Yamazaki, Kento’s most trusted childhood friend, immediately prompted himself to assist his comrade in his objective. Grabbing his naginata and gripping it tightly, Yamazaki displayed his diligence to join Kento in his mission, which he sealed with his next words.

"Kento, you are not gonna do this without your buddy right?"

"If my clumsy brother’s in, then I got no choice huh? Let’s do this, champ," Nakamura offered his assistance to the team.

Isoko followed up with Nakamura with her request.

"Not in any way I am letting them fight them alone, Kento. Allow me to join as well."

"Brother, let us join to save our dying parents," Kyuzo politely asked for permission.

"Kyuzo and Hinako, this operation can be a dangerous one….."

Hinako interrupted with a pout face.

"Brother, don't treat us like kids."

"But you didn't let me finish my sentence. Okay. You may join the mission, Kyuzo and Hinako. After all, we are doing this for mother and father right?"

"Now that's the way to go!" Hinako joyfully replied while raising her metal tessens into the air.

Kento slowly averted his eyes through every member of the Teen Ninjas in the room. As he was going through the room, his eyes clicked when he landed his sights on a young woman. She had a pale, milky complexion accompanied by a figure that even rivalled the prettiest concubines in the Kyoto palace. Her hair was glistening in the sun rays that were creeping through the windows with a blue shine. Her azure eyes were overpowering her beauty even further. All these features she possessed granted her the “goddess” title from the town folk.

It was none other than Iwamura Kumiko, the final member to join the ranks of the most skilled and talented young ninjas. Her elegance and charisma left Kento speechless as he gazed upon her face. She followed him by doing the same. But then, she inclined her face a little and gave a cute smile accompanied by a wink. Her smile subsequently awakened Kento's smile, too.

She replied, "Kento-kun, you know that I would never let any of my closest face any dangers alone right? I will fight by your side to accomplish our objective until my heart ceases to beat."

Kento then smiled back.

"Thank you, Kumiko. Your smile and assurance eased my sorrows."

He then turned towards Sensei Akio and requested details about the Star of Izanagi. Agreeing to Kento’s request, he slowly sent his hand into one of the hidden pockets inside his robe and gradually uncovered a ragged, discoloured roll of paper. It turned out to be a map, which looked and felt like it belonged to the prehistoric era. Akio offered it to Kento, the leader of Teen Ninjas to be curiously unrolled and examined.

When the map was unrolled, eight coloured dots appeared on the map, and the kanji letters on top of the map, which none of the teen ninjas could recognize, faded away as the map was exposed to the air.

The dots then showed some slight movements. Kyuzo was kind of mystified by this, and determined to ask his beloved grandfather for more details.

"Grandpa Akio, these coloured dots, do they represent each fragment of the Star Of Izanagi?

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yes, they will guide you to find all the parts of the star. This map was crafted by Izanagi and was given along with the star. During his final moments, he stated that this would assist us in retracing the fragments in case the star gets segregated. This map is extremely sensitive and can detect even the slightest change of location. And yeah, one more thing..."

"What is it?" Kyuzo insisted.

"Be sure always to protect this no matter what. Its very low durability comes as a significant tradeoff for its mystic powers. If we lose this, I am afraid that it will be next to impossible to trace the locations of the jewel."

All of a sudden, two guards slipped right through the entrance and appeared inside the medical centre, disrupting the discussion. Akio promptly chose to examine the guards and found out their levels of exhaustion, as could be seen by the sweat bath that they had had. One of the guards immediately commenced speaking when they found themselves in Sensei Akio’s presence.

"Sensei Hattori, we have a huge problem!"

"What is going on now?"

"A Kōga Ninja is causing a commotion on the outskirts of Kyoto! He seems to be hurting people and damaging public property."

Akio immediately displayed frustration through his facial expressions.

"Know anything about his appearance?"

The other guard immediately answered.

"According to the details we have gathered so far, he seems to be wearing dark blue gear. He has short hair and has a huge scar just above his left eye."

Akio's head snapped up and he immediately collapsed into his chair.

Kento was excited by this reaction.

"Sensei, what is wrong? Do you know him?"

Akio took a deep breath and relaxed. Then he shook his head, signalling to everyone that he knew that person. This turned Kento excited and made him instantly seek the person's identity.

"All right, Kento, you don't need to be so hasty. That Kōga ninja should be none other than Kusunoki, a knucklehead who acts as a disciple for Keiichi."

"Sensei, there was something peculiar about this Kusunoki…guy." One of the guards then reported to Sensei.

"And what could it be?"

"Some of the witnesses have confirmed him to be wearing an amulet holding what appeared to be a yellow-coloured gem."

These words caused Kento to look up, startled and exclaim,

"What! No way that someone would hold the power of such wealth to carry such a big gemstone. I am sure that must be the Citrine of eagle vision."

Kyuzo broke his silence and grabbed his kusarigama.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Kumiko nodded and got hold of her Katana. Yamazaki, who was standing next to her grabbed his naginata which was tied onto his back. His brother, Nakamura walked right past the door and in about five seconds, came back in, holding his heavy nodachi on his right shoulder.

"All set, Kento."

The young ninjas then promptly gathered around and sunk a decent few minutes to structure their plan. The grandmaster of Iga waited patiently till they finished. After a while, the teens turned towards Sensei Akio. Kento followed up by opening his palm after progressing towards his teacher. Seeing his empty palm, Akio grabbed the unrolled map and rolled it back into its original form. He gracefully handed it over to his grandson saying,

"Kento…and the rest of you fine teens, this might be the first-ever high-rank mission that you’ll be grasping your hands upon. Your objective is to find each and every Kōga Ninja working under Keiichi’s wicked circle and claim each piece of the fragmented star of Izanagi. Be advised, your opponents can very likely be elite-level jounins armed with sophisticated tactics. So stay on your guard. Never underestimate your opponents. I am counting on you, Teen Ninjas. Don't let me down.”

"Got it." The voices of all the ninjas reverberated throughout the room, leaving Akio with a grim. Kento trapped the map in his Ninja pouch, grabbed his Wakizashi which he had left on a table and tied it onto his back. Putting on his conical-shaped Kasa, he shouted in a motivational voice before stepping out of the palace,

"Teen Ninjas, time to get our hands dirty!"