S-Rank Mission!?

"Him?" Tenten followed the princess's gaze, landing on Namikaze Yin Xiang.

"His name is Namikaze Yin Xiang. He is the son of the Fourth Hokage and a genius ninja of Konoha," Tenten said.

"The son of the Fourth Hokage!?" The princess was quite astonished to hear this.

"I never expected the Fourth Hokage's son to be our escort. In that case, we are the ones benefiting from this," the guard was also taken aback. Although Miji was a princess, it was ultimately a small nation; compared to the Daimyo of a great nation and the Hokage, the gap was vast.

In fact, Yin Xiang's status as the son of the Fourth Hokage was even higher than that of this princess.

"Don't worry about it; I'm just fulfilling a mission," the shadow carrying the princess spoke up, startling her so much she nearly fell off. Fortunately, the shadow caught her, preventing a tumble.

"You scared me to death, you scared me to death..." Miji was quite shaken; she hadn't expected the shadow to be capable of speech.

"Yin Xiang..." Tenten was also startled and looked toward Yin Xiang in the lead, but he continued walking as if he were completely unaware of what had just happened behind him.

Yin Xiang's Shadow Secret Technique was like a piece of himself detached; his five senses were linked to the shadow. What the shadow saw, he saw; what the shadow heard, he heard. If one were to use this shadow for nighttime reconnaissance, it would be excellent.

However, while the idea was sound, reality was cruel.

There is no sun at night, so the shadow cannot exist. In other words, once night fell, the Shadow Secret Technique could not be used.

"Hey, let me ask you, would you like to come to our Land of Honey and be my consort?" Miji asked the shadow directly. When she said this, Tenten felt a sudden, inexplicable tightness in her chest, though she didn't know why.

"You are a bit too blunt," the shadow replied in a calm tone. In truth, Yin Xiang's inner thoughts were far from calm—the princess was simply too direct. He had intended to speak with a sarcastic tone, but coming from the shadow, it turned into a voice devoid of emotion; the shadow could only produce such emotionless sounds.

"I will not leave Konoha," the shadow continued. Once those words were spoken, the tension in Tenten's heart eased, as if she had been terrified that Yin Xiang might actually agree.

"The Land of Honey is very nice. The flowers and plants are all beautiful; it's no worse than Konoha," Miji continued, refusing to give up.

"Is it really that nice? You, a princess, are out traveling and being hunted. The goal is to use you to threaten the Daimyo of the Land of Honey, isn't it? To make him surrender the Land of Honey. The Land of Honey is currently in the midst of a war, right?" the shadow remarked.

"This... that... the reason they need to capture me to threaten my father is precisely because they cannot breach the Land of Honey. That proves our Land of Honey is stronger than them."

The shadow shook its head. "In times of war like this, for the Daimyo to let you leave is not for a pleasure trip, but to ensure your survival. The Land of Honey is about to fall. If you aren't going back to die, then you are trying to use our hands to save your country."

"That is exactly it." Shikaku stopped in his tracks. He had also figured this out along the way, and everyone else came to a halt.

"What! So that's how it is!" Guy shouted.

"..." Miji lowered her head, silent, and the guard followed suit.

"If that is the case, this mission is classified as B-rank, but saving a nation involves matters of national-level secrecy. The content of the work could involve participating in a war at another nation's request, assassinating key figures, or transporting classified documents. This is already an S-rank mission. If you cannot explain yourself clearly, I am sorry, but we must turn back," Shikaku said, looking at Miji.

"..." Miji gritted her teeth. "Yes, that is correct."

"It's a good thing Yin Xiang figured it out early. If we had gone into an S-rank mission like this, wouldn't that just be suicide?" Rock Lee said from the side.

Yin Xiang walked back from the front and stood before the shadow. "You had better explain clearly: who are the opponents? How many Jonin, how many Chunin? Are there any ninja with Kage-level strength? At the same time, the mission reward must be increased. We will send someone back to request reinforcements, or we will abandon the mission entirely."

"I am sorry, we deceived you!" The guard knelt on the ground. "The Land of Honey is indeed on the verge of destruction. I escaped with the princess, hoping to ask Konoha's ninjas to help us reclaim our country, but we truly cannot afford the reward for an S-rank mission, so..."

Watching the guard kneel, no one moved to help him up; after all, they had been gambling with the lives of Konoha's ninjas.

"However..." Yin Xiang and Shikaku exchanged a look. "Shikaku-sensei, was this mission specifically assigned to us by the Third Hokage?"

"Yes." Shikaku nodded. "After receiving this mission, the Third Hokage notified Team 3 and me to go to the Land of Honey. In other words..."

"The Third Hokage likely knew the situation in the Land of Honey, which is why he assigned our group. It is dangerous, but with Guy-sensei's strength, even confronting a Kage-level ninja is not a problem." Yin Xiang looked at Guy, who finally wore a serious expression; he hadn't expected Yin Xiang to be able to gauge his true power.

Indeed, by opening the Seventh Gate, he could contend with a Kage-level opponent.

"By sending one of Konoha's strongest combatants, Guy-sensei, along with the strategically minded Shikaku-sensei, I estimate the enemy has no more than three Jonin, no more than ten Chunin, and mostly Genin, but no more than fifty in total. This mission was specifically intended for us to complete," Yin Xiang said, resting his chin on his hand.

"Young Master Yin Xiang is correct. The enemy is from the Land of Filling. There were three Jonin, eight Chunin, and twenty-three Genin when we left. That was the intelligence at the time; after the war, I don't know how many are left now. It might be much fewer," the guard said.

Yin Xiang shook his head. "We cannot be certain it will be fewer. We cannot rule out the possibility of the Land of Honey's ninjas defecting."

"Is a few dozen ninjas really a war..." Tenten asked, confused. She had heard that in previous wars, ninja villages deployed hundreds or thousands of ninjas.

"Small nations are different from great nations. Having even one Jonin is a rarity. Moreover, there is a significant gap in strength between the Jonin of a small nation and those of a great nation. Two Jonin from a small nation might not even be able to handle one from a great nation. If they run into a Jonin like Guy, he could take on three of them at once."

"Hey, Shikaku, are you implying you don't want to make a move when the time comes!" Guy immediately caught the implication in Shikaku's words.

"It's too troublesome," Shikaku laughed.

"You... you guys..." The guard listened to their conversation. Were they actually planning to go?