The Bandits

"I feel like this guy's hiding something from us." Shiyu kept walking forward without showing his suspicions. After about half a morning, he noticed something was wrong and suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Hizashi Hyuga asked.

"Sensei, something's off," Shiyu said.

"Off?" Hizashi seemed to have noticed something too.

"Protect Mr. Noguchi!" Hizashi ordered.

Nao and Kurenai immediately joined Shiyu in surrounding Mr. Noguchi. They faced outward, cautiously scanning their surroundings.

"Byakugan!" Hizashi activated his Byakugan in an instant. At the same time, Shiyu opened his White Rinnegan and immediately spotted the countless people hidden nearby.

"Enemies! Be careful!" Shiyu shouted.

A hail of shuriken shot toward Hizashi.

"Rotation!" Hizashi immediately used Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven, spinning rapidly like a top and deflecting the shuriken around him.

"Oh! You've got some moves!"

Nearly a hundred men surrounded the five of them. At their head stood a fierce-looking bandit.

"Sorry, but you'll have to leave this man behind. The rest of you can each lose an arm," the bandit said casually.

"Protect Mr. Noguchi. I'll handle the rest!" Hizashi charged forward in a single bound. Through his Byakugan, he could clearly see the chakra pathways and pressure points. He unleashed Gentle Fist, and every enemy he struck had their nerves and muscles severed, leaving them unable to fight back.

"He's strong!" Mr. Noguchi exclaimed.

"This guy's a Konoha Jonin! You lot, hold him off!"

"You others, kill those brats and bring me that bearded man!"

The bandit leader barked out his orders, and a crowd of underlings charged.

"Gentle Fist!"

"Take this!"

Hinata Kurenai and Kakashi Nao each brought out their specialties: Gentle Fist and Kakashi Sword Style. Though they were only Genin, dealing with the underlings was easy enough.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Shiyu created four clones and had them charge at the bandits, each unleashing the most powerful jutsu they had learned.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

"Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon Bullet!"

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Wind Style: Wind Dragon Bullet!"

The four attacks had an enormous range. Fire combined with wind, and water combined with lightning, instantly forming Compound Ninjutsu.

The bandits on either side became the first victims of Shiyu's compound techniques.

Fire rode the wind, and wind fueled the fire. The highly destructive Fire Release combined with the Wind Release's extreme cutting force to form a terrifying Fire-Wind Dragon Bullet, wiping out nearly all the bandits in front of them in an instant.

On the other side, the Water-Lightning Compound Dragon Bullet Technique struck the approaching bandits in an instant.

Countless bandits lost their lives without even knowing what had hit them.

"This is impossible!!! Retreat! The intel was wrong! Those aren't Genin! Retreat!" The bandit leader ran off as fast as he could. No one could catch him, and when the underlings saw their leader flee, they scattered in every direction.

"That was the Third Hokage's Compound Ninjutsu! I can't believe someone so young has already learned that technique. Amazing! And you all did very well too!" Hizashi nodded at Kurenai and Nao in approval.

Then Hizashi turned to Mr. Noguchi and asked, "Mr. Noguchi, what's going on?"

"I don't know!" Mr. Noguchi replied in a panic.

"That was a bandit gang of over a hundred men. What have you gotten yourself into? If you don't explain everything, we have the right to return to Konoha," Hizashi said sternly.

"Please don't! I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" Mr. Noguchi finally told the truth.

"The final destination of the escort mission is Artisan Village, in the northeastern part of the Land of Fire. It's our home. Our village is poor, but it's the best place in the world for making weapons! Recently, we discovered a strange meteorite buried deep underground. It's indestructible, but the news leaked as soon as we found it."

"After I developed a technique for grinding and forging it in the Land of Fire, the village immediately contacted me in Konoha and asked me to hire a Jonin to escort me back to Artisan Village and protect me while I finished researching the meteorite. But the money I had was only enough to commission a C-rank mission—"

"So you hid that information without giving a thought to whether we'd live or die?" Hizashi demanded.

"Artisan Village is in the small Land of Crafts, northeast of the Land of Fire, beyond its borders. You concealed the danger, the mission details, and even the destination. I'm sorry, but I have to look after my subordinates. They're all still children!"

As he spoke, Hizashi turned to leave.

It was clear that Hizashi cared deeply for his three subordinates.

"Please, Jonin! Artisan Village really is poor, and plenty of factions have their eyes on us! We only want to study the meteorite's composition. If our research succeeds, we'll make the data public, advancing construction techniques throughout the entire Shinobi World! But if certain factions get their hands on it, they'll use it to manufacture weapons! War will break out, and peace will be lost forever!" Noguchi knelt on the ground and pleaded desperately.

Perhaps one of his words struck a chord with Hizashi. After a moment's thought, he helped Noguchi to his feet and said, "Not for your sake, and not for the sake of technological progress in the Shinobi World. The Konoha Ninja's work should have ended here. But every ninja should believe in protecting peace."

Shiyu understood. If Noguchi had told the truth earlier, even Konoha might have kept the technology for itself.

"This bearded guy really is an idealist. Whatever, it doesn't matter much. I just hope we run into more and stronger enemies!" Shiyu was brimming with fighting spirit.

"The battles ahead will be extremely dangerous. You have only one mission: protect Mr. Noguchi!" Hizashi had barely finished speaking when a laugh rang out.

"Ha ha ha! Using those cheap bandits was a foolish move, after all."

"Looks like we'll have to handle this ourselves!"

The voice was so vague that it was impossible to tell where it came from.

"Quit playing games!" Kakashi Nao muttered.

"Hmph! You're only Genin. In a moment, you won't even know how you died!"

"Byakugan!" Hizashi Hyuga instantly spotted the man and flung a shuriken at him.

An Explosive Tag had already been attached to the shuriken.