The three of them bickered and chatted for a while. About ten minutes later, Shibi Aburame finally reached the front of the line and walked up to the counter.
The mission officer, a young woman dressed in business attire, spoke gently, "Individual or team?"
Shibi Aburame replied, "Team. Freshly graduated!"
"Okay." The lady extended her delicate hand. "Ninja License please!"
While registering their information, Shibi asked, "How many D-rank missions are available in the village now?"
The lady handed him a booklet. "Take a look first. The checked ones have already been taken."
Shibi skipped ahead a couple of pages and then pointed at one mission. "We'll take this one!"
The lady took back the booklet and confirmed, "D-rank mission, number 35 is it?"
"That's right!"
"Alright, here's your token. Please go aside to collect the mission scroll."
So saying, she handed him a small token.
Shibi walked aside and passed the token to Aya Inuzuka, who had been waiting impatiently. "Go get the mission scroll."
Soon enough, Aya returned with the scroll, visibly dejected.
"What happened?" Hayate Gekko asked urgently.
Aya handed the scroll to Hayate Gekko, then glared angrily at Shibi Aburame.
Hayate looked at it and his face darkened as well.
Uchiha Aozora received the scroll last. As he expected, the very first mission had nothing to do with being ninja at all.
Their initial Team Three mission was helping an elderly widower harvest rice.
The mission requester was a wealthy disabled old man whose family owned more than twenty mu (about 13,000 square meters) of land, all planted with rice.
Konoha's fertile soil made rice cultivation easy. With two harvests per year, this was precisely the time for the first season's harvest.
Because of the large area and vast amount of rice, he couldn't complete the harvest by himself, so he requested ninja assistance.
Although Uchiha Aozora had mentally prepared himself, he still frowned slightly.
An ordinary person needed about half a day to harvest one acre of rice. If weather conditions were bad or terrain was difficult, it would take even longer.
Dividing more than twenty mu among the three of them meant each would be responsible for around seven or eight mu. Even though they had much better physical stamina than regular people, completing the task would still take three to five days.
The only good news was that the reward for the mission was quite generous.
Due to the heavy workload involved, the payment was much higher than usual for a D-rank mission—no less than 6000 ryo (traditional monetary unit equivalent to silver coins). After deducting the village's 30% share and the teacher's 20%, each member could still receive 1000 ryo.
While Uchiha Aozora was calculating these figures, Aya was already complaining to Shibi.
"Teacher, we're ninjas, not farmers!"
"Teacher..."
Unfortunately, Shibi buried his head like an ostrich, completely ignoring Aya's complaints.
After a while, Uchiha Aozora could no longer stand Aya's nagging and said, "Since we've accepted it, we might as well complete it properly. Otherwise our very first mission record will be marked as failure."
Hearing this, Aya shot Shibi a resentful glare before grumbling, "Fine..."
After calming down, Aya Inuzuka followed Shibi Aburame and the other three weary members toward their destination.
The Mission Requester lived in a courtyard at the edge of Konoha, surrounded by endless fields. The rice paddies had ripened, their heavy grains swaying rhythmically in the breeze, forming golden waves like a beautiful melody.
As they entered the courtyard, they noticed a massive old tree. An elderly man lay on a rocking chair beneath it, slowly fanning himself to ward off the heat.
When he saw the four entering, his face lit up with delight, wrinkles bunching together around his eyes.
"Are you the ninja here to harvest my rice?" he asked.
Shibi nodded and presented his ninja license for inspection.
The old man glanced through it before returning the document, then led them outside to see the fields.
Only when he stood up did Uchiha Aozora realize how tall and upright this old man really was.
He pointed at the flat expanse of rice fields, saying, "This is the area."
"With temperatures rising daily, we must finish harvesting within these few days or else all the rice will fall from its stalks."
He raised his fan higher to shade himself from the climbing sun and continued, "We must finish before it's too late."
Surveying the vast rice fields—about the size of two football fields—and watching the sun climb higher, the three youths exchanged uneasy glances.
Shibi nodded confidently but mentioned, "No problem. However, these children have never harvested rice before. Could you please teach them?"
The old man had no objection and led them into the fields.
At the field's edge, sickles, straw hats, bamboo baskets, and other tools were already prepared.
The old man picked up a sickle and walked into the rice plants.
Bending his back slightly, one hand gripping the sickle while the other grabbed a bundle of rice stalks, he skillfully cut through them and set them aside.
After cutting about a bundle, he paused to demonstrate tying the rice stalks for the three youths.
"Just like this," he explained. "Once you've cut and tied all the rice, carry it to the threshing ground."
After demonstrating the correct posture for cutting rice, the old man went inside with Shibi to escape the heat.
Back in the fields, the three looked at each other, hesitant to begin.
Observing the growing intensity of the sun, Uchiha Aozora reluctantly took the initiative.
Seeing someone finally start, Hayate Gekko and Aya Inuzuka also got to work.
Initially unaccustomed to the task, their pace was slow, and they often got cut by sharp rice leaves, nearly getting poked in the eyes.
Thankfully, all three possessed quick reflexes and thick skin, so they weren't seriously injured.
Ninja were naturally nimble and fast learners. Before long, they'd mastered the rice-harvesting technique.
By ten o'clock in the morning, the sun had become unbearable, forcing the trio to retreat back to the courtyard.
In the afternoon, when temperatures dropped slightly, the three resumed harvesting.
After sunset marked the end of their first day's work, Team Three returned home to rest.
After dinner, Aozora Uchiha practiced the Dao Yin Lian Qi method several times. His body gradually recovered from fatigue under chakra cultivation.
Rather than continuing to research Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work, he pulled out a box containing jutsu scrolls and selected the scroll titled [Shadow Clone Jutsu].
[Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work] was a long-term undertaking, but for now, dealing with the mundane D-rank missions took priority. Without doubt, the Shadow Clone Jutsu could get him out of trouble quickly.
He also wanted to test out the protagonist's overpowered technique.
He decided to just do it. He began studying the Scroll of Shadow Clone Jutsu line by line.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu was a B-rank Ninjutsu originally developed by Tobirama Senju and had spread widely across the Ninja World.
Unlike ordinary Clone Jutsu, Shadow Clones were solid and possessed the same consciousness as the original. They could attack enemies, and once dispelled, their memories and experiences would return to the original user.
Despite its impressive power, the technique turned out to be surprisingly easy to learn.
Though he'd only been cultivating chakra for a year, seven years of rigorous physical training had forged a body that rivaled even members of the Uzumaki Clan. His current chakra reserves were no lower than those of an average Chūnin, meaning he already met the basic requirements for learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
After carefully reading all the details about chakra manipulation, he didn't even perform a hand seal—his chakra flowed according to his will.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
As soon as he spoke, a wisp of white smoke appeared from nowhere, and behind it stood a figure as tall as himself.
When the smoke cleared, the clone stood with his back facing him. A soft, melancholic voice drifted out:
"Where the sea meets the sky, the heavens become the shore [a variation of a classical Chinese saying]. When the path of the ninja ends—"
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