Mission to Konoha

Aside from explosive tags and a longsword, the other miscellaneous items were much cheaper, costing only around 3,000 ryo.

Just like that, 78,000 ryo was gone!

"Ninjas really are an incredibly expensive profession!" Chiba Shun said through gritted teeth.

Before becoming a Chunin, 78,000 ryo had been more than a year's income for him!

After buying the ninja tools, Chiba Shun began selecting children from the ninja academy to accompany him to Konoha.

First, he could not choose geniuses. The village would never agree to that.

Second, he could not choose children with parents. Their parents would never agree either.

Lastly, he could not choose anyone too old. The village had already invested resources in them, and they could not be wasted.

After all, in the eyes of everyone involved, including Chiba Shun himself, this trip to Konoha was a near-certain death sentence.

Chiba Shun could only select twenty-four younger orphans, either six or seven years old.

He gave each of them 5,000 ryo as payment for their lives.

Chiba Shun needed them to obey him, or at the very least, not cause trouble. If even one of them acted recklessly in Konoha, he would be dead for sure!

Twenty-four people came to a total of 120,000 ryo, and Chiba Shun paid that money himself.

As for whether those orphans immediately spent the money or gave it to friends, Chiba Shun did not care.

In short, Chiba Shun was now practically broke.

Twenty-four mediocre children, boys and girls alike, along with himself, formed a strange delegation preparing to visit Konoha.

Well, calling it a delegation was giving themselves too much credit. At most, it was an exchange group.

Half a month later, an exchange group made up of ninja academy students departed Kumogakure amid the villagers' discussions. Escorted by two elite squads, they headed for the Land of Fire.

Yugito and her mother stood among the crowd, watching Chiba Shun and the others leave.

After Chiba Shun and the others had gone far away, Yugito looked at her mother and asked, "Mom, can that Senior Shun really kill the White Fang of the Leaf?"

Yugito's mother shook her head. She had no hope of that.

Chiba Shun, unaware that Yugito had been watching him, had originally been in a terrible mood. However, when he spotted someone among the two elite squads, his attention shifted.

The future Fourth Raikage, A!

(The original work's naming for Kumogakure's Kage is rather strange: they are all called A. In fact, the Third Raikage was already called A, while the future Fourth Raikage's current name was never mentioned. To distinguish them, the future Fourth Raikage will simply be called A.)

"What a powerful presence!" Chiba Shun said enviously.

A was younger than him, right? He seemed to be twelve, yet judging by his presence, he should already be a Jonin.

Each of the two escort squads was led by a Jonin, with three Chunin members, a typical elite squad configuration. ANBU squads were generally arranged this way.

A was the captain of one of those squads, so he was definitely a Jonin.

A twelve-year-old Jonin was only slightly behind Kakashi from the original story.

Moreover, Chiba Shun believed that, given A's status, he had surely learned many special techniques from the Third Raikage. Even among Jonin, he definitely would not be weak.

Because of his special status, A naturally would not accompany Chiba Shun and the others into the Land of Fire. His group merely escorted them to the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire.

Eight Konoha ninjas were already waiting there.

Escorted by those two Konoha squads, Chiba Shun and the twenty-four children slowly headed toward Konoha.

Since the group included twenty-four children who had only recently refined chakra, they moved very slowly. Reaching Konoha in a single day was impossible.

That night, the group rested in a forest within the Land of Fire.

From the moment he entered the Land of Fire, Chiba Shun had been in a bad mood.

The Land of Lightning had no such dense forests, while the Land of Fire had them stretching in vast swathes.

The Land of Fire's soil was simply too fertile.

Possessing the best territory in the entire ninja world, the Land of Fire's wealth exceeded that of the other four great nations combined!

That was why Konoha had been able to fight one against four during the Second Shinobi World War!

Having lived in Kumogakure for fourteen years, Chiba Shun already considered himself a member of the Land of Lightning.

He dearly wished that these fertile lands belonged to the Land of Lightning.

If the Land of Lightning became prosperous, Kumogakure would receive more funding, Kumo ninjas would be paid better, and his own strength could improve as well.

But he could not reveal such thoughts now.

Not only could he not show them himself, he also had to restrain the children.

After the camp had been set up, Chiba Shun said to the twenty-four extremely nervous children, "Don't be nervous. We're here to negotiate with Konoha!"

"We can't disgrace the village!"

The children nodded, forcing themselves to remain calm.

But that was only temporary. Chiba Shun had brainwashed them too many times back at the ninja academy.

In their minds, Konoha was a dragon's den and tiger's lair, a place that devoured people. How could they possibly not be nervous?

Chiba Shun thought for a moment before saying, "Lord Raikage stands behind us. Konoha wouldn't dare do anything to us!"

"This time, when we go to Konoha, you only have one mission: eat!"

"Konoha is prosperous, unlike the village, where funding is scarce."

"Every extra bite you eat is the equivalent of saving the village one bite."

"Back in the village, we had trouble training because there wasn't enough food. But once we reach Konoha, we won't need to worry about that."

"Eat as much as you can, then train your bodies properly."

"You used to eat three meals a day. Once we get to Konoha, eat four or five."

"Work hard to turn food into strength!"

"When we return to the village in the future, I believe our strength will have improved noticeably!"

Having had their attention diverted, the children finally relaxed considerably and began imagining just how prosperous Konoha might be.

However, as orphans, they truly could not imagine how rich Konoha really was.

Naturally, these words did not escape the Konoha ninjas escorting them.

They exchanged looks and thought, Why did Kumo send someone like this as part of their exchange group?

Can someone like him really represent Kumogakure?

Shouldn't Kumo ninjas be hot-tempered muscleheads who start fighting at the drop of a hat?

However, they also knew that they could not damage the friendly relations between both sides, so they did not mock Chiba Shun and the others.

They were Hiruzen Sarutobi's direct subordinates and knew his policies.

Hiruzen Sarutobi genuinely wanted an alliance with Kumogakure.

He never wanted to experience the early days of the Second Shinobi World War, when Konoha had faced four enemies alone, ever again.

However, some people in Konoha held different views from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Late that night, Chiba Shun heard unusual movement from the escorting ninjas.

He did not leave his tent. Instead, he used a sensory ninjutsu.

He quickly confirmed the situation.

The eight people protecting them had not moved, but people were fighting two hundred meters away.

However, both sides appeared restrained. They were not fighting to the death, merely making tentative contact.

Chiba Shun sighed inwardly. Danzo again! Only a conflict between Root and ANBU would be this restrained!

Hiruzen Sarutobi, you'd better hold your ground!

Yet events often developed against Chiba Shun's wishes.

Just as he was hoping Hiruzen Sarutobi would be more decisive, he caught an extremely subtle chakra fluctuation.

Chiba Shun's mouth twitched. What were those eight people outside doing? Someone had gotten so close, yet they had not noticed?

Chiba Shun wanted to warn them, but after opening his mouth, he held back.

He did not want to expose his intelligence.

Chiba Shun looked at the children beside him, then hid at the edge of the tent and quietly waited for that person to approach.

"Who goes there?" The two escort squads were not completely useless. Just as the hidden person was about to approach the tent, they discovered him.

A taijutsu-type Jonin immediately charged over, while the other ninjas began preparing ninjutsu.

Seeing that he had been discovered, the man no longer approached. While dodging the others' attacks, he hurled a string of kunai toward Chiba Shun's tent.

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.

Seeing that the Konoha ninjas were truly unreliable, Chiba Shun finally acted.

Fortunately, acting now made it seem as though he had only defended himself after hearing the commotion, so it would not expose the fact that he knew sensory ninjutsu.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three explosions rang out, blasting the earthen wall apart and sending stones flying everywhere.

Chiba Shun was unharmed, but quite a few of the children he had brought were caught in the blast.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After the Jonin briefly exchanged blows with the attacker, the two sides separated.

Seeing that the operation had failed and that he was in danger of being surrounded, the attacker chose to retreat immediately.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Masked Konoha ANBU rushed over from the distance.

They did not enter the camp, instead standing guard around the area against any enemies who might be present.

Seeing that the danger had passed, Chiba Shun finally called out, "Everyone from Konoha, do you have any medical ninjas? Some of us are injured."

The Konoha side did not hesitate. Two medical ninjas immediately stepped forward to treat the children.

Since they had not been directly hit by the explosive tags and had merely been cut by flying stones, their injuries were not severe. They soon recovered under the medical ninjas' treatment.

The sight made Chiba Shun extremely envious. Kumogakure was not this lavish. Two squads actually had two medical ninjas.

It seemed Konoha had already followed Tsunade's idea and assigned medical ninjas to squads.

In truth, Chiba Shun had overthought it. Konoha did not have nearly that many medical ninjas.

It was only because these two squads were Hiruzen Sarutobi's direct subordinates that they had been the first to receive medical ninjas.

After the medical ninjas had treated everyone's injuries, Chiba Shun comforted the children again.

He sighed inwardly. Fortunately, no one had been lost this time.

Then he asked one of the Konoha squad captains, "Senior, at our current pace, how long will it take to reach Konoha?"

The ninja hesitated before answering, "Three to four days!"

Chiba Shun looked at the pitch-black night and thought, There probably won't be danger tonight, but what about the next two or three nights?

After thinking it over, he said, "I have a suggestion. How about each of you carries one child in your arms and another on your back? We can force-march toward Konoha through the night."

There had originally been only eight escorting ninjas, which was not enough.

But now two more ANBU squads had arrived, bringing the number of Konoha ninjas to sixteen. They could easily carry off all these children from Kumogakure.