Click.
The door opened.
A bridge builder in dark-blue work clothes stepped into the Hokage's office under everyone's expectant gaze. A straw hat stamped with the character for "sake" sat on his head, and a smoking pipe hung from the corner of his mouth.
It was Tazuna, just as expected.
Konome Taketori nodded inwardly. Good. This meant the Land of Waves mission had not grown any strange extra twists.
While Konome examined him, Tazuna's eyes swept across Team 7 in turn.
He looked first at Kakashi in his mask, then at the three shorter figures, Naruto, Sasuke, and Konome. His gaze visibly darkened.
"This is the client for your mission, Mr. Tazuna," Hiruzen Sarutobi said smoothly, introducing him by the book. As the team's instructor, Kakashi was about to step forward to negotiate.
"What kind of joke is this?!"
The roar shook the office.
Tazuna yanked off his straw hat and stormed up to the desk. His bloodshot eyes glared at Hiruzen as if he might lunge across the table and fight the Hokage outright.
Team 7, still riding their excitement, jumped in alarm. Naruto and Sasuke both twitched forward on instinct, but Kakashi stopped them, one hand on each.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto looked up.
Kakashi shook his head slightly, telling them not to move.
To ordinary people, shinobi were a dimensional crush. Even the most average genin, if they cut loose, could slaughter a hundred civilians as easily as killing chickens.
To ensure clients felt safe enough to hire ninja, Konoha's Twelfth Rule for Missions stated clearly:
While executing a mission, avoid direct conflict with the client whenever possible. Never use violence against the client. If a shinobi harms a client recklessly, and the circumstances are severe, they can be treated as a missing-nin.
Sasuke turned toward Konome, only to freeze.
Konome looked as if she had drifted outside the room entirely. She stood there blankly, as though the situation had frightened her stupid.
What is she doing?
Sasuke's heart skipped, but he did not have time to think deeper.
Shing.
A cold flash.
The ANBU standing beside Tazuna drew a short blade from behind his waist. The crisp sound made Tazuna recoil, his neck shrinking as if pulled by a string. The alcohol haze in his eyes cleared instantly.
"Suzaku!"
Hiruzen barked in a performative scold.
Only after Suzaku slowly sheathed the blade did Hiruzen turn back with a warm, friendly smile.
"Mr. Tazuna, we understand your urgency. Please, don't get worked up."
Hiruzen soothed him with practiced ease. After decades as Hokage, he had seen every type of client. People who trekked across countries to post missions in Konoha were unstable more often than not, especially the ones desperate enough to need urgent help. Those were powder kegs, ready to explode at a spark.
Shaken by the blade, then calmed by the Hokage's gentle tone, Tazuna still clenched his teeth, but his emotions settled slightly.
"Hokage-sama, I spent everything I have to hire strong ninja. What's the meaning of sending these snot-nosed brats to me?"
"You old geezer, what did you say?!" Naruto exploded, bouncing in place even while Kakashi held him down.
Sasuke clicked his tongue in irritation.
Only Konome remained in that blank, frozen state.
Tazuna did not dare vent at the Hokage again. He snapped his head around and glared at Naruto.
"I'm talking about you, shorty. The mission I'm posting is a terrifying A-rank. There are jonin among the enemy. You look like a genin at best, you little punk. Don't go looking for death."
"A… A-rank?!"
Naruto and Sasuke both jolted.
They had only graduated a month ago and had done seven D-rank missions. They had not even touched a C-rank yet, and now they were being thrown into an A-rank?
Even Kakashi was surprised.
Not by the mission's difficulty. He had done more S-ranks than he could count. An A-rank was something he could handle half-asleep.
He was surprised that this unimpressive, booze-breathing old man could afford to post an A-rank.
As a jonin who regularly took high-level missions, Kakashi knew the pay scales well. Even the simplest A-rank required at least 150,000 ryo.
This old man had money.
Seeing their shock, a flicker of disappointment crossed Tazuna's eyes, fast and hard to catch.
To defeat Gatō, he had gathered most of the villagers' liquid funds. He had to hire a powerful Konoha jonin to save the Land of Waves.
But this squad did not look strong at all.
The leader was a masked one-eyed man who looked loose and lazy. Completely unreliable.
The three teammates were worse.
A blond idiot with a dirty jacket covered in cat paw prints.
A smug pretty boy with no weapons on him.
And there was even a blind girl mixed into the team.
They looked decent, sure, but she had not reacted to anything this entire time. Just standing there, blank and stupid. Maybe it was not only her eyes that did not work. Maybe her ears and her brain were slow too.
Could this team really save the Land of Waves?
If they went, they would probably die.
Or worse.
Tazuna's gaze lingered on the pretty blind girl. Gatō was rotten to the core. There were fates more terrifying than death.
"Hokage-sama, I need stronger ninja," Tazuna said at last.
With Suzaku still watching him, his voice was no longer as loud, but his tone remained firm.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tazuna." Hiruzen smiled and shook his head, eyes resting on the disciple hidden among genin.
"This is the strongest Konoha can send."
"What?" Tazuna froze.
He stared at the group, one adult and three kids, all of them looking unreliable. There was no way he believed they were Konoha's strongest.
"Heh heh heh. It's just an A-rank. I'll take it!"
Naruto, who had been ready to murder Tazuna a second ago, instantly grew smug when he heard they were called the village's strongest.
It was so embarrassing that Kakashi and Sasuke both stepped away from him at the same time, trying to pretend they were not related.
Even Konome, who had been blank, suddenly snapped back to her senses and took a disgusted step away.
"Konoha's strongest is this idiot?" Tazuna's face twisted.
"Ha ha ha. Who's the idiot he's talking about?" Naruto laughed with his hands on his hips, his slow brain still failing to understand the insult was aimed at him.
"Definitely not." Hiruzen pressed a hand to his forehead, equally speechless. Thank goodness Konome was not like this. If she were, he would have to sever the teacher-student bond on the spot.
"In any case, they are the most suitable team in the village right now, and I'm fully confident they can complete your mission perfectly."
"If you truly refuse, then I can only cancel the mission and refund the entire deposit. You'll have to seek help elsewhere."
With the Hokage putting it that bluntly, Tazuna glanced at Naruto still laughing like an idiot and could only release a long, weary sigh.
He had carried the villagers' pooled savings, traveled all this way to the strongest village in the world, and if he returned empty-handed, how would he face them?
No matter what, he had to bring help back to the Land of Waves. Inari, Tsunami, and Kaiza were still waiting.
"If Hokage-sama insists, then I… will place my trust in Konoha's ninja."
"No need to sound so tortured," Kakashi said, stepping forward and patting Tazuna's shoulder once the commission became official.
"This will be the smartest decision you've ever made."
Tazuna looked at Kakashi's confident face, then at the three kids behind him. He did not know where that confidence came from, but at this point, maybe the one-eyed man truly had some skill.
He could only comfort himself that way.
After all, he had already paid.
Not long after, because Tazuna's situation was urgent, Kakashi and the others returned home, packed a few clothes, and left immediately.
Konoha's main gate.
The massive arch bearing the Leaf symbol opened slowly. Konome, now clearly labeled as a "genin" alongside Kakashi and the others, waited as the gate guards checked their travel documents.
Shinobi were superhuman. If they went rogue, the damage they could cause in a civilian world was terrifying. Under normal circumstances, ninja were expected to live inside their villages. Leaving without reason could get you labeled a missing-nin.
The two gate guards compared their faces to the photos, gave their ninja IDs and mission pass a token glance, then let them through politely.
Kakashi the Konoha technician. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. The Uchiha orphan. The blind genius girl.
Their reputations thundered through the village. There was no need for careful inspection.
Tazuna was old and sharp. Seeing how the guards treated Team 7, he finally realized this squad might not be as weak as they looked. The anxiety in his heart eased a little.
They headed out normally and traveled east.
Konome walked the familiar dirt road and glanced back.
A huge inverted bowl of barrier and walls covered Konoha. This road was the same one she had fled along six years ago, escaping from the Land of Water all the way to the Leaf.
Back then, she had leaned on a cane, carried a heavy pack, and pretended to be an ordinary civilian. Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, the gate "guardian gods," had still noticed something off.
Now, she was the strongest shinobi in Konoha outside of Might Guy. The Third Hokage was her mentor. The hidden Root was her claws.
And during the mission assignment earlier, her main body had already completed the Wood Release fusion and sent a huge amount of chakra and information to synchronize.
That blank, frozen moment in the Hokage's office had not been fear at all.
It was the synchronization.
Right now, she was a Shadow Clone carrying five different bloodline limits.
Time really did move fast.
Walking the road she once crawled down as a refugee, Konome felt a surge of mixed emotions.
"It's my first time leaving the village," Naruto said, throwing punches as he walked, excitement plain on his face.
Sasuke's eyes were bright too, scanning the scenery even if it was still just the same trees and flowers.
"Konome, I heard you came from the Land of Water. What's the outside world like?"
"I don't really know," Konome said with open hands. "I was in a hurry back then."
To reach Konoha quickly, she had taken remote mountain paths. She barely entered cities except for supplies, and the only big city she visited was Haikawa Port, to withdraw money.
She had nearly ended up on that cursed ship.
After that, fearing pursuit from Kirigakure, she had traveled day and night to reach the Leaf, too tense to notice the scenery.
"Hey. Are you guys really reliable?"
Tazuna, listening nearby, could not hold back anymore.
None of them had even left a ninja village before. That meant they had barely done any missions at all. Just fresh graduates.
He had paid a deposit worth over a hundred thousand ryo and ended up hiring students. Tazuna could not shake the feeling Konoha had set him up.
What if they escorted him to the Land of Waves, then turned around and ran back home?
"It's fine, it's fine," Kakashi said, understanding the doubt but still feeling helpless.
Sasuke did not even look at the old man.
Some things could not be fixed with words. The only answer was a demonstration.
He kept thinking that.
But they walked until the crescent moon hung low, the forest grew dark as ink, and still nothing happened.
Not a single threat. Not even a wild animal ambush.
Naruto and Sasuke, who had been itching to show off, grew visibly disappointed.
To accommodate Tazuna, they did not travel at full speed. The repetitive forest scenery ground away the novelty of leaving the village.
By the time night deepened, Kakashi found a clearing and lit a fire. Everyone sat in a circle and chewed dry rations in silence, the rare quiet settling over them.
Konome used the chance to sink into thought and examine the mission.
There was not much to examine, honestly.
The Land of Waves mission had been altered by her butterfly effect. Tazuna had not lied using a C-rank cover story. He had told them up front there was a jonin-level threat involved.
If nothing changed, then the enemy would still be Zabuza Momochi and Haku.
And Konome's purpose in being sent out as a clone was exactly Haku.
With Wood Release successfully synthesized, it proved the Yang Release Konome's theory was correct, and it also meant she no longer had a "teacher" to learn from.
If she wanted new bloodline structures, the best method was to find a shinobi who possessed them and observe their chakra structure directly. Once she had the structure diagram, they could exploit Shadow Clones to quickly replicate the bloodline limit.
Haku was the only Ice Release bloodline user she knew by name. If she brought him back to Root for research, her main body could likely add Ice Release to the collection.
Besides that, even though her main body had fused Wood Release chakra, she had not instantly gained Hashirama Senju's level of power.
Wood Release, like Wind, Water, and other natures, was still a nature transformation. It required long practice to become combat-ready.
Unlike people such as Obito Uchiha, who gained Wood Release by implanting Hashirama cells and inheriting an existing nature transformation, Konome had not transplanted someone else's power.
She had forced Wood Release into existence using her own chakra.
This new nature transformation was still raw. She did not know any Wood Release jutsu yet, and for now it could not become real combat strength.
And while Wood Release had altered her chakra seed, it had not changed her body much. Maybe it increased vitality a bit, but she already had a Sage Body. That passive effect was so small it might as well not exist.
She could only hope Haku's Ice Release would bring her something worthy of excitement.
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