Persuading Them to Retreat from Afar

"All right, report what you observed."

The three stood in a neat line before Kamise Yushi. Kurenai had already put away her Telescope, while Genma's Telescope had somehow ended up in Namiashi Raidō's hands...

With his hands behind his back, Namiashi Raidō kept making the Telescope grow longer and shorter, a silly grin plastered across his face.

Yushi quickly noticed Raidō's foolish antics. "Raidō, since you borrowed Genma's Telescope too, you report first!"

"Huh?" Namiashi Raidō pulled out a hand and scratched his head, looking dazed for a moment. "Oh, oh. This mountain stands alone. If we sent enough people to surround it, we could definitely catch everyone. But considering our strength, I think it'd be better to charge straight up and confront them head-on."

Bang!

Kamise Yushi smacked Namiashi Raidō hard on the head, looking displeased. "What kind of strategy is that? I can see it's an isolated mountain too, and it's marked on the map. Charge straight in? Never mind your overconfidence—this fog is so thick. Can you guarantee no one will escape?"

"Uh, well... we could show weakness to lure the enemy out~"

"Oh? Then tell me, how exactly would we show weakness~"

"Well, the three of us could go provoke those bandits. Wouldn't they angrily surround us and beat us up? Mm~ They might even capture us and take us into their stronghold. Then Teacher could coordinate with us from inside and outside to take down the bandit stronghold in one go!"

When he mentioned taking down the bandit stronghold in one go, Namiashi Raidō planted one foot on a large rock, striking quite the pose of someone surveying the world.

"Those strategies are indeed feasible. I have to say, your performance today has changed my opinion of you quite a bit. But you're still too naive. Even bandits aren't that easy to fool. Those plans might work, but what if something goes wrong at any stage!? Can you guarantee everything will proceed exactly as you imagined!?"

The delight on Namiashi Raidō's face gradually faded, replaced by dejection.

Having intellectually crushed his student, Yushi was quite satisfied.

Still, that was merely one of his usual little pleasures. He took the training seriously, so he turned to the other two, who were deep in thought. "Genma, what do you think?"

"If we're only talking about what I observed, I saw two special kinds of plants on that mountain. They're rare symbiotic plants. When they grow close together, they produce dense fog. Also, from the mountain paths I could vaguely make out, there seem to be two decent routes up the mountain on our side."

After hearing Genma's report, Yushi stroked the sparse black stubble on his chin, his expression turning grave.

"Now that you mention it, this mission does seem suspicious. For fog on this scale, there must be quite a few symbiotic plants. And those mountain paths are built so well—it looks like the place has been managed for a long time."

Genma nodded in full agreement. "Perhaps the client concealed something from us. But why would they choose to hide it from ninja!?"

"If we're talking about plants, I saw Ninja Relief Grass. There was quite a lot of it too~"

"Is... is that true? Kurenai, point us in the direction so we can take a look!"

Both Genma and Yushi wanted to see the Ninja Relief Grass with their own eyes, but Kurenai shook her head, looking troubled.

"It's already been covered by the fog. I watched for a long time before I spotted it."

"No matter what, this operation definitely isn't an ordinary bandit extermination mission. Everyone, stay alert—especially you, Raidō!"

"Huh?" Namiashi Raidō, who had been spacing out, was caught in the crossfire for no reason. He looked utterly confused. "Stay alert!?"

"You brat, can't you be a little more serious!"

Bang!

"Waaah!!"

"Listen carefully, Raidō. I don't care what you used to think about being a ninja, but you must remember this: when carrying out a mission, you have to remain alert at all times!!"

Clutching his head and forcing back his tears, Namiashi Raidō could only nod obediently. "Oh, got it~"

"All right, let's leave this place quickly so we don't alert the enemy. We'll also head into town to meet the client."

Although the mission was full of doubts, the moment they heard they were going to town, all three of them lit up with delight.

This was their first time leaving Konohagakure. Just being able to stroll around a town outside Konohagakure felt incredibly novel.

"You're that excited? Come to think of it, when I first went out on a mission, I was just like you. But this mission doesn't allow even the slightest lapse in focus. At least until we finish the mission or gather enough intelligence, you cannot let down your guard. Understood?"

"Understood!!"

The three answered in unison. The excitement vanished from their faces as they became more serious.

"Good. Then follow me to town."

Before long, the three arrived at the town. It was called Rosy Glow. Apparently, every evening, the sunset glow would arrive as promised and blanket the entire town in a dreamlike light.

The three had long known about that fantastical sight, and by the time they arrived, noon had already passed. The sun was slowly drifting toward the horizon. They would be able to see it soon enough.

"I have to say, this is my second time here. That famous restaurant from back then is still around. It really is quite a peaceful little town~"

Kamise Yushi remarked as he picked food from his teeth with a toothpick.

The three following behind him copied his example, picking at their teeth while occasionally glancing at the buildings they passed.

"All right, this is the Town Chief's Mansion. It's also where we'll be meeting the client. Put away those toothpicks already."

A residence that looked like the home of a great clan's patriarch appeared before them. Its black roof tiles, white walls, stone lions at the entrance, and massive red-lacquered gate with golden locks left the three of them stunned.

A town chief in a mere small town was this wealthy? Wasn't that a little excessive?

But when they thought of the mission reward, which was close to that of a B-rank mission, they understood.

The reward for this mission was exceptionally high. Kamise Yushi was clearly very familiar with when the Mission Assignment Office updated its listings, as he always managed to pick missions with generous rewards for them.

Yet when they recalled all the suspicious signs they had observed earlier, they understood why the reward was so high.

"Let's go in. No matter what the situation is, we need to gather all the intelligence first."

Kamise Yushi himself had no clear idea what was going on. At lunch earlier, he had tried to get information from several fond drinkers, but they knew very little—far less than what the group had observed themselves.

At most, when Rainbow Mist Mountain came up, the drunkards mentioned a few bits of hearsay.

For example, being a mountain bandit was great—sometimes they even abducted women and took them up the mountain.

But others said being a mountain bandit was awful. If one ever got separated from the group or fell ill, their fate would be unimaginably miserable...

That was all there was concerning Rainbow Mist Mountain. The drunkards had actually been a very honest source of information. So Yushi gave up on gathering any more intel and chose to speak directly with the employer.

The four of them soon met the steward of the Town Chief's Mansion. Under the guidance of a maid, they were brought to what looked like a reception room.

The four sat on the floor. Before long, a middle-aged man with a bitter expression and a face full of worry entered the reception room.

Judging by his attire, he was dressed rather plainly. Shiranui Genma could not help gaining a deeper understanding of this so-called critical period.

"Are you the ninjas from Konohagakure? You look quite young~"

"Ha, Town Chief, don't let their age fool you. Even among Genin, their strength is quite outstanding~"

Kamise Yushi truly deserved to be the jōnin leading the team. He immediately began singing their praises, putting on a sincere expression with effortless ease.

But how could the chief of a town be so easily fooled?

The haggard-looking town chief did not directly expose Yushi. Instead, he let out a long sigh and raised his somewhat clouded eyes to look at the four of them. "To be honest with you, the situation at Rainbow Mist Mountain has changed drastically. Several of the samurai we sent out to investigate were killed or wounded, and the only one who escaped back never got a clear look at the enemy. I suspect there are now ninjas on Rainbow Mist Mountain—possibly very dangerous ones. Are you sure you still want to bring these children into this?"

The other party had already put it as tactfully as possible and had honestly explained everything. At that moment, much of Yushi's indignation from before had faded.

"My apologies for troubling you, Town Chief, but if you are willing to increase the payment and raise the mission rank, I can notify Konohagakure and request reinforcements. After all, that mountain is not particularly valuable strategically. Even if there are ninjas there, they may simply be like the refugees who used to occupy it."

"You are a jōnin, so you should know that the mountain is highly disputed. I'm worried that, with our incomplete intelligence, even increasing the number of ninjas may not be enough to completely wipe out the mountain bandits. The consequences of that could be that those who flee to the Land of Grass come to resent our town. The best-case scenario is that we are resented by ordinary refugees. The worst-case scenario is being resented by ninjas~"

It was said that in some places in the Shinobi World, even a Genin could throw their weight around. As the chief of a small town, his concerns were indeed understandable.

Seeing the client admit defeat so readily, Yushi truly had nothing more to say. He led the three of them out of the reception room.

"Sensei, no way. We came all this way, and now we're just leaving?"

Namiashi Raidō, the most impatient of them all, was the first to complain loudly. Genma himself was also somewhat unwilling to accept it.

"Sensei, if ninjas entered the borders of the Land of Fire, didn't the border guards detect anything?"

Yushi shook his head, his face as grim as when he had been talked out of it earlier. "The key is that we suffered because information travels too slowly. Things changed while we were on our way here, and the employer had already decided not to let us participate. Think about the border ninjas—even if they could send the news to Konohagakure in time, how could Konohagakure then get that information to us in time? Besides, that mountain itself straddles the border and is shrouded in mist. It wouldn't be surprising if the enemy crossed the line without being noticed."

"So we still have to go back? Going back without doing anything makes us feel like idiots~"

Namiashi Raidō crouched down, picked up a twig, and poked at the ants on the ground.

"What else would we do? Rush up the mountain like you said, make the enemy underestimate us, and then get surrounded and beaten!?"

"If we're only gathering intelligence, wouldn't that work?"

Kamise Yushi could not understand it. Not only was Namiashi Raidō refusing to leave, but even Genma seemed to have become a little foolish.

"Of course not! If the enemy are ninjas, they might just kill you outright. And if you resist, you'll expose yourselves. Before we have accurate intelligence, getting exposed would cause huge trouble!"

Ninja Relief Grass was a plant that appeared in Naruto and made for good emergency food in the wild.