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Kakashi returned to his position and saw Daichi with a bored nonchalant look on his face? "Were there any problems with the other one?"

"He used a water clone to try and sneak away but didn't get that far…"

Kakashi turned his attention towards the building and his eyes slightly narrowed. 'They're trying to test our limits… With all that's happened in the village these last several years it's no surprise.'

The team kept a vigilant watch over their targets and it didn't look like they were going to try again. Daichi and his teacher took shifts and soon it was morning.

"Time to greet our guests…" Kakashi said as he knocked on the door.

A few seconds later the guard Oboru opened the door. He walked out followed by the Mist village diplomat and then the 2nd guard.

The group made it to their location without any problems. But during the journey Daichi sensed that the two ninjas were vigilant towards him. 'Do they know I'm the one that took the clone down? Highly unlikely… But still even if they do, it won't matter…'

The meeting between the parties started and it lasted two days. Aside from the first incident Daichi and Kakashi didn't encounter any problems. Before long everything was settled and the foreign ninjas left the village.

—-

"Well done you two. The mission was completed without any incidents." Hiruzen congratulated the team.

The quest completion boxes appeared in front of Daichi as he said those words.

[Quest 'Observe the Diplomats' Completed.]

[Rewards:]

10000 Exp.

1500 Exp.

[Reputation increases with the people of the village.]

[Reputation increases with Kakashi Hatake and Hiruzen Sarutobi.]

Daichi dismissed the box and asked a question that's been on his mind. "Lord Hokage, if you don't mind me asking, why did you select us for this mission?"

Hiruzen slightly tilted his head and looked at Daichi as if puzzled by the question.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't want the C Rank mission. It's just, this was an important mission. If they were able to escape my senses somehow it would have been a headache for the village. I get why Kakashi sensei was on the job, but my question is, why did you select me, a Genin for this mission? And why was this mission a C Rank? If there was a possibility of confrontation with the Mist shinobi, then shouldn't this have been a B or an A Rank mission?" Daichi quickly explained himself and then asked the kage.

Hiruzen nodded and hummed at that. "To answer your first question. It's true, this was an important mission. And yes, you are a Genin…" He let out a small breath and looked at the young boy. "But then, that title is only in name isn't it. You and I both know your strength far exceeds that rank."

Daichi was silent as he heard that assessment. The Hokage continued.

"Truth is, letting you complete D Rank and low risk C Rank missions is a waste of resources for the village. I wanted to see how you would perform when on a mission to observe and track other ninjas. I created your team with the intent that you and Kakashi would act as back-up for other Genin or Chunin teams. I was going to wait before I tested your skills but when an opportunity presented itself, well I took it."

Daichi silently nodded. The Hokage continued.

"You're right. They had two Jonin ninjas with them. Usually a mission like this would be marked as an A Rank mission. But I made certain exceptions here. This mission was taking place within the walls of our village. The Mist ninjas came here on a diplomatic mission. If they caused an incident it would have serious consequences for them and their village. So the possibility of a confrontation was very small. But on the remote chance that they would try something, I added another Jonin team to observe and patrol the area. It was one of their members you saw after you destroyed that water clone."

Hiruzen explained his decision to lower the rank of the mission. 'There are also several parties in and out of this village who have their eyes on you. Having you a 'Genin' participate in a Rank A mission would certainly raise a few eyebrows and question my judgment as well. But this way, all that headache is avoided and I got to see your skills. A win-win scenario.'

"Thank you for telling me, Lord Hokage." Daichi nodded his head at that. "Does that mean you'll be sending me on higher ranking missions?" He was slightly excited at the prospect of going on tougher missions.

Hiruzen chuckled seeing Daichi's eager expression. "Not yet. You are still a fresh Genin. At least on paper. But in a couple months we'll see…"

Daichi nodded. "Thank you Lord Hokage."

"Well, I guess we'll take our leave then." Kakashi said.

"Oh wait, before I forget." The Hokage called out to them. He took two scrolls from his desk and tossed them to Daichi and his teacher.

"Each of those scroll has 30 million Ryo. That's your reward for finding the treasure. The village took a small portion as tax from the 68 million. The remaining is rightfully yours." Hiruzen said.

Daichi was surprised at the amount. 'I thought he would take a larger cut out of the reward and use it for the village and give us a small amount. I expected somewhere below 5 million. So this is certainly a welcome surprise.'

"You're really giving us this much?"

Hiruzen expected the surprised tone in Daichi's voice.

"Are you sure about this lord Hokage?" Kakashi was also mildly surprised. He had no problem if the money was used to boost the village's economy.

"Yes. You two are the ones who found the treasure. So the reward belongs to you." The kage said with a smile.

Daichi didn't argue any further and just bowed his head. Kakashi looked at the scroll and then pocketed it. The two ninjas bowed and left the tower.

"Well this is a nice chunk of change." Daichi said.

"Be careful not to spend it on frivolous things. Don't waste that money." Kakashi advised Daichi even though he knew it wasn't necessary.

"Don't worry. I won't… Will there be a mission or training tomorrow?" The boy asked his sensei.

"No. Take a week off. It's the beginning of June. Train your chakra nature, relax, whatever it is you do. Well, meet up after a week." The silver haired Jonin said and vanished in a pile of leaves the next moment.

Daichi shrugged at the exit. "Alright…" The young Genin sighed and looked around the bustling street. 'Okay, where to next?'

Daichi thought about his next move and had an idea. 'Well, I guess I'll head to the academy next. Why don't I see how Shikamaru and the rest are doing?'

With a decision made the gamer ninja headed to the academy.

—-

"Oh man I know classes started three months ago but still, it's only the beginning of the year and Iruka sensei is already going hard on us…" Kiba said in a whining tone as he fed Akamaru some dog treats.

"Indeed he would. Why? Because it's the final year and he wants us to be prepared." Shino spoke in a low voice from behind Kiba.

The young Inuzuka had a shudder go through him as he heard the voice. 'Gha… Still not used to that.'

"Hey Shikamaru, are you planning on just scoring the passing marks again? You know your grades are almost as bad as Naruto's right?" Ino said looking at the relaxing Nara.

"Hey! My scores aren't that bad." Naruto tried to defend his academic marks but it was futile.

"Who are you kidding? You only got by thanks to Sakura cramming all that info into that thick head at the last moment." Ino had a smirk as she looked at Naruto.

The blond Uzumaki gritted his teeth as he looked at the girl's challenging face.

"Um.. I think you did well… Naruto." Hinata's meek but encouraging voice brought a smile to Naruto's face.

"Thanks Hinata. I knew you'd get how awesome I am."

The Hyuga girl got red and just dreamily sighed.

"Hinata's just being nice. You really need to study more if you wanna pass with us Naruto." Even though Ino said it in a smug tone, there was a hint of worry hidden underneath it. She didn't want to see Naruto or any of her friends fail the Genin exam.

"Yeah yeah… Well, I did learn everything in the scroll Daichi gave me." Naruto said with a wide grin.

"Really? You learned the tree walking chakra control exercises?" Choji asked in surprise.

"Yep. Took me a couple weeks. But I did it." The blond boy said with a peace sign.

"And all Daichi needed to do was tell you that Sasuke could do tree walking to get you to train." Sakura said with a small laugh.

"Hey, I did it for me." Naruto crossed his arms as sat down, turning his head away in mock anger. "Hmph!"

"Calm down you knucklehead. I was joking."

"That technique isn't that difficult. I asked my sis to show me and I got it down in a week too." Kiba spoke. "Arf."

Naruto laid down on the ground under a nearby tree and looked at the clouds. "I need to see if Daichi has any more special techniques like that. I'm gonna be an awesome ninja by the time I graduate."

"I do know some techniques." The voice came from up in the tree. Daichi jumped down and greeted his friends with a smile.

"I know how to do the tree walking technique now. Wanna see?" Naruto was excited to show his friend how far he'd come.

Daichi nodded with a smile and Naruto took a few steps back. The others were also paying attention to the boy.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto ran straight at the tree and jumped. His foot landed on the trunk and his chakra kept him glued to the tree. Naruto kept running as high as he could and quickly reached the top.

"See, I told you. I'm one step closer to becoming Hokage." The blond said with a wide smile.

"Not bad Naruto, that's impressive. Looks like you got the first chakra control exercise down."

Daichi's praise made the boy happy and he jumped down and landed on his feet.

As Daichi was congratulating Naruto he sensed a malicious intent. He subtly looked around and saw Mizuki spying on them. 'This guy is going to be a problem.'

—-

The classes for the day had ended and the academy instructor Mizuki was walking down the halls. His mind was on the last time he met the Sannin Orochimaru and the words the snake Sannin told him. Mizuki thought about his future in the Leaf village and it didn't make him happy.

'This village won't help me. And the fact that they won't promote me is proof of that. Even though I did what was best for the mission they… I will only be crippling myself if I stay here. He's the future… But I can't just go to him empty handed. I need something that will prove my loyalty. The Forbidden Scroll. It would be of great use to him. And I'm sure he'll reward me for something as valuable as that.'

Mizuki frowned as he thought about how to accomplish the task of getting the precious scroll. 'Taking the forbidden scroll won't be easy. I need to make sure I have enough time to get away once I have it. And for that I'll need a diversion…'

At that moment he walked by a window and saw Naruto and company at their usual spot. A small grin formed on his face as he looked at the blond Uzumaki.

'Yes. I'll use him. He'll do nicely as a bait. I get the scroll and get to kill the demon brat as a bonus.'

As Mizuki was making plans he saw Daichi jump down from the tree and join the gang. The teacher was further surprised when he saw Naruto's demonstration of the tree walking technique and he almost couldn't contain the anger.

'That brat. He shouldn't have known that technique… It must have been Daichi… He must have taught Naruto that technique…'

Mizuki's fists clenched shut and were slightly shaking. 'Damn it. That brat is getting good. And his grades are also improving. The progress is slow but it's a steady growth… If he keeps improving at this rate, he'll surely pass the final exams…'

The instructor looked at the kids surrounding the smiling Naruto.

'I thought they would get tired of him and leave and then he wouldn't have anyone to help him. But it seems I'm wrong…'

At that moment Mizuki noticed Daichi looking in his direction. Quickly schooling his features he placed a gentle smile on his face and waved.

'Did he see anything?' The man was nervous inside. He didn't know if Daichi saw his anger. But he soon sighed in relief when Daichi smiled and waved back as if he didn't notice anything wrong. 'That was close. I need to be more careful.'

Mizuki then walked away with a gentle smile but inside he was fuming. 'It seems just using the demon brat won't be enough. I thought framing him would be all I need to do but now I know that that alone is not going to work. With all those other brats in the way, I'll have to adjust my strategy a bit.'

—-

While almost everyone in the group was excited about Naruto's achievement, only two people saw the interaction between Mizuki and Daichi. Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hyuga.

Author’s Note:

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