Chapter 13: The Man of Steel

(Today's song is "Consequences" by Camila Cabello!!! Don't ask me why, but it has a great tune so listen to it! Anyways here we go!!)

Akali's POV

[Don't pick up that one! It looks beautiful uwu]

"That beautiful thing is a weed. If I don't pick that out it'll thorn the owner."

I said and begrudgingly pulled the said weed out of the soil. Guess what, we already have missions. We already did 25 in a week and f*ck it's so tiring! I haven't got time for training now and my SNC feels like it's back to level one again!

[Why are you so snappy today huh Kali? Don't like the D missions?]

Junko teasingly said, watching from a tab as I do the mission. Why you ask, did I answer her call in the middle of a chore- mission? It's because she doesn't stop annoying me for the past week! She keeps calling every single random time and when she calls, system vibrates so hard that I also vibrate. Since the others can't see the tabs and I'm whispering quietly, then everything is still hidden.

"Because you keep annoying me. Can't you train or something?"

[I just finished cardio and leg work earlier, give me a break. Plus, I like to see you irritated! You look like an angry cute wittle sharky baby]

Then the damned girl proceeded to coo at me. What the f*ck is cute with my face?! I thought, my lip twitching in anger.

"I don't want to do this anymooooreeee!! I want real missions!! Not doing other people's chores!"

Jhin said, shouting the last part loudly to tick off the owners even more. Although I agree. How the hell does this help us in anyway?! Unless this makes our muscle mass stronger, I am not doing another one of these chores!!

"OI KID YOU UPROOTED MY HERBS AGAIN!!"

And with that, Jhin was chased by the owners until the two us finish the mission. And since this house was surprisingly near the library, Suzaku was there to flirt on Miria again. F**king simp.

. . .

"Finished already? Your team really has a gift, don't they Suzaku?"

The Hokage greeted as we entered his office, and hell I've never seen Iruka so evil! like look at his face! It looks like he's feeding off the despair of genins that does D rank missions!!

[You're being over dramatic.]

"Yes, and I'm not sorry for it."

The three of us took a seat while Suzaku stood, listening to Iruka and the Hokage's hushed voices as they decid our judgment- I mean decide our missions for today.

"Oh look! The feudal lord's son wants you to come over and take care of him again! Seems like you captured his heart eh?"

Twitch.

"There are also multiple villagers needing assistance on their shopping carts since it's to small to handle a big bag of groceries."

T-twitch. Twitch.

"And then there's tora-"

[Oh God here it comes.]

Before Jhin stood up to make and outraged statement, I blocked him with my left arm and stood up instead, my lips twitching as I showed the fakest most plastic smile I could muster.

"Lord Hokage, Iruka-sensei. I understand that our level as shinobi aren't high enough, but I beg of you, please give us atleast an escort mission to the nearest town in Konoha. Or even just across it. I don't think my soul can survive another glare from the villagers who watch our every move just to report something to you."

"Akali-chan! How-"

"Hm? Are you saying something sensei?"

I now activated intimidation to the fullest level, released all my chakra and full on let him feel my killer intent that I'm almost so sure that I'm emitting an aura whilst smiling fakely.

Iruka had sweat dripping down his face. Hmph. If this doesn't convince them, I'm gonna-

"Oi brat stop it!"

Suzaku shouted which I ignored, the twins also adding their blood lust to the mixture whilst smiling at Iruka-sensei that made it even more effective.

"Hokage-sama! Report from- eeek!!! Demoooonnsss!!! RUN HIDE SEND REINFORCEMENTS!!!"

"Okay okay I get it! Pfttt.....the look on Iruka's face...."

The Hokage said as he skimmed through multiple files, the three of us finally containing the blood lust we accumulated through a week of nonstop chores. I smirked and raised my fist, the twins also doing the same and bumping them altogether.

"Is....is this my students?"

"Yeah....they've been willing to kill me just so that they get a C rank mission."

"Even Juichiro?"

"Even the sweet Juichiro."

Both Iruka and Suzaku said with a sigh as the Hokage finally found the file that he was looking for.

"Here, a C rank escort mission to the Land of Hot Water. You will be escorting a certain individual and stay to guard that individual for three days."

Jhin's eyes instantly lit up.

"Who are we guarding?! Oh I hope it's a princess~"

"Woah there Jhin-chan. I thought you only have eyes for Akali-chan?"

"I d-do- I mean I do n-n-n-not!! I already t-told you I d-don't like her!! Or something......"

And then, everybody in the room chuckled. Even the fricking Hokage.

"We'll see....."

"A-are the d-d-d-demons gone?"

"Yes, you can enter now."

The Hokage chuckled again. Wow, did I just see him get younger? At this rate, he'll be as young as a newborn baby if he keeps chuckling like that.

[Again with the drama. Can you stop?]

"No~<3"

"Team 12, meet Yi Hozuki-san. He's an investigator from the Land of Noodles. Currently solving a mysterious case on the Land of Hot Water. There will be danger, so I suggest you be careful. I leave him to you, Suzaku, Akali. Protect the three of them with all of your might."

The fidgety Konoha nin left as soon as the Hokage finished talking, leaving us with the investigator.

"Akali? You must be the prodigy that Chikara-sama is very proud of. Nice to meet you."

The Yi guy said and ruffled my hair. Wow, do I blush?

[Nah, you're the stern type.]

I smirked, bowing slightly.

"Now all of you, get ready for travel. Meet us at the gates in 30 minutes."

"Hai!!/un."

. . .

"Ceciliaah~ you're breaking my heart~!"

[Why do you have such a beautiful voice huhu... anyways, where you going?]

I was slightly surprised by the voice that suddenly popped up, but when I saw that it was only Junko, I calmed down.

"Mission. Don't call too often, you might distract me and I might die."

[That's harsh you know! But I understand. I'll call every night then~]

"You make it sound like a-

[Okay okay stop!!! Just be safe okay? Oh and tell me if you encounter another player!]

''That's automatic. I have to go. Bye."

I said and ended the call. I've packed a few clothes and a sleeping bag, only the absolute necessities are on the very big storage scroll that Juichiro gave me. The rest are on my inventory, and since I don't have a lot of things on my apartment, I finished packing quite fast.

I slung the scroll's strap on my body and got ready to leave when I noticed Naruto running on the apartment halls.

"Hey Kacchan. Woah, big scroll! Where are you going dattebayo??"

"Mission. I'm going outside of Konoha."

"Wow really?!!! Can I come can I come pleaaseee dattebayo!!! My missions are boring! All we do is chores!"

I smirked and leaped outside the apartment.

"Too bad then! I'll bring you something when I'm back!"

"You better dattebayo!!!"

I smirked at him and ran. The rush of nervousness when I'm about to finally leave Konoha again feels so nostalgic. This place isn't really a safe haven after all.

"You came early."

I just nodded in response to Suzaku's greeting, doing the same when my blindfolded eyes met Yi's.

Then the three of us stood in professional silence(is there such thing?) While waiting for the twins to arrive. They came soon after so we didn't really wait too long, and with that, we started walking.

"This will be a long walk, if we run, we might get there earlier since Yugakure is just outside the borders of the land of fire. So, can the two of you keep up?"

Suzaku asked the twins. They looked quite hurt, but despite that, they nodded.

"Well, it's up to Hozuki-san to decide whether we run or walk. What do you think Hozuki-san?"

"Just call me Yi. And sure, as long as we don't burden your students."

He said and smiled softly. Hm. The two must feel like babies right now. But I don't blame them.

"Let's go. Suzaku, how much time will it take before we get to Yugakure?"

Yi asked, preparing and stretching his limbs.

"We'll have stops, so it might take us two or three days."

"Mhm."

And with that, I ran with one fourth of my normal speed.

~A few hours later~

It has gotten a lot darker, and the twins were already so exhausted and so am I, but it was worth it since we covered almost one thirds of our way, and I got plus one on DEX.

We're currently busy on putting up tents while Suzaku set up the fire. Yi was looking at his notebook then at the forest and taking notes. Is he secretly a writer? That I have to find out. Maybe I can introduce him to the DC and Marvel universe, and then maybe he'll be inspired to make superman batman and Ironman's stories be true here then it'll be a good source of money, isn't it?

"Akali-chan, a little to the side......there! We've finished Yi-san's tent!"

Juichiro exclaimed and crawled out of the tent.

"I've also finished on our side. What about you Akali? Aren't you gonna set up your tent?"

I shrugged, passing through the gaps of the tent carefully so that I wouldn't topple it over.

"Nah. I won't sleep."

"Heh. Yeah right! I bet you'll be dead asleep after 9:00!"

"Is that a bet?"

I smirked, but our little aggression seemed to caught Suzaku's attention.

"Oh no. No bets. We need all the sleep we can get to recover. We might get attacked by a wild bear or a lion so we have to be careful."

"Your sensei is right kids. After we eat, you have to sleep to gain energy for tomorrow okay?"

All three of us nodded our heads and sat next to the fire, watching as Suzaku set up sticks to be our stove.

"Now the three of you stay here and guard Yi-san while I go hunting for our food. It won't take long."

Suzaku said before vanishing inside the thick forest, leaving the three of us with Yi who's still writing on his notebook. All three of us looked at each other and nodded, Juichiro fishing out seals from his back pocket and placing it all around the current base, Jhin helping him camouflage it and I, sitting beside Yi to protect him in case of any attack.

I didn't do any briefing or planning of some sort, but for them to be able to receive what signal I was sending out to that level only means that those chores did help us with our teamwork.

[I can see that very clearly. The fact that you three all have murderous thoughts while doing C ranks all together is a great start for a team.]

Though the system's voice was robotic, I still didn't fail to notice the thick sarcasm dripping on each word. I rolled my eyes, not anyone can see.

"That aside, this is actually good.....first thing to remember on fighting someone, never do it alone. Always have someone to gank the enemy, even if ganking is a very underhanded technique."

And for those whose asking, what's gank? Gank is a way to defeat your enemy in the early game, attacking the enemy from upfront while there's a teammate who's ready to jump at his back to immediately execute the enemy to prevent him from farming, gaining gold and making him food to the team's carry is what ganking is. In short, surprise team attack. When fighting an enemy, specially the one that's stronger than you, gank is needed.

"Hmm.....I see you're very close to your teammates?"

Yi stated, looking at how the twins work to protect our base.

"Not quite yet. Although I plan on getting their trust, those two are close because their twins so it's hard to do so."

"When you say it like that, you sound like you're planning on something that involves them."

Yi said and chuckled, still not looking above from his book. I gave him a sharp toothed grin. Since he's an investigator, I'll give him something to ponder over.

"Maybe? Maybe not? Who knows~"

He chuckled again, just as the twins finished setting up traps.

"I sure hope sensei won't get caught in these...."

"He's stronger than us! Of course he won't."

Jhin said to assure his twin, the said red head smiling at him and sitting on the log in front of the fire.

"Yi-san, may I ask, are you a writer?"

That seem to capture his attention as he looked up to me with an amused gaze.

"Hm? It is my hobby to write the situations in my head since it just sometimes goes into overdrive, but I still haven't publish a single book. Why do you say?"

He said with a sly smirk. Is he challenging me? Though it's really provocative, I won't fall. It's bad if he gets too suspicious, but it's also bad if he knows too much.

"Just a guess."

I said and smiled. Jhin was now doing push ups while Juichiro sat on his back while doing seals.

"Don't train too hard. We might face an enemy and we can't afford the both of you being tired."

"Don't worry Akali-chan! We're just warming up, nothing too heavy."

Juichiro said and stood up, Jhin flipped over to lay on his back with his legs curled up, Juichiro sitting on his feet.

Ahh curl ups.

"I have a proposal. I've had this story in my head for quite a long time now and I want you to be the author. Are you up for it Yi-san?"

I said, not taking my gaze off the twins.

"Oh? I'll consider. If your story amazes me, who knows? I might just do it."

I smirked. Millions of people loves Superman, so why wouldn't he?

"I'll tell you the gist of it then. Of course you know about the universe, correct?"

He nodded.

"From a far away planet that's yet unknown to us, there was a baby boy. Human features and all. But that planet was collapsing, so in order to save that boy, his parents sent him to this planet. The........vehicle that he was in landed on a village, one that doesn't have ninjas. So he lived a simple life, raising cows in a small barn with just enough food and a loving old couple who took him in, everything was perfect. Not until he realized that he had powers."

I kinda cringed by the way I told the story, but hey, I said gist.

Yi was busy writing on his notebook now, humming every now and then to signal me to continue.

"He was amazed, lazer was shooting from his eyes, has frozen breath, can fly, has speed that can rival the infamous Minato Namikaze's own, can see through walls, (x ray vision), superhuman strength, insane healing abilities, superhuman hearing, his skin so durable that not even the sharpest knives can cut, he has it all! And he does it without the use of chakra, mainly because he wasn't like us."

"Hm.....sounds like what a kid would imagine."

Yi said with a smile. I just shrugged but continued talking.

"All of that but he also has a weakness. An emerald rock from the fragments of his home planet, a rock called cryptonite. Just exposing him to it's rays weakens him, any contact with this rock can make him vulnerable and weak just like any civilian."

Now, the twins were also listening in on our conversation.

"But there was a time where he had to work in a wealthier village, to be able to keep their beloved barn. And so, he worked as a reporter, having the name Clark Kent. Of course you can change that."

"Because of him working as a reporter, he saw just what crimes does the real world has. And he knew he had to stop it, so using his work as a platform for hunting criminals and with his super hearing, he saved all of those who cried for help, but not killing anyone for he thought that everyone deserves another chance to repent for their crimes. But just like any good guy, that was Superman's weakness."

"So it's natural for him to be targeted by villains, am I correct?"

Yi said in which I nodded.

"Then there's also the crisis on his double identity. Reporters are like detectives, digging deep to have a big scoop. There's also the woman he loves. That woman is named Lois Lane, a reporter like him. As you can guess, she is a competitive reporter and is reaching for the top, so when Superman became popular, what news would his villains and the people like more that knowing who he really is? That news would give her so much money and fame as a reporter so she had to do it. There's many situations you can think of, add or remove. But what I'm saying is that Superman is very relatable, specially to civilians, young or old. Since he doesn't have chakra and lived as a normal civilian, I just know that it'll capture their hearts. So, what do you say?"

I finished with a smirk, Yi however, was looking very confused but amazed.

"That would most certainly work...."

"And even if it doesn't, you won't loose anything right? Since it is your first published book."

"I'd read that immediately! And of course you should add a really cool logo to be able to intrigue the readers with just the logo! You should go for it Yi-san!"

"Oi you three, don't bother Yi-san too much."

It's Suzaku. He came back with a dead boar.

"Let's eat!"

Character Info

Name: Akali (Hoshigaki?)

Title: Miss Detective

Age: 11

Gender: Female

Level: 60 (100 /1 001 000)

HP: 100 000/10 000 confused-as-fuck(regen 10.00 per sec)

CP: 100 000/100 000 (regen 10.78 per sec)

STR: 80

VIT: 90

DEX: 304

INT: 300

LUC: 16

STY: 100%

Team Daya admires you!

Udon no Kuni (Land of Noodles) is proud of you!

Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato

Money:11 000 000 RYO

Unspent points: 101

Runes: 100 000

Once was a ruthless detective, she was cold hearted towards the ones she brought to justice even if each of them had a reason why they did each crime. She was challenged by Deus ex Machina to change her ways, to be in the shoes of those she turned a cold shoulder, to kill in order to survive.

.                   .                 .

(Surprise surprise! Forgive me, I'm in a light writer's block right now so it's a little short, buuuuuut! Good news is that Akali will have an official art later on in the story!!

Another note,

I think the next update will be a lot longer, and it will take longer time for me to publish it since writer's block, exams, assignments and activities are piling on me and I haven't done a single one! I'm so sorry for that 😭😭

I hope you still enjoyed this half-assed of a chapter though.

Hysteria out~)