Tokyo Knights: The Odd Jobs X Files

"I really want to get my hands on the seed of an extraordinary powerhouse and a Hayabusa clan ninja!"

"Perhaps we shouldn't send female ninjas. We could try sending young, handsome male ninjas instead!"

Listening to the argument among the elderly men, the middle-aged woman broke out in a sweat. She couldn't help but say, "My lords, I think the most urgent thing is to get rid of those two people. They may become suspicious of us at any time."

Although the Dark Eagle Clan immediately began making arrangements after learning of the two people's arrival, disguising the place as an ordinary mountain village, one of them was a rising superhuman powerhouse who had gained fame in the last two years, and the other was a legendary super ninja from the "Hayabusa Clan." Either of these two individuals was capable of completely destroying the Dark Eagle Clan. Instead of getting rid of these two powerful figures, they were plotting to seize their seed...

If it weren't for the strict hierarchy among ninjas, where subordinates are absolutely forbidden from disobeying superiors, the middle-aged woman would have already been cursing.

"What do you know!"

The elders rebuked, "Having lost the bloodline of Jingyu, we, the 'Dark Eagle Clan,' must cultivate a new, absolutely outstanding bloodline so that we can once again lead the 'Dark Eagle Clan' to become the strongest ninja!"

But haven't the strongest ninjas always been the "Hayabusa clan"? The "Earth Spider clan" has been fighting for hundreds of years but can only ever be the runner-up. When have we, the "Dark Eagle Clan," ever become the strongest ninjas?

The middle-aged woman had some reservations about what the elders were saying. She said, "Gentlemen, we have enough with Lord Chuan Hui. There is really no need to covet the bloodline of others. Although Lord Chuan Hui has not yet become an extraordinary powerhouse, I believe that if we give him a few more years, he will definitely become the strongest ninja, surpassing even the Falcon Clan ninjas!"

Chuan Hui is the current leader of the "Dark Eagle Clan" and also the strongest ninja in the "Dark Eagle Clan" in nearly a hundred years. He is a person admired by the new generation of the "Dark Eagle Clan".

The young ninjas of the "Dark Eagle Clan" all believed that Chuan Hui would definitely become an extraordinary powerhouse in the future, leading the "Dark Eagle Clan" to surpass the past and become a legend among ninjas.

However, the middle-aged woman's words angered the elderly men, who shouted, "How dare you! Are you questioning our decision?!"

"Is this how Chuan Hui usually teaches you?"

"It seems that Chuan Hui is indeed not suitable to be a leader!"

Seeing the elders' anger, the middle-aged woman immediately knelt down, trembling with fear, and said, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, I shouldn't have questioned your decision!"

"Get out!"

The elders reprimanded them.

"Yes!"

The middle-aged woman immediately and cautiously retreated. After she left, the elderly men remained silent for a while, and then one of them said, "Indeed, those 'reformists' shouldn't have stayed."

"Wait a little longer. Once our people are trained, we'll wipe them all out."

"What did Chuan Hui say? When he betrayed the 'reformists' and joined us, his condition was that these 'reformists' be spared..."

"Don't worry, Chuan Hui is a man who considers the big picture. As long as we act quickly enough and eliminate all the remnants of the 'reformists' in one fell swoop, even if Chuan Hui is dissatisfied afterward, he will have no choice but to do nothing for the sake of the bigger picture. Besides, what else can he do? Instigate another internal strife? Heh, will anyone still follow him then?"

"If he's unhappy, then we'll deal with him too!"

The old men said fiercely.

Infidelity once, not a hundred times.

Previously, the "Dark Owl Clan" had a rebellion. A group of traitors calling themselves "Reformers" wanted to break away from the "Dark Owl Clan" and live their own lives. Chuan Hui was the leader of the "Reformers".

Although Chuan Hui later returned to the "conservatives" who upheld the traditions of the "Dark Eagle Clan" for some reason, and even killed his closest childhood friend as proof of his loyalty, how could these elders of the "Dark Eagle Clan" truly trust someone who had already betrayed them once?

After the internal strife ended, they elected Chuan Hui as their leader, simply because the "Dark Eagle Clan" had suffered heavy losses in the internal strife and had no one left to use. Once the next batch of "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas had grown up, they would not hesitate to deal with Chuan Hui and those former "reformist" ninjas who followed Chuan Hui.

Ninjas have zero tolerance for betrayal!

....................................

The next morning, Li Xin and Hayabusa ran into a middle-aged woman as soon as they stepped out. She greeted them with a smile and said, "Xin, Hayabusa, you're awake! Would you like some breakfast? I made a little extra, so I hope you can help me out."

The middle-aged woman's expression remained unchanged, as if nothing had happened last night.

Li Xin smiled slightly and said to the middle-aged woman, "Auntie, thank you."

"Don't be so polite, we're all on the same side now!"

The middle-aged woman had a kind smile, as if Li Xin and the others were her family.

After having breakfast at the middle-aged woman's place, Li Xin sat in the field, watching the "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas disguised as villagers farm.

These disguised "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas felt uneasy seeing Li Xin beside them, but they had to pretend to be relaxed, chatting with Li Xin while carefully doing farm work, afraid that Li Xin would notice anything.

Li Xin sat on the field for a long time, just smiling and not saying a word. After a while, the "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas thought that Li Xin had not noticed anything wrong, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

That's true; extraordinary experts have never done farm work, so how could they possibly see through their weaknesses?

But how could these "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas possibly know that Li Xin was the real farmer?

As a seasoned farmer, Li Xin was very picky about farm work. These "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas seemed to do farm work quite well, but in reality, they showed all sorts of inexperience. Is this how a farmer who has worked in the fields for most of his life should behave?

Even though he saw through their scheme, Li Xin didn't say anything. Instead, he observed the every move of the "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas.

These "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas were indeed extremely good at disguising their breathing and footsteps, even their internal energy was hidden deep within their bodies, not a single trace of it leaked out. They also completely concealed their mental state, becoming no different from real farmers. Not to mention Li Xin, even Hayabusa, who was also a ninja, could not see any flaws.

But the more subtle things, such as the sound of blood flowing, the trajectory of muscle movement, the resilience of the skin... these things cannot be hidden, and these people are all seasoned masters.

Of course, now that he knew these villagers had a problem, it was as if he already knew the answer. By going back through the steps to solve the problem with the answer, Li Xin was bound to find some flaws.

After sitting in the field for a long time, Li Xin suddenly stood up and said to the "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas who were pretending to do farm work, "Thank you."

Thank you for telling Li Xin that there are so many tricks to disguise. In the future, if Li Xin encounters someone with such disguise skills, he will be able to quickly see through their disguise.

It's true that you're never too old to learn; even as an extraordinary expert, there's still so much to learn.

The ninjas of the "Dark Eagle Clan" didn't know why Li Xin was thanking them, so they could only greet him with smiles, just like ordinary old farmers.

Li Xin left the field and saw that Hayabusa was also silently observing something, clearly preparing to see through the village's disguise using his own methods.

Such a good learning opportunity is rare, especially when the other person is one's own peer.

To be fair, the ninjas of the "Hayabusa clan" are an anomaly among ninjas. After all, the ninjas of the "Hayabusa clan" specialize in hunting demons and are true "demon-hunting ninjas." They are completely different from those ninjas whose main business is infiltration, theft, and assassination.

Take Ryu Hayabusa as an example. Other ninjas excel at disguise, stealth, poisoning, assassination, intelligence gathering, and "bedroom techniques," while Ryu Hayabusa excels at "Izuna Drop," "Dark Extreme Heavy Wave Bullet," and "Mumei Kamikaze-ryu: Killing Sword"...

Well, it's all about killing people. At most, you might need to learn some tracking skills to make it easier to find your target.

Being able to learn from and appreciate the skills of other ninjas in their strongholds is quite meaningful for Ryu Hayabusa.

However, Li Xin and Hayabusa's wandering around the village caused great trouble for the "Dark Eagle Clan" ninjas. They had to carefully play along with them, fearing that these two fierce gods would see through their act and provoke them to go on a killing spree. They were risking their lives to put on a show!

While Li Xin and Hayabusa were drawing the attention of the ninjas, another group, Ayane and Kasumi, had already quietly made their way to the real "Dark Eagle Village," which was twenty miles away from this village.

"That's it."

Ayane gazed at the secluded village with its scattered houses in the distance.

"It has to be you, Ayane!"

Kasumi smiled and patted Ayane on the back.

Ayane smiled slightly, seemingly pleased by Kasumi's praise.

The sisters' relationship is sometimes good and sometimes bad. When it's bad, they hate each other to death, and when it's good, they're as close as one person. Right now, they're in a good relationship.

After receiving Li Xin's reminder, the two carefully observed the area around the disguised village. In the end, Ayane discovered a clue and followed it to the hidden village in front of them.

"So, should we go back and inform Ashin and Lord Hayabusa, or go in and check it out ourselves?"

Kasumi asked Ayane, but judging from Kasumi's eager expression, she clearly wanted to go in immediately.

Both Kasumi and Ayane were extremely brave girls. Ayane said without hesitation, "Of course we have to go in. Our mission is to rescue those children, so we need to find their whereabouts first."

Eliminating the "Dark Eagles" is important, but rescuing the kidnapped children is even more important; this is the top priority.

Hearing Ayane's words, Kasumi nodded and said to Ayane, "Okay, let's go in then, be careful!"

"Don't worry, I always get full marks in the escape technique class. Those martial ninjas from the 'Dark Owl Clan' won't be able to detect me!"

Ayane said rather proudly.

Although the "Dark Eagle Clan" is also a powerful ninja clan, they are martial ninjas, meaning ninjas skilled in martial arts. The Ninja Village has many ninja styles, including not only martial ninjas but also jutsu ninjas who specialize in jutsu. Ayane is proficient in both martial arts and jutsu, which is why she is known as a "genius ninja".

"I know you're amazing!"

Xia was a little jealous because she had only gotten a perfect score in martial arts class, while she had only passed in magic courses such as escape techniques.

With Ayane's help, Kasumi and Ayane used "Earth Release" to infiltrate the ground and enter the real "Dark Eagle Village".

Compared to the previously disguised village, the real "Dark Owl Village" is located in an extremely dangerous area, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only one mountain path leading in, making it a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Fortunately, Ayane infiltrated using "Earth Release," so there was no need to worry about that. Moreover, since most of the ninjas had been transferred to the fake "Dark Eagle Village" to put on an act, the real "Dark Eagle Village" was short-handed, making it easier for Ayane and Kasumi to infiltrate.

After bypassing all the defenses, Ayane and Kasumi emerged from the ground. Ayane was spotless, but Kasumi wasn't so skilled; she was covered in mud, as if she had rolled around in the mud.

Well, in a sense, I really did roll around in the mud.

"This crappy place is full of rocks, I almost hit one and died!"

Xia complained.

"Earth Release" is not a panacea. Soft soil is the best medium for its application. It can pass through rocks, but the technique needs to be adjusted. Clearly, Kasumi is not good at the micro-management of the technique and bumped into rocks quite a few times when using "Earth Release".

"Shh, keep your voice down!"

Ayane glared at Kasumi. They were infiltrating, so why were they making noise?

Xia stuck out her tongue and then closed her mouth.

After infiltrating "Dark Eagle Village", Ayane and Kasumi began searching, but after searching for half a day, they found nothing. Instead, they discovered that there were not many people in "Dark Eagle Village", and even found signs of moving in several houses.

Ayane and Kasumi exchanged a glance, both sensing something amiss. They decided to find someone to interrogate.

Although there is a risk of exposure, this is better than wandering around aimlessly like a headless fly.

After making up their minds, the two immediately locked onto their target: a seemingly ordinary ninja.

The two sisters circled around behind the ninja and attacked together. Kasumi attacked from above, while Ayane attacked from below. With their combined attack, they were guaranteed to subdue the ninja in one fell swoop, and wouldn't even be able to make him make a sound.

Just as the two sisters made their move, the seemingly ordinary ninja seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He dodged their combined attack with a quick movement and his technique was so fast that he subdued them with a single strike.

Ayane and Kasumi never expected that the "tongue" they randomly picked would be such a tough opponent. Moreover, after being hit by the opponent, the two of them became unable to move or speak, and could only stare blankly.

The ninja removed his hood, revealing short blond hair, and stared at Ayane and Kasumi with a murderous expression: "Who are you two? I don't think you're part of the 'Dark Eagle Clan.' How did you find me?"

Ayane and Kasumi: "..."

We've found something! We're looking to capture a "tongue" (a person who has been interrogated and is implicated in a crime)!

Chapter 733 Keep Your Word

In an unnamed mountain village, Li Xin, who was exchanging information with Hayabusa under a tree, sensed something and said to Hayabusa, "Ryu, I'm leaving for a bit. Can you cover for me?"

Hayabusa nodded slightly, and Li Xin's figure disappeared instantly, only to reappear in the same spot in the next instant. However, his appearance seemed to have changed. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that he had become a dummy, but the dummy's limbs were somewhat uncoordinated, and his facial features were blank, making it look somewhat fake.

Ryu Hayabusa controlled the dummy to sit down, but as soon as it sat down, its head fell off its neck due to the shaking. Ryu Hayabusa quickly caught it and pressed it back down.

Fortunately, the ninjas of the "Dark Eagle Clan" were somewhat afraid of Li Xin and Hayabusa. Although they were secretly monitoring the two, they did not dare to get too close, so they did not notice anything unusual.

At the same time, Li Xin had arrived outside the nameless mountain village and met up with Ayane and Kasumi. However, besides Ayane and Kasumi, there was also a stranger present, the blond man who had subdued Ayane and Kasumi earlier.

Upon seeing the stranger, Li Xin immediately became wary: "Who are you?"

Ayane explained to Li Xin, "Brother Xin, this is Furinji Suiga, an enemy of the 'Dark Eagle Clan'!"

After she and Kasumi were subdued by Furinji Souga, Furinji Souga realized that the two were not members of the "Dark Eagle Clan" and questioned them about their identities. After some struggle, the three revealed their identities and purposes to each other and discovered that they were on the same side. Moreover, Furinji Souga knew a lot about the "Dark Eagle Clan," so he took Furinji Souga to see Li Xin.

Li Xin looked at Fenglin Temple Suiya: "Your child was kidnapped by the 'Dark Eagle Clan'?"

When Ayane said that Furinji Suiga had a grudge against the "Dark Eagle Clan," Li Xin subconsciously assumed that Furinji Suiga's child was also one of the victims.

Fenglin Temple Shattered Fang shook his head and said to Li Xin, "No, it was my wife. She was killed by the 'Dark Eagle Clan.' I've come to avenge my wife."

"Your wife?"

"The 'Dark Owl Clan' killed my wife, and I will find her killer!"

Fenglin Temple Broken Tooth said with a pained expression.

He composed himself and then began to tell Li Xin his story.

Furinji Suiga is a traveling martial artist who, a few years ago, happened to travel to the vicinity of "Dark Eagle Village" and met a girl taking a walk. The two chatted happily and soon fell in love with each other.

However, the girl was no ordinary person. She was a woman from the "Dark Owl Clan" who possessed the best bloodline in the clan, passed down through generations. From the moment she was born, her marriage was already destined to be with the strongest man in the "Dark Owl Clan" and to give birth to a child with even greater talent.

The strongest man in the "Dark Eagle Clan" is the girl's childhood friend, a ninja named Chuan Hui, who is also Furinji Saiga's best friend.

Fortunately, the drama of best friends turning against each other for a woman did not occur between the two. Chuan Hui only had brotherly and sisterly feelings for the girl and had no intention of marrying her.

Moreover, Chuan Hui was already dissatisfied with the ruthless custom of the "Dark Eagle Clan" that "the more capable a person is of killing their lover, the more respect they will receive." He organized young ninjas who also disagreed with the rules of the "Dark Eagle Clan" to form the "Reform Faction" to fight against the "Conservative Faction" in the "Dark Eagle Clan," and invited Furinji Souga and the girl to join them.

To support his best friend and to give the "Dark Eagle Clan" a new lease on life, Furinji Soga and the girl joined the "Reformist" camp. At the time, everyone believed that with Furinji Soga and Senkei as their two trump cards, they would definitely be able to defeat the "Conservatives" and embrace a new life.

However, the resistance of the "conservatives" was exceptionally stubborn. The civil war between the "reformers" and the "conservatives" went from the time Furinji Sōga married the girl to the time they had a child, but there was no sign of it ending. Instead, it became increasingly deadlocked.

The fall of countless comrades caused Furinji Soga immense heartache, and in the end, the girl he loved most also died in the internal strife, which drove Furinji Soga to the brink of madness.