19 Chapter 19: Tree climbing?

"Shouldn't this be an A-rank?" Sakumo was confused. Such a hard mission would be tough to deal with for his students.

Shimpei looked at the paper with a frown. "I believe there was an error... Let me take out another one" He was just closing the scroll when Jin interrupted.

"Shimpei-san, please allow us to take this mission. I believe we are ready for something of this caliber, not only that but we have Sakumo-sensei with us." Jin looked at Shimpei with determined eyes.

Shimpei couldn't say no. This kids determination was so high t felt like he could handle it. "Alright, you are allowed to. Sakumo, what do you think?"

Sakumo looked at his students up and down one more time before thinking of the fight they had. He seemed to have been neglecting their strength for a while. "Ok. But we must be very careful I do not want to lose any of you three."

"We won't fall now sensei." The three of them replied together in sync, they then left and prepared.

After saying goodbye to their respective families, team seven met up at Konoha's gate. They were all ready and carried multiple scrolls that had basic necessities in them.

"Alright, I have a map of the area and the scroll with the mission details. It will take us at most two days to arrive in their headquarters at the border between the land of fire and the land of Wind. I will show you the bingo book pages of every single ninja we are supposed to be facing later." Sakumo had gone over everything the night before with Shimpei and was ready.

They left Konoha and started running towards the border, Sakumo in the lead. The three of them had decided to try out the weapons they had stored away during this mission. They found it was the right idea as there was the possibility of dying.

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Having run for the past ten hours or so, they were beginning to get tired. Although they were trained ninjas and had massive stamina, they still needed to restore energy. Sakumo decided to set up camp next to a massive tree, the tree itself being very tall. Sakumo decided to take the opportunity to teach them about chakra control.

"All right. Fugaku, climb that tree for me." Sakumo looked at Fugaku with serious eyes.

"What for...?" Fugaku frowned but still climbed, as he reached pretty high before falling. Hideki was quick to grab him with a flicker.

"Cheh! I could have gone higher if it wasn't so slippery." He was mad at his performance as he struggled away from Hideki's support and landed by himself.

Sakumo then walked towards the tree. Once he reached it, he started walking on it, reaching the top in no time. He then looked down at Fugaku who's mouth was open so wide it could fit a watermelon in it.

"How?!"

"Now now, Fugaku-kun. I will use this opportunity to teach you how to climb trees. The point of this is to increase your chakra control while giving you another asset in battle." Fugaku was listening attentively for once, as Sakumo continued. "The amount of chakra required for this is small, but it has to be exact. They say that the foot is the hardest area to gather chakra, that goes for the whole body."

"It is also important to train the stamina needed to control chakra properly during movement, and for long periods of time. This is a basic necessity for ninja combat, as you will have to gather chakra while being in constant movement." Sakumo turned towards Jin. "You can see where this applies, as for when you hit me with your genjutsu during the bell test, it took you a while to gather the chakra needed, requiring the others to guard as you did so."

Jin started thinking. It was true that one thing they lacked was enough mastery over chakra to build it up while moving. Even when throwing a fireball, it required for them to be still. "Sensei, do you mean this will improve our chakra control, thus allowing us to use ninjutsu while in movement during a battle?"

"Exactly Jin. Now, here are some kunai-"

Before Sakumo could finish his sentence, Jin walked up to the tree and concentrated. He drove his chakra towards his foot, as he placed it on the tree. At first, the tree bark was damaged, so he regulated the amount until it was basically harmless to the tree. After that, he placed his other foot on the tree and managed to stabilize through a lot of effort on his part.

Sakumo was watching, scared out of his mind. What kind of genius was this?

Jin then proceeded to walk up the tree with closed eyes. Seemingly concentrating to the maximum, as his steps were slow but steady. He reached the top after a while, smiling.

"Nice aniki!" Hideki was eager to try, as he repeated the same process, as Jin was showing progress so easily.

"I have no words for this..." Sakumo could not believe what was going on, the level of chakra control Jin achieved in a couple of minutes was unseen. Even he took way longer than them to do this.

"So sensei? didn't you say this was hard?" jin sneered while he climbed at a decent pace.

"I give up. You practice until you can jump from tree to tree and stick to them as you do. I am going to scout the area for possible nightly threats, you two, learn from Jin..." He just wanted to take a breather now.

Later, the sun sat as Jin lit up a bonfire with some controlled use of his fire style. They took out the food they had brought, which were some rice balls and dried beef. After which they ate happily and slept soon after, taking turns on night watch.

A day later, they had reached the border and set up camp once more as they accommodated themselves. Sakumo then took out his bingo book along with the mission details.

"Here are the specific ninja that we will be facing."

Name: Reo the one-eyed fiend.

Rank: Jōnin (Sunagakure missing-nin)

Abilities to look out for: proficient use of a fan to increase the strength of his wind style, and an ability to blend in with his surroundings along with his weapon. It seems he acquired it after killing a member of Iwagakure. Very savvy.

Weakness: Lacking taijutsu abilities and physical defense.

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Name: Jirou Satou

Rank: Estimated chuunin (Mercenary)

Abilities: Strong water style techniques and a powerful physique.

Weakness: Not very smart and easily irritable.

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Name: Giichi Watanabe

Rank: Chuunin (Iwagakure missing-nin)

Abilities: Strong earth style techniques, and is very smart.

Weakness: Tends to prioritize his life and has low stamina.

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"The rest are either genin or mercenaries at that level or lower. They should number at about twenty in total." Sakumo looked through his bingo book while he read everything out loud for his students to hear.

"Those genin will hinder us when we fight the big fish. I say we eliminate them completely before we engage." Fugaku did not want to fight a strong opponent while having to worry about other genin flanking them.

"I agree with Fugaku-kun. But first I will explain my plan. We will wait for the scheduled date in which the target is supposed to leave the border, and we will strike in the middle of their journey. If we manage to kill the said target before killing off everyone else, retreat."

"The problem is... how do we kill off fifteen or so genin before the chuunin and jōnin strike?" Jin was racking his brains while thinking of a solution. "Hideki, Fugaku. Are you two prepared to kill?"

"Yes." They both nodded. They had already made up their mind since they had become ninja. Killing was not an unusual thing now.

"Okay, I believe that if we act in unison, we can manage. First..." Jin went on to explain his plan to the others, and Sakumo agreed. That could work.

As they spoke, a little owl slowly anded on a nearby tree and stared at them with eerie eyes. Sakumo noticed after a while and threw a kunai, which it evaded before leaving in a hurry.

"Are they unto us?" Sakumo felt this was not normal. How had they found them out so soon?

"We should investigate sensei."

The four then started the meaningless search for an owl that had long since disappeared.

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"So, did they send anyone?" A fat man wearing jewelry was eating on one side of a long table as a person with a collar on their neck that read 'seal' was standing next to him with a platter and water.

On the other side of the table, lay a beautiful woman. She was extremely seductive and wore a dress that perfectly accentuated her sexy figure, as her jade eyes looked at the man with disgust. An owl was resting on her elevated forearm.

"They sent a Jōnin and three kids... probably genin. The Jōnin in question is probably Konohagakure's rising star, Sakumo."

"Haven't heard of him, It should be an easy feat to murder them right? That's what I paid you for didn't I... Reiko?" He tugged on the leash that his slave was wearing, bringing her closer as he licked her face. "I will leave tomorrow doggy-chan. Tonight, you will entertain me one last time... right? Gihihi."

The little slave that did not look very old was scared and seemed to have recalled some past memories. she tried to cry, as the collar sent a small electric shock through her body. She then closed her mouth and held back her tears, not wanting any more pain.

"Giiihihihihihi! Doggy-chan, you should learn by now!" He slapped her as she fell on the ground, water spilling all over her. He then got up and proceeded to assault her sexually.

Renko was utterly disgusted by the scene and left after spitting on the ground. Once outside, she started thinking to herself. "Those kids looked quite young... Is Konoha lacking genin? That can't be..." It was tough for her to understand, but she didn't think too much about it as she rallied the troops and headed towards team Sakumo.