Night.
Moonlight poured down like a silver veil, tracing the outline of towering trees more than ten meters tall.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Standard issue shinobi sandals kicked off thick branches in rapid succession. Fifteen black silhouettes streaked through an endless primeval forest at breakneck speed.
Lan led the front with a short blade in hand. His black cloak billowed behind him like bat wings.
Ahead, drooping branches and tangled vines blocked the path.
He reversed his grip.
Slash.
A cold glint swept through the air. The branches and vines hanging across their route snapped cleanly apart.
Aburame Ryoma and Die moved in tandem, one before and one after, sprinting through the corridor Lan carved open. From time to time, they corrected their heading with sensory perception.
The most durable, Iwaguma, hung at the rear, the most dangerous position in the formation, always ready for a sudden attack.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
About five hundred meters behind and to the right of the squad, the ground shook. Trees toppled. Beasts fled in terror, stampeding outward. If the team had been on the ground instead of leaping through the canopy, they would have had to deal with the chaos of a fleeing herd.
Die moved swiftly through the forest. Azure chakra rippled through the air, layered and trembling like plucked strings. The waves poured outward, carrying back endless information into Die's mind.
Especially from that thunderous right rear.
A petite figure wrapped in wild lightning was bulldozing everything in her path flat.
After roughly three days of adjustment, they had finally found a workable marching method.
They kept Konome out on the right flank, acting alone.
She had wide range sensory abilities, so she would not lose them. She was also strong enough not to fear danger. The rest of them simply avoided her direction and moved in concealment from the other side.
With Die and Aburame Ryoma and Konome covering the area with sensory perception, the two teams, one obvious and one hidden, could relay danger instantly and converge for support.
Most importantly, because Konome stayed far away, the tracks she left no longer needed to be cleaned up, saving the others a huge amount of work.
The temporary unit finally started to feel coordinated.
"Stop."
Aburame Ryoma signaled. Everyone halted immediately, waiting in place.
He pulled out a map, then released his insects to gather environmental information and compare it to the terrain. Once he confirmed their route was accurate, he said, "We're about ten kilometers from the Land of Lightning border."
"Raiko Drum Mountain is two hundred kilometers east of the border," Lan calculated quickly. "If we push through the night, we can arrive by morning. A day is more than enough time to blow every mine site to pieces."
"No need," Die shook her head, rejecting the idea.
"Raiko Drum Mountain is a massive vein. Kumogakure has five mining sites there. The intel says it's extremely important, which means the guards will likely be tight.
The mines will not grow legs and run away. Better to adjust our condition first. Tomorrow we infiltrate, confirm the situation, then decide."
Aburame Ryoma nodded silently. As a sensory type himself, he agreed Die's approach was safer.
Their lineup looked terrifying on paper, but only Konome , Lan, and Iwaguma were suited for frontal assault. The rest were fragile. Charging in blind, with no intelligence, was how you walked into a trap and got wiped.
And Danzo had not given him only this single mission. After completing it, the squad still needed enough combat capacity to handle what came next.
Crack. Crack.
As they discussed the plan, crisp snaps of breaking branches sounded from the right. The team turned to look.
The silver haired girl wearing the owl mask approached at a steady pace.
"We're not moving anymore?"
"We rest here tonight," Aburame Ryoma decided. "Tomorrow we reach Raiko Drum Mountain, observe first, then plan."
"I already checked. There's no danger nearby."
Die released her hand sign. The chakra ripples she had scattered faded away.
No further orders were needed. The others split off, each taking their role.
Working in pairs and small groups, their efficiency at erasing traces visibly improved.
No matter how strong the individuals were, or how high their combat standards, a team needed time to mesh before it could truly become greater than the sum of its parts.
In the shinobi world, the standard unit was a four person squad, covering command, logistics, close combat, and ranged support. Properly coordinated, four could kill an enemy far stronger than any one of them alone.
Because of Root's brutal training, they lacked personal will and uniqueness. That made it hard for them to become truly great shinobi, but it also made them frighteningly synchronized when working together.
Rumble.
A stone hut rose from the ground in front of Iwaguma, pushing aside the grass. Footprints and traces along the way were smoothed and erased quickly.
Lan slipped away alone.
Minutes later, he returned carrying a headless deer carcass.
Hot blood poured from the cleanly severed neck. Lan carefully set the carcass in front of Konome , making sure the filthy blood would not splash on her.
With no head, Konome could not tell what kind of deer it was. It was nearly as large as the boar she had cooked before, and there was a thick ring of long hair around the outer neck like a collar of weeds.
Without ceremony, she took seasonings from a sealing scroll.
Chakra gathered in her palm. Wind, water, and fire rotated in quick succession as she processed the meat with frightening efficiency.
Inside the hut, candles were lit, their wavering glow casting shifting shadows.
Clack.
A stone table and stone stools rose within. This time there were five stools.
Lan's eyes went bright. He jogged forward and dropped onto one seat in a single motion.
Aburame Ryoma and Die were already sitting opposite, waiting in silence.
Pat. Pat. Pat.
Konome gently patted the cleaned venison, like she was soothing it. In her palm, orange red flame pulsed, and the force of her strikes drove the heat into the meat itself.
Before long, a rich aroma spread.
Ever since two days ago, when she had suddenly decided to roast a whole boar using a Split the Sky style strike combined with Fire Release, her position in the team had automatically upgraded from deputy captain to head chef.
And it really was an upgrade.
Her status in the squad shot upward. Even Aburame Ryoma, cold as he was, had praised her cooking. As for the others, every meal made the golden light above their heads brighter.
Their favor was increasing so visibly it was almost ridiculous.
Sizzle.
Hot oil dripped onto the ground. The air filled with a strange, mouth watering scent.
Twelve teenagers removed their masks and sat in a circle around Konome as she roasted. Their faces remained flat, but their hunger leaked from their eyes.
Even if their human emotions had been erased, they still retained an animal's raw desire.
"You can eat."
With Konome 's command, the twelve lined up. They used kunai to cut pieces off and devoured them with their bare hands.
From robots that only executed orders to beasts with no emotion but appetite.
That counted as evolution, right?
Konome lifted the sizzling meat and walked into the stone hut.
Inside.
A stone table. Four stone stools.
Die, Iwaguma, and Aburame Ryoma sat at the table with a map spread before them, expressions grim and focused, as if the paper hid some earthshaking secret.
Lan was curled in the corner alone, hunched as he pretended to sleep.
When Konome entered carrying the fragrant meat, Aburame Ryoma's nose twitched. He rolled the map up smoothly and tucked it into his cloak.
The three of them looked up at once.
"The table's already been cleaned," Die said with a smile, licking the corner of her lips.
Iwaguma stayed silent, but his bobbing throat gave away how badly he wanted to eat.
"Tch."
Iwaguma had built the hut, Die was good at communication, and Aburame Ryoma was the captain.
Konome did not know what to say. She set the steaming venison on the table and sat naturally in the stool they had prepared for her.
The four of them ate in silent agreement.
After a first bite, Aburame Ryoma and the others all paused, then their cutting and chewing sped up immediately.
The rich scent flooded the cramped room. In the corner, Lan frowned and turned his head away, still pretending to sleep.
The soldier pills in his stomach had swollen with water, making him both full and hungry at the same time. Even exhaustion from a day of forced marching could not crush that discomfort.
"Raiko Drum Mountain has five mining sites," Aburame Ryoma began, unusually talkative as he laid out the plan. "One at the summit to the east, one to the west, and likely three around the mid slope. Before entering, I'll send my kikaichu to scout. You stay at the base, do not expose our trail..."
"I'm going with you," Konome said.
Aburame's insects could slip anywhere, but their simple minds could not transmit too much detail. And the information would be secondhand. It would never be as precise as the Byakugan seeing everything directly.
She refused to place her safety on Aburame Ryoma's intel alone.
This body might only be a shadow clone, but Root's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and Kotoamatsukami were far too valuable.
The first let her use Root's resources without restraint. The second held the mystery of the Mangekyo Sharingan and the strongest genjutsu.
If she could fully understand its mechanism, she might find a way around the Mangekyo's limitations and force Kotoamatsukami out through another method.
And there was precedent.
After reading books Root had seized from the Uchiha clan, she discovered something shocking.
Izanagi, the legendary technique that could turn illusion into reality, had once been a Mangekyo dōjutsu. An Uchiha genius had replicated it and made it learnable for ordinary Uchiha, which later led to widespread abuse of the technique.
Her main focus was still on reversing the Eight Gates. Kotoamatsukami had been set aside for now. But if the Sharingan could truly filter impurities from life force, her research priorities might have to shift.
"Your movement style is too loud," Aburame Ryoma said.
"As long as I'm not sprinting at full speed, I can control my strength. There won't be any problem."
As she spoke, Konome tore off a strip of leg meat and offered it to him.
After a brief thought, Aburame Ryoma accepted. "Fine."
It was not only because of the food. Her sensory ability was genuinely strong.
More importantly, she could fight.
Two elite jōnin, one for assault and one for support. Whether they needed to run or to kill, they would hold the initiative no matter what they met.
They finished the tactical discussion for tomorrow.
Iwaguma and the others annihilated the meat on the table at terrifying speed. Venison tasted even better than boar. With Konome 's absurd chakra control, the doneness was perfect down to the finest edge.
A smile tugged at mouths without permission. Good food really did loosen the body and mind.
"Hey, Iwaguma," Konome asked, mouth stuffed with meat. "Where did your story leave off last time?"
After eating and sleeping together day after day, their relationships had gradually grown familiar.
In quiet moments, they even spoke about the past.
"Was it about avenging your dead family?" Lan asked, biting into meat, curiosity in his eyes.
When Lan first joined Root, Iwaguma had been one of his instructors. His methods had been brutally harsh, terrifying.
Yet as a teammate, he was steady and dependable. It was hard to believe he was the same person.
Die and Aburame Ryoma kept eating, faces calm, but their ears were clearly listening.
Iwaguma's chewing slowed. His brown yellow eyes seemed to drift into memory. Then he spoke.
"Yeah. I got revenge."
Silence fell in the stone room.
"That's it?" Konome blinked.
"Yeah."
"What kind of story is that?" Lan's voice jumped an octave as he swallowed.
"What do you want to hear?" Iwaguma's voice stayed low and flat.
"Like how awful the enemy was, like you said before. And more detail. How you actually got revenge. How you joined Root."
Konome practically held his hand through how to finish a story properly.
"I'll think."
Iwaguma stared at his meat for a moment, then continued.
"After training, I went for revenge. I failed and ran. I happened to meet Lord Danzo, who treated my injuries.
He said he'd help me get revenge. In exchange, I became his subordinate.
And I used my training methods to train his men.
I agreed."
He ended the story in one breath, then bit down hard on the venison.
"In the end, Lord Danzo killed that shinobi for you?" Lan pressed, refusing to give up.
"No.
Lord Danzo captured her and gave her to me as a gift."
Iwaguma's bite grew even more savage.
"I turned her into this. I ate for a long time."
Chew. Chew.
Konome and the others all slowed at once.
"Sometimes curiosity doesn't need to be that strong," Die said, glaring at Lan. The venison in her mouth suddenly tasted like ash.
"Agreed," Lan nodded, then, somehow, kept eating anyway.
He took two more bites before asking, "So, Die, how did you join Root?"
"Ah..." Die did not know what to say to this brainless, shameless teammate.
"If it's going to ruin my appetite like Iwaguma's, don't say it," Konome said as she crunched bone.
A tooth had enamel, dentin, and cementum. It was not technically part of the skeletal system.
But it was still influenced by the Shikotsumyaku. Her teeth were terrifyingly hard.
"I don't have that many stories," Die shook her head casually.
"I used to be ANBU. Root lacked sensory types. Lord Danzo got a transfer order from the Third Hokage, and I was assigned here. I've been in Root ever since."
"So boring." Konome stuffed the rest of the leg into her stomach.
Die's reason was logical and dull. Not even close to Iwaguma's. At least Iwaguma's story told her who was responsible for Root's insane training style.
"I'm similar," Lan said, wiping grease from his mouth with his cloak.
"I was ANBU too. I read Lord Danzo's great deeds in the intel scrolls, and I volunteered to join Root."
"You're the most ridiculous one here," Konome could not stop herself from saying.
"Lord Danzo has sacrificed so much for Konoha. During the Third Great War, his eye and right arm..." Lan started.
"Lan," Iwaguma cut in sharply, stopping him.
Lan bit down on the seal on his tongue and fell silent.
Konome immediately changed the subject.
"Ryoma, have you remembered what I asked you last time?"
She did not want to dig into Danzo. And even if she tried, she would learn nothing.
The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal protected everything. Not just speech. Even the thought of leaking information about Danzo would trigger the seal and lock the body into paralysis.
"No."
Aburame Ryoma's face was still cold as ever.
Then, as if he remembered something, he looked up at Konome , eyes suddenly bright.
"Yato. Can you do me a favor?"
Konome licked the grease from her lips.
"Tell me what it is first. Then I'll decide if I'm helping."
"Find someone for me."
The stone room went quiet.
They waited, but Aburame Ryoma said nothing more.
"That's it?" Konome raised her brows. "No other details?"
He nodded solemnly. "Yeah."
"So the only clue is that he's a person?" Konome 's tone turned flat. "That narrows it down to... everyone."
"He loves to smile."
"Can you stop saying useless things and give me something that actually helps?"
Die snorted. She could not hold it in.
Lan and Iwaguma's mouths also curved without their permission.
Aburame Ryoma was Danzo's right hand. But with Konome 's strength, she could talk to him like this. Anyone else would never dare.
"He's different," Aburame Ryoma insisted. "His smile is like sunlight."
"That's still useless."
Aburame Ryoma and Konome kept arguing over "clues," while the other three listened and occasionally offered suggestions.
The candlelight flickered, throwing their shadows onto the stone walls.
For a long time, it did not go out.