Approximately one week had passed when Sora found himself standing before the hokage in his office. Over this short period of time, Sora had managed to establish quite an impressive reputation for himself throughout the village. What made his achievements particularly remarkable was the fact that he was so exceptionally young to have accomplished so much.
The villagers and fellow ninja had begun referring to him by a distinctive nickname: the efficient ninja. Living up to this well-earned title, he carried out absolutely everything with remarkable efficiency and precision.
Whether the task at hand involved cleaning up areas around the village, pulling weeds from gardens, or tracking down and returning lost animals to their worried owners, he accomplished it all without encountering any problems or complications whatsoever.
He had managed to maintain a perfect one hundred percent success rate across all of his missions without exception. Even though the vast majority of the missions he had been assigned weren't particularly difficult or challenging in nature, what truly set him apart was the remarkable fact that in the span of a single day he would successfully complete well over a dozen separate missions and didn't fail or make a mistake on even a single one of them.
A typical genin would usually take on and complete somewhere between one to two missions in a given day, but he by himself was able to accomplish what other ninja couldn't even dream of achieving.
"You want to be assigned higher level missions?" The hokage asked him directly, his tone measured and thoughtful.
Sora gave a simple nod of confirmation. He had grown thoroughly tired and weary of completing the same repetitive, mundane missions day after day. Aside from earning money to support himself, he wasn't making any real progress in improving his skills or advancing as a ninja.
Hiruzen took a long, contemplative breath from his pipe, exhaling slowly as he considered the request. He was well aware that Sora was already more than capable of handling and successfully completing c-rank missions with his current skill set.
And with the experienced jonin Kakashi accompanying him on missions, it would be even safer and more secure for the young ninja. But the concerning issue was that he was progressing and advancing through the ranks far too quickly for someone his age.
It was perfectly acceptable and even beneficial if the village and its inhabitants knew about his talents and abilities, but if word and news of his extraordinary genius were to reach the ears of other rival villages, they might very well send highly trained ninja assassins to eliminate him before he could become a significant threat.
The hokage tapped his finger pensively on the wooden table in front of him. He continued tapping his fingers in a rhythmic pattern for what felt like endless hours as he weighed his options. Sora, on the other hand, simply stood there in the office completely motionless, maintaining his composed stance without showing any signs of impatience.
Looking carefully at Sora's empty, unreadable expression and calculating demeanor, Hiruzen let out a deep sigh of resignation.
"I'll allow it and grant your request, but starting from this point forward you are going to need to operate under a secret identity," he stated firmly.
Hiruzen had made the important decision to create and establish a completely new identity and persona for Sora in order to keep him safe from potential threats. This classified information would only be known and shared between him and the elite anbu ninja who were present in this very room.
He nodded his understanding and proceeded to give Sora an official paper document signifying and confirming that he was now allowed and authorized to be participating in c-rank level missions.
Sora left the hokage's office with the important paper held firmly in hand and made his way down to the mission assignment board. He carefully looked across and examined the various missions posted there, and eventually his eyes stopped and focused on one particular mission that caught his attention.
C-rank mission: Eliminate a dangerous group of bandits
A ruthless group of bandits have been actively terrorizing and attacking innocent villages located near the borders of Konoha. Your assignment is to locate and eliminate them completely.
Mission reward: 15,000 ryo
The monetary reward wasn't bad at all for this particular type of mission, especially considering that trained ninjas with proper skills could complete it relatively easily without much difficulty.
As long as the ninjas assigned to the mission weren't completely incompetent or lacking in basic abilities, it would be a straightforward and easy task to accomplish. He accepted and took the mission posting and prepared to go complete it, but first he would need to gather the necessary supplies and equipment.
Upon returning to his home, he immediately saw Naruto just sitting lazily on the comfortable couch. She was leisurely and casually reading through a book without a care in the world. He shook his head slowly from side to side in clear disapproval of her lack of training.
"Naruto," he said, his voice calm but carrying an undertone of expectation.
She lifted her head and looked up from the pages of her book, and then her face broke into a wide, genuine smile of happiness.
"You're back home," she said with obvious excitement in her voice and immediately jumped up energetically from the sofa to greet him.
He simply nodded in acknowledgment, his expression remaining neutral.
"Why aren't you training and working on your skills?" He asked her pointedly, his tone suggesting he expected a good explanation.
She immediately looked away, avoiding his gaze, her expression showing clear guilt about being caught slacking off.
"Uhm, well, I was just taking a short break from training," she said somewhat unconvincingly, trying to justify her actions.
He continued to stare at her intently for several seconds longer, his unwavering gaze making her increasingly uncomfortable as she visibly started to sweat nervously under the scrutiny.
"I need to inform you that I have to leave the village for an important mission assignment. I need you to take proper care of yourself and stay safe while I'm away," he said with a tone of seriousness and concern.
Clearly surprised by this unexpected news, she quickly turned to face him directly with wide eyes.
"You're actually leaving the village?" She asked, her voice betraying both surprise and a hint of worry about being left alone.
He nodded once more in clear confirmation of his departure.
"Before I have to leave and depart, I'll cook you some good food so you'll have a proper meal," he said, his tone softening slightly with care.
Previously feeling a little sad and down about his departure, her mood immediately brightened considerably at the mention of food.
"Let's eat delicious braised pork," she said happily, her enthusiasm returning in full force at the prospect of enjoying one of her favorite dishes.
He nodded in agreement and made his way into the kitchen area. Scavenging through and searching the contents of the fridge, his expression turned into a frown of concern. There was not a significant amount of food or ingredients available to work with.
He carefully looked through every shelf and compartment of the fridge and came to the realization that he could only prepare one proper meal today with what was currently available. He reached in and grabbed a cooking pot, thoroughly cleaned it before carefully putting it on the stove and turning on the fire underneath to begin heating it. He added a generous amount of oil to the pot and allowed it to heat up to the proper temperature.
He then turned his attention to the fresh pork belly and proceeded to cut it skillfully into uniform square-shaped pieces. Then he meticulously cleaned each piece and carefully placed it into the now-hot pot and seared the meat pieces on all sides until they achieved a beautiful golden brown color and developed a nice crust.
After completing that step, he temporarily put the seared meat aside on a plate and adjusted the fire down to a medium heat level. He then added the various aromatic ingredients he had prepared and set aside earlier.
Fresh ginger slices, minced garlic cloves, and chopped scallions went into the pot. After mixing and stirring them together to release their fragrances, he then added a splash of cooking sake and began to stir vigorously, then used his spatula to scrape the bottom of the pot thoroughly to lift up all the flavorful brown caramelized bits stuck to the bottom.
He then placed the lid securely on top and allowed the liquid to reduce by approximately half its original volume before adding back the pork belly pieces that had been set aside, and then poured in rich broth along with aromatic bay leaves, fragrant thyme sprigs, star anise pods, and several more complementary spices and herbs.
He allowed the pork to rest comfortably and cook slowly in the flavorful pot. He kept the liquid at a gentle simmer, maintaining the perfect cooking temperature, and covered the top securely with the lid to trap in all the moisture and flavors.
Now he would need to wait patiently for anywhere between two to four hours for the braising process to complete properly. Leaving that cooking matter aside for now, he made his way into the bathroom and began the process of taking a thorough bath to clean himself.
After he was completely done bathing and had dried off, he put on fresh, clean clothes and headed back out to the living room area. Naruto was still comfortably sitting on the sofa in the same spot, continuing to read her book where she had left off.
He sat down beside her on the couch and began carefully calculating and determining the expenses and amount of money she would need to cover her needs while he was gone on the mission. After careful consideration, he took out a total sum of 20,000 ryo from his wallet. Though the amount was somewhat over the top and more than strictly necessary since he would likely be gone for only a few days at most, knowing her tendency to impulsively start buying anything and everything she wanted, he wanted to at least leave her with enough money to buy whatever caught her interest while still ensuring she had plenty left over to keep herself properly fed with nutritious meals.
"Use it wisely and don't waste it all at once," he said with a meaningful look and handed the substantial stack of money to her.
Her eyes widened dramatically in amazement as she accepted the money with both hands and immediately started counting the bills on her fingers, trying to calculate all the things she could buy.
"Ichiraku Ramen, I'm coming for you," she declared in pure joy, already planning her first destination and imagining all the delicious bowls of ramen she would be able to enjoy.
He simply shook his head in resignation, knowing exactly where most of that money would end up being spent, and took out a sheet of paper from his supplies. He had been working on describing and designing a new custom weapon specifically for himself to use in combat.
He carefully took out his detailed blueprint that he had been working on. The design was for a specialized hand brace that would be worn on his forearm. But concealed inside the mechanism lay a set of sharp, retractable claws. He was attempting to make it function in such a way that he could easily keep it hidden during normal situations and then extend the claws out whenever he wanted or needed them in combat.
He started working diligently on a new and improved design that would better perform and meet all of his specific requirements and needs. The refined mechanism would make the dangerous claws automatically extend outward when he deliberately balled his hand into a tight fist, and retract smoothly when he relaxed his hand.
After spending several focused hours working on perfecting every detail, he finally finished the complete design. Looking over the final product carefully and examining it from every angle, he nodded in satisfaction with his work. Now he just needed to find and commission a skilled blacksmith to actually forge and construct it according to his specifications, and then it would be completely done and ready for use.
He stood up from his seat, suddenly realizing that the braised pork food was finally done cooking. Making his way into the kitchen, he reached over and turned off the fire beneath the pot and carefully opened the heavy lid.
Aromatic smoke and steam immediately wafted out into the air, carrying the mouthwatering scent throughout the apartment, and Naruto came running eagerly into the kitchen, drawn by the incredible smell.
"Is it finally done and ready to eat?" She asked while visibly drooling, unable to control her anticipation and excitement for the meal.
He nodded in confirmation and then turned his attention toward the dining table. His eyes immediately narrowed with recognition. Sitting there waiting expectantly were the hokage and Kakashi, who had somehow invited themselves.
A while ago, Naruto had generously shared some of Sora's cooking with them on one occasion, and they had become completely addicted to the incredible flavors. Now they would regularly show up at his house uninvited just to eat his home-cooked meals without shame.
He had actually noticed their presence for quite a long time now, even before entering the kitchen. Kakashi had been standing casually outside the apartment building, waiting for the right moment, while the hokage had been using his crystal ball scrying technique to spy on them from his office and monitor when the food would be ready.
He grabbed a large serving bowl from the cabinet and carefully scooped generous portions of the perfectly braised pork into it before placing it ceremoniously on the kitchen table as the centerpiece.
Naruto had already eagerly sat herself down at the table and had her chopsticks gripped tightly in her hand, held at the ready, but she restrained herself and didn't begin eating yet. She was patiently waiting for Sora's signal of approval before diving in.
He then proceeded to grab four individual bowls from the cupboard and placed them carefully on a circular wooden serving board and brought them over to the table, setting them down in front of each seat.
After sitting down in his own seat, he slid one of the bowls across the table to Naruto's place and gave her a subtle signal with a small nod that she could begin eating. He then deliberately extended his hand out with his palm facing up and gestured meaningfully toward the two uninvited guests.
Both Hiruzen's and Kakashi's mouths visibly twitched with awkward embarrassment, but they fully understood and acknowledged that they were intruding on a private meal without invitation. They reluctantly reached into their pockets and pulled out some ryo currency and placed it in Sora's waiting hand as payment for the meal.
Sora looked down at the coins resting in his open hand with a deliberately unimpressed expression and made the same expectant gesture again, clearly indicating it wasn't enough payment for his efforts.
Their mouths twitched again with further embarrassment and mild frustration, and they grudgingly took out additional ryo from their pockets and added it to the amount they had already given him, increasing their payment.
He finally nodded with satisfaction, accepting the payment as sufficient, and handed them their respective bowls of steaming rice. They instantly started eating quickly and rushing through their meal because Naruto was already eating at an incredibly rapid pace, and they didn't want to miss out on getting their fair share of the delicious braised pork.
He calmly took a few select pieces of the tender braised pork for himself with his chopsticks and started eating at his own measured, unhurried pace, savoring each bite.