Stripping

Roaring bonfires crackled, their leaping light tearing a jagged gap in the pitch-black curtain that draped the night over the earth.

"A ninja tool bag?"

Ingetsu moved his gaze back from the forest, focusing on the mission reward.

Yet, since it was a reward.

It naturally had its unique traits.

Take the Black Blade Dark Moon, for instance; it allowed him to alter chakra shape without hand seals, infuse various chakra attributes, and obtain diverse offensive effects.

Or the Green Medicine, which, once consumed, restored spirit and body while granting him the ability to control plants and enhancing his own physical strength.

The ninja tool bag...

Ingetsu was harboring a slight bit of interest regarding its uniqueness.

The condition for completing the mission was merely to infiltrate the Tsuchigumo Clan's caravan as part of a squad, with no subsequent requirements.

The mission was simple enough.

The Uchiha Rogue Squad could also disguise themselves to enter the mountains and hide in the shadows to deal with unknown dangers ahead.

Killing two birds with one stone.

Not far away, more than ten figures emerged from the forest, their shadows swaying under the faint moonlight as they swaggered toward the bonfire.

Wearing a dark robe and hood, Ingetsu seemed to blend seamlessly with the night. He glanced toward the forest, his brows twitching slightly before gradually smoothing out.

Was this... home delivery?

"Hello, excuse me, are you alone here?" Guard captain Sōsen arrived behind the hooded, black-robed Ingetsu and asked.

Around the bonfire, only Ingetsu remained, along with half a roasted wild boar on an iron rack to the side, with no one else in sight.

Sōsen spoke quite politely, but his expression was flippant. He wantonly looked around the vicinity of the bonfire, scanning the area before his gaze ultimately landed on the roasted wild boar.

Catching the aroma, Sōsen subconsciously swallowed his saliva. Soon, he noticed signs of people having sat and laid on the surrounding grass.

This fit his perception of vagrants quite well.

Vagrants in the shinobi world were exceedingly fierce.

They generally wouldn't operate alone.

"They'll be right back."

Ingetsu calmly responded.

Sōsen was amused. He raised a hand to point toward the forest they had just passed through and asked, "Do you know what happened in that forest?"

"No."

Seeing the other party act so coldly, Sōsen wasn't angered at all. He merely raised his right hand, waved it to signal his subordinates to take the meat, and laughed:

"Fine, fine, then this roast meat of yours, I—"

Before Sōsen's subordinates could make a move.

Ingetsu spoke in an even tone:

"They're back."

"Who's back?" Sōsen was baffled.

"Ah—ah—ah—"

Suddenly, strange sounds drifted from the woods. Muffled grunts and cries of surprise erupted from the forest behind them.

Sōsen's smile gradually stiffened. His expression changed drastically as he and the dozen or so guards beside him turned to look.

Everyone watched in horror.

Hotaru, the young miss of the Tsuchigumo Clan, along with the grand elder, members of the Tsuchigumo Clan, and all members of the guard unit, were being driven toward this side by over a dozen fellows wielding ninja blades.

Within the caravan, many guards groaned in pain, clearly having suffered a brutal beating just moments prior.

"This..."

Sōsen instantly thought of a possibility: in the mere few minutes since they had left the forest.

A battle had broken out in the woods.

Their fifty-man caravan hadn't even managed to hold out until they returned before being controlled by this bunch of fellows.

We're finished!

This was the primary thought in Sōsen's mind. In the blink of an eye, all members of the caravan were brought to the edge of the bonfire.

Only then did Sōsen turn around in terror, gazing at that black-robed figure who had kept his back to them from the very beginning.

"Captain Sōsen, save us!"

Hotaru was grabbed by the arm by a baby-faced fellow, a ninja blade held against her neck as she was roughly shoved forward.

The young girl, unworldly and inexperienced, was terrified to the extreme.

Following Hotaru's cries.

The caravan members seemed to see hope, casting their gazes in unison toward the man who had previously claimed to be able to fight Orochimaru on equal terms.

"Save us, Captain Sōsen!"

"Captain Sōsen, you're the man who could fight the S-Rank Rogue Ninja Orochimaru to a draw!"

"Captain Sōsen, show them what you're made of!"

Hope streamed from the eyes of everyone in the caravan.

They were well aware that they had encountered formidable rogue bandits or mountain brigands right on their own doorstep.

Just moments ago, the guard unit and the Tsuchigumo clansmen had barely exchanged a single brief encounter with these people before the entire group was stripped of their combat capability.

Under these circumstances.

Probably only this guard captain, who had once fought Orochimaru to a draw, could save their lives.

Consequently, everyone reached out desperately like drowning people trying to grasp a straw, regardless of whether their posture for grabbing was right or wrong.

"Quiet, quiet!"

Sōsen's mood was complicated. Amid the egging-on and undeserved flattery, his cheeks burned as he shouted at the top of his lungs twice.

"Captain Sōsen is getting ready to strike, everyone quiet down, we're going to be saved right away!"

Seeing that Sōsen was preparing to make a move, the caravan members instantly felt a sense of anticipation and promptly shut their mouths.

With this captain making a move.

They would definitely be saved!

Under the gaze of one expectant look after another, Sōsen took a deep breath, mustered his courage, and slowly walked toward Ingetsu.

Perhaps... he could talk with the other party's leader.

Spend a bit of money.

And still preserve the lives of these people. He only hoped this bunch were merely robbers seeking wealth rather than murderers.

"Damn it!!"

As Sōsen walked, he racked his brains in agony, unable to fathom when such a formidable group of people had ever appeared on Mount Katsuragi!

Until he arrived beside the black-robed man and saw clearly the unfamiliar yet familiar profile beneath the black hood.

"It's... you!!!"

Sōsen's pupils dilated violently, his scalp tingling as he trembled all over.

With shaking hands, he fished a newspaper from his bosom and, by the light of the bonfire, compared the photo on the bounty column with the person in front of him.

After a long while, Sōsen recognized reality with a face as ashen as death, now regretting only his own loose tongue.

He had clearly just mentioned the man on the road, and yet this S-Rank Rogue Ninja was really right here on Mount Katsuragi!!

"What's wrong with our roast meat?"

Ingetsu slanted a glance at him, asking calmly.

Sōsen's gaze was dull, the corners of his mouth twitching:

"Your... your roast meat, I think it's quite good. Look, the skin is roasted to a crisp without being burnt, and the fat is fragrant without being greasy..."

Ingetsu interrupted the fellow's rambling, asking, "You fought Orochimaru to a draw, really?"

"I made it up."

"Mn, put your hands behind your head and squat right there."

Ingetsu slowly stood up, pulling his hood down lower to hide his face in shadow, then turned to face the Tsuchigumo Clan's caravan directly.

"You got it!"

Sōsen didn't hesitate at all, raising his hands high, then placing them behind his head and slowly squatting down.

Seeing that the other party was so easy to talk to.

Sōsen instead felt a sense of relief.

"What's going on?"

This scene left the members of the caravan utterly dumbfounded.

Their proud guard captain... had put his hands behind his head and squatted down???

This opening act wasn't right at all!

"Captain Sōsen..."

Hotaru's pupils widened in disbelief as she stood there in a daze, something inside her heart collapsing and shattering.

"I just knew this man was unreliable!"

The grand elder of the Tsuchigumo Clan harbored suppressed anger in his heart, wearing a look of utter contempt; he was a hair's breadth away from spitting a glob of phlegm right at Sōsen.

"Captain Sōsen, what are you doing? Where is that bravery you showed when facing Orochimaru?"

A member of the Tsuchigumo Clan asked, unwilling to give up.

Sōsen retorted ungraciously:

"What do you know? The courage to surrender is also a form of brave expression!"

"You..."

Both the members of the Tsuchigumo Clan and the guards were dumbfounded, inwardly complaining: You fellow, can you be any more real?

The Uchiha squad, including Kurenai, Nonō, and others, had all used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise themselves.

Before the caravan arrived at the plain, they had been woken by Ingetsu and lain in ambush in the forest, waiting for the right moment to subdue the caravan in mere minutes.

"Boss, I caught a pretty girl. Looks like she should be an adult."

Tamao shoved Hotaru as he brought her to the front.

Hotaru looked at the black-robed man in terror.

Ingetsu merely glanced at her, his expression shifting slightly before he looked toward the closest Uchiha Mikoto and said indifferently, "Come over here and take her clothes off!"