Chapter 497 The Unexpected Uzumaki Clan

Unfamiliar with Grass Ninja Village, Kakashi first led his team to various locations in the Main urban area of Grass Ninja Village to scout, making it easier to plan routes for later actions.

Kakashi didn’t share Muzuki’s idea; firstly, finding the Anbu base was difficult, and secondly, Kakashi felt there was a simpler way to find evidence.

For greater stealth, Kakashi had Obito and the others use the Transformation Technique to disguise themselves. Now, they all looked like ordinary adult males from Land of Grass, easily found on the street.

“Kakashi, can you do this? I feel like we’ve wasted so much time with no results,” Obito questioned.

He felt like he wasn’t on a stealth investigation mission, but just wandering around.

“Talk less, do more. I’m the team leader,” Kakashi replied indifferently, offering no explanation.

To make Obito understand, he would have to explain the cause-and-effect relationships and various details thoroughly. Usually, Kakashi might have some leisure for that, but during a mission, he was too lazy to waste time.

Obito expressed his displeasure with an angry glare, but he genuinely didn’t say anything further.

Because Obito felt that if they truly argued, he, as a team member, would definitely be in the wrong, and if Rin Nohara took Kakashi’s side, he would be heartbroken.

Kakashi led the team into a seemingly lively tavern. Kakashi pretended to choose a spot, scanning the entire tavern, but in reality, he was looking for any Ninja from Grass Ninja Village inside.

After spotting a group of Grass Ninja drinking, Kakashi led Obito and the others to a nearby table and sat down.

By this time, the Grass Ninja were already red-faced and tipsy.

Kakashi, like an ordinary customer, ordered three bottles of sake and a few plates of snacks.

“Hey, Kakashi, are we really drinking? This is forbidden,” Obito couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.

Although after graduating and becoming Ninja, they could take on killing missions once their Genin protection period was over, Konoha strictly prohibited underage drinking, and selling alcohol to minors was illegal.

So, drinking was very exciting for Obito; it was practically testing the boundaries of Konoha’s laws.

Kakashi gave Obito a Byakugan. Not ordering alcohol in a tavern would be too suspicious.

“Just pretend; don’t actually drink,” Kakashi replied softly.

Although they were on a mission, they couldn’t do anything illegal.

Moreover, as Ninja, it wasn’t difficult for them to fake drinking to fool ordinary people and already tipsy Ninja.

Obito nodded with some regret; he had an urge to try it.

Because many adult Ninja enjoyed drinking, Obito thought alcohol might be a delicious beverage, just that some of its ingredients were harmful to minors, which was why underage drinking was prohibited.

Kakashi, pretending, had everyone pour the alcohol into their cups, further enhancing their disguise.

“What a strange smell, will it really taste good?” Obito sniffed curiously above the cup, finding it somewhat different from what he imagined.

In Obito’s impression, good-tasting drinks didn’t smell too bad; correspondingly, most bad-smelling drinks also didn’t taste good.

Bang!

“Damn Konoha and Iwagakure! Why don’t they fight in their own countries and insist on waging war on our land?”

A Grass Ninja gulped down the sake in his cup, his cheeks reddening further, and slammed the cup onto the table, protesting against the two great Ninja Villages currently fighting a major war on Land of Grass’s territory.

“Haven’t these great nations always been like this?” another Grass Ninja next to him sneered.

“Relying on their powerful military strength, they’ve never cared about us small nations.”

As Grass Ninja Village bordered the two great nations, Land of Earth and Land of Fire, the Grass Ninja had been caught in the crossfire of their open and secret struggles countless times. Therefore, most Grass Ninja truly had no good feelings towards these two great Ninja Villages.

It was just that they couldn’t defeat them; the power gap was too large. Otherwise, the Grass Ninja would definitely start a fight with one of them.

“It’s war everywhere now; actually, it’s the same everywhere. And war isn’t without its benefits; recently, quite a few new teas of good quality have arrived,” a stubble-faced Grass Ninja chuckled.

The other Grass Ninja all looked at the stubble-faced Grass Ninja with disdain. Everyone else was concerned about national affairs, but he was slacking off.

“Which shop’s new tea? Have you tried it?” the slightly drunk Grass Ninja asked in a low voice.

Disdain aside, if there was good tea, one still had to try it.

“I just tried it once yesterday after finishing a mission. I heard many shops have new teas; after all, it’s not easy in this environment, and haven’t many refugees arrived recently?” The stubble-faced Grass Ninja shared his intel.

“You’re really full of energy, with such high mission intensity recently and still having this on your mind.”

“It’s precisely when you’re tired that you need to enjoy tea.”

Kakashi frowned; this wasn’t the intelligence he wanted.

“However, the Grass Ninja seem to have quite a few complaints about Iwagakure. Could it be that there’s no cooperation between them?” Kakashi extracted a slightly useful piece of information from the many useless bits he had just heard.

Kakashi shook his head slightly. Such little information made it impossible to make an accurate judgment.

Ninja Villages wouldn’t turn against each other over a little dissatisfaction; they usually cooperated if there was profit to be made.

Seeing that he couldn’t get any useful information, Kakashi gave his team members a look and led them out of the tavern.

“We really were wasting time just now, weren’t we? Those guys kept discussing tea and didn’t say anything useful,” Obito grumbled after they walked to a less crowded area.

He had also been observing the Grass Ninja out of the corner of his eye. Obito truly couldn’t understand why a group of people would enthusiastically discuss drinking tea. Was Grass Ninja Village also a Ninja Village with a tea-drinking culture?

Looking at Obito’s clear, innocent eyes, Kakashi ultimately didn’t tell Obito the truth. Being simple was quite good.

“Let’s go look elsewhere.” Kakashi prepared to investigate outside the Main urban area.

This was, after all, an S-rank war mission, and Kakashi had already mentally prepared for no gains on the first day.

Usually, for missions of this level, it was quite normal to spend one or two months.

The few of them continued to investigate Grass Ninja Village, gradually walking towards the area where Grass Ninja Village processed refugees.

Kakashi and his team saw the crowd gathered from afar, and then Ninja wearing Grass Ninja headbands were shouting loudly to maintain order.

“If you want food, register honestly. Write down any special skills or techniques you possess. Ninja can register first, and if you perform well, you can become a Ninja of Grass Ninja Village,” the Grass Ninja maintaining order shouted.

Grass Ninja Village itself wasn’t very wealthy, so it was certainly impossible to feed those war refugees for free. Useful ones could stay and work, while useless ones would be driven out.

As for what would happen to those driven out, that was none of their business, as some of these people weren’t even from Land of Grass.

Kakashi watched the seven Grass Ninja controlling over a thousand refugees and fell into thought.

Although Ninja’s superhuman strength could maintain order, from a work efficiency perspective, for so many people, at least fifteen to twenty Ninja would be needed for high efficiency.

“High mission intensity, few Ninja…” Kakashi vaguely grasped a flicker of inspiration.

Then Kakashi shook his head again. The known information was still too little to jump to conclusions.

“Rin, look, there’s a red-haired person over there!” Obito randomly scanned around and suddenly spotted a rare hair color, quickly telling Rin Nohara.

There were many different hair colors in the Ninja World. Among the people Obito had seen, black hair was the most common, while red hair was the rarest. The only person Obito had seen with naturally red hair was Kushina.

“Hmm, and the color is a bit like Kushina-neechan’s,” Rin Nohara nodded and said.

Hearing this, Kakashi also turned his gaze to the red-haired figure Obito mentioned.

“Could it be a survivor of the Uzumaki Clan?” Kakashi’s mind instinctively thought.

Red hair was a major characteristic of the Uzumaki Clan. If a person had red hair and powerful Chakra, then they were most likely a member of the Uzumaki Clan.

Kakashi quietly moved closer and then activated the Transparent World.

Under the Transparent World’s enhancement, the red-haired figure’s body changed in Kakashi’s eyes, and the large amount of Chakra within her was exposed to Kakashi’s view.

Kakashi looked surprised.

All members of the Uzumaki Clan had red hair, but this didn’t mean that all red-haired people were members of the Uzumaki Clan; there were also ordinary people with naturally red hair.

But combined with powerful Chakra, it was basically confirmed.

“Name, age, special skill. Speak quickly, or stand to the left,” the registering Grass Ninja said impatiently.

Even a job one liked would become tiresome if done continuously, let alone such a monotonous, repetitive process. If it weren’t for this being a mission issued by the Chief of Grass Ninja Village, the Grass Ninja would have been slacking off long ago.

“Karin, twenty. Can sewing be considered a special skill?” Hana-rei Uzumaki asked cautiously.

“Stand to the left,” the registering Grass Ninja said in a commanding tone, without answering Hana-rei Uzumaki’s question.

With only this much skill, she clearly couldn’t make a living in the current Grass Ninja Village. He even thought Karin was too weak to carry bricks.

Seeing this, Hana-rei Uzumaki had no choice but to obediently stand in the left queue, feeling somewhat lost.

The left queue would be expelled from Grass Ninja Village; several groups had already been driven out.

But if she couldn’t stay in Grass Ninja Village, where else could she go? The war had made Land of Grass chaotic and dangerous, and Grass Ninja Village was already one of the safest and most prosperous places in all of Land of Grass.

Another equally safe and prosperous place was the capital of Land of Grass, but one couldn’t survive there without money. In a sense, it was even harder to survive than in Grass Ninja Village.

Actually, Hana-rei Uzumaki had a way to be accepted by Grass Ninja Village, because her greatest special skill wasn’t sewing, but her unique Uzumaki constitution.

But Hana-rei Uzumaki didn’t dare to reveal it, because she knew that the entire Ninja World now harbored deep malice towards the Uzumaki Clan. Hana-rei Uzumaki never dared to state her surname when outside.

Hana-rei Uzumaki desired a stable and peaceful life. If she exposed her abilities, she wouldn’t be able to enjoy a peaceful and stable life. This conflict made Hana-rei Uzumaki ultimately choose to conceal it.

“I’ll try my luck outside,” Hana-rei Uzumaki sighed inwardly.

She had no grand ideal of restoring the Uzumaki Clan; she only wanted to live peacefully until she died of old age. Even such a simple wish was a luxury in the current Ninja World.

“Take them out,” the leading Grass Ninja commanded the Grass Ninja nearby, seeing that the left queue had accumulated enough people.

Kakashi began to retreat, preparing to create a Shadow Clone to follow them.

Although this unknown Uzumaki Clan member was unrelated to the current mission, the Uzumaki Clan was, after all, Konoha’s closest ally. If the other party was in trouble, Kakashi was willing to help a little.

“Wait, what’s going on here?” Yokogawa Tsutomu, who had come to inspect, casually asked when he saw the crowd walking towards the village entrance.

He was worried that his subordinates might be ineffective and that the people of Grass Flower might spot flaws, so he came to take a look.

“Chief, they are all people who cannot contribute to Grass Ninja Village. We are about to send them out of the village,” the Grass Ninja explained respectfully.

Yokogawa Tsutomu nodded, finding nothing wrong.

“Oh, that red-haired person, stop.” Yokogawa Tsutomu, who was about to leave, showed an interested expression.

As the Chief of Grass Ninja Village, Yokogawa Tsutomu was not as ignorant as ordinary Grass Ninja.

Hana-rei Uzumaki’s mind instantly froze when she heard Yokogawa Tsutomu’s voice, realizing that someone might have noticed something.

However, as someone who hadn’t undergone Ninja training, she certainly couldn’t escape from among several Ninja. Hana-rei Uzumaki obediently stopped.

Feeling the envious and jealous gazes around her, Hana-rei Uzumaki sighed inwardly. This was not a good thing.

Hana-rei Uzumaki could only try her best to control her facial expression, praying in her heart that her identity wouldn’t be discovered.

Yokogawa Tsutomu walked in front of Hana-rei Uzumaki, gathering Chakra and activating a secret sensing technique to perceive her Chakra.

His secret sensing technique had a short range, making it useless in combat, but it could be used to detect Chakra in normal situations.

“You can stay.” After sensing the Chakra within Hana-rei Uzumaki, Yokogawa Tsutomu showed a slight smile. He hadn’t expected such a pleasant surprise.

With the characteristics of an Uzumaki Clan member, sacrificing Hana-rei Uzumaki to the paradise box would be worth a hundred ordinary Ninja.

After speaking, Yokogawa Tsutomu gave a few instructions to the Grass Ninja and then left.

The next batch of corpses was arriving soon, and he planned to deal with Hana-rei Uzumaki and the Ninja corpses together at that time.

Yokogawa Tsutomu’s arrival disrupted Kakashi’s plan. To avoid affecting the mission, Kakashi did not act rashly.

He planned to report the information to Muzuki and let Muzuki decide whether to make contact with this Uzumaki Clan survivor.

In the evening, Kakashi’s team, having completed a day of investigation, returned to the inn.

“Today we just walked around and did nothing. We must be the team with the least gains. Kakashi, as the team leader, you’re responsible,” Obito tried to pin the blame on Kakashi.

Kakashi gave Obito a speechless look, “If you talk less, others won’t think our team didn’t gather any intelligence.”

Every time he wanted to think highly of Obito, Obito would speak.

“Alright, Muzuki-sensei and the others seem to be back. Let’s go quickly,” Rin Nohara said with a helpless smile, playing the peacemaker.

Seeing Rin Nohara speak, Obito didn’t dwell on Kakashi’s sarcasm and followed them towards the room.

PS: Sorry, updates might be less frequent in the next few days, as Xiao Ju is adjusting his body.

Once my eyes recover, I will definitely resume explosive updates. A while ago, I even coded until four or five in the morning. Do you think I’m the type of person who doesn’t want to code?

Updates mean money to an author; the more you work, the more you earn. Xiao Ju is short on money and definitely wants to earn more, but my body truly doesn’t allow it recently. Please forgive me, brothers.