Grass Seed and Grass Flower

"From the very beginning, they never saw me as a threat. They never even took me seriously..."

"Good thing they didn't."

"I also managed to escape using the cover created by the Explosive Tags..."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

At the foot of the mountain, a dark figure landed in the dense forest.

Revealing Tsuki's form.

He had escaped.

Once he steadied himself, he looked back at the mountain and frowned.

"Going back to the village now would be even more dangerous." He suddenly realized a problem: if he returned to the village alone, how would he explain it?

Even if the mission had failed, the village would need a detailed record of its progress. Was he supposed to say that he had killed Teacher Masada?

Leaving aside whether anyone would believe him, Tsuki did not want to expose his strength before figuring out the situation within the village, lest he invite trouble.

Clearly, this mission had been arranged by the village higher-ups.

"Grass Flower and Grass Seed?"

Tsuki fell into thought. When he saw the Grass Ninja attack Ryuga, he had already considered one possibility.

The village's political power was mainly divided into two factions.

One was the radical faction, known as Grass Seed.

The other was the moderate faction, Grass Flower.

His father had told him all this... His mother had mentioned it as well, though she did not know much.

As their name suggested, the people of Grass Seed were eager for quick success. They advocated restoring Kusagakure's former powerful status in the shinobi world. Although Tsuki could not recall any point in shinobi history where the Land of Grass had ever been formidable, those people seemed convinced that, in some bygone era, the village had been an existence feared by powers across the entire shinobi world. It inexplicably reminded him of certain insecure little countries back on Earth that fabricated history to find a source of confidence, then wholeheartedly believed in those ridiculous tales.

Even if it were true.

Kusagakure had already declined. It had to watch the expressions of the ninja villages of the great powers. Were the people of Grass Seed not afraid that all their jumping around would bring disaster upon them?

In contrast, Grass Flower advocated developing the village reasonably and progressing step by step.

At first glance, they seemed like decent people... but in truth, they were all mediocre incompetents.

Kusagakure survived by parroting others and scraping by as an errand runner for the Five Great Shinobi Villages. That, too, was the ideology of Grass Flower.

But the problem was that if they kept surviving in the shinobi world this way without making suitable changes, they would never be able to turn things around.

In short, whether it was Grass Flower or Grass Seed, Tsuki looked down on them both.

"If they acted this way, it was most likely Grass Seed's handiwork. The fact that they didn't try to kill us means they probably wanted to control us instead." After pondering for a moment, Tsuki roughly guessed the truth.

The three of them were the elite of this year's Ninja Academy graduates, especially given Ryuga's identity... If they could be controlled and used, it would be equivalent to gaining some fiercely loyal followers who might rise to prominence in the future.

That also explained Masada's position and stance.

"Before the rookie trial has even begun... they're already unable to restrain themselves from extending their claws."

Tsuki sneered.

Thinking about it this way, returning to the village now was basically suicide.

"The only way is Ryuga..."

Tsuki sighed.

Ryuga's family belonged to the Grass Flower faction. That was no secret in the village.

Now that he had offended Grass Seed, the only way to protect himself was to use Grass Flower's power.

If he could save Ryuga, this favor... would be enough to let him establish contact with the village higher-ups.

At the very least, when he faced something like this again in the future, he would have some backing to deal with it.

"Only two Explosive Tags left, and just two ninja tool scrolls..." Tsuki took stock of the items in his pack. Just escaping that battle had cost him quite a lot. Fortunately, his father had left behind some family assets.

"That guy might be even stronger than Masada."

Tsuki recalled the so-called bandit leader in the cave.

After resting briefly, Tsuki made up his mind and headed back the way he had come.

"That piece of trash died? Killed by his own student?"

"Hahahaha... What kind of joke from hell is this?"

"It's true. We brought Masada's corpse back."

"..."

Inside the cave, Big Beard waited for quite some time before his companions finally returned.

But they had not brought back Tsuki. Instead, they brought back Masada's remains. Even more absurdly, Masada had been personally slaughtered right before the two men's eyes.

And the brat had escaped.

"Do you two have any idea how much effort my lord spent arranging someone like him in the Ninja Academy? Grass Flower has always kept a close eye on things. That piece of trash had a significant role to play." The smile on Big Beard's face froze. He had genuinely thought his companions were joking.

A newly graduated brat killing a Chunin teacher sounded far too absurd.

In the distance, Ryuga and Yoshitaka, sprawled on the ground with bruised and swollen faces, were also stunned when they saw Masada's corpse.

They had both guessed who the others were talking about.

Tsuki had killed Teacher Masada?

What had they just heard?

Were they dreaming?

"We didn't expect things to develop like this either. We thought taking care of a brat would be easy, that it wouldn't come to this. But we didn't expect that brat to have so many tricks up his sleeve and to have hidden himself so well... Plus, he had prepared quite a few Explosive Tags and used the smoke and dust they created to..."

One Grass Ninja explained.

"Then why didn't you chase him?"

"Even if you were careless, it couldn't have been long before or after he completely left your sight. If you had truly wanted to, you definitely could have caught up to him."

Big Beard's voice was low as he stared at the two men.

"Uh..."

At that question, the two Grass Ninja were immediately at a loss for words.

Indeed, they had to admit... they were a little afraid.

That Tsuki was ruthless, and his combat experience did not seem like that of a rookie. In terms of individual strength, the two of them were even inferior to Masada, so...

"Hmph."

Big Beard saw through their thoughts at a glance, but he did not pursue the matter.

"From what you said, that brat has some brains and acts cautiously. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been the only one to escape... So much time has passed. He has most likely already fled down the mountain." Big Beard changed the subject. "His only choice is to return to the village and report this. When that happens, our people will naturally handle him."

"But... since you two are making the people in the village clean up your mess, you should think about how you'll explain yourselves to my lord."

With that, Big Beard turned and walked toward Ryuga and Yoshitaka, who had clearly been taught a lesson.

"What are you standing around for? Hurry into the mountains and untie all those people who were bound up."

Big Beard cursed.

"Yes."

The two Grass Ninja came back to their senses and immediately left.

"You're ninja from the village?"

At this point, even though they were not wearing forehead protectors, Ryuga had come to his senses and guessed the enemies' identities.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he raised his head to look at Big Beard.

"Oh? You still have the strength to talk?"

Big Beard stopped and looked down at the white-haired brat glaring at him, a sinister smile spreading across his face.

"Few ninja from the village can remain outside for long periods and completely lose contact. Much less commit evil this close to the village without being discovered. Not even rogue ninja..." Ryuga said in a low voice. "Since this is a conspiracy, you people most likely used the mission of permanently guarding the national border as an excuse to get away. Some higher-up specifically arranged it... right? Lackeys of Grass Seed!"

"Hahahaha!"

Big Beard laughed.

"You've got some brains, but it's already too late."

As he spoke, the burly man's fist slammed into Ryuga's cheek with a bang.

Knocking the boy to the ground.

Then he roughly grabbed Ryuga by the hair. "Don't worry. You two will be released soon."

"But first, we'll place curse marks on you."

The moment the words "curse marks" were spoken.

Ryuga's limbs turned ice-cold.

"Oh, right. Congratulations. Once you return to the village, you'll be able to submit a record stating that you completed the mission... For fledglings like you, that's no small achievement."

"..."