Konohagakure
At the mission assignment center, Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura were choosing a mission.
Originally, the Third Hokage had said he would tutor Sasuke, but because Tsunade had just taken office, the Third Hokage still needed to help her familiarize herself with the village's administration and the handover of the Anbu. Jiraiya also didn't have any free time at the moment.
So, naturally, Sasuke and Naruto were temporarily doing missions with Sakura and Karin.
"This one's no good, this one's no good either, that one's too easy, this one's too boring," Naruto grumbled as he flipped through the mission requests.
"Alright, Naruto, they're all missions like this. Just pick one. Karin, how's it going? Are you getting used to doing missions?" Sakura ignored Naruto's complaints and turned to Karin, asking.
"Yeah, it's okay," Karin said.
"Ah~~ Karin, don't you think these missions are too easy?" Naruto immediately retorted, hoping Karin would be like him and want to take on higher-ranked missions.
"No, I don't. I think these missions are fun to do," Karin said to Naruto.
Karin had never realized that completing missions could be so enjoyable. When she finished a mission and received thanks from the client, Karin felt that her value wasn't just as a healing battery. She had a place where she could realize her own worth.
"How is that possible? Why would you find these missions fun? Sasuke, you tell me, aren't you getting tired of doing these too?" Naruto turned his head and directed his question at Sasuke.
"The only one getting impatient is you, dead last. Usually, the less capable someone is, the more they talk big," Sasuke said casually.
Sasuke wasn't as anxious anymore. He had found a goal to revive, and he had been taken on as a student by the Third Hokage. He was already on the path to achieving his goal, so his mindset wasn't as urgent.
At least compared to killing Itachi, he was now on the right path towards achieving his goal, and on this path, he wasn't alone.
"Naruto, hurry up and pick one. Speaking of which, it's all because of you that I have to lead you guys on these D-rank missions," Sakura added, twisting the knife a little further.
The real reason was Karin, but Naruto was thick-skinned, so it was better not to discourage Karin, who was currently feeling fragile.
"How could even you say that, Sakura-chan?" Naruto had been about to start a friendly argument with Sasuke, but when he heard Sakura's words, he deflated.
"Sakura," Karin tugged on Sakura's arm and said, "How about we take on a higher-level mission?"
"Uh..." Looking at Karin's guilty eyes, Sakura got a headache. Sakura swore that she would never lie in front of Karin again. Karin's ability was a little too overpowered; whoever married her in the future would be in for it.
"It's not like that, Karin. Actually, even though those two have the strength, being a ninja isn't just about strength. There are all sorts of life skills, social skills, and survival knowledge. Doing these low-level missions won't improve your strength, but they'll let you interact with all kinds of people. This will improve your skills in disguise, infiltration, tracking, and so on. Doing all sorts of odd jobs will improve your skills in wilderness survival, identifying herbs, and other things. Ninjas aren't just about fighting ability," Sakura explained seriously to Karin. Karin probably had never heard these things before, but they were things taught at the Ninja Academy.
Karin listened intently. Sakura wasn't lying to her, and she immediately felt relieved. "I understand, Sakura."
"Alright, Naruto, have you chosen yet?" Sakura urged.
"Okay, okay, this one," Naruto picked a mission from the pile.
"Let me see... Planting nanakusa (seven herbs)..." Sakura saw that the mission involved helping a client plant seven herbs and couldn't help but sigh. "It's almost New Year's..."
"Sakura, what are nanakusa?" Karin asked, a little confused.
"Nanakusa refers to seven kinds of herbs," Sakura explained. "It's a collective name for water celery, shepherd's purse, cudweed, chickweed, henbit, turnip, and daikon radish. On the seventh day of the New Year, these seven plants are used to make porridge, called nanakusa-gayu (seven-herb rice porridge)."
"Nanakusa-gayu? What's that?" Karin thought the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she'd heard it.
"Nanakusa-gayu is a porridge made with seven herbs on the seventh day of the New Year. It symbolizes good health and the warding off of illness in the coming year," Sakura repeated the words her mother repeated to her every New Year.
Nanakusa-gayu was one of the foods Sakura disliked the most over the years, because it was simply made by boiling the seven herbs and adding salt. Sakura had never been a fan of such a completely vegetarian dish, so every New Year, Sakura was forced by her mother to drink a bowl of the nanakusa-gayu that was supposed to ward off illness.
"Wow? Sakura, you know a lot," Naruto exclaimed from the side.
"This is common knowledge, right? Everyone drinks it every New Year, right?" Sakura blurted out without thinking.
"Is... Is that so...? Ha... ha... That's right... Everyone drinks it every year," Naruto's speech was a little stuttering.
Sakura felt a pang of sadness hearing Naruto's stuttering words. Naruto was an orphan. How could he have ever drunk nanakusa-gayu? Nanakusa-gayu wasn't something every family made every year. More traditional families might stick to the tradition, but younger couples might or might not make it.
If the Fourth Hokage and his wife were still alive, they would probably make a big pot of nanakusa-gayu for Naruto to drink every year...
"Probably only you know about it here," Sasuke suddenly spoke up. "Karin, you don't know about it either, right?"
"I... I don't know," Karin could sense that Sasuke was lying, but she went along with Sasuke's words because she truly didn't know.
Sakura didn't get angry at Sasuke for going against her; she secretly gave Sasuke a thumbs-up. Sasuke saw it and turned his head away with a "Hmph."
Sasuke did know about nanakusa-gayu; he was clearly trying to comfort Naruto.
"Thank you, Sasuke," Naruto suddenly thanked Sasuke, making Sasuke extremely awkward.
"Stop wasting time. Let's get ready to go on the mission." Sakura saw that the ninja assigning the mission was getting impatient, so she quickly went up to fill out the mission request form and pressed her handprint on it.
Sakura was the captain now, so she naturally completed all these forms.
After filling out the form, Sakura led the three of them to the address on the mission sheet, finding the client's farmland.
"Hello, we're the ninjas who received your request," Sakura said to the middle-aged woman working in the field.
"Oh, you're here. Thank you," the middle-aged woman turned around and nodded to Sakura.
"Yeah, leave it to us," Sakura said.
"Here are the seeds. Before planting, you need to plow the field and then water it," the middle-aged woman said, handing Sakura a large bag of seeds.
The commission for D-rank missions was very small. To allow newly graduated ninjas from the academy to gain experience, the village encouraged villagers to delegate their chores as missions. Because the money was small, the villagers saved themselves the trouble, and the Genin gained experience.
"Naruto, get to work." Sakura tossed the seeds to Naruto, looked up at the sun, lazily stretched, and then found a shady spot under a tree to take a nap.
"Hey, hey, hey! Why aren't you doing the mission?" Naruto roared, seeing Sakura lying down in the shade.
"Because I'm the captain." Sakura gave Naruto a blank look and then said to Karin, "Karin, Master Tsunade entrusted you to me. Do these missions well. This is the foundation of being a ninja, okay?"
"Yes, Sakura," Karin replied earnestly.
Lying in the shade of the tree, Sakura gazed up at the sky, lost in thought, pondering the development of her Storm Release ninjutsu...
_______
+100 chapters on: patreon.com/Shinobi_Scrolls