Konoha's Tatsuya

Behind the scarred middle-aged ninja, the several rogue ninja who had entered the tent with him also adopted tense, guarded stances.

Konohagakure, the Hidden Leaf Village, the strongest ninja village in the ninja world – its reputation still held a powerful deterrent effect on these rogue ninja.

Moreover, they were already wanted by Konoha.

Guilty consciences make cowards, after all!

Inside the tent, the youthful faces of the two Konoha ninja who had burst in clearly indicated their young age. They were indeed Tatsuya and Itachi.

Tatsuya's gaze swept over the scarred man and his group, and he couldn't help but curl his lip slightly in disdain.

There were seven rogue ninja in total. All of them wore guarded and vicious expressions, and the scarred man leading them had his brow deeply furrowed.

The scarred man's name was Sendan, and he was the leader of this band of rogue ninja.

This group had been roaming the northern region of the Land of Fire for over a year, and they had put in a lot of effort to take down Yoshida Jin's caravan this time.

However, Sendan hadn't expected that the caravan would have a Konoha ninja squad mixed in.

It was truly because the ages of Tatsuya, Shisui, and Itachi were too misleading. The scouts Sendan had sent out earlier had completely failed to notice them.

"Quick! Quick! Protect me!"

Seeing Tatsuya and Itachi suddenly burst in, Yoshida Jin, after a few seconds of stunned silence, immediately snapped back to his senses and yelled urgently at the two.

At this moment, Tatsuya and the others, whom Yoshida Jin had previously ignored, had become his last lifeline.

Tatsuya and Itachi, however, ignored Yoshida Jin, their gazes fixed firmly on Sendan and his group.

Outside the tent, scattered sounds of fighting and screams continued to ring out.

"Two Konoha brats, this matter doesn't concern you. Leave immediately!"

Seeing that Tatsuya and Itachi were ignoring Yoshida Jin, Sendan's eyes flickered slightly, and he shouted again in a stern voice.

Tatsuya extended his right index finger and gently waved it in the air.

Although he was very unhappy with Yoshida Jin, Tatsuya wouldn't abandon his mission.

"Since you're courting death, I'll grant your wish!" Sendan's face filled with rage, and he immediately took action.

His hands formed seals, and Sendan quickly pressed them to the ground. Bright silver lightning rapidly gathered and surged along the ground, swiftly striking towards Tatsuya and the others.

Lightning Release: Earth Running!

This lightning ninjutsu had a considerable range, directly encompassing Tatsuya, Itachi, and even Yoshida Jin and the others.

Seeing Sendan attack, Tatsuya and Itachi both immediately leaped back.

Ninja Art: Partial Multi-Size Technique!

Tatsuya jumped high into the air, directly employing the Akimichi clan's secret technique.

His hands rapidly expanded and elongated in mid-air, then struck towards Sendan and the others near the tent flap with astonishing force.

On the other side, Itachi seized the opportunity and grabbed Yoshida Jin's obese body, leaping to the side to evade the lightning attack. At the same time, he precisely threw several kunai at the group.

As for the ten-plus geisha behind Yoshida Jin, they were not so lucky. They were all knocked unconscious by the lightning attack.

Boom!

A tremendous crash echoed, and dust and smoke billowed from the spot where Sendan and the others had been standing. The entire tent had been completely overturned. Led by Sendan, the several rogue ninja were forced back more than ten meters by Tatsuya's powerful blow.

As their bodies were forced back, Sendan and the others continuously threw shuriken towards Tatsuya.

Damn it!

Retreating over ten meters, Sendan steadied himself, his face extremely grim.

Looking at the half-meter-deep pit left in the ground where he had just been standing, Sendan thought with annoyance: Konoha truly deserves to be called the number one ninja village. No matter how young their ninja are, you can't underestimate them!

Now, around the collapsed tent, Tatsuya and Itachi stood on opposite sides. All the shuriken thrown by Sendan and his group had been safely blocked by the two.

Sendan held a kunai, remaining vigilant. He closely watched Tatsuya and Itachi's movements while quickly thinking.

With the appearance of Tatsuya and Itachi, Sendan was already considering giving up on this target.

It wasn't that he was frightened by the previous attack. Although Tatsuya's display of strength exceeded that of an ordinary genin, it was still within the range they could handle.

What Sendan truly worried about was the other teammates who hadn't yet appeared.

Based on past experiences fighting Konoha ninja, their ninja squads usually operated in teams of three or four. These two brats were clearly students who had only recently graduated from the Ninja Academy. They must have other teammates nearby, possibly including their jonin-sensei.

Tatsuya and Itachi were able to possess such strength at such a young age, clearly indicating that they were talented ninja of Konoha.

Based on past experience, the jonin-sensei capable of leading such talented ninja were typically at least at the Special Jonin level.

It was this yet-to-appear jonin that Sendan truly feared.

Although he was reluctant to give up on the fat sheep that was Yoshida Jin, what was that compared to his own life?

Just as Sendan made up his mind to retreat, a pair of crimson eyes appeared in his field of vision.

Not good! The Sharingan!

Seeing those crimson eyes, Sendan immediately realized something was wrong, but it was too late!

His body was completely immobilized.

Behind Sendan, the rogue ninja who had followed him were also standing there with blank stares.

In the blink of an eye, all of them had fallen victim to genjutsu.

"Shisui-nii," Itachi called out softly.

Shisui's figure gradually emerged from the darkness. His eyes were activated in the three-tomoe Sharingan state.

In the darkness, the crimson three-tomoe Sharingan blazed with an eerie light.

"Whew! So this is the power of the Sharingan! It's truly convenient!"

Tatsuya's gaze swept over the frozen figures, finally settling on Shisui's beautiful eyes, filled with a hint of envy.

Although he had seemed calm and collected during his confrontation with Sendan, his heart had been pounding the entire time.

His previous actions were mainly intended to stall for time, giving Shisui an opportunity to act.

This was the plan they had agreed upon before the operation: Tatsuya and Itachi would draw the attention of Sendan, the rogue ninja leader, and his group, while Shisui would take the opportunity to eliminate the remaining rogue ninja.

Originally, Tatsuya had thought there would be a fierce battle, but he hadn't expected Shisui to resolve the situation so quickly, using the Sharingan's genjutsu to subdue all twenty-plus rogue ninja.

The Uchiha clan truly deserved to be called Konoha's number one clan. Their hereditary kekkei genkai, the Sharingan, was indeed like a cheat code, and Shisui's use of genjutsu had reached a masterful level.

"Tatsuya, that move of yours just now was pretty impressive!"

Shisui smiled and gave Itachi a knowing look, then turned his head to glance at the small pit Tatsuya had created behind him, full of praise.

Beside him, Itachi nodded in agreement.

During this time, Tatsuya had gotten along reasonably well with this precociously mature Uchiha prodigy.

And the strength Tatsuya had displayed with that blow had earned Itachi's preliminary approval.

"Compared to you, Konoha's number one genius, what does my strength amount to?" Tatsuya replied, shaking his head with a wry smile.

Compared to when he had first arrived in this world, his strength had indeed increased significantly, but compared to a genius like Shisui, he was still far behind.

Shisui smiled at this and didn't say anything more.

Seeing this, Tatsuya and Itachi quickly moved forward with their blades, finishing off Sendan and the others who were still trapped in the genjutsu.

They had no sympathy for these rogue ninja who caused harm wherever they went.

"Yoshida-sama!"

"Sir!"

…

Just as Tatsuya and Itachi were dealing with Sendan and his group, several rogue ninja responsible for guarding Yoshida Jin, along with a group of attendants, approached from a distance.

The battle was over, and Shisui had already released them from his genjutsu.

"Thank you, sirs from Konoha. I will forever remember your life-saving grace!"

After a period of chaos, Yoshida Jin, now properly dressed again, came before Shisui, Tatsuya, and Itachi with a protruding belly and a smile, bowing deeply.

"Yoshida-san, you are our employer, after all." Looking at Yoshida Jin's smiling face, Tatsuya crossed his arms, a playful smile on his face.

Tatsuya emphasized the word "employer" heavily.

"I was ignorant and disrespectful earlier! I apologize!"

Meeting Tatsuya's teasing gaze, Yoshida Jin's obese body trembled slightly, and he waved his hands repeatedly.

Yoshida Jin also realized that his previous deliberate slight had displeased Tatsuya and the others. This was evident from their rough treatment of him during the fight.

But Yoshida Jin's safety for the rest of his journey still depended on these three Konoha ninja. If something like this happened again, and these three acted the same way, he might lose his life.

He had to improve their relationship!

"Yoshida-san, talking is cheap. How about something more… practical?" Tatsuya raised an eyebrow.

"Something more practical?" Yoshida Jin was a little confused.

Tatsuya rubbed his right index finger and thumb together in the air.

"Oh! I understand! I'll take care of it right away!" Yoshida Jin instantly understood and turned to make arrangements.

Beside them, Shisui and Itachi were staring at this scene with dumbfounded expressions.

An hour later, the caravan's camp had returned to its previous tranquility.

At a corner of the camp, next to the blazing bonfire, Tatsuya was counting his gains from this encounter, while Shisui and Itachi watched with strange expressions.

During the brief battle that had just ended, Shisui alone had taken down more than twenty attacking rogue ninja. Yoshida Jin had his men search them and found over 600,000 ryo in cash, all of which he handed over to Tatsuya and the others to handle.

In addition, Yoshida Jin himself gave an extra 1 million ryo as compensation.

Tatsuya accepted it all without hesitation.

Shisui and Itachi, on the other hand, were a bit bewildered by Tatsuya's actions.

Logically, when a village's ninja were on a mission, any confiscated items were supposed to be turned over to the village. Individuals were not allowed to handle them privately.

However, in practice, this rule was difficult to fully enforce. Unless the items were already known through intelligence reports, the village couldn't completely monitor whether the ninja on the mission were keeping anything for themselves.

This was also one of the main reasons why most missions required multiple ninja to team up. Missions carried out by multiple people facilitated mutual supervision among the ninja.

However, simple money generally wasn't included in this. It was considered an extra compensation and "outside income" for the dangerous profession of being a ninja.

Therefore, although Shisui and Itachi were a bit uncomfortable with Tatsuya's actions, they couldn't really say anything.