NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12: Encounter
Back in his training place, after leaving the boring missions to his shadow clones, Daniel sat in a meditation position. The rocks around him hovered as the energy from his calm presence exuded a thin glow of red. The ground, nourished by Daniel's energy, began to sprout lush vegetation. The energy emanating from his body shifted from red to gold, gold to green, green to light grey. Continuously, Daniel's energy changed as he meditated, the pressure around him growing stronger, crushing the ground beneath him but simultaneously nourishing it, keeping the lush vegetation alive.
"Hmmm!" Daniel opened his eyes, releasing a pressure that caused a crater to form beneath him. As he finished his meditation, he stood up, hovering in a standing position. The mask that concealed his energy rested on his head, masking Daniel's true power—an item he always wore when he needed to keep his identity hidden.
"I should head back now," Daniel muttered, his face calm and collected, his eyes shimmering with a black hue. In an instant, he vanished into thin air, reappearing back in his room.
"The hell is this!" he exclaimed as he appeared in his room, greeted by a renovated house. Though unchanged on the outside, the inside now resembled a modern era home. The backyard, which served as Daniel's personal training grounds, had been transformed into a garden and relaxing area.
"Yo, bossman," the culprit greeted. The shadow clone Daniel had left in Konoha smiled at him. Wordlessly, Daniel stood looking at himself, not knowing what to say. After all, it was him. Yes, it acted differently, but it wasn't something he wouldn't think of doing.
"Just disappear," he sighed. The clone, without regret, puffed out of existence in bliss. It was a Daniel, after all, and messing with people came with the package.
"Infusing chakra with plants to increase their overall quality and trying to develop special properties from edible plants," Daniel muttered as the thoughts of the clone rushed into his head. "I'm only gone for one day and this happens," he sighed. Although the plant research might prove to be profitable, it was hard to do, and the shadow clone hadn't gone far with only a day's worth of research. But this was something Daniel could invest in.
"Should I learn senjutsu? Nah. My god ki is better," he said as he went upstairs to take a bath. His Japanese-style house had been changed to a western modern style inside. This was disappointing, but what's done is done. The house, though not fully resembling a modern house, was still nice, and the money—well, it was something the Uchiha clan funded.
**Chapter 24: The First Mission**
A new day arose as the sun shone on the Hokage Rock. "Even though it's Friday, I'm not really excited. This is the Shinobi world, so things like weekends are nonexistent here," Daniel woke up with a yawn, getting ready for the day.
Daniel walked into the assignment building. Today, there was a different person sitting there, holding a pipe—the old pedo-Hokage himself. "Hokage-sama," Daniel greeted with a bow, browsing through some missions.
"Ahhh, young Daniel. You've been quite busy as of late, haven't you?" Hiruzen asked. "Are you here to take a bundle of missions again?"
"No. I'm looking for a mission that's outside the village. I wanna explore a bit," Daniel responded.
"Then, how about this one?" Hiruzen presented. "It's C-rank, but I'm sure you will do well," he said, brushing his beard. "A request to deliver a letter to the head of a small village near Kusa."
Daniel read the mission and accepted it without further consideration, confident he could handle it. Leaving the village, Daniel ran, jumping from tree to tree. "Should I take this mission slow?" he thought as he lessened his pace. "I'll pass through three towns before I arrive," Daniel noted as he tree-hopped.
After traveling for a while, Daniel noticed people starting to follow him. **Grin** "My first battle, huh?" Daniel couldn't help himself as he continued like he didn't notice a thing, arriving at his first checkpoint, the first township. "Are they trying to ambush me when I'm about to arrive?" Daniel thought. "Well, that's no fun," he smirked after finding a place to stay for the night.
Back to his mission, Daniel left early in the morning. As he entered the forest, he disappeared from his pursuers' sight. "Damnit, where'd he go?" one yelled as the three pursuers stood on a tree branch.
"Calm down, he's just a genin. He's probably hiding," another spoke.
"How did he even notice us?" the first puzzled voice asked.
"It doesn't matter. We'll just have to kill him since our..." The third spoke, but before he finished his sentence, he suddenly stopped. The other two, with unease, looked at the third only to find a hole in his chest and his neck twisted, broken. Daniel's cold gaze showed no emotion. He had a hard time coming to terms with taking lives at a young age, but now he was used to it.
"You basta...!" the first yelled, but in a flash, his head flew off, blood spewing from his neck as the body collapsed. No one could make sense of what had just happened.
[A/N- someone was courting death]
"Our boss will avenge us," the second, knowing there was no chance of survival, uttered those words. Daniel grabbed the second's head, partially absorbing him with his hand, drawing his memories.
"I see. The neighboring village is trying to cause a riot by using these mercenaries and a few spies while they politically try to absorb the land," Daniel muttered, dropping the ninja. He got everything he needed. "Iwa mercenaries," Daniel muttered, crushing the head of the second with his foot. "It's always Iwa and Kumo causing the most trouble," he muttered as he continued his journey.
Back at home, three of Daniel's clones were experimenting with plants by infusing chakra in different amounts, trying to improve the plants' quality. Daniel's backyard was a mess, with the vegetation ruined.
"Wait!" Clone number 3 said. "Guys, remember that when we were practicing with god ki, the vegetation grew in even the most insane places."
"You're right," the others agreed in unison.
"But isn't our goal to try and achieve those results without relying on god ki so we can observe the difference in the end product of both?" Clone number 2 responded, bringing down the mood.
"Huh, we can't go on like this. We need more people," the clones ranted as they created more shadow clones.
Arriving at his destination, Daniel landed. "Finally here," he stated as he headed towards the village. The citizens gave Daniel an eerie gaze as he entered, but after seeing his headband, they realized he was a Leaf ninja.
"Excuse me. I'm looking for the head of the village," Daniel approached one of the villagers. She looked at him slightly hesitant but then pointed him to the center of the village. As Daniel walked there, he was greeted and guided inside the residence of the village chief, where he was told to wait.