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"Tsunade-sensei, what's today's mission?"
After a period of time, Team Tsunade had long since abandoned any hope of receiving simple and easy missions—it was like dreaming of something impossible!
The various D-rank missions they'd been assigned were one pitfall after another.
To this, Ronglin could only say:
Life has never been glorious; it's always been stuck in a rut!
"Don't worry, this mission will be very relaxing and enjoyable."
There were two ways for teams to receive missions: either the teacher could take their students to the Hokage's office to pick one, or the teacher could decide on her own. For Tsunade, the idea of going to the Hokage's office to choose a mission was nothing short of a nightmare!
In short, she had made the decision herself.
"First, let me congratulate you all—your detestable D-rank missions are finally over. Starting today, you'll be able to take on more interesting missions, like today's assignment."
Tsunade spoke with great enthusiasm, but the three members of Team Tsunade showed no excitement. Over the past two months, they had heard this line countless times from Tsunade, only to find that each mission was just a variation of the same old grind.
There was no trace of excitement on their faces, only indifference. Tsunade smirked inwardly. Generally speaking, during the initial stages, instructors would have their students complete various D-rank missions to temper their sharp edges before gradually moving on to more challenging tasks. The timing of the transition depended entirely on the teacher's discretion.
Among their graduating class, others had already begun taking missions outside the village, while Team Tsunade was still stuck endlessly repeating transitional missions. This had left Ronglin and his teammates feeling frustrated.
Two whole months!
Not two days, not two hours!
Even Ronglin, who was usually patient, was starting to feel the strain. As for Shimura Ying and Haruno Yuxi, if it weren't for fear of Tsunade's wrath, they would have given up long ago.
"Today's mission is an escort mission, classified as a C-rank. And not just any C-rank—it's one of the more difficult ones, typically handled by chunin-level shinobi. But since I'm your teacher, you're getting this opportunity."
Tsunade wore an expression that clearly said, "You're getting away with murder because of me," which piqued the interest of the three students. An escort mission?
Escort missions came in various forms: some involved simply escorting people, others required protecting caravans from attacks and ensuring safe delivery of goods, and still others involved delivering letters or documents.
Among these, escorting people was the most troublesome, escorting goods was the slowest, and protecting caravans was the most prone to ambushes.
"Tsunade-sensei, what kind of mission is it?"
As usual, Haruno Yuxi was the first to break the silence.
"Someone has purchased a batch of supplies from the village and needs them delivered to the Land of Wind. We'll be accompanying the caravan to the Land of Wind—a sandy country. Sounds fun, right?"
Children are so gullible, Tsunade thought smugly as she watched her students fall for her bait.
"All right, you have half an hour to gather your things. Meet at the village gates."
With a wave of her hand, Tsunade dismissed the team.
"Great! I'm definitely bringing lots of stuff!"
Haruno Yuxi bounced around like an excited puppy, dragging Shimura Ying away with her in high spirits.
"You're not going to pack anything?"
Seeing that Ronglin hadn't moved, Tsunade was surprised. Normally, after being stuck on D-rank missions for months, new genin would be as thrilled and excited as Haruno Yuxi when finally given a C-rank mission. Yet Ronglin seemed unchanged.
"I've already prepared enough food and ninja tools. I don't need anything else."
Ronglin answered honestly. As for clothes, who brings piles of outfits and miscellaneous items on a mission?
"An interesting kid, indeed."
Tsunade chuckled. In truth, she wasn't hard to deal with as long as you didn't deliberately provoke her or disturb her when she was in a bad mood. Her personality was a bit carefree, and she had a tendency to act impulsively at times.
"By the way, do you hold any grudges against the Uchiha or Hyuga clans?"
This was a question Tsunade had wanted to ask for a long time but had held back until now, waiting for the right moment. With Haruno Yuxi and Shimura Ying usually nearby, it wasn't something she could bring up casually due to its sensitive nature.
Ronglin paused briefly before smiling and replying, "I've never paid much attention to such things, so there's no hatred to speak of. It's true that life as a commoner shinobi is harder than for those from great clans, but look at Orochimaru and Minato Namikaze as examples. Does being part of a great clan really make a difference?"
"You sure have guts making comparisons like that."
Tsunade couldn't help but laugh. If anyone else had said this, she might have thought they were overestimating themselves. The achievements of Orochimaru and Minato Namikaze were beyond the reach of ordinary people. To dare compare oneself to them was not something most would attempt.
What Tsunade didn't know, however, was that Ronglin had never used Minato or Orochimaru as benchmarks for himself. If anything, his standards were far higher.
Imagine the potential heights his Sharingan and Byakugan could reach without limitations on their upgrades. Not to mention, he still had a unique bloodline limit yet to awaken. Ronglin never considered himself inferior to Minato or Orochimaru.
That said, mentioning the two inevitably brought to mind the upcoming Third Shinobi World War and the rivalry between Minato and Orochimaru for the title of Hokage.
Minato had the support of the Third Hokage, while Orochimaru was backed by Danzo, the shadowy figure behind the scenes in Konoha.
Would history unfold as it did in the original timeline?
Compared to Orochimaru and Minato, Ronglin lacked only experience and time. Thus, such comparisons were meaningless to him.
At this thought, Ronglin felt a twinge of relief. Thankfully, he had removed the upgrade restrictions on his Sharingan and Byakugan earlier. Otherwise, it would have been quite troublesome.
Both the Sharingan and Byakugan were notoriously difficult to upgrade. The leap from Mangekyō Sharingan to Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was a massive hurdle!
Ronglin certainly couldn't find a sibling with a Mangekyō Sharingan to transplant eyes, let alone achieve the next stage—the Rinnegan—which required the fusion of Indra and Ashura's chakra.
As for upgrading the Byakugan to the Tenseigan, the difficulty was no less daunting—it required conditions tied to the moon.
Instinctively, Ronglin looked up at the sky, but alas, it was a clear day, and the moon was nowhere to be seen.
But how would his time-manipulating bloodline limit awaken? This was currently one of Ronglin's biggest puzzles. If this ability awakened and allowed him to control time, would it mean he'd become an immortal monster?
He was eagerly looking forward to finding out.
Seeing Ronglin merely smile without responding, Tsunade frowned, her beautiful eyes filled with curiosity. Could this boy really be so confident in himself? Should she push him a little further?
Deep down, Tsunade hoped Ronglin's growth would surpass Minato's. That way, she could rub it in Jiraiya's face and benefit the village at the same time.