Chapter 212: Mission Failed
Shinma arrived near the Konoha Village Memorial Monument.
He found a tombstone behind the Memorial Monument, with Xinming’s name written on it.
“Brother, Lord Sakumo recommended me for jonin promotion. You were strict with me since childhood, but unexpectedly, when you died, you were only a chunin, yet I’m about to become a jonin.
I will also be strict with the two children, hoping they can be stronger than us.”
Shinma looked at Xinming’s photo, placed a bunch of flowers, and left the Memorial Monument.
He received a village mission to go to the Land of Fire Border outpost fortress Kikyo Mountain to recon enemy activity.
Kikyo Mountain Fortress is the most remote fortress in the Land of Fire, adjacent to the Land of Rivers.
Shinma arrived at the village entrance and saw the three team members for this mission.
“Let’s go, there and back quickly.”
Shinma thought to himself, although the jonin promotion exam won’t be canceled due to his mission execution and will be automatically postponed, he should still hurry to catch the first wave of exams.
Having a better attitude would give a good impression to the Jonin Squad Leader and high-ranking officials.
Hippopotamus Squad also arrived at the Konoha Main Gate a few minutes later.
Just as Hippopotamus Squad was about to set off, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them with Body Flicker.
“Captain?”
Yoru glanced at Hippopotamus and the three Anbu Members, saying, “I’ll go too. This mission has some danger.”
The assassination mission on Shinma must fail.
Yoru didn’t want a special jonin like Xinming to die due to infighting among the village high-ranking officials.
To ensure absolute safety, he would make the trip himself.
If Yoru couldn’t complete it, the high-ranking officials would think the mission was indeed tricky.
Shinma Squad traveled westward all the way to the southwest border of the Land of Fire.
Entering Kikyo Mountain Fortress, the garrison jonin said to Shinma:
“I can’t leave the fortress too far. Fifty kilometers from the fortress, there are Sand Ninja sightings.
So I requested aid from the village, asking the village to send people to investigate and see if the Sand Ninja have any conspiracy.”
Shinma listened to the garrison jonin’s introduction and said, “I understand, I’ll go right now.”
Looking outward from Kikyo Mountain Fortress, one could see the busiest port in the southeast of the Land of Fire, Kikyo Port, which is the primary protection target of Kikyo Mountain Fortress.
The garrison jonin was a Sarutobi Clan jonin. He looked at the distant sparkling sea surface, his eyes flickering.
After leaving Kikyo Mountain Fortress, Shinma Squad headed west.
Hippopotamus, following far behind, said, “Captain, I’ve already arranged it in advance.
The Sand Ninja will learn detailed intelligence on Shinma Squad from the spy.
Shinma is Konoha’s White Fang’s subordinate and knows Konoha’s White Fang’s intelligence.
Chiyo and Ebizo know this intelligence and certainly won’t miss this opportunity, sending a large number of Sand Ninja to capture Shinma.
What we need to do is confirm that Shinma is captured by Sand Ninja or killed by Sand Ninja.”
Anbu rarely acts directly if they want to eliminate a certain Leaf Ninja.
As long as they use spies to leak intelligence during a mission, they can easily borrow the enemy’s hand to cleanse a certain Leaf Ninja.
Mission assignment authority is one of the Hokage’s most important powers, a power that all village ninja fear or rely on.
Hippopotamus said, “Konoha’s spy system is all controlled by Root. If our Anbu could control spies too, it would be great, without me having to repeatedly contact Root.”
Yoru thought to himself, spies are his weakness. He didn’t know if Yakushi Nonou had seen the letter he left at the orphanage.
After the last communication with Pakkun, Pakkun hadn’t contacted him again, and he didn’t know how White Fang would rescue Shinma.
The village wouldn’t let Hatake Sakumo leave the village at this time.
The first post-war Jonin Meeting would be cutthroat, deciding the village’s power structure for the next few years.
The side with more jonin would have the complete advantage.
He didn’t know who Hatake Sakumo had arranged as reinforcements.
A Sand Ninja elite unit skipped over the rivers in the Land of Rivers, heading straight for Kikyo Mountain.
“Quick! The spy sent back intelligence with his life. White Fang’s subordinate is near Kikyo Mountain. We must capture him!”
Konoha’s White Fang is the most hated enemy of Hidden Sand Village. White Fang killed Advisor Chiyo’s son and daughter-in-law, nearly severing the top legacy of puppet masters.
Everyone in the village said that Advisor Chiyo’s grandson Sasori is a Puppet Technique genius, but no one knows how far Sasori can grow.
If they capture White Fang’s subordinate and interrogate White Fang’s intelligence, an S-rank mission reward is guaranteed.
On a distant mountain peak, Hippopotamus put down the telescope and said, “Captain! Sand Ninja are here!”
A Sand Ninja squad appeared at the edge of the field of vision.
Yoru picked up the telescope and saw that Shinma Squad had also spotted the Sand Ninja. After confirming the numbers, they immediately withdrew toward Kikyo Mountain.
The Sand Ninja were powerful and quickly caught up to Shinma Squad.
The three genin in Shinma Squad were too weak, completely dragging Shinma down.
This was a mission arranged jointly by Anbu and Root; the three weak genin were also part of Anbu’s plan.
The battle erupted quickly.
Shinma drew his ninja sword.
Civilian ninja mostly train taijutsu harshly, excelling in ninja tools and sword technique, with very solid fundamentals.
After drawing his ninja sword, Shinma stood in front of the three genin, telling the genin to go to Kikyo Mountain Fortress to report the situation here, while he covered the rear.
The three genin left, and Shinma charged toward the Sand Ninja.
Yoru thought to himself, if Hatake Sakumo’s arrangement doesn’t make it in time, then Shinma will die here.
Flames suddenly erupted from Shinma’s sword.
No wonder Shinma had prospects for jonin promotion; he mastered a special Fire Release nintaijutsu that could attach Fire Release chakra to the ninja sword.
Shinma’s strength surprised the Sand Ninja, but at most, it was just more trouble.
There were three jonin in the Sand Ninja squad.
“Hmm?” Hippopotamus suddenly said, “Something’s off. Why did several of Shinma’s enemies inexplicably fall?”
A gap broke in the encirclement, and Shinma broke out from the encirclement and escaped.
Hippopotamus said, “Captain, should we change into Sand Ninja attire and go kill Shinma to ensure mission success?”
Yoru shook his head repeatedly, saying, “Hippopotamus, look carefully. If you miss key information and rashly charge in, not only will the mission fail, we’ll be exposed too.”
Hippopotamus continued watching as Shinma fled in disarray, saying, “Sorry, Captain, I can’t see anything, but the Sand Ninja are indeed dying inexplicably.”
Yoru said, “In the War of the Land of Whirlpools, I cooperated with a Bloodline Limit jonin.
Konoha’s Transparent Release Bloodline Limit can completely hide, launching silent attacks.
If nothing unexpected, there’s a Transparent Release ninja beside Shinma.
Withdraw, mission failed.
A Transparent Release Jonin protector for Shinma; with our sensing methods, we can’t kill the Transparent Release Jonin to silence them.”
“Transparent Release Jonin? Gekko Shizuma?”
Hippopotamus was greatly annoyed in his heart. How did they encounter Jonin Gekko Shizuma here?
That was a jonin who mastered Transparent Release and had sharp sword technique.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t beat Gekko Shizuma, but just as the captain said, they couldn’t find Gekko Shizuma who was transparently hidden and fleeing, unable to silence him.
Unable to silence meant mission failure and their own exposure.
On the way back, Yoru breathed a sigh of relief.
Among Hatake Sakumo’s subordinates, there were several jonin, with Gekko Shizuma being one of the elites.
No ninja can complete missions 100% of the time. Fox Squad occasionally fails due to irresistible forces, which is unavoidable.
Monthly votes 4500 extra update. Seven updates today, eyes going black, really can’t write more. Extra updates tomorrow.
