The next morning, Hiugo yawned as he arrived at their destination.
Tobirama had been waiting for him. He wore armor just like Hiugo's, and as soon as Hiugo approached, he handed over the black sheet in his hand:
[Mission: Eliminate Yin-Yang Shenfeng]
[Deadline: Within three months]
[Target information: Yin-Yang Shenfeng was a Chunin of the Yin-Yang Clan. Three days ago, during a mission, he failed while practicing a ninjutsu and lost his mind, killing his comrades.
The target specializes in Wind Release and has three summoned beasts: a giant dog, a centipede, and a Black Toad.
The target was last seen with the Ghost Fire Clan, northeast of the Land of Fire.]
[Bounty: 30,000 ryō]
[Recommendation: Send one Jōnin or two Special Jōnin to deal with him]
"The Yin-Yang Clan..."
Hiugo vaguely remembered hearing about them. They were said to be a clan that focused on working alongside their summoned beasts. Rumor had it that their Summoning Technique involved souls, so they usually needed only one or two Hand Seals, and sometimes none at all.
In the distant past, they called their summoned beasts Shikigami, but the term had since been standardized.
Unlike the Inuzuka Clan, which raised Ninja Dogs from a young age, the Yin-Yang Clan selected summoned beasts that already had a certain level of strength and made some kind of pact with them to work together.
They were said to have once been a prominent clan, counted among the great clans. But for some unknown reason, a large number of their people had died, and the clan had fallen from its former stature. Since they still had a clan head powerful enough to rival a great clan's leader, their overall strength lay somewhere between that of a great clan and a mid-sized one.
"The two of us will handle this mission. The teacher won't usually get involved."
As he spoke, Tobirama pulled a bundle from behind him and tossed it into Hiugo's arms.
"What's this?"
"Extra ninja tools. They're for you. Don't hold me back."
With that, Tobirama walked off without looking back.
"Such a tsundere."
Hiugo blinked, looked down at the bundle in his hands, and muttered with a smile before following him.
Who would ever complain about having too many ninja tools? It was obvious Tobirama had given him some of his own share.
The reason was simple enough: Hiugo was a few months younger than Tobirama, making him Tobirama's little brother. He just never called him anything but his name.
The two traveled at a steady pace to avoid wasting energy along the way. Since this was their first time traveling far from home, they were both somewhat captivated by the scenery around them.
When they arrived at the Ghost Fire Clan's settlement, they saw a crowd gathered together.
"Looks like someone else is after the same target," Hiugo said quietly. Tobirama nodded in agreement.
The Ghost Fire Clan was a small clan. The strongest ninja in a clan like this would be a Jōnin, and they would gather at the first sign of trouble to face the danger together.
There were no signs of battle nearby, so the most likely explanation was that they were here to find the same person.
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader glanced at the two children who had just arrived. When he spotted the tree branch emblem, split horizontally, on their armor, his face broke into a smile.
"Esteemed Senju ninja, how may we help you?"
The usefulness of a clan crest was that it made one's identity clear. A small clan like this could be wiped out by a single elite Jōnin sent by the Senju Clan.
So even though the Ghost Fire Clan's leader was a Jōnin, he treated the two children with utmost respect.
Tobirama wasted no time and asked, "Which way did Yin-Yang Shenfeng go?"
At once, the Ghost Fire Clan's leader pointed in a direction, as though he'd been expecting the question.
"Who came here asking for directions just now?" Hiugo followed up with a second question, but this time the Ghost Fire Clan's leader looked troubled.
"You two, our Ghost Fire Clan is only a small clan. We don't dare offend anyone else. It would be best not to ask."
"How many were there? About how strong were they?"
Hiugo tried asking a few different questions, but the Ghost Fire Clan's leader refused to answer.
"Did they seem more skilled in ninjutsu or Taijutsu?"
Hiugo still wasn't giving up. He switched to another question and pressed on.
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader sighed. "Stop asking. I won't tell you."
Seeing the man's response, Hiugo began to lose patience. It wasn't that he wanted to make things difficult for him. But going up against unknown enemies on a mission without first confirming who they were would be irresponsible to both his and Tobirama's lives.
His eyes narrowed, and his voice turned cold.
"Looks like the Ghost Fire Clan's leader is determined to go down the wrong path."
"What do you mean by that?"
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader couldn't help frowning.
Hiugo pointed first at the Ghost Fire Clan's leader, then at the direction he'd sent Yin-Yang Shenfeng, and said coldly, "It's obvious. The Ghost Fire Clan intends to work with the Uchiha Clan to ambush and kill the Senju Clan. How vicious!"
Tobirama's expression froze, and his gaze turned strange.
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader reacted even more strongly, raising his voice. "What nonsense are you talking about? How could our Ghost Fire Clan possibly work with the Uchiha Clan?"
Hiugo scoffed. "Fine. How can you prove that you haven't worked with the Uchiha Clan?"
At that, the Ghost Fire Clan's leader's mind raced. But not long after he started thinking, his brain went blank.
He hadn't worked with the Uchiha Clan. How could he prove it? Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't prove that something that never happened hadn't happened.
Wait, no. He had to prove that he hadn't worked with the Uchiha Clan, not prove that he had...
After thinking it over, he fell silent for a long while, then gritted his teeth. "Is this what they call the Senju of Love? Picking on a small clan like ours—aren't you afraid the other clans will laugh at you?"
That tone—did he think this was some romance novel?
Hiugo raised an eyebrow, but kept his expression solemn.
"You dared to work with the naturally evil Uchiha Clan, so you've already fallen into the abyss. Destroying evil is exactly how our Senju Clan spreads love."
Was that right? It was absolutely right. If the Senju Clan only went around talking about love, how could they have fought the Uchiha Clan for so long? In the Warring States period, strength was what mattered. Nobody cared whether you were a "good person" or whether you were "in the wrong."
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader instinctively clenched his fist, but in the end, he didn't dare make a move. The little reason he had left told him that two kids wouldn't be sent out on a mission alone. There had to be ninja following them in secret.
After a fierce internal struggle, the Ghost Fire Clan's leader said gravely, "Four people came by just now. They were all from the Hyuga Clan. Three were Chunin, about your age. The other one was stronger than me—probably an elite Jōnin..."
"Hold on. Tobirama, use a jutsu."
Seeing that the man had finally started talking, Hiugo hurriedly stopped him and gave Tobirama a pointed look.
The Senju Clan didn't have the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan to directly verify the truth of someone's words. But over the years, someone had developed a ninjutsu that could determine whether a ninja was telling the truth.
Tobirama didn't refuse. He formed a ball of water in his hands and gestured for the Ghost Fire Clan's leader to place his hand on it.
If the water ball burst, it meant the man was lying. If it didn't, he was telling the truth.
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader repeated his account with a dark expression, including the direction he'd earlier said Yin-Yang Shenfeng had gone.
When the water ball didn't burst, the two of them finally left.
The Ghost Fire Clan's leader let out a long sigh. In an instant, he felt much older.
As they left the Ghost Fire Clan's territory, Tobirama looked at Hiugo and thought, So this is what Father meant when he said I had to learn.
He'd always felt a little uneasy about Hiugo's "underhanded" tactics. But after hearing those few lines just now, he understood that they could be really useful sometimes.
"Those naturally evil Uchiha..."
For some reason, Tobirama felt a strange affinity for that phrase, as if it was something he should have said himself.
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