Chapter 90: Distributing the Rewards
After assigning the patrol squads, Ishiro first checked on the status of the wounded, then began tallying up the spoils of the recent battle.
First were the enemy ninja corpses: two jōnin and five chūnin. As for genin, although they had killed over a dozen during the battle, there was no need to collect those bodies. Along the journey, they had also eliminated quite a few stalkers and spies—some of whom were chūnin as well.
Next came the loot—by far their greatest gain. Many rogue ninja carried valuable goods on them. Among the dead, several had excellent items.
For example, just in silver alone, they had acquired more than seven million ryo. As for kunai and other standard weapons, Ishiro didn't even bother with them. His current team already had more than enough of those.
However, one item surprised Ishiro—a piece of chakra metal, still unshaped. A chūnin had been carrying it, and Ishiro recognized it immediately.
This was a treasure. That one block alone was worth tens of thousands of contribution points. And in the black market? Essentially priceless.
Chakra weapons were rare in the ninja world. So far, Ishiro had only seen a few. One confirmed chakra weapon was the longblade used by his former teammate, Little Rock, back in Team 18.
Others he'd encountered might've had chakra weapons too, but Ishiro wasn't sure.
The chakra metal he held now was enough to forge a longblade like Little Rock's.
Though Ishiro could use it, the gain wouldn't be significant. Instead, it was perfect as a reward. If any subordinate made a significant contribution in the future, he could grant it as a reward.
The biggest gain, though, was the four ninjutsu scrolls. Aside from the ones Nagato had given him earlier, this was Ishiro's first time receiving so many at once.
Among the four:
One C-rank Wind Release scroll, from the ninjutsu jōnin.
One C-rank swordsmanship technique, from the taijutsu jōnin.
One C-rank Lightning Release scroll, surprisingly from a genin.
And, to Ishiro's surprise, a genjutsu scroll contributed by a chūnin.
Ishiro didn't let everyone copy the jutsu indiscriminately. Everyone's contributions in battle had varied, and it would be unfair to those who had fought harder. He collected all the scrolls and planned to distribute them accordingly. Unlike his old four-man squad, this new unit was too large.
In a small team, everyone lived and died together—sharing jutsu meant strengthening the whole group and improving survival chances. It was a win-win.
But now, with so many subordinates, joint missions would be rarer, and limited resources meant competition was necessary.
Other spoils didn't matter much. Rogue ninja had a hard time compared to those with a village behind them.
After inventorying everything, Ishiro reviewed how each team had performed in battle and began assigning rewards.
While the teams rested, Ishiro officially announced the rewards.
First, every squad would receive at least one C-rank mission credit. Some of the more outstanding teams received multiple C-rank credits.
One team, apart from Squad 7, had done exceptionally well and was awarded a B-rank mission credit. Squad 7 received both a B-rank and an A-rank mission credit.
It was worth noting that as a captain, Ishiro didn't need to log mission credits. So this tally only applied to Fu and the other two.
Ishiro's rewards would be handled separately by the village, based on his contributions during this large-scale mission.
As a captain, Ishiro theoretically could assign many credits—but the number was limited by what he submitted to the village.
For example, turning in the bodies of two jōnin earned him two additional A-rank mission quotas. In other words, besides the regular quota promised by the village, Ishiro could now assign two more A-rank mission records.
Unfortunately, chūnin corpses held less value. Submitting them only brought small amounts of contribution points and no extra mission quota.
Let's do the math. Submitting two jōnin corpses = 2 A-rank quotas. But Ishiro had now issued:
2 B-rank missions
Nearly 20 C-rank missions
So from a reward perspective, Ishiro had made a huge profit. But that's because he personally risked his life to kill those two jōnin. It had originally been his responsibility.
If there had been no jōnin among the attackers, Ishiro would've had to pre-approve quotas from his own stock, or reward his subordinates using part of the loot—trading war spoils for mission records.
This time, though, Ishiro had done well, so he was generous. He announced that every team could exchange the contribution value of a C-rank mission for one C-rank ninjutsu scroll.
If someone made an exchange, Ishiro would make a note in the records to prevent duplicate contribution calculations. For the village, the saved contribution points would be counted as Ishiro's additional merit for this large-scale mission.
Furthermore, Ishiro announced that the most outstanding teams could freely choose one C-rank jutsu from the ones he personally owned.
This was one of the hard parts of being a jōnin captain—your own ninjutsu collection mattered. Ishiro was a ninjutsu-focused jōnin, but his collection was small. He was still young, with few completed missions, so his access to jutsu had been limited.
This was the awkward position of a new captain without deep resources. In these situations, many subordinates wouldn't want to stay in such a squad long-term.
After announcing the rewards, no one immediately approached Ishiro. The rewards were team-based, so everyone needed to discuss with their teammates first.
The first to approach Ishiro was—surprisingly—Shouhara. His squad had performed moderately, earning two C-rank credits, enough for one ninjutsu exchange.
Shouhara chose the C-rank Wind Release jutsu. One of his squadmates had wind affinity but hadn't saved enough contribution points to get a jutsu.
Ishiro was a little surprised. Shouhara's squad was lucky. That teammate would gain a huge power boost with a Wind jutsu—maybe not at chūnin level yet, but easily above average genin.
The second to approach Ishiro was Meiko. Her squad had performed very well—Meiko herself was a ninjutsu-type chūnin. In the defensive battle earlier, her effectiveness far exceeded any taijutsu user. Plus, she had personally taken down a chūnin during the follow-up strikes after Ishiro's Violent Water Wave. So they got one exchange and one free scroll.
Meiko first exchanged for the C-rank swordsmanship jutsu—not for herself, but for her two sword-using teammates. Then she asked Ishiro, "Do you have any C-rank Fire Release?"
Ishiro blinked in surprise. "You're working on Fire Release? You already developed your second attribute?"
Meiko rolled her eyes. "What's with that look? I'm not allowed to develop a second attribute?"
Ishiro scratched his head awkwardly. "Of course you can."
He pulled out two C-rank Fire Release scrolls: Great Fireball and Fire Whip, and handed them over. "Here, take them both."
Meiko shot him a glare. "I don't need your generosity. I'm picking one."
Ishiro chuckled. "I'm also developing Fire Release—just progressing slowly. Maybe you can guide me sometime. Think of the extra scroll as payment."
Hearing that, Meiko's eyes widened. She stared at him like he was a monster, then silently took both scrolls and walked away.
Ishiro scratched his head, feeling a bit bad.
But before he could dwell on it, another squad leader came up, so he didn't have time to get sentimental.
Before long, every squad captain—except for Fu's team—had come to exchange for ninjutsu.
One squad had wanted to trade for a C-rank taijutsu set, but Ishiro didn't have one, so they opted for the swordsmanship set instead. The others all got what they wanted.
Watching his subordinates gather in squads, excitedly discussing their new jutsu, Ishiro sighed.
Being a captain is hard.
After a night of rest, the team resumed their journey. Morale was significantly higher. Everyone had gained new jutsu, and with their squads stronger, they felt more secure.
Plus, their young captain had personally killed two jōnin. His strength boosted everyone's confidence.
The merchants were even more thrilled. Yesterday, they had witnessed jōnin-level ninjutsu exchanges—massive AOE techniques that terrified them.
But their own ninja escort had emerged victorious without any casualties, further reinforcing their trust.
After the Canyon Battle, no one dared to provoke Ishiro's team anymore. Along the way, they cleaned up another seven or eight rogue ninja. Finally, the caravan reached its destination.
Ishiro handed over the large caravan to the Akatsuki. The number of personnel they sent shocked him—a full 120 ninja, not including those stationed at the border supply station.
Akatsuki was growing faster than expected.
But that wasn't Ishiro's concern right now. His current priority was constructing the supply station.
According to his plans, the station would be a circular area made up of three concentric rings.
The innermost circle had a radius of six meters. Ishiro intended to build a sealed core structure there.
Around the core would be the Five-Element Barrier—an A-rank defensive seal similar to the Four Violet Flames Formation. The advantage was that it only required five chūnin of different elemental affinities to maintain and consumed relatively little chakra.
The core building would only allow Iwagakure shinobi to enter—the last line of defense for the supply base. It would have an above-ground operations center (no residential space), and an underground storage zone.
The storage was split into two:
Military Supplies Warehouse
Daily Essentials Warehouse
Both warehouses were protected by defensive barriers and required specific hand seals to access. The daily warehouse's seal was known by every chūnin squad captain.
The military warehouse's seal, however, was known only by Ishiro and his three Squad 7 members.
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