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Uchiha Flame ignored Uchiha Tetsu, who happily took the scroll, and looked at Fuyu Shirou, who was leisurely drinking and resting nearby.
After a morning of travel, although they had rested for a while and were mostly recovered, who would refuse the opportunity to be lazy?~~~
Yes! Just being lazy!
After shedding the burden of 'temporary team leader,' Fuyu Shirou planned to be lazy all the way through...
[Did this guy know from the start? Did he know about the 'trouble' of this mission in advance?]
[No way! He probably hasn't even read the mission scroll, so he couldn't have known the details.]
Uchiha Flame, who had already understood the considerable difficulty of this mission for a group of Genin, began to suspect whether Fuyu Shirou, this 'annoying' guy, was fooling her again.
Just a moment ago, she had been impressed by Fuyu Shirou's 'perceptiveness' for not competing for the 'team leader' position. Now, in the blink of an eye, she had placed him back in the 'annoying' category.
She glanced at Tetsu, who was still struggling to understand the mission scroll.
[It seems that to complete this mission successfully, I'll have to consult with Fuyu Shirou.]
The next morning at four o'clock, the sky was still dark.
The morning star hung high in the sky, and people were still immersed in their dreams.
At this moment, just before dawn, on a hill near Nikko Village in the Land of Fire, there was a rather crude bandit stronghold.
The stronghold was not large, with a slightly larger wooden building in the center, surrounded by a dozen or so thatched huts of varying sizes.
Around these crude buildings, there were some wooden fences about two to three meters high, with an entrance and exit left open.
It looked very primitive and poor.
However, this was normal. If they had money, who would become bandits?
Most of them were bankrupt farmers without land, or wandering ronin who didn't want to farm. There might be one or two samurai who had lost their lords, but that was rare.
Although the Land of Fire was rich in resources, this good fortune had nothing to do with the people in this bandit stronghold.
In this world, the ruling class, with the existence of ninja, a weapon far superior to anything before, had become somewhat more brazen in their oppression of the lower classes.
If they encountered an enlightened 'daimyo,' things might be better, but if they encountered a greedy one, the lives of the lower classes would be unbearable.
As for the lower classes rising up in rebellion?
The nobles truly didn't care.
First, they would send ordinary samurai to suppress the rebellion, and if that didn't work, they had ninja, didn't they?
Why spend so much money to maintain ninja if not for such times!
This was one of the reasons why countries supported ninja villages.
The state maintained these ninja, who possessed extraordinary powers, and in return, these ninja provided military support for the rule of the nobles and the safety of the country.
Both sides were quite pleased with this arrangement.
Of course, there was also the issue of who belonged to whom.
This was the game played between the daimyo's residence and the 'Kage' of each village.
For the five great countries, the situations were different.
Konoha and the daimyo's residence of the Land of Fire had always had a good relationship.
The First Hokage, with his particularly 'strong' personal charm, had a very good relationship with the daimyo's residence.
During the Second Hokage's time, Konoha became a bit more assertive.
By the time the Third Hokage took office, the relationship was still good, but due to the worsening situation, the village gradually fell into a disadvantage.
In the Land of Lightning, the ninja village held the dominant position, making the Lightning Village seem quite aggressive.
In the Land of Wind, the relationship was a bit strained, and they only maintained a勉强的合作关系 due to the pressure from the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.
In the Land of Earth, the daimyo and the ninja village had a good relationship, and they cooperated very well, being very united.
In the Land of Water, the situation was different. Due to the vast seas and the difficulty in communication between the islands, the rule was quite loose, and each island had its own way of doing things.
---
"Fuyu Shirou, have you found their hidden lookout?" In the darkest part of the night, just before dawn, behind a large rock that could accommodate three people, Uchiha Flame's voice echoed.
It turned out that during the day, after Fuyu Shirou and Flame discussed, they decided that due to the lack of information, the three of them would first use the Transformation Technique to gather information in the nearby villages.
Then, by following the traces left at the crime scene, they tracked them here and found the bandits' hideout.
"No hidden lookout! They only have one person guarding the gate!" Fuyu Shirou gave an answer that greatly surprised both Flame and Tetsu. He continued, "The size of this stronghold matches our estimated number of people!"
Before coming here, they had gathered information from the surrounding areas and analyzed the traces at the crime scene, estimating that the bandits numbered between thirty and forty.
Now, comparing the size of the stronghold, their estimate was quite accurate.
To be on the safe side, Fuyu Shirou suggested launching the attack at four o'clock in the morning, the most sleepy time of the night.
This suggestion was accepted by Uchiha Flame, who was 'good at accepting her teammates' opinions,' leading to the current early morning raid.
What surprised Fuyu Shirou was that this stronghold had no hidden lookout, which was quite unprofessional.
This was normal, as their opponents were mostly from the lower classes, and having one person guard the gate all night was already quite good.
'Hidden lookout'? They might not even know what that was.
"Since that's the case, Tetsu, you take care of the guard at the gate. After that, you'll be the backup to prevent any unexpected situations."
Assigning Tetsu to this simple task was a decision made by Flame and Fuyu Shirou to protect him.
Tetsu was a bit clumsy, and if anything went wrong during the mission, it would be hard to explain to Teacher Shigemasa and Aunt Rie.
However, Fuyu Shirou and Flame's good intentions were not appreciated by Tetsu. He believed that with his abilities, he should not just be a backup for such a simple task.
He should be the main attacker for this mission, which would match his abilities as Uchiha Tetsu.
This way, he could boast to his friends and even mention it to his mother when he returned to the village, so she wouldn't worry about his safety so much.
Before he could voice his objection, Flame, who had been closely watching his facial expressions, interrupted him.
(End of Chapter)