Encounter with the Sand Shinobi

"B-rank missions don't seem all that interesting! Those Kusagakure ninja saw us and immediately backed off. Aren't they being a little too cowardly?"

Hizashi Hyuga had led the three of them on an escort mission. Yet although they encountered Kusagakure ninja along the way, the other side had wisely yielded and left.

As a result, Asuma had lost the excitement he felt when they first took the mission. He instead looked rather bored as he walked beside the carriage and spoke to Kurenai.

"What did you expect? A B-rank mission is one where you might end up fighting ninja, but ninja aren't idiots either. If they see that their opponents are too strong, they'll usually just give up on the mission!"

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

"That's right. Generally speaking, even when ninja are carrying out opposing missions, it rarely develops into a fight to the death. They'll first assess both sides' Battle Power before deciding whether to continue the mission."

"Starting from B-rank missions, ninja frequently find themselves in hostile situations. If every B-rank mission required a fight to the death, then even if the ninja of the Five Great Ninja Villages multiplied several times over, they'd still be worn out through missions."

Hizashi Hyuga spoke calmly. In truth, this was the normal state of affairs for most ninja carrying out missions.

Had it been another ninja squad, the Kusagakure ninja might have tested them out. But after seeing Hizashi Hyuga's Byakugan and recognizing the Hyuga Clan, a renowned ninja clan of Konoha, a minor ninja village like Kusagakure had not even considered testing them. They simply gave up the mission.

In terms of raw Battle Power, the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan was far inferior to the Uchiha's Sharingan. But in terms of awakening rate, it utterly crushed the Uchiha. Nearly every Hyuga Clan ninja could activate the Byakugan directly.

Though their upper limit could not match the Uchiha, the lower limit of Hyuga Clan ninja was also the highest among all ninja clans—adult Hyuga Clan ninja were, at the very least, elites among Chunin. This was an accomplishment no ninja clan in the entire Shinobi World could match.

Hizashi Hyuga had encountered opponents fleeing at the first sign of trouble countless times during missions, so naturally, he was not as surprised as his students.

After safely completing the escort mission, they returned to Konoha much more quickly. Without ordinary people slowing them down, a journey that originally took nearly three days was merely two hours of running for ninja.

Over the following days, the group began taking B-rank missions again.

Most B-rank missions were escort missions within the Land of Fire. The war had only just begun, and the interior of the Land of Fire was still relatively safe. Coupled with Hizashi Hyuga's conspicuous Byakugan leading the way, the other side chose to yield in the vast majority of B-rank missions.

But after completing enough missions, they were bound to encounter unexpected circumstances—or rather, while most B-rank missions did not ultimately develop into battles, around twenty percent still ended with both sides fighting it out.

Clearly, Team 1 had finally encountered an opponent they needed to fight.

"This is already our sixth B-rank mission. It won't be like last time again, will it? All the opponents we meet won't politely back down, right?"

Asuma had a stalk of straw between his teeth, looking like youthful energy was bursting out of him with nowhere to go. He seemed to wish that an enemy Jonin would leap out of the grass so they could have a proper fight.

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

Kurenai watched the surroundings vigilantly and said,

"This time, we're carrying out a battlefield mission. The chances of encountering an opponent are much lower than in the previous missions, but if we do encounter one, they definitely won't back down!"

That was right. The three-person squad was now carrying out a battlefield mission, escorting a batch of scrolls to the Battlefield Hospital at the front.

The Battlefield Hospital was still some distance from the front lines, but it could no longer be considered safe. Moreover, infiltration warfare and guerrilla warfare were what ninja excelled at most, so it was perfectly normal to encounter ninja who had infiltrated behind the lines at any time.

Of course, Team 1 was not the only squad dispatched to the Battlefield Hospital. Konoha would divide the medical supplies among seven or eight squads and have them carry out the mission simultaneously, allowing for the loss of roughly two squads. This was a margin that had been calculated from the very beginning.

The benefit of doing so was that, as long as their luck was not atrociously bad, the front lines would receive the medical supplies of at least five or six squads, and the logistics supply line would not be cut off.

In other words, each of these squads had roughly a one-in-five or one-in-six chance of encountering enemies. It just depended on whose luck was worse.

"Stop! Something's ahead! A small ninja squad is lying in ambush up ahead."

Hizashi Hyuga, who used his Byakugan to scan the surroundings at regular intervals, suddenly stopped. With a wave of his hand, he halted the three subordinates behind him.

"Did you find enemies? Which ninja village are they from?"

Asuma and Kurenai, who had been chatting moments ago, froze in place. Excitement and nervousness appeared on their faces as they drew a trench knife and kunai from their ninja tool pouches.

However, the fastest to react was not the two of them but Uchiha Feiyu, who had been standing beside them all along. He set down the scroll on his back. Lightning flickered around him, and in an instant, he charged out.

"They should be Sand Shinobi... Wait... He's so fast. His speed has improved again!"

Uchiha Feiyu was too fast for Hizashi Hyuga to stop, leaving him with only a cry of amazement.

Hatake Sakumo's soul had long possessed him. After nearly half a year of training, Uchiha Feiyu's foundation had increased greatly. Hatake Sakumo could now wield seventy to eighty percent of his strength at his peak, making him a genuine Quasi-Kage Level powerhouse.

The terms Quasi-Kage Level and even Kage-level were not standard classifications. A Kage-level powerhouse was someone who was one of the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages or possessed the strength to contend for the position of Kage. Quasi-Kage Level referred to ninja who could contend with Kage-level powerhouses for a period of time.

In theory, most ninja who had made a name for themselves in the Shinobi World could be called Quasi-Kage Level ninja. With such strength, against ordinary Jonin, they might not be slicing through them like vegetables, but they could still crush them with ease.

Unless the Sand Shinobi on the other side were Fourth Kazekage Rasa, or the puppet master Chiyo had come personally, Uchiha Feiyu did not feel there was anything to fear.

It was obvious that the Fourth Kazekage and Elder Chiyo would not personally lower themselves to carry out such a minor mission. At most, the opposing ninja would be an Elite Jonin leading a few Chunin. How could they possibly be his match?

The Sand Shinobi squad hidden ahead had not initially discovered Konoha's ninja. They had merely set ambushes along several routes Konoha ninja were most likely to take.

But when Uchiha Feiyu came charging straight at them with lightning flashing around his body, they immediately reacted.