20 Missions

A month has passed slowly. Mostly because I was prohibited from taking missions for a little while to give me time to "reflect on my actions" but I'm not complaining. The only thing I would change would be my strained relationship with my teammates. I still trained with them and helped out around the Uchiha compound, but there was a distance now; a lack of trust between us that wasn't there before.

It was frustrating. But I knew that words could be empty, so I planned on changing that with my actions and conduct on missions. Which was a whole other problem now.

It turns out that giving chase after two S-class missing-nin when they were retreating doesn't give one a good reputation among the other shinobi. Now, I didn't have a horrible reputation, per se, but it was enough that I was labeled as reckless and battle-hungry, which wasn't far from the truth.

So most people didn't want to team with me for A-rank missions until I proved that I could handle myself well. Which I think is kind of stupid since I'm definitely the strongest special jonin in Konoha and stronger than most of the elite jonin as well, but to each their own, I guess.

I ended up training for most of the month anyway, making some good progress in my fire release and kenjutsu. The most exciting was that once my kenjutsu reached 75%, I unlocked Hitotsume: Nadegiri, which is the move that Yamamoto uses to cut several buildings in half in the anime.

With fire release and taijutsu, I just refined and maxed out some of my skills, like Ikkotsu and Sokotsu. I also learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, which is a must considering that I could use them for training with my massive chakra reserves. The only reason I didn't learn this sooner was because it was restricted for chunin and below, considering the strain it puts on most people's reserves.

But that's enough about my progress, it's finally time to go on some missions! I walked through the streets of Konoha, noticing that it had fully recovered from the structural damage from the invasion. I made my way to the mission desk and started browsing through my options.

Sadly, since I was demoted to special jonin, the highest-rank missions I could take solo are B-rank. After asking the chunin at the desk for a list of B-ranks, I looked through them. Most were basic escort missions, that were only B-rank because the clients were rich. I pretty much ignored these, as I needed a mission where I could refine my skills some more.

Eventually, I found what I was looking for. There was a mission to check out some disturbances in the trade routes at the borders of Grass. It was B-rank because of a suspected shinobi presence, whether it was missing-nin or shinobi from Grass was unknown.

I grabbed this one out of the stack and approached the chunin working.

"I'll take this one," I said.

He just nodded and stamped something down on a piece of paper, before handing me the mission request.

"Taking account of the 2 weeks of travel, you should finish up within the month. Any longer, and the pay will be reduced accordingly." He said.

"Alright, thanks."

I left with my mission request, before heading home to pack and let my mom know I would be gone. Isamu and Ayame were both out on their own missions, so after packing up, I left Konoha.

It didn't take me a week of travel with flash step, only about two days before I got to the closest outpost near the Grass borders. According to the mission details, I needed to report to the chunin manning the outpost of my purpose so that I didn't get in the way of the patrols.

After meeting the shinobi in charge of the outpost and showing him the mission, I was all set to start. So I started checking out the trade routes that were indicated on the mission. After a day of patrolling the trade routes, nothing happened. There were 4 main routes, so I stayed to observe the busiest one while leaving shadow clones at the other routes.

After two days of the most soul-crushingly boring observation I've ever taken part in, something finally happened. A group of shinobi, who looked to be missing-nin, showed up to attack a caravan of merchants that were passing by.

There were six of them, two being low-jonin level while the rest were chunins. The thing is, they seemed too serious and organized for a couple of missing-nin that were just looking for a quick buck. Still, I had to interrupt them from attacking the merchants, so I flashed in front of the caravan.

"Heh, today's our lucky day; a Konoha nin all by their lonesome." The leader, or who I'm assuming is the leader, spoke up confidently.

I decided to get straight to the point.

"Why are you disrupting Konoha trade routes? You should know that we would eventually send people to investigate. Why not attack the trade in Grass, the weaker village?"

They just laughed, "Like a stupid tree-hugger would understand. You'll be dead soon enough, anyway."

Well, aren't they confident? I guess they aren't really being careful with leaking information since they've assumed they'll be walking away from here in one piece.

"Alright, then," I unsheathed my sword as I addressed the 'missing-nin'.

"Let's get started."

Immediately, four of them rushed toward me while the other two flanked either side of me. The ones flanking me started to prepare ninjutsu while the ones the rushed drew kunai. I flashed forward and thrust my sword through the closest one to me.

Blood spurted out of the hole that now took the place of his heart, getting some on my clothes. He looked down in disbelief for a second before falling backward, dead.

The other three immediately started to make some space between us, realizing that I was faster. It was at this moment that the two flanking finished their jutsu, sending two waves of mud toward me. I just flashed into the midst of the still retreating shinobi, slicing one in half vertically before he even realized how he died.

The ground near him was showered with blood and organs, as the rest of the group looked on in horror, finally realizing that they bit off more than they could chew. The two jonin-level shinobi glanced at each other before one signaled something to the chunin that had flanked me.

They both nodded and started retreating. One of the jonin slipped into the earth while the other rushed me, spitting out two globs of mud towards my sword, hoping to immobilize it.

I let the mud hit, knowing I could just burn it off in an instant if I needed it again. He gained a hopeful look as I let my sword fall to the ground and continued his offensive.

Sadly, for him at least, it wasn't meant to be.

"Ikkotsu!"

He popped like some gory water balloon, his upper body completely decimated by my attack. Blood, brain matter, and pieces of bone rained across the ground in a gruesome arc.

Maybe that was a bit overkill…

The other jonin emerged from the ground, this time covered in earthen armor. He started trying to make another jutsu, feeling like he had enough protection against me.

Sadly, again, it wasn't meant to be as I finished him off with another Ikkotsu, before grabbing my sword and incinerating the mud on it.

The entire fight against the jonin probably only lasted about thirty seconds, which was plenty of time to catch the chunin desperately trying to cross the border into Grass. I immediately caught up to them and butchered the first one before they even realized I was there.

The last one surrendered instantly.

"Wait! Don't kill me, please," he begged.

I sighed, "Man, you signed up for this. You're going to die, but let me give you a choice; it can either be instant or very, very drawn out, depending on what you know."

His eyes filled with tears of despair as the knowledge of impending death fell on his shoulders.

Getting tired of his mental breakdown, I gave him an ultimatum.

"You have three seconds to tell me where you are from and why you are sabotaging trade in Konoha."

He started laughing, "You're a monster… A monster…"

He obviously wasn't lucid at the moment. I heaved a sigh. Guess I have to wake him up a bit.

I coated my sword with flames and slice off the fingers on his left hand, instantly cauterizing the wound with my fire. He howled in pain and started to crawl backward.

I just stared at him, "The clock's ticking," I said.

"Ok, Ok!" He sobbed, "I'm from Iwa! We were sent on this mission to undermine Konoha's influence once we heard of the invasion."

I coated my sword with flames again.

"Wait! Wait! That's all I know, I swear! Please, don't cut anything else off…" He cried.

"Well, that's all I need to know for now. Thanks for being a coward; you really made this a lot easier for me."

I sliced off his head, following through with my promise of a quicker death.

"Man, this just got a whole lot more complicated. Iwa should have sent shinobi with more of a backbone."

I mean, honestly. Do they want to start a war? Do they really think they could win, even with Konoha being weakened dramatically from the invasion?

Meh, It's not my job to worry about that. I'll leave it to the nerds that strategize and engage in politics.

I used my flames to incinerate the bodies, before returning to the trade route to do the same. That's when I saw a shaken-up merchant caravan, some even vomiting at the smell and gore.

Uh… Oops?

I flashed over, scaring the shit out of them.

"Hey, it's alright now. The missing-nin are all dead. I'm from Konoha; you're safe now."

One of the merchants stepped forward.

"T-thanks… But do you think that you could clean some of… That up?" He asked shakily.

I gave him a thumbs-up before coating my sword in flames again.

"No problem."

I sent out a wave of fire, engulfing all the carnage, only leaving some scorched earth as a sign that a fight even happened there.

I turned back to the merchants, "I have to go back to my village now, so stay safe, yeah?"

They just nodded hesitantly.

With that done, I began my journey back to the village to report my findings. So after two more days of uneventful travel, I found myself in front of the chunin behind the mission desk, who was staring at me wide-eyed.

"Are you serious?" He asked, unbelievingly.

"Yep," I said back.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, "That's a very serious accusation. I'll have to report to the Hokage first. But regardless, good job. You finished that mission in record time."

I just nodded gratefully, "And my pay?"

"Ah, yes," he got up and disappeared into the back, before coming back with a stack of bills wrapped up neatly.

"Here you go."

I accepted the money, "Thanks."

I left the building, heading towards my house while counting the money. It was roughly 220,000 Ryo, which was a decent sum for a B-rank. Most B-rank missions went from 100,000 to 300,000, while A-ranks were usually above that and S-ranks started at 1,000,000 Ryo, which is kind of wild.

I arrived home in time to see my mom cooking dinner.

"Hey, Mom. I'm back," I called out.

"Oh, Kaen! You're just in time for dinner! Go set the table."

I got to work setting the table. We had a nice hot pot for dinner. Satisfied, I went out to training ground 6, the same place I trained at when I was under Fukumoto.

I made about twenty shadow clones, before having them all work on fire release to increase my chakra, while I did physical exercises and trained my taijutsu and kenjutsu. I had still been doing the one-punch man routine all this time, but it was getting less effective over time.

It looks like I need to buy some more expensive weights again.

///////

A couple of days later, I was summoned to the Hokage's office.

I entered the office before bowing, "Lord Hokage."

I looked over to my side and saw my old sensei, Fukumoto.

Tsunade cleared her throat, "Now that you're both here, it's time to get down to business."

"I got your report about the Iwa shinobi sabotaging our trade routes near grass, and after corresponding with the chunin at the nearest outpost, it has been confirmed. Now, we will be working under the assumption that it is missing-nin still, to not start a conflict with Iwa. We might have more military might than them, but we cannot afford a war right now."

She paused, before continuing.

"With the lack of manpower at my disposal, I will be sending you two on an A-rank mission to eliminate the presence of all the 'missing-nin.' Any questions?"

Fukumoto spoke up, "When do we leave, Lord Hokage?"

"As soon as possible."

We just nodded.

"We'll get it done," I added.

"Good. You are dismissed."

Fukumoto and I left the Hokage Tower.

"So," I started, "Bringing some of the old team back together, huh?"

Fukumoto laughed, "I guess so."

"Just make sure you can keep up, old man. I've gotten a lot stronger." I said, smirking.

He just scoffed, "You're a decade too young to take me on, brat."

Heh, if only he knew.

"Meet at the front gate in 15 minutes?" I asked.

He just nodded before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

I went back to the house to pack some gear and rations, saying goodbye to my mom as well. 15 minutes later had me standing at the front gate with Fukumoto.

"Ready, brat?"

"Just try to keep up," I said arrogantly.

And try, he did. I was faster than him by a long shot, but I eventually slowed down for him, grumbling about old men all the while. Which pissed him off, but he couldn't say anything since he really was slower.

It took us about five days to reach the outpost, which we reported to. Thankfully, since this was a more urgent mission, they were already expecting us. We settled down quickly before dividing up the trade routes to observe between us. We each left a shadow clone with the other, with orders to dispel it if our trade routes, were attacked.

This time, it only took a few hours for a group of chunin to start sabotaging one of the routes, breaking down trees and cracking the roads.

I signaled to Fukumoto's clone. It just nodded and dispelled. I realized it was a bit fishy for just a group of chunin to be here after I decimated a group with jonin amongst them, so I waited for Fukumoto to make it to my location before taking action.

He arrived minutes later, asking me why I hadn't engaged yet.

"This group is weaker than the last one I killed. It's probably a trap. You any good at sensing, sensei?"

He shook his head.

"Not without alerting them to our presence."

I cursed, "How about I go in first since I'm the fastest? They shouldn't be expecting reinforcements since I finished my mission so quickly last time."

"You giving me orders, brat?" He chuckled when I just face-palmed.

"Heh, we'll follow your idea."

I nodded at that, before flashing between two of the chunin, decapitating them before they noticed I was there.

The bodies hit the ground, alerting the other chunin to my presence.

"Enemy attack!" One yelled while the others started preparing to fight.

I wasn't going to give them time, though, as I gathered purple fire in the palm of my hand.

'Haien!' I thought as I shot a blast of flames at the chunin who yelled, incinerating him instantly.

The other chunin went pale before finishing their ninjutsu.

Soon, I was facing a mud river, multiple earth shuriken, and some rock spikes traveling through the ground. I grinned and started forming an overcharged Shakkaho.

Once the fireball was about twice as big as my head, which took less than a second, I launched it at their combined attack, stopping it in its tracks and creating a crater in the ground.

Just as I was preparing to go on the offensive again, the trap was sprung as multiple jonin hopped out of the ground.

"You'll pay for that, you bastard!" One of them yelled.

I just smirked before activating my shikai, flames springing up around me. Fukumoto took this as his cue to enter the battlefield, slashing one of the jonin in the back to pieces.

That left about 15 more jonin and a handful of chunin.

After his successful ambush, Fukumot flickered over to my side, preparing for battle.

"You think you can handle a couple jonin, old geezer?"

He scoffed at that, "Che. I should be asking you the same thing, brat."

The enemy jonin took that as a sign to attack, hurling multiple earthen projectiles at us.

But with a wave of my sword, my flames melted all the stone and dirt in an instant, the smoldering remains dropping uselessly to the ground.

I glanced at Fukumoto, "I'm going to trap them in close range. Can you handle the ones on the left?"

He nodded in assent.

"Alright! Let's get this party started! Ennestu Jigoku!"

Geysers of flame encircled us and the other shinobi, effectively trapping us together. A couple of the jonin tried to break through it, but the flames just incinerated everything they threw at it.

Realizing that they were stuck until they killed me, they started preparing for a fight. A couple slipped into the ground, emerging with the same earthen armor of the jonin I killed last time I was here, while others drew weapons and prepared to engage us in close range.

Fukumoto and I stood our ground, knowing they had to come to us and not the other way around. The people in stone armor started making more jutsu while standing in place; it seemed that once they were covered they couldn't move easily.

The rest rushed us. I gathered blue fire in the palm of my hand, blasting a Sokatsui towards the closest ones. They responded by forming a dirt wall, stopping my attack. A couple jumped over and tried to engage me in kenjutsu, but they were sorely outmatched.

"Hitotsume: Nadegiri."

I slashed horizontally, separating the four that rushed me in half, their blood spraying across their comrades.

The other jonin looked angry, but otherwise unfazed. One tore a giant rock out of the ground before chucking at me and another slammed their hands on the ground, shooting earth spikes towards me. I just grinned before flashing through their attacks with Onibi, opening a new orifice in the nearest one.

I combined Onibi and Flash Step once before when I was fighting Tobirama, but at the time it was unrefined. This time was different, as I had practiced this move to perfection, no longer taking damage from the ninjutsu I thrust through depending on its strength.

The other jonin looked at me in shock. They immediately threw out kunai with explosive tags attached, and I knew I couldn't incinerate them without setting the explosions off first, so I Substituted with the body of one of their dead teammates, avoiding the explosion completely.

However, the jonin were ready, knowing that a couple of explosive tags wouldn't be enough to end me. They quickly finished their hand seals and formed a pit of spikes below me.

I just smirked and gathered some flames underneath me.

I saw Yamamoto do this in the manga and have been wanting to try it.

I thrust the flames upwards while coating my feet with chakra, causing me to be launched into the sky. The jonin below me gaped, clearly not expecting that. I grabbed the edge of my sword with my teeth and formed purple fire on both of my palms again. I quickly launched two Haiens at my opponents before they could recover, burning them both into nothingness.

I landed on the ground and looked over to where Fukumoto was fighting the rest. All that was left were two chunin, a jonin, and a guy in stone armor.

"Need some help over there?" I asked mockingly.

Fukumoto just gritted his teeth as a tick mark formed on his head.

I laughed at this, before flashing in front of the jonin in stone armor, completely obliterating him with an Ikkotsu. Without the added pressure of a shinobi just chucking jutsu from a protected location, Fukumoto finished his opponents off.

I dissipated my Shikai as Fukumoto walked over, grumbling at me.

"I could've handled it by myself."

"Well, you were too slow," I said, turning to the chunin who were frozen to the ground in fear.

Just as I was about to finish them off, Fukumoto stopped me.

"Leave them alive," he said, "Let them report back. I'd like to see Iwa try anything after we eliminated so many of their ninja."

I sighed before sheathing my sword. I glanced over at the two chunin.

"You heard the man. Scram!"

They yelped and ran off back towards Stone Country.

"Well, that was fun," I said, "Now it's time for the boring part; waiting to see if they come back."

And I was right, it was hella boring. We stayed around for the next two weeks, but it looks like we dealt a large enough blow to Iwa that they backed off. With the mission complete, we traveled back to the village, which was another boring couple of days, and reported to the Hokage.

Tsunade nodded at us, "Good work, you two. We'll have your payment ready by tomorrow morning, so come pick it up at the mission desk later. You are dismissed."

""Yes, Lord Hokage,"" we said in unison, before leaving her office.

"Well, that was a fun experience. I'm gonna go get some dinner, want to join me?" I asked Fukumoto.

He thought about it for a minute. "You know what? That doesn't sound too bad."

And so we enjoyed a dinner of ramen at Ichiraku's. It mostly consisted of us catching up on old times or taking jabs at each other, but it was a good dinner. We went our separate ways about an hour later, as it was already well into the night.

I returned home just to find my mom already asleep. I was about to follow her example, but not before I checked my stats for the first time in weeks.

[Taijutsu

Skills: [Flash Step, lvl 30 (max)], [Academy Taijutsu, lvl 5 (max)] [Hakuda, lvl 27] [Ikkotsu, lvl 5 (max)] [Sokotsu, lvl 5 (max)].

Progress: 70%]

[Kenjutsu

Skills: [Tanto-wielding, lvl 15 (max)] [Katana-wielding, lvl 50 (max)] [Onibi, lvl 10 (max)] [Hastumi: Nadegiri, lvl 5 (max)]

Progress: 80%]

[Fire Release

Skills:

Sword: [Shikai, lvl 15 (max)] [Ennetsu Jigoku, lvl 10 (max)] [Jokaku Enjo, lvl 5 (max)] [Taimatsu, lvl 5 (max)]

Bankai: [Zanka no Tachi, Higashi: Kyokujitsujin, lvl 3]

Kido: [Itto Kaso, lvl 1 (max)] [Haien, lvl 15 (max)] [Soren Sokatsui, lvl 15 (max)] [Sokatsui, lvl 10 (max)] [Shakkaho, lvl 10 (max)] [Fushibi, lvl 10 (max)]

Progress: 68%]

[Chakra

Skills:

Control: [Leaf-sticking, lvl 5 (max)] [Tree-walking, lvl 10 (max)] [Water-walking, lvl 15 (max)]

Neutral Jutsu: [Shadow Clone Jutsu, lvl 5 (max)] [Clone jutsu, lvl 15 (max)] [Transformation jutsu, lvl 15 (max)] [Substitution jutsu, lvl 20 (max)]

Progress: 87%]

Pretty good progress, if I do say so myself. With my curiosity sated, I laid down in bed and let unconsciousness take me.

///// A/N /////

Hello all. I tried to write a longer chapter for you guys, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up. I have a couple of things to address first.

To start, I have got a lot of negative comments on the last chapter as being cringe, which is fair enough. I'm not good at dealing with drama in real life so I wasn't expecting to be great at writing it. Some comments were helpful, but most are just calling it cringe, which doesn't really help me write better drama. I think a few people were too quick to judge, thinking that there would be no consequences for Kaen's actions. First, he was demoted a rank. Second, his friendship has become somewhat strained with Isamu and Ayame. Third, he was prohibited from taking missions for a month, which is pretty bad considering that it's his only source of income outside of his mom. Lastly, he gained a somewhat negative reputation among other Konoha shinobi. I don't plan on really stretching it out too much further, as most of it will be resolved 'off screen' as the next chapter is going to be the time skip to shippuden.

I think I'll start trying out a bit of romance now that they are teenagers and it doesn't feel super creepy. But don't expect much; I have literally never been on a date before or had a girlfriend in real life, so if anyone has advice on what you find good in a romance, please comment.

Also, I plan on changing some things about canon to fit this story better. That's pretty much it for me, so please leave a review!