Green Mountain Bandits (Please Recommend)

Upon arriving at Ryūgetsu Village, Uchiha Kiyoshi and the other three were put up at an inn.

After asking more villagers about the bandits and gaining little information, Uchiha Kiyoshi returned to the inn and called his two teammates out.

"From the villagers' descriptions, the information we have is incomplete. We only know that these bandits arrived here half a month ago. Their leaders rarely showed themselves, but according to the bandits, those leaders seem to be far stronger than ordinary people. I'm guessing they have the strength of veteran Genin. We just don't know why they have kept out of sight.

I'll go to Green Mountain in a while to scout things out and gather intelligence. You two check the surrounding area for anything unusual, especially in the direction these bandits came from. Observe carefully."

After saying that, Uchiha Kiyoshi prepared his ninja tools, packed them all into his Ninja Tool Pouch, and left the inn.

Uchiha Kiyoshi's ninja tools were no longer all standard-issue. Twenty finely crafted kunai had cost him one hundred thousand ryō! Luckily, over the previous three months, he had completed two or three D-rank Missions every day, earning roughly seven or eight thousand from each. After deducting his daily expenses, he had saved around 1.2 to 1.3 million and had finally begun to escape poverty. Otherwise, he might not even have been able to afford those twenty finely crafted kunai.

Besides the finely crafted kunai, Uchiha Kiyoshi had also commissioned a custom kunai specifically for close combat. It was roughly fifty centimeters long, and both its craftsmanship and materials were of a relatively high grade. It had cost a total of two hundred thousand ryō.

Those two items alone had taken a chunk out of Uchiha Kiyoshi's wallet, reducing it to six figures. That was not even counting even more expensive things like Explosive Tags and Soldier Pills. All told, Uchiha Kiyoshi had spent over seven hundred thousand ryō.

The Ninja Tool Pouch was also a fairly good one. It had a spatial Sealing Jutsu formula inside, providing roughly half a cubic meter of space that could store a large number of ninja tools. Compared to storage scrolls, it was much more convenient, since he could take ninja tools directly from the pouch. It also had a fairly long lifespan and would not break for at least a year or two. Its performance was excellent; it was just a little expensive—four hundred thousand ryō. Uchiha Kiyoshi had gritted his teeth and bought it. He could not shortchange himself. Buying better ninja tools was also taking responsibility for his own life.

Just like that, most of Uchiha Kiyoshi's earnings from the past three months had been spent.

Uchiha Kiyoshi could not help sighing. "Ninja really make money fast, but they spend it fast too!"

At that moment, in an open area outside Green Mountain, Uchiha Kiyoshi dragged along a bandit he had knocked unconscious and brought down from the mountain.

He patted the man awake and began using the basic interrogation methods he had learned from textbooks.

Since it was his first attempt, Uchiha Kiyoshi had not quite grasped the proper measure. Yet by sheer coincidence, the results seemed pretty good. After receiving a few punishments, the man spilled everything.

"Looks like I have a talent for interrogation after all. As expected, geniuses are the same everywhere. They're geniuses at everything."

Seemingly hearing Uchiha Kiyoshi's mutter, the bandit looked at him with terror-filled eyes.

"Big brother, are you sure? It's not like I haven't heard of all sorts of interrogation methods, but who does it as ruthlessly as you? If my willpower had been any weaker, I would've passed out long ago."

Uchiha Kiyoshi ignored the captive and sorted through the information he had obtained.

This bandit group had also been formed just a month ago. Its leaders were the Matsuoka Brothers. All four brothers were Samurai with considerable talent and some accomplishments. They had used force to subdue many people, formed this organization, and become its leaders. After establishing the bandit group, the four had come here and rarely showed themselves afterward. Most matters were handled by their underlings. No one knew what the Matsuoka Brothers did every day. They were extremely mysterious and had marked off an area on Green Mountain where no one was allowed to enter or disturb them.

After roughly organizing the information, Uchiha Kiyoshi prepared to return to Ryūgetsu Village and meet up with the other two.

However, seeing the bandit lying on the ground, a trace of struggle flashed through Uchiha Kiyoshi's eyes.

"Kill him. He has plenty of blood on his hands anyway, so it counts as eliminating evil for the people. Besides, we'll be fighting these bandits soon. I need to get used to the feeling of killing someone first. Otherwise, if something really goes wrong then, it'll be over. I should talk to Nawaki and the other one about it when I get back too."

Under the bandit's terrified gaze, Uchiha Kiyoshi pulled out a kunai and plunged it into the man's heart.

Looking at the blood on his hand, Uchiha Kiyoshi forcibly suppressed the nausea in his heart and kept reassuring himself.

"They're nothing but murderers, arsonists, and looters. It's nothing to kill them. Calm down, calm down. Hoo..."

Forcing himself to calm down, Uchiha Kiyoshi took one last deep breath. Supporting his somewhat weak body, he erased the traces and returned to Ryūgetsu Village.

Throughout the entire process, Uchiha Kiyoshi had no idea that Orochimaru had been watching from the shadows. Of course, even if Uchiha Kiyoshi had known, he would not have been surprised. This was normal procedure, after all. Many teams were treated this way on their first mission.

The one secretly keeping watch was Orochimaru's Shadow Clone. The same was true for Nawaki's side. Orochimaru had not yet gone through the meat-grinder-like wars, so he was relatively less indifferent toward life. He still cared about his students' lives.

Orochimaru was also quite satisfied with Uchiha Kiyoshi's actions. Though some of his methods were a little unpracticed, the process had been correct, and he had been able to harden his heart. Being able to endure his first killing like that was fairly good.

By the time Uchiha Kiyoshi returned to Ryūgetsu Village, he had already returned to normal. After waiting for roughly half an hour, Nawaki and the other one returned as well.

"We didn't find anything suspicious in the area, and there was nothing unusual in the direction the bandits came from either. We couldn't determine where they came from at all, or what characteristics they have."

"It's only natural that you found nothing. I interrogated a bandit and learned that their group was only formed recently. For some unknown reason, the four leaders brought them here, then hardly came out themselves. According to that bandit, they should have the strength of veteran Genin. All four leaders may even be at that level, so this mission is somewhat difficult. When the time comes, each of you will take one. I'll hold back the two strongest ones, and you come support me as soon as possible.

Get some rest. We'll move tonight."

That night, outside Green Mountain, Uchiha Kiyoshi and the other two appeared at the entrance to the bandits' hideout.

Watching the sentries chatting away, Uchiha Kiyoshi was speechless. Could these bandits really all be idiots? It was one thing to settle near Konoha, but they were even this careless with their patrols.

Yet precisely because of that, Uchiha Kiyoshi felt uneasy. He always felt that something might go wrong during this operation.

Please recommend!!! Please bookmark!!!

There will be another chapter tonight.