Konohamaru's gaze sharpened, and he swiftly pulled a Kunai from his ninja tool pouch, shooting it rapidly towards the nearby bushes.
He then quickly rushed into the bushes.
However, he did not find the lurking ninja, but simply picked up a rabbit with his own Kunai stuck in it from the ground.
Hanabi Hyuga watched as Konohamaru lifted the rabbit out of the bushes and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Having the Byakugan, she already knew what was hidden in the bushes, but she didn't tell Konohamaru, just so she could see him make a fool of himself now.
Konohamaru's face darkened; he knew perfectly well that Hanabi Hyuga was laughing at him for making a mountain out of a molehill.
But as a student of his teacher, he must be careful about the slightest disturbance around him and must never let his teacher lose face.
He glanced at Shinsei, who was walking behind him nonchalantly, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Shinjiro wasn't laughing at him.
Before setting off, Shinsei made it clear that he would not make any decisions during this mission. If he did, it would mean the failure of their mission.
Konohamaru didn't care about the reward for this mission, but as it was his first mission outside the village, he absolutely couldn't allow it to end in failure.
He is Konohamaru, the grandson of the Third Hokage, the future Hokage, and the disciple of the strongest ninja in the world. He absolutely cannot leave behind a shameful mission record.
After Konohamaru and Hanabi Hyuga finished laughing, he walked up to her and said sincerely, "I'm sorry, Hanabi- sensei, I was just too nervous. But please let us know if you have any information."
Hanabi glanced discreetly at the teacher behind them, and seeing that he hadn't noticed, she breathed a sigh of relief, "No problem. But I have one condition."
Konohamaru had a vague premonition, but still pressed on, "What are the conditions?"
Hanabi Hyuga raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't call me junior sister anymore, call me senior sister. I am the master's eldest disciple."
Upon hearing Hanabi Hyuga's words, Konohamaru frowned and refused, "Don't even think about it! I am the master's eldest disciple. The master only agreed to accept you as a disciple. You became the master's disciple after us."
Konohamaru could agree to any of the other conditions, but he absolutely refused to agree to Hanabi Hyuga's condition. This concerned the relationship between teacher and student, and it was his bottom line that he could not compromise on.
"Snort!"
"Snort!"
The two turned their heads away, and the negotiation ended unhappily.
Shinsei and the two clients walked behind, chatting casually.
He had naturally seen the argument between the two disciples in front of him, but he never interfered in such matters. The four disciples naturally had their own way of getting along, and as long as no major conflicts occurred, he would let them be.
The Shinsei appearing here is not his true form, but a clone. As his Chakra strength increases, this Shadow Clone can easily last for ten days to half a month unless actively dispelled or subjected to tremendous external force.
Shinsei's main body didn't have that much time to train disciples, so these tasks were all done by his Shadow Clone.
Along the way, Shinsei chatted with the two clients and learned more about the mission. The old man was named Momotaro, and the young man next to him was his grandson, Maritaro.
There was a small town near their village, inhabited by a hereditary nobleman. Several surrounding villages were the fiefdoms of this nobleman.
Every year, this nobleman would take 70-80% of the grain they painstakingly grew, leaving only enough grain to barely sustain their basic needs.
If they suffer from even a minor illness or a natural or man-made disaster, these ordinary villagers will only end up with their families destroyed and their lives ruined.
Some time ago, a nobleman wanted to marry off his daughter, and therefore, he used this as a pretext to collect a large amount of money from the surrounding villagers.
These villagers could barely make ends meet and had no money to offer as gifts to the nobles. Some villagers were even beaten to death by the nobles' thugs for refusing to pay them.
Momotaro, as the village chief, went to negotiate with the nobleman's steward and was told that if the money was not collected by the end of the month, the nobleman's steward would bring people to seize their house and all their belongings.
Momotaro didn't know what to do, and just then, his grandson Maritaro returned from outside with a message.
It's said that Konoha is about to appoint a new Hokage, and the new Hokage is a very young man who is said to have great compassion for the common people. If they ask him for help, perhaps they can solve their current predicament.
Village chief Momotaro had no other choice but to consider going to Konoha as his last resort. He did not expect that Shinsei, who was about to become Hokage, would not only agree to his request but also personally lead four of his disciples to their village.
Shinsei listened to Momotaro's story without much expression. It wasn't that he was numb, but rather that such things happened far too often in the Land of Fire. This was also why he wanted to change everything.
Even if he were to use his Shadow Clone to resolve Momotaro's mission today, there are thousands upon thousands of similar situations in the Land of Fire, which he alone cannot handle.
The root of all this lies in this corrupt management system. Only by changing the management style and replacing the personnel can the current situation be improved.
The destination of this mission is not too far away; strictly speaking, it is still within the sphere of influence of Konoha. In the past, even if passing ninjas knew about this, they would not interfere, which is why the nobles in Momotaro's area are so arrogant.
A gentle breeze blew by, Shinsei frowned slightly. He didn't speak, but simply observed the reactions of his four disciples.
Hanabi Hyuga immediately issued a warning. "Ninjas are here!"
Upon hearing this, Konohamaru hurriedly ran to the back and came to the side of the two clients. As a ninja, his first priority in any situation was to protect his clients.
The other three disciples quickly arrived at Momotaro and Maritaro's side, surrounding them in the center, while their own teacher was selectively forgotten.
Konohamaru even secretly hoped that the attacking ninja wouldn't recognize his teacher and would choose to fight him instead, so that he could see his teacher take action and the mission wouldn't have to be declared a failure.
Konohamaru looked in the direction Hanabi Hyuga was pointing and saw three middle-aged ninjas—two men and one woman—emerging from the woods opposite.
They didn't have Forehead Protector to identify them, so it was impossible to tell which village's ninjas they belonged to.
This is also a common situation for wandering ninjas; they usually don't wear Forehead Protector to indicate which ninja village they come from.
Two middle-aged men, one fat and one thin, each carried two long swords on their backs, while the middle-aged woman carried a large knife.
The middle-aged woman appeared to be the leader of the three ninjas. She stepped forward and addressed the smaller ninjas opposite her:
" Konoha ninja brats, judging by your age, you just graduated from the academy, right?"
Hand those two people over to us, and we'll let you go.