Konoha: This Uchiha is extremely sneaky

Chapter 85 Minor Difficulties

Ignoring Uchiha Tetsuya's delighted acceptance of the scroll, Homura stared expressionlessly at Toshiro, who was leisurely drinking water and resting beside her.

After a morning of traveling, although I've had some rest and am almost fully recovered, who can resist taking a break?

Yes! It's just being lazy!

Having shed the "burden" of being the "temporary captain," Toshiro planned to slack off completely...

Did this guy foresee this? Did he know in advance that this mission would be 'troublesome'?

No way! He probably hasn't even seen the mission scroll yet, so it's impossible for him to know the mission details.

Having already grasped the considerable difficulty this mission presented to them, a group of genin, Homura Uchiha began to suspect that Toshiro, that "annoying" guy, was just trying to fool him again.

Homura, who had just been showing Toshiro a "good eye" and not vying for the "captain's position," instantly relegated him to the ranks of "annoying people."

He glanced at Zhe, who was still struggling with "reading comprehension" of the task scroll.

It seems that to successfully complete this mission, we'll have to discuss it with Toshiro.

At four o'clock the next morning, the sky was still dark.

The morning star was high in the sky, and people were still immersed in their dreams.

This is the moment when dawn is about to break, on a hill near Nick Village in the Land of Fire.

A rather simple mountain village sits there.

The village was not large, with a slightly larger wooden building in the middle and about a dozen thatched huts of varying sizes scattered around it.

Then, surround these simple buildings with wooden fences that are two or three meters high, leaving only an entrance and exit, and that's it.

It appeared very primitive and impoverished.

But that's normal. If you have money, why would you be a robber?

Most of them were bankrupt farmers without land, or wandering ronin who were unwilling to farm. If there were one or two samurai who had lost their allegiance, that would be considered rare.

Although the Land of Fire is rich in resources, this good fortune clearly has nothing to do with the people in this mountain stronghold.

The ruling class of this world, after acquiring ninjas—a 'weapon' far surpassing anything they had ever seen before.

The oppression of the lower classes also appears somewhat unbridled.

If you encounter an enlightened "master," things will be fine, but if you encounter those who are greedy and insatiable, the living conditions of these people at the bottom are hard to describe.

As for the impoverished people who can no longer survive and rise up in rebellion?

Those nobles truly didn't care at all.

First, send in ordinary samurai to suppress them. If that doesn't work, there are still ninjas, aren't there?

Why spend so much money maintaining ninjas? Isn't it for use in situations like this?

This is one of the reasons why countries support ninja villages.

These ninjas, who possess extraordinary powers, are supported by the state.

These ninjas provided military support for the rule of these nobles and the security of the country.

Both parties can be said to have had a pleasant cooperation.

Of course, there's also the issue of who is subordinate to whom.

This is the power struggle between the daimyo prefecture and the "shadows" of each village.

Each of the five major countries has its own unique situation.

The relationship between Konoha and the Daimyo of the Land of Fire has always been good.

The First Hokage maintained a very good relationship with the Daimyo's household thanks to his exceptionally strong personal charisma.

By the time of the Second Hokage, Konoha had become somewhat stronger.

When the third generation came to power, the relationship was maintained quite well. However, due to the increasingly deteriorating situation, the village gradually fell into a disadvantageous position.

In the Land of Lightning, the ninja villages hold a dominant position. That's why the Lightning Village always seems so aggressive.

The situation in the Land of Wind is somewhat different. There has been some unpleasantness between the two sides, and they are only maintaining a cooperative relationship for the time being due to pressure from the Lands of Fire and Earth.

The daimyo of the Land of Earth has a good relationship with the ninja villages in the country, and the two sides cooperate quite well and are very united.

The situation in the Land of Water is different. Due to the geographical isolation caused by the islands being scattered across the vast ocean, communication between the various large islands is difficult.

The rule of the Water Kingdom is quite loose, and now it seems that everyone is going their own way.

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"Toshiro, have you found their sentries?" In the darkest hour before dawn, opposite this simple mountain stronghold, behind a large rock that could accommodate three people, came the voice of Uchiha Homura.

It turns out that during the day, Toshiro and Homura had discussed it.

Given the lack of intelligence, the three first used their transformation abilities to gather information from the surrounding villages.

Following the traces left at the crime scene, they tracked the group all the way here and found their hideout.

"There are no hidden sentries! They only have one person on guard at the main gate!" Toshiro gave an answer that greatly surprised Homura and Tetsuya. He continued, "Judging from the size of this stronghold, the number of people is not much different from what we estimated!"

Before arriving here, intelligence was gathered from the surrounding area. Combined with the analysis of traces at the crime scene, it was determined that there were approximately thirty to forty criminals.

Now, comparing the scale of the buildings here, it's not much different from their estimates.

To be on the safe side, Toshiro suggested launching the attack at 4 a.m., the time when people are most sleepy.

Having been accepted by the 'acceptance of her companions' opinions', the surprise attack at dawn took place.

To Toshiro's surprise, the village didn't even have a single sentry, which was incredibly unprofessional.

That's normal, after all, their opponents are mostly from the bottom of society, and it's already quite good that they leave one person to guard the gate all night.

"Hidden sentries"? What are those? They probably don't even know what they're talking about.

"In that case, Zheyou, you take care of the guards at the entrance and then act as backup in case of any unexpected situations."

Arranging Tetsuya for this simple task was a decision made by Homura and Toshiro after discussion, with the aim of protecting him.

Zhe is such a clumsy guy. If something unexpected happens during the mission, it will be hard to explain to Professor Shigemasa and Aunt Rie.

However, Tetsuya's good intentions were clearly not accepted by Toshiro and Homura. He felt that with his abilities, how could he only do something as simple as providing backup?

He should be the main attacker in this mission; that would be worthy of Uchiha Tetsuya's abilities.

This way, I can not only show off to my friends, but also mention it to my mother when I return to the village, so that she won't always worry about my safety.

Before he could voice his objections, Yan, who had been watching his changing expression, interrupted him.

(End of this chapter)