Chapter 198: One Huge Bird

Chuanbei Town was at the foot of a small mountain, much as Mu Yue had imagined—remote and poor. The houses where most people lived here and those in the main city of Konoha didn't even seem to belong to the same era.

"Actually, the scenery is pretty nice." Obito went to the rooftop, placed his hand horizontally over his forehead to look around, and said.

"Esteemed ninja-sama, Dahei usually stays at the highest part of the mountain. If possible, please do your best not to kill it—just drive it far away." Bin Jilang said with a pleading expression.

Bin Jilang's words immediately soured Obito's mood, which had been lifted by the nice scenery.

Just thinking about having to help that despicable town chief made Obito extremely irritated.

"I understand. But that giant eagle is a bird after all, with the ability to fly. We'll need some more time to prepare. We'll notify you when it's done." Mu Yue nodded and replied.

After saying this, Mu Yue led his disciples away from Bin Jilang's house.

"Mu Yue-sensei, we're not really going to help that town chief, are we?" Obito couldn't help asking when he saw Mu Yue leading them toward the mountaintop.

"Otherwise what? A ninja who doesn't complete a mission is nothing." Kakashi answered first.

Although he also felt annoyed at that so-called town chief, he would still choose to drive away the giant eagle and complete the mission.

"Let's properly investigate first and see what the real situation is. Don't believe everything others say." Mu Yue shook his head and said.

Enthusiasm is fine, but you can't blindly follow one person's words. If the giant eagle really is harassing the residents and the town chief isn't a bad person, then acting blindly would be doing good with bad results.

"Kakashi, you narcissist, I wasn't asking you." Seeing that Mu Yue hadn't said they would help the town chief, Obito was a bit happy and took the chance to jab at Kakashi.

Relying on the powerful vision of the Byakugan and the great mobility of a ninja, Mu Yue quickly found the giant eagle described in the mission.

Perhaps because of its enormous size, this giant eagle did not build its nest in a tree or on a cliff like ordinary eagles, but lived in a cave.

Mu Yue roughly estimated the giant eagle's height and wingspan, feeling that the eagle's body length should be about four meters, and its wingspan might exceed ten meters.

After seeing the black eagle itself, Mu Yue was certain that this black eagle was a chakra beast; an ordinary eagle could never grow to such a size.

"Dahei! Dahei!"

Obito and the others didn't have the super vision and x-ray sight of Mu Yue's Byakugan; they hadn't located the giant eagle yet. Obito even tried calling out its name to make the black eagle come out.

Although they were his disciples, the matter of the Byakugan could not be revealed yet, so Mu Yue didn't say it directly. Instead, he led his disciples to keep searching, gradually approaching the cave where the giant eagle was.

At that moment, a sudden, piercingly sharp eagle cry rang out.

Then a black figure flashed by, and a giant black eagle appeared at the mouth of the cave, staring intently at Mu Yue and the others with sharp eyes.

"What a huge bird!" Obito said, his eyes wide with surprise.

Looking at the giant eagle described in the mission and actually seeing a giant eagle several meters tall in reality were completely different feelings.

Kakashi's muscles tensed; he had already quietly reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out two kunai.

Unlike Obito, the first thing Kakashi felt when he saw the giant eagle was that its pair of sharp talons could directly grab and kill a person.

"It really is huge." Might Guy fell into thought—if they fought this giant bird, what would they do if it just flew up into the sky?

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The giant eagle suddenly spread its huge black wings, then let out a terrifying shriek while flapping them. The large wings generated a strong wind, causing the grass, leaves, and mud on the ground to swirl in the air.

Kakashi thought the giant eagle was about to attack and immediately prepared to throw the sharp kunai in his hand.

Mu Yue pressed down the hand with which Kakashi was about to throw a kunai.

Kakashi looked at Mu Yue with a puzzled expression. Although they had promised the client not to kill the giant eagle, given the eagle's size, if they didn't attack vital areas, they wouldn't be able to cause much harm.

"Don't rush to act—look over there." Mu Yue shook his head and pointed at the scorched black wound on the giant eagle's right wing.

Because the giant eagle's feathers were originally black and its body was large, Kakashi hadn't noticed this at first glance.

"This injury—are there other ninja in the village?" Kakashi speculated while cautiously staring at the giant eagle.

Having mastered Lightning Release techniques, he could tell at a glance that the wound on the eagle's wing was caused by Lightning Release.

"Could it be that the town chief hired other ninja to take revenge on Dahei?" Obito thought for a moment and guessed.

At this point, Mu Yue could roughly confirm that the giant eagle's temperament was fairly mild; even when injured and seeing strangers, it only threatened and did not directly attack.

Mu Yue stepped forward with a smile. The giant eagle, startled by Mu Yue's action, flapped its wings rapidly again.

"Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you—I just want to help treat you." Mu Yue continued walking forward fearlessly and said. If it was a chakra beast, it might understand what he said.

The huge black eagle either didn't understand or didn't believe Mu Yue's words. Seeing Mu Yue ignore the warning and continue walking toward it, it swung its left massive wing at Mu Yue.

Whoosh!

Mu Yue disappeared from the eagle's sight. Just as the eagle wondered where the small person had gone, it suddenly felt a heavy blow to its head, became dizzy and disoriented, and collapsed directly onto the ground.

"So when Teacher Mu Yue knocks on me, it's already relatively gentle," Obito said, seeing Mu Yue knock the huge eagle down with just two fingers pressed together. He subconsciously touched his own forehead, which was often knocked.

To make the unruly huge eagle more obedient, Mu Yue reached out his hand and used the Mystical Palm Technique on the eagle's injured area.

A greenish healing light enveloped the eagle's wound, and the injury on the eagle's body quickly healed.

"Coo~" With the sudden disappearance of pain in its body, the eagle couldn't help letting out a comfortable cry.

Although it didn't know what had happened, the eagle understood one thing: this strange small person in front of it was not to be trifled with, and meant it no harm.

The eagle folded its wings and lowered its head to nuzzle Mu Yue as a sign of friendliness.

Obito looked at the thick fur on the eagle's big head, thinking it must feel very nice to touch, so he walked over to Mu Yue's side wanting to pet the eagle's big head.

When Obito reached out his hand, the eagle quickly dodged away, staring at Obito with a vigilant expression.

"Don't worry, they are all my students. They won't hurt you," Mu Yue said.

Next, Mu Yue and his students set up tents nearby.

Although there were houses at the foot of the mountain, in order to build a bond with his future summon beast, Mu Yue chose to stay on the mountain.

At lunchtime, whether out of gratitude or not, the eagle caught an injured wild boar and placed it near Mu Yue's tent.

Mu Yue didn't stand on ceremony; he directly killed the wild boar and made it into roasted meat.

After repaying Mu Yue's kindness, the eagle returned to its cave to rest, but was soon attracted by an aroma it had never smelled before.

The eagle quickly left the cave, located the source based on the aroma, and swiftly arrived at the spot where Mu Yue and the others were eating.

Smelling the tempting aroma it had never experienced before, the eagle stared longingly at the boar on the grill, not daring to make any sudden moves.

It really wanted to eat, but that small person had healed it and was also not to be messed with.

"No way, do eagles also like roasted meat?" Obito couldn't help commenting as he watched the eagle staring intently at the roasted boar.

"As expected, the chef skill is really powerful." Mu Yue felt this life skill was practically a god-level tool for building goodwill, as even a ninja beast couldn't resist temptation.

The eagle stood in front of the roasted meat, thinking for a few minutes, then suddenly flew away. After a while, the eagle returned carrying various prey and piled them next to Mu Yue.

"Coo coo~" The eagle made a gentle sound, pointed its wing at the prey, then at the roasted boar, looked at Mu Yue with excited eyes, and lowered its head to nuzzle him.

Mu Yue used a kunai to cut off two-thirds of the roasted boar and gave it to the eagle, smiling:

"I can't give it all to you. My students and I also need to eat."

Finally able to eat this tempting food, the eagle didn't even care about Obito, who took the opportunity to pet its head, and immediately wolfed it down.

After taking a bite, a flash of light gleamed in the eagle's eyes. It hadn't expected this thing to smell good and taste even better. It had never eaten anything so delicious.

"Wow, Teacher Mu Yue, Big Black really likes your roasted meat!" Obito, having successfully touched the eagle's soft fur, said excitedly.

Obito felt he had learned something new — so birds also like roasted meat.

Mu Yue smiled and said nothing. He felt that he didn't even need to do much; maybe after a few more days, this huge black eagle would not be able to resist following him.

"After eating, let's scout Chuanbei Town. Be careful; there might be enemy ninja around here," Mu Yue said, turning to business.

The Cloud Village and Sand Village were at war. As a country bordering the Wind Country, it was normal for the River Country to have Cloud ninja. Moreover, the eagle had a Lightning Release injury, so it was very likely that a Cloud ninja had injured the eagle.

However, Mu Yue speculated that the opponent's strength wouldn't be high; if it were a powerful ninja, even though the eagle could fly, it would have been difficult to escape.

Kakashi didn't know what to say. Obito's jinx had come true again — another unexpected encounter with ninja.

Before joining Mu Yue's squad, he had done so many C-rank missions without encountering any ninja. But after coming to Mu Yue's team, he had done only two C-rank missions, and both had gone wrong.