Departure

The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe and sighed, "It is a pity that the major merchants and conglomerates have no intention of giving up their armed forces, choosing instead to make up for their losses in another way."

"Another way? Do you mean robbing civilians?" Nawaki and the ninjas in the hall were all very curious.

The Third Hokage shook his head and said, "It is far more cruel and terrible than that! They capture young children and train them as slaves to be sold to the nobles of various countries as servants."

The Warring States period of the Shinobi World ended only twenty years ago, so many customs still persist, such as the aristocracy and the slave system. Nobles can own their own servants and decide their life or death with a single word, while slaves have no right to resist. For example, the Senju Clan has a small number of domestic servants, but nowadays, few civilians are willing to serve as servants for nobles, so they mostly rely on the children of their own servants to replenish their numbers; naturally, the number of servants is dwindling.

"What? For the major conglomerates to dare to act in such a way, they must have obtained the tacit approval of the nobles and the Daimyo! No wonder the Daimyo turns a blind eye to this! To reach a tacit understanding with bandits and outlaws—what dirty politics!" Nawaki said with a look of disgust.

The Third Hokage sighed again, "The Daimyo himself cannot fully control the country, and under the pressure of the major nobles, he has to make compromises."

Nawaki said with a serious expression, "Regardless, this matter ultimately started because of the village. Since someone has already issued a request, why has it not been resolved yet?"

"Because the mission is very difficult. There are rogue ninjas among these bandits, and they use civilian children as hostages, making it very difficult to eliminate them. However, these victimized civilians are not wealthy, and the reward they scraped together barely reaches the minimum standard of fifty thousand ryo for a B-rank mission. Furthermore, there are even more victims who cannot afford to pay at all, so no ninjas in the village are willing to take these missions; after all, ninjas have to risk their lives." The Third Hokage's voice was strained; clearly, he sympathized with those civilians, but he could not force the village's ninjas to accept these missions.

Nawaki looked at the other members of his squad, then said with a resolute expression, "Since everything started because of us, we must seek justice for these victimized civilians. I have decided to accept these suppression missions to rescue all the hostages and remove these malignant tumors from the Land of Fire! Because Konoha is the guardian of the Land of Fire! I request everyone's support!"

"No problem, Nawaki! These bandits are truly detestable!" Shinnosuke was the first to support him.

"To uphold the belief of protection, let us fight together!" Uchiha Hikari also agreed with Nawaki's point of view.

"For the sake of Konoha, let us shed our youth and blood!" Dai, of course, had to support his teacher's decision.

"Since you have all decided, as your jonin instructor, I certainly cannot stop you." Torifu Akimichi also nodded in agreement.

Having received everyone's support, Nawaki said confidently, "As long as we work together, we will surely be able to complete these missions! Lord Hokage, please leave these missions to us!"

"You must think this through. The village does not have a very clear understanding of the specific strength of these bandits; there may be those with jonin-level strength hidden among them! Even so, do you still want to take these missions?" The Third Hokage asked with a serious face.

"Lord Hokage, I once said that with great power comes great responsibility. Protecting the Land of Fire is our responsibility, isn't it? Since the Daimyo and the nobles cannot fulfill their own responsibilities, let Konoha take their place!" Nawaki said with profound meaning.

Hearing Nawaki's double-entendre, the Third Hokage and Torifu Akimichi's eyes lit up. They recalled Nawaki's plan to replace the Daimyo in ruling the Land of Fire; perhaps Konoha could take this opportunity to win over the civilians of the Land of Fire and strike a blow to the popularity of the Daimyo and the nobles? Nawaki was indeed very sharp when it came to the big picture.

"Since that is the case, these missions are yours. You must ensure the safety of the hostages as much as possible!" The Third Hokage and Torifu Akimichi exchanged a glance before saying solemnly.

"Yes! Lord Hokage!" Nawaki and the others replied in unison.

Torifu Akimichi took the mission list from Nawaki, looked at it, and handed it back. "This time, Nawaki will formulate the plan. His intelligence is comparable to that of the Nara clan head! I will cooperate fully!"

Having received Torifu Akimichi's support, Nawaki took charge without hesitation and ordered, "In that case, everyone go home and prepare. Remember to bring your ninja tools. Dai, take off your weights; this mission is arduous and we must give it our all. Everyone has one hour to prepare, and we will meet at the village gate in one hour!"

"Yes!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. The group quickly dispersed and left, leaving only the chattering genin classes behind.

Seeing them making a racket, the Third Hokage frowned and struck his pipe hard. "Quiet! Are you all so idle? If you have accepted a mission, go and complete it quickly; do not waste time here!"

Not everyone had the confidence to defy the Hokage like Nawaki and Shinnosuke. These genin were all very much in awe of the Third Hokage, and seeing his majestic reprimand, they all complied and took their leave to complete their missions.

Watching the group leave obediently, the Third Hokage nodded with some satisfaction. If only everyone were this obedient, how good would that be? Thinking of someone, he felt a headache coming on. "Go and arrange an Anbu squad to follow them after an hour. Remember, you must ensure their safety! Especially Nawaki—even if everyone else is sacrificed, you must ensure he stays alive!"

An Anbu wearing a mask emerged from the shadows and knelt on one knee. "Yes! Lord Hokage!" He then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

"I hope everything goes smoothly," the Third Hokage muttered to himself, looking at the sky outside the window.

One hour later, all members of the Nawaki squad gathered at the village gate.

"Head north, and we will talk as we go." Seeing that everyone had arrived, Nawaki took the lead and sprinted toward the north. The others followed closely behind, leaping rapidly through the branches, and soon disappeared into the depths of the dense forest.

Not long after they left, a team of Anbu followed in the same direction.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... The trees around them flashed by rapidly. Nawaki and his party moved nimbly through the canopy, even the "plump" Torifu Akimichi being incredibly agile.

"Nawaki, where are we going?" Shinnosuke, the most straightforward of them, couldn't help but ask.

"Based on the mission intelligence, we already know the specific locations of these dozen or so groups of bandits. The one closest to us is a few hundred miles east of the village," Nawaki replied.

"Then why aren't we going directly east? Why are we heading north?" Shinnosuke asked, puzzled.

"Lord Hokage once said that there are far more than the dozen or so groups of bandits mentioned in the missions in the Land of Fire. Therefore, I speculate that these bandits each have their own territory and are entrenched near the various major traffic arteries of the Land of Fire, which makes it convenient for them to rob merchant caravans. Moreover, after a long period of confrontation, the bandits and outlaws of the major merchant groups should have already reached a tacit understanding. Even if they are not in contact with each other, they should have sent people to keep an eye on neighboring groups," Nawaki explained patiently.