Rescuing People

Chunin Takeo sensed Yichen's Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear was about to burst from the ground. With a leap, he avoided the first two stone spikes.

At the same time, while still in midair, he flung out more Shuriken, forcing back the approaching Tana.

Seeing Tana twist aside to evade the Shuriken, Takeo prepared to adjust his body in midair and control where he landed.

He had already planned how to deal with Yichen's Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear, but he had forgotten that Team Five had a third member.

Shinohara, who had originally pulled away from the others under Yichen's tactical arrangement, had quietly closed in. Seizing the moment when Takeo could not dodge in midair, he shot out two Kunai like lightning.

Hearing the Kunai tearing through the air at close range, Takeo's heart turned cold.

There was no way he could dodge in this state. He could only forcefully twist his body in midair.

Then came two muffled thuds as both Kunai pierced his body. One struck with such force that it went straight through him.

The wound Tana had stabbed earlier was also torn further open by his forced twist, spraying out a stream of blood.

But that was not the worst of it. After suffering one blow after another, Takeo could no longer control his body and fell straight toward the ground.

As expected, two stone spikes erupted from the earth one after the other, completely impaling Takeo's body.

Seeing Takeo killed, the three did not relax. They remained on guard for several seconds. Once they confirmed that the corpse showed no changes, Shinohara stepped forward, drew his blade, and swung once, severing Takeo's head.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yichen stepped forward and took out a cloth sack to wrap Takeo's head. Then the three formed up again and hurried toward Kitsuchi.

Kitsuchi did not need Yichen's group to support him. As a Jonin from a Great Ninja Village, killing two Chunin would not take much effort.

However, the two enemies had used their companions trapped beneath the pile of rubble as leverage. They attacked Kitsuchi while also attacking the rubble, preventing him from focusing fully on them.

Thus, when Yichen and the others arrived, Kitsuchi had yet to kill the two Chunin.

When the two Chunin saw that it was not Takeo who had arrived, but three little brats, their hopes of survival were shattered, and they immediately became even more frenzied.

The Taijutsu Ninja took out a handful of Exploding Tags, lit them, and charged toward the rubble.

Taking advantage of Kitsuchi being distracted by the need to save those beneath the rubble, the Ninjutsu Ninja rapidly formed hand seals and unleashed Ninjutsu at Yichen's group.

Yichen immediately realized something was wrong and shouted for them to stop. At the same time, his hands formed seals at top speed before slamming onto the ground. Just as the enemy's barrage of Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullets crashed toward them, he managed to cast Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall in time.

Two tremendous explosions rang out in succession. The first came from the Exploding Tags detonating in the distance, while the second was the sound of countless Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullets smashing into the Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall.

After the explosions subsided, Yichen and the others saw that although the Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall before them was badly damaged, it had at least withstood the enemy's Ninjutsu. All three let out a breath of relief.

Maintaining their vigilance, the three moved around the Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall in formation and charged toward where the enemies had been.

Yet as soon as they rounded the wall, they saw Kitsuchi standing where the Chunin who had cast the Ninjutsu had been. The enemy had already become a corpse.

Kitsuchi did not waste any time and immediately called Yichen and the others over to rescue the injured.

After the detonation of so many Exploding Tags, the rubble pile had become an utter mess.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, Kitsuchi had used Earth Release to protect the area where his companions were trapped, so the rubble had not completely collapsed yet.

Yichen and the others hurried forward to clear away the stones and rescued the people buried beneath the rubble.

It was a Four-person squad. Its captain was a male Chunin, while the three members had graduated two years before Yichen's group.

This kind of squad was the standard team assigned to ordinary Genin upon graduation. The members had average talent. Although they had graduated two years ago, their strength was still near the bottom among Genin.

Their Team-leading Chunin was also mediocre in strength, having only become a Chunin through experience and hard work.

Yichen even wondered whether this captain could have been promoted to Chunin at all if not for the war that had just passed.

However, as comrades, Yichen's group was highly self-aware and did not look down on them because of their talent.

After carefully pulling the four from the rubble, Kitsuchi gave their injuries some simple treatment.

Yichen and the others were not Medical Ninja and had no experience treating wounds.

Although the Ninja Academy had offered relevant lessons, Kitsuchi did not dare let a few rookies handle such an emergency.

The Team-leading Chunin was severely injured. He had first paid the price of massive Chakra consumption and serious wounds to buy time for his squad to retreat, then worsened his injuries while fleeing.

Finally, he had served as the main force in the rubble pile, resisting the attacks of three Chunin.

By now, he was at the end of his rope. Kitsuchi knew some emergency treatment, but he was not a Medical Ninja and could do nothing more.

Moreover, the Chunin's injuries were too severe for him to be moved, so they could only wait for reinforcements.

The three squad members consisted of two boys and one girl. Since their talent was average, all three were Taijutsu Ninja, and the only Ninjutsu they knew was the Three Basic Jutsu.

Yichen felt a little emotional. Without his talent for Mental Power, he would probably have ended up like them.

He would slowly take missions, exchange accumulated Contribution Points for C-rank Ninjutsu, and if he failed to become a Chunin and receive the village's Medicinal Food rewards, he could only slowly practice C-rank Ninjutsu.

Then he would become Cannon Fodder in the coming ninja war that he could not avoid.

While everyone waited for reinforcements, Kitsuchi asked the three about what had happened.

Yichen and the others listened from the side.

This squad's mission had gone smoothly as well, but the accident occurred when they encountered the three Rogue Ninja on their return journey.

The conflict had erupted suddenly, catching both sides off guard. Fortunately, the captain was experienced and made the first decisive call, earning the squad a slim chance at survival.

Afterward, Yichen kept replaying the earlier battle in his mind, especially the process of acting as the temporary captain, searching for what he had done poorly.

Before long, a squad of masked Ninja rapidly approached.

After the Anbu saw Kitsuchi's attire, they continued approaching while one of them swiftly made a series of hand signals.

Kitsuchi kept everyone in battle formation as they waited for the group to approach. Upon seeing the signals, he quickly responded with his own.

Yichen clearly sensed that the three on the other side relaxed somewhat after seeing Kitsuchi's response.

However, the three Anbu did not change formation. Even after approaching, they remained wary of Yichen and the others.

After briefly asking about the situation, one of the Anbu began treating the severely injured Chunin.

Yichen was somewhat surprised. He had not expected this Anbu Squad to include a Medical Ninja.

Yichen was no longer the clueless novice he had been when he first arrived in this world. His position in the Barrier Team was quite high, giving him opportunities to access more intelligence.

For example, he knew the village's current Ninja composition. Even in the Land of Fire, the strongest and most resource-rich of the Five Great Nations, Medical Ninja had not yet become widespread among the Ninja ranks.

Konoha only recalled Tsunade and Dan Katō's recommendations after this war and began vigorously training Medical Ninja.

As for Iwagakure, even its most advanced Medical Ninjutsu was still limited to the level of the Mystical Palm Technique.

Furthermore, there was no systematic process for training Medical Ninja, and resources were even scarcer.

As a result, there were not many such talents in the entire village. Yichen had not expected the Anbu Squad they encountered to contain a Medical Ninja.

This was Yichen's first time seeing Medical Ninjutsu. Curious, he watched the Anbu slowly treat the wounded man alongside the other five children.

Watching the Anbu use the Mystical Palm Technique for long periods several times in a row only made Yichen more determined not to touch Medical Ninjutsu. His own Chakra was nowhere near enough.

Once the Chunin's injuries had been treated, the Anbu checked the wounds of the Genin as well. This time, however, he did not treat them, clearly satisfied with Kitsuchi's earlier handling.

The other two Anbu remained vigilant from beginning to end.

After the treatment was finished, they made a stretcher, which was carried by the two male Genin from that squad.

Then, under the Anbu's escort, everyone headed back to the village.

This mission had deeply affected Yichen. The ninja world truly was not peaceful; danger could emerge anywhere.

Perhaps this was the real ninja world. The place where he had lived before was a sanctuary created for Yichen and the others only because countless predecessors had used their lives to hold back the danger.

After returning to the village, Kitsuchi assigned Yichen to write the mission report.

As the top student in theory, this did not trouble Yichen.

Yichen knew Kitsuchi was grooming him, so he wrote it very seriously.

He recorded not only the course of the mission, but also his own reflections and conclusions.

Kitsuchi was very satisfied after reading it and pointed out several details Yichen had failed to summarize.

Since the mission had involved an unexpected battle, Kitsuchi gave the three of them several extra days off after it ended.

Yichen did not waste the time. This accident had instead strengthened his sense of urgency, and he planned to spend all these days studying the "Fire Domain" Sealing Jutsu.

Yichen had a feeling that once he cracked the "Fire Domain" Sealing Jutsu, he would gain far more than he had expected.

Three days later, Team Five gathered again at the Mission Hall and began their second C-rank mission.

This mission did not bring any accidents. Under Kitsuchi's supervision, Yichen and the others wiped out a group of Bandits. Not one of the Bandits was even a proper Ninja; only a few had learned some basic techniques for refining Chakra.

Working together, Yichen's group completed the mission with ease.

Over the following year, Team Five carried out a C-rank mission every few days.

These C-rank missions varied in difficulty. Some could be completed in one or two days.

For example, patrol missions near the village only required a single night.

However, such missions were highly sought after, and they only got one in the entire year.

Yichen guessed that the village deliberately assigned them to Genin so they could become familiar with how the village operated.

Others took seven or eight days. For instance, Team Five's most recent mission had been to search for a spy.

It took several days just to find clues, and with the tracking and battle that followed, the entire mission lasted nearly ten days.

Of course, whenever a mission lasted too long, Captain Kitsuchi gave Yichen and the others a longer break. This time, Yichen had five days of free time.