"And why is Jiraiya-sensei late again?" Kushina grumbled, looking around but failing to spot their mentor.
After all, he was the one who had ordered them to gather here at exactly ten in the morning, only to vanish without a trace. However, Jiraiya wasn't the only one who had distinguished himself today—Shiki hadn't deigned to show up on time either. Having waited in vain for a good half hour, Kushina was literally grinding her teeth in anger.
"That Shiki... Just wait until he shows up, I'll give him a good thrashing!" she fumed.
Meanwhile, Namikaze Minato sat quietly off to the side, intently examining his own palm. Just above it, five tiny clusters of chakra danced in the air like flickering flames.
"Uh-oh, my apologies, I was just summoned by Hiruzen-sensei," Jiraiya's voice suddenly rang out.
Using the Body Flicker Technique, he appeared right in front of Kushina. Seething with righteous indignation, the girl planted her hands on her hips and indignantly blurted out,
"What is wrong with you?! Why are you always late?!"
Jiraiya scratched the back of his head guiltily and held up a scroll clutched in his hand.
"Well, I ran to the Third Hokage to get us a mission!"
"A mission?" Minato and Kushina echoed in unison, instantly shifting all their attention to the scroll in their mentor's hand.
It was worth noting that only one day had passed since their team was formed. And they were already being assigned a real mission?
"Hooray! Finally, a real mission!" Kushina squealed in delight.
For her, becoming a shinobi, completing missions, and gaining worldwide fame were merely stepping stones. Her ultimate, cherished goal was the Hokage's seat. Therefore, the sooner she started taking on missions, the faster she would inch closer to her dream.
Unlike the carefree Kushina, Minato looked at things much more deeply.
"Isn't this a bit too hasty, Jiraiya-sensei?" he cautiously voiced his concerns. "Our team was only formed yesterday, we haven't learned to work together at all..."
Even though he, Kushina, and Shiki were perfectly acquainted with one another, everyday life and real combat were two entirely different things. To successfully complete missions and guarantee each other's safety, they needed to thoroughly study their comrades' combat habits and practice joint tactics.
Jiraiya shot Minato an approving look. Many newly minted Genin lose their heads to impatience, eager to rush into battle as soon as possible. They fail to realize that blindly charging onto the battlefield without proper teamwork is a surefire way to pointlessly throw away their lives. Minato's reasoning was mature and absolutely sound. It was just that their team was fundamentally different from all the rest.
"I've thought it all through," Jiraiya reassured him. "We will train and build our teamwork right in the middle of the mission."
"Understood," Minato nodded.
Since their mentor had made his decision, he wasn't going to argue. After all, Jiraiya's combat experience was immeasurably greater than the three of them combined. Having settled that, Jiraiya looked around and finally noticed one small detail.
"Where's Shiki?"
Kushina raised an eyebrow.
"That slacker probably holed up in some corner and is fast asleep!"
No sooner had she spoken those words than a blinding golden flash darted from afar, materializing into Shiki's figure the very next moment.
"La-la-la, I just didn't want to wait around too long," he yawned lazily, rubbing his eyes before unhurriedly pulling his sunglasses from his cloak pocket and perching them on his nose.
Jiraiya didn't bother reprimanding him—after all, he himself was quite late. Unrolling the mission scroll, he spread it out right on the grass and began the briefing.
"Alright, here's the situation. Our objective is to head to the border of the Land of Fire and wipe out a bandit hideout."
Wipe out bandits... That meant only one thing: during this mission, they would have to kill people. Shiki and Minato's faces instantly grew dead serious. Only Kushina hadn't yet grasped the full brutality of the impending trial, continuing to beam joyfully at the thought that they were finally going on a mission.
"We'll discuss the details on the way," Jiraiya concluded. "Now hurry up and go get your gear. We assemble in exactly one hour at the village's main gates. Dismissed!"
The three students instantly vanished into thin air. Left alone, Jiraiya recalled the words the Third Hokage had spoken to him just recently: "True geniuses are forged only in blood."
In times of peace, the first mission for ordinary Genin amounted to finding runaway cats or scaring wild boars away from farmers' fields. But Shiki and his comrades were cut from a different cloth. To forge them into Konoha's sharpest blades, they needed to be accustomed to the sight of blood as early as possible. This was an inevitable stage in the life of any shinobi. Because on the battlefield, there is only one rule: if you don't kill, you will be killed.
Fifty minutes later, the entire trio was already standing at the gates of Konoha. Jiraiya cast an appraising eye over them. Minato and Kushina had changed into the standard green uniform of the Leaf shinobi, attaching their equipment pouches. Only Shiki stood out against them.
He was still sporting his white cloak of justice, and there wasn't even a hint of a pouch with kunai or shuriken on his belt. His appearance was no different from his everyday look. And it wasn't at all due to Shiki's overconfidence—it was simply that his combat style had absolutely no need for additional weaponry. Neither Rokushiki nor the power of the Glint-Glint Fruit required the use of a standard ninja arsenal.
Jiraiya opened his mouth to make a remark, but remembering yesterday's terrifying golden flash, he changed his mind and stayed silent.
"Since everyone is ready, let's move out," he commanded.