At the summit of Thunder Drum Mountain, Mining Site No. 1.
Miners with yellow woven baskets on their backs adjusted their safety helmets. Powerful Kumogakure ninja hoisted cutting machines embedded with Lightning Stone onto their shoulders. They formed a winding line as they marched toward the deep, yawning mine shaft, like a colossal python coiled across the mountainside.
Daku stood on the barren slope with his hands clasped behind his back, staring up at the sky. He wore a tight mesh bodysuit, and his blond hair was tied into a ponytail.
Overhead, dark clouds pressed down like a lid. Thunder roared and shattered the air, and the sky was swallowed whole by ink black storm cover. Noon had only just passed, the hour when sunlight should have been at its strongest, yet not a single thread of brightness could be seen.
Thunder Drum Mountain suffered this kind of thunderstorm weather at least twenty days out of every month, but today's clouds were darker than usual. The air carried dampness, so heavy it made the arm he had once broken itch faintly.
Swoosh, swoosh!
A black figure sprang left and right from the guard posts built along the cliffside. In moments, he appeared before Daku.
"Lord Daku!"
The ninja wore a tight combat suit, with a long blade strapped across his back.
"Per your order, most of the guards from Mining Site No. 1 have been dispatched to the other four sites. Only the ninja responsible for mining and polishing Lightning Stone remain here."
Daku nodded slightly, hands still behind his back.
"Have the rumors been spread?"
"Yes. Sites Two, Three, Four, and Five have had consecutive disappearances, so we moved guards from Site One to reinforce the others and protect everyone. Once the news went out, the panic at the other sites eased a lot."
"But…"
The long blade ninja hesitated, his words caught in his throat.
"Say it."
"Isn't this too risky?" His eyes were full of doubt. "Site One is the main mining zone. Its tunnels are the deepest and most complex. With our manpower sent away…"
He didn't finish, but Daku understood the rest without needing to hear it.
"I'll enter the tunnels with them," Daku said calmly. "Go to Site Three. You don't need to worry."
"With Lord Daku protecting us, that's best."
The long blade ninja finally relaxed and nodded, all concerns gone.
Daku was one of the two jōnin stationed at Thunder Drum Mountain, and he was the right hand of the former ANBU captain, Yotsuki Takeshi. With Daku entering the tunnels personally, there was no reason to fear for Site One's safety.
Swoosh, swoosh!
The long blade ninja leapt away, disappearing among the cliffs after a few bounds.
Daku remained at the summit, looking down at the long snake of miners. His blue eyes scanned the line sharply, as if searching for something.
Soon, he locked onto a tall, broad shouldered man in a safety helmet, muscles packed tight beneath his skin.
The man carried a cutting machine and blended into the crowd, yet his sheer presence still stood out. As if sensing the gaze from above, he lifted his head. His tiger like eyes looked up at Daku, and he gave a faint nod.
It was Takeshi, disguised as an ordinary miner.
This was their plan.
The killer's methods were too clean, too practiced. No useful traces were left behind. That, in itself, proved the enemy could not be some mindless beast that killed only to feed.
To fish, you needed bait.
The night before, the two had spoken at length, analyzing the disappearances until they reached the same conclusion: the victims shared no distinguishing features, and there was no connection between them.
That meant it wasn't revenge, and there was no clear pattern.
Only two facts remained.
A need for large numbers of people, a need for Lightning Stone ore, and a recent increase in the frequency of strikes.
So they acted on those points.
They sent all manpower from Mining Site One to the other sites, pretending to pressure the murderer into staying cautious. In truth, it was a trap. It forced the enemy's hand, funneling them toward what would appear to be the safest target: Site One.
Then Daku and Takeshi would enter the tunnels with the miners.
Daku would remain in the open, luring an attack from one side.
Takeshi would stay hidden within the crowd. The moment the enemy showed themselves, he would erupt with a lightning strike.
After confirming everything was in place, the two exchanged a silent glance, one in the light and one in shadow, before following the miners into the mouth of the mountain.
At the same time…
On a section of mine wall no one paid attention to, a bug no bigger than the eye of a needle lay belly down against the stone. Its body was dark brown, and a hard shell covered its back. When Daku and Takeshi disappeared into the tunnels, the shell snapped open like wings, and it launched into the air.
Buzz!
Its wings whipped so fast they left afterimages.
From above, the Parasitic Destruction Bug looked down on the comings and goings of the long line, then swiftly circled to the mountain's far side, heading toward a hidden ravine.
It slipped past rough, steep rock faces.
In the shadowed hollow of the ravine, two figures stood waiting.
One tall, one short.
Both wore hoods and masks, eerie and yet oddly harmonious.
The insect avoided the abnormal violet chakra nearby, then returned to the fingertip of its master. A unique pheromone channel formed between bug and handler, carrying information in a slow, inefficient flow.
What a hassle.
Konome Taketori narrowed her gaze, watching Aburame Ryoma and his bug communicate through pheromones at a crawl. She pushed the Byakugan to its peak and swept her vision across the mountain summit.
After resting overnight, they had left the primeval forest on the southwestern border of the Land of Lightning and headed straight for Thunder Drum Mountain at dawn, never stopping. By ten in the morning, they had reached the base.
Just as planned, Arashi, Chō, and the rest were resting in a hidden spot at the foot of the mountain, waiting for Ryoma and Konome to finish reconnaissance before moving.
Ryoma and Konome climbed from the base to the summit. With both the Parasitic Bugs and the Byakugan working together, they swept every mining site except Site One without incident.
Sites Two through Four housed roughly two hundred ninja in total, miners and guards combined.
One jōnin.
More than a dozen special jōnin.
The rest were ordinary chūnin and genin. Numerous, but their combat value was negligible.
If Site One lacked additional high end defenses, they would simply crush the place head on.
The Byakugan's sight covered the summit.
In the blink of an eye, Konome saw through Site One entirely.
Not only that, she pierced the mountain's surface itself. The narrow tunnels and the moving crowds were clear as day, every detail visible. Workers carrying baskets of Lightning Stone moved back and forth through the corridors like tireless ants hauling food.
"It's confirmed," Ryoma said after a long exchange with his bug, finally matching the information.
"Site One has sixty chakra signatures total, counting those inside the tunnels. Fifty two are non combat types responsible for mining and polishing. Six guards have chūnin level chakra. There's one jōnin, and one elite jōnin mixed in with the crowd inside the mine."
"Fewer people here, but two top tier threats."
"Mm. My count is about the same."
Konome's eyes lowered, sight reaching through the earth to the elite jōnin inside the mine.
That chakra source was unusually bright. Whoever it was, they were hiding among the miners, clearly waiting to ambush someone.
Was there another force inside Thunder Drum Mountain?
Or had Root's raid already been exposed?
It shouldn't have been possible.
Root's Tongue Curse Seal was no joke. Unless someone, like her, had infiltrated Root using a shadow clone, and could keep that clone intact for a long time, it was impossible to leak information.
And her own case was only possible because of the Nine Tails chakra's special trait of mutual transmission. Ordinary people could never replicate that.
Most importantly, if their mission had truly been exposed, the enemy should also know what kind of team Root sent. In that case, Site One would not be guarded so lightly.
Konome glanced at Ryoma's calm face.
"The strongest enemy is disguised as a miner and entering the tunnels. They probably don't know we're here. There may be a third party at play."
"Ignore it," Ryoma said coldly, his voice still emotionless.
Yet Konome heard the concealment beneath it. He knew about this third party, or perhaps he had come for it.
"Can I know what the real mission is?"
"Destroying the mine is the real mission."
"I want the other part."
Konome stared at him, unmoving. So there was a hidden objective after all.
Ryoma finally spoke, vague and dismissive.
"The rest is my business. It has nothing to do with you."
So you're going to talk in riddles.
Konome's fist tightened. If this weren't enemy territory, she would have liked nothing more than to smash him once and knock the mystery out of him.
Ryoma's insects were hypersensitive. He immediately sensed danger and pointed toward Site One above.
"We've confirmed the enemy's defenses. Only Site One is dangerous. Go back down, gather the team, and prepare for a direct assault."
"You go."
Ryoma narrowed his eyes at her.
"What do you mean?"
Konome watched miners emerge from the mine, carrying baskets of Lightning Stone to be polished and charged, then transported to the giant warehouse in the center of the camp.
Her Byakugan pierced the warehouse doors. Inside, Lightning Stones pulsed with electric glow, stacked into a small mountain.
After hours of reconnaissance, she understood what this special mineral was.
A power source for machinery.
And a tool for cultivating the Lightning Release Armor.
Everyone knew the principle behind training Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
You used Lightning Release chakra to damage your own cells, filtering out those with high lightning resistance, then fed them chakra so they could grow and evolve.
In the end, you forged an offense and defense fused Lightning Armor.
The process devoured chakra.
With the recovery she inherited from the Nine Tails and her Byakugan level control, she could only train for about four hours before her chakra ran dry.
For an ordinary ninja, it might be only one or two hours a day.
But the first half of the process could be replaced with external electricity. Only the later part, feeding chakra into the adapted cells, required your own power.
She had personally seen the jōnin at Site Two use the current stored in Lightning Stone to filter cells. His own chakra was only used to nourish and strengthen them, saving enormous energy.
Her main body had to constantly funnel chakra to clones and sustain the Shikotsumyaku. It was never enough.
There was no way she would let a treasure like this slip by.
Fortunately, she had the foresight to bring extra sealing scrolls. She could skim some Lightning Stone as a "souvenir" for her main body.
"Leave this place to me," Konome said. "Take Iwa Kuma and the others and wipe out the remaining sites."
"Site One doesn't have many people, but there's an elite jōnin level expert," Ryoma warned. "Can you handle it alone?"
"More than enough."
Konome's Byakugan had already mapped that man out completely. A classic Yotsuki type powerhouse, like Yotsuki Takeshi, but she was no longer the same person she had been.
After devouring Nine Tails chakra and receiving guidance from Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō, her Wind Release had leapt in power.
Lightning Release Chakra Mode covered her weakness in agility.
And her Split Sky technique was now so refined she could use it to roast meat.
What she excelled at most was fighting this exact kind of Lightning Armor brute.
"Half an hour," Ryoma said. "We attack together. Watch yourself. Don't die."
He turned and vanished.
Ryoma trusted Konome's combat ability. In direct assault, she was the strongest force in this Root team. The enemy's elite jōnin had to be dealt with by her sooner or later.
Now it simply meant one extra jōnin existed on the field, nothing more.
As for the ordinary ninja, neither of them cared.
The hierarchy among ninja ranks wasn't absolute. The gap between jōnin and special jōnin, or between special jōnin and chūnin, wasn't always huge. But between jōnin and chūnin, the difference was vast.
And these two were elites even among jōnin.
Those chūnin could be killed with a flick of the hand.
If Konome could stall the two at the summit, Ryoma would eliminate the only jōnin below. Arashi, Chō, and Iwa Kuma, three jōnin in combat power, would crush the other sites.
Then they would converge and turn it into a multi against few. The rest would be easy.
Drip.
Ryoma's back disappeared into the distance. A dot of moisture appeared on the yellow brown ground beneath Konome's feet.
A damp, cool breeze brushed her cheek. Silver strands of hair floated softly as she lifted her eyes.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning tore across the heavens like a silver dragon. The ink black clouds churned, as if turning the sky into a dark sea.
Drip. Drip.
The clouds could barely hold back the weight of the rain anymore. A few fat drops fell, scattered and sparse, then the world slipped back into uneasy stillness.
Yet Konome could feel it.
That stifling pressure in the air, like something with nowhere left to vent.
Not yet.
She suppressed the excitement simmering in her chakra and stared toward a tent marked with the character "Thunder," lightning.
Her sight pierced the tent.
A clock hung beside the bed.
Inside the dial, the second hand clicked forward, relentless.
Outside Thunder Drum Mountain…
In a massive ravine of yellow and green, the terrain collected water, making the vegetation unusually thick. Moss and plants layered the ground like living carpet.
"What a perfect day, right, Samehada?"
"Mmm mmm!"
Wrapped in bandages, the great sword Samehada writhed excitedly on Kisame Hoshigaki's back. Kisame patted the blade and looked up with golden eyes.
The shark gills on his cheeks trembled as he tasted the moisture in the air.
Black clouds. Thunder. Lightning striking Thunder Drum Mountain again and again in the distance. Even from far away, he could feel the dampness and hear the rumbling.
Once the rain truly came down, this place would become his home field.
"Looks like I'll have to leave it to you," Uchiha Itachi said, raising a hand as he too felt the wind and the water in the air.
Before battle, observing weather and terrain and forming a plan was a required discipline for every Leaf ninja. As one of the academy's top graduates, Itachi had turned it into instinct, carved into his bones.
Kisame froze for a moment, then remembered that his new partner was a pure Fire Release type, someone who hated rainy weather most of all.
"Don't worry," Kisame said, patting his chest. "I can handle it by myself."
But as he spoke, he noticed Itachi's eyes had already turned crimson.
Kisame lifted his head as well.
At some point, thick fog had begun to spread around the mountain.
The thunder crowned summit was nearly invisible now. Beneath the dark clouds, pale mist rolled like a sea of clouds, swallowing the peak of Thunder Drum Mountain whole.
"Itachi… something's off," Kisame muttered.
That familiar fog dragged memories out of him. Fighting inside mist was also a required art for every Mist ninja.
"I see it," Itachi replied.
Three tomoe spun around his pupils, shaping into the unique shuriken pattern of his Sharingan. He stared at the fog blanketing the mountain.
The mist drifted and coiled, clinging to the slopes and touching the black clouds above. Within it, a mysterious, violet chakra lurked, surging and writhing like an angry dragon waiting to strike.
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