Sankawa Town is located in the western region of the Land of Rivers. When Mutsuki led his disciples here, they could clearly feel that the vegetation was much sparser, and the lush forests that were common in the Land of Fire were rarely seen here.
"The scenery here is quite unusual," Obito remarked with interest.
Having grown tired of the ubiquitous greenery of the Land of Fire, the northern part of the Land of Rivers offered him a sense of novelty.
"If we continue westward a bit more, we'll even see the desert, but we need to complete the mission first," Mutsuki said with a smile.
While they weren't here to dwell in the desert, taking a brief detour to admire the scenery was still quite enjoyable.
"Great! Complete the mission and then go sightseeing," Obito exclaimed with excitement.
"If only we had a camera, we could take pictures to show Rin-chan," Obito suddenly thought of Rin, who was far away in Konoha.
Obito wished he could do A-Rank missions every day, but money was tight; cameras weren't cheap.
Although he had earned some money from missions since starting his internship, he and the other disciples were planning to buy a gift for Yumi-sensei, and he had also given quite a bit of money to his grandmother. There wasn't much left that he could freely spend.
Next, Mutsuki led them to meet the client living in Sankawa Town to gather detailed information.
The client was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties. From the client's words, Mutsuki learned that this was also a crowdfunded mission, mainly involving residents of Sankawa Town and nearby villages.
"These bandits have been robbing houses in our town and the nearby Saya Mountain for the past few months, but their whereabouts are elusive. Last time, we even hired samurai, but they returned empty-handed," the middle-aged client sighed.
"Don't worry, sir. We ninjas are much more capable than samurai. Dealing with these bandits will be a piece of cake," Obito immediately reassured.
The middle-aged man scrutinized Obito carefully, shaking his head inwardly. He seemed simple and unreliable, just like an ordinary child.
Aside from the mature-looking Mutsuki, the only one who seemed somewhat reliable was the child wearing a mask who didn't speak.
"We'll take care of it quickly," Mutsuki said with a smile.
Just a bunch of bandits, Mutsuki didn't see them as a threat. If they thought they could hide and escape his notice, they were mistaken.
"Thank you, ninja-sama. Please resolve this as soon as possible. We're fine here, but the villages near Saya Mountain are living in constant fear," the middle-aged man bowed.
Following the middle-aged man's directions, Mutsuki and the others headed to Saya Mountain, not far from Sankawa Town.
Saya Mountain was slightly higher than the mountains they had visited before, and it looked more treacherous.
However, for ninjas like Mutsuki and his group, no mountain, no matter how treacherous, could stop their advance. After all, they could traverse walls and rooftops with their chakra.
Upon reaching the mountain, Mutsuki and the others did indeed find some signs of life, but they didn't see a single person.
"Could it be that the bandits happened to go elsewhere to rob today?" Guy looked around but didn't see anyone, feeling puzzled.
"There are people around, but they're all hiding," Mutsuki shook his head.
These bandits seemed to be onto something; they seemed to have received advance notice and dispersed to hide.
If they had encountered ordinary ninjas and happened to lack summoning beasts or tracking methods, they might have slipped past unnoticed.
Unfortunately for them, luck wasn't on their side. They encountered Mutsuki, who even before reaching the mountain, had his Byakugan activated, scanning the area.
"Something's not right. Why are they moving so quickly?" Kakashi sensed something amiss. If they were hastily hiding, there should have been traces along the way.
"I've spotted some people. Let's catch them and ask some questions," Mutsuki suggested, breaking the silence.
Following that, Mutsuki and his disciples managed to locate the bandits he discovered.
Some of the bandits, seeing Obito and Kakashi looking like kids, attempted to threaten Mutsuki by kidnapping them. Some were kicked in the teeth by Guy, while others were scorched by Obito, causing them to howl in pain.
"Who is your leader, and where are the others hiding?" Mutsuki asked with a stern face.
The bandits looked at each other, remaining silent.
"If you don't speak, I'll have you eat fireballs," Obito threatened, flames flickering in his hand.
"Let's interrogate them separately. Someone is bound to talk," Mutsuki said with a smile.
Then Mutsuki divided the bandits into six groups for separate interrogations. Each of the three disciples interrogated one, while Mutsuki assigned two Shadow Clones to question the remaining three.
"We won't betray our brothers," the bandits refused to cooperate with Mutsuki's inquiries.
At that moment, Mutsuki's Shadow Clone approached and spoke, "The ones on my end confessed. There are still some bandits hiding in the secret passages of the mountain caves and..."
The bandit who had been firm-faced instantly looked dumbfounded because he knew there were indeed people hiding there. So, he hurriedly said:
"I'll tell you everything! Spare my life, please! There are four hiding in the cave passages, and also..."
The bandit was afraid of losing his usefulness if he spoke too slowly, so he quickly revealed all the hiding spots he knew of.
Mutsuki remained expressionless, all of it just an act. On his end, he hadn't even interrogated anyone yet. The location mentioned was one Mutsuki had discovered but hadn't acted upon, waiting for this moment.
"All this has already been disclosed by others. If that's all you have, you can just die," Mutsuki said, taking out a Kunai and moving towards the bandit's neck.
"Sir, please don't! I have more information. There are villagers cooperating with us to pass messages, allowing us to rob accurately and avoid ambushes," the bandit said, looking at the sharp Kunai with panic in his eyes, quickly using his brain and speaking.
Mutsuki's movement stopped. This answer didn't surprise him too much. Cooperation with bandits and even villages turning into bandit groups during hard times was quite common.
However, Mutsuki didn't immediately believe it. He conducted further interrogations on the remaining bandits and ultimately concluded that the initial bandit interrogated hadn't lied.
After capturing all the bandits, Mutsuki separated them for further questioning, encouraging them to confess to each other's crimes. If the crimes were minor and the reports were useful, they could escape death. In the end, Mutsuki killed most of the bandits, and with the remaining ones, he captured the villagers cooperating with the bandits nearby and presented them all to the client.
"This is the situation. You can decide how to deal with them," Mutsuki said to the client.
"Thank you so much!" The client expressed surprise and gratitude. He hadn't expected Mutsuki and his team to be so efficient, dealing with the troublesome bandits in just one day.
"These bandits are truly despicable. They have the ability to work but choose to rob and harm people instead," Obito expressed indignation as they left Mutsuki town.
Watching Mutsuki interrogate the bandits' crimes had infuriated him. Some people not only robbed but also harmed others.
"Yeah, it's really infuriating to hear," the passionate and youthful Guy chimed in, equally incensed by the dark topics.
Kakashi remained silent. He had also done missions to eradicate bandits before, but they usually found and killed them all without feeling as angry as today.
"Since you're angry, you should work even harder to cultivate in the future. Making the world a better place requires great strength," Mutsuki said, looking up at the sky.
Then, as Mutsuki had mentioned earlier, he led his disciples westward until they reached a desert covered in yellow sand.
Obito glanced around and saw golden sand everywhere, not a single tree in sight. Apart from the yellow ground and the blue sky, there were no other colors around.
"How amazing! There's so much sand here," Obito exclaimed, feeling his anger subside a bit in the embrace of nature.
Curiously, Obito reached his hand into the sand and found it surprisingly hot. He then pulled Guy and Kakashi to feel it too.
Just as Mutsuki was considering whether to let the students practice nearby for a few days before returning, he suddenly noticed a yellow mist rising in the desert, and someone was running fast.
Mutsuki immediately activated his Byakugan to observe, but after seeing the approaching person clearly, he was somewhat surprised. Obito's intuition was indeed something; they really met a Raikage, but not the current one, instead the one coming their way was the future Raikage!
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