Ideas for Change and Assassination

Under the framework proposed by Seiji, the four of them carefully refined every detail they could think of, determined to finish the job in one stroke.

After all, if they failed this time, their identities as Hidden Mist Ninja would likely be exposed as well, and they would face enormous political resistance.

Though he was merely an ordinary man—a general who commanded a large number of troops in a nation—having several Kirigakure elites rack their brains to assassinate him meant he would die a worthy death.

Over the next few days, the weather was excellent—so excellent that the sun shone brightly for several days in a row. This was rare in the Land of Water, a country that was cloudy, foggy, and overcast year-round. It was as though the Sage of Six Paths wanted to see this general off as well, allowing him to gaze upon the sun for a few final days.

At first, Seiji, Yagura, and Chino were still in the mood to go out into the streets and experience local life each day. With Yagura, that easygoing chatterbox, beside them, the two boys quickly grew familiar with Chino, who was four years older than them.

Their relationship gradually shifted from that of mere teammates toward friendship.

However, the long wait brought no rainy weather, and Seiji's group could not help growing anxious. The mission deadline was only one month, and half that time had already passed. Though they did not know the exact cause of the recent conflict between the daimyo and the general, the fact that the Daimyo's Palace had set a one-month deadline with no possibility of extension meant that once the time was up, even killing the target would no longer serve the daimyo's purpose. That would also mean mission failure.

But anxiety could not affect the Land of Water's weather in the slightest, so they could only suppress their impatience and continue waiting patiently.

During that time, they continued gathering intelligence every day, fleshing out the target's personality profile in pursuit of a flawless plan. Seiji and the others gained an increasingly clear understanding of the man they were meant to assassinate.

As a powerful noble beneath the Lord Water, the general was far from a good man.

No, it could even be said that there were hardly any good people in the entire noble class. If every noble in the Land of Water were dragged out and beheaded, perhaps a small number would be wrongly accused—but if nine lucky people were randomly picked out of every ten and killed, there would definitely still be some who got away.

Enslaving commoners, treating their lives as worthless, imposing exorbitant taxes, and indulging in decadent, corrupt lifestyles were merely commonplace.

Acting like thugs, abducting women by force, lacking all humanity, being brutal, cruel, and heartless, casually killing people at the slightest displeasure—these nobles committed every evil imaginable.

They seized land by any means necessary and killed for pleasure. They abused public power without restraint, lining their own pockets at the public's expense. They gave themselves over to corruption and depravity, committing every kind of wrongdoing as they pleased. This was the true portrait of most nobles in the Ninja World. As the rulers of the world, they stood above everyone else; the Yin-Yang Masters of ancient times, the samurai and ninja of the Warring States Period, were nothing more than tools in their eyes.

As a newly graduated Hidden Mist Ninja, Seiji's first mission had been to assassinate a stranger with whom he had never had any connection. Ninja were mercenaries who existed to fulfill commissions, but such a mission continued to challenge the still-unformed moral boundaries of Seiji, who retained memories of living in a peaceful era in his past life and had little experience of the world. Until then, Seiji had merely endured the discomfort in his heart and fulfilled his duties as a Hidden Mist Ninja and an elite Anbu operative.

But as he continued gathering intelligence on the general and learning more about the noble class's deeds, Seiji gradually came to terms with the mission of assassinating such scum. Even the faint respect he had once held for the daimyo, the ruler of this country, was slowly fading.

He had received an education beneath the red flag in his past life, had never undergone formal ninja education in this one, and although he had been born into a ninja clan, he had grown up in an isolated, remote village.

After awakening the memories of his past life, Seiji gradually developed thoughts of his own. He did not believe the Ninja World should be like this. He did not have a comprehensive understanding of all the political systems of Blue Star from his past life, but at the very least, the Ninja World's twisted system of one country and one village struck him as deeply wrong.

A ninja village, when all was said and done, was a settlement that had ultimately formed from an organization of mercenaries. Yet it was the greatest armed institution in a country, and this armed institution was actually economically constrained by the daimyo, who was an ordinary person. It was utterly absurd. Ninja who possessed the Ninja World's high-end combat power were actually led by nobles. Seiji found that somewhat laughable.

The thriving society of his past life and the earliest era of the Shinobi Creed a thousand years ago, which he had seen in his memories, came back to him. Though Seiji did not agree with Hagoromo Otsutsuki's somewhat naive notion of making everyone understand one another, he could not deny that the original Shinobi Creed had indeed possessed a certain beauty.

The essence of Chakra power in the Ninja World was, in truth, the tangled love and hatred of the Otsutsuki family. Though some native Sage Jutsu creatures had been mixed into it, that did not matter much.

The essence of conflict in the Ninja World was the struggle for profit. Conflict was merely another continuation of politics. When the benefits one sought could not be attained through peaceful means such as negotiation or exchange, the seeking party would likely resort to force—war.

Having long since seen through these essences in his memories, Seiji slowly began to form certain ideas.

A spark of reform slowly ignited in Seiji's heart. In the future, it would burn ever brighter as Seiji's thoughts, the fuel feeding it, continued to mature—until it swept across the entire Ninja World.

Another five days passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Seiji and the others had fallen into despair and were about to reluctantly admit mission failure a few days later, a long-awaited downpour suddenly arrived.

The weather was like the Sage of Six Paths' mood—it changed at a moment's notice. One minute, the sun was still high in the sky after clouds had cleared; the next, dark clouds arrived in an instant, and torrential rain caught the Land of Water completely off guard.

Time slowly passed into the evening, and darkness shrouded the entire city.

As the night entered its latter half, the most exhausting time of day, even energetic ninja gradually lost their vigilance after nearly a month of high-intensity guard duty.

The rain continued without stopping. Perhaps because it had not rained for half a month, the downpour showed no sign of weakening. Beneath the night sky, rain poured down in sheets, as though a curtain of water had been hung between heaven and earth. The endless rainfall blurred all vision, as if the entire world had been swallowed by rain.

It was time to act!

The four of them put on the disguises they had prepared long ago to conceal their identities. Though they were confident they would not be discovered, they still chose to change outfits to ensure nothing could go wrong.

Relying on Seiji's exceptional sensory abilities, they reached the outer perimeter of the main courtyard without alerting anyone in the front compound.

"Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!"

As the captain and a specialist in Water Release, Feng naturally took the lead. He carefully mobilized his Chakra to avoid releasing any overly obvious fluctuations.

Under Feng's control, dense mist gradually spread from the outskirts toward the target location. The rain was already heavy enough to obstruct vision, and the mist that slowly drifted in did not arouse the suspicion of the guarding ninja in the slightest.

In the courtyard before the target's residence, five ninja had gathered beneath a tree, sheltering from the rain while chatting absentmindedly.

"We'll be done with this mission soon! Big Brother, once we get paid in a few days, let's go have some fun. Staying here without taking a single step away for over half a month has been suffocating. We never should've taken this protection job just because of the huge reward!" complained one short rogue ninja.

"Bear with it, Fourth Brother. There's nothing I can do either. Who told that old bastard to be willing to spend so much money? Zzzzz, five million ryo to protect him for one month—that's worth more than ten of our usual robberies. Those damned nobles really are rich!" The eldest of the five rogue ninja, a tall and powerfully built man, explained with a somewhat wistful tone.

As rogue ninja, they often robbed merchant caravans. Yet due to beliefs passed down over countless generations, they had never entertained any thoughts of targeting nobles.

That was why, after the general guessed that the daimyo might very well try to kill him, he had hired these five infamous rogue ninja brothers to protect him for the month.

As for why he had not posted the mission with Kirigakure, on one hand, he did not trust Kirigakure, which nominally belonged to the Land of Water's daimyo. On the other, being greedy for money, he did not want to pay an enormous price to post a mission with Kirigakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

The money he paid to hire these five brothers for a month would likely have cost him double or even triple the price if he wanted to hire ninja of comparable strength from Kirigakure.

However, the general, who knew nothing about ninja, did not understand the difference in strength between ninja from major ninja villages and those from minor villages or rogue ninja. Even among Jonin, a Jonin from a major ninja village could utterly crush a rogue Jonin. Not to mention that nearly all rogue ninja were ordinary ninja, while major ninja villages possessed not only all manner of secret techniques but also exceedingly mysterious Kekkei Genkai.

About ten minutes later, dense mist had completely enveloped the general's residence and the small courtyard before it. Hozuki Chino, her Water Clone, and the duplicate created by Yagura's Water Mirror Technique had already approached the five rogue ninja along with the rainwater flowing across the ground, ready to attack.

In the distance, Seiji stared intently at the five men, his nerves taut as he prepared to step in at any moment and finish them off.

"Move!" Feng transmitted his voice through fluctuations in the Chakra controlling the mist.

Though the eldest of the five was a Jonin, he had only attained Jonin-level strength because he had accidentally eaten a strange plant in his early years, which had made his body exceptionally robust and given him immense strength. The power of his taijutsu was formidable as a result. The second brother was merely an ordinary ninjutsu-type Jonin who had been promoted not long ago, while the other three were the most ordinary of rogue ninja.

Thinking that something was wrong, the two Jonin sensed a faint abnormality, and their attention was instantly drawn to the Chakra fluctuations in the air. Before they could issue a warning or react, Chino and Yagura's attacks arrived. Yagura was responsible for killing the short man who had complained earlier, while the rest were left to Chino and her three Water Clones.

Without sensory abilities, the five rogue ninja had no ability whatsoever to resist the operation that Seiji's group of four had planned to perfection.

In an instant, three Elite Chunin had their throats slit. Though the eldest and second brother, both with Jonin-level strength, reacted in time and avoided Chino's fatal strike, Seiji, who had kept them locked on from afar, shot straight through their hearts with Ten Finger Drilling Bullets.

Chino, her Water Clone, and Yagura at her side caught the five bodies. They moved at once, clamping their hands tightly over the men's mouths to prevent any dying screams.

The rain fell harder and harder, as if aiding their operation. The sound of raindrops striking the ground perfectly concealed the faint noises of their attack.

Seeing the three succeed, Feng swiftly dispersed the Chakra maintaining the Hidden Mist Technique. Wind Release Chakra swirled around his body as he rushed into the house.

The general was still asleep, completely unaware that the five rogue ninjas he had hired at great expense had all gone to meet the Sage of Six Paths.

Tiger—Rabbit—Dog—Sheep—Dragon. The five hand seals were completed in the blink of an eye.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"

Without hesitation, Feng used the Wind Cutter Technique across the general's neck. Extremely condensed wind-nature Chakra gathered together, forming an exceptionally sharp wind blade. It passed through with ease, without raising even a trace of blood. The general who commanded most of the Land of Water's military died silently in his own home.

After confirming the target's death once more, Seiji and the others erased every trace of their presence. They used a scroll to take away the bodies of the five rogue ninja brothers, then returned to the inn beneath the deep night.