Bandits

"I have a feeling this guy is hiding something from us." Shiyu continued walking calmly. After about half a morning, Shiyu noticed something was wrong and suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Hizashi Hyuga asked.

"Teacher, something's not right," Shiyu said.

"Not right?" Hizashi Hyuga seemed to have noticed something too.

"Protect Mr. Noguchi!" Hizashi said.

Nao and Kurenai immediately surrounded Noguchi with Shiyu, facing outwards and cautiously observing their surroundings.

"Byakugan!" Hizashi instantly activated his Byakugan. At the same time, Shiyu opened his White Rinnegan and immediately saw densely packed figures hidden around them.

"Enemies! Be careful!" Shiyu shouted immediately.

Then, countless shuriken shot towards Hizashi.

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

"Oh! You've got some skill!"

Nearly a hundred people surrounded the five of them. The leader was a fierce-looking bandit.

"Sorry, but you have to leave this person here. As for the rest of you, I'll just break one arm!" the bandit said casually.

"Protect Noguchi, leave the rest to me!" Hizashi charged forward. With his Byakugan, his chakra pathways and pressure points were perfectly clear. He used the Gentle Fist style, and anyone he touched instantly had their nerves and muscles severed, losing their ability to resist.

"So strong!" Noguchi exclaimed.

"This guy is a Jonin from Konoha! You guys, keep him busy!"

"You guys kill those brats and bring me that big-bearded man!"

The bandit leader commanded, and a group of bandit lackeys charged forward.

"Gentle Fist!"

"Watch my sword!"

Hinata Kurenai used her signature Gentle Fist, while Kakashi Nao used his signature Kakashi Sword Style. Although they were only Genin, dealing with the lackeys was very easy.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Shiyu directly created four Shadow Clones and unleashed the most powerful ninjutsu he had learned on the bandits.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bomb!"

"Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon Bomb!"

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bomb!"

"Wind Style: Wind Dragon Bomb!"

The attacks of the four elements had a vast range. Fire and wind combined, water and lightning combined, instantly becoming Compound Ninjutsu.

The bandits on the left and right immediately became the first victims of Shiyu's Compound Ninjutsu.

Fire riding the wind, wind riding the fire, the inherently destructive Fire Style combined with the extreme cutting power of Wind Style, instantly became a terrifying Fire-Wind Dragon Bomb, killing about eighty percent of the bandits in front of them.

On the other side, the Water-Lightning Compound Dragon Bomb technique instantly struck the approaching bandits.

Countless bandits lost their lives inexplicably.

"This is impossible!!! Retreat!! The intel was wrong! These aren't Genin at all!! Retreat!" The bandit leader scrambled to escape. They couldn't catch him. Seeing their leader flee, the bandit lackeys naturally scattered.

"This is the Third Hokage's Compound Ninjutsu! I never thought you, at such a young age, could learn this technique! Truly impressive! You all performed very well too!" Hizashi nodded with satisfaction at Kurenai and Nao.

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

"I don't know!" Mr. Noguchi said, flustered.

"This is a bandit group of over a hundred people! What exactly did you do? If you don't explain clearly, we have the right to return to Konoha immediately," Hizashi said sternly.

"No! I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" Mr. Noguchi finally told the truth.

"The final destination for the escort is the Artisan Village in the northeast of the Land of Fire. That's our village. Our village is very poor, but it's the best place in the world for crafting weapons! Not long ago, our village discovered a magical Meteorite Iron buried deep underground. It's indestructible, but the news leaked out as soon as it was found."

"After I in the Land of Fire developed the technology to polish and forge it, I was immediately notified by my village to ask for a Jonin escort from Konoha back to the Artisan Village and to protect me while I complete the research on the Meteorite Iron. But who knew that all the money I had was only enough to commission a C-rank mission."

"So, you concealed the information and didn't care about our lives?" Hizashi asked sharply.

"The Artisan Village is located in the Land of Artisans, a small country in the northeast of the Land of Fire, already outside the Land of Fire. You concealed the danger level, the mission details, and the mission location. I'm sorry, but I have to be responsible for my subordinates. They are still just children!"

Hizashi said this and turned to leave.

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

"Lord Jonin! Please! The Artisan Village is truly poor! And many powers have their eyes on it! Regarding the Meteorite Iron, our goal is only to explore its composition! If the research is successful, we will release the data, and the construction technology of the entire ninja world will advance! If certain powers obtain it, they will definitely use it for weapon production! Then war will erupt! Peace will be lost forever!" Noguchi knelt on the ground, begging earnestly.

Perhaps it was one of the sentences that touched Hizashi. He pondered for a moment, then pulled Noguchi up and said, "Not for you, nor for the technology of the ninja world. Everything a Konoha ninja does should end here. However, every ninja should have the belief of protecting peace."

Shiyu understood. If Noguchi had told the truth earlier, even Konoha might have monopolized this technology.

"This big-bearded man is indeed an idealist. But it doesn't matter, it won't affect me much. I actually hope to encounter more and stronger enemies!" Shiyu said, full of fighting spirit.

"The battle ahead will be extremely dangerous. Your only mission is to protect Mr. Noguchi!" As Hizashi finished speaking, a laugh rang out.

"Hahaha! Using those cheap bandits was indeed not a wise move."

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

The voice was ethereal, making it difficult to pinpoint its location.

"Playing spooky games!" Kakashi Nao muttered under his breath.

"Hmph! A mere Genin, you won't even know how you died later!"

"Byakugan!" Hizashi Hyuga instantly spotted the person's figure and shot a shuriken.

An Explosive Tag had already been attached to the shuriken.