"Mission completed?"
In the Hokage's office, Senju Tobirama glanced up at the young man standing before him, then lowered his head again to continue working on the documents in his hands.
This brat had been out on a mission for more than ten days, and he finally came back today.
If he hadn't returned soon, Tobirama would have thought that Renya had run into some kind of danger.
After all, S-rank missions were extremely dangerous — one slight mistake could lead to disaster.
That's exactly why ordinary jōnin rarely accepted them.
Normally, jōnin would form teams to complete S-rank missions. It was rare for anyone to carry one out alone…
Unless they had absolute confidence in their own strength.
"Mission accomplished, old man," Renya replied awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
If it weren't for Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama deciding to leave, he probably wouldn't have made it back by now.
After all, there were still four days left before the mission's deadline.
Normally, on the very last day, Madara and Hashirama would finally allow him to return to the village.
And so, the moment Renya came back, he immediately headed to the Hokage's office to report in.
Honestly, he kind of missed this old man a little.
Back in the cave, his days consisted of nothing but cooking and being drilled endlessly by Uchiha Madara.
That, he could tolerate…
But not being allowed to use poison? That was just torture.
He had all these skills but couldn't use them — it was suffocating, to say the least.
Not like he could beat Madara anyway, but without poison, there was absolutely zero chance of winning.
He was basically being beaten one-sidedly every single time.
Still, sparring with Madara had taught him a lot of combat techniques, and he'd benefited greatly from the experience.
What else could he say? It was Madara, after all — the man knew how to teach.
The only downside was that Madara kept hinting at him to leave Konoha.
Before departing, he'd even directly invited Renya to go with him.
Renya still couldn't understand why Madara was so eager to recruit him. If he really lacked manpower, he could just look for people within the Uchiha clan, right?
Surely someone there would be willing to follow Madara.
Why insist on hanging from his tree?
...
"This time, are you planning to rest for a few days?" Senju Tobirama suddenly asked, a faint glimmer of satisfaction flashing through his eyes.
He'd already modified the rules at the Mission Hall. When this brat went there later, he'd find out soon enough.
Renya had already exceeded his monthly mission quota. He wouldn't be able to take any more missions until next month.
And since there were still about ten days left before the reset…
It meant that this brat would be stuck in the village with nothing to do but obediently cook for him.
Tobirama had been surviving on soldier pills for the past ten days while Renya was gone — and he was about ready to throw up from them.
Sure, there were restaurants in the village, but unless it was Renya's cooking, he'd rather choke down soldier pills.
Finally, tonight, he could taste good food again.
Just thinking about it made him look forward to dinner.
"Old man, I'm not planning to take on any more missions for now," Renya said with a grin. "I've been on missions nonstop lately, and it's exhausting."
The war had just ended, and honestly, he'd planned to stop taking missions for a while anyway.
If it weren't for Hashirama and Madara constantly dragging him along to cook for them, he wouldn't have left the village at all.
After fighting for so long, of course, he wanted to enjoy some peace.
And now that those two had left the Land of Fire, they wouldn't be bothering him anytime soon.
"You're not taking any more missions?" Senju Tobirama raised his head in disbelief, his expression blank with shock.
Was this a joke?
He had just modified the rules, and now this brat was saying he wouldn't be doing missions anymore?
What was the point of all that effort, then?
He'd been looking forward to seeing Renya's shocked face when he found out he couldn't take any missions!
"Yeah, no more missions," Renya nodded with a cheerful smile.
This old man had long been unhappy about him leaving the village so often anyway.
And honestly, constantly going out on missions wasn't exactly a great habit.
It wasn't like he was some cultivation maniac.
Before, he'd been training so hard only because he knew the war was coming and wanted enough strength to protect himself when it broke out.
But now that the war was over, he could finally take it easy for a while.
Bringing it up now would probably put Tobirama's mind at ease.
After all, he knew the old man worried about his safety…
Of course, he wasn't about to admit that he'd been taking those S-rank missions knowing full well he had Uchiha Madara backing him up.
With Madara's help, he could've handled ten S-rank missions at once if he wanted to.
If it weren't for worrying about raising suspicion, he might've actually done it.
Free labor like that — he'd be stupid not to make use of it.
Well, not exactly free — it was more of a mutually beneficial deal.
Renya cooked for them, and Madara handled the missions. The mission rewards? Consider them his chef's fee.
Madara didn't care about money anyway.
Suddenly, Renya noticed that Senju Tobirama's expression had turned… strange.
His face looked like he'd just swallowed something absolutely vile.
Renya blinked, confused.
Had the old man… been eating something he shouldn't have while he was away?
No way, right? Didn't he have plenty of soldier pills in his drawer?
Even if they tasted awful, surely he didn't resort to… that.
Yeah, tonight he definitely needed to make the old man a big, proper meal.
Tobirama's face darkened further, but he remained silent.
"Old man, you okay?" Renya asked with genuine concern.
"I'm fine," Tobirama replied flatly, his voice low and heavy.
There was no way he could tell this brat the truth.
Best to just leave it alone.
"Old man, are you sure you're fine?" Renya frowned. Somehow, the guy's face looked even worse now.
"I'm fine. Go on, head home first," Tobirama waved him off, signaling that he could leave.
"Alright, I'll bring you dinner tonight," Renya said as he turned and walked out of the office.
Seriously though, why hadn't this old man retired yet?
Making him deliver food every day… wasn't he worried about getting hemorrhoids from sitting in that chair all the time?
He was already in his forties; shouldn't he be planning for retirement by now?
What, did he want to end up like Sarutobi Hiruzen, working himself to death?
Honestly, if Renya had a say, Tobirama should just step down and enjoy life already.
Then he wouldn't have to bring food to the office every single day.
...
"Renya, where have you been lately?"
Renya had just left the Hokage's office when he ran straight into Shimura Danzō.
Danzō stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at him coldly, his expression stiff and unreadable.
It was obvious he was unhappy about Renya going off on missions without informing the team.
They had always taken missions together.
But this bastard had been sneaking off to do missions behind their backs — and not just once or twice!
Damn that Uchiha, dragging him along like this…
Why the hell didn't Renya bring him along?
Danzō felt betrayed, his expression dark and ugly.
"Danzō, long time no see," Renya greeted him with a cheerful smile, completely oblivious to his deepening scowl.
"Hmph." Danzō didn't reply. He just brushed past him without a word.
He was genuinely pissed off — so pissed, in fact, that he decided he wouldn't talk to this bastard for a while.
Renya stared blankly at Danzō's retreating back, utterly bewildered.
What the hell was his problem?
Out of nowhere… who pissed him off this time?