Konoha's Mission Master

The men in black on either side immediately gripped their ninja swords and charged forward, relying on the chakra fluctuations they sensed.

"shield."

Yakumo spoke casually, as if it were as simple as snapping his fingers, and the thick fog churned, becoming even denser and heavier.

The two men in black froze instantly, and those around them also became more cautious. Originally, they had only lost their sight, but now they had lost their sense of perception, smell, touch, and hearing, as if they were in a boundless darkness.

"bump."

The sound of the impact spread outward from the sea of ​​mist, but was quickly suppressed into an almost imperceptible ripple. The effect of the four stars aligning in conjunction with the burst of mist burial greatly satisfied Yakumo. With the enemy's perception and speed suppressed, the four stars aligning in conjunction was a true killing weapon.

Yakumo's right arm was wrapped with four water bullets, reaping the lives of the black-clad men around him. Even if he managed to dodge one through instinct, he still couldn't avoid being hit by the second one.

The azure water bullets, like swimming fish, hurtled towards the last man in black in the arena amidst the mist.

"bump."

His chest was pierced through, and bits of flesh mixed with blood splattered across the surrounding buildings, turning the entire courtyard into a blood-soaked mess.

Yakumo watched as the leader of the men in black unleashed another four-star combo, while bright white arcs of electricity danced across his body. His speed instantly reached its limit, and the purple blade in his hand burst forth with dazzling light.

Bright white lines stretched across the entire sea of ​​fog, like a white, angry dragon roaring wildly. After the leader of the men in black cleaved through the four-star attack, he hurriedly raised his sword to block.

The degree of suppression from the Mist Burial depends on the strength of the enemy. The leader of the men in black is stronger than his subordinates, so he is the least affected.

The exquisite ninja sword shattered upon contact, and the surging force flowed down the hilt into the black-clad leader's body.

With a "pfft," the man in black spat out a mouthful of blood.

Yakumo instinctively took a half step back to avoid the blood and foam, while the man in black took out a forbidden drug from his ninja tool bag and injected it into his carotid artery without hesitation.

In that brief clash, he had already determined that he could not defeat Yakumo.

The leader of the men in black, who had been injected with the secret medicine, emanated a terrifying surge of chakra, his eyes bloodshot as if he were enduring some kind of excruciating pain.

He drew a second ninja sword from behind, infused it with chakra, and their gazes met in mid-air before colliding fiercely at the same time.

Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, but the leader of the men in black did not retreat an inch this time. The unknown banned drug not only increased his chakra levels, but also his muscle strength, nerve reflexes, and so on, but the price was his life.

Large amounts of blood were splattered on the ground. The battle between the two had shifted from an evenly matched contest to one where Yakumo had taken the initiative. After understanding the enemy's attack patterns, Yakumo no longer held back and severely injured him in an instant.

The leader of the men in black could only barely buy time by trading blows.

Yakumo couldn't understand the enemy's persistence. What was the point of persisting like this? The embers of life... were about to burn out.

"What kind of monster are you?" the black-clad leader asked hoarsely, gripping his broken ninja sword.

Without pausing, Yakumo advanced and slashed repeatedly... In an instant, he unleashed two indistinguishable strikes. One strike completely destroyed the enemy's weapon, while the second severed the black-clad leader's ribs.

With a "bang".

Only half a withered tree stump remained on the spot. He had anticipated the attack and used the Substitution Jutsu to save his life.

"call…"

Yakumo exhaled, then held his breath for a moment.

Fog was his best scout; he could pinpoint the enemy's location without even having to search for them.

With a burst of power from his legs, lightning surged forth. The purple-flame short blade sliced ​​through the air with a low hum like a dragon's roar. In the blink of an eye, Yakumo was already in front of the men in black, unleashing an extremely fierce strike from above. The leader of the men in black seemed to have no time to react, and his neck was severed by this blow.

The headless corpse fell, but Yakumo did not receive a notification that the mission had been successful, and shook his head in slight disappointment.

"Nightcrow, nightcrow...where are you?"

The purple flames returned to their sheaths, and Yakumo slowly walked towards the research lab. Aoyama Reiko had already treated her wounds briefly; although her face was pale, thankfully her life was not in danger.

Chapter 45 Tsunade Arrives

The thick fog that had enveloped half of the daimyo prefecture gradually dissipated silently. As Yakumo gazed at the majestic and bustling daimyo prefecture, he suddenly felt a sense of oppression and chill in his heart.

Despite the magnitude of the incident in the research lab, no one came to check on it from beginning to end, as if the place had been deliberately forgotten. Usually, only a handful of people take care of the unconscious Daimyo.

Whether it's the eldest son or the second son, they are both waiting... waiting for the daimyo to breathe his last, and then they will begin to compete for the position of daimyo of the Land of Fire.

Both sides probably hope that Aoyama Reiko and Yakumo will die in the research lab tonight, because neither of them wants the daimyo to wake up. It's ironic and tragic that even the sons in the entire daimyo's mansion want their fathers to die.

"What a dramatic scene!"

Yakumo sighed and looked away.

"Are you alright?" Aoyama Reiko asked with some concern.

"No, the enemy has been dealt with."

In fact, the leader of the men in black had already died before Yakumo unleashed that fierce attack, succumbing to the backlash of the forbidden drug.

Silence... a long silence, until finally Yakumo broke it, unable to bear the eerie atmosphere.

"Sister Qingshan, don't you have anything you want to ask?"

"What do you want to ask?" Aoyama Reiko glanced at Yakumo and continued to treat the wound on her chest with her palm technique. Just a few hours ago she was seriously injured and on the verge of death, but now she was full of energy again.

"For example, why am I so strong, what plans do I have hidden in Konoha, or am I a spy for some ninja village... these kinds of questions."

Yakumo scratched his head and began to speculate on the questions that Reiko Aoyama might ask.

“Your background is clean; you’ve never left Konoha Village since you were a child, so we can rule out the possibility of you being a spy. If you had any ill intentions towards Konoha, you wouldn’t have needed to save me. The only thing you can’t explain is your strength,” Aoyama Reiko analyzed clearly. At that moment, Yakumo felt that she was radiating a glow of wisdom.

“Oh, right.” Aoyama Reiko suddenly drew out a long syllable, then continued, “In your words… that’s just average strength… well, it really is quite average.”

The most important thing is that Reiko Aoyama believes that when people are willing to expose everything to save themselves, many other things become less important.

Yakumo gave a shy laugh and, under Aoyama Reiko's puzzled gaze, began running around the experimental equipment in the room. Finally, half an hour later, the option to submit the task popped up.

After paying 100 gold coins, Yakumo's height was compressed, his sharp aura dissipated, and in a few seconds he was like a peerless blade returning to its sheath, transforming back into that harmless medical ninja apprentice.

"What an amazing disguise." Aoyama Reiko blinked and looked Yakumo up and down with some curiosity, as if looking for a flaw.

"It's getting light."

“That’s right.” Reiko Aoyama got up, walked to the instrument, and put the prepared antidote into a glass bottle and sealed it.

"Once Lady Tsunade arrives, we can have her assess whether the antidote is effective," Reiko Aoyama said, putting the glass bottle into her ninja tool pouch.

Although Yakumo hasn't participated in the antidote development these past few days, he has learned about the antidote's mechanism of action from Aoyama Reiko. The antidote works by stimulating the brain's nerves to make them more active and actively expel the poison from the Sleeping Grass.

This is very unscientific, but it fits the theory of chakra.

As the first rays of sunlight shone into the courtyard, servants dressed in black carried stretchers for the deceased into the courtyard in an orderly fashion.

They took out their professional tools and began cleaning up the mangled corpse and the blood congealed on the floor, and thoughtfully purified the air inside the research room as well.

"Come here for a moment." Aoyama Reiko waved to the lead servant in black.

"You may be called Morita. What are your orders, sir?" Captain Morita came over immediately upon hearing the voice and spoke in a somewhat obsequious manner.

"Who are you? And who notified you to come and collect the body today?" This matter is far from over. If she had died yesterday, everything would have been over. Since she is alive, she will naturally take revenge on her enemies.

“We are a body collection team serving the Daimyo Prefecture. Two days ago, someone sent our commission, as well as the time and place for body collection, to our department through a middleman,” Captain Morita replied.

"That's great..." Aoyama Reiko clenched her right fist. The enemy was really thoughtful. Not only did they plan their deaths in advance, but they even found a team to collect their bodies.

Reiko Aoyama stepped forward and stored the body of the leader of the men in black into a storage scroll. Then, she picked up a glass syringe from the ground and revealed a knowing smile.

Yakumo watched as Reiko Aoyama took out an identical glass syringe from her ninja tool bag, except that the one in Reiko Aoyama's hand contained a blood-red liquid.

"Burning Blood, a forbidden drug specially supplied to the Dark Division, is only issued when carrying out S-class assassination missions."

"Were those people who tried to kill us yesterday from the Dark Guard?"

Yakumo asked in an incredulous tone.

"No, they are the Dark Division training department... also known as the Root."

What is the root?

"A terrifying organization of violence, and in some ways even more frightening because its leader is a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals."

“Root... Sister Aoyama, I think there should be someone above those men in black yesterday who was responsible for the planning and execution of the entire mission.”

"why?"

"A mission like poisoning a daimyo can't be accomplished by just an ordinary Jonin; there must be someone even stronger behind him!"

"Hey, that ordinary Jonin almost killed me yesterday... Are you trying to say... I'm weak?" Aoyama Reiko retorted, her eyes gradually turning dangerous.

"How is that possible? Sister Qingshan... is invincible!"

Yakumo quickly said that he had noticed that after going through life and death together, Aoyama Reiko's attitude towards him had become increasingly intimate. She was no longer cold or aloof, but just like a normal girl next door. But this was very abnormal.

After half an hour,

"Lady Tsunade, you've arrived..."

Aoyama Reiko suddenly spoke up.

Yakumo immediately turned his head.

At the entrance to the courtyard, the butler, Takahashi, who had once looked down on them, was now all smiles and fawning, just like a palace eunuch.

"Lady Tsunade," Reiko Aoyama greeted her with a smile.

"Lady Tsunade," Yakumo greeted with a bow of immense joy.

"Reiko... I'm so happy to see you're all right..." Tsunade said meaningfully, stepping forward to hug Aoyama Reiko tightly. From Yakumo's perspective, certain beautiful things were squeezed out of shape.

"Are you injured?" Tsunade immediately let go of her hand, her eyes gradually becoming sharp. When they hugged just now, Tsunade could clearly feel her friend's weakness.

"What exactly happened?"

Yakumo subconsciously took a half step back. Judging from the aura Tsunade was exuding, he could tell that he couldn't beat her.

Chapter 46 Treatment

Daming Prefecture, inside the research institute courtyard.

"You mean there's a mysterious powerhouse who's skilled in Water Release ninjutsu and swordsmanship, easily taking down all the enemies?" Tsunade repeated incredulously after hearing the truth pieced together by Aoyama Reiko and Yakumo.

"An illusion that obscures the five senses."

"A water-style technique powerful enough to easily pierce through a chest."

"Exquisite swordsmanship."