Chapter 23: The First Task

Among the members of the First Squad, Asuma is the son of the Hokage, and Hyuga Hizashi is the biological brother of the Hyuga clan head, making him a young master even as a member of the branch family; even Kurenai has a father who is a Jonin. Basically, none of them have ever worried about money.

Uchiha Feiyu is different; the Uchiha Clan treats him as if he were invisible, his parents were both commoners, and there was no pension. For these past few years, aside from supplementing his household income by hunting, he has been living off the inheritance left by his parents, which can be described as eating away at his savings.

Under these circumstances, Uchiha Feiyu is naturally quite interested in money; in the Naruto World, money can also be considered a form of power.

If Uchiha Feiyu had been a wealthy tycoon from the start, he would have long ago hired ninjas like Kakuzu, captured a large batch of Chunin and Jonin-level rogue ninjas, and then extracted their souls one by one to practice ninjutsu. He wouldn't have ended up until now with only Hatake Sakumo as a Heroic Spirit available for Possession.

To Uchiha Feiyu, the souls of ordinary Chunin provide limited enhancement, and since Uchiha Feiyu does not use the Method of Consuming Spirits on human souls, it seems to have no effect.

But in reality, every Chunin basically possesses significant ninjutsu experience, and more senior Chunin even involve themselves in the practice of chakra Nature Transformation. As long as he obtains their experience and learns from their strengths to offset his weaknesses, Uchiha Feiyu has enough confidence to reach the level of an Elite Jonin in a very short time.

Since it was already nearly noon, Hyuga Hizashi took Uchiha Feiyu and the other two to have a meal first, and then they arrived at the Task Hall beneath the Hokage Building.

Because of the arrival of war, Konoha has now canceled all D-rank Tasks; basically, as long as it is a task, it starts from the C-Rank Mission level.

The newly formed three-person squad could naturally only accept C-Rank Missions. Generally speaking, C-Rank Missions involve combat, but they do not involve other ninjas; they are mostly tasks like acting as bodyguards or driving away wild beasts.

Hyuga Hizashi looked over the task list, then accepted a task to drive away wild beasts from farmland, and left the Task Hall with the three little ones.

Bodyguard missions are often quite time-consuming, requiring at least a day or two to complete, whereas driving away beasts is much easier. Because there are no ordinary people to drag them down, if the location is close, the task might be completed in two or three hours.

This time, the village Hyuga Hizashi found was not far away. It is said that the cattle and sheep raised by the villagers there had been eaten in large numbers by some kind of ferocious beast, the traps set by the villagers were useless, and even two hunters who had practiced chakra had been eaten by the beast.

The Chakra Refining Technique in the Naruto World is widely circulated. Besides ninjas, there are many among ordinary people who practice chakra, though most of them do not know any ninjutsu.

But even if they are just dabblers possessing chakra, in the real world, they are little supermen capable of taking on ten people, and ordinary lions and tigers are really no match for them.

Being able to devour hunters who possess chakra, one can only say that this beast must also be a chakra-infused creature. The task Hyuga Hizashi chose to train Asuma and Kurenai can be described as carefully selected.

As for Uchiha Feiyu, a task that could also provide him with training would likely have to be an A-rank Task or going directly to the front lines.

"We're here, this is the village!"

Hyuga Hizashi took a look at the village before him, stopped his steps, and walked in with his three subordinates.

"Are you the ninja lords from Konoha? You've finally arrived!"

An old man who looked to be over 50 years old walked out the door. This village is not too far from Konoha, and the old man was clearly accustomed to seeing ninjas; even when he saw Hyuga Hizashi's Byakugan, he showed no panic at all.

"That beast is becoming more and more rampant. Just last night, Jiro, who was hiding in his house, was also devoured by that monster. We really have no other way, please, ninja lords, hurry and drive that monster away!"

"That monster is actively eating people?! It seems it really cannot be left alive!"

Hyuga Hizashi frowned and spoke.

For animals, chakra has the effect of opening their intelligence. Even if they were originally just ordinary frogs or puppies, after obtaining chakra, they will gradually possess a certain level of intelligence. Some chakra animals even have intelligence far exceeding that of ordinary people, and even those with low intelligence possess the intelligence of an eight or nine-year-old child.

Chakra animals with this kind of intelligence generally do not actively attack humans, but once they start actively attacking humans, it easily becomes a habit, turning them into terrifying fierce beasts.

"It's probably because the two hunters from our village annoyed it last time! Before, it only dealt with some livestock, but now it has started eating people!"

"By the way, Village Chief, you keep saying 'monster, monster,' what kind of animal is this monster you speak of?"

Facing Asuma's question, a look of distress immediately appeared on the village chief's face:

"This... come to think of it, I really don't know. The monster's claw prints look like some kind of lizard, and it is nocturnal; those who have seen its true form are already dead."

"The most important thing is that, apart from the crime scenes where claw prints are left, there are no claw prints to be seen anywhere else; we simply cannot find its tracks!"

"It seems it's not an ordinary chakra animal, but finding people is my specialty, so leave this guy to me!"

Hyuga Hizashi said, possessing the Byakugan, he is just that confident!

However, an hour later, Hyuga Hizashi felt he had been slapped in the face.

He had already checked several places where crimes had occurred, whether it was the cowshed, the sheep pen, the places where the two hunters were killed, or the room where the villager named Jiro was eaten; he had searched them all, but found nothing.

Aside from the lizard claw marks left at the crime scenes, there were neither claw marks of the opponent arriving nor claw marks of the opponent leaving; the opponent seemed to appear out of thin air, which was baffling.

Hyuga Hizashi also used the power of the Byakugan to circle the forest near the village several times, but apart from some ordinary wild beasts, he did not find any ferocious beasts possessing chakra.

"Teacher, where exactly is that monster? Can't even your Byakugan find it?"

Facing Asuma's question, Hyuga Hizashi was also a bit depressed and shook his head helplessly.

"Uh... it is indeed quite strange..."

"If it didn't leave any traces on the ground, could it be some kind of flying animal?"

Kurenai asked with a frown, and Hyuga Hizashi immediately shook his head:

"One can tell the size of the animal from the claw prints. If it were a flying creature, it would definitely leave traces in the forest and the rooms; at the very least, there would certainly be holes in the roofs!"

"Then what exactly is going on?? It couldn't be that this animal possesses Space-Time Ninjutsu, could it?"

(End of this chapter)