Hinata, Have You Been Developing?

After more than two months, they had finally received a mission that allowed them to leave the village!

For Ryusuke, this was absolutely good news.

After his Sharingan evolved to Three-Tomoe, the only gap between Ryusuke's current strength and that of a jonin was combat experience.

To become an Elite Jonin, Ryusuke needed to go through a very long period of accumulation.

Accumulating combat experience, expanding the variety and ammunition of his arsenal, acquiring a large number of trump cards...

Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy had come up this way.

The former had copied over a thousand ninjutsu and developed his own S-Rank Lightning Release Ninjutsu; the latter had developed all kinds of Taijutsu moves, tempered his body through countless trials, and increased the number of gates he could open with the Eight Gates as well as his endurance.

Ryusuke only had two ways to skip this period of accumulation.

The first was to possess an ultimate trump card capable of threatening a Kage—an S-Rank ninjutsu that could not necessarily be learned no matter how much talent and effort one invested.

The second was to obtain a large number of ninjutsu, talents, and Kekkei Genkai, using quantity to make up for quality!

Of course, if Ryusuke could evolve his Three-Tomoe Sharingan into the Mangekyō Sharingan again in a short period of time—

Then forget about a period of accumulation. As long as he could skillfully use the Mangekyō Sharingan's exclusive ocular techniques and unleash Susanoo, the power known as that of a god, only Ōnoki, standing at the pinnacle of the Five Kage, and Nagato, the gatekeeper of the Super Kage level, would qualify as his opponents during this period.

If Obito Uchiha had not reclaimed the left eye on Kakashi Hatake, he could only provoke Ryusuke for five minutes. Unless he used Izanagi for the sake of his pride, he would only be able to last ten minutes.

Because... the moment the Mangekyō Sharingan awakened would be when Asura's Chakra, that golden legend, truly came into play.

However, the Sharingan had only just evolved into Three-Tomoe. Evolving it into the Mangekyō in a short time was impossible.

So Ryusuke's current shortcut was to expand his arsenal.

Yet expanding his arsenal was no easy task either.

Ryusuke had already obtained Yuhi Kurenai's most valuable talent for genjutsu, and he had also mastered some genjutsu from the Yuhi Clan.

Even if he found an excuse to duel Yuhi Kurenai and won, Ryusuke would not be able to obtain anything more from her.

As for Hinata's Byakugan, Ryusuke had been working hard at it for these past two months.

But he still had not obtained it!

And even if he did obtain the Byakugan, the improvement it would bring Ryusuke would be minimal. Before evolving into the Reincarnation Eye or mutating into the Sharingan or Jōgan, the Byakugan was merely the lowest-level auxiliary eye of the Otsutsuki Clan.

As for the insect secret techniques of the Aburame Clan, Ryusuke would not fuse with them even if he obtained them.

Since the people around him could no longer help, Ryusuke could only choose targets from outside.

Ryusuke did not expect a mission outside the village to turn out like Team 7's, with an unexpected encounter against a powerful enemy.

He only hoped they would pass through populated areas and encounter some Rogue Ninja. It would be even better if they ran into ninja from other villages.

Having experience developing the Spiral Water Dragon Roll, Ryusuke knew very well how much the talent of Chakra Control had improved him. As long as he obtained other chakra attributes and ninjutsu, then cultivated Nature Transformation, he was confident he could upgrade the Rasengan or develop ninjutsu that did not exist in the original story.

Thus, led by Yuhi Kurenai, Team 8 arrived at the Hokage's Office in the Hokage Building.

"Are you here to receive a C-Rank mission?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen, wearing his Hokage Hat, held a smoking pipe in one hand as clouds of smoke drifted from his mouth.

In his other hand was a form containing Team 8's performance over the past two months.

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction. "Since Team 8 was formed, all of your missions have received praise from your clients. Your team's performance is currently the best among this year's graduates."

"It seems your teamwork and mutual understanding have been honed to a certain degree. It is time for you to undertake higher-level missions."

Setting down the form in his hand, Sarutobi Hiruzen pulled a huge scroll from beneath his desk.

After opening it, Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly found a mission for Team 8.

"A few days ago, a merchant caravan came to Konoha to conduct business. They are afraid of being robbed on their way back, so they have commissioned us to escort them back to Iron Mine Village in the Land of Rivers."

After speaking, Sarutobi Hiruzen lightly traced his finger across the mission listing.

With a poof, the white smoke dispersed.

A small scroll appeared in Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand.

He tossed the scroll to Yuhi Kurenai and said, "This contains information on the caravan's leader. Kurenai, go negotiate with him."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

Yuhi Kurenai answered respectfully.

Then, she led Team 8 out of the Hokage's Office.

As he left, Ryusuke noticed Sarutobi Hiruzen watching him.

Clearly, the Hokage knew about him and had perhaps been keeping an eye on him all along.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen said nothing, and naturally Ryusuke would not speak either. He pretended not to notice and left.

After exiting the Hokage Building, Yuhi Kurenai opened the scroll in her hand, then led Team 8 to the entrance of an inn, where she began negotiating with a middle-aged man guarding a carriage.

Ryusuke and the other two watched from a short distance away.

Before long, the middle-aged man entered the inn. Soon afterward, another middle-aged man dressed in luxurious clothes came out.

Yuhi Kurenai continued negotiating with him.

During this time, the middle-aged man's gaze also drifted toward Ryusuke and the others.

Looking closely, one could see that his face was filled with delight.

Hinata said softly, "Ryusuke-kun, that man seems to have been staring at me."

Before Ryusuke could speak, Aburame Shino said calmly, "He is indeed looking at you, but he is looking at your eyes."

Ryusuke smiled as well. "That's normal. Hinata, your eyes are the most famous sensory eyes in the Shinobi World. With your Byakugan, we can clearly see any ambush within a kilometer."

Hearing that, Hinata seemed to understand.

Soon, Yuhi Kurenai finished the negotiation and said to the three of them, "You have the day off today. Go home and pack your things. Gather at the village entrance tomorrow morning at eight."

"Yes, Teacher Kurenai."

Ryusuke and the other two nodded in response.

Thus, Team 8 disbanded on the spot.

"Hinata, want to train together?"

"Mm."

After parting ways with Yuhi Kurenai and Aburame Shino, Ryusuke invited Hinata as usual.

Hinata naturally nodded.

The two went to the market together to buy ingredients, then returned home and had a Shadow Clone cook while their real bodies went to the training room to begin their daily Taijutsu spar.

This time, Ryusuke cheated with his Sharingan again. As they exchanged moves, he used clever force to make Hinata suddenly lose her balance during an attack, then caught her in his arms in time.

Seeing that Hinata's resistance was growing stronger, Ryusuke decided to turn up the heat.

Holding Hinata, who had crashed into his arms, Ryusuke lowered his head and teased, "Hinata, have you been developing lately?"

"What?"

Hinata was confused at first, but then she followed Ryusuke's gaze and looked down. Her beautiful, adorable cheeks instantly turned crimson from bottom to top, and her head seemed like boiling water, giving off white steam.

Then, Ryusuke suddenly felt the weight in his arms increase.

The girl had already fainted, and her lovely Byakugan had turned into spiraling circles.