Arriving

Back home.

Qian sat quietly for a while, then began packing his gear.

Although they were setting out tomorrow, he could prepare his equipment early so he would not be scrambling when the time came, and he could check for anything he had missed afterward.

Taking over his Ninja Tool Pouch, Qian began putting things inside.

Six Kunai, fifteen Shuriken, one coil of steel wire, five Exploding Tags, one jar of ointment for treating external injuries, two rolls of bandages, three commonly used antidote pills, and one pack of Soldier Pills.

As for other things like maps, Furukawa would bring them, so he did not need to worry about it.

After finishing all this, Qian seized the time to train.

Since he did not have to go on any missions today, he could complete his training early, and then he would be able to store up Chakra for tomorrow's mission.

Although it was only a simple bandit-suppression mission, they would be leaving the village after all, so Qian would not be careless.

This was wartime, and who knew how many enemy-nation ninja had infiltrated the Land of Fire Territory.

Although their main tasks were to undermine the stability of the Land of Fire, strike at logistics transport lines, assassinate important figures, and gather intelligence, who knew whether they would casually kill them if they ran into them?

No matter how strong Furukawa was, he was only a jonin. If he were surrounded, he would not be able to protect their lives.

Of course, the more likely possibility was that the two sides would never meet.

That way, they could complete their own mission in peace.

But what if?

Qian never pinned his hopes on luck, so the preparations that needed to be made could not be lacking.

Cramming at the last minute to learn a new ninjutsu was unrealistic, and the ninjutsu he had already learned could not possibly be upgraded in such a short time.

His greatest trump card—the Sharingan—was not something that would awaken just because he wanted it to.

Therefore, aside from equipment, the most important thing was to ensure that before departure, he had sufficient Chakra in his body.

That required him to complete today's training as quickly as possible, so that he could store Chakra for tomorrow's operation.

At that thought, Qian closed his eyes and began refining Chakra.

Time passed, minute by minute and second by second.

The room gradually grew quiet, leaving only Qian's faint breathing.

The next day.

Morning.

A quarter before ten, Qian arrived at Konoha's gate.

From a distance, he saw Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko.

The two of them were fully armed today as well, but their spirits were even worse than yesterday.

Seeing Qian walk over, Ryosuke forced a smile. After covering his mouth and yawning, he finally said, "Why are you here so early today?"

Qian did not answer that question. Instead, he asked back, "Looking at you two, did you not sleep well last night?"

Hearing Qian's question, Mizutani Shizuko, who had dark circles under her eyes, lowered her head in embarrassment. Ryosuke also said awkwardly, "No, it's nothing."

Clearly, they did not want Qian to know about their predicament.

After all, Qian looked no different from usual. In fact, he seemed even more energetic.

That made them feel somewhat inferior.

Just as the three of them were each lost in their own thoughts, Furukawa's figure appeared before them.

"Teacher!" ×3

Qian and the other two greeted him.

"Mm."

Furukawa nodded. His gaze swept over the three of them, taking in their condition, but he did not say anything more. He only asked, "Is your equipment ready?"

"It's ready."

The three answered in unison.

"Good. Then we set out now."

With that, he took the lead and dashed outside the village.

Seeing this, Qian and the others immediately followed.

Along the way, no one spoke. Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko's originally uneasy hearts gradually calmed amid the dull journey.

Several hours later.

The sky gradually darkened.

A few hundred meters away from Little Black Mountain, Qian and the others stopped.

After traveling continuously for so long without resting, even though their overall speed had not been fast, everyone was still utterly exhausted.

Well.

More accurately, Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko were utterly exhausted—especially Mizutani Shizuko, who was almost ready to collapse.

Of the four of them, her physical constitution was the weakest.

If she had not been holding herself up through sheer conviction, she probably would have fallen long ago.

Furukawa naturally went without saying. This level of exertion was nothing at all to a Jonin.

After Qian's physical constitution improved a little, it had also surpassed that of an ordinary person. Added to his abundant Chakra, even after running until now, aside from his breathing being slightly heavier, he was still basically fine.

As for Ryosuke—

His condition was a little better than Mizutani Shizuko's, and he still had a bit of strength left, but asking him to fight would be far too much.

Fortunately, Furukawa was not so deranged as to make them immediately go wipe out the bandits. Otherwise, Qian would have had to act alone.

After they stopped, Furukawa swept his gaze over the three of them and said, "Make the most of the time to rest and recover. In two hours, we begin the mission."

Hearing this, Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko dropped straight onto the ground.

The two of them opened their Ninja Tool Pouches, each took out a Soldier Pill and stuffed it into their mouth, crunching it to pieces before swallowing. Then they immediately seized the time to rest.

Qian likewise swallowed a Soldier Pill, but he did not rest. Instead, he climbed up to the treetop, and while night had not yet fully fallen, took out a Monocular Telescope and observed the direction of Little Black Mountain.

He had specially bought this telescope just this morning. Without scouting-type ninjutsu, he could only use this for the time being.

As for why he still had to be so cautious when Furukawa was right there beside them?

The reason was simple. On the road, Furukawa had already said that after they arrived here, he would no longer provide any opinions or suggestions, nor would he take action during the mission. Everything would depend on them.

It was precisely because of this that Qian was so cautious.

Fortunately, those Mountain Bandits had not received news of their arrival and launched an attack first. During the time he observed them, they all stayed peacefully on the mountain.

What?

You asked how the Mountain Bandits could possibly receive that news?

That was hard to say.

What if Furukawa wanted to increase the mission's difficulty and deliberately leaked the information? Wouldn't the other side know then?

For a Jonin, doing something like that behind their backs would not be difficult.

Thankfully, Furukawa had not gone mad to that extent.

In truth, Qian had misread him.

Furukawa did place relatively high importance on his students' actual combat ability, and he also wanted to train them into capable shinobi as quickly as possible, so they would have a slightly better chance of staying alive on the battlefield later.

But he would also consider what his students could endure.

Clearly, apart from Qian, both Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko were already approaching their limit under the heavy pressure, both psychologically and physically. There was absolutely no need to do anything unnecessary.

So, after seeing Qian's actions, even Furukawa, who usually presented himself as stern, could not help the corner of his mouth twitching.

Clearly, he had already guessed what Qian was thinking.

"Seriously, am I that deranged?"

Furukawa thought back over his own actions and muttered inwardly, It doesn't seem like it... right?

Still, he found himself appreciating Qian even more.

It was one thing for him to train hard. The key was that he was neither arrogant nor impetuous, and he handled things seriously and cautiously.

No matter when or where, caution was something a ninja had to have.

If he had to choose the one person among the three most likely to survive the battlefield, Furukawa would definitely choose Qian.

Because his personality gave him the highest chance of survival.

As for strength?

Sorry, but on a battlefield like a meat grinder, even Jonin might not necessarily be able to protect their own lives, let alone Genin.

"Ah, I hope they can all survive."

With a soft sigh, Furukawa withdrew his gaze from Qian, flashed over to another large tree, and looked into the distance.

His eyes seemed to pass through the mountains, rivers, and forests, seeing the ninja of various villages locked in slaughter on the front lines.