Heavenly Gift Fruit

After having a piece of flesh extracted from each of them, the two Hoshi Clan ninjas were tossed aside. The speed of the blade had been so fast that they hadn't even reacted before they were struck, but the subsequent pain still made cold sweat stream down their bodies.

Placing the two pieces of flesh into a pair of vials filled with nutrient solution and labeling them, Hiugo called out into the air: "Come out."

Dark Seven's figure appeared nearby in an instant. The two Dark Ninjas were still performing their protective duties; without Space-Time Ninjutsu, it was difficult to shake them off given Hiugo's current speed.

He tossed the two vials to Dark Seven:

"Deliver this to Tobirama in my name."

Dark Seven glanced at them, nodded, and vanished instantly. Delivering two pieces of meat was a task for Flying Eagle; if it were something of great importance, a ninja would escort it personally. As for what these two youths were doing, that was not something he needed to consider.

Hiugo touched the tree that had absorbed the two men's Chakra. Through the Chakra absorbed by Wood Style, the techniques of the two men remained in his mind.

For a ninja possessing Wood Style, most techniques like the Mysterious Peacock Method were unnecessary, but there was one aspect that could temporarily compensate for his own shortcomings.

That was the ability to fly. Currently, Hiugo was unable to use the Wood Dragon, so this ability needed to serve as a substitute.

This technique was essentially a ninjutsu that manifested birds through Chakra to gain their abilities. However, because the Hoshi Clan's Chakra was mutated, he would need to refine it before he could use it with his own normal Chakra.

After Hiugo tinkered with it for a few minutes, a bird-like shape emerged from the Chakra behind him. Its wings flapped, and his feet left the ground.

The two men, who were resting while bandaging their wounds, looked on in bewilderment. The ninjutsu they had spent so much effort cultivating had been learned by this person in just a short while.

After testing it out, Hiugo returned to the ground. The logic was sound, though it could still be improved. He looked at the two men to the side and asked:

"Why are you here instead of in the Land of Bears? Are you here to carry out a mission?"

Hoshizhuo Guang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said:

"We came to 'scavenge,' but we've already decided to head back now."

"Scavenging" meant looting corpses—stripping the ninja tools and money from ninjas who had died in battle to gain profit. It was a way of making money off the battlefield.

As long as a Kunai wasn't damaged, it would change hands many times once discovered by others.

However, the battlefield between the Senju and the Kaguya had sensory ninjas, and these two were only at the level of Chunin; at best, they were only scavenging items from small clans.

Hiugo nodded and said:

"Reasonable. What about the robbery? What was that about?"

"We couldn't fit everything, so we wanted to buy a ninja tool pouch."

"So you have accomplices, then?"

Hoshizhuo Guang immediately replied: "How could that be? It's just the two of us this time."

Hiugo pointed a finger at the two of them:

"You're buying a ninja tool pouch because you need to store things, but since both of you are out here, those items must either be hidden or guarded."

"This area belongs to the Yekage Clan. They specialize in intelligence; the chances of it being discovered if you hid it are very high."

Hoshizhuo Guang and Xing Chenguang remained silent, their eyes closed in a posture of "do whatever you want to me." In reality, they knew that once they spoke, they would be killed immediately since they would have no further value.

"Got guts. But, I have my own methods."

Hiugo clapped his hands lightly and took a storage scroll from his robes. After a puff of smoke, a wine jar appeared.

The moment it was opened, a bizarre stench filled the surroundings.

"What is this..."

Naturally, it was a medicinal food concoction researched by this seat—it was just foul-tasting, foul-drinking, and foul-smelling. Hiugo smiled and said:

"This is 'Oli-ge,' which translates to 'excrement.' I don't believe you won't talk."

"You... you... you really are a demon."

"So talkative."

Gulp... Gulp.

"Ugh—ugh!"

"Ugh—ugh!"

The moment the two ninjas swallowed it, they immediately wanted to vomit, but they discovered that the liquid in their mouths was rapidly solidifying. No matter how they retched, they couldn't spit it out.

At this moment, they desperately wished they knew Water Style instead of the Mysterious Peacock Method.

"One last chance. If you don't talk, heh heh."

Xing Chenguang's face turned pale upon hearing this, and he said:

"We have two other accomplices. The main objective this time was to steal the 'God-Given Fruit' of the Guoxiang Clan to bring back to the clan. We've already succeeded."

Hiugo pondered for a moment. The Guoxiang Clan.

He realized he had no impression of this fruit in his mind, so he asked:

"Heavenly Gift Fruit? What is that?"

Seeing his companion had already confessed, Hoshizhuo Guang spoke up first:

"It is a fruit that takes a hundred years to ripen. Its function is to give ordinary people without talent the possibility of becoming ninjas."

Once these words were spoken, Hiugo's first reaction was that it was a good item, but his second reaction was that it was useless to him, and even for the Senju, it wouldn't be of much use.

The probability of ninjas appearing within the Senju Clan is already quite high, and the remaining clansmen can handle logistics. Besides, the hundred-year fruiting cycle is far too slow; it would be better to spend that time training more ninjas than planting trees.

"Take me there."

The two sighed and led the way.

The two guards responsible for watching over the Heavenly Gift Fruit consisted of one Chunin and one Special Jonin. Seeing a stranger appear alongside the two of them, they understood the situation instantly and attacked Hiugo directly.

The two manifested their Mysterious Peacock Method into beast forms, approaching from the left and right to launch a simultaneous assault.

Unexpectedly, two wooden spikes erupted from the ground beneath Hiugo's feet, slamming into them and knocking them unconscious instantly. Two sharp branches then flew out, aiming directly for the heads of the two unconscious men.

Hiugo clenched his hand. Having just left the battlefield, his combat instincts remained, and this had become a habitual action—a habit of delivering a finishing blow to the head after knocking down an enemy on the battlefield.

He never felt at ease without finishing off the head when dealing with the Kaguya Clan, though he forgot that not everyone possessed the constitution of the Kaguya Clan.

After the wooden spikes made contact, the Chakra emitted by the Mysterious Peacock Method for protection had already been mostly absorbed, and the direct hit left the two men completely incapacitated.

As for the specific outcome, he wasn't entirely sure, as it had been a subconscious reflex to deliver a lethal finishing blow.

Forget it, it wasn't a bad thing anyway.

Hiugo adjusted his mood and glanced at the two dazed men beside him:

"Still not going to look for them?"

Hoshizhuo Guang and Xing Chenguang snapped back to reality and immediately moved. When they were subdued earlier, they hadn't felt much, thinking it was just Hiugo catching them off guard.

Because of this, they had harbored a sliver of hope, wishing that the four of them could work together to take Hiugo down. Such a thought lacked any rationality; it was merely a desperate delusion.

But to their surprise, he had instantly neutralized two of their clansmen, proving with facts that his strength was far superior to theirs.

In such a situation, obeying was the only way to have a chance.

Before long, four fruits wrapped in cloth appeared before Hiugo.

"Only four?"

"My lord, the Guoxiang Clan only managed to grow seven fruits in total. We already gave it our all just to snatch these four," Hoshizhuo Guang said with a bitter smile.

Hiugo scanned them, nodded, and took three, saying, "Leave the remaining one for you to take back and report."

The two were pleasantly surprised. Although it went from four to one, at least they had something, and the fact that this man intended to let them go completely changed their impression of him.

"But you must do one thing: before I see you again, keep a close watch on the location of the 'Star' for me."

The two nodded repeatedly. If they didn't agree, they would likely die right now, but if they agreed, they might live in the future—perhaps even live better.

Dark One observed silently, feeling that this did not violate the philosophy of the Senju Clan, so he had no intention of interfering.

The Hoshi Clan had attacked Hiugo, and Hiugo had fought back and claimed the fruits of victory; there was no issue with that. As for letting them go to act as moles, that was nothing new—the Senju Clan had done the same throughout history, though they simply described it as "rehabilitation."