Business Negotiations

Normally, with war about to break out, Genin didn't have time to slowly build experience by taking D-rank missions.

However, after repeated discussions, the Konoha High Command decided that the first eighteen teams to graduate would continue completing their required number of D-rank missions, while the other teams in the second graduating class would undergo intensive training at the Genin Training Center.

Naturally, with this arrangement, the first and second graduating classes of Genin would be assigned different roles.

Since the first graduating class had completed its quota of D-rank missions, its members would be assigned highly specialized tasks, such as infiltration, assassination, intelligence gathering, and sabotage behind enemy lines.

The second batch of Genin, who lacked relevant experience, would only be sent to the front lines, where they would fight alongside the other border guards.

As mentioned before, the Genin Training Center could just as well be called a cannon-fodder training camp. But since the war had broken out so suddenly, the village had increased its investment in the center.

Not only had it raised the quota of special training medicines, it had also opened up a number of scrolls on combined techniques, allowing each Genin to master up to three elemental releases.

Kenta, Touma's childhood friend, had been excited about this for ages.

Kenta was one of the rare people with both Lightning and Water affinities. Such dual affinities were uncommon because, as with Fire and Wind, the two elemental releases could be cleverly combined.

Touma had once tried teaching him a C-rank Water Release technique, Water Release: Water Spirit Wave. But Kenta was too slow at forming Hand Seals, so his chances of successfully performing the jutsu were low. It was useless in actual combat.

Now, though, most of the combined techniques available at the training center were easier D-rank jutsu. Basic techniques like Water Release: Wave, Earth Release: Earth Tremor, Fire Release: Flame Flower, Lightning Release: Electric Shock, and Wind Release: Hanging Net all required fewer than four Hand Seals.

As long as Kenta had enough chakra, he could perform them with a 100 percent success rate!

Of course, Kenta had his strengths, too. His Shuriken throwing was incredibly accurate. He could even predict a target's movements and use Shuriken to precisely block its path.

So Touma secretly taught him a set of tricks for applying the basic three Clone Techniques to Shuriken.

Touma had gotten the idea from the Third's series of Shuriken jutsu.

There was no way he could teach Kenta the Third's techniques. It wasn't just a matter of whether the Third would approve; even if he did, Kenta might not have the talent to master them.

Take the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, for example. It required the user to form eight Hand Seals in quick succession while the Shuriken were in flight. That demanded an extremely high level of speed.

Besides, as the saying went, "A man is not guilty for possessing a treasure, but he invites trouble by flaunting it." If Kenta went around showing off a signature technique of the Third's, he'd inevitably make his fellow Genin jealous. And if their jealousy got the better of them and they sabotaged him on the battlefield, he might not make it back alive.

By contrast, Touma's little tricks were something anyone could pull off as long as they had the brains to grasp the basic principles and enough practice with the three basic Clone Techniques.

They were Shadow Chaos Leaf, Body Hidden Leaf, and Wind Whirl Leaf, corresponding to Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, and Transformation Technique.

To be honest, after Touma came up with these tricks, even Haruno Kizashi, who specialized in ninja tool techniques, had nearly been caught off guard the first time he faced them.

Shadow Chaos Leaf was simple enough to understand. It created multiple afterimages of a Shuriken. Using impressive throwing skills, the user hid the real Shuriken among them to confuse and ambush the enemy.

A wide-area jutsu like Wind Release: Great Breakthrough could easily dispel the illusion.

The other two techniques, Body Hidden Leaf and Wind Whirl Leaf, were much harder to defend against. Even after understanding how they worked, Haruno Kizashi could only test them from a distance and try to find a counter.

Body Hidden Leaf used a prepared ninja tool pouch containing an Explosive Tag as a substitute. When the substitution succeeded, the Explosive Tag was activated at the same time, turning the Shuriken inside the pouch into explosive shrapnel that attacked the enemy.

Explosive Tags packed quite a punch. In an enclosed space, the blast's shock wave could send the Shuriken inside the pouch flying more than ten meters.

In other words, everything within ten meters of the substitution point was in the blast zone. Even a slightly slow reaction wouldn't be enough to escape.

It was far nastier than planting an Explosive Tag on a wooden substitution dummy. Shuriken shrapnel and splintered wood didn't inflict the same kind of damage.

The trick was a little extravagant, though. An Explosive Tag and a set of Shuriken cost nearly a thousand ryō.

Still, if Body Hidden Leaf caught someone by surprise, just looting their gear afterward could make up for the cost. It all came down to timing.

The last technique, Wind Whirl Leaf, was even more devious. It transformed Shuriken into plant stems, leaves, or willow fluff and pollen, then launched them from concealment in bushes and thickets, making the battlefield far more difficult to navigate.

It could even interfere with the sensory ninja at the rear. They'd have to spend a great deal of effort figuring out which flying stems, leaves, and willow fluff were actually transformed Shuriken!

Kenta didn't disappoint. In less than half a day, before he returned to the training center to report in, he had learned all three tricks.

Touma called them tricks because they didn't alter the basic structure of the jutsu; they only changed what the techniques were applied to. He'd come up with the idea after dreaming about episode 65 of Boruto and seeing Naruto and Sasuke's iconic Shuriken combo again.

Say what you would, but the only truly exciting episode of Boruto was episode 65, directed by a Chinese artist. Though its plot overlapped with the movie, its pacing and emotional beats were excellent. It captured the series' spirit so well that everyone who watched it remembered it vividly.

Team Shinku took three D-rank missions in the capital. There wasn't much to say about the first two: one involved helping transport building materials, and the other involved babysitting for a noble family. Neither was particularly difficult.

The children in the second mission were all very well behaved, too. All the team had to do was play ninja games with them for two days, until the adults and guards returned. The only thing worth mentioning was that the pay was generous.

The third mission, however, was worth talking about.

It was a protection mission. They were tasked with guarding the Land of Fire's Finance Minister during business negotiations with a delegation from the Land of Demons.

Normally, this Finance Minister wasn't a member of the noble Yuan Clan, so the Twelve Guardian Ninja wouldn't be assigned to protect him. Yet while checking for security vulnerabilities, Touma's team repeatedly spotted the Twelve Guardian Ninja skulking around nearby.

The current Twelve Guardian Ninja weren't recruited from the public. They had been raised by the Yuan Clan from childhood, and their loyalty couldn't compare to that of the group from Asuma's time.

Their movements were certainly directed by the Yuan Clan. And seeing them near the negotiation venue could only mean one of two things.

Either the Yuan Clan no longer trusted the Finance Minister, Watanabe Kenfu, or the clan had received advance warning that someone would target the venue.

Team Shinku's security detail might only be the public-facing one. The Twelve Guardian Ninja must have enough people concealed nearby to ambush any attackers!