Ninja School.
"Hokage… Kiba, you're jumping to conclusions too much. Who wants to be Hokage? It's too troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled in his heart as he listened to their conversation.
He was especially speechless by what Kiba and Naruto were saying.
What's so good about being Hokage? It's troublesome to death every day, dealing with this and that. It's better to be a comfortable ordinary ninja.
Kiba had no choice but to tell them the practice method for the Throat Guarding Technique, lest everyone else go find the older students.
"Hey, what are you doing? Don't be lazy."
Just as they finished listening to Kiba's explanation of the Throat Guarding Technique, with a hint of excitement and anticipation on their faces, Iruka turned around and shouted.
"Yes!"
Everyone responded in unison, already pondering how to learn it quickly.
Even if it's difficult, they had to learn it.
…
Konoha Main Street.
"Eh, are you going on another mission?" Ayame asked, holding Satoru's hand as they walked.
Satoru nodded, "Yes, this time it will probably take some time. I'm entrusting the children to you."
"Don't worry, they are so well-behaved, we barely have to worry about them," Ayame said.
Satoru pursed his lips upon hearing that.
Of course, they were well-behaved now; that was beaten into them. He wondered if those two would remember their lesson after he left.
"Hey, don't mind them for now. Let's enjoy our time together."
…
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At the Konoha Great Gate, several figures landed.
The leader was Satoru, and the other three were his subordinates.
Hyuga Chong.
Inuzuka Tsuyoshi.
Aburame Shikyō.
All of them were sensory Ninja, and also Konoha Chunin.
Satoru didn't know any of them personally, only having a slight understanding from their profiles.
They were all very orthodox clan Ninja, systematically trained by their respective clans.
Hyuga Chong was from the branch family, Inuzuka Tsuyoshi had a huge husky by his side, and Aburame Shikyō's contracted insects were the common parasitic insects of his clan.
"Too slow! We paid money, can't you be faster?"
A man in a suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a clan emblem of three ribbons under a full moon on his chest, looked at them with dissatisfaction.
Ninja with no concept of time.
Hogoromo Ken scoffed inwardly.
In his heart, he felt that his ancestors had done the right thing by developing the Ninja clan into a commercial family, retaining only the power to guard the family, and hiring Ninja from Ninja villages for everything else.
Even if you were once a dominant Ninja clan, in the face of money, you still had to obediently do their bidding.
If it weren't for the fact that this business was too important to them, and they didn't trust the power of other organisations, sending out the family's most elite team for escort, they wouldn't need Konoha's help at all.
"Apologies."
Satoru checked the time and found that they weren't late, but as for the employer, there was no need to argue with an idiot.
They only needed to complete the mission and get paid; the employer's thoughts were not important.
"Let's go. I've already arranged the carriages. You just need to help with vigilance along the way. Facing our Hogoromo Group, Division Manufacturing Co., Ltd., everything else has been handled."
Clap! Clap!
The hand under the gold-rimmed glasses clapped, and a large convoy appeared beside them.
More than a dozen carriages,
Most of them were freight carriages, with only the lead carriage decorated with a luxurious exterior.
The carriage also had a small, corridor-like passenger railing on the outside.
Hogoromo Ken put away the dissatisfaction on his face, a smile returning, and gestured with his right hand for them to get on the carriage.
Elegant.
Their Hogoromo Clan was no longer Ninja who acquired resources through fighting and killing, but nobles, elegant nobles.
"Mm, thank you."
Satoru and his teammates stood on the passenger railing outside the carriage, which also had small seats for them to sit on.
All of them were Ninja of Chunin strength or above, and they entered a state of readiness as they got on.
In Satoru's perception,
Inuzuka Tsuyoshi's nose and Aburame Shikyō's insects had already subtly begun their reconnaissance.
Hyuga Chong's Byakugan also observed the surroundings immediately.
Their mission was to escort the younger generation of the Hogoromo Clan to Wind Breath Valley for training, but no one would let down their guard.
Even if they hadn't reached the mission location yet,
Actions to protect their safety still needed to be taken.
"Depart."
Hogoromo Ken, supported by a woman in a kimono, personally boarded the carriage.
Then he ordered the convoy to depart.
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
The carriages moved along the ground, heading towards the Hogoromo Clan's territory.
Satoru also activated his full sensory perception, imprinting all Chakra reactions in the surroundings into his mind.
The entire convoy,
About twenty people,
Plus their thirty.
Excluding the personnel handling miscellaneous tasks, there were ten guards with Chakra reactions.
And from their behaviour,
They were all Ninja guards.
And their employer, Hogoromo Ken, also had a Chakra amount no less than that of his teammates.
"Captain Satoru, no abnormalities detected," Hyuga Chong said to him, retracting his Byakugan.
Aburame Shikyō: "I didn't find anything either."
Inuzuka Tsuyoshi sniffed and said, "I found…"
"Found what?" Satoru frowned.
He hadn't sensed any abnormalities!
Could it be that someone had specifically countered his sensory method?
Thinking of this, the first people he thought of were Nagato and the others.
After such a long time,
Zetsu, as the top intelligence broker, should have collected most of his information and found Ninjutsu to counter his sensory abilities, which was understandable.
Plus, with his current sensory abilities,
He couldn't even sense Zetsu's presence, and he didn't believe that Zetsu was in Konoha.
And his sensory range could cover the entire Konoha,
Which meant that when Zetsu was concealed,
He could evade his sensory abilities.
But he couldn't be found by Inuzuka's nose, right?
His other two teammates also looked at Inuzuka Tsuyoshi with grave expressions, just like him.
If even they could be fooled, then the enemy must be very strong.
Inuzuka Tsuyoshi felt their gazes and knew they had misunderstood: "I mean, I found that the employer is inside, grilling steak.
It's too extravagant, grilling steak inside a carriage…"
"…"
Speechless, utterly speechless.
"Next time, speak faster. You're a Chunin, don't you know that delayed information can be fatal?"
Satoru didn't expect that after all his thinking, it was just this.
Inuzuka Tsuyoshi chuckled awkwardly.
Didn't you give me a chance to finish speaking?
Click!
The carriage window opened, and a scent drifted out.
"Tsubaki, bring a plate of grilled meat for the Ninja sirs to taste. It's a long journey.
We must let the Ninja sirs experience the hospitality of our Hogoromo Clan."
Hogoromo Ken instructed the woman grilling meat for him, while elegantly gesturing to Satoru and the others outside the window, and slowly chewed his grilled meat.
Knife and fork, slicing piece by piece, putting them into his mouth.
The charcoal for grilling meat inside was high-grade, smokeless and dustless.
After receiving the grilled meat, Aburame Shikyō used his insects to test it, and after signalling to the others that it was not poisonous, he unceremoniously began to eat.
"This is Ninja; they can never compare to us nobles."
A sense of accomplishment welled up in Hogoromo Ken's heart.
Especially when a few of them were eating happily, a sense of superiority naturally arose.