Chapter 168: Ninja Perils

"Hmph, just Kakashi thinks he can surpass me in missions? I'll make sure you come but never return." Walking along the cat-finding path, Obito was in a great mood.

He felt certain he would win, because among the five missions Muyue had assigned, one was finding a cat and another was finding a lost item—he would definitely finish those two first, and then casually finish one more to secure victory.

Going up against someone with the power of old grandpas and grandmas like him, Kakashi had no chance.

With the help of many kind elderly people, Obito gradually learned where the lost pet cat had gone.

But something Obito never expected happened: when he arrived at the destination, he actually saw Kakashi already holding the pet cat.

"Kakashi, what are you doing here?" Obito asked in confusion.

"Obviously, I'm here to complete the commission." Kakashi replied calmly.

Obito scratched his hair. Of course he knew Kakashi was doing the mission—he was puzzled why Kakashi had gotten there before him.

"You just got lucky this time. I'll show you the power of Leaf's Mission King in a moment." Obito decided not to waste any more time with Kakashi and quickly complete the next mission.

"Then we'll see about that." Kakashi said calmly. This time, Obito was bound to lose.

Because Kakashi was now ahead by one mission, Obito moved much faster—he didn't want to talk big and still lose.

Leveraging his personal connections, Obito chose to complete the mission to find a lost item.

"Thank you for the information, grandpa."

"No need for cookies or anything, thank you for your help, grandma."

And so Obito kept thanking people all the way to the lost location.

But something Obito never expected happened: Kakashi had once again arrived ahead of him and found the lost item first.

"Kakashi, why is it you again?" Obito felt something was off.

Kakashi had already finished two missions, while he himself hadn't completed a single one.

"Why can't it be me? Does this mission have to be completed by you first?" Kakashi retorted.

Obito had nothing to say. He immediately sprinted to the next mission location.

When he arrived at the place where trash needed to be cleared, he found that the garbage had already been cleaned up by Kakashi's Shadow Clone.

"Damn, he even finished this mission!" Obito felt incredibly uneasy. In the first round, he had completely fallen behind—Kakashi had already completed three missions.

"Guy went to do the carrying mission and is almost done too. Only the mission to clear the trap zone's trash is left. If you hurry, you might still finish before Guy." Muyue appeared just in time to remind him.

"Muyue-sensei, thank goodness you're here." Obito thanked Muyue and then rushed off to the trap zone.

If he didn't complete any missions in the first round, the pressure in the second round would be too great. He had to finish at least four missions, or it would be hard to win—but how could he finish that many when Kakashi and Might Guy weren't lacking hands and feet?

The reward for clearing trash in the trap zone was much higher than a normal D-rank mission, because the difficulty was slightly greater; it would be troublesome if you accidentally triggered a trap.

When everyone returned after completing their missions, Muyue announced the results of his students' mission completions.

"Kakashi is temporarily in the lead with three missions. Guy and Obito are tied with one mission each."

"Looks like I'll be the one winning this time." Kakashi said calmly, as if it were a trivial matter.

"Don't get too cocky, Kakashi. We still have to accept more missions. It's not certain who'll win." Obito hadn't given up yet.

"Yeah, there's still hope for victory until the very last moment!" Might Guy gave a thumbs up and laughed loudly.

Seeing his disciples so motivated, Muyue smiled and nodded. The speed at which chakra increased this way was far more intense than in class.

After five missions, his chakra had directly increased by over two hundred. Even a full day of intensive lessons would only yield eighty chakra.

They took on five more missions. This time, Obito didn't feel like humming a tune and walking slowly. As soon as he received the missions, he checked whether there was one he was good at.

But among these five missions, only one involved searching; the others were miscellaneous labor tasks.

Still, Obito had no choice—one was better than none. After reading the mission description, he dashed off immediately to begin the search.

When Obito finally arrived at the final location after great effort, he saw the person he least wanted to see.

"Why is it you again! Kakashi!" Obito couldn't hold back. Kakashi had once again beat him by a step.

"Mission complete." Kakashi's reply was the same as before.

"Something's wrong—there's definitely something very, very wrong." Obito sensed an anomaly in his heart.

Kakashi being ahead once could be put down to luck, but being ahead three times in a row is too coincidental. If Kakashi had this ability, how could he have lost to him three times in a row before?

"Finally noticed?" Kakashi was a bit surprised. With Obito's intelligence, he thought Obito would take longer to discover the truth.

"Kakashi, you must have used money to buy inside information, that's how you were faster than me, right?" Obito said with an expression that he had seen through everything.

"You've been a ninja for several years now, so you must have saved up a lot of money. I didn't expect you to go this far."

Kakashi:...

He really couldn't understand Obito's train of thought. Shouldn't he have guessed he was being followed? What the hell was this about buying inside information with money?

"Why would you think that?" Kakashi couldn't help asking.

"Isn't it like that in stories? The villain uses money to surpass the hardworking protagonist." Obito said as if it were obvious.

Kakashi was speechless. So in Obito's eyes, he was the villain, and Obito was the protagonist.

Because Obito's answer was so absurd, Kakashi directly said:

"There is no such thing as inside information in D-rank missions, and no one would spend money to complete D-rank missions. The reason I was one step ahead of you was because I followed you, then found the mission target faster than you."

What to do if you have no information? Eavesdrop on others' information. Kakashi had been leeching off Obito all along, using shadow clones to do the odd jobs, which was why he was so far ahead.

"Stalking? How despicable!" Obito was shocked. He never thought the reason Kakashi was faster was because of this. It was basically stealing the fruits of his labor.

"There's nothing despicable about it. You can follow me too, if you have the ability." Kakashi taunted.

"Reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance are basic ninja skills. If you had detected me in time, this wouldn't have happened."

"Damn it! If I had the Sharingan, I would definitely have noticed you!" Obito was very unwilling. He recalled his memory of finding things and hadn't noticed being followed at all.

"Say that after you get the Sharingan. The ninja world is cruel. If it was an enemy following you, guess what your fate would be." After saying that, Kakashi turned and left to continue the missions.

Thanks to Obito, they still had four missions to do.

Kakashi's words made Obito's blood pressure max out. He wished he could have a real PK with Kakashi immediately. Having his victory stolen and being taunted—if his Breathing Technique had reached the Constant Medium realm, would he have to endure this?

Obito turned his anger into motivation and started doing missions quickly. He didn't want to lose too badly.

The second round result: Kakashi completed two missions alone, Might Guy and Obito each completed one alone, and then they completed one together.

"Kakashi completed five missions alone and got first place. Obito and Guy tied for second." Mu Yue announced the final results.

"Haha, as expected of my rival! Improving so fast, completing half the missions alone!" Might Guy laughed heartily.

Originally, Might Guy wanted to leverage his taijutsu specialty, so he chose labor-intensive missions. Unexpectedly, those missions were more troublesome one after another, so Guy only completed two and a half.

"Just barely. Only surpassed someone who talks big." Kakashi said calmly.

Although he didn't say the name, he might as well have read out Obito's trainee ID number.

"I did three more than you yesterday. Add those three, I have five and a half—more than you!" Obito chose to bring up old scores.

"If we count previous missions, I have more C-rank missions alone than your D-rank missions." Kakashi said lightly.

"Everyone worked hard today. After we hand in the missions, I'll take you to my place for dinner." Mu Yue ended the argument with a warm smile.

"Jonin Mu Yue, you won't be able to take on missions for a while. You've done almost all the odd jobs. Ten missions in one afternoon—your efficiency is too high." The registration ninja reminded them when they handed in the missions.

"What? There are no missions left?" Obito couldn't help asking.

He was still planning to be careful tomorrow and defeat Kakashi again. Without missions, how could he get his revenge?

"You're too fast. You did twenty missions in two days. Some squads can't do that many in a month." The registration ninja said helplessly.

"If there are no D-rank missions, there must be other missions, right?" Obito couldn't swallow his anger today.

"Don't think about it. As trainees, you can only take D-rank missions for now." The registration ninja replied.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm still in school, but I'm the top of my class at the Ninja Academy, and I've beaten official ninjas." Obito still didn't give up.

"No means no." The registration ninja's attitude was very clear.

Regardless of whether Obito's words were true, he didn't want to do something that broke the rules. No benefits, and if something went wrong, he would be the first to suffer.

"What's going on?" Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was off duty, happened to see this scene. Seeing Mu Yue and Kakashi, he walked over and asked.

"Third Hokage-sama." The registration ninja said respectfully.

"It's like this, their class..." the registration ninja quickly reported the cause and process to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Twenty missions in two days." Hiruzen Sarutobi was also a bit surprised.

"In that case..."