"Relax. It's me."
Hearing that voice, Uchiha Mikoto and Yakushi Nono turned their heads at the same time and finally saw their unreliable teacher.
"Seriously! You almost made me drop the fruit cake I just bought. How are you planning to compensate me?" Mikoto complained.
"Yeah, exactly!" Nono agreed.
"There's a mission," Bai Xing whispered in a voice only the two girls could hear. "C-rank. Good enough?"
"Really?!" ×2
The corridor wasn't a good place to talk, so Bai Xing signaled with his eyes for them to move the discussion to Nono's house.
Neither of them objected.
When they reached the door, Mikoto—who had long treated Nono's house as her second home—acted like the hostess and brought out a pair of clean slippers for Bai Xing.
"Teacher, what mission is it? Why are you being so mysterious?"
Thunk!
"Ow!"
While changing shoes, Bai Xing casually chopped Mikoto on the head.
"One of the ninja rules—mission secrecy. Didn't you learn that?"
"It's supposed to be keeping your mouth shut," Mikoto retorted.
"Same meaning."
Bai Xing walked past her and sat down on the sofa.
His gaze landed on the small cakes the girls had bought.
"Teacher… may I have one?"
"No!" Mikoto immediately shielded her strawberry cake. "Don't even look at it, you cheapskate!"
Bai Xing chuckled.
This lively version of Mikoto was much more charming.
In the original story, she appeared gentle and considerate—but after living through so many missions, what ninja could truly remain soft-hearted?
Most of them had hearts that were already dead inside.
"Anyway," Bai Xing continued, "I've already informed Dai about the C-rank mission. We depart tomorrow at noon."
"Eat well before leaving."
"If we're going to die, at least die with full stomachs."
"Pah! Pah! Pah!" Nono quickly poured him a glass of milk and placed it on the table.
"Teacher, can you not say such unlucky things before our first C-rank mission?"
"Sorry."
Bai Xing suddenly looked depressed.
"The teacher is someone who easily loses confidence. Maybe that's why I can't become a chūnin or learn higher-level ninjutsu…"
Mikoto stared at him silently.
She had a strange feeling he was acting—but those hopeless eyes didn't seem fake at all.
In truth, if someone suddenly woke up in a world overrun with zombies, losing all the strength they once had and becoming ordinary again, they would probably feel the same despair.
"Fine. You can have my cake."
Mikoto reluctantly pushed her 3,000-ryō strawberry cake toward him and even placed a spoon on top.
"Then the teacher won't refuse."
"I'm digging in."
The moment he spoke—
His expression changed instantly.
From depressed to perfectly calm in a single second.
By the time Mikoto realized it, Bai Xing had already taken a huge bite.
She finally understood.
She had been tricked.
And now that he had already eaten half of it, she couldn't take it back.
Within seconds, the palm-sized strawberry cake disappeared completely.
Desserts like this were incredibly expensive in the ninja world—Bai Xing normally couldn't bear to buy them himself.
But free food was different.
"Alright, alright," Nono said.
"Mikoto, you can share half of my cake."
"You're the best, Nono!"
The two girls hugged each other.
Bai Xing unconsciously imagined a rather inappropriate scene involving a tsundere black-haired noble girl and a gentle blonde maid.
He quickly shook the thought away.
Then he began explaining the mission details.
Normally only the team leader needed to know everything, but Bai Xing wasn't a jōnin—and this was his first time leading a C-rank mission.
Of course he felt nervous.
After about ten minutes, he finished explaining everything.
"That's about it."
"Before tomorrow's gathering, make sure you buy whatever supplies you need tonight or early tomorrow."
"This mission won't take a few hours—or even one day."
"A round trip will take at least ten days."
"And after that, you'll only have a few days left before the Chūnin Exam."
"If you get injured during the mission…"
"Then we'll take the exam next time," Bai Xing said quietly.
He didn't want to see the students he had grown close to die on a battlefield.
He also wondered whether his existence as a "butterfly effect" might cause Mikoto, Nono, or even Dai—who originally survived into later events—to die earlier.
"That's unacceptable!" Mikoto clenched her fists confidently.
"It's just a C-rank mission and a Chūnin Exam. I'll handle them easily!"
"Mikoto will definitely succeed," Nono encouraged.
She silently encouraged herself as well.
Bai Xing nodded slightly.
Before leaving, he casually asked:
"By the way, Mikoto—do you know the Shadow Clone Technique?"
"Of course. Isn't that something anyone can do?" Mikoto waved her hand dismissively.
"Could you show it to the teacher? I'm trying to develop a technique and might want to reference it."
"You're inventing another useless D-rank technique again…"
Even while complaining, Mikoto formed hand seals without any suspicion.
Snake – Goat – Tiger
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Poof!
An identical copy of Mikoto appeared beside her.
Bai Xing carefully observed the hand seals and memorized them.
"How many clones can you make?"
"Two."
He wasn't surprised.
The Shadow Clone Technique consumed a lot of chakra. At her stage, producing two clones was already impressive.
Not everyone was Uzumaki Naruto.
Bai Xing then told her to dismiss the clone and get a good night's rest.
He also hinted that Mikoto should probably visit her grandfather—so the old man wouldn't keep secretly following them to watch her missions.
That Night
At home.
Snake – Goat – Tiger
"Shadow Clone Technique."
Poof! Poof! Poof!
In his living room, Bai Xing carefully controlled his chakra.
Using only one-fifth of his chakra, he produced three shadow clones.
That meant at full power he could probably create fifteen.
The living room was simple—modern furniture like a TV, sofa, and coffee table.
Two paintings he had casually made hung on the wall.
Next to them hung a brown furry tail.
His teammates once asked about it.
Bai Xing told them he had found it during a mission and kept it as a souvenir.
In reality—
It was his own tail.
He didn't want to accidentally transform into a giant ape during a full moon and destroy the six years of effort he had invested.
One of the clones crossed its arms.
"Boss, this mission feels dangerous. I have a bad feeling we'll run into Kakuzu or something."
"Drop the 'feels.' We definitely will," another clone said.
"Exactly. We should've rejected that stupid mission."
"I didn't summon you guys so you could complain."
Bai Xing looked at the three clones in annoyance.
They were acting as if this was their house.
"Come up with a disguise identity," he said. "If we need to do something shady, it'll be easier."
"A substitute identity? Interesting."
"How about calling ourselves A-Star?"
"What if we register the name Akatsuki Organization in advance? When Yahiko's group appears later, we can charge them copyright fees!"
"Brilliant!"
Bai Xing: "..."
These definitely aren't my clones.
After arguing for a long time, they finally settled on an alias:
"Surgeon."
Bai Xing didn't actually know medical ninjutsu.
But he had studied human anatomy extensively in the library.
With a few real operations, performing surgery or saving lives shouldn't be too difficult.
He had also developed a small variation of the Transformation Technique, inspired by the concept of "life return," allowing him to slightly change his height, appearance, hair, and body.
The downside was that it consumed stamina.
Previously, his stamina was too limited to sustain such techniques.
He could kill a single jōnin only because the opponent was physically fragile.
But fighting a group of ninja had been impossible.
Now—
It might actually be possible.
"Well then."
"Let's eat first."
Bai Xing finalized his plans and started cooking dinner.
That little cake earlier had barely filled him.
After eating, he still needed to train.
Being a teacher was troublesome.
During the day he had to supervise missions with his team.
The only time left for serious training was at night.
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