Ninja Pot Shadow

“Although this is within the Land of Fire, we need you to be at the forefront, using your sensory abilities to conduct reconnaissance,” Kakashi said in a commanding tone.

Ino glanced at Asuma and saw him nod, so she knew that this was the result of a discussion between the two Jonin.

"Okay, I understand." She readily accepted the task.

It's strange, but not counting the Jonin, out of the six Genin in their two teams, she's the only one with detection abilities. Look at Team 8 led by Kurenai Yuhi, all three Genin have detection abilities!

Karin's Kagura Mind's Eye can detect chakra anomalies within a range of tens of kilometers. There's a fat guy in Kirigakure named Nakayoshi whose detection range is even larger and finer; he can sense even the most minute chakra. Ino isn't a dedicated detection-type ninja; her sensory abilities are a byproduct of her enhanced spiritual energy and are currently a side job.

She said, "Kakashi-sensei, my detection range is a radius of five kilometers, so don't stray too far from me."

Kakashi nodded: "Okay, I understand."

The formation didn't need to be too complicated. Ino was in front, Kakashi brought up the rear, and Asuma led the other genin in the middle. The group of eight traveled through the forest toward the mission location.

They encountered two groups of Konoha ninjas on the way. Ino spotted them early on and immediately signaled to the rear. Asuma ordered her to go around them and not make contact.

"Why not try to contact them? Aren't they all just ninjas from the village?" Naruto was very puzzled.

His question earned him a powerful punch from Sakura.

"Idiot! We learned this in school! Outside the village, you have to avoid all factors that might interfere with the mission, including encountering ninjas. Avoid them if you can."

Three question marks appeared above Naruto's head, and he became even more confused. Weren't the ninjas in the village enemies? Weren't they all family?

Sasuke felt embarrassed by this guy's actions, and said indifferently, "What if it's an enemy in disguise?"

Naruto thought for more than ten seconds: "Then shouldn't we expose them even more?"

Sakura covered her forehead and said through gritted teeth, "We have a mission! During a mission, our mission is the top priority! Don't you understand, you idiot!"

The next evening, they arrived at the village where the person who commissioned the mission was located, a small mountain village that looked very peaceful.

Kakashi was promoted to Jonin much earlier than Asuma. Although the two were classmates, according to the rules of the ninja world, he was the senior, and the missions were naturally led by him.

Not long after entering the village, they found the person who gave them the task, who was also the village chief of this small village.

The village chief, thin and withered, spoke with righteous indignation upon seeing the ninjas arrive.

“Those guys are simply demons, they appear every year during the harvest season, and we will never compromise! But we don’t have strong military power, so we are hiring you all to help us wipe out the bandits, please!” The village chief’s tone was extremely sincere.

Kakashi's Team 7 is on the left, and Asuma's Team 10 is on the right.

The two Jonin exchanged a glance, and Asuma nodded, indicating that Kakashi should make the decision.

Kakashi pondered for a moment: "Please tell me the specific information."

"Yes!" The village chief replied respectfully. He found a simple-looking young man and said, "This is Dongfeng. He was originally... originally a member of the Buggy Mountain Bandits. He's the one who told me that Buggy kidnapped my granddaughter!"

The village chief choked up as he spoke, and was interrupted by Ino after he had only cried twice.

"Um... excuse me, what was the name of this bandit group?"

The village chief didn't understand why she asked that, but he still explained, "The leader of the bandits is named Bucky, so we call them the Bucky Gang."

Ino pressed for details about this Buggy's height and build, only to find that it was completely different from the one she remembered. She was relieved; it turned out to be a case of the same name, which had given her quite a fright…

She glanced at Sakura with a strange expression. Girl, your fledgling rival has arrived!

Kakashi didn't care at all what the bandit leader's name was, whether it was Buggy or the name reversed.

He looked at the honest-looking man who appeared to be a former bandit, Dongfeng.

"Since you were once a partner of these bandits, you must know their location, right?"

The honest-looking man nodded repeatedly and offered to lead the way.

The village chief hoped everyone would rest for the night and then go to wipe out the bandits the next day.

Kakashi, however, believed that night battles were also a form of training, and instructed the honest-looking Dongfeng to lead the way, as he intended to wipe out the bandits that very night.

Taking advantage of the darkness, the group secretly entered the mountains and soon arrived deep within them, where they reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.

Ino used her perception to observe the mountain stronghold and couldn't help but exclaim, "What talent! The north and east sides of the stronghold are sheer cliffs, and there is only a small path leading into the mountain from the south. It seems to be a natural cave inside? These guys carved out a path through the mountain and built three checkpoints along the way."

She asked Dongfeng, the former bandit leader, "Was this stronghold inherited from the previous bandits, or was it built by the current bandits?"

The rather simple-minded bandit Dongfeng replied, "...I heard it was built by Boss Baji and his men."

Ino patted him on the shoulder: "Our Konoha Village needs people who understand architecture... When we meet Buggy later, point him out to me."

"I understand, I understand!"

More than ten minutes later, the group saw the three checkpoints built by the bandits, taking advantage of the terrain. Judging from the thick rocks and the strength of the defenses, they really seemed like a formidable fortress.

Unfortunately, these things could only defend against ordinary soldiers, but not against a group of fierce people who were called ninjas but were actually mages and warriors.

More than a dozen bandits stood on the three-meter-high gate, holding bows and arrows, looking down at the group of strangers. Several archers also emerged from the watchtowers on both sides, their bows drawn and waiting for them to come within range.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura looked at Kakashi with hopeful eyes. She knew that the two sides could not reach a peaceful resolution, but she still stubbornly believed that she was a child and a student, hoping that the "adults" would step in to solve the problem.

"I don't need your help, let me do it!" Sasuke was full of fighting spirit. Without waiting for Kakashi's instructions, he unleashed a Fireball Jutsu on the mountain stronghold's gate.

He used his full strength this time, a C-rank ninjutsu, and a Fire Release technique known for its destructive power, so its power was even greater.

The fireball flew more than ten meters before slamming into the gate of the village, followed by a violent explosion.

The explosion shattered the gate, killing many bandits on the spot, and many more were seriously injured. Limbs and torsos flew everywhere, and many bandits were burned by the flames, letting out a series of shrill screams like pigs being slaughtered.

Chapter Sixty-One Killing the Bandits

The two Jonin observed the expressions of their respective subordinates.

Upon first seeing this scene, the expressions of the six people changed. Even Sasuke, the instigator, felt a pang of pity upon seeing the blood everywhere. However, burdened by the deep-seated hatred of his family, he forcibly suppressed his emotions, stubbornly raising his chin, pursing his lips, and pretending to be indifferent.

Seeing the scene of corpses strewn across the ground, Ino felt a strong sense of unease. However, she suppressed her weakness and kept reminding herself that this was not her previous life, nor was it some kind of hot-blooded anime world. This was a real and brutal world of killing, where there was no justice. If you didn't kill, people would kill you!

She glanced at her companions out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Choji had stopped eating potato chips. Shikamaru closed his eyes, but opened them again two seconds later.

Sakura seems to be putting on a brave face. Naruto? ... Naruto's expression is particularly serious, as if he wants to say something but ultimately holds back.

The bandits were not deterred by the Fireball spell. A large number of fierce-looking bandits armed with weapons rushed out from the main gate. Several logs were thrown down from the tops of the mountain walls on both sides. A large group of fully armed bandits also appeared on the road they had come from. The bandit Dongfeng who led the way was gone. They seemed to have fallen into a trap.

"These scoundrels won't let us live, and we won't let them leave alive either!"

"What kind of bullshit ninjas?! I think they're just a bunch of kids. Let my battle sword have its fill!"

"Give your broken knife a taste of meat? Harada, are you stupid? Those two girls look so delicate and fair-skinned, much better than those women in the village who do farm work every day. Their skin is dazzlingly white. If we can get them off later, we brothers can have a taste... Hahahaha—!"

The surrounding language became increasingly vulgar, and Sakura trembled with anger. Ino was also annoyed. Good, with these words as a backdrop, she felt no guilt when killing people.

It seems the Third Hokage was right; these are all evil people!

"Shikamaru, Choji, protect me."

"it is good."

Ino stared straight ahead, where the bandits were most arrogant. She quickly formed hand seals: "Water Release: Exploding Water Wave!"

The waves that appeared out of nowhere swept across the land, and the powerful current swept the bandits in front of them into the water one by one. Faced with this ninjutsu that was comparable to the power of nature, the bandits' bodies were like toys, instantly being swept in and tossed about by the current. Those who were lucky suffered broken bones and tendons, while those who were unlucky were swept back by the current and slammed against the rock walls on both sides. Their heads were smashed into a bloody mess of flesh like watermelons.

Several bandits let out strange cries and frantically swung their swords to slash at the water, only to be swept away by a giant wave and sink to the bottom without even splashing a drop of water.

The place that was used as a trap happened to be a low-lying area. When Kakashi was forming hand seals with Ino, he used Earth Release to create a high platform as a foothold for everyone. The water waves were boundless. First, they lifted up the logs thrown down by the bandits on both sides. Under Ino's control, the logs were squeezed by the water flow and thrown back like cannonballs. Then the water level rose rapidly until it submerged all the bandits at both ends. Only then did this "Exploding Water Wave" stop.

This one technique killed at least dozens of bandits.

Sasuke snorted disdainfully when he saw Ino displaying her prowess.

"The first gate has been breached! Team 7, attack!" Kakashi shouted the order.

Apart from Sakura, who had practiced tree climbing, the other two members of Class 7 had not trained in tree climbing or treading water. At this moment, the water under their feet was five or six meters deep. If they were to swim across, it would be too embarrassing.

Sasuke leaped onto the left rock wall, planted his feet firmly on the rocks, and used the momentum to turn around in mid-air and rush into the gate. Naruto followed closely behind, and Sakura came last.

Asuma also ordered Squad 10 to attack.

Ino and the others each took out kunai and began their slaughter against the bandits at the second gate of the stronghold.

"Die! You lackey of the Land of Fire!" A bandit who was two meters tall wielded a large axe. Seemingly noticing that Ino was rather thin, he used his strength to deliver a powerful blow to her waist.

Chakra is omnipotent! With the blessing of chakra, the bandits' movements seemed to move in slow motion to Ino.

She raised her left foot, stepped on the axe, and leaped up. Before her opponent could change his move, she slashed his throat with a single stroke. He clutched his neck, but blood still splattered everywhere like a fountain. His large, bell-like eyes seemed to want to remember Ino's appearance, but his vision grew darker and darker until he lost consciousness.

Ino was killing bandits, Sasuke was killing bandits, and Shikamaru gritted his teeth, also using kunai to kill bandits.

None of the three of them used ninjutsu; instead, they killed using the most primitive methods.

The smell of blood at the scene stirred a trace of the Nine-Tails' power within Naruto. Seeing Sasuke killing the bandits, Naruto's eyes reddened slightly, his hesitation subsided, and he drew his kunai and joined the slaughter.

Only Choji and Sakura didn't take action; the former couldn't bear to, and the latter wasn't mentally prepared.

The two Jonin watched from a distance, knowing they wouldn't intervene unless their subordinates were in danger.

"Huff—huff—I'm so damn tired!" Ino's physical strength wasn't actually that great, but she was quite tormented. She had long forgotten the breathing techniques she used during training. After personally killing the fifth bandit, she felt a little out of breath.

Seeing Choji and Sakura standing nervously to the side, she reached out and grabbed the two bandits, one fat and one thin.

Ino threw the two bandits at Choji's feet and pulled Sakura, whose body was trembling slightly, to her side. Ino first advised Sakura, "You heard what these guys said earlier. You should know very well what kind of treatment you and I would have received if we weren't ninjas!"

Sakura lowered her head and remained silent. Ino angrily shouted, "Stand up straight! Look me in the eye! You're lucky to live in Konoha Village; you're a ninja! But what about those women who weren't born in Konoha Village and don't have ninja talent? Are they just left to be ravaged by bandits? Kill him! Now!"

Sakura is actually a very smart person. She knows what she should do, but because of her personality, she often messes up at crucial moments and often needs an external push to help her.

Holding a kunai in both hands, she gritted her teeth and pierced the bandit's heart.

Ino waved her hand: "Alright, you go ahead and do your work, but be careful. Choji, you, watch me!"

Choji, this kind-hearted fat guy, wasn't so easy to persuade. Shikamaru felt that he and Choji were too close and there were many things he couldn't say, so he entrusted the matter to Ino before the battle.

Seeing the fat man staring down at his protruding belly with an expression that said, "I'm wrong, so hurry up and scold me," Ino sighed inwardly. Not only did she have to be responsible for reconnaissance, clearing out the fodder, and taking the lead, but she also had to comfort her comrades. What a hassle.

She coughed and said, "You know I'm not very good at talking, and I'm even less good at lecturing..."

Chapter Sixty-Two: Changing Mindset

If Ino controlled a bandit and then insulted him with words like "fat pig" or "fatso," it would definitely ignite Choji's fighting spirit. However, that would only be fighting spirit, not killing intent. That kind of energy comes and goes quickly. Should she control another enemy to insult him in the next battle? That's not a long-term solution.

She could only resort to the most clichéd excuse: "Choji, I won't go into the big theories, let's talk about something simple. Do you remember what Grandpa Sangen said before we set off?"

In Ino's eyes, the Third Hokage was a lecherous and indecisive old politician, but in the hearts of a group of young ninjas, he was absolutely the embodiment of kindness, benevolence, and justice, the most perfect ninja.

The Third Hokage held power for nearly forty years, fought three Shinobi World Wars, and won all three. His accumulated prestige was not fake. Not to mention Ino, even the combined prestige of Ino-Shika-Cho's father and grandfather could not match that of the Third Hokage.