Konoha's Hextech Ninja

"Are you sure you're ready?" Yagami Yoruichi looked at Yuhi Kurenai and said seriously, "There will be bloodshed and people will be killed in battle. Are you sure you can handle that?!"

Murder!

This is just the most insignificant aspect of the cruel world of ninjas.

Although she had long anticipated that this day would come, Yagami Yoruichi always wanted to protect the girl as much as possible and delay her exposure to these things.

Kurenai gritted her teeth and said, "I'm ready! It's just killing people, I can definitely do it!"

“I, I’m aware of that too!” Nohara Rin quickly chimed in.

She was the weakest member of the team, with the least combat experience.

Having finally managed to latch onto a powerful ally, Nohara Rin didn't want to be kicked out of the team because of her 'mindset'.

Seeing the two women's expressions, Yagami Yoruichi was conflicted. After hesitating for a moment, he didn't insist anymore and nodded, saying, "Okay, then we'll take on a C-rank mission tomorrow."

"Yay!" Kurenai happily hugged Yoruichi Yagami, snuggling into his arms and acting coquettishly: "Yoruichi-kun is the best!"

Yagami Yoruichi joked, "Don't be so scared you cry then."

"Hmph!" Kurenai turned her face away, saying awkwardly, "I won't!"

Seeing the two of them being so intimate, a hint of envy flashed in Nohara Rin's eyes, but she quickly concealed her feelings, poured them drinks, and said with a smile, "C-rank missions usually require leaving the village, right..."

……

"To devour souls and shrink engines, you need to kill 'enemy heroes' to stack the effect. C-rank missions generally don't involve enemy ninjas, at most you'll encounter the likes of Yamaguchi I, or at most a few wandering ninjas, which doesn't meet the criteria for 'hero'."

"However, if it involves B-rank or A-rank missions involving ninja battles, the risks for the two of them become a bit too great..."

As Yagami Yoruichi pondered, he quickly selected a bandit-suppression mission that wasn't too far from Konoha.

The target's information is clear: they are a small group of bandits who have only been around for a short time. They were foolish enough to offend a wealthy merchant from the Land of Fire, who then issued a warrant for their arrest and entrusted Konoha with the task of eliminating them.

Because of the accurate and detailed intelligence, the chances of encountering ninja battles on such missions are almost zero.

It's easy to deduce that these robbers don't have much wealth accumulated, meaning they don't have much 'profit' to offer.

The stronger teams in Konoha often tacitly leave these kinds of tasks to newcomers to practice on.

For Yoruichi Yagami, this mission was of no value whatsoever.

But for Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara, it was the perfect 'practice mission'.

If they can get used to blood and killing, it's not too late to introduce them to more complex tasks.

"During this mission, should I look for an opportunity to kill a few ninjas? At my speed, I can create a shadow clone and cross the border in time. I can then use the [Soul Devouring] and [Shrinking Engine] on the upper levels of the map."

An idea popped into Yagami Yoruichi's mind.

After thinking for a while, I decided to do nothing.

With preparations for the mission already completed and reliable intelligence in hand, Yagami Yoruichi didn't waste any time. She took the two women and registered their departure information before setting off.

“The destination of the mission isn’t far, but with your speed and stamina, it will still take two days,” Yagami Yoruichi said.

Actually, in terms of distance alone, the target of this mission is closer than the distance of Yagami Yoruichi's first bandit suppression mission.

However, Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara, especially the latter, cannot compare to Yoruichi Yagami's original team in terms of speed or stamina.

The same distance was covered in less than a day by Yagami Yoruichi, Hatake Kakashi, and Uchiha Inahi.

However, Rin Nohara needs at least two days to ensure that her physical condition is at a safe level.

Nohara Rin thought that Yagami Yoruichi was blaming her for holding them back, so she quickly said, "I'm sorry, I will try to increase my physical training after this mission."

Kurenai quickly comforted her, "Rin, Yoruichi-kun didn't mean that."

"Don't overthink it, I'm just talking about the mission plan." Yagami Yoruichi shook her head, opened the map, pointed to the marker on the map, and said, "The mission location is here, we'll take this route. Do you know why?"

Nohara Rin understood Yagami Yoruichi's intention to test her, and a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. Soon her eyes lit up, clearly indicating that she had thought of the answer.

But she didn't answer immediately; instead, she turned to look at Kurenai.

Kurenai frowned and asked, "Is this route not the shortest route because it's safer?"

"Then why is this route safer?" Yagami Yoruichi reminded him, "I've never been to this place before, and I'm not familiar with the route. I made the decision entirely based on the map."

“This…” Kurenai thought for a long time, then shook her head and said, “I don’t know.”

"Rin." Yagami Yoru looked at Nohara Rin and asked, "Have you figured out the reason?"

"This route is mainly through plains and does not pass through major cities, which means it is not easy to be ambushed and there is no need to deal with the complex forces in big cities."

Nohara Rin recited the contents of the textbook: "During the mission, you should avoid contact with forces outside the mission as much as possible to avoid unexpected variables."

“That’s roughly it.” Yagami Yoruichi nodded, then pointed to a river marked on the map and said, “There’s another reason: if we walk along the river, it will be easier to get fresh water, and the terrain is also advantageous to me.”

"That's right!" Kurenai's eyes lit up: "Yoruichi-kun's specialty is water jutsu, so he'll definitely have an advantage by the river!"

"That's about it." Yagami Yoruichi put away the map and reminded him, "These details may seem insignificant, but they can affect the success or failure of the mission, and even the safety of the team, so you must pay attention."

This can also be seen as an opportunity to pass on my experience to the two women as much as possible through the mission.

Although Yagami Yoruichi's experience in carrying out missions is not extensive, she is still much better than 'newbies' like Yuhi Kurenai and Nohara Rin.

"Alright, let's go. There are only three of us, so many conventional formations won't work. I'll go first, and you two will follow me closely on either side, keeping a distance of five to ten meters."

To protect the two women, Yagami Yoruichi had no choice but to adopt a compact formation to travel quickly.

As for the price...

Yagami Yoruichi quickly formed hand seals and used [Wind Perception] to integrate her chakra into the air and spread it with the wind.

Throughout the journey, Yoruichi Yagami planned to maintain a wide range of perception in order to eliminate potential dangers along the way as much as possible.

As for the chakra consumption, it is indeed very high, but with Yagami Yoruichi's current chakra reserves, she can handle it even for ten or eight days, let alone two, without affecting her combat power.

……

Shimura clan land.

A masked man delivers a piece of information to Danzo Shimura.

After reading it, Danzo Shimura slowly said, "That brat caused me to end up like this. I can't let him off easily!"

“But Hiruzen and Tsunade are keeping a close eye on us; they'll detect our every move. If they catch us doing something wrong, even if Hiruzen needs me a lot, he won't reuse me anytime soon. And ordinary ninjas aren't capable of threatening that brat…”

Although Danzo Shimura was narrow-minded, he knew that he couldn't act impulsively now.

He pondered for a moment, then instructed, "Go and inform Orochimaru. Hasn't he always been interested in that brat? Give him the information, and what he does is none of our business."

"Yes, my lord."

The masked ninja responded and quickly disappeared.

Chapter 133 Orochimaru Follows Us On

Inside a bandit's lair.

Yoruichi Yagami did not make a move; he merely monitored and watched from the outside.

Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara, wielding kunai and shuriken, and possessing martial arts skills that seemed somewhat naive to Yoru Yagami but were utterly incompetent against ordinary villagers, quickly slaughtered the bandits in the village.

However, although the two women's movements appeared smooth and natural, Yagami Yoruichi keenly noticed that their bodies were trembling slightly.

Clearly, he was not comfortable with killing and forced himself to do it, suppressing his discomfort.

"It was still a bit too much of a stretch..."

Just as Yagami Yoruichi was hesitating about whether to call a halt, she suddenly sensed something was wrong. She immediately threw the kunai in her hand behind her and at the same time formed hand seals to create three shadow clones.

Two shadow clones quickly rushed towards Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara's location, while the main body remained in place to keep watch, and the last shadow clone immediately pounced on the location that sensed the 'abnormality'.

Bang~!

The sound of the shadow clone dissipating came, but it wasn't Yagami Yoruichi's shadow clone; it was the 'enemy's'.

"Crack, snap, snap!"

Orochimaru's figure rose from the soil, looking incredibly eerie.

He clapped his hands, making an applause gesture, and praised Yagami Yoruichi, "As expected of Yoruichi-kun, your senses are very sharp!"

"Orochimaru……"

Yagami Yoruichi's heart sank slightly.

This is arguably the opponent that Yagami Yoruichi least wanted to face.

Strength is secondary; the most crucial thing is that Orochimaru's moral bottom line is extremely flexible.

He dared to risk his life in critical moments, making him far more dangerous than Danzo Shimura.

"Yoruichi-kun, don't make that scary face. I'm not your enemy."

Orochimaru's voice was hoarse. He stood still, letting Yoruichi Yagami quickly deal with the remaining bandits and protect Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara behind him.

After Yagami Yoruichi was ready to protect the two women, Orochimaru spoke up, "What do you think of my suggestion last time, Yoruichi-kun?"

The last proposal?

Yagami Yoruichi immediately recalled their previous meeting when Orochimaru said he wanted to take her as his disciple.

However, to be precise, that wasn't the 'last' meeting.

"I'm sorry, Orochimaru-senpai."

Yagami Yoruichi answered without hesitation, "Tsunade-sensei has been very good to me, and I have no intention of changing teachers."

"What a pity. I heard that Tsunade just threw a bunch of ninjutsu scrolls at you and told you to practice on your own."

Orochimaru spoke provocatively, but seeing that he couldn't change Yoruichi's attitude, he immediately changed the subject: "Since Yoruichi-kun doesn't intend to become my disciple, are you interested in cooperating?"

"Cooperation?" Yagami Yoruichi's heart skipped a beat.

Tsunade had warned Yoruichi Yagami many times that Orochimaru harbored ill intentions towards her.

This so-called 'cooperation' is certainly not normal cooperation.

But Yagami Yoruichi did not dare to refuse immediately.

If a fight breaks out, Yoruichi Yagami herself might have a chance to escape unscathed, but protecting Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara would be very difficult.

As for hoping that Orochimaru wouldn't bully the younger women, that's another matter.

Forget it. Being a ninja is a profession where you'll do anything to achieve your goals. Besides, Orochimaru is one of the more flexible types of ninjas when it comes to morality.

If he could capture the two women to threaten him, Orochimaru would not hesitate for a second.

In just a few seconds, countless thoughts flashed through Yagami Yoruichi's mind, but in the end, she didn't say a direct refusal. Instead, she tentatively asked, "Orochimaru-senpai, why don't you just say it directly? What do you want from me?"

"interesting."

Orochimaru stuck out his long tongue, licked his lips, and said with a drooling expression, "Your physique and chakra are very special. I want to study your bloodline."

Upon seeing Orochimaru's posture, Yagami Yoruichi immediately got goosebumps.

So that's why Orochimaru had his eye on me.

Although at this point in time, Orochimaru has not yet completed the development of 'Reanimation Jutsu', and most likely hasn't even researched the prototype of this forbidden technique, it's impossible for him to use himself as a vessel for reincarnation.

But this look, as if she were looking at 'experimental material,' was something that Yoruichi Yagami found hard to accept.

"I'm sorry, Lord Orochimaru."

Yagami Yoruichi shook his head without hesitation and said, "I have no interest in becoming your experimental subject."

As she said this, Yagami Yoruichi was already ready for battle, her hands forming the 'forward' hand seal in front of her chest, ready to unleash her ninjutsu at any moment.

Although I wasn't confident I could protect Kurenai Yuhi and Rin Nohara from Orochimaru's command.

However, if Orochimaru really insists on taking action, Yoruichi Yagami will not sit idly by and wait to die.

"It seems that Yoruichi-kun has a deep misunderstanding about me."

Orochimaru made another demand: "I only need a small sample of Yoruichi's skin, blood, and other genetic material. I hope Yoruichi won't refuse such a small request?"

Yoruichi Yagami naturally wanted to refuse.

A ninja's body tissues can reveal a lot of information.

Not to mention, if it falls into the hands of a perverted scientist like Orochimaru, who knows what kind of things he will research and develop.

In the TV anime, Orochimaru even created a thing called "Mechanical Naruto," and in the later series, he even used genetic technology to create a "son."