Stirring After Stillness

Clap, clap, clap!

"Good kid. Other ninja spend their entire lives creating ninjutsu, yet for you it's as easy as eating and drinking. If I'm not mistaken, these sword energies based on the Gentle Fist Technique already possess the power of an A-rank ninjutsu. Do you have even stronger moves to follow?"

Tsunade, who had appeared beside them at some point, applauded after watching the sparring match and voiced her doubts.

"You flatter me, Teacher. It took me nearly a year to come up with it!" Neji said with a grin.

"Give you an inch and you take a mile!" Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Teacher truly has a discerning eye. This ninjutsu is called the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword. At its full power, it naturally produces twenty-four streams of sword energy, each with different strength.

"When all of them are unleashed, they form the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Formation. The sword energies cycle according to the solar terms—sometimes a strike like spring thunder, sometimes dense as rain, sometimes with the force of an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Its ultimate technique can reach S-rank."

Neji explained calmly.

"Just as I thought. I noticed earlier that every stream of sword energy felt different. If they were combined, they would be impossible to guard against!" Tsunade nodded.

"Young Master, I'm too useless. I can't bring out the power of the Solar Term Sword!" The young woman silently stepped to Neji's side and spoke self-reproachfully after hearing this.

"It's all right, Sister Xiao Xi. You've only trained for two years. Reaching this level already makes you a genius, and you now possess the strength of an ordinary Chunin. You've already exceeded my expectations!" Neji comforted her.

"Yes, Young Master. I'll keep working hard!" The dim light in Xiao Xi's eyes brightened again. It seemed the boy's approval was the hope of her life.

"Enough, enough. My teeth are about to fall out from all this sweetness. Anyway, what are you planning to do next?" Tsunade asked casually.

Neji's heart stirred. He carefully studied Tsunade's expression and found her gaze restrained, though her entire body carried a vigorous vitality. After considering her tone, he finally understood. After two years of cultivating her body and mind, she was becoming unable to remain still.

Only now did Tsunade show a little of the bearing she had possessed as one of the Legendary Sannin.

"Teacher, Xiao Xi and I may have the strength now, but we lack real combat training. Next, we plan to take on some missions at the Bounty Exchange and temper our practical combat experience!"

Neji had already planned this, and he was simply using it as an excuse to say it aloud now.

Although his several sparring sessions with his shadow in the Inner Landscape meant he did not truly lack combat experience, he had ultimately not undergone enough baptism by blood and fire. He lacked a trace of killing intent.

As for why he was not returning to Konoha, Neji had tentatively brought it up before, only to be refused by Tsunade.

Neji knew that as long as the Third Hokage remained alive, Tsunade would not return to Konoha. The deeply rooted grudge in her heart would not be so easily erased.

Apart from Konoha, if they wanted to take missions now, only the Bounty Exchanges spread across the major countries of the Ninja World could provide them.

"Good! I happen to be a little short on cash, so let's take a few missions for fun. I'll leave it to you!" Tsunade clapped her hands, then strode away without another care.

Neji spread his hands and said to Xiao Xi, "Sister Xiao Xi, take a rest for now. We'll be busy soon enough!"

The Bounty Exchanges in the various major countries all looked more or less the same. They were established in remote towns or directly out in the wilderness, keeping a low profile and remaining inconspicuous. It took Neji some effort to find one.

Looking at the small building before him, Neji thought for a moment, decided against disguising himself, and walked straight inside.

With a Shadow Rank expert backing him, he could afford to be this bold.

Neji did not feel the slightest shame. Was he supposed to carry a gun and still be afraid to fight?

The Bounty Exchange was somewhat cramped. There was only a counter, an attendant behind it, several people lurking in groups of two or three, and mission notices hanging on the wall.

The instant Neji entered, all kinds of gazes swept over him without concealment—confused, cruel, mocking—but none were timid. These people lived by licking blood from their blades. To them, living one more day was enough.

Ignoring those scrutinizing eyes, Neji looked toward the mission slips on the wall.

Sure enough, the top listings were all bounties for assassinating the Kage of various countries, each offering astronomical rewards. Neji skipped over them all. To his disappointment, he did not see one for himself.

At last, one mission caught Neji's attention. It stated that a village on the border of the Land of Hot Water had been massacred, with its women and children missing. There were traces of ninja activity at the scene, and the reward was one hundred thousand ryo.

Neji guessed that the mission had been issued by the Land of Hot Water. Since Hot Water Shadow Village had long existed in name only, they probably did not want to spend the money to post the mission in a major country, so they tried their luck at the Bounty Exchange. They had nothing to lose anyway.

Neji lightly tapped the counter twice and said, "Give me the intelligence on the Land of Hot Water mission."

"Certainly, please wait a moment, customer!" The man behind the counter said with a smile. He bent down and rummaged beneath the counter, then soon stood up with a scroll.

"That'll be five thousand ryo!" the man said with a smile, holding the scroll.

Slap!

Expressionless, Neji pulled out a stack of money and slapped it onto the counter.

The gazes fixed on Neji immediately grew several degrees hotter. A vicious smile rose in his heart. So the experience packs have delivered themselves.

"Please keep it safe, customer. Walk safely!" The man handed Neji the scroll with a smile.

After leaving the Bounty Exchange, Neji walked at an unhurried pace. The tails behind him seemed to know that he could detect them, and they followed him without making any effort to hide.

After walking for a while, Neji stopped and turned around.

"So the young master of the Hyuga Clan comes to mix around at the Bounty Exchange too? Hahaha! Hahahahaha!" The bandaged man leading them laughed wantonly.

This was a common outfit among wandering ninja. Bandages were useful for many things, after all.

"Enough nonsense. Kill him!" One of the other two drew a pitted blade and flickered toward Neji, slashing at him. His swordsmanship was fierce. Though it lacked form, it was the most practical sort of chopping technique.

The other flickered behind Neji. "Lightning Release: Earth Walk!" A bright blue bolt of lightning shot directly toward Neji along the ground.

The bandaged man stopped laughing as well and flung several shuriken from his hand. The Explosive Tags tied to their ends had already begun to glow with fire.

For a moment, Neji was surrounded by the three men, but he was not surprised in the slightest, because this was the true Ninja World.

Boom—

Neji stomped once, and monstrous strength instantly surged into the ground. The flat earth rose like waves and exploded at once, extinguishing the glow of the Lightning Release.

Borrowing the rebound force, Neji flickered away from the shuriken.

Boom, boom, boom!

The fire from the exploding tags blasted out waves of air, but Neji's figure had long vanished from the center of the explosions.

The three men exchanged no words. They stood back-to-back and warily watched their surroundings.

Those who dared make a living through robbery naturally were not mediocrities. Especially ninja who dared target the Hyuga Clan—either they were desperadoes, or they possessed real skill.

Through the earlier exchange, Neji had sensed that all three possessed strength at the Chunin level. Their abilities each leaned in different directions, but their combat awareness was not the least bit inferior to that of ninja from the hidden villages.

"Missing-nin? Why does this feel like I hit the jackpot?"

Neji muttered as the chakra flowing through his palms accelerated another degree.