"'Ninja Rules' my ass!"
Hizashi: ???
Hizashi was stunned as well—
Was this guy really here to take the Chunin Exams?
"Enough. Even if it counted as a mission, you accepted it privately. You should be grateful I'm not fining you!" Akaseki declared righteously.
"This..." Hizashi still hesitated.
But Ranwu directly said, "Whether you're going or not, Akaseki and I are going!"
"Fine." Hizashi finally wavered, though he still muttered gloomily, "With a jonin as witness, you can temporarily accept missions below A-rank. Hatake Jonin was there at the time, so it can't be considered a privately accepted mission..."
Ignoring his muttering, Akaseki followed Hizashi in pursuit of the direction Hiashi and Shinnosuke had taken after the enemy.
Akaseki had originally wanted to carry Ranwu on his back, but—
"Not yet. We'll approach slowly. If we find enemies, I'll hide," Ranwu said.
They were not rushing at full speed; on the contrary, they had to stay alert as they advanced.
And with Hizashi's Byakugan, Ranwu was not too worried about an ambush.
After chasing for a while, Hizashi suddenly said, "There's residual Chakra over there!" As he spoke, he slightly adjusted their direction.
A moment later, the three arrived at a place that had clearly seen battle. The ground had been torn up everywhere, and trees had been knocked down or snapped clean in half.
Yet there was no sign of anyone!
"We've fallen into a trap." Hizashi's expression hardened.
The heart that had been hanging in suspense finally sank.
The state of the battlefield made it clear that their opponent was absolutely not as simple as Hiashi had first seen. In other words—this was a conspiracy aimed specifically at their team!
Rather than chasing the enemy away, Hiashi and Shinnosuke had more likely been forced back in a direction