The three of them bickered noisily for a while. After roughly ten minutes, Aburame Shibi finally reached the front of the line and stepped up to the counter.
The ninja in charge of issuing missions was a young woman dressed in professional attire. She spoke gently,"Individual or team?"
"Team. Newly graduated," Aburame Shibi replied.
"Alright." The young woman extended her slender hand. "Ninja registration cards."
As she recorded their information, Aburame Shibi asked, "How many D-rank missions are currently available in the village?"
She handed him a booklet and replied, "Take a look yourself first. The ones that are checked off have already been accepted."
Aburame Shibi casually flipped through a couple of pages, then pointed at one of the listings."Let's take this one."
The young woman accepted the booklet and confirmed, "D-rank mission, number 35. Correct?"
"That's right."
"Understood. Here's your number plate. Please go to the side to collect the mission scroll."
With that, she handed him a numbered tag.
Aburame Shibi stepped aside and passed the tag to the impatient Inuzuka Aya."Go get the mission scroll."
Before long, Inuzuka Aya returned, holding the scroll with her head hanging low.
"What's wrong?" Gekkō Hayate asked quickly.
Aya handed the mission scroll to Hayate, then glared indignantly at Aburame Shibi.
Hayate took one look at the scroll, and his face darkened as well.
Uchiha Aozora accepted the scroll last. As expected, their very first mission had absolutely nothing to do with being a ninja.
Team Three's initial mission: assist a solitary elderly man in harvesting rice.
The client was a relatively wealthy but physically disabled elderly man. He owned more than twenty mu of farmland, all planted with rice.
Konoha's soil was fertile, allowing rice to be harvested twice a year. It was now time to harvest the first crop.
Because the land was vast and the yield abundant, the old man could not manage the harvest alone and had therefore commissioned the village's ninja.
Although Uchiha Aozora had mentally prepared himself, he still frowned.
A normal person would take nearly half a day to harvest just one mu of rice. If the weather or terrain were unfavorable, it would take even longer.
With over twenty mu divided among the three of them, each person would need to handle roughly eight mu. Even with their superior stamina, it would still take three to five days.
The only good news was that the reward was decent.
Because the workload was heavy, the commission was far higher than that of a typical D-rank mission—6,000 ryō in total. After the village took thirty percent and the instructor took twenty percent, each of the three genin would still receive 1,000 ryō.
While Uchiha Aozora was calculating the numbers, Inuzuka Aya was busy complaining to Aburame Shibi.
"Sensei, we're ninja—not farmers!"
"Sensei—!"
Unfortunately, Aburame Shibi behaved like an ostrich. He pulled his high collar up and treated Aya's complaints as background noise.
After a while, Uchiha Aozora could no longer endure Aya's nonstop grumbling and said,"It's already been accepted. We should just complete it properly. Otherwise, our first mission record will be a failure."
Hearing this, Aya shot Aburame Shibi a resentful glare, then reluctantly said,"…Fine."
Once Aya finally quieted down, Aburame Shibi led the three dispirited genin toward the mission location.
The client lived in a courtyard on the outskirts of Konoha, surrounded by endless fields.
The rice paddies were fully ripe. Heavy ears of grain swayed rhythmically in the breeze, the sound of wind moving through rice forming a gentle, almost musical wave.
Upon entering the courtyard, they discovered a massive ancient tree. Beneath it, the old man lay in a rocking chair, slowly fanning himself with his right hand to ward off the heat.
Seeing the four of them arrive, his face lit up, wrinkles bunching together.
"Are you the ninja here to harvest the rice?" he asked.
Aburame Shibi nodded and showed him their ninja credentials.
The old man glanced at them briefly before returning the cards, then led them outside to inspect the fields.
Only after the old man stood up did Uchiha Aozora realize that he was quite tall, with a straight, upright posture.
Pointing to the vast, flat stretch of rice paddies, the old man said,"This is the land."
"The weather's getting hotter by the day. Everything needs to be harvested within the next few days, or the grain will start falling off."
As he spoke, he raised his fan to shield his eyes from the steadily climbing sun.
Looking at a rice field roughly the size of two soccer fields, and then at the blazing sun, the three genin exchanged glances, all feeling a sense of foreboding.
Aburame Shibi nodded and replied, "No problem. But these kids have never harvested rice before. We'll need you to teach them."
The old man didn't mind and led them into the fields.
By the edge of the paddies, sickles, straw hats, bamboo baskets, and other tools had already been prepared.
The old man picked up a sickle and stepped into the rice.
Bending at the waist, he gripped the sickle in one hand and gathered the stalks with the other, harvesting the rice smoothly and efficiently before setting it aside.
After cutting about a bundle's worth, he stopped and demonstrated how to tie the rice together.
"Like this. Harvest and bundle it. Once everything's cut, carry it to the threshing ground."
After demonstrating the proper technique, the old man went back inside with Aburame Shibi to rest in the shade.
Out in the fields, the three genin looked at one another—none of them wanted to be the first to start.
Seeing the sun climb higher and higher, Uchiha Aozora had no choice but to take the lead.
With someone setting the example, Gekkō Hayate and Inuzuka Aya followed suit.
At first, all three were clumsy and slow. The sharp rice leaves frequently cut their skin, and their eyes were nearly poked more than once.
Fortunately, ninja reflexes were quick, and their bodies were tough. No one was injured.
With their agility and strong learning ability, they soon became proficient at harvesting.
By a little past ten, the sun had grown unbearable, forcing them to retreat back to the courtyard.
In the afternoon, when the temperature dropped slightly, they returned to the fields and continued harvesting.
By the time the sun dipped behind the mountains, Team Three finally completed their first day's work and headed home to rest.
After dinner, Uchiha Aozora practiced Guided Ki Cultivation several times. Nourished by chakra, the fatigue gradually drained from his body.
He didn't continue studying True Samadhi Fire. Instead, he took out the box containing his ninjutsu scrolls and retrieved the one for Shadow Clone Jutsu.
True Samadhi Fire was a long-term project. For dealing with the tedious and exhausting D-rank missions ahead, Shadow Clone Jutsu was far more immediately useful.
Besides, he wanted to try the classic protagonist's "cheat" method for himself.
Once he made up his mind, he acted immediately, carefully reading the scroll word by word.
Shadow Clone Jutsu was a B-rank ninjutsu developed by Senju Tobirama, and it was widely known throughout the shinobi world.
Unlike ordinary clone techniques, shadow clones possessed physical bodies, shared the user's consciousness, could attack enemies, and—most importantly—their memories and experiences returned to the original upon dispelling.
Despite its powerful effects, the difficulty of learning Shadow Clone Jutsu was surprisingly low.
As long as one possessed a sufficiently large chakra pool, it could be mastered with relative ease.
Although Uchiha Aozora had only been refining chakra for a year, his body—honed over seven years—was comparable to that of the Uzumaki clan. His current chakra reserves were no weaker than those of an average chūnin, fully meeting the basic requirements.
After thoroughly reviewing all the chakra circulation details, he didn't form any hand seals. Chakra moved purely according to his intent.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a wisp of white smoke appeared out of thin air.
When the smoke cleared, a figure identical to him stood there, the same height, the same build—its back turned toward him.
From that figure came a lonely, resonant voice:
"When the sea reaches its end, the heavens become its shore.When the path of ninja reaches its end—"