Slaying the Blood Ninja Mission

The old man glanced at Uchiha Shin, looking somewhat surprised as he asked, "You're so young, yet you've come to accept a mission?"

Shin held the Heaven Cloud Sword in his arms, smiled, and replied, "A ninja's strength is not always measured by age."

The old man nodded in agreement, scrutinized him for a few more moments, and asked, "Are you Uchiha Shin?"

"How did you know?" Shin touched his face in confusion. Was his name written on his forehead? He was certain he had never met this old man before.

For this reason, he took a closer look at the man. He appeared to be in his fifties—a ripe old age for the Warring States period. He wore the standard black, wide-sleeved robe of the Uchiha Clan and seemed quite spirited. What left the deepest impression was his left eye; the entire socket was sunken, as if the eyeball had been gouged out by someone. Shin couldn't help but linger on it.

Seeing Shin staring at his left eye, the old man didn't get angry. Instead, he chuckled, "The Uchiha have produced two peerless geniuses, Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Shin. Your names have already spread throughout the entire clan. At your age, coming here so boldly to accept a mission, your identity isn't hard to guess."

He laughed twice, then pointed to his own left eye. Most people with disabilities are sensitive about others staring at them, but he was different; he said with pride, "This left eye... about twenty-five years ago, when I was fighting for my life against the Senju on the battlefield, I was cornered. The situation was dire, so I awakened the Sharingan. Unfortunately, there were too many of them, and I still couldn't win. Thinking that I couldn't leave my eyes for the enemy after I died, I gouged out my own left eye and crushed it. I never expected that just as I was about to dig out my right eye, the clan's reinforcements would arrive. In recognition of my loyalty, the clan stopped sending me to the front lines and gave me this job of issuing missions, which I've held ever since."

Shin listened silently. Although it was only a few brief sentences, he could feel the desperate situation the old man had been in. If there had been even a glimmer of hope, he never would have resorted to destroying his own Sharingan.

"I got carried away talking and forgot you're here to accept a mission. Come, come, since it's your first time, let me introduce you to the process."

The old man smiled, and seeing Shin nod, he began his explanation: "Clan missions are divided into two types. One is bounty missions entrusted to the clan by other families or factions. For instance, if a small clan cannot handle a certain task, they pay a large sum of money for us to intervene. We then roughly assess the difficulty and issue it to clan ninjas to complete. The other type is missions issued by the clan itself, known as clan missions. The pay might not be as high as bounty missions, but you can earn ninjutsu scrolls. However, clan missions are generally much more dangerous. Sometimes, in extreme emergencies, they are issued as mandatory orders that cannot be refused. Ah, I remember during the last great decisive battle against the Senju Clan, clan missions were issued one after another. Every Jonin and Chunin not on the front lines was sent out. In the end, we were forced to send children as young as you to carry out missions. The casualties were truly heavy."

Uchiha Shin nodded. So that was how it was.

"Furthermore, based on the difficulty, we roughly categorize missions into levels. Look, this pile of white paper contains the lowest-level White-rank missions, suitable for Chunin. These written in gray font are Gray-rank missions, suitable for Special Jonin. Above that are Black-rank missions, usually taken by Jonin. Missions above the Black-rank can only be accepted by Elite Jonin and above; those aren't issued here but are handed down directly by the Clan Head."

"Of course, this isn't absolute. If a war situation becomes urgent and manpower is short, Black-rank missions might be downgraded, allowing several Special Jonin to team up to complete them. You can take a look." He pushed some of the different missions in front of him.

Hearing this, Shin carefully flipped through the missions before him. With White, Gray, and Black categories, he understood—this was likely the prototype for the ranking system established later in Konoha. However, the current classification was very general, and in some cases, it could even lead to misjudgments, far less precise than the mission systems of the later hidden villages.

He believed the Senju Clan likely had a similar mission assessment model.

He flipped through the White-rank missions casually, finding that most were relatively simple—mostly escort duties or intelligence gathering—which a Chunin could easily handle. The rewards were all monetary.

Shin had no interest in these. His goal was to find rogue ninjas or those on kill orders to hunt down, thereby increasing his own points.

Without a second thought, he cast the White-rank missions aside and began flipping through the Gray-rank ones.

The first sheet had a large "Kill" character written on it, circled in blood-red ink, indicating an assassination mission. There was text below.

Mission: Assassinate the Shineral of the Mingling Clan. Deadline: Valid within three months. Strength Analysis: The Mingling Clan is not a ninja clan but a faction north of the Land of Fire. He is protected by three Special Jonin who never leave his side, day or night. There is also one samurai, strength unknown. Mission Difficulty: Gray. Mission Reward: 30,000 gold. Recommendation: To be accepted by five Special Jonin or two Jonin.

After reading this, Shin frowned. Everything else was fine, but what was the deal with the samurai of unknown strength? He remembered the original story mentioning that the samurai profession had been phased out by ninjas and only existed in the Land of Iron.

After a moment's thought, he set this mission aside. The current mission ranking system was truly unreliable; they had already assigned a rank without even knowing the opponent's full strength.

Of course, Shin was confident he could complete this mission alone, but there was no need. Fighting Special Jonin now held no challenge; his goal was to find trouble with Jonin.

Thinking of this, he pushed the Gray-rank missions aside and flipped directly to the Black-rank missions. The first one caught his eye immediately.

Mission: Execute the rogue Blood Ninja. Deadline: Before he escapes the Land of Fire. Strength Analysis: Blood Ninja, former Jonin of the Qiyuan Clan, known as Blood Ninja because he likes to leave a bloody handprint on his victims. Also called Blood Hand. A month ago, for unknown reasons, he raped the eldest daughter of the Qiyuan family and cruelly murdered her. He killed two Special Jonin of the Qiyuan family and wounded one Jonin. He is currently on the run, and the Qiyuan Clan has issued a ninja world kill order. Latest intelligence: he appeared in the northwest of the Land of Fire one day ago, likely attempting to flee to the Land of Earth. Mission Difficulty: Black. Mission Reward: 80,000 gold. Recommendation: Because the Blood Ninja's strength exceeds that of an average Jonin, it is hoped that two Jonin will act together, or that an Elite Jonin will accept the mission.

Shin tore off this mission page and said, "I want to accept this mission."