"That will teach him right," said one woman while leaving the man barely alive, with some satisfaction in her voice. The others quickly followed, wanting to be as far away from the pervert as possible.
Damn it, who is the evil child who gave away my position? I now look almost as bad as the last time I got caught looking at Tsunade. The worst is that he didn't even get to see anything; otherwise, the beating might have been worth it. This really left the sannin frustrated.
Shaking his head, he looked again in the direction the rock was thrown. Is that not Tsume's student? I will have to keep an eye on that kid from now on.
Still in his reflection, he touched one of his sore spots where he got badly beaten, likely the result of many repetitive kicks, and felt immense pain.
Ayyyyyyy
His sound resonated through the whole place.
The next morning, Shintoki returned to his training.
Checking his Ketsuryugan mastery, it had now reached 9%. He was very glad. In his last mission, the radar offered by the system had been very useful to track the low-level mercenary. It seemed like, to make full use of the chakra map, he would need to develop his chakra detection ability, which would enable him to find much more information. Only then would he get clear details with the map.
He then returned to his practice of katas.
He needed to grow stronger. His last mission had put him against powerful foes he wasn't ready for; he would have died or at least lost a teammate. And knowing how brutal the Third Shinobi War would become, he would definitely run into stronger opponents.
He would have to reach at least 20% mastery of his Ketsuryugan to have some form of assurance.
Days passed, and now Shintoki found himself again on a mission.
Three shadows were moving at high speed toward the Land of Legume. They were running at a fast rate to carry out their mission.
"Hey, Guy-senpai? Can't we slow down a bit? It's not like we are in a hurry," Anko said, clearly irritated.
This man called Guy ran kind of fast. How he was able to run for so long without being tired, Anko had no idea. Ever since they left the village, they had been running nonstop. At first she tried to keep up, but she soon realized how ridiculous it was.
"Yosh, Anko, we can slow down once we get closer to the border. From what I have heard, this plant we are after is very important for Konoha's research, meaning if we don't act faster, others might get there before us and snatch the prize."
"Indeed, Anko, we have to hurry, but Guy-senpai, we can slow down a bit or the others will get tired," Rin said, not to mention that Shintoki himself was starting to feel some lingering fatigue.
If they ran into enemies while being tired, it would be a disaster.
"So about the mission," Shintoki redirected the conversation back to their objective.
This time Rin took the initiative to talk.
"The plant we are after is in the Land of Legume. It's rumored that there is a rare plant that is very useful for medicine and can treat all sorts of illnesses, and it grows near a village beside a river."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, with it we could boost our village's medicine for the upcoming war."
Anko, Shintoki, Ebisu, and Rin were on the mission led by Guy, who was also a chunin like Ebisu.
The plant that appears every 100 years is stated to be capable of increasing cellular production and purifying the body.
This plant is also requested by Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru… that bastard likely wants to use it to see if it can push him further on his path of immortality. Yeah, that must be it."
A request from Orochimaru for his research.
…
Elsewhere
Four shadow figures were approaching from a desert.
They were ninja from Suna, and they were sent by Chiyo to find the same plant that Shintoki's team was after.
"So Elder Chiyo wants that plant?"
"Hummmm…"
"Yes, our village needs it, especially at a time like this."
"Chiyo-sama wants to use it to improve her medicine and develop even more potent poison."
"A poison so potent even Tsunade won't be able to find a cure."
Talking about Chiyo,
Ever since she learned that Sakumo killed himself, she grew completely mad. The legend's death couldn't calm her down; it only made her crazier.
And now she wanted nothing more than to spread death against Konoha.
The Suna ninja with a tattoo on his face released a sign.
"Fine, prepare to move."
With that, they vanished.
…
"We should start with a store."
"They are said to make special healing potions."
"They would know."
The manager of the store, seeing the group of people coming in, quickly put on an act.
"Welcome, dear friends, we've got the best potion for you."
Rin took the medicine and quickly realized that it was garbage, so she put it back on the ground and was preparing to leave when a bulky man tried to stop her.
"Hey, young lady, you aren't going to leave now without paying, right?"
But with a kick from Anko, he was sent flying.
"Are you stupid? Don't put your dirty hands on Rin."
Seeing this, more people surrounded them.
Anko then took out a kunai.
"What, a ninja?"
Seeing this, they started to panic, but it was too late now.
Guy then joined and quickly defeated the thug crowd that worked with the store.
"These bastards sell complete garbage and call it miracle potion, and worse, even their standard one is sold at a high price."
After Shintoki's group took care of the scammers, they kept trying to gather information.
"Sorry, but I dont know either but I want to Thank you, shinobi-san, you helped us clean a mess," stated an old lady who sighed.
"Wow, you ninja are amazing," said a boy whose clothes were torn, he was realy impressed by how they easily ended the fight before it even fully started. And the superb movement it left him speechless.
"Who is that boy?" Asked Anko
"Ah, that kid," she stated with regret.
"His father was a scientist who built healing potions."
"He helped cure people in the village."
"But four years ago, he was accused of making wrong medicine and was executed."
"And because of his ruined reputation, his child is now facing much gossip and is disliked by many here."
"Somehow, after his father's death, a store of healing potions emerged to take over."
"But their products are always very costly, only purchasable by the wealthy."
"Due to this, the population has grown weak, unable to buy medicine, and the children are malnourished."
"If you have paid attention, you will notice that our village's economy is very poor; only a faction can be considered wealthy."
"Maybe our village is paying for not standing up for that doctor."
"After all, despite the poor economy, the village was able to stand thanks to his medicine; our people were healthy."
"Also, that man, all his life, had searched for a plant—the same plant you guys are searching for now."
"Whether he found it or not is unknown."
"I see. Thank you."
They then started to follow the kid.