Dusk.
"Caw—!"
The sharp cry of an eagle echoed across the sky.
Drake looked up and faintly spotted a ninja hawk circling high above.
"Cloud ninja hawk, most likely," Kakashi observed after watching its trajectory for a moment. "Looks like it's carrying a message to their forward unit."
"Drop the 'most likely'," Drake said flatly, lowering his gaze. "It definitely is."
He didn't even need to think about it.
This was the Cloud main force sending instructions to their vanguard.
"Looks like their main army will arrive tonight or tomorrow," he concluded.
What he didn't know…
Was that this judgment, for once, was completely wrong.
The ninja hawk swooped down, circling above the border river before finally landing inside the Cloud fortifications.
"So the Raikage's orders are finally here…"
Troy let out a long breath and removed the message.
As the commander of the Cloud's forward force, these past two days had nearly crushed him.
Not only had their supply base been blown to pieces, but Minato Namikaze kept launching harassment attacks from across the river, grinding down over a hundred Cloud shinobi — even while they held the advantage of prepared fortifications.
"At least the main force should be arriving soon…"
Relaxing slightly, Troy opened the scroll.
And then froze.
"R-retreat…?"
He reread it twice, still unable to believe it.
The Cloud insignia was authentic.
The handwriting unmistakably belonged to the Raikage.
"Withdraw under cover of night… and avoid the supply station ruins?"
Why specifically avoid that area?
After a moment of thought, a possibility struck him.
"Is the Konoha team that destroyed the supply base actually that strong?"
But no matter how strong they were… stronger than the Raikage himself?
Still, orders were orders.
"As long as we regroup with the main force, everything will be clear."
"Gather everyone!"
Soon, two hundred Cloud shinobi assembled.
"By order of the Raikage, we are retreating tonight. We will bypass the supply base and return to the main force."
The moment he finished speaking, unrest broke out.
"Captain Troy! Minato Namikaze killed so many of our comrades! We're just leaving like this?!"
"So their deaths mean nothing?!"
"Let's launch a night raid! We can wipe out those Konoha genin on the hillside!"
Troy raised his hand, silencing them.
"Yes, we could raid them. But have you thought of the cost?"
Scanning his men, he continued coldly,
"You'll kill some genin — and lose even more of your own lives in exchange."
"Trading your lives for theirs? I won't allow it."
In the end, the raid was canceled.
Still, before retreating, Troy ordered large numbers of explosive tags to be planted inside and around the fortifications.
If Minato came snooping again, maybe he'd pay a bloody price.
Across the river.
Minato watched the hawk descend into the Cloud stronghold, his expression heavy.
The squads also stared tensely into the distance.
"It's over… the Cloud main force is coming," someone muttered.
"Coward," Obito scoffed, recognizing the voice as Ebisu's.
"Getting scared already?"
After being tempered by Drake multiple times, Obito's courage had skyrocketed.
He'd seen real chaos.
"All squads remain on high alert tonight," Minato ordered solemnly.
With darkness falling, even someone as confident as him wouldn't recklessly cross the river to scout.
It was a night none of them could sleep through.
Early the next morning.
Minato stealthily crossed the border river and approached the Cloud fortifications.
Carefully evading several explosive traps, he crept closer.
"No one?"
Staring at the abandoned structures filled only with scattered tags and devices, he fell into deep thought.
On a roadside tree trunk.
"Drake!"
Kakashi nudged him urgently.
"Mmm? Is it morning already?"
Rolling over on the branch, Drake nearly knocked Kakashi off.
"I found traces of a large number of shinobi passing through."
"Oh?"
Drake instantly sat up.
"Lead the way."
They moved through the forest, arriving at the base of the mountain they'd rested near before.
"Look here!"
Kakashi jumped onto a tree and pointed at mud-smeared footprints covering the trunk.
Drake examined them, then shifted his eyes to another tree.
More footprints.
Then another.
And another.
After inspecting over a dozen trees, he crouched in silence, thinking.
"These prints stretch from the border... toward Daimyō's territory."
"First — these aren't Konoha shinobi. That means only one thing… Cloud."
"So many… that's the entire forward unit."
"Damn it."
A curse escaped his lips.
They'd withdrawn.
And deliberately bypassed the ruined supply base.
"I actually miscalculated for once…"
He felt genuinely annoyed.
He'd spent the night guarding the roadside instead of the mountainside, thinking no one would come — only to have the entire Cloud unit sneak around and return home.
"If I'd stayed on the slope last night, I would've caught them for sure."
The Cloud's maneuvering was absurdly careful.
Too careful.
These bastards played way dirtier than he expected.
Kakashi didn't interrupt.
He knew that feeling — the frustration of being outplayed.
Eventually, when Drake's expression eased slightly, Kakashi stepped closer.
"So… what now?"
"We head back."
Drake's gaze sharpened.
"If even their forward unit retreated, their main force definitely won't take this route anymore."
He knew better than anyone — this wasn't the only way into the Land of Fire.
It was just the fastest.
The Cloud could just as easily detour through the Land of Waves…
Or even loop around the Sound region.
And once that happened, locating another supply base would become nearly impossible.
The hunting ground had expanded too much.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/SwipeSage