Ye Zi led the three of them to a relatively secluded and quiet rooftop. He sat down directly, ignoring everyone else, and began reviewing the materials.
Hara Kanyoru, a jounin skilled in Wind Release and Water Release, was meticulous and decisive. He once led his team to escape a dire situation by relying on his abilities, despite being surrounded from all sides.
A month ago, Hara Kanyoru returned from a reconnaissance mission in the Rain Country and, on the same day, assassinated his teammates before defecting from Konoha. The reasons for his defection were unknown. This is why the Third Hokage hoped that, if possible, Hara Kanyoru could be captured alive. However, it was clearly not an easy task. If it weren't for the current shortage of personnel, this task wouldn't have been assigned to Ye Zi and his team.
Ye Zi quickly finished reviewing the materials, looked up at the three, placed the documents aside, and said coldly, "This mission has a high mortality rate. If any of you want to withdraw, I don't mind. But if you decide to stay, remember that I am the team leader, regardless of age, because I am a jounin, and you are only chunin."
Kotoe thought she didn't have the capability to complete the mission, but she wouldn't choose to withdraw because the leader was Ye Zi. That was simply enough for her.
As for the Uchiha brothers, they were both proud. They could sense the disdain in Ye Zi's tone, and naturally, they wouldn't shrink back.
Seeing that all three had chosen to stay, he felt a bit disappointed but had no choice. If he had told the Third Hokage that he alone could handle the mission, it would likely leave a very bad impression.
"Don't worry, I won't let you die easily."
Ye Zi patted the documents and said indifferently, "Study the materials yourselves. Gather at the village gate at 7 a.m. tomorrow. That's all." With that, he disappeared in a flicker of Body Flicker Technique.
The three looked at the documents on the rooftop, glancing at each other. After a moment, Kotoe said, "This mission is tough. I think in order to complete it, we must first put aside our personal grievances."
Kōri looked at her and said coldly, "I know you. The assassination genius from the Grass Village."
Kotoe frowned slightly. To be honest, she had never liked Kōri from the start. He was full of arrogance and had a proud nature. His elder brother, on the other hand, was more likable and less irritating.
Ninashi said in a deep voice, "Kōri, tone down your attitude. Kotoe is right. This mission is different from the usual ones. It's our first S-rank mission. To succeed, we can only rely on teamwork. As long as we can complete this mission..."
Kōri was slightly taken aback and turned her head, remaining silent, which was his way of agreeing.
Seeing that Ninashi could easily suppress Kōri, she sighed with relief. With someone like Kōri, who was a ticking time bomb in the team, it was better if she could be kept under control.
After leaving, Ye Zi didn't return home but went straight to the Root's underground area, heading to the almost exclusive library that had become his personal space.
This mission was more complex than it appeared on the surface. Although the teammates assigned to him seemed to be good talents, they also put a lot of pressure on him.
Both Kōri and Ninashi were from the Uchiha clan and were exceptionally talented. They were important younger members of the Uchiha clan. If it weren't absolutely necessary, Ye Zi wouldn't let these siblings die so easily. Even if the mission failed, it would be acceptable.
As for Kotoe, not to mention the slight personal connection between them, she was a talent borrowed from the Grass Village to alleviate the shortage of personnel. She was also a pillar among the younger generation. If she were to die, it would be hard to explain to the Grass Village.
He couldn't understand why the Third Hokage made such arrangements. Each of these three people was a significant loss if they died. He couldn't believe that the Third Hokage assigned this mission to him simply because he had completed an S-rank mission independently before.
"Could it be… that they know about the hidden strength I've been concealing?" He pondered silently. Since he had come into contact with the forbidden technique, the Spiritualization Technique, he realized that the ninjutsu learned from those scrolls were quite mediocre. There was a reason for the saying "too much to chew"—even if he learned a thousand ninjutsu, it might not be as powerful as one powerful forbidden technique.
This realization came after he mastered the Spiritualization Technique.
Indeed, among these low-level ninjutsu, except for a few practical techniques in combat, most were useless and wasted time.
Since then, his thinking had changed. Ye Zi abandoned most of the ninjutsu he had mastered over the years and focused on researching and improving the Spiritualization Technique. Thanks to his extensive reading of numerous books, he wasn't entirely clueless.
Through continuous research and improvement, he finally advanced the effectiveness of the Spiritualization Technique, turning it into his trump card. Even Orochimaru didn't know about this, and he felt there was still room for progress.
If it weren't for this trump card, he wouldn't have taken the mission so calmly.
But why did the Third Hokage, and even Danzo, have such confidence in him?
At this moment, he was hesitating—hesitating whether to complete the mission perfectly.
"Hiding my true strength seems meaningless. I must first demonstrate my value to access higher levels."
Ye Zi's eyes sparkled with determination. Forbidden techniques had caught his eye. Since then, he had been obsessed with the belief that only forbidden techniques could potentially allow him to return to Earth. Therefore, he needed to master more forbidden techniques, especially those related to time and space.
He knew that Konoha had many scrolls containing forbidden techniques...
With his current ability, trying to obtain these scrolls was a mere dream. Learning the forbidden techniques within was even harder.
If not now, he would have to wait until he was capable. Until that time came, he would try other methods to gain the opportunity to learn the forbidden techniques.
For now, he needed to prove his worth, at least becoming a significant figure like the Legendary Sannins or the White Fang, and contribute undeniable achievements to Konoha. He believed that by then, he would have the qualifications to access the forbidden technique scrolls.
He must obtain those forbidden technique scrolls.
For this purpose, he would stop at nothing.
Even if in the end, he still couldn't learn the techniques from the scrolls, he would be willing to pay a huge price to have Danzo help him secure the opportunity.
Before that, he had to become an important figure in Konoha and demonstrate his value. As for becoming Hokage, he had no interest. Although becoming Hokage would make it easy to read the forbidden techniques, if he had that ability, he would rather just take them directly.
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