Yagura made this judgment.
"No, the situation might be slightly different from what you expected, Lord Mizukage."
Ao smiled bitterly at this moment.
"What happened?"
"In their grade, the two rank second and third, not first and second."
"Second and third? Is there a student in the school who surpasses them?"
Yagura felt incredulous.
Ao shrugged helplessly.
"Mahiru Ichihime... No, it should be Chiba Ichihime, she is the top of the fourth grade."
"Ah, that child."
When Yagura heard Ao say this, he wasn't the least bit surprised.
He had already heard from Hakushi about Ichihime's peculiarities, one could even say she was like a humanoid Tailed Beast sealed within.
If it were her, defeating peers from the Kaguya Clan and Snow Clan wouldn't be unusual.
"In any case, we need to strengthen the teaching of outstanding students at the Ninja School. In the past, due to the Blood Mist Policy, many children still developing died in graduation exams. We must not let this tragedy repeat."
"Yes."
Ao responded solemnly.
The Blood Mist Policy, though it trained a group of powerful Hidden Mist Ninjas, sacrificed countless excellent seedings as well.
This resulted in the current younger generation of Hidden Mist Ninjas rarely having anyone emerge as a leading figure.
More graduated from the Ninja School only to kill each other with their companions, dying in graduation exams.
This is a painful history that Hidden Mist should remember forever.
◎
When alone outside, maintaining a vigilant attitude isn't excessive.
Kisame constantly demanded this of himself, walking along the wild road covered by moonlight, surrounded by dark landscapes.
He carried a corpse, the target of his current bounty hunt mission.
It was a Jonin-level renegade ninja from the Hidden Sand Village of the Land of Wind, ranked A on the renegade list, with a bounty of twelve million ryo.
Kisame spent ten days gathering intelligence and then two days to decisively kill the target.
Such renegade ninjas who constantly hop around are very difficult to pin down.
His limited intelligence sources now mainly come from the Underground Black Market.
But they do not provide intelligence for free; it requires payment to buy the information.
Therefore, a portion of the bounty earned has to be paid to the Underground Black Market platform.
This undoubtedly increased Kisame's survival pressure in the outside world.
Yet, after surviving the initial period, he gradually became adept at the bounty hunter work, and overall, Kisame felt quite satisfied with his current life.
At least compared to the initial phase, his survival pressure has significantly decreased.
Walking along the trails in the wild, Kisame glanced at the incomplete moon in the sky as his lips curled at the edges.
"Here it comes again, which side is this..."
The bright moonlight suddenly became dim, not because of clouds obscuring the sky, but due to a suspicious mist enveloping the surroundings, even swallowing the surrounding darkness.
It gave an incredibly eerie feeling, with bursts of killing intent chillingly carried through the air, piercingly cold.
Hidden Mist Jutsu.
It's the most adept vision-obscuring jutsu used by the Hidden Mist Village's pursuit squad.
It's said that high-level Hidden Mist Jutsu can even guard against the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan of Konoha, not blown away by Wind Escape.
During the Blood Mist Era, the Hidden Mist pursuit squad was notorious for their relentlessly bloody and ruthless methods, intimidating both inside and outside.
Even Kisame was dreadfully cautious of this squad's power.
As a direct unit overseen by the Mizukage, it was entirely composed of elite ninjas from the Hidden Mist Village, possessing exceptional strength.
Under the circumstances, fighting against these individuals was undoubtedly unwise.
The dense fog rapidly hurled numerous Kunai, all aiming at vital points.
Kisame unhesitatingly loosened the corpse of the bounty target, wielding the Great Sword Shark Skin from his back and swung fiercely, deflecting all the incoming Kunai.
As a renegade ninja, being targeted by the pursuit squad's ninjas was inevitable.
Though these people didn't understand the truth behind his defection, since they started pursuing, Kisame wouldn't allow their attack to go unanswered.
"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"
Water streams converging around Kisame instantly morphed into an incredibly ferocious shark, baring sharp teeth and lunging towards the dense fog.
Splash!
The shark formed from water collided with a tall water wall, dispersing the water flow and causing droplets to rain down on the ground, bringing a sense of dampness.
Then, another water dragon emerged from the dense fog, it was Water Dragon Bomb Jutsu.
A powerful Water Style Ninjutsu frequently used and mastered by many Hidden Mist Village ninjas.
From the scale of the water dragon and the Chakra content, the ninja who cast this Water Style Jutsu was undoubtedly a Jonin-level ninja.
Kisame hissed through grit teeth, turned, and left the original location, not bothering with the abandoned corpse of the bounty target.
A bounty hunter is merely a means to draw in 'customers'; if he were injured here for money, Kisame believed it was entirely unworthy.
Even if he missed out on this deal, he wouldn't be impoverished to the point of being unable to survive.
In such times, the most important thing was contemplating how to successfully evade capture by the pursuit squad from the Hidden Mist Village.
These people didn't know the truth behind his defection from the Ninja Village; chasing this renegade ninja was also due to Yagura's instruction.