Hayate watched them work, deciding not to intrude. He walked to the front desk and opened the drawer where the keys were kept. Scanning the selection, he grabbed a specific fob.
"Iruka, I'm taking the Porsche in the garage for now."
"Master Hayate, those cars were bought by you," Iruka replied without looking up from the map. "You can take whichever one you please."
Hayate gave a casual wave and headed to the backyard garage. He stared at the bulky Porsche SUV and shook his head. It lacked the sleek, aggressive charm of his Mercedes, but it would have to do until the repairs were finished.
He climbed in, fired up the engine, and began the drive back to the Chrysler Building. Since the board was clear for the moment, he planned to spend the night refining his chakra.
In this world, nothing quite matched the thrill of watching his own power grow.
By late evening, Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke had finished their chores and returned to the Shiranui Agency together. Seeing Iruka and Hotaru waiting for them, they both paused.
"A new mission?" Sasuke asked, his voice cool and indifferent.
"Yes," Iruka said, standing up. "A B-Rank mission."
Rock Lee's eyes instantly ignited. He slammed his fists together and roared at the ceiling, "Youth! Such a high-level challenge must be handled by none other than Rock Lee!"
He struck a signature pose, flashing a blindingly bright grin and a thumbs-up toward Hotaru and Iruka.
Hotaru had spent a year telling herself she was used to Lee's "performance art," but seeing it again still made her want to crawl into a hole. She physically winced, her toes curling inside her shoes in secondhand embarrassment.
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered. He turned his gaze to Iruka. "If it's B-Rank, it's a team effort. A Genin like you wouldn't be assigned this alone."
Rather than being discouraged, Lee's fighting spirit only intensified at the mention of teamwork.
"Lee, Sasuke, over here," Iruka signaled. "I'll brief you on the details. This is a protection detail. Expect assassins."
The four of them huddled together, and before long, a tactical plan was carved out.
The next morning.
Hayate ended his night of cultivation, exhaling a breath of pure energy. He opened the system interface and clicked the check-in button.
Ding! Check-in successful. Reward: 200 Reputation!
He then navigated to the Mission Center. Seeing that Sasuke and Lee had completed their D-rank tasks, he claimed the rewards—400 Reputation and 10,000 Copper Coins—before finally submitting the extermination contract he had brought back yesterday.
The system's appraisal was swift: Exterminating the Assassin Brotherhood – A-Rank.
The rewards were massive: 5,000 Reputation, 500,000 Copper Coins, and a Fine Chest.
Unlike the Common Chests, a Fine Chest offered a better tier of random rewards: Reputation, Gold, Recruitment Scrolls, or even A/B-rank Ninja Fragments.
Hayate glanced at his current totals:
- Reputation: 496 (The 5,000 was pending completion).
- Copper Coins: 2,210,000.
- Gold: 0.
- Recruitment Scrolls: 5.
That "0" in the Gold column was as glaring as his "VIP 0" status. Closing the menu, he decided to prep some gear. He spent the afternoon attaching Explosive Tags to his kunai.
The Brotherhood's base was a textile mill—a vast factory filled with corridors and personnel. A kunai rigged with a system-grade explosive (which boasted a three-meter blast radius) combined with his Uchiha-style Shurikenjutsu turned his projectiles into precision-guided missiles.
While Hayate prepared for war, Team Iruka was already in position.
Near Wesley Gibson's apartment, tucked away in a shadowed spot beneath an overpass, Sasuke spoke into his headset.
"Target spotted. Moving toward his place of work."
"Sasuke, shadow him. Don't let him sense you," Iruka commanded. "Lee, keep an eye on the perimeter. Watch for any anomalies."
"Acknowledged!" they replied in unison.
"Heavens... he almost stepped in front of a car," Hotaru's voice crackled over the comms from a nearby vantage point. "This guy is a disaster waiting to happen."
Iruka, coordinating from a secure room nearby, looked at Hotaru. "When do we tell him we're the protection detail hired by his father?"
"Let's wait until he clocks out. We'll approach him then."
Iruka sighed. "He's clumsy and oblivious. I'm worried he'll die in a traffic accident before an assassin even finds him. We should probably just grab him and bring him back to the Agency."
Hotaru smiled. "Captain Iruka, let's stick to the plan."
Hours crawled by. Night fell over the city.
Wesley Gibson walked out of his office building, looking like a man who had been chewed up and spit out by the corporate machine. He stopped at an ATM, desperately hoping for a miracle, but the screen mockingly informed him he didn't even have twenty dollars to his name.
As Wesley began to mutter a curse at the world, two figures suddenly appeared on either side of him.
Wesley froze. He raised his hands high, his head locked forward, afraid to even turn around.
"Hey, look, man... I'm a nobody! I'm broke! I can't even pull twenty bucks out of this thing! Please, don't hurt me!"
Iruka remained silent, but Hotaru spoke up beside him. "Wesley, relax. We aren't here to hurt you."
Hearing a woman's voice, Wesley gathered enough courage to peek. Seeing a stunning blonde, his heart rate slowed a fraction, but the confusion remained. "Do I... know you?"
Hotaru looked him dead in the eye. "We were hired by your father to protect you."
Wesley went stiff. A frown deepened on his face. "My father abandoned me the week I was born."
"Your father is one of the world's top assassins," Hotaru explained calmly. "He didn't want this life for you—the rhythm of killing and being killed. But a group has targeted you to get to him. He hired us to ensure you stay alive."
"What?" Wesley laughed nervously, the idea sounding like a bad hallucination. "That's impossible. You've definitely got the wrong guy."
Hotaru pulled a photo from her pocket, held it up to his face, and then gestured to him. "No mistake. Besides, I knew your father. The resemblance is undeniable."