Mission Begins

The origins of the mission went back to the Battle of Tanzaku Castle a while ago.

During the series of wars between the daimyo Takeda and Imagawa over Tanzaku Castle, a shipment of supplies belonging to the Takeda was intercepted by the Imagawa.

Before the Imagawa samurai could deliver the supplies to their own territory, a band of rogue ninja set their sights on them.

After a series of twists and turns, the Imagawa samurai were wiped out by the rogue ninja, and the large shipment of supplies vanished without a trace.

A few days ago, the Imagawa intelligence network heard that someone was trying to sell a large quantity of military supplies on the black market.

According to the black market merchants, they were almost certainly the same supplies that the Takeda had lost.

The leader of the rogue ninja was named Hayasaka Sae. He had committed numerous major crimes and was already infamous among the various daimyo.

He had hidden all the supplies in Mount Hakkoda. In five days, black market merchants would go there to collect them.

Of course, the merchants wouldn't care who the supplies belonged to.

Having heard of the Uchiha Clan's active role in the Battle of Tanzaku Castle, Daimyo Imagawa had come to seek them out and specifically issued a bounty to the Uchiha ninja.

The mission was to find Hayasaka Sae's hideout in Mount Hakkoda and point out the target for the Imagawa forces to attack.

Then, before the Imagawa forces launched their full-scale assault, they were to infiltrate the rogue ninja camp and assassinate Hayasaka Sae, bringing back his head.

Inside the supply warehouse, Shiri explained the general details of the mission to Qiancao and Wuming.

Qiancao listened intently. After all, this was his first time going out, and, barring any surprises, he would have to find a chance to escape along the way.

Wuming sat quietly nearby, but she wasn't listening to Shiri. Whenever she went out on a mission, she only cared about "where to go and how many to kill," paying no attention to anything else.

This time was no different. She wasn't interested in the details of the mission and only pretended to listen attentively, sneaking glances at Qiancao from time to time.

Mount Hakkoda was one of the nearby area's famous mountains, with extremely complicated terrain. Without help from the locals, it would be difficult to find the rogue ninja hiding there quickly.

So Shiri planned to disguise herself as an ordinary person, make inquiries around the outskirts of Mount Hakkoda, and then head into the mountains to find them.

The cover story she came up with was that four siblings had come to Mount Hakkoda to seek out a relative who worked as a hunter.

After explaining the cover story, Shiri took out two sets of clothes and handed them to the pair, signaling for them to change.

Wuming took the new clothes and immediately started taking off her old ones. When it came time to change her shoes, she hesitated, but finally took off the straw sandals Qiancao had given her and put on a pair of ordinary cloth shoes.

However, she found a piece of white cloth, carefully wrapped the straw sandals in it, and tucked them against her chest.

Shiri prepared several backpacks stuffed with supplies, including kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, smoke bombs, and Military Ration Pills, and handed them to the pair.

She also warned them not to let anyone see what was inside their packs until the assassination began.

Once they were ready, Shiri led the pair out of the warehouse. As they reached the entrance, they ran into Uchiha Naoto, who was watching the door as though he had been waiting for them.

"You're here." Naoto greeted the three with a smile.

This was Qiancao's first time facing Naoto directly. For some reason, although Naoto was handsome and genial, with a manner as warm and approachable as a spring breeze,

looking into his eyes made Qiancao's hair stand on end and sent a chill through him. He was a hundred times more terrifying than the ferocious-looking Keisuke.

Sure enough, after greeting them, Naoto slipped a porcelain bottle from his sleeve and handed it to Shiri. Then he said to the other two, "Take these."

Though there was nothing unusual in his tone, Wuming and Qiancao found themselves pouring out one red pill each and swallowing them without hesitation.

Only after they had done so did they come to their senses.

Seeing that the pair had obediently taken the pills, Naoto explained, "These are a new kind of Military Ration Pill I made myself. They speed up chakra recovery, and their effect lasts for seven days."

"But be warned: if you don't take a blue Military Ration Pill within seven days, the tonic you just swallowed will turn into poison. I can't guarantee what will happen then."

Looking at the smiling Naoto, Qiancao thought, The Three Corpses Brain Pill? You little punk don't play by the rules.

But then a question occurred to him. Could a poison this convenient really exist in this world?

If it did, the Uchiha wouldn't have been able to betray the village so easily in the future. The old man was probably just trying to scare them.

Naoto offered a few more words of encouragement, mostly about completing the mission soon, then stepped aside to let the three pass.

Shiri had only walked a short distance when a voice suddenly reached her ear: "Be very careful of Keisuke. I think something's wrong with him."

Shiri gave a slight nod to show she understood, then continued on with the pair.

Watching the three walk away, Naoto felt a ripple of emotion.

Lately, he had clearly sensed that something was off about his own thoughts. He kept finding himself wanting to study Qiancao.

After much thought, he arrived at a theory: Qiancao's Sharingan had somehow been influencing him without his realizing it.

This strange Sharingan had sparked an interest in research through Naoto's own will.

So he had deliberately arranged this mission, hoping to give Qiancao a chance to escape.

I hope Qiancao doesn't disappoint me. He should seize this opportunity.

The three arrived at the exit of Naka Shrine, where Uchiha Keisuke was already waiting.

Keisuke wasn't wearing his ornate armor. Without its distinctive decorations, all that remained was an utterly unremarkable face.

A face that wouldn't attract anyone's attention in a crowd was absolutely perfect for a ninja.

Based on what Shiri knew of him, making him wait for a few minutes would surely earn the three of them a torrent of complaints and mockery.

But to her surprise, Keisuke only smiled faintly. "Thanks for your hard work, everyone. Let's get going!"

Keisuke's unusual behavior reminded Shiri of Lord Naoto's warning. She couldn't help grumbling to herself, Give me a break. Why do I keep getting stuck with such complicated missions?

The four left Naka Shrine. It was Qiancao's first time outside the dungeon since arriving in the Naruto World.

The morning sunlight was so bright that it almost stung his eyes. He slowed down a little and fell behind, alongside Wuming, who had been keeping an eye on him.

From what Shiri knew of Keisuke, he would probably start making sarcastic remarks about Qiancao by now.

But Keisuke merely looked concerned and asked warmly, "Are you all right? Do you need to rest?"

Qiancao shook his head to show he was fine. After finally making it outside, he looked around, eager to see what the Naruto World was really like.

What met his eyes was a cluster of low houses, built from wood or straw. The Uchiha Clan crest hung outside every home.

It was the start of the day's work. Men in coarse shirts carried farming tools toward the distant rice paddies, while women spun cloth at looms in their courtyards or outside their doors.

Groups of children ran around, playing. On closer inspection, Qiancao saw they were playing ninja games. The children playing Senju Clan members often wore mournful expressions, while another group of children playing themselves strutted around proudly, standing a little taller than usual.

When they saw Keisuke and Shiri emerge from the shrine, people of all ages and genders warmly called out to them: "Lord Keisuke! Lady Shiri! Good morning!"

It was a harmonious, idyllic scene.

As for Qiancao and Wuming behind them, they were completely ignored.