SWNOVELXO Chapter 9: CHAPTER 9:
Next Day -
Hiruzen was once again back in the Hokage's Private Training Grounds, swinging Ryujin Jakka in her Unsealed Form and doing his 'Daily Mission'. Hiruzen was absentmindedly going through all of his sword forms just to retrain all of his skills when he heard the System go off in his ears.
[Ding! 'Daily Mission' Completed!]
[Reward: +0.10% Character Progression!]
Hiruzen then stopped and his mind came back into focus due to the System Notice, he then calmly turned Ryujin Jakka horizontally and once again she returned back into her harmless Cane Form. Hiruzen then decided to check his current progress...
'System'. Then with his call, his panel appeared before him.
[Name: Hiruzen Sarutobi (Third Hokage)]
[Character: Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai]
[Age: 68 Years]
[Gender: Male]
[Abilities:
[Kido: Hado #1 - Hado #40, Bakudo #1 - Bakudo #40, Kaido (Beginner) (Unlocked)]
[Zanjutsu: Onibi (Unlocked), Hitosume: Nadegiri (Locked)]
[Hakuda: Ikkotsu (Locked), Sōkotsu (Locked)]
[Hoho: Shunpo (Intermediate) (Unlocked), Air-Walking (Intermediate) (Unlocked)]
[Props:
[Zanpakuto: Ryujin Jakka - Shikai (Locked), Bankai (Locked)]
[Character Progression: 24.30%]
[Daily Mission:
- {Swing Ryujin Jakka 5000 times a Day.}
* Reward: +0.10% Character Progression (Replenishable Task).
- {Spar with Ryujin Jakka in your Inner World and survive over 2 Hours.}
* Reward: +2.50% Character Progression (Replenishable Task).
[Main Mission: NONE (CURRENTLY)]
[Task 1 Currently on Cooldown - 1 Day Remaining]
[Task 2 Currently on Cooldown - 1 Week, 3 Days Remaining]
"Hmm…" grunted Hiruzen looking over his panel. Although he has noticed that he is indeed gaining Character Progression, and can feel himself becoming stronger and becoming more close to his life as Yamamoto, he has noticed that his Proficiency in his techniques haven't really changed at all… he had been wondering if his Proficiency would increase with his Template Progress or he would have to manually practice and increase it so that they would be better, but he couldn't come to any solid conclusion yet as he has only gained 4.30% of his strength since his start so he will just have to wait and see...
As Hiruzen was looking over his Template in his office with his ANBU yet to arrive, he noticed that his door has opened to reveal Tsubasa, the Chunin he assigned to handle assigning all of the D-Rank and C-Rank missions. Hiruzen mentally dismissed his Panel from his view and had his full attention on Tsubasa, as he wasn't expecting the Chunin for anything and didn't have a scheduled meeting with him either so this was unexpected for the aged Shinigami.
Tsubasa quietly closed the door and stopped before Hiruzen's desk and gave a respectful bow to the Hokage. Hiruzen then lightly nodded and asked the Chunin:
"Tsubasa… what brings you here? Is there something you need of me?" asked Hiruzen calmly, and Tsubasa didn't speak for a second, but that already set off alarm bells in Hiruzen's head due to the silence, but Tsubasa quickly gathered his courage and spoke:
"Yes Hokage-Sama. In fact it is important… earlier this morning Team Seven lead by Hatake Kakashi came to receive another C-Rank Mission for his team and noticing there history of having done a C-Rank before, I naturally wasn't against it.
Now… the problem lay with the client… I assigned them the mission of guarding an individual called Tazuna from the Land of Waves, a supposed bridge builder who needed protection from bandits and to have a team guard him to complete his project. Originally, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary besides the man's habit of drinking really early, but the situation changed when not even 5 minutes ago did I receive one of Kakashi's personal summons giving a rundown of his current situation...
Apparently the client lied about the mission parameters as he requested only for bandits and the like, but Kakashi about 30 minutes out of the village encountered 2 B-Rank Missing Ninja from the Hidden Mist Village trying to kill the drunk! He wanted me to give this to you…" spoke Tsubasa after taking a couple of breaths...
Hiruzen after hearing the news frowned a bit at the news, but his composure didn't break… he saw Tsubasa reaching into his pocket to pull out a scroll from his waist and presented it too him. Hiruzen stretched out his hand and took the scroll and after removing the Security Seal that was attached to it, opened it and started reading.
[This is Team Leader of Squad 7 Hatake Kakashi reporting to Hokage-Sama. Currently, after defeating the Rogue Shinobi's, after investigation found out their identities to be 'Gōzu and Meizu', each a B-Rank Chunin and siblings that left the Bloody Mist due to the failed Coup d'etat performed by Rogue Shinobi Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Ninja Swordsman.
After the battle, I interrogated the client 'Tazuna of Wave Country', and found out that the Land of Waves has been under the tyrannical suppression of Gato of Gato's Shipping... he has apparently been bleeding the country dry and Tazuna wishes to 'free' his people by building his bridge to connect to the main land.
After hearing the story, I, as well as the rest of Team Seven came to the unanimous decision of continuing the Mission, as if we didn't, it would look bad on Konoha and its reputation, also Tazuna has agreed to increasing the Mission Pay, along with a possible alliance with the Land of Fire if the Mission goes well as well.
Besides, I believe in the strength of my students, and know them well, so don't fret Hokage-Sama… that is all for now Hokage-Sama…]
[Hatake Kakashi]
After Hiruzen finished reading it, felt that a headache would come upon him, but before that could happen, he turned to Tsubasa quietly and patiently standing in his spot, waiting for Hiruzen's directives. Hiruzen then waved his hand, indicating his dismissal to which the Chunin nodded and left just as quietly as he came...
Just as Hiruzen was about to make a decision he unexpectedly heard a bell ring in his ears and a message appear before his eyes.
[Ding! 'Main Mission' Detected... Creating Mission…]
Hiruzen seeing this had his eyes widen in surprise. He has been trying for the past few weeks to trigger the 'Main Mission' but hasn't been successful, as he doesn't know what the requirements are needed for it to be classified as a 'Main Mission'… but from what Hiruzen can gather, it triggered due to himself learning new knowledge of this C-Rank Mission Kakashi and his team were on and how much more dangerous it became… or at least that is what he theorises for now.
Hiruzen though while having these thoughts was brought out of it again by the System ringing in his ears again.
[Ding! 'Main Mission' Created!]
[… … … …]
[Save the Land of Waves!]
[Team 7 led by Hatake Kakashi has been tasked with helping protect the individual 'Tazuna' with building his bridge. Help Successfully Complete the Mission!]
[Objective(s):
- Protect 'Tazuna' and his Family from harm. Don't allow the DEATH of any family member related to 'Tazuna' (Which includes Himself) to occur on the mission. {0/3}
- Successfully Complete Building the Bridge that will connect to the Main Land. {0/1}
- Bring HOPE to the Land of Waves. {0/1}
- Eliminate the Enemy Shinobi tasked with Hunting 'Tazuna', and by relation his Family. {2/4}
- Eliminate the Enemy Goons/Underlings of Gato the Shipping Magnet. {0/120}
- Eliminate Gato the Shipping Magnet. {0/1}
* [Reward]:
- + 5.00% Character Progression
- Random Conversion of a Jutsu/Ability used by Hiruzen Sarutobi before System Activation
[… … … …]
Hiruzen after reading through the Mission's content was stunned!
There were so many different requirements for completing this 'Main Mission', but not just that, the System was going to convert a Random Ability he used in the past to an ability he could use now?!
Hiruzen was lucky that his personal ANBU weren't here right now, or they would be worried about why their Hokage had wide eyes and was staring into space for a matter that wasn't very important in their own opinion...
Hiruzen had to take a few seconds to get a hold of himself, but he couldn't stop the uncharacteristic smirk that appeared on his face. This was great news for him, not only was there the reward of +5.00% Character Progression which was about 50 Days worth of 'Daily Missions', but he would be getting back an old skill of his that would be turned into a Shinigami ability.
Honestly, he was a bit excited at the prospect, but he quickly calmed down and started analysing the situation.
Why would a seemingly random mission that unexpectedly got raised to around High B-Rank to A-Rank difficulty trigger a 'Main Mission' for him?
Hiruzen himself wasn't the one doing the mission personally, so he can't quite understand what the System's aim is besides asking him to command Team Seven to Eliminate their Enemies in a specific way...
Hiruzen is suspicious now, because for one, he doesn't know what the requirements are for a 'Main Mission' to even be created, but now the System is specifically asking for such results… Hiruzen wasn't one to back away from a challenge, far from it, and if he was one to do so, he wouldn't have become the Hokage or created the Seireitei and led it for millennium's on end, but he just can't understand what the motives are for the System...
Hiruzen after a minute of not getting results but more unanswered questions, decided to not think much further and began to start carefully writing a response to Kakashi in a way where all of his objectives would be completed.
After a few minutes of writing, Hiruzen looked it over one last time to make sure it was perfect, he then rolled it up and placed a Security Seal, similar to the one Kakashi had on his scroll, on this one.
He stood up and the now arrived guards who arrived a minute or so ago when Hiruzen was writing, followed him to a random door near the top of the Hokage Tower. When the door was opened, it showed a large room with a massive open window, covered in large boxes stacked up against the wall and large amounts of hay inside each one.
Then due to the door opening, there was movement of noise that filled the room and Hiruzen's ears that sounded like the movement of a large amount of feet. Hiruzen ignored the noise and looked around after finding the box labelled '7' and made his way over to it, stretching out his hand to the darkness and the unmistakable shape of a falcon came out of the hole and hopped onto the Hokage's outstretched arm.
This was the Messenger Room, where all of Konoha's Messenger Birds ranging from Pigeons, Owls, Falcons, etc, all roost together and wait for instructions and messages to be delivered to and from Konoha. The Falcon that was currently on the Hokage's outstretched arm was the personal Messenger Bird for Team 7, as each bird has a specific location and important logistic it is tied to.
With a specific Tracking Seal that is applied onto the back of the bird, said creature is able to locate the other holder of the same seal anywhere in the Land of Fire and fly towards them.
Hiruzen calmly tied the message to the Falcon and moved towards the large open window, opening it, and letting the bird spread its wings and fly off instinctively into the direction where it feels Kakashi is located...
Hiruzen calmly watches the majestic creature fly off into the distance while only having one thought to himself before the windows close behind him:
'Kakashi… do not fail me...'