172-Date?

It was a cold morning when Minato and the squad, having completed their last mission the night before, began their journey back to the village. Most of the squad members were a bit fatigued save for Renjiro and Minato. Renjiro had his chakra Seinou to thank while Minato just had high stamina.

'At this point, I'm not sure who between the two of us has Uzumaki ancestry,' Renjiro thought bitterly.

Despite not being physically tired, he was mentally fatigued, which sadly was not remedied by his chakra Seinou, which enhanced his regeneration.

'Why does my enhanced regeneration not apply to my mind? If it did, things would be too easy for me. Is there a way I can improve it? Or should I work on creating another one? No, that seems like too much work. I should probably look for ways to improve it with Fuinjutsu or even Juinjutsu.

I was planning on learning Juinjutsu when I get time, so that would be better. Preferably the best time to do so will be after my time in the force is over since I'll have to find test subjects, which could only be bandits. I also need to ask Kushina about any mental jutsu that I could learn.'

Renjiro thought as the squad made its way to the mission centre, the village was still quiet save for a few merchants who had begun setting up their shops for the day.

"Ooh, Minato," Ando, the attendant at the mission centre, immediately began when she saw the blonde Jounin and the four shinobi following behind him. "I was not expecting you so soon."

Minato gave her a warm smile and said, "We were just lucky to complete our missions earlier than expected."

'Luck? Really?' Renjiro thought.

Normally, Minato did not take this many missions in one sitting. It was only because he was going to take some genins under his wings that he decided to appease his thrill for missions, so it was understandable how surprised Ando was to see him there.

The thought of something going wrong during one of the missions, forcing them to come back to the village, did not even cross Ando's mind since she had witnessed Minato's prowess firsthand.

'When he took all those missions, I did not expect him to come back soon. Even with a squad, they must have had minimal breaks in between the missions,' Ando's mind veered in thought as she went ahead to process the mission payments. The squad waited in silence as Ando did her work.

"Here's your payment," Ando said, as she passed a storage seal to Minato. Normally she would have used a pouch, but considering the amount, storage seals would suit the task.

"Thank you, Ando," Minato said as he took the storage seal.

"You're welcome, Minato," Ando replied as Minato moved a couple of steps from Ando and returned to his squad. He was about to split the earnings then and there, and everyone knew this, so they were very expectant, especially Hiro and Renjiro.

'I wonder how much it will be,' Renjiro thought as Minato began.

"For the B-rank missions, the total pay is just three million Ryo considering we were unable to complete some missions and some missions paid less than the three hundred thousand cap."

'That's more than half a million per person! That's like three times the amount I get per month selling my seals. Maybe I should consider taking more missions,' Renjiro thought as he heard Minato inform them of their payment, but Minato was not done,

"For the A-rank missions, apart from the one involving saving the officials and retrieving the documents, each paid a million Ryo while those three paid eight hundred thousand Ryo, bringing their total to close to six and a half million Ryo and the total of all missions to nine and a half million Ryo. As promised earlier, we will all receive equal shares for the missions."

'He really meant it, we will all have an equal share. I need to ensure I always get called up for more missions,' Hiro thought since he did not believe Minato when he said that everyone would get an equal share since Jounins usually get more of the payments than Chunins.

'This is close to two million per person! And I earned all that in two weeks? That is ten times what I earn per month. Maybe I should just resign from the force and leave the clan, right? Earning that amount of money even if it is twice or thrice per month would be a more comfortable life,'

Just like Hiro, Renjiro was digesting the news. It was not like it was a large sum that he couldn't afford, since he had his seal selling business, but it was the largest sum Renjiro had ever gotten from the mission.

"Now that everyone has their share, I'd like to thank all of you for helping me out with the missions," Minato began, and Renjiro thought, 'Did he really need our help?'

Minato continued, "Since I'll soon become a Jounin-sensei, I'll mostly be in the village for the next couple of months. Feel free to come to me for any issue you might have. I promise to help you in any way I can," Minato said, especially to the Chunins before him.

Meanwhile, Hiro was heartbroken, 'He is going to become a what? I thought that we would continue going on missions.'

While the Chunin was sulking, the team dispersed with Minato going to make a report on all the missions they took.

'I never knew for A-rank missions one had to make a report to the Hokage personally. Well, that sucks for Minato then since it would be hours before he's done with the Hokage,'

Renjiro thought, relieved that he would soon be going to his home to rest when Sama approached him and asked,

"Renjiro, would you like to go and get a meal with me?"

Renjiro blinked in surprise. "A meal? Right now?"

Sama nodded. "Yes, I thought we could relax a bit. We've been on the move for days, and I think we deserve a little break."

"Alone?" Renjiro asked and Sama couldn't help but pause and give him a confused look, "Why would we do that? Of course, Hiro can join us if he wants to."

'It's not like I had ulterior motives like a date or something, but her saying that was kind Hush, she is only two years older than me after all.'

Renjiro thought as he considered the offer while Hiro agreed to it. Despite his mental fatigue, the idea of spending some time with Sama and Hiro was appealing.

'Besides, we've spent two weeks together what's more hours?'

"Sure, why not? I could use a good meal."

As the trio went on with their meal, Minato was just entering the Hokage's office. The Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, looked up from his paperwork and smiled when he saw Minato.

"Ah, Minato. You have returned," Hiruzen said, setting aside his documents.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. We were fortunate to complete our missions ahead of schedule," Minato replied, bowing slightly.

"Excellent work as always, Minato," Hiruzen said, his tone warm. "Now, tell me about the missions."

=====

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