Leaving the Village

Bandit-suppression missions were issued only after local villagers had suffered attacks. Once accepted, they generally required immediate departure.

Orochimaru led the three members of Team 3 toward the location stated in the mission to meet the client.

The meeting point was not far from the Mission Office, and the four soon arrived.

The person responsible for meeting them was a young farmer in his twenties or thirties. When he saw Orochimaru arrive with three children, he had initially wanted to complain, but the words died in his throat the moment he saw Orochimaru. That cold, sinister aura, combined with his snake-like vertical pupils, was intimidating enough that an ordinary farmer like him could not withstand it. Even though Orochimaru had reined in his presence because the man was an ordinary civilian, his appearance was still rather frightening.

"Are you the one who issued the mission? Could you explain the details?"

When the other man remained silent, Orochimaru frowned and broke the silence first, asking about the mission details.

The young farmer had yet to recover and stood there blankly without speaking.

"Don't worry. These three ninjas may look young, but they are genuine, qualified ninjas and more than capable of completing your mission. Besides, Lord Orochimaru is here. He is a Jonin. Being able to hire a Jonin for a C-rank Mission is already a bargain."

Seeing this, the ninja who had been handling the reception explained things to the young man.

The young farmer also realized that he had not been unlucky this time; on the contrary, he had struck it big. A C-rank Mission had a Jonin accompanying it. At the same time, he grew even more afraid of Orochimaru. Orochimaru's temperament was simply the quintessential great villain's demeanor. Any ordinary person would likely have reacted the same way.

After cautiously glancing at Orochimaru, the young farmer stammered out the details of the mission.

"I am a villager from Ryūgetsu Village. Recently, a group of bandits appeared on Green Mountain near our village. Every few days, they come to ravage our village, so the village sent me here. Also, based on what we overheard from the bandits' conversations, their leader is very strong and seems to be a Samurai."

"Hm. If he is a Samurai who has fallen this low, then he is probably not very strong. At most, he should have combat strength around that of a Genin."

Uchiha Kiyoshi made his judgment based on the man's words, and Orochimaru nodded as well. Orochimaru had remained silent earlier because he wanted the three of them to make their own assessment. He also hoped they would complete this mission themselves. Orochimaru was merely there as insurance against any unforeseen circumstances.

"About how many bandits are there? Have you counted them? Aside from their leader, are there any other strong fighters among them? What do they usually do? Is there anything unusual about them?"

"No, no. How would we dare count something like that? Sending me to issue the mission was already risky enough. As for strong fighters, we are just ordinary people, so we cannot judge their exact strength. But I think I heard that they have some Third King and Fourth King. They should be brothers of the bandit leader, so I imagine their fighting ability is not low either.

"As for anything unusual...

"Oh, there is one thing, though I do not know whether it counts. None of their leaders have ever appeared before us. We only learned about them from the bandits' conversations."

Uchiha Kiyoshi could not glean any useful information from what the young farmer had said. Then again, he was only a farmer, not a ninja. He was not professionally trained in gathering intelligence like they were. It seemed they would have to investigate further once they arrived.

"Alright, we know the basics now. You seem to be in a hurry, so let's set off immediately."

Seeing how anxious the man had been all along, Uchiha Kiyoshi decided to leave sooner. In any case, everything that needed preparing had already been prepared.

The young man was overjoyed and hurriedly thanked them. He knew that although he was the one issuing the mission, he could not force the ninjas to move any faster. It seemed he had encountered some easygoing people.

With one more person, the group of five set off at once.

After registering at Konoha's entrance, they left Konoha.

The three members of Team 3 were all excited to finally leave Konoha. Other than Uchiha Kiyoshi, who remained relatively composed, even Sarutobi Saku was much like Nawaki, looking around everywhere. The young farmer could not help but wonder whether they were really reliable.

However, after looking at Orochimaru walking at the back, the young farmer relaxed. With him around, there should be no problems.

"Kiyoshi, the outside world does not seem any different. It looks about the same as the village."

After marveling at it for quite some time, Nawaki discovered that the outside was not much different from the village and became dejected.

"How could there be as many differences as you imagined? Besides, we are just traveling along the road. What could possibly be special about that? When we visit other countries or particularly unique towns in the future, then it will be interesting."

"Huh? Kiyoshi, how do you know so much? I remember that you have never left the village either. Why do you sound as if you have been everywhere?"

Pushing away Nawaki, who was staring at him wide-eyed in fascination, Uchiha Kiyoshi began explaining.

"I have not been there, but books contain all that information. Books have descriptions of most of the special places in this Ninja World."

At the mention of books, Nawaki immediately lost interest. He hated that stuff most of all. He even believed that if he did not get away from Uchiha Kiyoshi quickly, Kiyoshi would start recommending books to him.

Ryūgetsu Village was not very far from Konoha, which was why they dared send someone to Konoha to issue the mission. Otherwise, the journey alone would have taken a long time, greatly increasing the chance of accidents. What was going on with these bandits? They had actually settled down only a day's journey from Konoha. Were they out of their minds?

This was something Uchiha Kiyoshi could not figure out. A day's journey at an ordinary person's pace was only about a hundred kilometers. If they traveled at full speed, they could reach it in around five hours.

Forget it. No matter what, they definitely are not ninjas. Otherwise, they could not have gone this long without using Ninjutsu, and being this close to Konoha, the village would certainly have detected traces of Ninjutsu.

No longer dwelling on it, Uchiha Kiyoshi came back to his senses. As they hurried toward Ryūgetsu Village, he kept watch over their surroundings to prevent an ambush.

Although they were close to Konoha, there was no guarantee that some fool would not attack them here. Since even bandits had appeared so near Konoha, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not dare overestimate certain people's intelligence.

If his carelessness caused Orochimaru to step in before the three of them even reached the mission site, that would be bad. Uchiha Kiyoshi did not dare imagine what kind of treatment they would receive upon returning to the village.

However, the facts proved that Green Mountain Bandits were an isolated case of idiocy. The area around Konoha was still very safe, and nothing unexpected happened along the way. The five of them arrived smoothly at Ryūgetsu Village.

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