIST BELOW..
REWARD 1: STATUS RECOVERY
REWARD 2: ABILITY POINTS +5
REWARD 3: RANDOM LOOT BOX
. . . .
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"Accept… Ability points reward," he mumbled under his breath, eyes half-lidded as the translucent blue screen hovered in front of him. The orange cat still squirmed in his grip, meowing as it wiggled, kicked, and tried to twist its way out, but he wasn't even paying it a second thought.
"Shut up," he said to the cat, gently pushing himself back against the wall, one foot propped up, letting the weight of the cat hang from his arm like a grocery bag.
'Status screen…' he thought lazily, already familiar with the rhythm of it. The blue interface flickered again, responding instantly.
━─━─━─≪◈ STATS ◈≫─━─━─━
[NAME] ➤ Kuroshin Kagemura
[AGE] ➤ 13
[LEVEL] ➤ 1
◇───INFO───◇
[JOB] ➤ NONE
[TITLES] ➤ Courage Of The Weak...
[HP] ➤ 200/250
[CP] ➤ 940/1000 (GENIN)
[FATIGUE] ➤ 30
[AVAILABLE ABILITY POINTS: 10 ]...
◇───STATS───◇
[STRENGTH] ➤ 21.5
[AGILITY] ➤ 13.5
[SENSE] ➤ 10.5
[HEALTH] ➤ 10.5
[INTELLIGENCE] ➤ 18
◇───SKILLS───◇
[BASIC TAIJUTSU TECHNIQUES] ➤Lv.6 (PASSIVE.) [ Basic Melee attacks inflicted on an opponent is increased by 18%. ]
[BASIC SHURIKENJUTSU TECHNIQUES]Lv.3 (Passive) [ When throwing small concealed weapons, damage inflicted is increased by 10%.]
[WIND AFFINITY] ➤ Lv.1 (PASSIVE.) [ Whenever a Wind Style jutsu is used, its power is increased by 10%.]
[BASIC KUNAI TECHNIQUES]Lv.7 (PASSIVE) [ Basic kunai attacks inflicted on an opponent are increased by 15%.]
◇───JUTSU'S───◇
[TRANSFORMATION JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
[BASIC CLONE JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
[SUBSTITUTION JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
━─━─━─━─≪◆≫─━─━─━─━
'Finally... after a whole damn month, I actually hit level ten in all my jutsu's and cleared that Genin-in-training quest.' Kuro let out a slow breath, staring at his stat screen with a blank look. He wasn't excited, just relieved. The past few weeks were nothing but non-stop grinding, just so he wouldn't die.
It took way more time than he wanted, but at least he got something out of it.
While he focused on spamming the hell out of his basic jutsu's, he didn't ignore everything else. He'd been squeezing in some Taijutsu training on the side, pushing that skill up to level six. Not impressive, but still better than nothing.
But the weird part he found was that his jutsu's leveled up way faster than everything else. He figured it had to be because they were all D-rank. Stuff little kids in the academy were already pulling off before they even graduated. 'Makes sense, I guess…' He thought, letting out a soft sigh.
Over the past month, he hadn't just been grinding his jutsu's. He'd been trying to pick up anything he could. During that time, he managed to get two new skills, Basic Shurikenjutsu skill and the Basic Kunai Techniques skill.
Compared to everything else, those were actually easy to level up. Probably because of his past life. He was already trained in hand-to-hand and close-quarters combat, so techniques like knife handling translated well. Kunai's weren't that different from daggers, and his muscle memory seemed to carry over, even in this new body. From what he could tell, the more complex a skill or jutsu was, the slower it grew.
His eyes then dropped to the CP stat on his status screen.
CP, he figured it stood for Chakra Points, was basically his chakra pool. And it was trash. Barely enough to get through a couple clone jutsu without his head spinning. He couldn't help but wonder what the chakra pool of someone like Naruto or the Hokage looked like. If his was this low, theirs had to be something stupid like five digits.
But there was a chance to catch up, at least, that's what he told himself. Every time he leveled up his Intelligence and strength stat, his CP went up a bit. Keyword: a bit. The boost was barely anything. Not nearly enough to make a real difference. He'd need to stack a crazy amount of points into Intelligence and strength just to see a noticeable difference.
He sighed, shoulders slumping.
'Alright… let's turn this mission in,' he muttered, waving away the screen.
The orange cat in his grip just blinked at him, its head tilted like it was questioning his sanity. It probably thought he was crazy, talking to the air, staring off into space like he had voices in his head.
Which… technically wasn't too far off.
Also over the past month, Kuro had been grinding nothing but D-rank missions. Not because he wanted to, but because he didn't have a choice.
The Genin Corp was specifically made for genin's and lower-level missions. It was a way to weed out the weak from the prodigies. Kids who couldn't pass the Jonin tests, or straight up failed the graduation exams, ended up here.
It was where the academy dumped the ones they couldn't teach anything more. The rejects of the shinobi world. If you were sent to the Genin Corp, you were pretty much stuck. No high-level missions. No Jonin mentors. No real opportunities. Just low-tier jobs with low pay, and barely enough chances to grow. And if you can't grow, you can't shine. And if you can't shine, you won't get promoted.
That's how it worked.
Meanwhile, the kids who made it onto Jonin-led squads? They were eating good. They had chances to improve, to stand out, and become stronger. The difference between the two wasn't skill or talent. It was..opportunity.
In this world, the lucky ate the best meal.
And the unlucky?
They were stuck fighting over the scraps.
The max a genin could take were missions up to B-rank, but only after a long stretch of time proving themselves, showing they had what it took to handle danger and responsibility.
But Kuro wasn't anything of the sort...
If anything, he was the weakest Genin in the entire Corp. A reject with barely-passable skills and a record that made most mission desk clerks either sigh or outright ignore him. So every time he asked for a C-rank mission, they'd throw out some excuse. "No C-rank missions available." "Already assigned to another squad." "Not suitable for a solo Genin."
But he knew that was all bullshit.
He had seen a C-rank listed once, plain as day, before they quickly pulled it from the board when he asked about it.
So D-ranks became his bread and butter. Tracking down runaway pets, pulling weeds, cleaning vandalized walls, they were more like chores really.
He manages to knock out at least five of them a day, even though it hardly covered his rent. And even with his [Status Recovery] reward keeping him from starving, his stomach still felt empty. He missed real food… with real flavor.
But with no allowance coming in from the village anymore and no way to break past this ceiling, he had no other choice but to keep grinding.
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Rina Yui was your textbook definition of average. Not a prodigy, not a slacker, just stuck in that forgettable middle ground where no one really looked twice. She could fight better than most, even passable with a few jutsu's. But not great. Not exceptional. Not enough.
People used to say she had promise back in her academy days. "Bright future," they'd say. She believed them too, up until her Jonin exam, where her idiot of a teammates panicked mid-test and ended up failing the exam. Just like that, years of hard work went down the drain. One mistake. Someone else's mistake.
After that, no Jonin team would take her. Her record was stained, and the village didn't care about shit like that, especially since she wasn't from a powerful clan. She was dumped into the Genin Corp, where shinobi careers went to rot. No glory. No real missions. Just back-to-back D-ranks, bad pay, and no chance of rising up unless you somehow pulled off a miracle.
Now, years later, she sat behind the mission desk, a job she never asked for, but took because rent wasn't going to pay itself. She handed out missions, stamped forms, calculated rewards, and listened to genin complain about their assignments like it wasn't the same ones she had once done. The work was boring, soul-numbing even, but it was safe. And more importantly, it paid.
Maybe she had a future once. But this was her now.
She slumped back into her chair, elbow propped on the counter, cheek sunk into her palm. The lazy twirl of her finger through a lock of hair was the only movement she made. Her eyes drifted to the clock on the wall, staring at the ticking second hand like it was mocking her.
'Only thirty more minutes before my shift's over… so fucking boring.' she groaned under her breath, quietly enough not to get scolded for unprofessionalism, not that anyone was around to hear it. The mission hall was practically dead. It always got like this around the evening. Most genin had already picked up their missions and were either knee-deep in some meaningless task or heading home after a long boring day.
She leaned further into the desk, debating if she could sneak a short nap, when a voice cut into her half-conscious haze.
"Hello, I'd like to turn in my mission..."
Her eyes flicked up, mildly annoyed at first, but then took in the boy standing in front of her.
He was short, had that mess of black hair that made it hard to see his eyes. He looked weak, like a stiff breeze might knock him over, but something felt... off. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she scanned him again. His arms, partly hidden under his rolled sleeves, were defined. Same with the subtle muscle under his shirt.
"Yes, how may I help you?" she said, straightening up in her seat and brushing a hand through her bangs as if it'd undo the fact she looked half-dead two seconds ago. Her tone shifted to something a little more professional, but there was still that edge of boredom under it, the kind that clung to every worker at the mission desk after too many years stuck in the Genin Corp.
He didn't say much of anything. He just handed over the mission scroll.
Rina took it, flipping it open with one hand. Her eyes scanned the paper. Yep. D-rank. Returning a missing pet..the usual.
"Another cat mission, huh?" she muttered, half to herself. She reached for the stamp sitting next to her, thumbing it once before pressing it down on the scroll with a solid thunk.
" Your reward will be deposited into your account by the end of the day." She looked back up at him, offering the standard line.
"Do you guys have any C-rank missions available?" he asked, ignoring what she said.
Rina blinked, a bit caught off guard. At this hour? Most people barely had the energy to check in a D-rank this late, let alone ask for a C. "Um... one second. What's your name?" she asked, her fingers already drifting to the keyboard at her side.
"Kuro," he replied simply.
She typed it in. The dusty old monitor beside her flickered for a moment before pulling up his file. It was a basic terminal, old as hell, barely able to run anything other than the internal corp database.
Kuro's record popped up.
She skimmed it quickly, letting out a small sigh under her breath. Forty D-rank missions in just a month. That alone was impressive. Most Genin averaged ten, maybe fifteen if they were desperate. But when her eyes dropped down to the "Combat Aptitude" section, the tone in her head shifted.
"Combat skill: Poor."
"Team compatibility: Below average."
"Recommendation: Unfit for C-rank assignments."
She leaned back a bit in her chair.
C-rank missions were unpredictable. Most of the time, they were glorified escort jobs or minor threat removals. But every now and then, they went sideways, rogue ninja, wild beasts, and even bandits. The kind of trouble a weak Genin wouldn't walk away from. If she handed one off to Kuro, there was a real chance she'd be signing off on his death certificate.
Rina sighed, turning away from the screen and locking eyes with him. "Sorry," she said, tone firm but not cold. "I can't hand you any C-rank missions…" She paused, like she might say something else, but didn't. There wasn't much more to say.
Everyone in the Corp knew the rule: if a Genin died on a mission they weren't approved for, the one who handed it out was the one who got canned.
And Rina wasn't about to risk what little she had left.
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Kuro didn't say anything right away. His jaw clenched slightly, and he looked down at his feet, hands balled into loose fists. He wasn't angry, just frustrated. He was tired of running in circles, tired of being treated like some little bitch when he'd been grinding every damn day just to survive.
But he wasn't stupid. He could see it in her eyes. Rina wasn't trying to be mean, she just didn't want to be the one who handed a death mission to a Genin who clearly wasn't ready. At least, not on paper.
"Isn't there a way I can prove that I can do a C-rank mission?" he asked, lifting his gaze. "Isn't there any that has no chance of combat altercation?"
Rina leaned back in her seat, letting out a tired sigh as she shook her head. "No, I can't allow that... Even if there's one, things can always go sideways. For your own safety, don't. I can't risk my job for you, kid." Her tone had gotten sharper, more irritated. Whether it was because she'd had this conversation a hundred times before or because Kuro wouldn't drop it, it was hard to tell. Probably both. Either he was deaf, desperate, or just ready to die.
Kuro stayed quiet.
She noticed..
"But," she added, her voice softening just a bit, "if you want a way to prove yourself… there's a combat evaluation test next week. Do well enough, and you'll be eligible for a C-rank mission."
Her eyes met his again. "That's the best I can do for you."
Although it wasn't exactly what he wanted, it sufficed; at the very least, it offered hope. This was definitely how he would find out if he was able to carry out a C-rank mission. He left the Genin Corp building and headed home, calling it a day.
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