Hidan-sama (Is Hidan's voice starting to echo?)

The fact that he became Chunin at such a young age is enough to show that Uchiha Yue is not a fool. In fact, the reason he provoked Shiro was to gain some initiative in this mission.

This will result in a higher final task completion score and will be more beneficial for future development.

In this mission, although Nakamura was the captain of Shiro's team, he would not interfere in this tacitly approved competition, but only once.

Once the mission begins, regardless of whether the two teams have decided on the dominant position, no further fighting is allowed; the mission must be the top priority.

Now that we've reached the border of the Land of Hot Water, this rule will become invalid if we go any further.

Therefore, he could only seize this opportunity to gain some initiative for his team, since Shikaki was in charge of formulating the plan, which alone gave him a significant advantage.

If things continue like this, they may end up only receiving the basic compensation for this mission, and any additional training may be out of their reach.

He had originally thought that having the Sharingan would give him some advantage, but who knew they also had Sharingan, so he had no advantage at all.

After the outcome of the "internal strife" was announced, Nakamura stepped in to mediate. "Alright, alright, we still have a mission to carry out together. Taichi, explain this to Shiro, let's continue on our way."

"Yes."

On the way, Shiro asked Taichi curiously, "What did the captain ask you to explain to me?"

"It's nothing. Just don't take Uchiha Yue's provocation to heart. He wasn't targeting you on purpose; he just wanted to gain some initiative before the mission started."

"You haven't participated in these kinds of joint missions, so you're not quite sure. In these missions, unless one side is very famous, there will always be some competition."

"This is how we establish the initiative; it's practically an unspoken rule. Usually, the party that initiates the provocation will apologize afterwards, but you know the nature of my people."

"Therefore, Mr. Nakamura was worried that you might harbor resentment, so he asked me to explain things to you to avoid affecting your subsequent tasks."

"Oh, is that so? It's alright. Actually, he wasn't wrong. My Clairvoyance is indeed no match for your Sharingan. You were exaggerating a bit just now. Wait, you weren't doing that on purpose, were you?"

"Haha, only the Uchiha truly understand the power of the Sharingan! And only the Uchiha truly understand the Uchiha."

"Tsk tsk, your heart is black too."

"But that makes sense. The Sharingan is indeed powerful. Its ability to amplify Genjutsu and copy is very strong and practical, not to mention the final Mind Portrait Technique!" Of course, the last sentence was added by Shiro in his mind.

After Taichi finished explaining to Shiro, he continued on his way in silence.

Uchiha Yue and his two companions' plan failed before it even officially began, and tragically, they had no choice but to accept their fate—after all, they were simply outmatched.

However, Shiro didn't take it to heart. In Shiro's eyes, Uchiha Yue was just a child's nonsense, after all, he was only about 13 years old.

In Shiro's eyes, they still belong to the category of naughty children. Shiro is quite tolerant of naughty children; as long as they don't cross the line, he can forgive them.

Moreover, he's competing within the rules, so of course he won't be given a pleasant look.

Three days later, Shiro and his group finally arrived at Yugakure.

"We've finally arrived. Let's go, hang in there a little longer, and first we'll meet with the person in charge of this mission in Yugakure."

After saying that, Nakamura led the way and set off.

"Please inform them that we were sent by Konoha to carry out this mission."

The guard glanced at the token and said, "Please wait a moment."

A moment later, a middle-aged man came out. Seeing the age of Shiro and the others, he frowned and said, "Does Konoha send this bunch of kids to carry out the mission?"

"Who we send on missions is Konoha's business. You just need to provide the information; the rest is none of your concern."

"What did you say?!"

"What? Does your village have any questions about our arrangements for Konoha?"

He paused for a moment, then said, "No, please come with me, I'll give you the information right away."

Shiro watched in disbelief. It was the first time he had seen Nakamura so powerful; the small ninja village really had no status.

That makes sense; their strongest fighters are at most two or three Jonin, while the rest are mostly small fry.

In other words, Shiro and his team are now basically capable of decimating the Yugakure and then escaping unscathed.

Therefore, Shiro once again realized the importance of strength!

What you learn from others can never compare to the profound insights you gain yourself.

After Shiro finished his reflections, they arrived at a house. Shiro waited inside for a while, and then the person in charge came out with a scroll.

"Here, that's all the intelligence we have."

After receiving the scroll, Nakamura handed it to Shikaki Shikaki quickly opened it and began to examine it.

"Tell us, what kind of intelligence do you have?"

"Very little. All we know so far is that they are a cult called the Jashin Cult, and their members seem fearless. That's about it."

"You don't even know where they are?"

"I don't know. Their activities take place in different locations each time, so there's no way to trace them."

"That's a bit troublesome."

"The Jashin Cult? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before, but it's been a while, and I can't quite remember." After thinking for a moment, Shiro asked, "Do you have their emblem? Maybe that will help me remember."

"Yes, please wait a moment, I'll go find it for you right away."

"Looking for it? Isn't it in the scroll?"

"Uh, this isn't important, so..."

"Alright, I got it. Go find it now."

"What, Shiro? Do you know about this sect?" At this moment, Shikaki also finished reading the scroll and looked up to ask.

"I vaguely remember seeing it a long time ago, but I can't recall the specifics. Did you discover anything?"

"Yes, that's one thing. Based on their activity locations, I've deduced a few possible locations for their bases, but we still need to investigate and confirm them."

"I'll have Gray Snake check out the locations; it won't easily be spotted."

"Yes, these few."

"Okay, I'll inform Gray Snake right away."

After Shiro finished arranging things for Gray Snake, the person in charge came over with a pendant. "Here, this is it."

The pendant consists of a circle and a triangle, with the three corners of the triangle touching the inside of the circle.

The moment Shiro saw the pattern, he knew where the familiarity came from; it was none other than the ritual pattern of Hidan's Jashin Ritual.

"So? Have you thought of anything?"

"Hmm, I remember now, but there's not much information. Just one thing: they seem to know curse-like Ninjutsu, but the conditions for casting it are unclear."

Thank you Tan Zimingsi, Guangfu, and Young Master Jie for the monthly tickets! Thank you for your support. And thank you everyone for the recommendation votes; I can see them all, but there are too many to type out. Anyway, thank you all so much for your support!