Chapter 20: Mito Uzumaki Has a Dream of Being a Swordswoman

The fact that the system's activation speed was linked to his own strength gave Uchiha Gin the motivation to move forward.

It seems the reason the system was able to fully load the mission involving Senju Itama was entirely thanks to the single-tomoe Sharingan he accidentally activated within the Tsukuyomi last night.

The awakening of the Sharingan evolved his strength from cannon-fodder genin to an ordinary genin; while still a gap away from the powerful Twelve Genin, he should be able to go toe-to-toe with Hinata.

"Hehehe," Uchiha Gin let out a strange laugh while covering his face with one hand, prompting Senju Itama, who was playing dead behind him, to secretly open one eye.

"What kind of sickness are you having again?"

Seeing Uchiha Gin embody the "Four Laughing Maniacs," Senju Itama couldn't help but complain, only to be met with a flick to the forehead from the other.

With a large bump raised on his head, Senju Itama pouted in grievance, holding back his tears.

Having adjusted his mindset, Uchiha Gin looked at this brat and found he wasn't that annoying after all; he smiled and said something to Senju Itama that made the boy's spine chill:

"Kid, it might not be long before you can reunite with your family."

"Don't you dare!!! I... ah... ah..." Clearly misunderstanding, Senju Itama began his futile barking again.

Given that the noise this guy was making might attract enemies, Uchiha Gin didn't hesitate to pull out an object and stuff it into his mouth.

Sensing the salty, fishy smell of the object in his mouth, Senju Itama took a sniff and immediately fainted on the spot.

"The humidity by the sea is just too high; my feet get sweaty in just one day."

Uchiha Gin retracted his hand with satisfaction, looking at the smelly sock he hadn't washed in days that was now stuffed into Senju Itama's mouth, and analyzed it with a straight face.

"We are about to enter the territory of the Uzumaki clan. Restrain your chakra; don't let them sense us."

The leader, Uchiha Fenghuo, suddenly spoke up to remind them.

"Besides being skilled in sealing jutsu, the Uzumaki clan's sensory abilities are top-tier. We are on a mission, so don't stir up trouble and provoke the Uzumaki clan."

"Is there a possibility that we've already been discovered?" muttered Uchiha Gin, who was at the very back of the team.

"Monitoring that the host has encountered combat; Heartsteel chest accumulating..."

A notification sound rang in his head; enemies had already appeared in the vicinity.

Over ten kilometers away, a red-haired figure opened his eyes, his blood-red pupils revealing a hint of coldness.

"There are five ninjas ahead. Five of them have extremely cold chakra, likely from the Uchiha clan, and there is one whose chakra is full of vitality."

The red-haired, red-eyed man said to the several other red-haired men beside him.

"Are you sure about the one full of vitality?" a burly, red-haired, muscular man asked.

"My Mind's Eye of the Kagura has never been wrong," the red-eyed man replied.

"Then that's them. Let's go!"

The red-haired muscular man waved his hand, and the others shot off like arrows released from a bow, chasing in the direction of Uchiha Gin and his group.

Except for Uchiha Gin, Uchiha Fenghuo and the others, who were still on the move, did not notice the approaching enemies.

Hearing the notification, Uchiha Gin deliberately slowed his pace, gradually trailing far behind the team.

The Uchiha members in the team were already accustomed to Uchiha Gin's habit of lagging behind, so they didn't pay it any mind; he would catch up when they stopped to rest later anyway.

As the Uchiha group traveled through the forest, Uchiha Fenghuo, who was leading the way, suddenly felt a sense of obstruction in his chakra flow.

Before he could think it through, a sense of crisis welled up; years of assassination experience made him stop in his tracks immediately.

"Ambush!"

Uchiha Fenghuo activated his three-tomoe Sharingan and scanned his surroundings vigilantly; Uchiha Liangyi and the other two behind him didn't dare to be careless and immediately activated their own Sharingan as well.

Just then, several red-haired men flashed out from the woods. The leader was the red-haired muscular man from before. He scrutinized Uchiha Fenghuo and the others, looking somewhat stunned to see only four of them.

"As expected of the Uchiha clan, to be able to detect the sealing formation we set up."

The red-haired muscular man crossed his arms and said with a serious air.

Uchiha Fenghuo did not feel honored by the praise; after sizing up the red-haired muscular man, he said,

"Our Uchiha clan has never had any conflict with the Uzumaki clan. Why are you all ambushing us for no reason?"

"There should be six of you. Where did the other two go?"

The red-haired muscular man didn't speak; a red-haired, red-eyed man beside him asked in return.

Hearing this, Uchiha Fenghuo's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself,

"It seems they are targeting that brat from the Senju clan."

He then cast a subtle glance behind him and, finding that Uchiha Gin hadn't caught up yet, felt anxious: "I hope this kid doesn't come over."

"I don't know what you're talking about. We are just a four-man squad on a routine mission."

Uchiha Fenghuo said this while one of his hands behind his back signaled the other three.

"A routine squad? Does a routine squad need the famous 'God-Hidden Fenghuo' to lead it? What kind of mission is it exactly?"

The red-haired muscular man across from them exposed Uchiha Fenghuo's identity and asked point-blank.

"Attack!"

Seeing that his identity had been exposed, the group, having just received the information via signals, erupted into action simultaneously. Each of them opened their scarlet Sharingan and charged at the Uzumaki clan members; the battle was on the verge of breaking out.

In the rear, Uchiha Gin, who had been lagging behind for ages, also encountered his own "enemy." Seeing the red-haired figure suddenly emerge from the woods ahead, the notification sound in Uchiha Gin's mind rang out once more.

"Monitoring that the host has encountered combat; Heartsteel chest accumulating..."

【Are you really not going to give me a chance to go on a losing streak?】

Mito Uzumaki, the youngest daughter of the Uzumaki clan leader, Ashina Uzumaki, had shown high talent for sealing jutsu since childhood. As a daughter born in his middle age, she was considered the apple of Ashina Uzumaki's eye and had been pampered since she was little.

However, the spoiled Mito Uzumaki was extremely furious when she learned that her father had betrothed her to the Senju clan, who were far away.

In a fit of anger, she took several of her father's treasures and snuck onto a cargo ship leaving the Land of Whirlpools, beginning her journey of escaping marriage.

"From today on, I will be a chivalrous swordswoman who upholds justice!"

After listening to a storyteller from the Land of Iron tell a few tales of chivalrous wanderers on the ship, the simple and passionate ten-year-old girl began her journey as a swordswoman.

First, she used taijutsu at the docks to beat up a group of ruffians who were bullying the commoners, drawing cheers from the onlookers, which greatly satisfied Mito Uzumaki, who was living out her "swordswoman dream."

Then, she used sealing jutsu to deal with several rogue ninjas who were using ninjutsu to bully innocent women, sealing their chakra before throwing them all into the mountains to mine and reform themselves.

After several such operations, she gained quite a reputation, and the name of the "Red-Haired Swordswoman" spread far and wide.

"Another peaceful day!"

The bun-haired girl with a round face ate a candy given to her by an old lady on the street, patrolling the small town under her protection with a look of satisfaction.

Calling it a small town was a stretch; it was actually just a small fishing village near the coastline. The place, which had been somewhat chaotic, had become peaceful and stable after the girl's intervention.

"I remember the storyteller said that a chivalrous person should pursue wandering the ends of the earth and making the world their home."

Touching her little head, Mito Uzumaki decided to bid farewell to her "starter village" and head toward a higher and further world.

"There are still many people in need of help waiting for me to save them!"

Clenching her fair, tender little fist, Mito Uzumaki cheered herself on.

Having made up her mind, Mito Uzumaki said goodbye to the elders and villagers of the small fishing village. Although they were reluctant to see her go, they waved her off, and before she left, they even prepared a large bundle of snacks and dry rations for her.

Heading into the jungle deep within the coastline, Mito Uzumaki, who was snacking non-stop along the way, suddenly saw a man with black curly hair carrying a child on his back.

She discovered that the man not only tied the child on his back but also gave the child a flick to the forehead, and even more outrageously, he pulled out a smelly sock and stuffed it into the child's mouth.

"This must be the legendary human trafficker! But aren't the human traffickers my brother talked about the kind of big, burly men in the north?" A puzzled Mito Uzumaki secretly followed him.

Having followed him the whole way, Mito Uzumaki saw the black-curly-haired man slow his pace, so she snuck over, preparing to give the other party a flashy entrance and give this evil human trafficker a big surprise.

So the next scene was:

A red-haired, bun-haired girl carrying a large bundle, her cheeks stuffed full.

She held a half-eaten piece of dried salted fish in her left hand and half a sesame flatbread in her right. Because her mouth was stuffed with food, her speech was unclear:

"Kew-ool-oo-tuh-in-fan-zuh, fan-shuh-lah-gwo-lan-hai! (You evil human trafficker, put down that boy!) (`^)"

(End of chapter)