[Konoha Village]
[Mission Reception Counter]
A pretty Byakugan girl with her hair down was turning in a mission.
"This is your payment for the mission."
"Thank you."
Hanabi took the payment from the staff member at the counter and put it into her bag.
Whether during war or peacetime, the Hyuga Clan never had to worry about a lack of missions.
After all, with the Byakugan, people wanted them wherever they went.
Hanabi's talent was exceptional. She had already graduated from the elite class two years ago.
Although she was still a genin, becoming a chunin was only a matter of passing an exam.
'Let's see if there are any suitable missions.'
With that thought, Hanabi walked over to a large screen and started looking.
The missions displayed on the screen all had relatively high rewards, and their requirements were usually stricter.
She went to a machine beside it to search. The machine was similar to a kiosk. You selected your special abilities and ninja rank.
Matching missions would then appear, and you could open them to view the details.
These machines had only been introduced in recent years and greatly improved convenience for people accepting missions.
Hanabi selected Byakugan first. As expected, more than three hundred pages of missions appeared, all requiring a Byakugan user.
But when she selected genin as her ninja rank, ninety percent of the missions instantly disappeared.
Only a little over twenty pages remained, most of them item-search missions.
Hanabi thought for a moment and changed the ninja rank to chunin. The list immediately became more than a hundred pages long.
Looking at so many missions she wanted to take, Hanabi felt annoyed.
'If Konoha hadn't been attacked, would I already be a chunin by now?'
In the past, Konoha held two chunin exams every year. Later, after the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, defeated the other three major ninja villages and made them submit, large-scale conflicts became less frequent, and opportunities for real combat decreased. As a result, the chunin exam was changed to once a year.
Last year, although Hanabi's combat ability was not bad, she lacked experience. She suffered a disadvantage during the wilderness combat portion and failed to pass.
This year's scheduled chunin exam had been postponed because Konoha was attacked.
As a Hyuga from the elite class, she naturally had no interest in taking item-search missions.
The transport mission she had just completed only accepted genin because the destination was Sandthorn City and the route followed the national highway built by Konoha the entire way.
In this world, ninja rank was also a calling card.
After all, Hanabi was only twelve years old this year and was relatively small. Even with a Byakugan, people still tended to underestimate her.
Hanabi left the mission reception department and stepped onto the street. Quite a few buildings in the village were still destroyed.
The sound of construction echoed everywhere, and many houses were being rebuilt.
"Hanabi, did you turn in your mission?"
A voice called out.
Hanabi looked up and saw Moegi walking over from across the street.
They were classmates from the same year. Moegi was also in the elite class, though they had not been assigned to the same group.
Previously, Moegi had followed Nawaki in Sandthorn City, doing labor that involved accelerating tree growth. After Nawaki was brought back for experiments, Moegi had remained there.
Originally, Nawaki had planned to pick her up himself after finishing the experiments.
But after Konoha was attacked, Moegi worried about her family and returned early with Hanabi's merchant caravan.
"I already turned it in. There aren't any suitable missions today, so I'm planning to rest."
"How's your family?"
Because of the Hyuga coup, Hanabi had always been living with Hinata in the Uchiha district.
Hanabi never worried that anything would happen to the Uchiha.
Moegi smiled and looked to be in a good mood, "My family's fine. There weren't many casualties in the inner city."
"And you won't be resting. The chunin exam is about to start."
Hanabi was surprised and delighted, "Ah! Really?"
Moegi nodded, "It's true. Nawaki-sensei just told me. It's seven days from now."
"That's great! This time I'll definitely become a chunin!"
Hanabi cheered, her voice full of excitement, "There are a lot more missions that chunin can take."
"I'm definitely getting promoted to chunin this time too!"
Moegi had already learned Wood Release. Her strength had improved a lot, and she was very confident this time.
"What did Nawaki-sensei teach you in Sandthorn City?", Hanabi asked curiously.
Moegi looked somewhat proud. She pointed at a shrub beside the street that was about waist-high.
"Hanabi, look."
Moegi formed hand seals.
In the blink of an eye, the shrub grew from waist height to two meters tall.
A look of surprise appeared on Hanabi's face, "Wood Release?"
"You can actually use Wood Release?"
Everyone knew how rare Wood Release was. As far as Hanabi knew, only two people in Konoha could use it. One was Nawaki, and she didn't even know the other person's identity.
Not everyone in Konoha knew that Nawaki was Tsunade's younger brother. After all, Nawaki had been dead for many years.
Before his death, Nawaki had already been a ninja.
Naturally, he didn't need to return to the Ninja Academy.
With his powerful bloodline and abundant resources, Nawaki quickly advanced to jonin.
Under those circumstances, only because Hanabi and Moegi were close friends did Hanabi even know that Nawaki could use Wood Release.
"Isn't Wood Release something only members of the Senju Clan can use?", Hanabi was very curious.
Moegi said proudly, "Nawaki-sensei said I have Senju blood too, just like him. I just didn't know it."
"Looks like you'll definitely become a chunin this time."
Hanabi was also happy for Moegi.
"Ugh! I wonder if the written exam will be difficult this time...", Moegi muttered.
Hanabi looked troubled as well, "We won't be allowed to cheat this time. We'll have to do it ourselves."
Since they had already taken the exam once, they wouldn't be allowed to cheat the way they had during the previous exam. They could only answer the questions honestly.
"Hm..."
While talking with Moegi, Hanabi saw a Hyuga clansman walk out of the mission center and exchange greetings and a few words with a young man.
At present, only she and Hinata remained in the main family, so everyone else had to be branch family members.
And that young man's face looked very familiar.
However, Hanabi didn't see a Byakugan in his eyes. She shook her head, thinking she had mistaken him for someone else.
But when the young man turned and looked at Hanabi, surprise flashed across his face for an instant before he walked away directly.
Shock appeared in Hanabi's eyes.
Then she immediately came to her senses and chased after him.
"Hanabi! Hey, where are you going?"
Seeing Hanabi suddenly run off in a certain direction, Moegi quickly called out.
"I have something to take care of. See you next time."
By the time her voice reached Moegi, Hanabi had already disappeared.
Moegi looked completely confused, but there was nothing she could do.
"How strange..."
———
Hanabi searched all the way down the street, but even after reaching the far end, she never saw the person again.
The reason she had chased after him was because that person looked very much like Hyuga Sota.
When she left the clan, she was already five or six years old, so she clearly remembered things.
After Koshin's death, Sota became the leading figure of the branch family.
In the end, he successfully carried out the "New Bud Plan" to wipe out the main family.
Although he eventually died, the main family was gone as well.
'It has to be him. Otherwise, a clansman wouldn't have bowed to him.'
Hanabi didn't think she could have mistaken him.
But after looking around and finding nothing, and since it was getting late, Hanabi returned to the Uchiha district.
After Hanabi left, a head pulled back from the second floor of a yakiniku restaurant nearby.
[🎉 Shoutout to Justin for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]