Chapter 190: Young Man, What’s Best for You is What Fits

"Our mission for today is to clean all the trash out of this river. If you're not worried about failing the mission and having it recorded in your personal file, you can go home now and rest," Takuya said with a smirk.

Failing a mission and having it recorded on their file was something these fresh graduates—who were still in their prideful phase—couldn't bear to imagine.

Hearing Takuya's words, Uchiha Ryoji's face turned dark, and he immediately picked up the bamboo basket again. He even checked it thoroughly to make sure he hadn't broken it when he dropped it in frustration.

Once he confirmed that it was intact, he breathed a sigh of relief and got back to work. He'd much rather deal with the stench than have a failure marked on his record.

Once he put it that way, Ryoji found that the smell wasn't entirely unbearable.

In fact, they should've considered themselves lucky. If they'd been given a mission to clean the village latrines, that would've been an entirely different level of suffering.

Takuya wasn't sadistic enough to pick a mission like that anyway. Cleaning up garbage was bad enough; dealing with toilets? Not a chance.

Even if he didn't have to do the dirty work himself.

As the day came to a close and the mission was completed, Takuya treated the team to ramen.

"Captain, when will our squad get to do higher-ranking missions?" Aida Sui asked as they sat in the ramen shop, curiosity evident in his voice.

Uchiha Ryoji and Hyuga Suzune immediately perked up, their ears practically standing to attention.

Clearly, they were also interested in this topic.

Not many fresh genin had the patience to keep doing these low-pay, dirty, and exhausting D-rank missions. They all wanted to leave the village and see the world.

As the three of them stared at Takuya with expectant eyes, Takuya looked back at them with a strange, almost sympathetic expression.

What's with that look?

Is there something we don't know?

Given the unique nature of their squad, the village wouldn't assign them too many dangerous missions. If anything were to happen, especially to Hyuga Suzune, the consequences would be severe.

Sure, Ryoji's status as a Uchiha made him important, but if something happened to him, it was survivable. But Suzune was different—she was from the main Hyuga family, and the main house didn't have many members left, especially women.

If something happened to Suzune, the Third Hokage wouldn't be able to answer to the Hyuga clan, especially since their young heir, Hyuga Hiashi, was still unmarried. Losing the perfect future clan head's wife would be a political disaster.

"Maybe after you complete a few more D-rank missions, you'll start seeing C-rank missions," Takuya said casually.

"Why? Can't you take on higher-ranked missions for us?" Ryoji asked, confused.

Takuya was a jonin, a village prodigy whose name was already known throughout the ninja world.

Why couldn't he take higher-ranked missions?

Why couldn't they leave the village and go on real adventures?

"That's a great question," Takuya said with a smirk. "Next time we're at the Hokage's office, why don't you ask the Hokage yourself?"

"..."

That line again.

Once more, Takuya used the Third Hokage as his shield, and just like that, Ryoji lost all his fight.

He was fuming inside but could only grit his teeth and silently eat his ramen.

Even if some of the Uchiha didn't agree with all of the Third Hokage's policies, openly criticizing him was another matter entirely.

They were just starting out, and they already wanted to fly before they could walk.

Ninety-nine percent of fresh graduates had the same mindset as Ryoji when they first left the Academy.

They looked down on D-rank missions—the simplest and most basic assignments meant to help them ease into the life of a ninja. They all wanted to go out on high-level missions, to fight enemies and experience real combat.

What they didn't realize was that if it weren't for the village's protective policies, those mundane D-rank missions would be snatched up long before they had a chance to take them.

The Hidden Leaf had a population of hundreds of thousands, with at least a few thousand ninjas, and the majority of those were genin. At least twenty thousand were lower-ranking ninjas.

If D-rank missions were open to everyone, would these fresh-out-of-school genin even get a chance?

These fresh buds, who had just stepped out of the greenhouse, all had their heads in the clouds.

They had no idea that these basic tasks they hated were the kind that most other genin would fight over.

It wasn't until they had their butts handed to them a few times that they'd learn the meaning of reality and hardship.

After finishing their ramen, everyone headed home.

"Remember to meet at the village gate tomorrow at 9 a.m. sharp. I won't wait long, so don't be late," Takuya reminded them before leaving.

Ryoji shot Aida Sui and Suzune a quick glance before walking off without so much as a goodbye.

"Uh… well…" Aida Sui had planned to say something to Suzune but found himself swallowing his words when faced with her cold, beautiful face. He quickly left the ramen shop, feeling embarrassed.

"Thank you for the meal," Suzune said politely as she wiped her mouth and was the last to leave.

"This kid… Sigh…" Teuchi, the owner of the ramen shop, sighed as he watched Suzune walk away.

She was such a good kid, but why was she so cold and distant? Was it because of her family, or was there something else?

"And Takuya too—he's a teacher, but he doesn't seem to care about his students," Teuchi added.

"Ow!"

Suddenly, Teuchi stumbled, almost crashing into the counter. His father had just walked out from the back and smacked him on the back of the head.

"You're in charge of the ramen shop, not in charge of sighing over other people's lives! Who says Takuya doesn't care about his students?" his father scolded.

"He's a genius, one of the village's strongest ninjas. Do you really think he needs advice from a ramen cook?"

"But I…" Teuchi wanted to argue but quickly closed his mouth when he saw his father's giant fist twitch. Without another word, he got back to cleaning the dishes.

As night fell, Suzune slowly made her way back to the Hyuga compound, walking at a leisurely pace.

While walking, she noticed a familiar figure in the distance.

Aida Sui?

That wasn't the direction of his home. Where was he rushing off to?

Without even thinking, Suzune started following him.

"Captain!" A voice called out, and Takuya, who had been on his way to grab hotpot with Tsunade and Kushina, turned around.

"Aida Sui, what's up?" Takuya asked.

Out of breath, Aida Sui stopped in front of him, taking a moment to catch his breath. His face, darkened by the sun, turned red with embarrassment.

"Captain, um… I wanted to ask… If I'm going to exchange for a new jutsu, which one should I go for?" Aida Sui asked, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Did you run all this way just to ask that?

Takuya couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you remember what I told you last time?"

Aida Sui nodded quickly.

"Yes, you said that at this stage, I should focus on taijutsu, not ninjutsu."

Nawaki had already proven this to be true.

Just because you knew more jutsu didn't mean you were stronger.

Even someone like Orochimaru, known as a walking jutsu library, or the Third Hokage, who was hailed as a ninjutsu master, didn't use that many jutsu in battle.

Having more techniques didn't automatically make you stronger.

What's best for you is what fits you the most.

Of course, learning more jutsu wasn't a bad thing, but trying to specialize in everything would only spread you thin. It was better to find a balance rather than develop too many weaknesses.

Nawaki had leaned too heavily on ninjutsu, and when he was on the battlefield in the Land of Rain, he ended up getting hacked at by the enemy.

He was a perfect example of what not to do.

To put it bluntly, for a fresh genin, it was more practical to throw a few well-aimed shurikens than to rely on fancy ninjutsu.

Trying to master ninjutsu at such a young age was something only a rare few could pull off.

And Aida Sui wasn't one of them.

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