Naruto: From Novice to Grave

It only took about three hours, and the task was completed before noon, but it wasn't entirely satisfactory.

Inside the extra-large metal cage were 19 adult cats of various colors and genders, with roughly equal numbers of males and females. It seems that these intelligent Hakimi cats are not unlike humans; indeed, the desire to roam freely outside is not gender-specific.

Higashino Makoto and Gekko Hayate were both unharmed, but Uzuki Yugao had many claw marks on her hands and face. Fortunately, the ninja cat was not a wild cat and knew how to control its strength.

Although her strength is not as good as her two teammates, it is not bad either. It can only be said that those little things with chakra are really good at causing trouble.

Higashino's hands were glowing with green chakra. As Uzuki Yugao was experiencing the benefits of having a medical ninja in the team, she asked curiously, "Sensei, is it okay if we only catch 19? Won't the village consider our mission a failure? I don't want my first mission as a ninja to fail."

Seeing that Yueguang Yun didn't reply, she looked at Dongye Zhen instead: "Zhen, are you sure you've searched every place in Konoha where there are cats?"

"Yes, teacher, I'm sure. Actually, we finished in less than two hours. The rest of the time was spent checking if we missed any of the residents' pet cats."

Moonlight Cloud nodded: "Then it's alright. The mission requires us to capture all the ninja cats in Konoha who haven't formed a ninja contract with a ninja and bring them back. No one can guarantee that they're all in Konoha."

Keep in mind that these are ninja cats, very fast. There are other towns and villages around Konoha; the remaining little guys probably wandered off somewhere else.

Since the Jonin leading the team has said so, what can the three of them say? You're the boss, so you decide.

It's understandable, really. The real world isn't a game. The objectives won't just sit there waiting to be caught. Ordinary cats are already notorious street urchins, let alone these troublesome ninja cats whose intelligence is no different from that of humans.

Look at the behavior of these bastards.

If the third class was a stray cat adoption center in the previous life, and the guys they caught were ordinary cats, then there was only one thing they could do: pant like an old man.

Unfortunately, this is the ninja world, and the cages are full of ninja cats.

When Higashino Makoto and Gekko Hayate each carried a cage to the mission office to hand in their report, the little creatures inside all stared at the four of them with resentful and unhappy eyes.

It's like they're saying this isn't over yet, and when I get out I'll scratch your faces raw.

What an amazing ninja world!

What does it feel like when a group of intelligent Hakimi look at you with human eyes?

Makoto Higashino remarked, "How strange, are these guys really not monsters?"

Most importantly, a few of them can even speak human language.

A black Hakimi cat near Higashino Makoto kept chattering: "You wretched human cat, unforgivable! You ruined my date, you bastard! I was about to ride on that pretty little cutie! It's all your fault, all your fault! I'm so angry! My love story is over before it even began!"

After saying that, it stretched out its sharp claws, trying to leave a few bloody marks on Higashino's hand.

"Shut up! That's not love, it's just lusting after her body. You're disgusting!"

"I just want her body, what's wrong with that?"

This was the first time Higashino Makoto had ever witnessed cats being so shameless: "I mean, you're supposed to be ninja cats, right? Looking at ordinary cats is like us humans looking at monkeys, isn't it? How could you even bring yourself to bite them?"

"That's different. We look the same, have the same aesthetic sense, and there's no reproductive barrier. But can you have babies with a female monkey?"

"Huh? Huh? That makes sense! You're really knowledgeable, you bastard."

"Hey, right? That makes sense, right? Then hurry up and let me out."

You're overthinking it.

"asshole!"

"If you keep making noise, I'll have you sterilized, and all of you too. If anyone disagrees, I'll send you straight to the hospital, and I'll pay for the surgery!"

These words were like a Tailed Beast Ball exploding in their hearts, immediately frightening all the ninja cats into silence.

Moonlight Gale, Uzuki Yugao: I've learned it! I'll use this move to deal with ninja cats from now on; it's incredibly effective.

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A magical world.

Not only are there ninja cats with thoughts like humans, but also intelligent dogs, talking toads, snakes, slugs, lizards, and more.

Unfortunately, cats and dogs, which are best suited to be pets, become less willing to be pets once they develop intelligence.

They consider themselves equal to humans and want to fight together? Sign a contract first.

Ninja dogs mostly come from the Inuzuka clan of Konoha. They consider ninja dogs to be the ninja's fighting partners. If you dare to treat them as pets, the dogs will really go back to their mothers' house to complain.

Then you can expect to be chased by a group of people and dogs.

The Ninja Cat Clan is even more outrageous. They are independent, arrogant, and live a carefree life in the Void Zone, ignoring everyone. Only the equally arrogant Uchiha clan can tolerate them.

Pity.

Higashino shook his head inwardly.

These guys are intelligent, and after training they can even talk, but unfortunately they can't transform.

Otherwise, you would be able to see the legendary cat-eared girls and dog-eared girls.

Fu Rui was overjoyed.

Of course, Higashino is a proper ninja, so he wouldn't be a so-called "Furry fanatic." Don't misunderstand, he's just curious, inexperienced, and wants to see what's going on.

In fact, Higashino Makoto naturally knew where the humanoid ninja beasts were.

They are all inside Ryuchi Cave. There are four of them. Apart from the old woman, the other three goddesses are all great beauties with beautiful faces.

Unfortunately, Higashino had no interest. The thought of the other person suddenly revealing their true colors during a deep conversation made him afraid that he would become impotent.

There is a snake demon in this world, but alas, he is not Xu Xian.

Walking at the back, Uzuki Yugao noticed Higashino Makoto glancing at the ninja cat in the cage every now and then. For some reason, her warning radar suddenly activated: "Makoto-nii, I feel like you're thinking about something bad."

"Huh?" Higashino was taken aback for a moment, then immediately retorted, "How could that be? What bad things could I possibly be thinking?"

"Really? I don't believe it!"

"Of course it's true. I just think the ninja cats are all pretty cute. If they could transform into human form while keeping their ears and tails, wouldn't they be even cuter?"

The father and son exchanged a glance, and suddenly an image came to mind: It seems quite interesting. As expected of a genius like Ruzhen, even his thoughts are so avant-garde?

The male cats were confused.

Uzuki Yugao, the female cat: Pervert!

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The mission was ultimately completed, preventing the third team's first D-level mission from ending in failure.

The staff at the mission post didn't say anything, perhaps they had anticipated this situation, or perhaps the requirement from the empty area wasn't to capture all the cats.

Next, the three of them completed three other tasks, thus fulfilling their daily quota.

Moonlight Cloud was right; he had specifically chosen all the missions. Today was a test of their intelligence gathering and tracking abilities.

Of course, Higashino's perception was also taken into account.

The next day, all four tasks were the same: repair the four small and medium-sized training grounds in the village, including leveling the land, cutting and dragging away dead branches and twigs, replacing the thick tree stumps used for boxing practice, and tying them with brand new thick hemp ropes.

The most troublesome tasks are updating the wooden targets scattered throughout the forest, clearing away some abandoned traps, and recovering wire and hidden weapons.

The requirement was that they could not jump and could only walk on the trees, which was obviously a test of the team's chakra control. Fortunately, it was not difficult for the three who had already started training.

On the third day, there were four identical tasks: clean up the garbage in four sections of rivers within Konoha. Each section had a fixed length, and each task was classified as a D-rank mission.

Similarly, training chakra control requires walking on water.

Gekko Cloud's selection of missions was highly targeted. In other words, Konoha intentionally designated these tasks, which could train ninja's basic skills, as D-rank missions, so that genin could complete these simple tasks while also getting training and making money on the side, thus improving the environment of Konoha.

It achieves multiple goals at once; it's simply perfect.

As for why someone didn't instruct Naruto and the other two on these basic skills when they later led Team Seven, it can only be said that someone was lazy and only knew how to look at his little lousy uncle all day long.

I won't say who's been slacking off!