Chapter 29: Encountering Sand Ninja

"A B-Rank Task doesn't seem all that interesting! Those ninjas from the Grass Ninja Village retreated the moment they saw us; aren't they just a bit too cowardly?"

Hyuga Hizashi had taken a mission to escort a group of three, yet although they encountered ninjas from the Grass Ninja Village during the escort, the other party had been very sensible and retreated.

Because of this, Asuma had lost the excitement he felt when they first received the mission and instead seemed a bit bored, following near the carriage as he spoke to Kurenai.

"What did you expect? A so-called B-Rank Mission is one where it's possible to engage in combat with other ninjas, but in reality, ninjas aren't fools. Generally, if they see their opponents are too strong, they will definitely abandon the mission immediately!"

Uchiha Feiyu, standing beside Asuma, rolled his eyes and spoke up.

"That's right. Generally speaking, even when ninjas are executing opposing missions, it rarely develops into a life-or-death struggle. Instead, they will first weigh the Power Level of both sides before deciding whether to continue the mission."

"Starting from B-Rank Missions, ninjas often encounter hostile situations. If every B-Rank Mission required a life-or-death struggle, then even if the number of ninjas in the Five Great Shinobi Villages were multiplied several times over, they would all be wiped out in missions."

Hyuga Hizashi spoke with a calm expression; in fact, this was the norm for most ninjas executing missions.

If it had been any other ninja squad, the Grass Ninja might have tested them, but after seeing Hyuga Hizashi's Byakugan and facing the Hyuga Clan, a famous ninja family of Konoha, a small ninja village like the Grass Ninja Village didn't even have the intention to test them and abandoned the mission directly.

The Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan is far inferior to the Sharingan of the Uchiha in terms of pure Power Level, but it completely crushes the Uchiha in terms of the awakening rate; basically, all ninjas of the Hyuga Clan can open the Byakugan directly.

Although it cannot compare to the Uchiha in terms of its upper limit, the lower limit of the Hyuga Clan's ninjas is the highest among all ninja families—an adult ninja of the Hyuga Clan is at least an Elite Chunin, an achievement that no other ninja family in the entire Ninja World can reach.

Hyuga Hizashi had encountered such situations where opponents fled at the sight of them countless times while executing missions, so naturally, he would not be as surprised as his few students.

Having completed the escort mission safely, the return to Konoha was much faster. Without the burden of ordinary people, the journey that originally took nearly three days was, for ninjas, merely two hours of running.

In the days that followed, the group began executing B-Rank Missions again.

Most B-Rank Missions belonged to escort missions within the Land of Fire. Now that the war had just begun, the interior of the Land of Fire was still relatively safe, and with Hyuga Hizashi's pair of Byakugan shining brightly at the front, the other party chose to retreat in the vast majority of B-Rank Missions.

But as more missions were executed, accidents would eventually occur—or rather, although most B-Rank Missions would not ultimately develop into combat, there were still about twenty percent of B-Rank Missions that ended with a major battle between the two sides.

Clearly, the First Squad had finally encountered opponents that required a major battle.

"This is already the...?"

Asuma had a straw in his mouth, looking like he had nowhere to vent his youth and vitality, as if he wished a hostile Jonin would jump out of the grass for a great battle.

"Be careful, Asuma, this time is different."

Kurenai looked around vigilantly and said:

"This time, we are executing a battlefield mission. Although the possibility of encountering opponents is much smaller than the previous few missions, once we do encounter them, the other party will absolutely not retreat!"

Yes, the current three-person squad was executing a battlefield mission, escorting a portion of Scrolls to the battlefield hospital ahead.

The battlefield hospital was still some distance from the front line, but it could no longer be called a safe place. Plus, since ninjas are most skilled at infiltration and guerrilla warfare, it was normal to encounter ninjas who had infiltrated the rear at any time.

Of course, the First Squad was not the only squad sent to the battlefield hospital. In reality, Konoha would distribute medical supplies to seven or eight squads to execute the mission simultaneously and allowed for a loss rate of about two squads; this was a margin of safety calculated from the start.

The benefit of doing this was that as long as their luck wasn't so bad that it angered both heaven and men, the front line would at least be able to receive medical supplies from five or six squads, and logistics would not be cut off.

In other words, the possibility of these squads encountering enemies was about 1/5 or 1/6, depending on whose luck was bad.

"Stop! There is a situation ahead! A small squad of ninjas is ambushing in front."

Hyuga Hizashi, who would glance at the surroundings with his Byakugan every so often, suddenly stopped his footsteps, waved his hand, and blocked the three subordinates behind him.

"Did you find the enemy? Which ninja village are they from?"

Asuma and Kurenai, who had just been chatting, froze their steps, expressions of both excitement and nervousness appearing on their faces as they drew their fist blades and Kunai from their ninja tool pouches.

However, the one with the fastest reaction speed was not the two of them, but Uchiha Feiyu, who had been standing beside them. He put down the Scroll on his back, lightning flickered on his body, and he rushed out in an instant.

"It should be Sand Ninja... wait... so fast, this guy's speed has improved again!"

Uchiha Feiyu's speed was too fast; Hyuga Hizashi could not stop him in time, leaving only a sigh of exclamation.

Hatake Sakumo's Soul had long since completed Possession. After half a year of cultivation, Uchiha Feiyu's foundation had greatly increased. Nowadays, Hatake Sakumo could already exert seventy to eighty percent of his peak strength, making him a solid Quasi-Kage level powerhouse.

The so-called Quasi-Kage or even Shadow-level are not standard terms. The standard for a Shadow-level powerhouse is the Shadow of the Five Great Shinobi Villages or a ninja with the strength to compete for the position of Shadow; Quasi-Kage level is a ninja who can contend with a Shadow-level powerhouse for a period of time.

Theoretically, most ninjas who have made a name for themselves in the Ninja World can be called Quasi-Kage level ninjas. Facing ordinary Jonin with this kind of strength, it is not to say it's like cutting melons and vegetables, but they can easily crush them.

Unless the opposing Sand Ninja was the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, or the Puppet Master Chiyo had arrived in person, Uchiha Feiyu did not feel he needed to fear anything.

One could imagine that the Fourth Kazekage and that Elder Chiyo could not possibly lower themselves to come and carry out such a small mission. The opposing ninjas were at most an Elite Jonin leading a few Chunin; how could they possibly be his match?

The Sand Ninja squad hiding in front had not discovered the Konoha ninjas at first; they were merely ambushing on a few paths that Konoha was most likely to travel.

However, when Uchiha Feiyu came charging over with lightning flashing on his body, this group reacted immediately.

(End of this chapter)