C-Rank Mission

Thus, the C-rank missions Yin Jie carried out were mostly tasks such as wiping out bandits and rogue ninja to raise funds for Root.

For Yin Jie, who could already briefly exchange blows with an ordinary jonin and had initially mastered the "Orochimaru-style Substitution Technique," such missions posed no great risk.

Moreover, aside from the life-saving miracle that was the "Orochimaru-style Substitution Technique," the "Reverse Summoning Technique" was Yin Jie's other trump card for survival, and Orochimaru was aware of this as well.

When Yin Jie studied with Orochimaru in the laboratory, he would often summon Moonshade, who had already outgrown her kittenhood and could move about freely, hold her in his arms, shower her with affection, and cultivate the bond and mutual understanding between man and cat.

Thus, Orochimaru naturally knew that Yin Jie had signed a summoning contract with the Ninja Cat Clan and possessed a ninja cat of his own.

Although the Ninja Cat Clan rarely made an appearance in the shinobi world, Orochimaru, as the Third Hokage's disciple with the entire Hidden Leaf Village at his back and a wealth of knowledge himself, knew very well that the Ninja Cat Clan, which had cooperated with the Uchiha Clan for generations, was far from simple.

By the same logic, the Ninja Cat Clan must also possess the "Reverse Summoning Technique."

Therefore, based on all this.

During this period, Orochimaru had accepted an experimental assignment with a rather high level of secrecy and was busy every day. Thus, he did not accompany Yin Jie when he carried out C-rank missions.

Of course, in the few months since joining Root, Yin Jie had also carried out two B-rank missions.

However, on both of those B-rank missions, Orochimaru had dispatched a Shadow Clone to secretly follow him as a precaution.

After all, at this point in time, Orochimaru had yet to turn dark or fall from grace. He still cared greatly about Yin Jie, the disciple he had truly acknowledged.

Though he knew Yin Jie was strong enough, it was better to be safe than sorry...

Time soon reached June of Konoha's thirty-eighth year.

After routinely accepting a C-rank mission from Root, Yin Jie left the Hidden Leaf Village through a passage reserved for ANBU.

This could be said to be Yin Jie's easiest C-rank mission yet.

This time, his mission was to carry a piece of intelligence marked top secret and deliver it to Root personnel conducting an intelligence-gathering operation along the northeastern border of the Land of Fire.

After traveling for most of the day, Yin Jie arrived at a town in the northeastern Land of Fire, still some distance from the border.

Although he was carrying top-secret intelligence, this was ultimately only a C-rank mission, so Root had imposed no time limit on him.

Naturally, Yin Jie had no need to make use of the nighttime hours as well.

After all, only a good night's sleep would leave him well-rested enough to carry out the mission properly, wouldn't it?

Thus.

Beneath the lingering glow of the setting sun and the already dimming evening clouds, Yin Jie entered the fairly sizable town before him.

It had to be said that the Land of Fire truly deserved its reputation as the strongest and most developed nation in the shinobi world.

Just the neat, clean streets and the lively bustle of the crowds made it clear that the people here enjoyed a high quality of life.

And this was not even the truly prosperous heartland of the Land of Fire, but merely a relatively remote town in its northeast.

The sun gradually sank beneath the horizon.

Stalls and shops selling all manner of goods lined both sides of the street. Yin Jie strolled slowly through the somewhat bustling road, casually buying the various snacks that caught his eye while carefully taking in the distinctly different atmosphere of everyday life from that of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Before long, as the sun completely disappeared, lights throughout the town began to illuminate one after another. In just a few breaths, the entire town was bathed in light.

Under the glow of the lamps, Yin Jie continued toward the town center, and the scenery along the surrounding streets gradually began to change.

Taverns with large red lanterns hanging at their entrances appeared in his wandering gaze, but after giving them a faint glance, he paid them no more attention.

He had no particular fondness for alcohol and would not touch it unless necessary.

Of course, Tsunade was an exception.

After all, the two of them had formed a genuine bond over drinks.

Night gradually deepened...

Early the next morning.

After a simple breakfast, Yin Jie set off once more on the road to complete his mission.

By his rough estimate, he would reach the delivery location in about half a day.

Furthermore, he did not need to meet with the Root personnel conducting the intelligence-gathering operation there. He only needed to place the scroll he carried in a designated location.

One had to know that during the Second Shinobi World War, the Hidden Leaf Village had "inherited" the vast majority of the sealing techniques of the now-destroyed Uzumaki clan, with Root receiving the largest share.

As the commander who had led the rescue force to the Land of Whirlpools, Danzo Shimura could be said to have seized the choicest piece of the Uzumaki clan's enormous cake!

Therefore, the scroll Yin Jie carried, which contained top-secret intelligence, had naturally been sealed with a sealing technique.

In other words, only Root personnel who knew the proper method of unsealing it could read the intelligence recorded within the scroll.