Sudden Change

According to the village's information, they should be able to hear the creek flowing as they neared the stronghold.

That meant the stronghold had likely been built alongside the creek.

Thus, father and son made their way upstream along Shantan Creek, searching with their Byakugan activated.

Finally!

After taking care of several hidden sentries, they found the bandits' den near the junction of several mountain peaks.

"It's actually this far from the location where the incident happened, as described by the client. No wonder we couldn't find it."

Hyuga Kaze was quite surprised.

"Perhaps the people who harmed the client's father weren't even from this stronghold," Hyuga Qingchuan said.

"That would fall outside the scope of our mission." Hyuga Kaze shrugged.

He took out the mission scroll and pointed at the information written on it.

"According to the client, his father was captured by a group of bandits a year ago."

"Not only did they refuse to release him after receiving the ransom, they tortured him to death."

"He investigated for a long time before tracing it to Mountain Dragon Stronghold."

Hyuga Kaze looked up and pointed at the sign above Mountain Dragon Stronghold.

"Look, it says Mountain Dragon Stronghold. That matches."

"And look at those barely clothed women inside. Even if they aren't the ones, we'd still be doing a good deed by wiping out evil."

Hyuga Qingchuan nodded at that.

With his Byakugan active, Hyuga Kaze looked over the patrolling bandits and counted them one by one.

"One, two, three... fifty-one."

"Adding the few from earlier, the numbers match. A few of them also match the facial features in the images provided by the client. There's no mistake!"

"Forty-nine are outside, and two are inside the cave."

"The mission objective is to wipe them all out. We can't let a single one escape. If even one gets away, the mission fails."

Worried that Hyuga Qingchuan lacked experience with missions, he explained everything in exceptional detail.

Only after seeing that Hyuga Qingchuan had no objections did he continue.

"We'll take out the forty-nine outside first, then enter the cave and block off the two inside. Any problem with that?"

"No problem," Hyuga Qingchuan replied.

"Then it'll be the same as before. Leave the first part to me, and use your Spirit Bow to catch any that slip through."

"Alright!"

"Move!"

The moment he spoke, father and son leaped into the stronghold together.

Hyuga Qingchuan stood atop the stronghold wall, looking down as he monitored the entire place.

Hyuga Kaze threw several shuriken, took out the two sentries in the watchtower, and then jumped into the stronghold.

The bandits inside saw two ninja suddenly break in.

They immediately scattered in panic. "Ninja are attacking! Run!"

Kunai in hand, Hyuga Kaze slaughtered them as easily as chopping vegetables, not even needing to use Gentle Fist.

As the bandits fled in all directions, Hyuga Kaze cut them down while using ninja tools to strike those who had run farther away.

He spotted someone hiding motionlessly among the leaves on the far side of a large tree.

He quickly pulled out several kunai and tossed them into the air in rapid succession.

The kunai continuously collided and crossed paths in midair, changing direction.

It was the Uchiha Style: Throwing Technique Hyuga Kaze had learned.

After a series of collisions in the air, the final kunai accurately pierced the bandit's head behind the tree.

The bandit fell straight down.

Hyuga Qingchuan stood on the stronghold wall, silently watching Hyuga Kaze.

Seeing that more than a dozen bandits had already fled far away and that Hyuga Kaze was clearly unable to pursue them,

he raised the Spirit Bow, drew the string, and condensed arrows of light to kill them.

"Sure enough, it's a good thing you came along. Otherwise, a few of them really would have escaped."

Hyuga Kaze sighed and spoke to Hyuga Qingchuan.

If he had come alone this time, there would have been no danger.

But if these bandits scattered and fled, he definitely would not have been able to kill every last one.

Then he said enviously, "That ability of yours is really convenient."

Hyuga Qingchuan smiled. "Let's go. There are still two left."

Father and son entered the cave together.

The cave twisted and turned. Without their Byakugan, it truly would have been difficult to navigate.

But precisely because of that, the sounds outside could barely be heard within.

The two bandits did not realize that ninja had come for them until father and son reached them.

Seeing that the passage leading outside had been blocked, the two men knew they had reached a dead end.

They raised their swords, shouted incoherently, and charged forward, intending to make a final desperate stand.

But before absolute strength, it was futile.

Gentle Fist chakra gathered around Hyuga Qingchuan's hands, and through the vision of his Byakugan,

he dodged the two men's attacks before heavily pressing his palms against their chests.

The two men went limp in an instant.

After dealing with the enemies, Hyuga Qingchuan saw that there was quite a lot of stuff in the cave.

So he and Hyuga Kaze began taking inventory of the things inside.

As the place where the bandits stored their loot, it truly contained quite a few valuable items.

A preliminary estimate put the total value at tens of thousands of ryo.

Hyuga Kaze burst into cheerful laughter at the sight.

"This is the hidden reward of this kind of mission."

As he sorted through the items, he explained the rules to Hyuga Qingchuan.

"During the course of a mission, all confiscated items"

"are considered the property of the mission executors by default."

As he spoke, he took out a sealing scroll and sealed all the sorted items inside it.

Suddenly!

The smile on his face froze as he looked suspiciously at the floor.

He stepped on it uncertainly several times, confirming that the floor beneath his feet was indeed unusual.

He reached down and felt around, then gently pressed.

Rumble!

A brick in the wall shifted, revealing a hidden compartment behind it.

It was actually a mechanism!

He reached inside. The hidden compartment was covered by a layer of lead, no wonder the Byakugan could not see through it.

He took out the scroll inside, untied its binding, and slowly unrolled it.

"Chakra Refinement Technique?"

Hyuga Kaze's brows furrowed, his expression turning grave.

The handwriting was neat and flawless. It did not look like something wandering ninja or bandits could possess.

Moreover, the material and style of the scroll looked like they came from the Land of Earth.

"Dad, there's another scroll here."

Hyuga Qingchuan had also discovered a small mechanism.

He took out the scroll inside.

"Earth Flow Wall Technique?"

Hyuga Kaze's brow furrowed even more deeply as he turned to Hyuga Qingchuan.

"See if there's anything else."

Father and son activated their Byakugan and searched every corner carefully.

A moment later.

They found another three or four hidden compartments and took out quite a few scrolls from within.

They opened them one by one and found depictions of the mountains, rivers, terrain, and strategic locations throughout the Land of Fire.

"These are all unfinished."

Hyuga Qingchuan was deeply shaken as he looked at those alarming scrolls.

These were the ones that had yet to be completed and sent out.

Who knew how many completed ones had already been delivered?

It seemed that this bandit den had been taken over by spies from the Land of Earth.

And they had been gathering geographical intelligence on the Land of Fire for quite some time.

Judging by the timeline, the Shantan Village chief had said that the people of Mountain Dragon Stronghold had not come down the mountain to raid for the past year.

Most likely, the spies had restrained these bandits out of fear of attracting attention, causing them to curb their behavior.

"Let's go! We need to report this intelligence to the Hokage immediately."

Hyuga Kaze gathered all the items, grabbed Hyuga Qingchuan, and hurried outside.

After passing through the winding cave passage, they finally reached the entrance.

"Well, well, it seems someone has raided our old nest."

Just as they were about to rush out of the cave entrance, a voice came from outside.

"Go!"

Hyuga Kaze shouted as he quickened his pace.

Earth Release: Earth Pillar Blast.

The ninjutsu outside was faster than Hyuga Kaze.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions suddenly erupted from the ground, rushing toward Hyuga Qingchuan and his father.