Team 7 had no idea that just after they left, an old man in glasses stumbled into the mission assignment office. Clutching a wine bottle, he slurred, "Hey, I'm here to post a mission request."
"May I ask your name?"
"Ta... Tazuna." The drunk old man forced his eyes open, looked at Iruka Umino, and chuckled. "Take me to the Land of Waves. Protect me while I build a bridge there..."
"I see. The Land of Waves is a country without a ninja village, so the journey is relatively safe. We'll tentatively classify this as a C-rank mission." Iruka nodded and sighed lightly. "This kind of easy mission should be perfect for Kosuke-senpai. When he comes by, I'll assign it to him."
"...Oh? Your senior?" Tazuna, half-drunk and half-awake, squinted at Iruka and grabbed his sleeve. "Okay... okay... he'll do."
Iruka just stared. "..."
Some things in the world just happen by coincidence.
When the first ray of sunlight hit the village, the gates of Konoha opened. It was the first time leaving the village for the three genin of Team 7, and Naruto was looking around with curiosity. His gaze suddenly stopped on an old man who had appeared beside them. "Morning, Kosuke-senpai. Are you also leaving the village for a mission?"
"Yes! Good morning!" Kosuke Maruboshi smiled and nodded. Behind him trailed another old man with a gloomy face, who must have been Kosuke's client.
The atmosphere between the two old men didn't seem particularly pleasant, and it had been that way since yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, Iruka had assigned this relatively easy C-rank protection mission to Kosuke Maruboshi, almost as if it were a special perk. This, however, resulted in dissatisfaction from the client. But Kosuke's record showed countless C-rank mission completions, making it impossible for Mr. Tazuna of the Land of Waves to argue.
It was just a pity that from Tazuna's expression, he was clearly unhappy about this elderly genin taking his request.
When Tazuna's gaze fell on the energetic members of Team 7 next to them, especially Naruto, who was seriously scribbling in a notebook, he couldn't help but grumble, "I thought all you Konoha ninjas were like that group of brats over there!"
"Hehe..." Kosuke Maruboshi said with an embarrassed smile. "Well, the mission those little ones are on is much more difficult than mine!"
"Is that so?" Tazuna tilted his head back, took a swig of wine, and muttered, "Whoever gets to be their client is one lucky person."
Kosuke scratched his head in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry, but I promise I will get you to the Land of Waves safely and help you build the bridge."
"I hope so," Tazuna sighed, his face twitching with frustration. Yesterday, he had tried to drink his worries away... In the end, his worries were hidden, but Konoha assigned him an elderly genin. It had completely backfired.
-----
A long time after the two old men had set off, Team 7's Jonin leader, Kakashi Hatake, finally arrived. "Yo, good morning. You guys are early! Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the path of life again."
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, that's enough!" Sakura Haruno tugged at his uniform, looking annoyed. "Our client is right here! He's been waiting with us for a long time!"
"It's quite alright..." A merchant guild president quickly waved his hand, offering a low, apologetic smile. "To be able to hire the famous Kakashi of the Sharingan, it feels like the mission is practically complete already!"
"Ha, is that so?" Kakashi scratched his head. "About your cargo that was stolen by bandits, are there any details you can share?"
The merchant guild president was stunned for a moment. "Uh... yes. Some time ago, we purchased a batch of precious jewels from the Gato Company in the Land of Waves, which came from the Land of Water. Because the Land of Water is closed off, those jewels are hot commodities in the Land of Fire..."
Due to the Hidden Mist Village's "Bloody Mist" policy, the Land of Water was seen as barbaric by the rest of the ninja world and wasn't accepted by the mainland nations. As a result, the Land of Fire rarely traded with it. The two great nations could only rely on a small island country between them, the Land of Waves, for trade.
But how much trade can a small island country's transport capacity really handle?
Because of this, goods from the Land of Water were always extremely expensive inland, and the profits were substantial. This merchant guild president from the Land of Fire had gotten in touch with the great merchant Gato of the Land of Waves. Just a few days after acquiring a new shipment, he was robbed by mountain bandits.
According to the unwritten rules in the Land of Fire, merchants in this situation only needed to make a trip to Konoha and ask the ninjas to solve the problem. Usually, the Konoha ninjas just had to show up, and the bandits would proactively surrender, hand over the stolen goods, and be magnanimously spared.
Occasionally, some ignorant bandits would put up a futile resistance. A good-tempered ninja might spare their lives and just take the goods; if they ran into a bad-tempered one, well, it was hard to say... The whole affair was almost like child's play.
What's more interesting is that this situation traces back to the Warring States Period. It's said that in that era, the Uchiha and Senju clans were the most effective at this job. It's just that the two great clans were always fighting, so while effective, hiring them was also very dangerous.
Now that Konoha had replaced them, things were much safer. For a time, some merchants tried to save costs by not posting mission requests at all. They were quickly robbed into bankruptcy.
The merchants of the Land of Fire eventually got the picture. They gradually realized what was going on: weren't the ninjas just taking the opportunity to fleece them?
Later, these merchants figured out a principle: for large-volume cargo, hire Konoha ninjas for help. For small-volume cargo, take a gamble. If they were lucky, they'd save a considerable hiring fee. If they were unlucky, they could just go to Konoha and ask for help anyway. It was just a C-rank mission, after all.
Obviously, the merchant guild president standing before them was not very lucky. Now he had to spend money to hire ninjas to recover his losses. The only thing that comforted him was that he had actually managed to hire the legendary Kakashi of the Sharingan.
After the merchant guild president finished explaining how his goods were robbed, he sighed. "Actually, as long as I can get those precious jewels back, I'll be very satisfied..."
Naruto, however, didn't seem to mind. He said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. This time, we'll clean up those bandits along the way. That road will be safe in the future."
"..."
This sentence was not taken seriously by the merchant. The ninjas might not think about it, but the merchants were very clear on the matter. He was a proper businessman; his mind was sharp.
The bandits and highwaymen in the Land of Fire had never disappeared for a reason. The merchants more or less knew in their hearts that those bandits who robbed people on the road all had backers.
As for who was behind them, no one dared to investigate. For example, people from the Cloud Village might say it's Shimura X-zo. People from the Stone Village might say it's Shimura Dan-X. People from the Sand Village might say it's Shi-X Danzo. There were only a few suspected targets...
-----
Bonus:
Shimura Danzo: I didn't do this!
Sarutobi Hiruzen: Is it that important whether you did it or not?
Shimura Danzo: Monkey, are you even human?
Sarutobi Hiruzen: For Konoha to endure, what's wrong with you sacrificing a little?