Clearing out the outposts

Early the next morning, Bieshu Feifan and the other three packed up, ready to enter the Land of Rivers and wipe out the Sunagakure Outpost.

Uchiha Qiongyue watched Dajirō and Feng You, who looked both excited and nervous, his heart full of worry.

After a night of thought, he was certain that the village was deliberately targeting him with this mission.

Otherwise, they would not have sent three newly graduated Genin who could not possibly keep up with him.

Apart from Bieshu Feifan, the other two were brats who had still been wasting their days at the Ninja Academy just a few days ago.

They were clearly cannon fodder deliberately assigned to hold him back.

And although Bieshu Feifan was not purely cannon fodder, he had clashed with the Uchiha.

Uchiha Qiongyue knew about that, and he also knew that the Uchiha had paid over ten million in compensation over it.

Bieshu Feifan seemed more like someone deliberately assigned for Uchiha Qiongyue to vent his anger on.

As long as Uchiha Qiongyue attacked a comrade, whether he died on this mission or not, the Konoha High Command would have an excuse to move against the Uchiha Clan.

What a vicious scheme.

Uchiha Qiongyue had thought all night before finally figuring these things out.

And he had only figured them out thanks to Bieshu Feifan's reminder yesterday.

Now, as Bieshu Feifan watched the thoughtful look on Uchiha Qiongyue's face, he could only hope that he understood enough not to kill him as soon as they left the Land of Fire.

But he had already given all the reminders he should, and Bieshu Feifan did not dare spell things out.

After all, the Uchiha were not very bright. When it came to politics in particular, they were basically idiots.

At the same time, Bieshu Feifan inwardly cursed eighteen generations of Shimura Danzō's ancestors.

It had been a perfectly good mission, but all this scheming had him considering the possibility of Defected from the Village.

No wonder Shimura Danzō never became Hokage in his entire life and could only end up taking a stroll on a bridge.

If he failed this mission, Danzo would definitely make trouble for Bieshu Feifan.

To complete it, he would have to scheme against an adult Uchiha Chunin.

Although Bieshu Feifan had not shown his full strength during the earlier test,

Uchiha Qiongyue had held back even more.

The best solution was to have Uchiha Qiongyue become a rogue ninja.

That way, Bieshu Feifan's mission would count as completed in a roundabout way, and Uchiha Qiongyue would not have to die. He would also be safe and out of danger.

But there was one flaw in this solution: Uchiha Qiongyue would not be willing.

Bieshu Feifan knew he would refuse without even having to ask.

Uchiha who had awakened their eyes generally would not listen to anyone else's opinions.

If you told him to Defected from the Village, he would think you were insulting him. But

if they came to that conclusion themselves and wanted to Defected from the Village, they would not have any lingering attachment, either.

Once the four had packed up and were about to leave, several squads of Konoha Ninja from the sentry post came along as well.

Dajirō glanced at Feng You.

Feng You immediately understood. She walked up beside Uchiha Qiongyue and asked cautiously,

"Captain, are they going on the mission with us?"

"Yes. They'll be operating with us in the Land of Rivers."

This time, in addition to Bieshu Feifan's squad, there were three squads from the sentry post.

Each consisted of one Chunin leading three Genin.

But the Genin in the three squads from the sentry post were adults, not seven- or eight-year-old brats, at least.

Every one of them wore a murderous expression. They were all battlefield survivors.

Looking at these people, Dajirō and Feng You felt a vague sense of pressure.

Yet Bieshu Feifan, whom they had always considered a moron, got along with these people quite naturally and looked like an adult himself.

The Land of Rivers was a small country between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. It did not even have a ninja village and was weak as hell.

When they crossed the border, there were not even any patrol troops from the Land of Rivers.

The Konoha Shinobi had no intention of notifying the Land of Rivers' daimyo, either, and headed straight for the Sunagakure Outpost.

Following a river, Konoha's four squads soon reached a hidden cave.

Uchiha Qiongyue stopped at once and gave the three pieces of cannon fodder behind him a hand signal.

But all three acted as if they had not seen it, only stopping when they nearly ran into Uchiha Qiongyue.

Uchiha Qiongyue's expression darkened, and he turned to look at them.

"Didn't you see my hand signal?"

Dajirō was the first to react in surprise.

"That was a hand signal? I thought your hand was cramping, Captain."

Uchiha Qiongyue clenched his teeth, nearly striking Dajirō.

Feng You also said timidly,

"I saw your hand signal, Captain. I just couldn't remember what it meant right away."

Uchiha Qiongyue took a deep breath, suddenly remembering that these two were newly graduated students who had never even gone on a mission under a Chunin's lead.

He clenched his fists and held back.

Then he glanced at Bieshu Feifan, who had said nothing.

Knowing this was a silent question, Bieshu Feifan said,

"I didn't waste time learning pointless things like that. I spent it all training."

While Bieshu Feifan's squad was bickering, the other squads had already made contact with the people inside the cave.

They were Konoha Shinobi stationed in the Land of Rivers to guard against Sunagakure.

Sunagakure had outposts in the Land of Rivers, and naturally, so did Konoha.

With another squad joining them, the group of twenty swiftly headed for the Sunagakure Outpost.

The nearest Sunagakure Outpost was near a small town.

As they drew close, Uchiha Qiongyue also received intelligence about this Sunagakure Outpost.

After reading it, he immediately instructed the three pieces of cannon fodder,

"You three..."

For a moment, Uchiha Qiongyue could not think of how to assign these three pieces of cannon fodder who had not even learned all of the Three Basic Jutsu.

Only after thinking for quite a while did he continue,

"Don't run around... hmm, actually, you can run around."

Uchiha Qiongyue had intended to keep the three brats from running out and causing trouble.

But then he thought that if these three died here, he would be under far less pressure when he later ventured deep into the Land of Wind.

While Uchiha Qiongyue was contradicting himself, fighting had already broken out near the town.

An Earth Release jutsu collided with a Fire Release Ninjutsu, followed by a chorus of battle cries.

Uchiha Qiongyue gave Bieshu Feifan and the other two a strange look, then joined the force surrounding and attacking the Sunagakure Ninja.

As for Bieshu Feifan and the other two, they did not move, and no one urged them on.

The Sunagakure Outpost near the town was soon wiped out. Five squads were attacking one squad, and it was an ambush at that.

Sunagakure's four-person squad was quickly eliminated.

On Konoha's side, only two Genin suffered minor injuries, which did not prevent them from continuing the mission.

After dealing with this Sunagakure squad, the twenty of them did not linger for a moment and immediately ran west.

Soon, they found the next Sunagakure Outpost. The battle quickly began.

But this time, Sunagakure had somehow gotten word and gathered three squads of ninja.

For a while, they fought the Konoha force to a standstill.

Seeing a real battlefield for the first time, Dajirō and Feng You froze in place.

Watching flesh and blood fly across the battlefield, they held their kunai, at a loss.

Only when Bieshu Feifan stabbed a Sunagakure brat who had run over to launch a sneak attack, sending scalding blood spraying onto their faces, did Dajirō and Feng You come to their senses.

Then they saw Bieshu Feifan finish off the Sunagakure brat while also looting him, even reaching into his eye and feeling around.

Feng You vomited on the spot.

Dajirō also turned deathly pale and dropped onto his backside, staring in horror at Bieshu Feifan, the moron he had considered inferior to himself.

Although Sunagakure had gathered three squads, the battle still did not take long.

Uchiha Qiongyue was fierce, even though he was only a Chunin.

His strength, however, was no worse than that of an ordinary Jōnin.

Two of Sunagakure's Chunin fell at his hands.

After wiping out these three squads of Sand Ninja, Konoha had also lost a few people.

For the next stage of the operation, Konoha's four squads headed north and south through the Land of Rivers.

Uchiha Qiongyue's squad, meanwhile, continued west.

Dajirō and Feng You were weak to begin with. Keeping up with the run had already taken everything they had, and they had just seen dead people as well.

Both were now in terrible shape and could not keep up with Uchiha Qiongyue.

Looking at the two useless pieces of cannon fodder, Uchiha Qiongyue wore a grave expression and said nothing, only tapping his kunai with his finger.

Although Bieshu Feifan was also panting, he could still move normally.

After all, he had the strength of a standard Genin.

Uchiha Qiongyue was thinking,

and Bieshu Feifan was thinking, too.

He needed to complete Shimura Danzō's mission.

But it was dangerous. He would have to face Uchiha Qiongyue's fury while also risking being killed alongside him by the Sand Ninja.

Moreover, Uchiha Qiongyue was very strong.

If he discovered that Bieshu Feifan was plotting against him, Bieshu Feifan did not think he would survive.

Defected from the Village

seemed to be his best option now.

Uchiha Qiongyue considered for a long while. Only when Dajirō and Feng You were growing increasingly nervous did he speak calmly.

"Move out."

Bieshu Feifan frowned. Something was wrong. He was too calm.