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Chapter 125: Kurama Yakumo in Shock, A World of Differences
🕑 Added 2024-12-15 10:33:05 +0000 UTCThe ninja world was at peace, but that only applied to the five great ninja villages.
In the eyes of the smaller countries, there was no such thing as a peaceful era—war could break out at any moment.
Although the five great ninja villages viewed the wars in these small countries as child's play, for the small nations, war was a matter of life and death.
Losing a war could mean being annexed by a neighboring country.
As a result, the small countries near the five great nations would often commission help from these large villages, and the great ninja villages were more than happy to accept.
Any commission involving a national-level issue started at an A-rank level, with the highest being super S-rank.
The reward for an A-rank mission typically ranged from 150,000 to 1,000,000 ryō, while S-rank missions started at 1,000,000 ryō.
Such money was incredibly easy to earn!
The five great nations allowed smaller countries to exist as buffer zones, using them as battlegrounds to protect their own territories.
It didn't matter which small nation occupied the land, as long as it was there.
S-rank missions could involve anything from participating in wars at another nation's request to assassinating important individuals or transporting classified documents.
The S-rank mission Yagyu had accepted this time was to assassinate a high-ranking official from a small country.
The target wasn't a ninja but a key government figure from another small nation.
After all, not every small country had a ninja village.
Many small countries, like the Land of Demons, still used traditional weapons such as swords and bows, or heavy cannons, which were far less efficient than explosive tags.
Moreover, these two small countries were located on an island, the nearest mainland being the territory of the Land of Lightning.
Several days later.
After sailing to the island and secretly meeting with the client to gather more detailed information about the target, Yagyu led Kurenai and the others to a location ten kilometers away from the target.
"There are eight bodyguards inside the residence, eighty-seven samurai outside, and thirty-five archers," Hinata reported as she activated her Byakugan.
After three years, Hinata's range of vision had exceeded one kilometer, and ten kilometers was no longer her limit.
By the time she was nineteen, her vision would cover the entire city of the Otsutsuki clan on the moon.
Her current strength was far beyond what it had been in the original series.
"Any sign of ninja?" Yagyu asked.
"I'm not sure," Hinata replied. "Some of the samurai have chakra, so it's possible they're disguised as ninja."
"Is the target inside?"
"Yes, but we can't rule out the possibility of a decoy."
Yagyu didn't give an immediate order but instead stood with Kurenai, looking at Hinata, Shino, and Kurama Yakumo. "If this were your mission, how would you complete it?"
Hinata and Yakumo exchanged glances but remained silent.
Hinata looked thoughtful, while Yakumo appeared confused.
Having never attended the ninja academy, Yakumo had learned only the basics from Kurenai. She couldn't compare to top students like Hinata and Shino in terms of overall ability.
This was her first time on a high-level mission, and she had no experience. Her initial instinct was to wipe out everyone, but she hesitated, afraid that she was too bloodthirsty to speak her thoughts aloud.
Shino adjusted his glasses and spoke slowly. "If I were acting alone and unsure whether the target is the real one or a decoy, I would spend a significant amount of time observing and gathering information."
"I wouldn't know if the target was a decoy or if it was a ninja using transformation jutsu."
"If it's a trap, killing the target could alert the enemy and make them hide even deeper, potentially putting the client in danger."
"However, with Hinata's Byakugan, we can confirm that there's no one else nearby, and there's no chakra or life signals underground. That rules out the possibility of a trap."
"Since the target is just an ordinary person, disguising their appearance would be simple, so it's highly likely this is a decoy."
"If they've hired a ninja, the real target could either be hiding elsewhere or have swapped identities with one of the others in the group. It's possible that one of the hundred or so people is the real target, even if they appear unimportant."
"Of course, there's also the possibility that the target is confident enough to not fear a ninja's assassination, in which case the real person could be inside."
Shino listed several possibilities, leaving Kurama Yakumo stunned with his knowledge. He then suggested, "My recommendation is to capture everyone and interrogate them one by one."
"If the real target is among them, we can complete the mission, and Yagyu can seal their memories afterward. Alternatively, we could eliminate them all to ensure the client remains safe."
Yakumo was left speechless, feeling the vast difference between herself and others.
No wonder Kurenai-sensei hadn't agreed to let her take the Chunin Exams yet—there was still such a huge gap between her and the more advanced ninjas!
Both she and Shino had thought of killing all the enemies, but while Yakumo had only considered it as a brute-force solution, Shino had taken into account many more details.
Without Hinata's Byakugan, Shino would likely have spent considerable time investigating all possibilities.
This mission was on a completely different level compared to the low-rank missions like escorting clients and fighting roadside enemies.
Even though the target was just an ordinary person, this mission required far more caution and precision than others.
So this was what a high-level mission was like?
After listening to Shino's plan, both Yagyu and Kurenai showed expressions of approval.
Although Shino wasn't the strongest member of Team 8, he was undoubtedly the most versatile, apart from Yagyu.
Shino was one of the top five in strength among the new generation, and his intelligence was second only to Shikamaru Nara. With his micro-bug sensing abilities, he was also the best tracker of the new generation.
An undefeated warrior, with no weaknesses.
"So what's your plan?" Yagyu asked.
In the past two years of working with Hinata and Shino, Yagyu had rarely intervened. He usually let them handle the missions themselves and would only step in if something went wrong.
Given Yagyu's power, even a super S-rank mission posed no difficulty.
This time was no different. Yagyu intended to let Shino and Hinata show Kurama Yakumo what a mission was really like.
Shino adjusted his glasses again and outlined his strategy. "Considering they might have means to contact the outside world, we should use Yakumo's kekkei genkai to pull them all into a genjutsu space. That way, they'll lose all communication with the outside world, and we can capture and interrogate them easily."
"Go ahead, then," Yagyu said to Hinata and Yakumo. "If you don't have any better ideas, follow Shino's plan."
"Yes!" Hinata and Yakumo nodded in agreement.
With a simple two-fingered motion from Yagyu, the three of them vanished into thin air.
Before long, both Yagyu and Kurenai sensed a powerful Yin chakra engulf the target area, much like the shadowy chakra that had once covered the Kurama mansion's art room years ago.
