Chapter 195 - First B Rank Mission

Guy stood with his arms crossed and had his eyes on Daichi. He had an unusually serious expression as he looked at the boy. 'The fact that he asked the Hokage about collateral damages… He knew this was most likely the best option out of all the ones… The life of few for the safety of many. But will he make such a choice when it comes to other people?'

Guy's eyes then slowly drifted to his most precious student, Lee. As he looked at the boy and thought about all the things Lee said about his friend, the concerns Guy had vanished and his face softened. 'No. Daichi knows the difference. He's a good kid. His friendship with Lee is proof of that.'

Putting on a big smile, Guy stepped forward and spoke. "Daichi! Do you have a plan on solving this situation?"

At that the young gamer nodded his head. "Yes. There are a few ways we can go about this. We can drain the pond, capture all the native fishes and safely store them. Then kill all the Lampreys and look for any eggs that they might have laid and kill them too. Then refill the pond and bring the fishes back inside."

"But that will take time and lots of resources…" Tenten said as she thought about the logistics of such a plan.

Daichi nodded his head agreeing with her. "Yes. It is an option but not the best plan. The fastest way to solve this is to heat the lake to a certain temperature that kills the eggs and larvae of the lamprey and not harm the other fishes."

Guy nodded his head and stepped forward. "He's right. Sometimes a problem can be solved through careful planning, clever consideration, through patience or with brute force. But for delicate matters like this, one needs to apply brute force alongside a clever plan to make it a success."

"I have an idea and I need Neji's assistance." Daichi said as he looked at the Jonin and then to the Hyuga in the group.

Guy beamed and gave a thumbs up. "Alright. Let's hear your plan. Neji, are you ready?"

The Hyuga merely nodded his head and paid attention to the new teammate. Lee and Tenten also paid attention and wanted to know how they could help out.

Daichi began laying out his plan. "Neji, I need you to use your Byakugan and tell me the location of the fishes native to these waters. I'll create clones and capture them with my chakra strings and keep them at a safe distance. I know we won't be able to get everything but we can significantly reduce the damage to their population if we're careful and thorough."

Daichi then turned his attention to Lee and Tenten. "Once I heat up the lake you two will need to take the fishing net and scoop up the remains from the pond so that the corpses don't contaminate the water. Two people per net."

Lee looked a bit unsure at that moment since he didn't know water walking and Daichi immediately understood the problem. "Lee, you can hold the net from the shore and cover the perimeter of the pond. Tenten can cover the parts nearer the center."

"Not a bad plan Daichi." Guy said with a smile.

Daichi nodded and created over two dozen shadow clones.

Neji, Tenten were shocked to see the solid clones. Guy grinned as he looked at the number of clones that appeared. '27 shadow clones and he doesn't even look winded. His chakra is far bigger than those his age.'

Neji made the hand seal and activated his Kekkei Genkai. The moment he did, he was shocked to see how much chakra Daichi had. 'He has this much chakra? His reserves are even greater than Lord Hiashi.'

The shadow clones spread out all over the lake and stood in attention. Each one of them had chakra strings coming from their hands. With his heightened senses Daichi sensed most of the creatures swimming under the lake. The Chakra strings immediately moved and started to attach to their targets.

'I've only seen the puppet brigade from the Sand village that had such flawless mastery of Chakra Strings. But I doubt even they could change the nature of their strings so easily. His skills are truly vast.' Guy thought as he looked at how Daichi used his energy threads.

"Neji, call out if you see the fishes I miss or the ones deep in the lake."

"Byakugan!" The Hyuga nodded and activated his special eyes. "Approximately 380ft below you. Four of them."

Daichi quickly expanded his senses and captured the fishes.

"The one you caught just now is a Lamprey." Neji addressed a clone. The shadow clone nodded and heated the string that had caught the parasite fish.

His clones were also doing their best and with Neji guiding them the work was done quickly.

Over half an hour and almost all the sea creatures in the lake were entangled in Daichi's strings. The shadow clones moved towards the edge of the lake with their targets while the real Daichi moved to the center. He focused on his chakra and blurred through a series of seals.

Inhaling a deep breath of air and changing its properties, Daichi exhaled a stream of fire into the water. Steam erupted almost immediately as the flames touched the lake's surface. Daichi kept up the stream of fire and soon the lake started heating up. His delicate senses allowed him to assess the temperature of the lake while his clones kept the native fishes as cool as possible by changing the properties and nature of their chakra strings.

Soon the entire pond started producing small bubbles and steam. At that moment Daichi stopped using the jutsu and took a deep breath of air.

"The Lamprey larvae should be dead and the adults should be dying right now. We need to scoop up the remains before they contaminate the water." Daichi said as he looked at the team.

"Yosh. Well done Daichi. You did your part. Now it's our turn. Let's show him our burning passion!" Guy shouted with a grin and they got to work.

It wasn't an easy task. The team spent almost all day hauling out fish, checking for parasites and then tossing the fish back. They also had to scoop up the remains of the dead fish as well. It was tedious, physically exhausting work. Thankfully Guy's team and Daichi were used to such tasks.

As Daichi suspected, some native fishes did not survive and were killed by the heat.

"What's the damage, Neji?" Guy asked.

The Hyuga Genin used his eyes to check the Lake and soon came to a conclusion. "Based on my estimates more than 85% of the native fishes survived with no visible wounds. And all the Lampreys seem to have been killed."

Might Guy beamed hearing that. "Excellent work. Well done, all of you."

"You know we should take the dead fish to the market and give them to the hungry. That way there won't be any waste. What do you think?." Tenten said, looking at her sensei.

"That's a wonderful idea Tenten." Lee praised his teammate with a big smile.

"Yes! A most excellent idea dear Tenten. As soon as we're done here we'll head to the market. Others should benefit from this work and the fish is already cooked." The Jonin agreed and made his decision.

The team kept up their work for hours and by evening, their work was completed.

"Oh god. I need a shower." Tenten spoke as she cleaned her hands.

Lee smelled himself and was taken back. "Urgh. You have a point. A bath does sound nice."

All of them were covered in dirt, grim and smelled horrible.

At that moment an Anbu appeared near the team, starling the three Genins. Only Daichi and Guy sensed the presence of the new ninja before he appeared.

The Anbu looked directly at Daichi and spoke. "Daichi Hekima. Please clean yourself up quickly and head to the Hokage's office. There is an emergency."

Everyone was surprised and shocked. Guy narrowed his eyes and looked at the Anbu. "Did something happen?"

"There has been an incident at the Capital. The Hokage has asked for Daichi's presence. That is all I can say." The stoic ninja replied.

The Jonin nodded his head. "I understand." He turned to the temporary addition to the team. "Daichi. You're dismissed. Get cleaned up quickly and get to the tower. You shouldn't keep Lord Hokage waiting."

Daichi nodded and turned towards the messenger. "Please inform Lord Hokage that I'll be there shortly."

The Anbu nodded and vanished from his spot. Daichi turned to the other and waved them goodbye. Next second he vanished with the body flicker jutsu.

The Gamer ninja quickly reached his home and soon got himself in a presentable state. After taking a shower and putting on some new gear Daichi made his way to the Hokage tower.

'I wonder what this is about? An emergency at the capital? Could it be about Jin. Or maybe something to do with the Phantom thief…?'

He didn't know what happened but he would face whatever it was without flinching.

Hokage Tower: A short while ago.

The Hokage was going through important mission documents when his secretary came into the room.

"Lord Hokage. Yondu is here from the Capital. He has requested a meeting. Said it was an emergency." The assistant said, conveying the urgency of the situation.

Hiruzen was startled hearing that. 'Yondu? He's the messenger of the Royal court. If he's here then something serious must have happened.'

"Send him in."

The secretary nodded and a few moments later a middle aged man with green eyes and light shaded red hair entered the room. He bowed before the Hokage and then straightened.

"Greetings Lord Hokage." His voice was smooth and pleasant to the ears.

Hiruzen nodded. "Welcome to the Leaf village Yondu. Please sit. What brings you here?"

Yondu took a chair and spoke. "I will get straight to the point since time is a precious factor. The nephew of the 3rd Minister was poisoned less than 12 hours ago."

The Hokage's eyes widened. 'Even though it was the nephew of the 3rd minister, Ryuga will definitely consider this an attack on the Royal court and thus a personal attack on him. But that still doesn't explain why Yondu is here. There are capable medics in the capital. So why would he come here… Unless…'

Hiruzen could make a guess as to why the man was here but didn't say anything in case he was wrong.

Yondu continued. "The boy is dying. The best medics at the capital couldn't find out what's wrong with him or what poison was used. But they were able to make an estimate based on the speed of the poison's progression. Based on his bodily functions, they estimate he has about 7 or 8 hours from now to live. We've searched for Lady Tsunade. She visited the capital a few weeks ago but soon left. We can't locate her at the moment and won't be able to until it's too late."

Hiruzen's suspicion was proven correct. "So you're here for her student, Daichi Hekima I presume?"

"Yes." The messenger from the Royal court nodded his head. "Lord Taji Mayima has requested the boy's aid and has given the mission. This will be marked as a B Rank due to its high priority. Is the boy here in the village?"

Yondu knew that if Daichi was away outside the village, the chances of the Minister's nephew dying would increase to 100%. And the situation would become much worse.

"Daichi is here. He is currently on a D Rank mission. I will summon him immediately." Hiruzen replied and made a gesture with his hand. An Anbu quickly appeared kneeling.

"Find Daichi and tell him to report to me at once." Nothing else was said and the Anbu nodded and vanished in silence.

Hiruzen then turned his attention back to Yondu. "Tell me about the situation. How did this happen?"