Konoha: Tsunade, I Am the Hokage! [10]

Before long, the water-carrying mission was complete.

“Next mission!”

“Uh…?”

Hamano Tatsu was stunned. But one look at Jiraiya’s face, and he immediately assigned them another D-rank.

This time: firewood chopping.

But—

That too was finished in no time.

“Another.”

---

Half a month later—

“Hokage-sama, this really can’t go on! Please—can you make him stop? At this rate, we’ll run out of D-rank missions altogether!”

Hamano Tatsu couldn’t take it anymore. He marched up to the Hokage’s office to complain.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t assign missions—

It was that Jiraiya’s team had completed more than half of the entire village’s D-rank tasks in the past two weeks.

At this pace, they’d clear the board in days.

And then what? What would the other teams do? The new genin squads? The solo shinobi who relied on these for income?

Was he supposed to cut their pay?

It was no small problem.

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his temples. A headache was already forming.

There was no denying it—Jiraiya’s team was top-tier.

The team leader needed no elaboration.

Among the members, they had a chūnin (Kakashi), a genjutsu specialist (Kurenai), and Shiba Kagenori...

C-rank missions wouldn’t be an issue for them.

“Let him start taking C-rank missions,” the Third finally said.

“Yes, sir.”

Hamano let out a breath of relief.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to issue C-ranks—it was that the current political climate was still unstable.

Though the major nations were technically in a ceasefire, peace hadn’t truly returned. Small skirmishes still broke out from time to time.

Not to mention—

The post-war years had seen a spike in wandering ronin, bandits, and rogue shinobi.

C-rank missions now were far more dangerous than in peacetime.

As a chūnin, Hamano only issued missions—he had no authority to override new team restrictions. But with the Hokage’s approval, there was no need for further resistance.

---

[As Hokage, you’ve taken active steps to serve the village. Your contributions have been widely recognized.]

[Reward: Water Release – Wild Water Wave has increased by 1 level.]

Huh?

Kagenori, waiting outside the Hokage building that morning, blinked in confusion.

What reward?

They’d been grinding D-rank missions nonstop—and now he was getting some mysterious bonus?

He checked his system panel.

[Name: Shiba Kagenori]
[Age: 7]
[Kekkei Genkai: None]
[Skills:]
Transformation Jutsu (Proficient), Clone Jutsu (Proficient), Substitution Jutsu (Proficient), Body Flicker (Mastery),
Water Release: Wild Water Wave (Proficient), Water Formation Wall (Skilled)

Over the past half-month, Kagenori had mainly been training in taijutsu and his two Water Release jutsu. Both had previously only reached Skilled level.

Now, [Wild Water Wave] had jumped to Proficient.

A flood of knowledge surged into his mind—detailed insights into chakra flow, control techniques, and more nuanced Water Release theory. Much of it even applied to broader water-based ninjutsu.

[Wild Water Wave] was basic—it didn’t involve elemental transformation.

But—

At Proficient level, the jutsu became significantly more efficient, reducing the chakra required for use.

In theory, with the same amount of chakra, he could now output thirty percent more water than before.

More than that—many Water Release techniques shared overlapping principles.

Especially [Wild Water Wave] and [Water Formation Wall].

Neither required complex elemental transformation; as long as one could extract Water-nature chakra and had a solid grasp of the basics, they could be cast effectively.

Some of the knowledge gained from mastering [Wild Water Wave] could even be applied directly to [Water Formation Wall].

Kagenori grinned to himself.

This was a big upgrade.

Sure, in the endgame of large-scale shinobi battles, basic jutsu like these would lose their utility—but right now?

Right now, he needed to prepare for the Third Great Ninja War.

And on the level of ordinary shinobi, Water Release was extremely practical.

“Kagenori-kun.”

A gentle voice called from behind.

Kagenori turned—

Kakashi and Kurenai came jogging over, arriving together.

The trio regrouped.

“You got here early?” Kurenai asked, slightly out of breath.

“Not too long ago. Was just running past and figured I’d wait here.”

Kagenori replied calmly.

Kakashi looked like he wanted to say something—but when he caught something in the corner of his eye, he swallowed his words.

“Haha! You’re all here early, huh?”

Jiraiya had arrived.

He held two packs of popsicles, broke them open, and handed one to each of them.

“Let’s go! Today’s mission—let’s knock out the last few. The faster we finish, the sooner we’ll qualify for C-rank.”

Jiraiya had had enough of D-rank missions.

Sure, for regular genin teams, D-ranks were good for building cooperation and basic skills—but for his team?

Please.

Kakashi, already a chūnin, understood the theory behind missions—he just had some emotional knots that still needed untying. Jiraiya didn’t have a quick solution for that.

Kagenori—

Was the one he worried about least.

Kurenai lacked some raw ability, but that could be trained. As a team leader, though, she still had a long way to go.

What they really needed were missions where they faced rogue swordsmen, bandits, even shinobi—where they could actually grow.

If they weren’t being given C-ranks?

Then they’d just grind the D-ranks until the board was empty.

Jiraiya made up his mind.

He stormed into the mission hall and marched up to Hamano Tatsu.

“Give me—”

“Jiraiya-sama,” Hamano quickly cut in, “Hokage-sama said you’re now cleared for C-rank missions.”

Jiraiya raised a brow. “Oh? So we’re done with D-ranks?”

“No need anymore. Your team’s done more than enough. Here—take a look at these C-rank missions.”

Hamano handed over the new board with a tired smile.

Kagenori glanced at it.

So that earlier reward must’ve been triggered by this.

He turned his attention to the board.

Most listings were escort missions for merchant caravans.

The destinations—

Usually the Land of Rivers, Land of Waves—chaotic border zones. If the destination was a full shinobi nation like the Land of Earth, that’d likely bump it up to B-rank or higher.

“This one.”

Jiraiya pointed to a line—

Escort a debt collector in Tanzaku Town.

A slow grin crept across his face.

“We’ll take this one. Where’s the client?”

“This request just came in yesterday. You’ll need to visit the Aohanan Inn in Tanzaku and find a man named Matsuyama Kōji.”

Hamano replied.

He hesitated, then added, “However, the payment offered is almost at B-rank levels. I suspect this isn’t your average debt collection.”

“No problem. Long as the money’s good. I know the way to Tanzaku.”

Jiraiya waved him off, smiling broadly.

Kagenori’s face twitched.

Tanzaku Town. Not exactly a respectable place.

A ninja heading there? Very likely to violate one of the three shinobi taboos.

Hard not to suspect—

Sensei’s not taking a mission. He’s planning a little getaway.

He sighed inwardly.

Kakashi and Kurenai remained expressionless—whether they didn’t know what Tanzaku Town was, or simply didn’t care, was unclear.

Either way, Jiraiya gleefully accepted the mission.

But—

As they left the assignment hall, a figure stepped into their path.

“Jiraiya-sama, Hokage-sama requests your presence upstairs.”

It was an ANBU operative.

Jiraiya sighed, nodded, and turned to his students. “Wait here a moment.”

He headed upstairs.

“Hey! Kagenori, Kakashi!”

A shout rang out from nearby.

Kurenai’s expression grew visibly complicated.

Not him again…

That walking headache—

Might Guy.

---

This is a fan translation of 木叶：纲手，我才是火影！by 卖身葬节操 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!