The next day, after lightly working out in the morning, Shinra met with the rest of his team at the mission center. Yogi was discussing the protocol of accepting missions with the team, "This is the Mission Administration Center. Every mission assigned to Konoha passes through here before reaching a shinobi."
He gestured toward the entrance where several ninja were coming and going, carrying scrolls and paperwork.
"Clients submit requests to the village. The mission staff evaluates the request, determines its rank, and records all relevant information. After that, suitable teams are selected."
Hyori interjected and asked, "Can we come here and pick a mission, even without a full team?"
Yogi shook his head and said, "No. The village decides where its manpower is most needed. Teams report their availability, and missions are assigned according to rank, experience, and current circumstances."
He walked towards the entrance and continued by saying, "Since you aren't exactly fresh genin anymore, you are allowed to undertake missions with other genins be it from the genin corps or other teams. But genins are not allowed to take solo missions."
He then pushed Inumaki forward and said, "Since you will be the team leader for today, everything from submitting a request to formulating a mission report will be handled by you. Go to the nearest desk and submit a request for a C-rank mission for Team 8, we will be right behind you."
Inumaki did as instructed and stood in front of the team, after several minutes as the chunin in charge searched for a mission and said, "The path to Karakura town has been taken over by bandits, they rob passing caravans and hide whenever ninja are assigned to protect them. Your job will be to track down the bandit's hideout and exterminate them."
"We accept the mission." Inumaki answered, upon hearing the answer the chunin stamped the piece of paper and said, "For evidence of completing the mission, you will need to capture the leader of the bandits or bring his body back." Inumaki nodded his head and was about to go back, when Shinra interjected and asked the chunin, "Are there any caravans headed to Karakura in the next few hours."
At first Inumaki didn't understand the reason behind Shinra's question, afterall he was supposed to be the team captain. But when he thought about it his eyes widened as he understood what Shinra wanted to do.
Yogi observed Inumaki's reaction and chuckled internally, 'Good. He didn't reject the suggestion simply because it came from someone else. A captain who ignores useful suggestions won't remain a captain for long'
The chunin replied, "There are two caravans headed through that path and to Karakura, one of them is scheduled to head in two hours and the other is tomorrow morning."
Inumaki thought about it and said, "We will also take the mission of escorting the caravan that will be headed out in two hours."
The chunin didn't seem to mind the team taking two C-rank missions at the same time but warned, "During escort missions protecting the client is the top priority, if you are unable to protect the client at all times and plan to exterminate the bandits I would suggest backing out right now."
Yogi nodded his head to the chunin and asked again, "what's next team leader?"
"We will meet at the main gate in an hour and head out towards the forest next to Karakura town, the journey should take roughly four days, so pack up everything you need." Inumaki answered with Yoshimaru barking in approval.
After accepting both missions, the team split up to prepare for the journey. Shinra brought a scroll that contained dozens of exploding tags just in case as well as the fuinjutsu scroll Kurosawa handed to him, 'Since this journey will take approximately four days, studying this scroll on the way will be helpful for passing time. As for food these ration bars should come in handy. I have my sword on my waist and extra kunai in case they get damaged if I use lightning flow on them.'
He packed the scrolls inside his jacket and left his house and headed to the main gate, where Inumaki was talking to the client with Yoshimaru resting on top of his head.
"Are you ready?" Inumaki asked Shinra, as he noticed that Shinra barely had anything visibly packed on him.
"Yes, team captain." Shinra replied teasing him for being way too serious.
Inumaki remained silent for a second then said, "… Thank you for your suggestion back then, with us being in a tight spot to complete 7 C-rank missions in less than six weeks it was a huge help."
Shinra smiled and said, "Don't sweat it."
Several minutes later, Hyori appeared with a small backpack on her back and looked at Shinra and Inumaki before nodding her head.
"It seems that you all are excited seeing that you arrived earlier than the meeting time, there is still a few minutes left." Yogi appeared a few minutes after them looked at Inumaki and asked, "Are we ready to head out?"
"Yes, the caravan is ready to depart." He replied.
"Good, you are the captain so whatever you say goes." Yogi stated.
"We will leave immediately, Shinra you will cover the rear and since your sensory range is highest among us you will be responsible for detecting the bandits or any ambushes in advance. Hyori, tracking down the bandits base will be up to you. Once we locate the base, we will split up with Sensei who will guard the caravan in our absence while we raid the base." Inumaki gave out the orders and after making sure that everything is clear he asked the caravan to depart.
The first day nothing happened and as they were half-way through the journey they stopped to camp, Shinra and Inumaki shared a tent, whilst Hyori and Yogi were on the watch shift. Every two hours they would switch until the sun came up.
The next day, before the caravan had begun to move Shinra sat in the back and was quietly studying the scroll Kurosawa handed to him along with a shadow clone.
He suddenly stood up and left his clone to study alone and made his way to Hyori who was munching on a ration bar and whispered to her, "Four chakra signatures, south-west. Behind those trees."
He then smiled and pretended to talk to her for a bit before moving to Inumaki and Yogi to inform them. Inumaki stood up and nodded towards Hyori who pretended to be sick and requested to rest inside one of the tents.
"Shinra can you have your clone, transform into Hyori so that the bandits won't get suspicious of her absence?" Inumaki asked.
Shinra nodded his head and moved a bit away from the bandits, 'Capturing the bandits and extracting their base's location would be easier but would risk leading us into a trap, so he is playing the long game with them.'
He formed the shadow clone and had it pay a visit to Hyori's tent discreetly, Hyori silently slipped away while Shinra's clone entered the tent a few moments later.
From a distance, nothing appeared unusual.
The bandits continued observing the caravan from their hiding spots amongst the trees.
Hours passed.
The caravan restarted its journey and maintained a steady pace along the road while the scouts followed from a safe distance.
None of them noticed the pair of pale eyes watching from behind.
Hyori remained careful not to approach too closely. Unlike Shinra, she lacked the sensory abilities necessary to track chakra over kilometers. Fortunately, she possessed something even more valuable.
The Byakugan.
Veins bulged around her eyes as her vision expanded. Everything became transparent beneath her gaze.
Eventually one of the scouts broke away from the others.
Then another.
And another.
The group disappeared into a rocky section of the forest.
Hyori immediately stopped and activated her Byakugan into the rocky clearing the bandits had disappeared into, 'Found you.'
This time her vision pierced through the terrain itself. A hidden cave entrance concealed behind thick vegetation appeared before her eyes.
Several armed men stood guard nearby.
Her gaze continued deeper, she started counting the number of bandits hidden in the base.
The number made her frown slightly.
'There's over thirty bandits hidden inside the base.'
The mission report had severely underestimated the size of the group.
The bandits weren't gathered randomly either.
Several patrols rotated around the perimeter while supplies were stored inside the cave itself.
Near the center sat a heavily built man with women serving him food.
Even from this distance it wasn't difficult to identify him.
The leader.
Hyori carefully memorized everything she could before retreating.
There was no reason to take unnecessary risks. Her objective had already been completed.
By the time she returned, the caravan had stopped to establish camp for the evening, it was clear that the bandits had given up on their attack due to their presence.
Yogi was the first to notice her arrival.
Inumaki immediately stood.
"Did you find it?"
Hyori nodded.
"There is a cave system roughly four kilometers north-east from our current position."
She knelt down and drew a rough map in the dirt.
"At least thirty bandits."
The answer immediately caused everyone's expression to become more serious.
"That's more than expected."
Hyori nodded.
"There are also four guards outside the cave and rotating patrols around the perimeter."
"What about the leader?" Inumaki asked.
"I found him."
A smile appeared on Inumaki's face.
Good.
That simplified things considerably.
Yogi remained silent while observing the conversation. Thus far the team had performed well, but whether or not this teamwork continued would depend on the next part.