With his signature poker face, Uchiha Retsuka coldly addressed Hatake Kaede, "Hatake-kun, my younger brother, Uchiha Kawa, has been well taken care of by you at school."
"However, my younger brother has let me down and disgraced the Uchiha clan.As his older brother, I naturally have to avenge him.Hatake Kaede, do you dare accept my challenge?"
Upon hearing Uchiha Retsuka's words, Hatake Kaede rolled his eyes in disdain.
[Do you dare accept this?Damn it, don't you even know what time it is?We're about to start a new mission.Do you think the two Jonin next to you, Yuhi Teruharu and Shirakumo Kazama, will let you continue to provoke us?]
Hatake Kaede completely ignored Retsuka Uchiha's provocation and simply stood quietly beside Teruharu Yuhi.
This was quite awkward, and the wealthy employer next to them was so embarrassed that he was digging his toes into the ground.
Shirakumo Kazama and Yuhi Teruharu exchanged a glance and gave a wry smile.[They're both troublemakers; this team won't be easy to manage!]
Just then, four figures arrived at the door.Two of them were Hatake Kaede's teammates, Sarutobi Shota and Yuhi Haru.The remaining two were, needless to say, the two remaining members of Shirakumo Kazama's team.
The arrival of the four broke the awkward atmosphere.After being introduced by Yuhi Teruharu and Shirakumo Kazama, the remaining two members of Shirakumo Kazama's team were named Mawa and Noma.
Both of them were commoner ninjas, and Noma was the only girl in Shirakumo Kazama's squad.
As both teams arrived on time, Shirakumo Kazama quickly stopped the expressionless Uchiha Retsuka, who was about to continue his provocation.After discussing things with their employer, Yuhi Teruharu and the group officially embarked on their journey to the Land of Hot Springs.
On the way, the behavior of each member of the Shirayuki Kazama squad gave Hatake Kaede a sense of familiarity.There was the expressionless Uchiha staring at him, the girl ninja swooning over the same expressionless Uchiha, and the silly boy who liked girls.
[Holy crap, isn't this the standard setup for the main characters?Isn't this the configuration for the future Minato Team and Kakashi Team?Could it be that destiny is actually on my side?]
Sarutobi Shota, Yuhi Haru, Mawa, Noma, and Uchiha Retsuka graduated normally, so the five of them were classmates at the Ninja Academy, with only Hatake Kaede being an exception.
"Shota, this is our first time leaving the village for a mission!By the way, this is the first time in my life I've ever left the village and seen scenery different from Konoha Village," Mawara said excitedly.
"That's true!We usually don't have a chance to leave Konoha Village except when we're on missions.It's really exciting to be on this kind of mission for the first time!" Noma, though a bit of a fangirl, was also lively and joined in the conversation.
"And you?Is this your first time leaving the village?" Noma asked.
Shota Sarutobi's expression changed as some unpleasant memories flooded his mind.He said, "No, this isn't.never mind, don't say anymore."
The other woman, Yuhi Haru, also hesitated and looked resistant.
Jianwa blinked, sensing the somewhat heavy atmosphere, and abruptly changed the subject.
"Kazama-sensei, are there any things we need to be careful about for this mission?"
BaiyunKaedejian said, "Generally speaking, escort missions aren't very dangerous, but that's not always the case.As long as you protect the employer's safety, that's enough.The difficulty of an escort mission is usually related to who's blocking your way.Ordinary bandits would be a C-rank.If there are ninjas involved, the mission's rank will be appropriately increased based on the difficulty of the ninjas."
Upon hearing Shiraku Kazama mention mountain bandits, Sarutobi Shota and Yuhi Haru's expressions grew even more grim, and Hatake Kaede, who was following Yuhi Teruharu, also changed his expression.
Yuhi Teruharu glanced at his subordinates, shook his head slightly, and sighed inwardly, "They're still just kids!"
Shirakumo Kazama noticed the expressions on their faces and understood what they had been going through, so he steered the conversation to something else.
"Our destination is the Land of Hot Springs, located northeast of our Land of Fire.It's famous throughout the ninja world for its hot springs.However, the Land of Hot Springs also has its own ninja village, so we need to be careful and try to avoid conflict with them.But don't worry, we haven't encountered any ninjas from the Hidden Hot Springs Village yet."
The little ones nodded slightly, keeping BaiyunKaedejian's words in mind.
Soon after, the group arrived at a town.
A wealthy merchant from the Land of Fire had a large stock of goods in this town.He took out his goods and continued his journey to the Land of Hot Water.
Looking at the long convoy, Hatake Kaede finally understood why he had hired two ninja squads.
Faced with such a long convoy, the two team leaders divided the work: Kazama's team was responsible for the first half of the convoy, scouting and protecting the employer; while Teruharu's team was responsible for the second half, guarding against attacks and protecting the cargo.
During the night watch, Kazama's squad and Teruharu's squad took turns keeping watch, one for the first half of the night and the other for the second half.
These arrangements are rotated daily to ensure a certain level of confidentiality.
Hatake Kaede followed behind the cargo, responsible for the final patrol.
Although this is a simple escort mission, it doesn't mean there are no dangers.Wild beasts and venomous snakes in the forest, bandits who suddenly jump out, ninjas hiding in the shadows.these are all potential enemies.
Suddenly, Hatake Kaede noticed a slight movement in the grass and instinctively became alert.
Sure enough, a group of bandits leaped out of the bushes.These bandits were fierce-looking and physically strong.In my previous life's terms, they were the kind of people whose fists could stand a person upright and whose arms could run a horse.They were clearly very skilled fighters.
One of the bandits stepped forward; he was likely their leader.Dragging his spiked iron club, he said in a gruff voice, "Robbery!Hand over everything you have.Otherwise, we'll kill you all.Ah!"
Before the bandit leader could finish speaking, he suddenly rolled over, landing face down on the ground.All his teeth had been broken by Hatake Kaede's kicks, and blood and saliva flew everywhere.
When the mountain bandits grew oldWhen the bandit leader came out to provoke him, Hatake Kaede kicked out with a "Leo kick," pressing his foot into the bandit leader's face.
The other bandits were shocked and rushed to their leader's side, crying out, "Brother!What's wrong?Brother!"
"Brother, how did you lose?"
Bandit leader: I rose up, I was instantly defeated, I'm down.
Seeing their leader's miserable state, the remaining bandits quickly carried him away and ran off into the distance.
This was just a minor incident, and no one paid much attention to it; the convoy continued to move forward slowly.
I thought that was the end of it.But before long, another group of people jumped out.
This group was far superior to the bandits from before.They were well-equipped, each carrying a samurai katana.Although their appearance was unkempt, their aura was extremely fierce.Clearly, these men had killed before.
This is a group of wandering samurai, also known as ronin.
The ronin are composed of several groups.One group consists of nobles who lost and died in noble struggles, leaving their former samurai without support, thus becoming wandering samurai.Another group comprises traitors from the Land of Iron.
Regardless of the group, ronin were all undisciplined, unproductive executioners.They had no lord to serve, no noble patrons, and were not recognized by samurai or ninja.They could only engage in robbery and plunder.
This time, this group of ronin had their eyes on the caravan.They planned to kill everyone in front of them and sell all the caravan's goods on the black market.
The conflict between samurai and ninjas has a long history.Before the ninja villages, during the Warring States period, ninjas could only be hired as assassins or spies, and were limited to doing clandestine work.
The daimyo and nobles of various countries would recruit large numbers of samurai to serve as their armies.These armies of samurai would then conquer cities and expand the territories of the nobles.
At that time, they held a high status and enjoyed many privileges.When they were in a bad mood, they could kill civilians at any time.
However, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha established the first ninja village with their immense power, completely ending the Warring States period.With the establishment of the ninja villages, the samurai, who served as the national army, were replaced by ninjas.Only some nobles and the Land of Iron retained samurai.
Faced with this situation, samurai either transformed into ninjas, like Hatake Kaede's family, which was originally a samurai family, or became symbols of status and wealth among the nobility.However, many samurai still had no other options and were forced to become ronin (masterless samurai).
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