Promising the future ahead of time, starting with Naruto

Chapter 18: The First Battle! (Please continue reading!)
After leaving the village, Xuan Yi and his three companions headed northeast, leaping through the dense forest.

This was Genichi Shushita's first time leaving the village, but there was nothing particularly surprising about it.

The Land of Fire has too many of these tall and dense forests.

The four of them traveled at a slow pace, rested for an hour at noon, and camped in a forest by the river at nightfall.

At this time, the four had not yet left the Land of Fire.

The four people were divided into two groups to take turns keeping watch at night: Genichi Kishita and Sakumo Hatake were in one group, and Namikaze Uchiha and En Yamanaka were in the other.

Nothing happened overnight.

The next morning, after having fish soup and grilled fish, the four set off again, and around 3 p.m., they left the Land of Fire and arrived in a small country.

The land of rice!
A small country that Xuan Yi had never heard of before.

This small country is famous in the ninja world for its fragrant rice, and its name comes from this rice.

The Land of Rice has no ninja villages, so all missions are entrusted to Konoha.

Recently, a group of bandits have been entrenched in the mountains, frequently venturing down to steal fragrant rice, which is why this mission was undertaken.

at dusk.

Genichi and his three companions arrived at a village located at the foot of a mountain.

Upon entering the village, Xuan Yi and his companions found that the villagers were all avoiding them.

Some children who were peeking were scolded by their parents and taken back to their rooms.

Before long, the entire village looked deserted.

Uchihachi scoffed, "These guys, do they think we're robbers?"

Xuan Yi looked around thoughtfully from under the tree.

Shan Zhongyan said, "Captain, should we ask one of the villagers?"

Sakumo Hatake knew that this question had two meanings.

One is a friendly inquiry.

The second option is naturally to ask using secret techniques or illusions.

According to information provided by the Daimyo of the Rice Land, the bandits were hiding in the mountains here.

Sakumo Hatake didn't answer, but instead looked at Genichi under the tree: "Genichi, what do you think?"

Xuan Yi said from under the tree, "These villagers may be afraid of us, but they should be even more afraid of that band of bandits."

"The Rice Kingdom must have sent warriors before hiring us, but they were defeated, even wiped out, and the villagers here may have been retaliated against by bandits."

"It's also possible that there were people like us among that group of bandits."

Yamanaka En said, "The same kind of person, a ninja wearing a ninja headband?"

Shuxia Xuan nodded: "Moreover, I suspect that the bandits have spies in the village."

Uchihachi immediately said, "Then let's find him and use illusions to gather information."

This method is straightforward and perfectly feasible.

But Sakumo Hatake didn't nod in agreement. Instead, he asked Genichi Kinoshita again, "Genichi, what do you think?"

Shuxia Xuanyi said, "What Langyi said is entirely feasible. However, we have just been traveling and our physical strength is not at its peak."

"Moreover, we are not familiar with the situation here, nor with the terrain in the mountains."

"Even if you use illusions to obtain information, it's impossible to extract all of it."

"Therefore, I think it's best to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out."

"Let's rest and send the bandits' informant to report back. We'll wait for them to come and kill us."

Yamanaka En asked, "What if there aren't any spies from the bandits in the village?"

Genichi Shushita said, "Since the Rice Country has dealt with these bandits before, if they were smart, they would have developed an informant in the village even if they didn't place their own people here as spies."

Would anyone in the village object?
perhaps.

But faced with the bandits' knives and threats, they had no choice but to accept it, even if they didn't want to.

As they spoke, the four of them had reached the end of the village, where a small river flowed gurglingly by.

Sakumo Hatake immediately replied, "Let's camp and rest by the river."

"If the bandits come on their own initiative, then take care of them, and leave one alive to interrogate for information."

"If they don't come tonight, we'll go into the mountains after dawn tomorrow."

Since the villagers are so afraid, Sakumo Hatake doesn't plan to get information from them; he'll just go into the mountains himself tomorrow to search for the bandits.

Xuan Yi and the other two under the tree accepted the order and lit a bonfire by the river.

Genichi Shushita and En Yamanaka were in charge of catching fish, while Namikaze Uchiha was in charge of grilling them. With the addition of soldier pills, the four of them had a hearty meal, and then took turns resting in pairs.

Before we knew it, the moon and stars had faded.

"They're here!" Genichi, who was resting with his eyes closed, was suddenly woken up by a push from Yamanaka En.

Genichi under the tree adjusted his eyes to the light, but he neither saw nor heard anyone approaching.

Yamamoto Yan said in a low voice, "They just came down the mountain, there were eight of them in total."

Shuxia Xuan nodded, then flashed and stood on the surface of the river, forming a hand seal.

The art of water separation!
The river water surged upwards, coalescing into a watery form.

Immediately afterwards, the water clone flashed back to the spot under the tree where Xuan Yi had been resting against the rock.

As for its true form, it is hidden in the water.

At the campfire, Yamanaka En and Uchi Nagato were on guard, while Hatake Sakumo lay on the side, seemingly unaware that the bandits were about to attack.

A moment later, very light footsteps were heard in the darkness.

"Who?"

Uchihachi deliberately shouted loudly.

The next moment, a series of whooshing sounds rang out as several shuriken flew towards Xuan Yi and his group of four under the tree.

Uchihachi's eyes instantly turned red, and he drew his sword, knocking the shuriken away.

The three under the tree, including Xuan Yi, all chose to dodge.

"It's the Uchiha! Two of them are attacking him!"

A scream came from the darkness.

Two figures rushed towards Uchiha Namikaze, and then three more rushed towards Hatake Sakumo, Yamanaka En, and the water clones of Kinoshita Genichi.

"Go to hell, kid!"

The person lunging at Xuan Yi under the tree looked particularly ferocious in the flickering light of the campfire.

He wielded a long sword and wore a ninja headband, but he was not a rogue ninja.

Genichi under the tree didn't recognize the logo.

But it doesn't matter.

He crouched down, and Xuan Yi's right hand rested on the hilt of his sword under the tree.

He suddenly drew his sword as the enemy's long blade fell like a bolt of lightning.

clang!
The two blades collided and rubbed together, sparks flying everywhere.

After blocking the enemy's powerful strike with his sword, Genichi drew his sword and slashed down, cutting the enemy's long sword in two.

The enemy was startled and leaped backward.

At the same time, Genichi under the tree leaped forward, quickly sheathed his sword, and then quickly drew it again.

puff!
Blood splattered under the moonlight.

The enemy's eyes widened, blood spurting from his chest.

That knife was too fast!

Genichi landed on the ground under the tree and immediately sensed danger.

A strong wind swept in from the side.

It's towards the end of the village!
The five attackers who came earlier came from the north, but now the attack is coming from the east.

The enemy has split into two groups.

Under the tree, Xuan Yi immediately leaped up to try to dodge, but the range of his wind escape was too great. The sharp wind whistled as it hit his body, cutting through his clothes and flesh.

Bang!
Xuan Yi's body under the tree transformed into a stream of water and fell down.

"Water body!"

Five or six meters from the riverbank, under the moonlight, a middle-aged man's expression changed.

Then he saw a person standing on the river, with water swirling and surging around him, forming a huge column of water.

Suddenly, the stream stopped flowing.

Rumble!
The water surged and roared up the riverbank.

The middle-aged man's expression changed. He didn't know earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic technique), so when faced with such a water-遁, he could only wait until the water was about to reach him before leaping into the air to avoid the most terrifying attack.

His body landed on the water's surface, and the waves crashed against him again.

The middle-aged man had completed the hand seals. He opened his mouth and exhaled, causing a gust of wind to sweep through and disperse the waves.

But then the water flow behind them suddenly reversed direction.

Caught off guard, the middle-aged man was suddenly shoved into the water, swallowed several mouthfuls of water, and felt even more sore all over.

Once the current stabilized, the middle-aged man emerged from the water, and Xuan Yi's cold blade was already pressed against his neck beneath the tree.

(End of this chapter)