Naruto: Binding Uchiha Sasuke, Hundredfold Return

On the third day after the formation of the new Seventh Team, it was another day dedicated to training, without any assigned missions.

Seeing how indifferent their teacher was towards money, Soryu felt almost as if he'd rather die. But since Kazuki was his guiding teacher, he could only obediently follow instructions.

After a week of rigorous training, they were finally set to start their second mission! Of course, the reason Kazuki decided to take them on a mission wasn't that the three of them could skip training, but rather that he thought Soryu might be running out of money. Kazuki had visited both Soryu's and Rika's homes. Rika came from a regular family with living parents, so life wasn't too hard for her. However, Soryu was cared for only by his elderly grandmother, who had little ability to support him beyond her work as a cook. They had enough to eat, but could hardly afford any extras. Soryu's shuriken, for example, had been reused countless times over the years.

As they approached the Hokage Building again, Soryu was visibly excited. Coming from a poor background, he valued money greatly!

"Kazuki-sensei, what kind of mission are we doing today? Nothing dangerous, right?" Soryu asked excitedly, pretending it was an offhand question, though he was also genuinely concerned.

Soryu was actually quite afraid of death! As an ordinary person, his life goals were simple: make good money, get married, and take care of his grandmother in her old age. He didn't want to die before growing up, nor did he want to die before his grandmother did, as that would only leave her devastated.

Kazuki glanced at Soryu nonchalantly and said, "Freshly graduated genin need to complete eight D-rank missions before they can take on higher-level tasks. D-rank missions generally involve simple chores with no enemy encounters. At most, you'll deal with some rats or cockroaches."

"That's a relief!" Soryu's mood visibly improved.

Entering the Hokage's office for the second time, they found Himan unusually serious as he handled some official matters.

"What's going on?" Kazuki asked, surprised, as he usually didn't expect Himan to behave seriously. This old eccentric had been the same for decades.

Seeing Kazuki enter, Himan's troubled face instantly lit up with a grin. "Oh, it's nothing. Just that the Sunagakure and the Kirigakure are at war, which is rather strange."

"It is odd," Kazuki agreed. "One village is to our west, the other to our east. For them to go to war across such a distance makes no sense."

"Yes. Previously, the Land of Wind passed through the Land of Rain, which I thought was to test the Land of Lightning, but it seems I was mistaken. According to our information, Sunagakure entered the Land of Water from the north, where it borders the Land of Lightning!"

"The two countries are working together?"

"Mm. At this point, that seems likely. Kirigakure suspects the same and sent us a request for aid, hoping we can send reinforcements."

"What's your opinion?"

"I'm planning to send support to Kirigakure," Himan said, carefully watching Kazuki's reaction. Seeing no objection, he continued, "Currently, we have many ninja in Konoha, but the Land of Fire has limited high-level missions to offer. With the Land of Water paying, we can provide our ninja with employment."

What Himan didn't say was that Konoha had more ninja than the Land of Fire needed. Letting some fall on the battlefield would help relieve this excess.

"Aren't you usually against war? Aren't you worried that by helping Kirigakure, Kumogakure will bring the fight to our borders?" Kazuki asked indifferently.

"Whether we fight now or later, Kumogakure is bound to come our way. It's only a matter of time. If we allow Mist Village to be wiped out by Kumogakure, we can't remain untouched," Himan said seriously.

Kazuki casually scratched his ear and commanded dismissively, "Tell the truth."

"They're paying an incredible amount!" Himan admitted sheepishly with a grin. "Rest assured, we're only sending a small force, and they'll only engage within the Land of Water. It won't cause any backlash from our villagers."

Konoha's priority was still peaceful development, and nothing could compromise that. Himan intended to handle this matter discreetly, sending teams in small groups and assigning missions individually. As long as it didn't escalate, it would remain an everyday task. Who could accuse him of starting a war?

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The fanfic is finished on p@treon/tambeerg