Madara Uchiha was different.
Although he was also a pacifist, the peace he sought was a hegemonic one: "If you eliminate all those who threaten peace, then no one will dare to start a war."
After the other great nations had established their own ninja villages one after another, Madara had gone on a solo journey to each of them, soundly beating their first-generation leaders.
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, had nearly died as a child after being caught in the crossfire of one such battle, leaving him with a deep-seated psychological fear of Madara.
Therefore, the people of the ninja world had come to call him the "Asura of the Ninja World."
Given the slaughter Li Anshi had wrought, it was indeed highly likely that the people of the world would give him a name in the vein of "Asura" or "Demon."
"Hmph, if they dare to give you the name Asura, see if I don't beat down their doors and make them change it!"
Hearing his words, Tsunade snorted, her voice full of domineering spirit.
"Heh heh..."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a dry laugh.
Tsunade was something else. On one hand, she didn't want him to take the title that belonged exclusively to her grandfather. On the other, she didn't want his future title to be associated with her grandfather's mortal enemy...
She was quite the tsundere.
"Alright, since there's nothing wrong here, I'll go and check on Nawaki and the others, to make sure nothing has happened to them."
"I'll go with you."
"As it happens, I haven't seen Nawaki in a while. I'll go and see how much he's grown."
"That's fine."
"I'll leave a spatial mark here. After we've seen them complete their mission, I'll bring you back."
He nodded, and his chakra instantly left a Flying Thunder God mark on the ground.
The mark he had used to teleport here had used the one on Tsunade as its anchor.
If he didn't leave one here, then after he and Tsunade returned to the mission location, he would have to run back.
Now that he had left a mark, as long as he was within his sensory range, he could teleport back at any time.
After leaving the mark, he reached out and took her hand, and their figures disappeared in an instant.
…
Swoosh!
Silently, their figures appeared on the trunk of a large tree.
In front of them, Nawaki was holding a branch to prop up a camouflage cloth, slowly sneaking up the mountainside.
Although he had deduced from the nature of the mission that there were no ninjas involved, he was still very cautious in his infiltration.
Without being one hundred percent sure there were no ninjas in the stronghold, he didn't use chakra for a Transformation Technique.
The thing about ninjutsu was that once it was used, it would produce a fluctuation of chakra.
At that time, any ninja who was sensitive to chakra would know that a ninja was approaching.
Therefore, in order not to disturb the bandits, he had directly used a non-chakra-based camouflage technique to infiltrate.
Furthermore, when he was using the camouflage cloth, the objects he chose to imitate were rocks and bushes, things that were not easy to see through.
"Not bad. Since he has become a ninja, caution will be his companion for life."
Seeing him like this, Tsunade nodded in satisfaction.
"It's clear that you've been teaching him seriously."
"Heh heh..."
Li Anshi gave a dry laugh.
What a joke.
The only thing he had taught Nawaki was the Rasengan.
As for these things, he himself was probably worse at them than Nawaki.
After all, with a ridiculously powerful sensory ability like his "dagger sense" and the ultimate killing power of his daggers, what were stealth and camouflage in front of him? They were useless things.
He wasn't proficient in them himself, so how could he have taught them to Nawaki?
It could only be said that the foundation Nawaki had learned in the Academy was very solid.
And he could also apply it flexibly to the right situations.
Under their watch, Nawaki infiltrated the bandit stronghold and began his initial investigation.
"One, two..."
Half an hour later, he had finally figured out the situation in the stronghold without anyone knowing.
"There are a total of seventeen people. Fourteen middle-aged male bandits, and three women..."
Seeing the three women, a trace of hesitation flashed in his eyes.
Because of the time limit, he couldn't be sure if they had been abducted or if they were with the bandits from the start.
If he had enough time, he would definitely investigate the situation of these three before deciding how to deal with them.
However, this was only the first stronghold.
After taking it out, he still had to clear out the remaining two today to complete the mission.
If he were to let these three women go, the other two strongholds might get the news, which would cause him no small amount of trouble.
The most likely outcome was that these bandits would flee to some small village to hide, and then, after a while, they would regroup on the mountain and form a new bandit force.
In that case, their mission would surely end in "failure."
As someone who was determined to become Hokage, he absolutely would not allow his first C-rank combat mission to fail like this.
So...
"I'm sorry!"
After silently apologizing to the three women in his heart, he suddenly threw off the camouflage cloth, appeared in front of the man who seemed to be the leader, and in an instant, his kunai slit the man's throat.
Slit—
"Intruder!"
"A ninja! It's a Konoha ninja! Everyone, run!"
When he had just thrown off the cloth, his small figure had made the surrounding bandits freeze for a moment.
Then, after seeing him easily kill their leader and seeing the ninja headband on his head, their expressions all changed, and they fled in all directions like headless flies.
Since the Warring States period, when ninjas had swept the samurai profession into the dustbin of history, almost all the common people had come to a consensus.
Any ninja with a headband, even if they were only a five- or six-year-old child, had the ability to easily take the life of an adult man.
For decades, or even centuries, let alone ordinary people, even those samurai lords who had practiced swordsmanship for decades had rarely been heard of having killed a ninja.
In fact, the Land of Iron, as a nation of samurai, had even seen its samurai abandon their identity, refine their chakra, and embrace the way of the ninja.
Although the samurai of the Land of Iron still called themselves "samurai," the samurai of the old era would not have seen them that way.
In their eyes, these "samurai" of the Land of Iron, who had already refined their chakra, had betrayed the spirit of the samurai and were no longer worthy of the name.
And these bandits were, at best, just some ordinary people who were a little stronger. The strongest among them had only dabbled in swordsmanship for a few years.
Compared to ordinary people, they were strong.
But compared to samurai and ninjas, they were no different from ordinary commoners.
"Don't even think about escaping!"
Seeing the bandits flee, he let out a loud shout, took out a few kunai from his ninja tool pouch, and threw them at them.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—
Thwack, thwack, thwack...
"Aaaahhh!"
Although the bandits were running erratically, not even knowing where they were going, which had lowered the accuracy of his kunai, he was, after all, a graduate of the Ninja Academy at the top of his class.
And an adult's body was a bigger target than the ones at the Academy.
Although none of the kunai had successfully hit a vital point, they had still caused considerable damage to four of the bandits.
If they did not receive timely medical treatment, they would probably bleed to death after a while.
Swoosh!
After throwing the kunai, his movements did not stop.
He unleashed his chakra, amplifying his speed, and quickly caught up to the nearest bandit. He kicked him down and then stabbed him with the kunai in his hand.
Stab—
Blood splattered onto his face.
"Ugh..."
It was clear that killing for the first time was already having an effect on him.
The blood had served as a catalyst.
At this moment, his thoughts were in turmoil, and his stomach was spasming.
He had almost no strength left to chase after the other fleeing bandits.
Fortunately, the bandits were currently frightened by his status as a ninja and his sharp killing just now, and were all fleeing.
Otherwise, if they were to attack him now, they might actually be able to cause him considerable harm.
"Damn it!"
"Move!"
Seeing the fleeing figures, he couldn't help but roar in his heart.
But unfortunately, his body was not under his control right now.
No matter how much he tried to cheer himself on, to get himself back in a state to wipe out the remaining bandits, the weakness in his limbs and the feeling of wanting to vomit but being unable to, made him hate himself.
"Is my first C-rank mission going to end in failure?"
A sour feeling rose in his heart.
"Sister..."
He had clearly wanted to help her, so that she wouldn't have to work so hard.
But in the end, he was just comforting himself.
"With me like this, what right do I have to take on the heavy burden of Konoha for her?"
Just as he was angry with himself, a series of daggers flew out from the woods and embedded themselves in the necks of the bandits.
"Fire Style—Great Fireball Technique!"
Mikoto's shout reached his ears, and then, a flash of fire erupted in the distance.
Boom!
"Rin, Mikoto?"
The sudden turn of events had greatly alleviated his post-killing stress reaction.
A sudden surge of strength appeared in his body, allowing him to straighten up and start running in the direction of the explosion.
In the short distance of a few dozen meters, he also caught a glimpse of a few bandits with daggers in their necks.
"These are Rin's daggers!"
Although it was just a brief glance, he could tell the difference between the daggers that had hit them and those of Sensei Li.
The biggest difference was the force.
He had seen Sensei Li teaching Rin how to throw daggers.
A tree as thick as a man's embrace had been pierced straight through.
If it had been him, the daggers would have gone straight through their necks and would not have been left there.
What's more, he knew from his sister that Sensei Li's daggers were beyond most people's imagination.
A single dagger, in the hands of another ninja, could only kill one.
In fact, even dozens of daggers might not be able to kill one.
But if the person holding the dagger was him, then it would not just be one ninja, but possibly three, or even more!
"Did Rin act too?"
Because of his poor state earlier, he had only heard the sound of Mikoto's Great Fireball Technique and didn't know if Rin had also come.
But from the current situation, it was certain that the two of them had been following behind him when he had gone to attack the bandits alone.
As for the timing of their attack—
Byakugan!
Only with Rin's Byakugan could they have seen the scene of him fighting the bandits without him noticing.
"I really am a fool!"
After figuring out why the two of them had been able to act at the right time, he couldn't help but curse himself.
He clearly had a top-tier sensory ninja in his team.
The fame of the Byakugan—who in the entire ninja world didn't know of it?
In the wars of the ninja world, the Hyuga clan had used countless battle records to show that wherever a Hyuga was present, there was no such thing as a "surprise attack," only a direct assault.
In the Byakugan's field of view, it was impossible for any ninja to hide.
Well, this needed to exclude the influence of the "Ketsuryūgan."
However, because it was a counter to the Byakugan, the clan that possessed it had been secretly wiped out by the Hyuga as early as the Warring States period.
Therefore, until now, not just the ninja world, but even the members of the Hyuga clan, probably only the main family ninjas who could view the clan's scrolls knew that there had once been another eye that could completely counter the Byakugan.
Everyone in the world knew that the Byakugan's insight was the best. When on a mission, they wished they had a Hyuga as a comrade.
And yet, he, who clearly had a comrade with the Byakugan, had still foolishly gone to investigate on his own...