Land of Rice Fields, Hyuga Village.
Shinichi returned to the village from the capital with Scarface.
Just inside the gate, Shinichi stopped.
He looked at the Hyuga ninja guarding the gate beside him.
"Go call out every ninja in the village."
"Have everyone assemble in the clearing at the center of the village."
The guard acknowledged the order, immediately turned, and ran into the village.
This time, every Hyuga ninja in the village would be mobilized.
Shinichi and Scarface set off toward the clearing as well.
Before long, all the ninja had arrived.
They stood in the clearing at the center of the village, forming a dense mass of ranks.
Shinichi walked to the front of the crowd and stopped.
Scarface stopped as well, standing obediently behind him to one side.
Looking out at the Hyuga ninja before him, Shinichi spoke without preamble.
"Our Hyuga Village has only just been established. On this trip to the capital, I accepted a mission for our village."
"That mission is to eliminate the bandits and wandering ninja within the Land of Rice Fields."
"The Daimyo and several noble families have put up a total of three hundred million ryo."
"The deadline is six months."
"Within six months, our Hyuga Village must eliminate every bandit and wandering ninja within the Land of Rice Fields."
"This is the first mission our Hyuga Clan has accepted since establishing a shinobi village."
"I guaranteed our employers that if we don't do this job properly, our Hyuga Village won't take a single ryo."
The Hyuga ninja before him abruptly straightened their backs.
Everyone shouted in unison.
"We guarantee we'll complete the mission!"
Shinichi looked at the Hyuga ninja before him.
"We'll start forming squads now."
"Four people to a squad."
"Jonin and chunin will be squad leaders, and genin will be squad members."
"Each leader will take three members."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd began to move.
Fewer than thirty jonin stepped out of the ranks first.
Then more than sixty chunin stepped forward as well.
They turned to face the remaining Hyuga ninja.
Each of these squad leaders beckoned, selecting three members.
The Hyuga ninja selected immediately stepped out of the ranks.
They quickly walked over to stand behind their respective leaders.
The large, densely packed formation rapidly dispersed.
The Hyuga ninja divided into more than ninety squads.
The four-person squads formed up again, one after another, with their leaders in front and their members behind.
Shinichi looked at the more than ninety squad leaders before him.
"Once you reach your assigned area, activate your Byakugan immediately and locate the bandits."
"Whenever you find bandits or wandering ninja, eliminate them all."
"Leave none alive!"
The more than ninety squad leaders shouted in unison:
"Yes!"
After answering, they turned to their own squad members.
"Move out!"
The squad leaders set off with their respective members.
Squad after squad headed toward the village entrance in orderly procession.
They passed through the gates of Hyuga Village and swiftly dispersed along the mountain trails of the Land of Rice Fields.
Scarface led three squad members through a large mountain for most of the day.
The veins around one member's eyes bulged as he kept his Byakugan active.
"Captain, there's a cave halfway up the mountain."
He pointed at a cliff above them.
"Branches are covering the entrance. There are dozens of bandits hiding inside."
"Two bandits are standing watch. The rest are all inside."
Scarface looked up at the sky.
"We'll move after dark!"
Once darkness had fully fallen, the four silently crept halfway up the mountain.
Two squad members lunged forward under cover of darkness and clamped their hands over the sentries' mouths from behind.
A pulse of concealed force from their palms sent both sentries slumping to the ground.
Scarface tore away the branches blocking the entrance and charged into the cave first.
The bandits inside had only just been startled awake and had not even had time to reach for their blades.
The four Hyuga ninja were already upon them.
With chakra coating their fingertips, they struck repeatedly at the bandits' chakra pathways.
A chorus of muffled cries of pain came from the cave.
The whole thing took only a few moves.
Dozens of bandits lay scattered across the ground, without even the strength to move.
Not one escaped.
Another squad was passing through a small village.
Their leader was a young chunin serving as a squad leader for the first time.
A few scattered households lived in the village, looking like ordinary farming families.
One squad member swept his gaze over the mud houses with his Byakugan active.
"Captain, something's wrong here."
He pointed at a courtyard ahead.
"There are quite a few long blades hidden in that household's cellar, along with stolen goods."
"Five people are living in the house. One of them has chakra."
The young leader understood at once.
These bandits had changed into farmers' clothes and hidden themselves in the village.
"Move."
The four Hyuga ninja kicked open the courtyard gate and charged straight into the house.
The people inside were startled.
The wandering ninja reacted fastest, abruptly raising his hands to form hand seals and use ninjutsu.
The young leader darted in front of him in a single step.
Forming hand seals took time.
Before the wandering ninja could finish his seals, the young leader's chakra-coated fingertips had already struck.
A palm slammed hard into his body.
The Gentle Fist's force drove straight into his chakra pathways.
The chakra the wandering ninja had just gathered was cut off all at once.
His ninjutsu failed to activate, his legs gave way, and he dropped heavily to his knees, without even the strength to resist.
The remaining bandits disguised as farmers did not even have time to fetch their blades from the cellar.
The other three squad members rushed forward, striking repeatedly with Gentle Fist.
After just a few moves, every bandit in the house lay on the ground.
Squads returned one after another to report at the village gate.
A four-person squad quickly stepped across the threshold and approached Shinichi.
The squad leader wiped the sweat from his face and cupped his hands toward Shinichi.
"Clan head, the bandits on the mountain to the east have all been eliminated."
Shinichi nodded.
The leader turned to call to his squad members.
"Let's go. On to the next area."
The four turned and left through the village gate again, heading deep into the mountain forests.
Before long, other squads came running back.
"Clan head, all the wandering ninja in the river valley to the south have been eliminated."
"Not a soul was left in the bandit stronghold on the northern hill."
Squad after squad of Hyuga ninja came and went through the village entrance.
After reporting and resting briefly, the leaders immediately took their members out of the village again.
One month passed.
Two months passed.
The activity in the mountain forests across the Land of Rice Fields gradually died down.
The bandits hiding deep inside caves were found without fail by the Byakugan.
The wandering ninja disguised as farmers and holed up in villages were also rooted out, household by household, and had their chakra pathways ruptured.
The bandits and wandering ninja of the Land of Rice Fields dwindled, area by area.
The highway robberies that travelers once encountered every few miles were now nowhere to be found.
The number of travelers on the main roads grew by the day.
In the third month, some strangers appeared outside the gates of Hyuga Village.
They were several families of commoners from the Land of Rice Fields.
They carried tattered bundles and led scrawny children by the hand, their straw sandals worn through.
The man at the front had had everything in his home looted by bandits two years earlier, and his house had been burned down as well.
While fleeing famine, he had heard from passing merchants that there was a Hyuga Village in the southern Land of Rice Fields, where the surrounding area was exceptionally peaceful, without a single bandit.
The man gritted his teeth and brought his entire family, young and old, all the way there on foot.
They stood fearfully beneath the tall wooden walls surrounding Hyuga Village, staring at the heavy gates, not daring to approach rashly.
The Hyuga ninja guarding the gate walked over and asked a few questions.
The man dropped to his knees with a thud and begged to be allowed to settle nearby.
Shinichi stood on a high slope within the village, watching the families from afar.
He summoned his eldest uncle and told him to mark out a clearing outside the village and build a few earthen houses for these commoners to live in.
Over the following days, more commoners arrived with their families in tow.
Some had been robbed of everything at home and had nowhere to go, while others had heard this was the safest place and came to settle.
Before anyone knew it, a large cluster of commoners' cottages had sprung up outside the village.
A few months later, there were almost no bandits left in the Land of Rice Fields.
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