Yōkō left the three squads to continue monitoring the Senju clan and departed the village alone to carry out the investigation mission.
The target, Shinna, was a 32-year-old Chūnin, one of Hatake Sakumo's followers. He was relatively older among the followers and attended every gathering.
A ninja who lived to 32 might not be exceptionally strong, but their experience was certainly rich.
Hatake Sakumo was famously known for valuing his comrades and treating people sincerely. After every mission, he would become friends with his team members.
He and his friends often gathered, and he enjoyed an excellent reputation among both civilian-born ninja and even clan ninja.
They frequently visited Hatake Sakumo's home and often went to barbecue restaurants and izakayas together.
In Hatake Sakumo's view, every friend was worth cherishing, as the next gathering might require a visit to the Memorial Stone to see them.
Arriving at the village gate, Yōkō spotted the target team.
The leader was Tokubetsu Jōnin Sarutobi Senzu, age 14. The other three were all Chūnin.
This configuration was considered an elite team within Konoha.
The team quickly left Konoha, and Yōkō followed.
With the Land of Rivers war about to begin, many ninja departed through Konoha's main gate today, heading west.
Yōkō followed behind them and soon noticed something strange.
Yōkō had worked hard to become a Tokubetsu Jōnin at 17. Sarutobi Senzu, promoted to Tokubetsu Jōnin at 14, should have been a minor genius, yet his breathing was more labored than the other three while traveling.
Yōkō put down his binoculars, opened the mission scroll within the tree canopy where he was hiding, and carefully reviewed the target team's information.
Sarutobi Senzu had completed an extremely difficult prisoner capture mission in the Land of Grass and was recommended for Tokubetsu Jōnin by Mitokado Homura.
During that mission, the remaining team members all sacrificed themselves; only he and the prisoner returned to the base.
It seems his taijutsu level is average. I wonder if he's a ninjutsu specialist.
On the roads of the Land of Rivers, there were many civilians migrating with their families.
Hearing that war was coming, the people of the Land of Rivers were moving to remote southern areas.
It was currently spring planting season. Much land lay fallow, suggesting a potential famine in the autumn.
The civilians also had experience; ninjas often disguised themselves as civilians for mutual assassination attempts. When the war reached its cruelest stage, civilians would die too.
Team Sarutobi Senzu traversed the Land of Rivers and entered the deserts of the Land of Wind.
Finding an oasis on the border of the Land of Wind, Sarutobi Senzu lay behind a sand dune:
"You three, approach the oasis from three different directions and investigate the intelligence inside!"
The three Chūnin looked at each other. Shinna, as the oldest ninja, tried to offer a suggestion:
"Captain, the oasis has fresh water; it's a natural supply base, so its defenses will be the tightest.
Shouldn't we proceed step by step, gathering intelligence slowly?
First, investigate the Suna-nin transport teams entering and leaving the oasis, based on the types of supplies they carry.
For example, based on the number of puppet joint actuators, we can roughly estimate how many puppet masters will be deployed on the battlefield."
Sarutobi Senzu's expression changed. "Are you disobeying orders?"
Disobeying orders, refusing missions – these were serious crimes in Konoha, punishable by direct execution in severe cases.
In the distance, Yōkō watched through his binoculars as Shinna and the other two Chūnin dispersed and infiltrated. He was utterly shocked.
Isn't this a suicide mission?
Who devised this tactic?
Three team members infiltrating the oasis directly from three different directions?
From the binoculars, he could see there were over a hundred Suna-nin in the oasis.
Soon, the three Chūnin encountered danger.
Squad Leader Sarutobi Senzu, however, remained steadily prone in the distance, looking as though he didn't want to miss any detail.
In Konoha's system, when the squad leader was incompetent, team members died very easily.
Yōkō, from afar, calculated whether he should intervene to help Shinna.
The key to helping Shinna or not was essentially whether Hatake Sakumo was a worthwhile investment.
After this period of investigation, Yōkō was certain Hatake Sakumo had a sterling reputation and treated those around him very well.
Precisely because he valued his comrades, a group centered around him had formed, but he remained completely unaware of the danger this posed.
The higher-ups weren't afraid of disorganized civilian ninja; they feared civilian ninja organizing and uniting.
An atomized village was the easiest to control.
Disobedient ninja clans and organized groups of civilian ninja were prime targets for the higher-ups.
What Hatake Sakumo lacked was someone who could shield him from the darkness.
Yōkō pondered repeatedly, grabbing handfuls of sand over and over.
Without being humble, Yōkō walked in darkness and was part of Konoha's dark side.
He was plenty 'dark' himself, perfectly suited to shielding Hatake Sakumo from the shadows.
Hatake Sakumo in the light, Yōkō in the dark, plus the prestige of the Senju clan – such a combination would be enough to give the higher-ups a headache.
Yōkō even imagined staging a 'It's getting cold, add a robe' scene for Hatake Sakumo someday in the future.
Hatake Sakumo, holding the Hokage's ceremonial robe in his left hand and the Hokage's hat in his right, saying remorsefully, 'You have truly brought hardship upon me.'
'Hatake the Great' was worth investing in.
Partnering with Hatake Sakumo, one in the light, one in the dark, would be one of Yōkō's future arrangements.
Having made his decision, Yōkō quickly stood up and pursued them.
As an Anbu, if Yōkō approached Hatake Sakumo directly, Sakumo would not, and likely dared not, trust him.
Trying to save Shinna and using him to send a signal, gradually building trust with Hatake Sakumo, was the way.
Three teams rushed out from the oasis. The three Konoha ninja were surrounded by Suna-nin.
The three Konoha ninja were in three separate locations, unaware of each other's situations, yet they tacitly sped up, trying to gather more intelligence about the Suna-nin forces in the oasis.
Shinna glanced in the direction where Captain Sarutobi was hiding, hoping his death would be meaningful.
Yōkō sighed from a distance. Such good subordinates, given to Sarutobi Senzu... it's simply wasteful, cruel.
Three Suna-nin blocked Shinna's path.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Gales appeared in their hands. Instead of attacking the Konoha ninja directly, the winds rushed towards the sand on the ground.
Instantly, the ground was covered in rolling yellow sand.
Shinna's vision was obscured; he couldn't see anything.
He desperately dodged to the left, trying to escape the dust cloud.
As soon as he broke through, he saw an alligator puppet waiting beside him.
The alligator opened its mouth, filled with steel senbon, ready to fire.
The tips of the needles gleamed with the black-purple of poison.
The mechanism clicked!
At the critical moment, an Earth-Style Rising Spear pierced through the ground, skewering the alligator puppet's upper and lower jaws together!
Shinna turned his head and saw an Anbu wearing a fox mask.
A Konoha Anbu?
An iron ball attached to a wire flew over, wrapped around Shinna's waist, instantly pulling him backward.
Shinna flew just above the ground for dozens of meters. Before reaching the Anbu ninja, he suddenly fell onto the sand.
He scrambled up and looked back, seeing four puppets surrounding the Fox Anbu.
These puppets had various forms – humanoid puppets, beast-shaped puppets.
The movements of humanoid puppets were somewhat predictable, similar to humans. Beast-shaped puppets were the hardest to deal with; their hidden weapons were concealed in odd places.
Shinna watched as the Fox Anbu dodged and weaved among the four puppets.
After leaping out of the encirclement, the Fox Anbu formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Cutting Wave!"
A high-speed water jet shot out, sweeping through the air, slicing all four puppets to pieces in one go.
The air was filled with halved puppet parts; kunai and senbon from the puppet mechanisms spilled out.
Shinna was dumbfounded. Those terrifying puppets... were just cut apart?
Yōkō threw two kunai to the side, forcing the puppet masters hiding in the sand to reveal themselves.
The two puppet masters had just jumped up when they saw the incoming water jet.
The two puppet masters were bisected at the waist. Yellow-pink intestines splattered onto the sand.
The newly learned Water Release: Water Cutting Wave had extremely high lethality, elevating Yōkō's combat power by a significant level.
After killing the few pursuing Suna-nin and ensuring no one had witnessed his presence, Yōkō shouted, "Follow me!"
Shinna hurriedly followed.
***
->Support me with power stone
->for every 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter
***
Dive deeper into the story with 50+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!
(End of Chapter)