Whoosh! Whoosh!
Four figures leapt rapidly through the forest.
They were none other than Team Three, currently en route to a target location over a thousand kilometers away from the Hidden Konohagakure.
For ordinary people, that would be an impossible distance to cross on foot in less than a month—but for ninjas, it was a different story entirely.
At their current pace, they would arrive within two days.
That was the power of a ninja's mobility.
A merchant caravan might take weeks to cover the same distance, but only another ninja could hope to intercept a ninja team in motion. That was why the regular armies of the Five Great Nations were never qualified to participate in the Great Ninja Wars—they simply couldn't keep up.
For this mission, they were traveling at only seventy kilometers per hour, pacing themselves for the weaker members of the team. They pushed forward for roughly ten hours each day.
When chakra was used purely for travel, its consumption was manageable, though fatigue inevitably set in.
If it were Namikaze Minato traveling alone, he could probably reach the destination in less than a day.
Ninjas truly couldn't be measured by ordinary human standards.
Mountain ridges and steep valleys were nothing but basic terrain for them.
Two days later.
"Finally, we're here!"
Shien let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the small town ahead. The past two days had been more exhausting than hauling bricks at a construction site.
Compared to Konoha, this little town was downright shabby.
The population numbered only in the low thousands—small by any measure.
But this was what a real settlement should look like.
Konoha, on the other hand—calling itself a "village" while housing hundreds of thousands—was blatant false advertising.
"We'll split up to gather information. Regroup here in two hours!"
Shien gave his first order.
Throughout all this, Namikaze Minato hadn't said a word.
This B-rank mission belonged to Team Three, not to him.
If a Jonin of his caliber were taking on a mission personally, it would be at least A-rank—more likely S-rank.
So, once they left the village, he let Shien's team handle everything on their own, merely observing from the sidelines.
Shien was acting as the temporary team leader—there wasn't really a better choice.
Kakashi was too emotionless, practically a human machine, while Yamanaka Koji was taciturn to a fault.
Who else could lead but Shien?
To be fair, his background as a programmer and gamer before crossing into this world made him surprisingly comfortable giving orders.
A three-man squad? He'd led guilds and fleets before—this was nothing.
Before any operation, a ninja's top priority was intel. That was why Shien had chosen to scout the town first.
"Transformation Jutsu!"
Forming a seal, Shien transformed into a worn-out farmer with sallow skin and ragged clothes.
The three basic D-rank jutsu taught at the Academy—Transformation, Clone, and Substitution—were far from useless in daily missions.
A solid Transformation Jutsu could hide a ninja in plain sight.
And since the Academy also taught disguise techniques, Shien's appearance and mannerisms were indistinguishable from the locals.
The team dispersed and entered the town separately.
As Shien moved through the streets, he kept a calm expression—but inside, he was uneasy.
He had expected the ninja world to be cruel, but seeing it firsthand was another matter entirely.
The townspeople were gaunt, faces sallow, their clothing in tatters.
From such sights alone, one could imagine the suffering elsewhere.
And this was the Land of Fire, the wealthiest of the Five Great Nations. If life here was this miserable, what about the poorer lands?
A sense of grim gratitude welled up inside him.
Good thing he hadn't tried to flee Konoha right after transmigrating.
Even if he had succeeded, life out here would've been worse than death—utter misery.
With his Transformation disguise, gathering intel wasn't difficult.
Soon, he picked up some useful clues:
Apparently, groups of fierce-looking men had been showing up from time to time to purchase supplies.
And they'd been appearing for several years now.
Two hours later.
The three regrouped outside the town to exchange information.
As expected, Kakashi, the "mission machine," had gathered plenty of detail.
From their combined intel, they deduced that the targets numbered around a hundred.
Their hideout was located in a mountain valley southeast of the town.
"Move out,"
"Move out," Shien ordered.
By this time, Namikaze Minato had already melted into the shadows. The rest of the mission was up to them alone.
It took only an hour for the trio to find their target.
For ordinary people, it would have taken ten days—if they found it at all.
Traversing mountain ranges over ten kilometers deep was no small feat, let alone locating a hidden base within.
The gap between ninjas and normal humans was staggering.
Now, the three crouched atop the dense canopy overlooking the valley entrance.
A crude wooden palisade, only a few meters tall, blocked the way. Two armed bandits patrolled atop it.
"That's pretty disciplined… for bandits," Shien frowned, sensing something off.
According to intel, this was the bandits' base—their mission target.
But something about it didn't sit right.
"Should we attack?" Yamanaka Koji asked, itching for action.
He wasn't nervous in the slightest—if anything, he seemed excited.
For ninjas, killing was as ordinary as eating or drinking.
Even someone like the "Little Sun" Namikaze Minato had an astonishing number of lives on his hands—whether the targets were enemy ninjas or not.
To Shien, the moral compass of this world felt… deeply warped.
"No," he said.
"We'll wait until midnight to scout it out again. Rest in shifts for now."
Shien could afford to be bold when doing research, but in combat? Not when his life was on the line.
This wasn't cowardice—it was pragmatism.
Late that night, under the pale moonlight, the trio slipped into the valley.
With their agility, the wooden wall was no obstacle—they vaulted it easily.
Inside, they found rows of crude wooden huts and tents scattered across the valley floor.
"There,"
"There," Shien whispered, spotting a large cave at the center, clearly guarded and likely used as a warehouse.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
They darted to the cave entrance and peered inside—stacks of supplies filled the space.
Soon, they noticed a suspicious pile of crates in one corner, covered with oilcloth.
Crack!
Yamanaka Koji pried one open with a kunai—then froze.
"What the—!?" he hissed, eyes wide.
The crate was filled with kunai.
Kunai weren't rare by themselves—but only ninjas used them, and the craftsmanship required was far beyond ordinary blacksmiths.
Within the Land of Fire, only a handful of specialized facilities could mass-produce ninja tools like these.
And bandits definitely weren't among them.
Shien's mind raced.
Smuggled weapons.
Kunai were restricted military goods—officially, only the Hidden Villages or the nation itself could manufacture or sell them.
These bandits' cache clearly had nothing to do with Konoha or the Land of Fire's authorities.
Opening more crates, they found shuriken, senbon, and other ninja weapons.
Shien turned to the others and whispered, "Should we pull out?"
He had no desire to get dragged into this mess—this kind of situation screamed political fallout.
Both Kakashi and Yamanaka Koji nodded grimly. They understood what it meant to find stockpiles of ninja tools here.
Unfortunately… by the time they decided to retreat, it was already too late.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/FicHaven786