Yasuoka, Tadao and Kaneie moved quietly. They began from one edge of the base. They silently entered a hut, killed everyone in it, and moved on to the next hut.
They were quite successful and kept killing in this manner. It continued until one of the bandits who was moving towards the hut noticed something entering it very quickly. He quickly moved towards the hut.
Tadao, who was killing the ones inside the hut, noticed a bandit coming in. He killed everyone and waited inside the hut to kill the incoming bandit. But, the bandit never entered the hut. Instead, he stopped around 10 meters away from it.
Tadao frowned, 'If he doesn't come in quickly, then the smell of the blood will spread!'
Tadao lost his patience and ran outside towards the bandit. The bandit noticed and screamed, "INTRUD…"
Tadao cut his neck before he could finish. Unfortunately, that yell alerted everyone.
However, they weren't worried. They had already killed over half the bandits. All three immediately hid behind the huts. They waited for the bandits to rush out.
The scream had made all bandits rush out. Kaii was displeased at being disturbed. He left his tent grumpily.
As soon as the bandits exited the huts, they were ambushed. Another 10 bandits were killed.
Fujin thought, 'Not bad, these guys are neat. Anyways, there don't seem to be any traps here. Is it just a brainless rogue ninja?'
The remaining bandits were terrified. They prepared themselves for a fight.
Kaii screamed, "Konoha scums! Die!"
He immediately made a move towards Yasuoka. Yasuoka's eyes widened as he noticed that Kaii had chakra! He immediately made hand signs.
'Water Release : Fish Spit Jutsu'
Yasuoka spat a jet of water at Kaii. However, Kaii scoffed, "Water release? Worthless!"
He made hand signs as well.
'Lightning Release : Lightning Bolt Jutsu'
He extended his finger towards the incoming jet of water. A small bolt of Lightning was released through his finger. It hit the jet of the water and travelled through it to Yasuoka.
Yasuoka didn't expect it. The lightning hit him and shocked him. Though it didn't injure him critically, it made moving harder. And in combat, this alone was fatal!
Kaii smirked at seeing the terror on Yasuoka's face. He grabbed a kunai and ran towards Yasuoka. Tadao and Kaneie noticed it as well and got very worried! They immediately killed the bandits in their path and moved towards Yasuoka. Unfortunately, they were too far away!
Yasuoka's life flashed in front of his eyes as he saw Kaii approaching him. He barely managed to grab a kunai and raise it, but his movements were very slow.
Kaii began swinging his kunai at Yasuoka when a Vacuum Bullet hit his forehead and pierced through it. His body was thrown behind by a couple of meters due to the momentum of the vacuum bullet.
Yasuoka, who had almost given up on his life, was stunned. So were Tadao, Kaneie and the bandits. The bandits immediately began running.
Fujin had been sensing continuously but didn't find anyone else. So he decided to make a move. After all, losing a ninja on his first mission as a team leader won't look good.
Tadao and Kaneie exchanged glances and thought, 'Didn't he say that he only knew a bit of Wind nature manipulation?'
Fujin, who was still alert, suddenly became very serious! He made a hand sign and yelled, "MOVE BACK!"
The trio were surprised. Tadao and Kaneie immediately moved backwards. Yasuoka was still struggling. Fujin's Wind Clone appeared behind him. He grabbed Yasuoka's collar and tossed him behind. At the same time, he extended his other arm towards Kaii. A Spinning Shield of Wind appeared in front of the clone.
Kaii's body suddenly exploded! The explosion burnt everything within a radius of 10 meters and sent dust and small pebbles flying for a long distance. The Spinning Shield of Wind was destroyed as well. But no debris flew past it and hence Yasuoka was safe.
However, Tadao and Kaneie were injured lightly by some pebbles. So were the bandits. Fujin frowned. He created 5 wind clones. 3 stayed around him while the other 2 flickered towards the bandits and killed them all.
Fujin thought, 'What the hell? Did he carry a hundred explosion tags to take revenge on the one who kills him? No, why would anyone do that? The more likely case is that someone used him as a booby trap. But who? And for what purpose?'
Fujin wasn't sure of his analysis, but it was on point. A had sent a few dozen prisoners to the Land of Fire. They were instructed to act as bandits, or else Kumo would come after them again. Every one of these ninjas had seals inscribed on their bodies. Seals that would explode with a huge force after being killed. In order to ensure that they won't surrender, all of them were threatened with terrible consequences to either themselves or their loved ones.
A's target was to reintroduce uncertainty for trading caravans in the Land of Fire. And, he would also hit Konoha's ninjas. Most of the prisoners he released could easily kill genins. It'd be especially good if they killed younger genins.
And if they were killed by Chunins or Jounins, then the explosion could have a slight chance to kill them as well. For Konoha, who had just begun recovering, such a loss could be a setback.
Unfortunately for A, in this particular instance, his opponent was a ninja who loved his life too much to fall for such a trick. But, if A was to learn of the disappointing performance of Kaii, he wouldn't care much. Kaii and his bandit group had already killed 3 trading caravans mercilessly. When this news spreads, it'll create panic among the traders and they won't trust the Land of Fire to provide them with complete safety.
Even after all the bandits were killed, Fujin didn't sense anyone. So he flickered on the nearest tree to the explosion and said, "Gather here."
The trio nodded and began moving towards Fujin. The genins now looked at Fujin in a new light. Without him, it was very likely that they might have not returned alive!
Fujin created a shadow clone who gathered and stored whatever remained of Kaii's body in a scroll.
Fujin asked, "How are your injuries?"
Yasuoka said, "I am fine. My body was restricted a bit by the electric shock. It has recovered."
Tadao said, "I am fine too. Just some scratches from the pebbles."
Kaneie said, "Same here."
Fujin nodded. None of them had any serious wounds.
Yasuoka asked, "Fujin, you are a sensor, right? Did you sense that ninja before we attacked?"
Fujin shook his head and said, "No. I didn't sense any chakra from him. I guess either he knew how to suppress his chakra or had some sort of seal that allowed him to hide his chakra from sensors."
Yasuoka's face became grim. If such events happened frequently, then their risk while doing rank C missions would increase exponentially!
Both Tadao and Kaneie had grim faces too.
Fujin understood why their faces were grim but didn't say anything. Fujin's shadow clone had stored the dead body and then gathered all the survivors in the camp. There were 8 young girls. All were very afraid due to their horrible experience and the gore around them.
Fujin asked, "Are any of you good with first-aid?"
Fujin said, "Alright. Apply the necessary first-aid to them. We will move away quickly."
Kaneie applied first-aid to them and comforted them a bit. Seeing that they were Konoha ninjas, the girls relaxed slightly.
The group moved away a few kilometers before setting up a camp to rest. They rested for the night and began the journey back to Konoha the next day. Since the civilian girls also travelled with them, the journey back took one and a half days!
After returning to Konoha, they handed the girls to the proper authorities and went straight to the Mission Center. Fujin reported the details of the mission to Shichiro. Shichiro was surprised. He said, "I didn't think that such a new bandit group would have such a strong ninja."
He sighed in relief, 'I am glad I chose Fujin. Else some of them might have died.'
Shichiro had seen many of his classmates die. He didn't want to see more dying.
He handed a paper to Fujin and said, "Fujin, as the team leader, you have to write the mission report. Please fill in the details in this form and describe how the mission went and any observations you made."
Fujin nodded and took the form. Shichiro continued, "Since this mission involved a Chunin level ninja as the enemy, I will upgrade your mission to rank B. Your rewards will also be increased from 50 thousand Ryo to 500 thousand Ryo."
Hearing that improved the moods of the genins. With ten times the rewards, they could afford to not take a mission for almost a year. They could perform safe rank D missions for some money if they needed it.
Fujin took 200k Ryo and gave the three 100k Ryo each. The four said farewells and left. Before leaving, Fujin looked at Shichiro and reminded him, "Don't assign me to rank C missions again."
Shichiro's eyes twitched. He said, "This was a rank B mission."
Fujin replied, "It's not the same. If you assign me another rank C, I'll refuse to take it."
Without waiting for his reply, Fujin left.
Shichiro muttered, "These kids are so annoying! And how can I even assign him to a rank B mission? Did Renjiro-sama not talk with him?"