Chapter 47: Taki's Probe, Having Qualifications for Doing Tasks

  "Are you saying that there are hidden ninjas inside the building in Takinomi Village? How did you know?" Tensho asked in surprise.

  "It's just a guess." Meng Ling secretly thought it was bad, almost exposing the secret of his own divine consciousness. Fortunately, his reaction was quick enough, but he hoped that today's events would not turn out as he said. At least there should be some deviation. Otherwise, Tian Cang team leader would definitely treat him as a monster.

  "You guessed it? You wouldn't also have a similar bloodline limit like Baiyan, would you?" Tianshang apparently had his suspicions about Mengling's lie.

  "Blood inheritance boundary? Should be, anyway we'll be careful later." Meng Ling said lightly.

  "This is also good, wait a moment and you take care of Little Dance, I'll take care of Little Light, I know that with your current strength, it's easy to do this." Tian Cang said softly in Meng Ling's ear.

  "I understand," said Meng Ling, and then she seemed to be unintentionally slowly approaching the Wind Spring Dance.

  About ten or so minutes later, Meng Ling and the others arrived at the building in Taki Village under Tian Cang's leadership.

  "Excuse me, where is Lord Taki Kage right now?" Tenzo asked a Taki ninja in the great hall.

  "Taki Kage-sama is currently in a room on the fourth floor." The Taki ninja only replied with one sentence and ignored Tenzo.

  "Heavenly Storage Captain, why do I feel that this mission is so strange?" Meng Ling said with a puzzled tone.

  "Why?" Tian Cang was somewhat puzzled.

  "It seems that Captain Tenzou is not quite suited for reconnaissance work. Think about it, if a ninja from another village came to our Konohagakure on a mission, what would we do?" asked Mugino.

  "That would naturally be leading those ninjas to Lord Hokage." Tenma replied matter-of-factly.

  "It's strange, isn't it? Think back carefully, everything that happened today since we arrived at Takinomi Village, doesn't it feel a bit off?" asked Meng Ling.

  "What was that?" Tian Cang seemed to have thought of something.

  "Firstly, when we came here today, it was supposed to be the Taki ninja village that led us to meet Lord Taki, but those ninjas at the gate just checked our passes and didn't ask any questions, nor did they guide us. Although they told us the location of the Taki Kage building, they also sent different strength ninjas lurking around us, as if intentionally testing our strength."

  "It's indeed a bit strange, what do you think is going on?" asked Tian Cang.

  "I think, this time's mission isn't actually about investigating those strange merchant's mysterious disappearance, but has another purpose. That's why Takinomi Village wants to test our abilities. And the ninjas hiding in the dark corners of this building are also set up for that." Meng Ling said slowly.

  "In that case, let's go upstairs first. Let's wait and see." Tian Cang instructed, then took Dreaming Leng and the others to the fourth floor.

  After arriving at the fourth floor, Tianshang suddenly understood why that Takashi said Takage was in a room on the fourth floor but didn't tell him which one. The reason was very simple. Because ——

  The fourth floor has only one room.

  "Excuse me." Having arrived at the door, Tensho performed the proper etiquette for opening it and then led Mu Rong Sanp and others into the room located on the fourth floor of the Takakage Building.

  This place isn't very big, roughly looking around it's only about 100 square meters. The ceiling is also very high, about 30 meters or so. Compared to the Hokage's room in the Fire Shadow Tower, this place has nearly twice the space. However, the entire room was divided into two parts by a layer of white gauze. And in the part where Meng Ling was, there wasn't a single person.

  "Are you the ninjas sent from Konohagakure for this mission? You're all just kids. Is Konoha trying to mock me?" A cold, stern female voice came from behind the white veil.

  "Taki Kage-sama, we are the ninjas from Konohagakure who have come to provide assistance to your village. I wonder when our mission can begin." Tenma said with an expression that was neither arrogant nor humble, speaking in a calm and composed tone.

  "Mission? That depends on whether you have the qualifications to take it on. Go ahead." The person behind the white veil waved their right hand, and instantly, thirteen ninjas wearing colored ninja costumes and masks, who were hiding in the room, rushed towards Meng Ling and the others.

  "It seems that Meng Ling was right, everyone be careful." Tian Cang calmly formed a hand seal, and suddenly wooden branches grew out of his body, eventually separating from him to form a wooden duplicate.

  "Oh? Mokuton? So it's the Blood Inheritance Boundary after all. Indeed, you have the qualifications to complete the task, but what about the little demon behind you?" The woman's voice from behind the white veil said.

  "The Body of Light." Yume Rin said softly, and her body transformed into a being composed of countless photons. Looking at Taki Ren who was rushing towards her, Yume Rin knew that for these extras, she didn't need to use any skills from the Elemental Fruits yet, so she just stood there motionless, allowing Taki Ren's Sorrowless to stab towards her chest.

  "Meng Ling, get out of the way." At this time, Tian Cang's words reached Meng Ling's ears, but Meng Ling closed her own eyes, not because she was scared, but because... she was very confident in her own abilities.

  "It's all over." Tien Zang wanted to go save Meng Ling, but was entangled by two Jonin and ten Genin and couldn't break free. He could only watch as Sora stabbed into Meng Ling's chest.

  "Be careful, Meng Ling..."

  "Don't..."

  "It's all over..."

  Looking at Meng's vital spot being pierced, Tian Cang's breathing had become somewhat urgent. But the next moment...

  "With a 'plop'... The lower ninja, along with the wakizashi, had passed through the body of Mugen, but to his surprise, there was no blood. The lower ninja, unaware of what had just happened, couldn't stop in time and was forced by his own momentum to crash heavily onto the ground, landing in a 'dog eating feces' style."

  "What...?" Everyone who was originally still fighting stopped and stared blankly at Meng Ling, who seemed to be unaffected. The person behind the white veil, Tui Ying, even let out a surprised cry.

  "Alas, is this all there is to being a ninja? Compared to them, it seems we still have the qualifications to complete our mission." Meng Ling said lightly.

  "Hmph, don't be so smug, it was just a coincidence earlier. This time I will definitely take your life." Takane, who had fallen to the ground, slowly got up and charged at Mugen again.

  However, Meng Ling still didn't open his eyes, and the situation was exactly the same as what had just happened. This time, though, Takashi's front tooth fell out because he hit it too hard.

  "Can we talk properly now? What kind of mission is it, Lord Taki Kage?" Meng Ling asked faintly, still without opening his eyes, because at this moment, Meng Ling's divine sense had already locked onto the Jonin who was hiding above him and hadn't appeared yet.

  "Hmm, indeed you can speak properly now. Just now, your technique should be your own Blood Succession Limit, but I've never seen that kind of Blood Succession Limit before. Which family are you from?" Taki Kage asked with a condescending tone.

  "This is something outside of our mission, so I have nothing to report." Meng Ling replied calmly.

  "You..." Taki Kage really hadn't expected that the little girl in front of him would dare to confront him head-on, even if she was a ninja from Konohagakure, the leader of the Five Great Nations - the Fire Country. She didn't have the qualifications to disobey him, the village chief, at least Taki Kage thought so. So, Taki Kage immediately made a hand gesture towards the Jonin hiding above Mugen.

  "That Jonin, I'd like to ask you a question." Just as the Jonin was about to take action, Meng Ling surprisingly lifted her head and smiled at the Jonin above her.

  "How did she discover Fuu's existence? This is impossible, even a Jonin couldn't detect Fuu's hiding ability, why can this girl sense Fuu's presence?" By now, Taki Kage was extremely shocked.

  "I'm asking you a question, are you going to answer or not?" Meng Ling stretched out her right index finger and wiggled it in front of herself.

  "Fu, come here quickly." Takashi shouted hastily.

  "I don't want to answer, forget it." Meng Ling looked up at the Upper Ninja above her with a disappointed face, who was getting somewhat flustered, and slowly opened his own eyes without saying anything else.

  "Now, I'd like to ask, Lord Taki Kage, have we already acquired the qualifications to carry out this mission?" Meng Ling asked with a calm and composed tone.

  "I really didn't expect that at your current age, you already possess such strength. It seems that the Fire Nation being one of the top five nations isn't just an empty reputation after all. You indeed have the qualifications to accept my task. I apologize for my earlier rudeness." At this time, the white veil was lifted by a slender jade-like hand, and then a green-haired beauty in a large cloak walked out from inside.

  "Oh? I'm really surprised, I didn't think Lord Takakage was so young." Yume Akatsuki said with a smile.

  "Hehe, sorry about that, but this little girl's mouth is really sweet." Taki Kage changed his initial cold demeanor and smiled warmly at Meng Ling.

  "Alright, Taki Kage-sama, let's get down to business. Please tell us what this mission is really about. We need to consider whether it's truly a B-rank task or not," said Tenzo seriously.

  "Hmm, that's also true. To be honest, this time's business trip event, we didn't actually not find any clues, just a few days ago, our ninja discovered something terrible..." Taki Kage said mysteriously.