Chapter 85: A Small Difficulty

Ignoring Uchiha Tetsu, who cheerfully received the scroll, Uchiha Homura looked expressionlessly at Toshiro, who was leisurely resting and drinking water nearby.

After traveling all morning, and despite having rested for a while to nearly recover, who wouldn't want to steal a bit of rest?

Yes! Just laze around!

After shedding the 'temporary captain' 'burden', Toshiro planned to slack off completely.

[Did this guy foresee something? Did he know beforehand about the 'trouble' of this mission?]

[Impossible! He couldn't have seen the mission scroll yet, so he can't know the content.]

Tetsu, who had some understanding of the mission which is quite challenging for this group of genin, began to suspect whether this 'annoying' guy Toshiro was playing tricks on him again.

Just a moment ago, Homura was pleased with Toshiro for not competing for the 'leader position'. Her good impression of him turned into annoyance in an instant.

She glanced at Tetsu, who was struggling with the 'reading comprehension' of the mission scroll.

[It seems to complete this mission successfully, I'll have to discuss it with Toshiro.]

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

The morning star hung high in the sky, and people were still asleep.

In this moment before dawn, located on a hillside near Nic Village in the Land of Fire, stood a rather rudimentary small fort.

The fort wasn't very large, with a single slightly larger wooden structure in the middle, surrounded by about a dozen scattered straw huts of different sizes.

The entire area was surrounded by wooden fences about two or three meters high, with only one entrance and exit, making it look very primitive and impoverished.

This was understandable—if they had money, why would they be bandits?

Most were bankrupt farmers without land, or some wandering ronin who didn't want to farm, and it was rare to find even one or two samurai without a master to serve.

Although the Land of Fire was rich in resources, such benefits had nothing to do with the people in this fort.

The ruling class of this world, with ninjas as far superior 'weapons', were quite unscrupulous in their oppression of the lower classes.

If they encountered an enlightened 'lord', things might be okay. But if they met a greedy one, the conditions at the bottom were indescribably harsh.

As for the oppressed lower classes rising in rebellion? The nobles didn't care at all.

First, they'd send ordinary samurai to suppress the revolt. If that didn't work, weren't there still ninjas?

Money was spent maintaining ninjas precisely for such times!

This was one of the reasons why every nation supported ninja villages.

Nations provided for these ninjas with extraordinary powers, and these ninjas offered military support for the noble's rule and the safety of the nation.

The cooperation was quite pleasant. 

Of course, there was still an issue of subordination. 

This was part of the political tussle between the daimyo's offices and the 'shadows' of each village.

As for the Five Great Nations, the situations varied.

The First Hokage managed to maintain a pretty good relationship with the daimyo's office through his exceptionally 'strong' personal charm. 

By the Second Hokage's time, Konoha had become somewhat more assertive.

Under the Third Hokage, relations were maintained well though the village was gradually falling behind due to the worsening situation.

In the Land of Lightning, the ninja village took the lead, which is why the village always seemed so aggressive.

The Land of Wind had some discord, and currently, cooperation was maintained only due to the pressure from the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.

The daimyo of the Land of Earth maintained a good relationship with their ninja village, cooperating quite pleasantly and in relative unity.

The Land of Water, on the other hand, struggled with difficulties due to the scattered islands in the vast sea, leading to loose governance, and presently, they seemed to be pursuing their own interests.

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"Toshiro, did you find their sentries?" In this darkest hour before dawn, behind a large rock that could accommodate three people, opposite the humble fort, came the voice of Uchiha Homura.

As it turned out, during the daytime, after some discussion between Toshiro and Homura, they decided to use their transformation jutsu to collect intelligence from surrounding villages, due to the lack of information.

Tracing the clues left at the crime scenes, they followed the trail to the bandits' hideout.

"No sentries! They only have one person guarding the main gate!" Toshiro replied with a surprising answer that left Homura and Tetsu astonished. "By the looks of it, the size of the fort matches our estimated number of people."

Before coming here, they had gathered intelligence from the nearby area and analyzed the clues at the scenes to estimate the number of bandits to be between thirty to forty.

Now, comparing to the size of this place, their estimate wasn't far off.

For safety, Toshiro suggested attacking at four in the morning, the sleepiest time.

Agreeing to Toshiro's suggestion, 'open to her companions' opinions', Lady Uchiha Homura gave her consent, leading to their dawn assault.

However, what surprised Toshiro was the bandits had no sentries besides one person at the gate, which was highly unprofessional.

Then again, their opponents were social outcasts, so having one person guard the gate was already quite good.

Sentries? What might that be? They probably didn't even know.

"In that case, Tetsu, you take care of the gatekeeper and then serve as a backup to handle any unexpected situations."

Assigning Tetsu this simple task was a decision made after consulting between Homura and Toshiro, aiming to protect him.

Tetsu, clumsy as he was, could cause quite a bit of trouble during a mission, making it hard to explain to Master Shigemasa and Aunt Rie if anything went wrong.

But Teto didn't appreciate Toshiro and Homura's good intentions. To demonstrate his abilities, he didn't want to just do backup work or simple tasks.

He believed carrying out the main attack in this mission would better reflect his capabilities as Uchiha Tetsu.

Not only could he show off in front of his friends, but he could also prove himself to his mother back in the village to ease her worries about his safety.

As objections formed in his mind, Homura, watching his changing expressions, interrupted before he could voice them.

(Chapter end)