“We’ll head out first. Stay alert on the way ahe crows out.”

  Kyoichi sigo Yamashiro Aoba to follow him.

  Kyoto itself wasn’t particurly dangerous—the real threats y outside the city.

  A daimyo was, of course, a noble figure. But that only applied within the capital. Outside the city, acts could always happen. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a need for the "Twelve Guardian Ninja."

  Yamashiro Aoba nodded and followed.

  Ohey left the city…

  A thousand crows dispersed, eae ag as Aoba’s eyes and ears, scouting the surroundings for any potential threats.

  Kyoichi was even more direct.

  He pced two fingers on the ground, spreading his chakra outward. His sensory ability swept across the area, giving him a general picture of the surroundings.

  No threats detected—for now.

  “Sehere’s no one around for the moment.”

  “Mm. This area is still safe, but the further we go, the more uain it bees. My sensory ability has its limits—I ’t monitor everything at all times. We’ll o rely on your crows for that.”

  “Uood!”

  They moved ahead to scout the route.

  Before long…

  The daimyo’s processioed from the capital, heading outward.

  The daimyo himself was retively young. As he left the city, his gaze sed his surroundings, quickly notig the unusually high number of crows in the sky.

  He observed them for a moment but didn’t ask about it.

  However…

  When his eyes fell upon Kyoichi in the distance, a particur figure surfaced in his mind. With a slight smile, he turo ask, “Jōnin Minato, may I ask who that shinobi is?”

  “Lord Daimyo, his name is Kanda Kyoichi. He’s a newly promoted jōnin from Konoha, and his strength is on par with mine.”

  Namikaze Minato, walking beside him, answered respectfully.

  The daimyo nodded slightly.

  Not a Senju?

  Strange…

  His brow furrowed slightly as he studied Kyoichi for a moment longer before asking, “Is he a desdant of the Senju?”

  “Kyoichi’s grandmother was from the lineage of Lord Tobirama,” Minato replied.

  Realization dawned on the daimyo.

  As expected, he was of Senju blood.

  He khat Kyoichi was currently scouting the area to prevent any potential ambushes. So, he didn’t have Minato call Kyoichi over for a closer look.

  However…

  That silver hair, that figure… Just one gnce, and it was impossible not to think of the Sed Hokage.

  The daimyo couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. Then, as if suddenly intrigued, he tinued, “Lord Tobirama was a brilliant leader. I didn’t expect him to have a desdant who became a shinobi—what a pleasant surprise. Minato, do you know who trained him?”

  “Kyoichi was rgely self-taught, using the Senju records and scrolls passed down by his grandmother. Retly, he earned Lady Tsunade’s reition and signed a tract with Shikkotsu Forest. Aside from not ging his surname, he is, for all is and purposes, a Senju.”

  Minato didn’t give a direswer.

  But his words carried a clear implication—

  Kyoichi had no teacher. He had learned everything on his own.

  The daimyo seemed to have only been asking out of casual curiosity. Hearing Minato’s response, he simply remarked, “A young hero indeed!”

  With that, he closed the curtains of his panquin and said no more.

  …

  Further along the journey,

  A crow desded from the sky. Shortly after, Yamashiro Aoba hurried over.

  “Sensei, something’s off!”

  “What did you find?”

  Kyoichi khat Aoba’s ust have spotted something unusual.

  Aoba nodded.

  While his crows weren’t strong in bat, they were unmatched in reaissahis ecialty passed down through the Yamashiro .

  After listening to Aoba’s report, Kyoichi quickly uood the situation.

  It wasn’t a direct sign of danger, but—

  There was a set of footprints by the riverbank.

  More importantly…

  The tracks followed the river, appearing and disappearing itently along the shore.

  This wasn’t something they could afford to ignore.

  “They aren’t nearby. They’re either lying in wait further ahead or hiding in the river itself, using some kind of jutsu to block my sensory dete.”

  After a brief check, Kyoichi shared his assessment.

  Chakra sensing wasn’t infallible—ma teiques could be used to evade dete.

  But…

  After a moment’s thought, he smiled.

  “o worry. If they’re from Kirigakure, then I’m not ed at all.”

  Water Release?

  I’ve got that covered.

  Kyoichi’s shadow es had been studying Kirigakure’s Hidden Mist Teique for some time. After incorporating the principles of the Crest Moon Dance assassination teique, he had a solid grasp of how the Mist Vilge’s assassination strategies worked.

  He was fident.

  If a thick mist covered the battlefield, he would have the advantage.

  For now, they acted as if they hadn’t noticed anything.

  The procession tinued moving forward.

  The daimyo kept admiring the sery along the way. Seeing how prosperous the Land of Fire was and how well it had recovered, he couldn’t help but feel pleased.

  The flourishing ndscape before him roof that the Land of Fire was thriving.

  However…

  His mind was still preoccupied with ohought—

  Kyoichi.

  A Senju!

  He hadn’t ged his surname, but just the fact that Lady Tsunade had aowledged him as part of the Senju bloodline was remarkable in itself.

  There were plenty of Senju desdants, of course.

  But…

  Are There Any Still Worthy nition?

  It wasn’t that Tsunade was unwilling, but the iion of the Senju into Konoha was a foundational rule set by the First and Sed Hokage—Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju. It was something that simply couldn’t be ged.

  For this young man to gain such reition, he must be truly exceptional.

  His face remained calm, yet his mind swirled with tless thoughts.

  At that moment, a scream pierced the air from the front, and the carriage came to an abrupt stop.

  “Jōnin Minato…”

  The daimyō peeked out, only to see a thick mist gradually enveloping the surroundings. His fastantly turned pale.

  Though he wasn’t a shinobi, he knew of certain infamous jutsu.

  Like the Hiding in Mist Teique.

  As a daimyō, this was the teique he feared most—within the blinding fog, nothing could be seen clearly.

  Minato, Asuma, and Obito immediately took defensive positions around the carriage, their expressions grave.

  Someoually had the audacity to attack!

  ---

  Ahead…

  A body floated in the river, blood dyeing the water red.

  A Kirigakure shinobi.

  With a swift Body Flicker Teique and a fwless Iaido strike, he was cut down instantly.

  “Sensei, his forehead protector has a scratch.”

  “That doesn’t mean much. Keep an eye on the body and stay alert for enemy ambushes—I’m going after them.”

  With those words, Kyoichi vanished.

  Yamashiro Aoba tensed.

  He didn’t know much about the Hidden Mist Teique, and now that Kyoichi had left, his palms began to sweat. The fear of an utaawed at him.

  And sure enough…

  In the darkness, another Kirigakure shinobi watched closely.

  His inal pn was to wait for the perfeent to assassihe daimyō, but now that Kyoichi had left, only a single boy remained.

  A reaissaype shinobi, no doubt!

  He hesitated briefly before finally making his move.

  Silently, he emerged from the water, bde fshing toward Yamashiro Aoba.

  But then—

  A sudden, searing pain in his neck.

  Blood sprayed into the misty air.

  His hands clutched his throat, eyes filled with fusion.

  What… just happened?

  He would never get the answer.

  Aoba stood frozen in shock.

  The Kirigakure shinobi had practically thrown himself onto an invisible bde.

  If it weren’t for the fai ripple ier afterward, Aoba would have thought the man had simply killed himself.

  The Hidden Mist Teique owerful, but it didn’t make someoruly invisible…

  How had Sensei dohat?!

  It was beyond belief.

  Yet, as the shock faded, Aoba felt a wave of relief.

  Sensei hadn’t abandoned him.

  Meanwhile, the remaining Kirigakure shinobi lurking in the mist could no longer focus on Aoba.

  The st survivor among them was utterly terrified.

  Kyoichi’s teiques were too eerie!

  He couldn’t help but recall the Seizukage from long ago…

  It felt like that kind of genjutsu.

  Absolutely terrifying!

  He knew now that this mission was doomed. There was no way they could succeed. His only thought was escape.

  Silently, while submerged in the river, he began f seals.

  Boom!

  A massive surge of water exploded forth, and in an instant, a giant shark swallowed the two corpses whole.

  At the same time, he used the otion as cover and fled downstream.

  But—

  Just as he gained some distance, he felt an unnatural shift ier.

  The sed…

  The entire riverbed beh him rose abruptly.

  Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!

  What the hell?!

  How was this Earth-Style Wall so absurdly massive?!

  Just who were these people proteg the daimyō?!

  Their strength was absolutely insane!

  His heart pounded as he cursed inwardly.

  And in the instant—

  He was forced out of hiding.

  Gcell