A half-month-long garrison mission had earned Qingye's squad seven days of rest.
Because they had successfully stopped an Iwagakure Jonin from infiltrating, the mission's rating had been raised from A-rank to S-rank, and the reward had soared to 1.6 million ryo!
After giving Yūhi Kurenai and Hyuga Himon 200,000 ryo each, Qingye took the lion's share of the rest.
Of course, he still spent all of it on Explosive Tags.
With another 600 Explosive Tags, Qingye's stockpile finally surpassed a thousand again.
During those seven days of rest, Qingye never let up on his training.
As expected, when the seven days were up and Qingye checked his Attribute Panel, none of his Eight Ninja Parameters had changed.
"I really do need to cheat!"
With his meager talent and this twelve-year-old body, there was no chance his strength would improve by leaps and bounds in a short time.
The repayment period for his Three-Tomoe Sharingan had only five days left.
Konoha camp, command center.
"Qingye!"
When Shikaku Nara saw Qingye being brought in, he rose from behind his desk, his expression grave. "There's an important mission I need to entrust to your squad."
What was going on?!
Qingye wasn't used to Shikaku Nara being so formal.
On his way here, he'd already grown accustomed to the envious, admiring, and even jealous looks from the Konoha shinobi he passed.
Word had spread throughout the Konoha camp about how he'd taken down an Iwagakure Jonin without a scratch during his last mission.
But surely that wasn't enough to change the attitude of Shikaku Nara, the top commander, so much?
Damn!
Surely they weren't going to send him to blow up a bridge!
Could Minato Namikaze's squad already be on its way here?
"Qingye, take a look over here."
Shikaku Nara cleared his throat and pointed to a spot on the map hanging on the wall behind him. "Twenty miles past the front line here, there's an Iwagakure outpost."
"According to the intelligence we've received, it's storing a large quantity of vital medical supplies, including blood plasma and medicine!"
At least it wasn't a bridge.
Qingye let out a small sigh of relief, then thought for a moment. "So the important mission you mentioned, Senior Shikaku, is for our squad to sneak in and blow up the supplies stored there?"
Destroying the medical supplies at the front would probably slow Iwagakure's offensive.
But the outpost was clearly important, so Iwagakure's defenses there were sure to be formidable.
Qingye voiced his concern, and Shikaku Nara listened with a helpless look. "Our intelligence operatives only managed to find out this much... But there shouldn't be more than two Jonin at most."
"..."
Did that really sound reliable?
If Iwagakure had more defenders than that, there was no guarantee he'd make it back alive, even after blowing everything up!
Qingye hesitated.
Five days. He only had five days left... Couldn't they just let him get through those five days in peace?!
"This mission is indeed quite risky. If you accept it, I'll provide each member of your squad with two hundred Explosive Tags."
"Of course, if you find the mission impossible to complete, prioritize your own safety. You can withdraw at any point if necessary."
Shikaku Nara added.
Qingye was at a loss for words.
After that, he didn't have much of a reason to refuse.
"Wait! Something's not right!"
Qingye suddenly frowned. What was wrong with him?
Before he'd gotten the system, he wouldn't have hesitated to take on a dangerous mission like this.
No fear—just do it!
If he was too afraid to take risks, how could he ever awaken the Mangekyo?
But now that he had his Golden Finger, he seemed to have gone from being penniless to having a little money, and he'd started weighing every risk and overthinking everything.
That wasn't right!
"...I'll take the mission. I'll do everything I can to complete it." Qingye took a deep breath and spoke firmly.
He couldn't let having a Golden Finger make him timid and overly cautious!
Even if his strength improved further in the future, he might still be left with a flaw in his character.
"Still, to make sure the mission goes smoothly, could we get a few more Explosive Tags?" Qingye rubbed his fingers together and gave Shikaku Nara a meaningful look.
That said, he couldn't afford to overthink every risk, but there was nothing wrong with taking reasonable precautions.
Land of Grass.
This area along the Golden Wheel Mountain Range, beside the border of the Land of Fire, was rugged and hilly. The farther west one went, deeper into the Land of Grass, the flatter the terrain became.
Beyond that, after crossing dozens of miles of forest and Kannabi Bridge, lay the plains of the Land of Grass.
Iwagakure shinobi had set up outposts all over the rugged hills near the front line.
At that moment.
On a small hill twenty miles from the border of the Land of Fire.
In the shadow of a boulder that jutted out from the hillside, the three members of Qingye's squad had dug a temporary trench. They'd covered it with vegetation for camouflage and hidden themselves inside.
"In another hour, Lord Gari's convoy should reach the foot of the hill, right?"
Hyuga Himon had his Byakugan activated as he whispered without expression.
He was crouched inside the trench, using his Byakugan to gaze toward the Iwagakure outpost atop the hill. His vision passed right through the vegetation covering the trench and the boulder in front of it, allowing him to clearly make out the faces of the Iwagakure shinobi outside the outpost.
He could even see the tiny movements of one shinobi's lips!
"I can't believe the lip-reading they taught us at the Ninja Academy would actually come in handy," Yūhi Kurenai couldn't help remarking.
Konoha Ninja Academy had taught all sorts of miscellaneous subjects. In addition to the usual classes on the Will of Fire and essential lessons in ninjutsu and taijutsu, there were classes in mathematics, geography, chemistry, and cryptography!
Back when she'd been a student, Yūhi Kurenai had nearly questioned her sanity over all of it. Would any of this random stuff really be useful?
And yet today, lip-reading had actually come in handy!
"Good thing I paid attention in class," Hyuga Himon said, relieved.
Qingye sat cross-legged on the ground, running his fingers over the back of his tachi. "The Explosion Release shinobi Gari will be here in half an hour. Get ready for battle."
They'd been holed up in this trench for a full day and night since sneaking into the Land of Grass!
With Hyuga Himon's Byakugan, they'd quickly figured out the situation in the area.
The strongest shinobi at the Iwagakure outpost on the hill was a Tokubetsu Jonin named Sumoshi. The rest were just a dozen or so Chunin and Genin.
Qingye could have wiped them all out by himself!
He'd originally wanted to attack right away, but Hyuga Himon had deciphered another important name from their lip-reading:
Gari. Explosion Release Gari!
He was a member of Iwagakure's Explosion Corps, possessed the Kekkei Genkai Explosion Release, and was a renowned elite Jonin in the Shinobi World!
Most importantly, the Underground Bounty Brokerage had put a bounty of fifty million ryo on Gari!
Qingye had been tempted the moment he heard the name.
As long as he could take out Explosion Release Gari, it'd be worth using up every last one of his Explosive Tags!
Qingye had originally planned to charge in, kill everyone, and blow up the outpost. Instead, he'd forced himself to lie in ambush, waiting a full day and night for this big fish to show up.
Up ahead, atop the hill.
Hyuga Himon had just deactivated his Byakugan when a figure wearing a Konoha Forehead Protector suddenly emerged from the ground, grinning as he walked toward the Iwagakure shinobi.
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