The moment Ishikawa Itsuki finished speaking, he charged straight out.
Uchiha Kai: "…"
Nara Kazama: "…"
The two of them froze on the spot, watching him rush into the fog.
Seriously?!
They both knew Ishikawa Itsuki was useless—but they hadn't expected him to be this useless!
Especially Kai.
He had already known this guy was the type to ruin more than he could ever accomplish.
But when it actually happened, he still couldn't help but slap his forehead and curse aloud.
"Trash! That Ishikawa Itsuki—has he lost his damn mind?"
Nara Kazama could only shake his head with a bitter smile. Having such a teammate was beyond words.
But—he was a Nara. His strength might be limited, but his brain certainly wasn't.
Taking a deep breath, he spoke up.
"Even if we want nothing more than to strangle him ourselves, we still have to step in and save him."
Kai blinked, startled. "And why, exactly?"
"Because we're a squad." Kazama cast a quick glance at Kudo Shin, then lowered his voice.
"If Ishikawa survives, what if he reports this back to the village?"
"Even if he dies, we still have a captain here."
"We were just thrown together—we don't really trust each other, do we? You and I, sure, we're bound by the same interests. But can you say with absolute certainty that Kudo Shin won't rat us out?"
"Even if he's completely drained of chakra and can't hear a word right now, once he recovers, reporting this would still earn him credit."
"And remember—our captain is a civilian. For the sake of a little extra merit, are you sure he wouldn't sell us out?"
Kai drew in a sharp breath.
When his gaze returned to Nara Kazama, it was different now.
Good heavens!
He had always known the Nara Clan were clever, but this was frightening.
He himself had lived two lifetimes, and not even he had thought of this—but Kazama had not only seen through it instantly, his reasoning was airtight.
And this was just some side-branch Nara, someone so minor that he hadn't even left a name in the original story.
Then what about the clan head, the Jounin squad leader—Nara Shikaku?
Just thinking about it made Kai's scalp tingle.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on it. A scream tore through the fog outside.
It was Ishikawa Itsuki.
Already? That fast?
Kai slapped his forehead again, exasperated.
"This useless fool! Can't do anything right, but sure knows how to screw everything up."
"Fine. Let's move."
Once his decision was made, Kai didn't hesitate. He dashed out, his hands flying through seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
His mouth opened wide, spitting out a massive fireball that roared toward the source of the scream.
Nara Kazama followed instantly.
"Wind Style: Tornado Hurricane Jutsu !"
His hands blurred through seals, conjuring a violent whirlwind.
Wind fanned the flames, flames fueled the wind.
The fireball surged into a raging inferno, ripping apart the concealing mist and engulfing the enemy.
The three Mist ninja attacking Itsuki were shredded in an instant by the combined firestorm.
Kai's eyes flickered with surprise.
A B-rank Wind Release?
It seemed this teammate wasn't as simple as he appeared.
Swish, swish, swish!
The other Mist ninja finally acted.
One squad hurled kunai in a barrage, while another sprinted toward the supply carts.
"I'll deal with these ones," Kai barked. "Kazama, protect the supplies!"
Kazama nodded without hesitation and bolted toward the carts.
Kai drew his own kunai, casually parrying the ones aimed at him before accelerating to his utmost limit, closing in on the Mist ninja.
His speed was frightening.
Even without ninjutsu or the Navy's Rokushiki techniques, his taijutsu surpassed ordinary shinobi by far.
A few simple moves were enough—none of these Mist ninja could withstand even a single strike.
In the blink of an eye, one of them was dead.
"This—how?!"
"Three ninjutsu-capable Konoha shinobi—this is an elite squad!"
"The intel was wrong—retreat!"
The Mist squad leaders shouted, turning tail without hesitation.
Their dead comrades? Not worth a second glance.
Meanwhile, Kazama had just cut one down himself when the rest bolted.
He hurried back and asked, "Do we pursue?"
Kai rolled his eyes.
What was there to say?
At this point, he was sure—Kazama was no ordinary ninja. That B-rank Wind Release alone was enough to put him in the elite Class A.
And now, after exposing himself, he even carried himself like the one in charge.
But then again, thinking of other members of the Nara Clan—maybe this was just their tradition.
So be it.
Shaking his head slightly, Kai replied,
"There's no need. Our mission is to deliver supplies. No sense in stirring up extra trouble."
Kazama nodded in agreement.
Oddly, he felt that working with Kai wasn't so bad after all.
Especially the way he thought—very much in sync with the Nara clan's philosophy.
Wait… hold on!
Wasn't this guy an Uchiha?
Because this behavior—wasn't "Uchiha" at all!
But whatever.
It wasn't his problem. And as a Nara, he hated trouble more than anything.
As long as it didn't affect him, it was fine.
With that thought, he yawned, then glanced down at Ishikawa Itsuki, now unconscious on the ground.
Still alive.
Annoyingly so.
Kazama felt a headache coming on. He really had no fondness for this reckless idiot.
But after a sigh, he said helplessly,
"Well, good. He's still breathing. Let's patch him up a little."
Kai frowned, but nodded.
As much as he loathed the guy, outright killing him wasn't an option.
Reaching agreement, the two hoisted Itsuki onto one of the carts.
They gave him some simple treatment, fed him a soldier pill, and then left him be.
Neither of them cared whether he lived or died.
Without a medic-ninja, they could only do so much.
If he made it to the front camp, where Konoha's medical corps were stationed, he'd survive.
If not—then he'd die.
After stepping down from the cart, Kazama's eyes turned, already scheming.
"Kai, what should we say later?" he asked quietly.
Kai narrowed his eyes, his tone oddly probing.
"The truth, obviously. What else?"
Kazama sighed in exasperation.
This Uchiha was clearly pretending. With the way he had just handled things, there was no way he hadn't thought this far ahead.
But since he had been the one to bring it up, he could only continue.
"Now that we've revealed our real strength, future missions will be troublesome."
"And I think you and I are the same kind of person—the kind that hates trouble."
"So, how about we be honest with each other?"
Since he'd already spelled it out, Kai couldn't keep playing dumb.
He hated trouble too.
As for the village's so-called merit, he couldn't care less.
His eyes shifted as he asked softly, "So what do you suggest?"
Kazama wasn't foolish. He knew Kai was testing him. But with Kudo Shin still unconscious nearby, time was precious.
So he spoke directly.
"The captain's still out of chakra—he hasn't sensed anything. Ishikawa's unconscious. All the civilians are dead."
"We've got three carts of supplies. You take one, I'll take one. If you don't have a storage scroll, I'll give you one."
"As for the dead Mist ninja, we'll seal their bodies in a scroll and deal with them later."
"When the captain wakes up, we tell him this: our strength wasn't enough. We barely protected one cart, while the other two were taken by the Mist."
"Ishikawa was reckless and ignored our warnings, charging in on his own. He wasn't strong enough and got injured."
"We risked our lives to save him."
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