This b-rank mission is quite special. It requires us to hunt down a Ninja who committed a crime and fled, and it was issued by a small Ninja Clan scattered outside the major Ninja Villages.
Though called a Ninja Clan, their total members only number a few dozen, and less than half of their family members can even cultivate Chakra.
For many years, they have relied on doing business to develop and establish themselves in the cutthroat Ninja World.
As for why they came to Konoha to hire Ninja to pursue their target, it all goes back to their clan's heritage.
Hundreds of years ago, during the Sengoku period, the Yumoku Clan produced a formidable ancestor. This ancestor's mastery of Ninjutsu was profound, and he created several powerful Secret Techniques.
According to clan records, he even used these Secret Techniques to defeat many powerful Ninja of his generation.
However, it is a pity that since then, the entire clan has never again produced a Ninja with talent comparable to his.
All subsequent generations were basically mediocre, completely unable to learn the Secret Techniques left by their ancestor, and could only learn common Ninjutsu for combat.
Originally, there was nothing unusual about this; the Ninja World was full of small Ninja Clans that declined due to uninspired descendants.
But then, a variable appeared more than twenty years ago.
Back then, Kurolo, the current patriarch of this generation, was still a young man. He found a dying infant by the roadside, brought him home, meticulously cared for him, and named him Kurokō.
After he grew up, it was discovered that this child had the talent to become a Ninja, so Kurolo impart ed various Ninjutsu to him without discrimination, hoping he could become a fighting force.
And it was precisely this action that sowed the seeds of today's trouble.
Kurokō was extremely talented; no matter what Ninjutsu was taught to him, he would quickly learn it. By the time he was thirteen, even the adult Ninja in the clan couldn't defeat him.
Perhaps feeling that there was nothing more to learn from the clan's teachings, he began to want to practice the Secret Techniques left by his ancestor to improve his strength.
Those Secret Techniques had never been successfully learned by anyone, and Kurolo was worried that he would waste his youth on them at such a young age, so he told him to wait a few more years.
A frustrated Kurokō inadvertently overheard others talking and only then realized that he was not of the Yumoku Clan's bloodline at all.
His radical personality immediately led him to believe that Kurolo had always treated him as an outsider, and that was why he was unwilling to teach him the Secret Techniques.
So he began to look for opportunities, desperately training himself, wanting to secretly use some means to get his hands on the Secret Techniques.
Several more years passed, and finally, one day, he incapacitated most of the clan members, broke into the secret chamber, and swept away all the scrolls that recorded the Secret Techniques and various clan inheritances.
After that, he disappeared without a trace.
Recently, the Yumoku Clan spent a great deal of manpower and resources and finally received news of Kurokō.
Thus, this mission came to be.
But is this really the truth?
Was Kurolo truly considering Kurokō's growth by not allowing him to learn the Secret Techniques?
And did Kurokō, who betrayed the clan, commit an irreversible wrong just because of his radical personality?
Everything is just the Yun Mu patriarch's one-sided story.
But the truth of the matter has never been important to Ninja who work for money...
The group arrived near the small town mentioned in the intelligence, holding the tracking tool provided by the Yumoku Clan, and dispersed to search for Kurokō's whereabouts.
Before this, everyone had already disguised themselves, even the always unconventional Might Duy put on other clothes to avoid attracting attention and exposing his identity.
Naraku arrived at his assigned area and quietly activated his Perception Ninjutsu.
This area was a mixed bag; there were about ten Chakra signatures within his sensing range alone, with slight differences in strength, but none reached the Jonin level.
He continued to search forward until the edge of his Ninjutsu touched a peculiar Chakra signature.
The strange and Weird energy was like burning blood; even without meeting, Naraku still felt a hint of a sweet, metallic scent.
The target was sitting in a small tavern near the center of another street, likely having a meal.
Naraku did not activate his Sharingan at the moment. To avoid revealing the flaw of his excessively large sensing range, he continued walking in his original direction, and after reaching a considerable distance, he turned back along the street where the tavern was located.
This time, as he passed the tavern entrance, the tracking tool he carried close to his body reacted.
He found a hidden corner to perform a Shadow Clone, sending the clone to contact his teammates, while his main body pretended to want to eat, entered, found a table, and ordered.
His teammates' Chakra signatures entered his sensing range one after another, approaching the small tavern.
Just as they were mostly on this street, about a few meters to Naraku's left-rear, that special Chakra suddenly flared up.
He immediately turned to look. Amidst the clatter of falling dishes, a young man in gray short clothes almost instantly rushed to the tavern entrance.
Naraku immediately used a Body Flicker Jutsu to pursue him, leaping onto a rooftop and flashing several times. He managed to block his path just before the target left the street.
Blades clashed with Kunai, sparks flying before the two stalemated individuals.
According to the intelligence provided by the Yumoku Clan, Kurokō likely possesses strength close to that of a Konoha Jonin, and being young and strong, he probably won't be easy to deal with.
He cannot be allowed to escape from me.
In a flash, Naraku had already exchanged blows with Kurokō more than a dozen times, firmly suppressing the latter's attempts to escape.
"Tch, a troublesome brat!"
Kurokō cursed under his breath, decisively abandoning the taijutsu duel with Naraku. He retreated two steps, raised his Kunai, and sliced his palm.
Dark red blood gushed from the wound but magically floated in the air, quickly dispersing into countless tiny, dense red dots, which shot out rapidly the moment he waved his hand.
Is this the Yun Mu Secret Technique?
Naraku's intuition told him that these hair-thin blood needles must not be touched, but if he used a Substitution Jutsu to dodge, the target would likely escape.
His dark eyes were instantly dyed crimson, and the world seemed to be put into slow motion.
Before the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the speed of the blood needles was not impressive enough.
Naraku deftly drew a full circle in front of him with his blade; the sword surface perfectly blocked all attacks, but it was also corroded beyond recognition, its entire body covered in tiny charred pits. It would probably break with another strike.
He decisively discarded the ruined weapon and threw out more than ten shuriken to completely blockade the target.
Kurokō could only stop and change direction, avoiding the shuriken's flight path.
Unexpectedly, those spinning projectiles continuously collided with each other, and a considerable portion continued to spin towards him. Caught off guard, his steps were delayed.
"Hah!"
Might Duy, having activated the Eight Gates, arrived the fastest. He leaped vigorously from the ground in a handstand, kicking Kurokō solidly from below, sending him flying off the rooftop into a free fall.
Might Duy landed on the rooftop, pushed off again, and jumped behind Kurokō, who hadn't had time to adjust his posture. He secured Kurokō's body with both arms, and the two plummeted rapidly towards the ground with immense force.
Boom—
Kurokō, caught in a Front Lotus, slammed headfirst into the ground, and with a "thump" amidst a cloud of smoke, he turned into a log.
Naraku, relying on his excellent dynamic vision, caught sight of a jumping figure not far away.
"Over there!"
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