I'm in Konoha, and I started with Ashura Chakra.

Chapter 82 The Man Who Fought the God of Ninjas: Yagyu's Speechlessness

"I'll leave the rest to you, Lord Yagyu."

"No, it's my duty."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the nobleman's butler, Yagyu handed their exit permits to the Chunin guarding the gate, and after many days, he left Konoha once again.

Throughout the entire encounter, Yagyu never met the nobleman, and the nobleman seemed unwilling to meet Yagyu either.

After observing for a while, Yagyu realized that it was probably not the nobleman who specifically requested Yagyu to escort him, but rather the shrewd steward who made the suggestion.

The other party is clearly skilled at intelligence gathering; they must have received recent information and learned of Yagyu's identity.

Or perhaps he witnessed Yagyu's strength during the Chunin Exams and knew about the Phantom Body Flicker Technique.

It's possible that knowing Yagyu's Team 8 and Team 3 possess the Byakugan, they directly entrusted the two teams with the task.

It could even include all three!

Otherwise, that nobleman wouldn't be so ignorant of basic social etiquette.

So, Liu Sheng stopped wondering why the other party had specifically chosen him to be the captain. He directed the third and eighth squads to stand on the two sides closest to the carriage, occasionally activating his Byakugan or sending out insects for long-range and close-range perception.

The Bird Kingdom is one of the neighboring kingdoms of the Wind Kingdom.

According to the ninja world map, it is bordered by the Land of Earth to the north, the Land of Rain to the east, the Land of Wind to the south, and the Land of Bears to the west.

There are three routes from the Land of Fire to the Land of Birds.

First, we passed through the land of rivers; second, we passed through the land of rain; and third, we passed through the land of grass.

Choosing the first route requires traversing mountains and valleys.

The third route requires crossing a vast grassland and passing through the borders of either the Land of Rain or the Land of Earth.

Therefore, the most suitable route is to pass through the Land of Rain.

The nobles, eager to return to the Land of Birds, directly demanded that Yagyu and the others choose the second route.

Yagyu didn't refuse. After all, the customer is always right. As long as it's not a scoundrel like Tazuna who has no money, lies about his mission level, and then tries to morally blackmail others after being exposed, it's fine.

So, Class 8 began the tedious journey on foot again.

The carriage moved very slowly. Even though the Land of Fire had excellent terrain, to reach the nearest Land of Rivers, one had to avoid stopping anywhere and rest almost during the day in order to leave the Land of Fire in three days.

For example, the caravan in the first C-level mission of Class 8.

The caravan was carrying a large sum of money and was in a hurry to return to distribute it to the villagers of the iron mine village. They were also afraid of encountering accidents on the way, so they did not stop at all.

But the nobles of the Bird Country are clearly not people who can endure hardship.

In this world without paved roads and where horse-drawn carriages jolt along, the nobles of the Bird Kingdom need to rest every few hours.

When passing through a bustling town, we would stop to buy something, or even stay overnight if it got too late.

Class 3 and Class 8 were very helpless, but they didn't say anything.

Fortunately, the nobles of the Bird Country were quite generous; they covered the food and lodging expenses for Class 3 and Class 8.

Every night, the eighth and third shifts take turns keeping watch.

It took the caravan a full ten days to leave the Land of Fire, more than three times the time it took the caravan from the Iron Mine Village in the Land of Rivers.

The thought of having to cross a rain country and walk a distance through a bird country made Yagyu feel nauseous.

From now on, I'll probably have an uncontrollable stress response whenever I hear about escort missions.

He would rather assassinate the Five Kage than do this kind of mission again.

But the torment had only just begun!

Ninja Continent is a very unique continent.

Each region of this continent has a unique climate and terrain.

The countries and villages that were established in these places, as well as the ninja villages, were named according to the characteristics of the area.

For example, the characteristics of the Land of Winds are deserts and strong winds.

The Land of Earth is characterized by its rocks and mountains.

The Land of Thunder is characterized by its towering mountains and the sound of thunder.

The land of rivers and streams is a place of mountains and rivers.

The Land of Rain, as the name suggests, is a country where it rains all year round, with rainy seasons in all four seasons.

Within the country, things are alright; there are still quite a few sunny days each month.

Amegakure, ruled by the Akatsuki organization, is truly outrageous.

Except for Sunday when the weather will clear up, the other six days will be shrouded in Nagato's Rain Tiger Freedom Technique.

However, Yagyu and his companions were clearly not very lucky.

The convoy had barely entered the Land of Rain when the sky became overcast and a torrential downpour soon began.

When rainwater mixes with yellow mud, the earth becomes like a swamp, making it difficult for horse-drawn carriages to move.

The already slow speed became even slower.

The wheels would occasionally drive into puddles filled with water, and get stuck for quite a while.

The third and eighth classes, wearing raincoats, stared at each other in silence.

Then, kind-hearted Xiao Li couldn't resist and volunteered to help push the cart.

It was five days later when the convoy finally left the Land of Rain.

It took a mere five days for this small country to complete the task.

It has taken a full half month since we left Konoha.

This further solidified Yagyu's resolve to never accept escort missions again.

Just as Yagyu and his companions entered the Land of Birds and were slowly making their way to their destination.

In a deserted forest path in the Bird Country, a voice complaining could be heard from a roadside teahouse.

"Hey Kakuzu-san, we're almost back in the Land of Rain. Do you really need to take on another job?"

"Where did the money come from if you didn't work? Who paid for all your food and drinks along the way?"

"Even so, there's no need to work while hunting, and then continue working on the way back, is there?"

"I only teamed up with you because you said your religion could make money, but it turns out your religion doesn't make a single penny. If your head weren't worthless, I would have already taken it off and sold it on the black market."

"Hey... that's going too far. Didn't I give you all the money I earned from working and hunting?"

"If that weren't the case, I would have killed you long ago, you're just a waste of money!"

"But you're quite principled, Kakuzu-nii, you didn't kill that boss."

"His head is worthless, and he'll give me money when he comes back. I might even have a chance to work for him in the future. It's not worth killing him."

"..."

The camera zooms in, revealing a young man with slicked-back gray hair, dressed in ordinary clothes, a white apron tied around his neck, and a towel draped over his shoulder. He is sitting at the entrance of the teahouse, looking for something to talk about out of sheer boredom.

The person he was talking to was a middle-aged man dressed as a shopkeeper, wearing a black mask, whose eyes did not look like those of a good person.

However, this seemingly fierce-looking middle-aged man was diligently wiping the table and cleaning the teahouse, creating a striking contrast.

These two people are none other than the immortal duo from the Akatsuki organization—Kakuzu and Hidan.

"Huh... Brother Kakuzu, someone's here."

At that moment, Hidan, who was picking his nose, suddenly seemed to have noticed something and shouted.

"Go out and attract customers, we get a commission on the money we earn."

"Okay, okay."

Hidan immediately stepped out the door and began waving a towel at the approaching convoy.

"Lord Yoshikawa, there's a teahouse up ahead. Would you like to rest for a while?"

Upon seeing this, the steward of the nobleman from the Bird Kingdom immediately consulted with the nobleman inside the carriage.

"Alright, let's stop and rest for a bit."

Upon receiving a response, the butler immediately gave the order: "Pull over and let's rest for a while."

"Yes."

The coachman and the ordinary guards immediately stopped the carriage beside the forest road.

The portly nobleman, supported by his steward, stepped down from the carriage and headed towards the tea house.

Class 3 and Class 8 followed closely behind.

Seeing the headbands on the heads of Team 3 and Team 8, Hidan raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself, "These headbands...are they from Konoha ninjas?"

On the surface, he greeted them very warmly, saying, "Welcome, esteemed guest, please come in, please come in..."

I can't be unenthusiastic, or I'll get scolded by Kakuzu again.

"Welcome! How many of you would like to eat?"

After the nobles were seated, Kakuzu brought over a pot of tea and asked very politely.

However, when he saw Team 3 and Team 8 standing behind the nobles, especially Hinata with her headband hanging around her neck and her forehead smooth and clean, a glint of light flashed deep in his green eyes.

On the surface, a menu was handed to the nobleman, and they waited for him to order.

"Give me some snacks, I don't like the rest of the pig feed."

The nobleman glanced at it and said with a look of disgust.

"OK."

Without saying anything, he turned and left.

Watching his departing figure, Hyuga Neji frowned slightly, then made a few hand gestures to Yagyu, all of which were communication codes taught at the Ninja Academy.

Neji Hyuga's gesture had a simple meaning: it was a reminder to Yagyu that the person was not simple.

Yagyu responded with a series of hand gestures, indicating that he knew the owner and staff of this teahouse were not simple people; they possessed a strong chakra within them, and he should not act rashly.

At the same time, Yagyu was also wondering about the identities of these two people.

Unlike Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, who recognized them at a glance, Yagyu did not recognize the immortal duo.

After all, none of them were wearing Akatsuki uniforms, nor did they have headbands like those of rogue ninjas.

However, the chakra within both of them was extremely powerful, in no way inferior to elite Jonin like Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi.

They must be at least elite Jonin level, and there are at least two of them.

Why would such a powerful person appear in a teahouse in this small country?

Could it be that he was tired of the strife and chose to live in seclusion here?

Yagyu didn't know, but just like he reminded Hyuga Neji, he shouldn't act rashly.

Since the other party showed no hostility, we should just pretend we don't know their identities.

Otherwise, if we take action here, we could easily kill the client, which would be a serious dereliction of duty.

Not only will they waste half a month, but they won't get a single penny, and when they get back, they might even get a verbal lecture from Tsunade, leaving a huge negative review on their battle record.

Yagyu didn't want such a stain to appear on his first time leading a team.

Therefore, Yagyu became alert and wary of Kakuzu and Hidan.

At the same time, he secretly activated his red eye to see if Kakudo would poison the food.

Fortunately, the other party seemed to be a powerful figure who had been living in seclusion here, and did not tamper with the pastries, serving them up quickly.

The nobles of the Bird Kingdom ate snacks and drank tea, while also having their stewards buy several pots of tea and a large quantity of snacks to deliver to the grooms and guards.

Then he invited Yagyu and the others to sit down and have something to eat, but they declined.

As ninjas, when they are on missions, they usually only eat soldier rations unless they have found a place to rest, so as not to cause health problems that would delay the mission.

The nobles of the Bird Country seemed to know the nature of ninjas and did not press the matter further.

About half an hour later, the rested convoy of nobles set off again.

"Please take care, esteemed guest. We look forward to your next visit."

Hidan waved a towel to see them off, then sat down on the bench by the door, sighed, and said, "I'm so tired. Working here feels more tiring than killing people."

"In this world, is there any job that pays well without being tiring?"

Kakuzu suddenly pulled two packages from under the counter, tossed one to Hidan, and said, "Hurry up and put your clothes on, it's time to get to work."

"Huh?"

Hidan was slightly taken aback and asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to work anymore?"

"Why bother working when you've found your prey?"

As Kakuzu put on the Akatsuki uniform, he said in a deep voice, "The Byakugan of the Hyuga clan's main family is a priceless treasure, a rare find even on the black market."

"The Byakugan of the main branch of the family, you mean those two Konoha ninjas with Byakugan?"

Hidan took off his apron and, while changing into his uniform, asked curiously, "Then why didn't you attack them just now?"

"Nonsense, I'm an employee here. If I damage this place, I'll not only have to pay for it, but I also won't get paid. Wouldn't that mean I've worked for nothing these past few days?"

"Brother Kakuzu, you're really obsessed with money."

"..."

At this moment, Yagyu, who had already left the teahouse quite a distance, suddenly had a slight change in expression.

He swiftly formed a hand seal: "Shadow Clone Technique!"

Two loud bangs were heard, followed by billowing white smoke.

After creating two shadow clones, Yagyu suddenly said to the butler, "Enemies are coming. You all speed up and advance, we'll hold them off from behind."

"Okay, thank you."

The butler's expression changed slightly, and he quickly nodded, urging, "Hurry up!"

"yes!"

The coachman responded and struck the horse's rump with his whip, immediately increasing the carriage's speed.

Yagyu's two shadow clones followed, while Class 3 and Class 8 remained where they were.

whoosh-

Almost exactly ten seconds after they stopped, a piercing whistling sound immediately reached their ears.

With veins bulging at his temples, Hyuga Neji immediately unleashed a large, distorted stream of air in the direction from which the sound of something tearing through the air came.

"Eight Trigrams - Empty Palm!"

With a clang, a red three-section scythe with a chain attached to its end fell to the ground.

Immediately, a figure appeared next to the large scythe and picked it up.

Another figure appeared on the other side of Class 3 and Class 8 at some point, and the two blocked their way forward and retreat.

Upon seeing the two of them, Neji and Hinata, who had already activated their Byakugan, seemed to have discovered something, and cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.

Even the usually carefree Xiao Li and the lively Tian Tian had incredibly serious expressions.

Clearly, they all sensed the dangerous aura.

Yagyu and Shino Aburame both looked very serious.

Upon seeing their uniforms, Yagyu immediately recognized Kakuzu and Hidan.

He was speechless.

On his first C-rank mission, he encountered Raiga Kurosuki, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

On his second legitimate departure from Konoha, he encountered the Akatsuki's strongest duo.

Now, having left Konoha for the third time, he has encountered the immortal duo once again.

What kind of luck is this?

Could it be that he extracted Ashura's chakra from Naruto, thereby also triggering Naruto's protagonist aura? That's incredibly aggressive!

The key point is that none of the accidents Naruto encountered while on missions were as outrageous as this!

(End of this chapter)