"Satoru, am I just trash?"
Anko raised her head, her brownish-gray eyes dull and devoid of any color.
"Trash?" Hyuga Satoru gave a helpless smile. "To be honest, I don't understand why you would apply that word to yourself."
"But I really feel like I'm completely useless. Both you and Rin are so outstanding, and Shibi-sensei is a well-known Jonin among Jonin. Only I..."
Anko's voice grew lower and lower.
"Why would you think that way? Anko, you're actually already very outstanding."
Hyuga Satoru sighed, making his voice as gentle as possible.
"I just wanted to do something for everyone, even if it's the tiniest thing. When Rin and Kakashi started fighting, I really wanted to go help, but I couldn't beat Kakashi at all and could only run to find you."
"I really hate that feeling, that feeling of utter helplessness when I was clearly right there..."
Hyuga Satoru fell silent.
In the original story, having been able to be taken in as Orochimaru's disciple, Anko definitely counted as a genius. Yet under his influence, her trajectory had changed; she, who originally should have been Orochimaru's disciple, now seemed a bit mediocre among the masses.
And this gap was infinitely magnified when compared against himself and Uchiha Rin.
"Anko."
Hyuga Satoru took a breath, placing both hands on her shoulders as he spoke with as gentle a tone as he could manage.
"You're actually already very outstanding. It's just that among the likes of us, you might not be quite so conspicuous. As long as you find your own strengths and persist, you'll definitely become an outstanding ninja."
"Do you understand?"
"Mm."
Anko nodded, giving a soft acknowledgment.
Hyuga Satoru sighed inwardly. Perhaps after going back this time, he would need to discuss it with Shibi-sensei and set up some special training for Anko.
Under Hyuga Satoru's enlightenment, Anko's mood improved noticeably. The two paused for a brief moment before setting off to search for the last stronghold in the intel.
This location was quite secluded, and Hyuga Satoru searched for a long time without discovering any trace of them.
"It looks like the ANBU responsible for recon only deduced from that group of bandits' tracks that the enemy's stronghold was in this general area. As for the exact location, they probably hadn't found it either."
"This is getting a bit troublesome."
Hyuga Satoru curled his lip helplessly, looking up into the distance toward the spot where he and Aburame Shibi had agreed to rendezvous; it was already very far away from here.
If there still were no results, they would simply have to go back and join up with them first, then discuss countermeasures.
His gaze swept across the surroundings. This place was already very close to the coastline, and the view was completely unobstructed. There were only patches of forest around them, alongside a stretch of cliffs by the seaside.
If there were a bandit stronghold nearby, it should have been quite easy to spot.
"Strange." Hyuga Satoru couldn't help frowning.
Beside him, Anko suddenly spoke up in puzzlement: "Satoru, I don't quite understand. Why would that group of bandits set their stronghold here? This place doesn't seem very suitable for one."
Why set the stronghold here?
A flash of lightning seemed to spark in Hyuga Satoru's mind, and he vaguely felt he had grasped something.
Since that group of bandits had planted their stronghold around here, it naturally meant there was a place here that could fulfill their purpose. He quickly scanned his surroundings, his gaze gradually resting upon that cliff beside the coast.
"Anko, stay here and don't move around. I'm going to take a look over there."
"Mm."
Arriving at the foot of the cliff, Hyuga Satoru looked up at the rock face and activated his Byakugan, truly discovering some clues.
"This bunch of bandits actually has such perseverance."
The cliff had traces of being artificially carved. In the Byakugan's field of vision, he could clearly see iron spikes, ropes, and other footholds hammered into the rock face. Following those traces all the way up, he discovered a huge pit cave at the top of the cliff.
This was why his searches had continuously yielded nothing; if one did not come to the foot of the cliff, the ranges of both the Byakugan and Electromagnetic Sensing had no way to cover it.
Hyuga Satoru smiled. "No wonder they chose to use this place as a stronghold. At the top of the cliff, merchant ships coming from the nearby waters cannot escape their surveillance."
Having figured this out, Hyuga Satoru leaped upward, stepping onto the protruding rock face, and jumped again, continuously drawing closer to the top of the cliff.
The strength of that group of bandits was not very strong. Using a heavy sniper rifle from afar to pick them off took too much time; entering the interior of the stronghold directly was a more time-saving approach.
In the forest.
Anko couldn't help growing anxious.
"Satoru has been gone for so long. Why hasn't he come back yet? Could he have run into an accident?"
The location they were at was very far from Konoha, and it was also the most chaotic area in the Land of Fire, where ninjas from other villages frequently prowled.
This was precisely why the Hokage had arranged for them to exterminate the bandits.
Hyuga Satoru's prolonged failure to return made her unable to help worrying.
Right at that moment, a familiar voice rang out, finally letting her hanging heart relax.
"Anko, let's go join up with Shibi-sensei."
Hyuga Satoru walked out from the forest, speaking to her with a smile.
"Has the mission already been completed?"
"Mm. Now we just need to meet up with Shibi-sensei and it's over. With his and Rin's abilities, they should have resolved theirs by now too."
"Is that so? Come to think of it, I still didn't help with anything at all."
Anko couldn't help letting out a sigh.
"Don't say that, Anko. If you hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have discovered the location of their stronghold at all, and right now I'd probably still be running around in circles like a headless fly."
"Let's hurry up and go rendezvous with Shibi-sensei."
"Mm." Anko gave a soft acknowledgment.
The agreed-upon rendezvous spot was very far from here. After walking for a while, Hyuga Satoru looked back, gazing at the gray, hazy sky above the sea surface, where the flicker of lightning could be faintly seen within it.
Hyuga Satoru's brow furrowed.
"It looks like it's going to rain heavily. Let's pick up our pace."
The two increased their speed, rapidly threading through the forest.
After walking for a period of time, Hyuga Satoru's expression suddenly turned grave. He grabbed Anko by his side and said in a low voice.
"Wait, Anko, there are two ninjas from another village ahead."
Hearing this, Anko also stopped, looking toward Hyuga Satoru with some tension.
"Satoru, are they enemies?"
"It's not clear yet, but their strength is probably formidable."
Hyuga Satoru's expression was quite solemn. Just a moment ago, he had suddenly detected two extremely powerful Biological Magnetic Fields breaking into his perception-they were definitely immensely powerful ninjas.
The Byakugan quietly activated. After seeing the headband design on the opponents' foreheads and the ninja blade on one person's back, Hyuga Satoru involuntarily drew in a sharp breath.
"Anko, we're retreating. The other party is the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?!
Hearing these five words, Anko's heart felt as though it had been fiercely clenched by a giant hand.
Those were Kirigakure's strongest human weapons, and every single member of the Seven Swordsmen was an extremely formidable Elite Jonin. As for their cruelty and bloodshed, even far away in the Land of Fire, she had long since heard of them.
"Are both of them from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?" Anko swallowed a mouthful of saliva, asking involuntarily.
"No, the other one isn't, but his strength might be even more terrifying."
Hyuga Satoru silently held his breath. The person not carrying a ninja blade possessed a Biological Magnetic Field even more exuberant than Aburame Shibi's; even if Shibi-sensei were here, he would probably not dare to face the two of them simultaneously.
Uncertain whether the other party possessed sensory abilities, Hyuga Satoru did not dare to make too big of a commotion, terrified of being tracked down by them.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze into ice, and the two's movements slowed down as well. Holding their breaths, they slowly fell back.
Right at that moment, the two figures in the Byakugan's view moved.
Their speed was quite swift, and they were continuously closing in on this direction.
"Damn it! Were we noticed after all?"
Hyuga Satoru's expression was exceptionally ugly.
Before you continue