"The Second Gate, the Gate of Rest—Open! Eight Gates Technique: Hidden Lotus!"
After opening the first two gates of the Eight Gates and greatly increasing his strength, Rock Lee launched the forbidden self-damaging technique, the Hidden Lotus. The enemy was slammed to the ground and completely defeated.
"Ninja Art: Rising Twin Dragons!"
Two scrolls spun through the air like white dragons. As they unfurled, countless shuriken and kunai burst out from within, raining down like a storm. The second enemy was quickly overwhelmed and defeated by Tenten.
"Gentle Fist Secret Technique: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
The third opponent was struck by Neji's precise strikes, sealing his chakra points while the Gentle Fist attacks heavily damaged his internal organs. He collapsed to the ground, completely losing the ability to fight.
All three enemies had been defeated.
However, the opponents had still been Chunin-level ninjas. After an intense battle, the three of them had to resort to their signature techniques to finally claim victory.
Except for Neji, the other two suffered injuries to varying degrees.
Rock Lee had taken the most damage, though most of it wasn't inflicted by the enemy—it was the backlash from using a forbidden self-harming technique.
Tenten had also taken a few hits during the fight, but they were only superficial wounds. After applying the medical supplies she had prepared in advance, the injuries were nothing serious.
Neji, on the surface, appeared completely unharmed. His Gentle Fist mastery combined with the Hyuga clan's secret techniques formed a perfect balance of offense and defense, leaving the enemy no chance to injure him.
Even so, his chakra was nearly exhausted.
Meanwhile, from beginning to end, Kirito had simply stood far away like the rest of the convoy members, watching the three-on-three ninja battle.
He hadn't been involved at all.
Since Tenten and the others needed time to recover after the battle—and the sky looked as though rain was coming soon—the convoy temporarily stopped moving.
They found an open space beside a mountain river and set up camp to rest.
Although camping in the forest could provide shelter from wind and rain due to the dense trees, ninja manuals often warned: never enter the forest lightly.
If they set up camp inside the woods and enemies appeared, they would be placed at a disadvantage—enemy hidden, themselves exposed.
By choosing an open area near the river, they gained a wide field of vision, greatly reducing the risk of being ambushed.
"Good work."
Kirito brought a pot of water to Tenten while she was wrapping her wounds.
Without ceremony, she grabbed it and poured the water straight down her throat.
"Ha…"
After draining the entire pot in one go, Tenten finally let out a long breath.
As a female ninja with comparatively less physical endurance, that battle had drained both her chakra and stamina significantly.
Still, defeating a Chunin was an impressive accomplishment.
"Hey, Kirito-kun," Tenten said, sitting down heavily on the ground without any ladylike restraint. She glanced at Kirito, who looked completely unharmed and full of energy.
"You had it pretty easy during that fight, didn't you? Just standing there watching the show."
"You could've at least thrown a few shuriken from behind to support me. Instead, you just stood there doing nothing."
"Heh," Kirito replied jokingly. "You three were doing great. There wasn't really any place for me to help."
"Hmph." Tenten puffed up proudly.
"Neji is the strongest Genin in our class. Lee learned powerful taijutsu from Guy-sensei. And with all the weapons I carry, I'm not someone to mess with either. Honestly, whether you helped or not, the result would've been the same."
"Well, there you have it," Kirito said with a shrug.
"Hmph!" Tenten snorted.
"Anyway, seeing someone who clearly has ability but refuses to use it just annoys me!"
Kirito smiled, about to respond—
But suddenly his expression froze.
At that moment, a message from the Arsenal System appeared in his mind.
Mission Type: Hidden Storyline
Mission Difficulty: B-Rank
Completion Reward: Three lottery draws
(Bonus: If the battle ends with zero casualties on our side, additional attribute points may be awarded.)
After reading the mission details, Kirito's expression changed drastically.
First of all, this was a hidden storyline mission.
That meant his advantage of knowing the original plot completely disappeared. There were too many uncertain variables.
Secondly, the mission difficulty had reached B-rank.
The system's difficulty evaluation was completely different from the ninja world's standards.
For example, killing Mizuki—the Chunin-level rogue ninja—would be considered at least a B-rank mission in Konoha.
But in Kirito's Arsenal System, that task had only been classified as D-rank.
Based on that comparison, a mission rated B-rank by the system was clearly far more dangerous than it sounded.
And according to the system's rules—the greater the reward, the greater the difficulty.
This mission offered three lottery draws as a reward.
It was easy to imagine just how dangerous it must be.
More importantly, there was the note:
If the battle ends with zero casualties on our side, additional attribute points may be awarded.
Setting aside the extra reward for now—
The real problem was the implication behind it.
If the system emphasized zero casualties, it meant there was a very high probability that someone could die in this mission.
Kirito remained outwardly calm.
He glanced around at Tenten and the others, who were still recovering.
The carriage drivers accompanying the convoy were strong men physically, but they had no real combat ability.
His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings.
At this moment, the importance of their campsite selection became clear.
The area around them was wide and open with excellent visibility.
And since they were near the river, the ground beneath their feet was soft. If someone attempted to hide underground using earth-style techniques, the slightest movement would be easily noticed.
A cold glint flashed across Kirito's dark eyes.
In that case…
There's only one possible place the enemy could appear from.
The sound of flowing water echoed beside his ears.
The river rushed past as usual, with nothing seemingly out of the ordinary.
At that moment, Kirito—who was standing with his back toward the river—slowly moved his hand in front of his body.
Hidden by his own body, a pitch-black, razor-sharp dagger quietly appeared in his palm.