New Operation

"Lord Sakumo, all twenty squads have arrived."

A Chunin stood beside Sakumo and reported in a low voice.

Sakumo squinted, waved his hand to dismiss the Chunin was reporting, and strode into the training ground with four Jonin, standing in front of the sixty people.

The cold night wind howled, the damp air making it heavy and even suppressing the burning flames, which dimmed instantly. Everyone's feet went numb from the cold, but they still stood ramrod straight, and no one moved.

"You must be wondering why I've summoned you all so late at night. Many of you just came down from the battlefield during the day. Logically speaking, I shouldn't be disturbing your rest at this time..." Sakumo began.

"An order should be obeyed without question."

The young Jonin standing to Sakumo's left spoke in Jonin voice. His angular face was very dignified, and his dark eyes seemed to be burning with flames. The emblem of the Fire Fan Clan could be seen on his collar.

This Uchiha fellow dared to interrupt in this setting; he was clearly quite bold. Coincidentally, Katsuki also knew him: Uchiha Fugaku, one of the strong candidates for the next Uchiha clan leader. Moreover, according to his memories from his previous life, he had successfully been elected as the Uchiha Clan leader.

Katsuki knew Fugaku, but the two had never spoken. Uchiha Fugaku was much older than them. While they were still hanging out at the Ninja Academy, Fugaku was already a genius ninja of the Uchiha Clan, active on the battlefield.

Because of my association with Otoha and Otome, I've seen them a few times from afar in the Uchiha Clan's territory.

"Yes, that's right. Obeying orders is a ninja's nature, but you must also cherish your comrades..." Sakumo was not angry at Uchiha Fugaku's interruption.

"Listen to my command!" Sakumo's voice suddenly turned cold, tightening the already tense nerves of the group even further. "You, the thirty-second squad, will infiltrate the Sand Village's occupied territory to investigate their food and fodder storage locations."

It turned out to be reconnaissance work behind enemy lines.

"Hiss!"

Upon realizing what Sakumo had said, gasps of cold air rang out one after another, and even Katsuki's eyes widened.

Even though everyone knew that the order personally issued by Sakumo was certainly not simple, infiltrating behind enemy lines to search for the location of the Sand Ninja's food depot was definitely the most difficult mission. To say that it was a matter of nine deaths and one life was an understatement; it would be normal to say that there was no chance of survival.

Because Konoha had spent a very long time in the Land of Rain, the information about the Black Tail Mountain granary was no secret. Meanwhile, the location where the Sand Village stored its provisions had not yet been exposed. Sakumo had sent many people over and over, but still hadn't been able to find out.

However, all that effort was not in vain; four locations have been successfully identified, and the Sand Village's food depot must be one of them.

Like Konoha, the Sand Village was also fighting on foreign soil in the Land of Rain. The supplies they needed had to be transported from the Land of Wind. Moreover, the Sand Village was not as wealthy as Konoha, so their supplies were even more precious. They felt the pain of losing even a little bit. Therefore, they set up several fake locations to hide the real locations of the supply depots.

It must be said that this strategy was very effective, preventing Konoha from obtaining accurate intelligence for so long.

Otherwise, given Konoha's strength, if they could pinpoint the location of the Sand Village's food depot, organizing a strong attack would obviously be more likely than the Sand Village conquering Black Tail Mountain.

"Twenty teams, divided into four groups, each led by a Jonin. As long as we're careful, our chances of survival are pretty good," Sakumo added, silencing the crowd.

Having Jonin leading the team does offer some reassurance, even though the mortality rate is still high, it's better than nothing.

Sakumo quickly separated the twenty squads. The four Jonin beside him, including Uchiha Fugaku, each took five squads with them. For some reason, Sakumo assigned Katsuki and his squad to Uchiha Fugaku's command.

Five squads, fifteen people in total, plus Uchiha Fugaku, the Jonin captain, making a total of sixteen people.

The three of them, including Katsuki, stood together, their faces not looking too good. No matter how confident they were in themselves, they couldn't stay calm in the face of such a messed-up task.

Infiltrating behind enemy lines is practically the same as committing suicide.

Not to mention searching for the enemy's grain depots; one can imagine how heavily defended such strategic locations are—it would be an understatement to say they're like lambs to the slaughter.

"Meet at the camp gate first thing tomorrow morning. I don't want to see anyone late. Dismissed."

With a stern face, Uchiha Fugaku exuded a powerful and authoritative aura, enough to scare away anyone who dared not utter a word.

Watching Uchiha Fugaku drive away, the group dispersed in twos and threes, exchanging few words with each other, leaving in their original team compositions, muttering amongst themselves about the mission.

The Katsuki Team slowly retraced their steps and left, not going too fast, as they needed to exchange words before parting ways.

"Katsuki, isn't this mission to infiltrate the Sand Village's rear a bit too much? I feel like it's going to kill us!" Nawaki said with a long face, looking a little uneasy.

Although this kid is talkative and carefree, he's not the kind of hot-blooded fool who acts recklessly. On the contrary, he's very rational, as evidenced by his performance on the battlefield. He can quickly understand his teammates' intentions and execute beautiful teamwork.

"Just be careful! There's nothing I can do."

Katsuki was also having a headache. Sakumo had mentioned it once before, but he didn't expect to take action so quickly. He was feeling uneasy and anxious. The mortality rate of this kind of mission was too high. Accepting the mission was like boarding a train to hell.

"But I'm just a Genin!"

Nawaki almost burst into tears.

"Well······"

Katsuki was speechless. This was indeed a mess. For such an important mission, the weakest participants were usually Chunin. How could Genin participate in such a dangerous mission?

"Complaining is useless; you should think more about how to save your life!"

A rare look of frustration appeared on the Otome's face. Being assigned such a dangerous mission, the girl was not calm at all. It would be a lie to say that she did not feel a sense of crisis. Although the others were powerful, their age was a factor, and their strength had its limits.

"Hey, you guys don't need to be so down, do you? Didn't Fugaku tell you?"

A gentle yet magnetic voice rang out, and Sakumo, maintaining his elusive speed, stood to the side before anyone even realized it.

"Teacher, what did you tell us?"

Katsuki stared wide-eyed at Sakumo, while Nawaki and Otome wore similar expressions, looking blankly like two quails.

"Ugh! Fugaku's temper is really something..."

Sakumo sighed deeply, finding the Uchiha Clan's genius quite a headache.