Naruto: The Teaching System - 264

Chapter 264: Gentle Fist Art—Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms

As Neji's words fell, the figure he had struck dissolved into water.

"Looks like we caught ourselves a big fish." A voice cut through the thick mist, heavy with hunger. "You're young, but your technique's sharp. You wouldn't happen to be from the Hyūga main house, would you?"

After all, the Hyūga main house meant the Byakugan could be extracted. If he could capture it, he could become a high-ranking member of Hidden Mist, just like Ao!

Neji's expression instantly became solemn. This person before me has to die.

"I like that expression! Oh, and by the way, your teammates have all been well taken care of, kid." From within the dense mist came a voice tinged with seduction.

Hearing this, Neji instead revealed a smile that momentarily stunned the Mist shinobi speaking.

"Don't you dare speak carelessly of my Sensei!" When Neji finished speaking, the chakra beneath his feet erupted directly. The scene he saw through his Byakugan dispersed instantly like a circular eight-trigram diagram.

His entire body surged forward, arriving before the speaker in an instant. His hands moved with blinding speed.

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Countless strikes landed in rapid succession, each one striking with precision. In the Mist shinobi's expression of disbelief, the final palm strike hit directly over his heart.

How is this possible?

A mere genin possessed such speed! He'd actually executed the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!

The Mist shinobi flew backward, leaving a trail of blood, and crashed to the ground, where he lay motionless.

Neji retracted his palms, panting heavily.

"Well done, Neji." The dense mist gradually dispersed, and Sawada's voice came through. Neji immediately turned to look.

Sawada held one Mist shinobi in each hand, their necks twisted at eerie angles. Beside them, Yusuke and Koto both wore satisfied smiles, with a figure lying at their feet. The dense mist the Mist shinobi team leader had created during the battle was now gone. With him defeated, the jutsu naturally couldn't be maintained.

"Sensei." Neji quickly ran to Sawada's side, his emotions finally calming down. Though he had resolved the situation quickly, this was his first time facing enemy shinobi, so his adrenaline still surged.

"You're alright?" Sawada asked, though he found the concern somewhat amusing given the circumstances.

"I'm fine. These Mist shinobi—" Neji glanced at the fallen enemies.

"They were all only chūnin," Sawada spoke, tossing the two neck-broken Mist shinobi aside. "Only the team leader was a Special Jōnin, but he wasn't particularly difficult to deal with."

As Sawada spoke, Yusuke had already begun cleaning up the battlefield with Koto. Shinobi corpses were treasures, especially those from Hidden Mist. Moreover, frankly, a B-rank mission with five chūnin and one jōnin was already somewhat excessive. Therefore, Sawada and his team still had to bring them back to Konoha after the mission concluded. Once the village confirmed the situation, they would renegotiate with the client to provide appropriate compensation.

"Thank you, honored shinobi. Once I safely return home, I will pay all deserved compensation." The young nobleman appeared before Sawada and the others again, his tone extremely respectful.

He was actually grateful he had reported this as a B-rank mission. Don't be deceived by how easily Sawada and his team handled these people. If Sawada hadn't appeared at his side immediately, he might have already been eliminated by the mist created by the Special Jōnin.

"Then we'll take you up on that." Sawada nodded. If the employer voluntarily offered additional payment, it saved them the trouble of negotiation. However, generally speaking, people wouldn't be foolish enough to do such a thing.

During the rest of the journey, Sawada and his team encountered no more shinobi attacks. Instead, they mostly faced bandits, attracted by the appearance of two carriages filled with equipment that made them look wealthy. Sawada dealt with them as they traveled, with Neji taking the most frequent action.

Yusuke and Koto were also executing such simple missions for the first time. They were largely sidelined. Their team leader wanted to train his own disciple, so they couldn't interfere too much.

Finally, one morning several days later, the group arrived at the capital of the Land of Vegetables. City guards recognized the young nobleman and, upon seeing him, immediately notified people inside the city. A large crowd rode out to greet him, discussing the young master's return and the turmoil that had occurred along the way.

Seeing this sight, Sawada naturally understood that this person was unlikely to be a branch family member of some noble house. He was very likely the son of the Land of Vegetables' previous daimyo. After all, the Land of Vegetables was indeed a small country, lacking even its own ninja village.

"This journey has been troublesome for all of you. I will report your assistance to the daimyo of the Land of Fire." The young man, wearing a brilliant smile, looked at Sawada and spoke.

However, though Sawada suspected this person might be the next daimyo of the Land of Vegetables, he maintained his usual attitude.

"The mission is complete. We should leave." Sawada nodded, then led his team away.

"Young master, these people are truly ungrateful," an attendant beside him quickly said, as their young master had been flattering them throughout the journey.

"Quiet!" The young man's expression darkened instantly. How had he not realized that the person constantly at his side was such a fool?

The mere fact that he had returned from this journey virtually unscathed was itself a sufficient explanation. Did he really think chūnin from the Five Great Nations' ninja villages were as common as vegetables? Moreover, the attackers included a Special Jōnin.

That Sawada's team could handle this so effortlessly itself said everything. Throughout the entire journey, he hadn't been blind. He naturally observed that the youngest member of the team had borne most of the heavy responsibility.

By inference, they had been training a genin at that time. Konoha's reputation was well-deserved—the number one ninja village.

Thinking of this, the young man walked forward with determination. He had made his decision. After ascending the throne, he would send a signal of submission to the daimyo of the Land of Fire.

As long as his country could survive, that would be enough. One had to know that the current shinobi world was not a peaceful one.

Though the Land of Water and Land of Lightning had not participated in the war, this didn't mean these small countries could emerge unscathed.

On the return journey.

"Neji, what are your thoughts on this mission?" Sawada asked as he leaped through the forest.

"It was very dangerous. Though I resolved that person quickly, if you and the two Special Jōnin hadn't stopped the others..." Neji spoke after pausing in thought.

"Quite right. Though it was merely a B-rank mission, unexpected circumstances still arose." Sawada nodded.

"Sawada-sama, Neji was truly remarkable," Yusuke said with a smile, deeply admiring him. "You should know, no genin who just graduated can execute A-rank missions."

Unlike most his age, Neji possessed a rare maturity—he never acted on impulse. He read his opponents with uncanny precision and struck with deadly efficiency. The chūnin he faced was no ordinary ninja; he was a master of silent killing, his technique refined through years of ruthless experience.

Neji showed no arrogance toward Yusuke's praise, as he clearly understood this in his heart. Had it not been for my sensei personally commanding this mission, had my teammates not all been... According to the typical team composition, my entire team might not have survived.