Patrol Squad

"Someone crossed the border here."

The red-haired boy crouched on the riverbank, rubbed a handful of mud and sand between his fingers, and spoke with absolute certainty.

"Three people, two adults and one child. They left not long ago."

Before he had even finished speaking, another red-haired girl arrived at the scene.

As she spoke, another five people rushed over.

"A mudslide occurred at Silver Peak Mountain yesterday, cutting off the road connecting to the Land of Rivers. Maybe they were travelers who came through the forest?"

The ninja leading the group frowned.

"No. There's something under the water."

A boy with pure white pupils formed hand seals. Veins at the corners of his eyes bulged like little snakes as he scanned the slightly murky river.

"Found it."

The boy leaped into the river and dove straight down. Five or six seconds later, he surfaced again, swam ashore, and clenched a shuriken tightly in his hand.

"A shuriken?"

The lead ninja took the shuriken that had fallen to the riverbed and lightly weighed it in his hand. His expression immediately turned grave.

"Well, damn. This is a standard Sunagakure shuriken."

Shuriken were weapons widely used by ninja, and the shuriken forged by different ninja villages were all distinct. Do not assume these little things were all alike. They might look the same, but they were not.

Whether heavier or lighter, larger or smaller, even the slightest differences mattered. Depending on the environmental conditions of each village, their shuriken were made differently. The most obvious example was the exceptional rust resistance of Mist Ninja shuriken.

In a place like the Land of Water, where moisture hung thick in the air, ordinary shuriken would rust into scrap metal within ten days to half a month. Only by mixing in rust-resistant materials could that be prevented. Likewise, shuriken from every country had many differences. Newcomers might not see anything unusual, but experts could tell at a glance.

Sunagakure shuriken were several degrees heavier than Konoha's, with rougher edges. Judging by its corrosion, this one had clearly fallen here recently.

"There are still traces of chakra on it. Someone probably infused it with chakra this morning—Wind Release chakra." After sensing it, Katsuki made his judgment while eyeing the shuriken.

"Two adults and a child. No matter what, this shuriken is enough to show that their identities aren't simple. They definitely aren't ordinary people."

At the mention of chakra, the voice of Ninomiya Hao, the spiky-haired Konoha jonin, instantly turned cold.

"We can't let them get too far. Minato, use a Ninja Hawk to send this information to the nearby garrison. We'll pursue them. There's a ninety percent chance they're ninja—spies who infiltrated our country. Prepare for battle."

Minato quickly whistled, stuffed the intelligence Otome had written into the bamboo tube on the Ninja Hawk's back, and the seven-person squad began following the traces their targets had left behind. Three members of the team possessed reconnaissance abilities, so they were not worried about losing the trail.

It was now the thirty-fourth year of Konoha, in the late summer.

More than a year—nearly two years—had passed since Kushina became the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Hiruzen had not gone back on his word. As he had said, he did not force them to attend school. After several discussions, they were issued temporary forehead protectors and began training under the guidance of a jonin. Over nearly two years, they had gone from taking on all sorts of odd jobs to properly carrying out standard patrol missions.

They had grown considerably.

Katsuki, Kushina, Minato, Otoha, Otome, and that fellow Hyuga Tenzan were patrolling the western border under the leadership of the jonin Ninomiya Hao. This place bordered the Land of Rivers, and beyond the Land of Rivers lay the Land of Wind.

At this point, it was necessary to mention the current state of the Second Shinobi World War.

The war had already lasted nearly three years, and the Land of Rain had been thoroughly ravaged. It was not just Konoha and the Rain Ninja fighting there. The Land of Earth and the Land of Wind had successively invaded the Land of Rain to take advantage of the chaos. Already crushed beneath Konoha's pressure, the Rain Ninja had nearly collapsed. Had Hanzō not displayed his might on the battlefield and checked the advance of Sunagakure and the Stone Ninja, Amegakure might have fallen.

After that, the war fell into a stalemate. The Land of Rain was engulfed in warfare everywhere, a complete mess, and the situation had become chaotic to the extreme.

Then, for some reason, Sunagakure clashed with Konoha. The two sides began fighting in the Land of Rain, and relations between Sunagakure and Konoha rapidly worsened. Thus, Hiruzen strengthened the patrol forces along the Land of Rivers border, and Katsuki's group had been sent here.

Unexpectedly, it seemed they had really caught a few small fish today.

On a forest path, a man and a woman traveled in a bedraggled state. The man carried a large bundle over his shoulder, while the woman held the hand of a boy around thirteen or fourteen years old. They looked like refugees. The Land of Rivers was not peaceful, and residents who could no longer survive often fled to the Land of Fire in search of a living. It was a common sight.

However, the moment they spoke, it became clear that they were not refugees.

"We should be outside the Konoha patrol squad's range of activity by now, right?"

The brown-haired boy could not help asking. He looked around at the towering forest trees; he had never seen such a sight before.

"Rasa, watch your words. We are refugees from the Land of Rivers now. Don't say such stupid things. Speak in a way that fits your identity, and think before you open your mouth." The man turned back and coldly reprimanded him.

"I understand."

The boy named Rasa curled his lip, but obediently admitted his mistake.

"Enough. We should be safe by now. Let's find somewhere to settle down first and establish our identities." The woman stepped in to smooth things over.

The man nodded and continued on in silence, his face full of worry. He truly looked like someone who had suffered a disaster.

Yet they had not gone far when Rasa's brows twitched. A sudden sense of alarm seized him. The man and woman also stopped, staring warily around them.

"You three certainly put a great deal of thought into this. You went to such lengths to infiltrate our Land of Fire. May I ask what business you have here?" A cold voice echoed through the forest, making it impossible to determine where it came from.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two shuriken shot out from behind them, aimed at the man and woman's necks.

With two crisp clangs, the shuriken were knocked away and split into four pieces, embedding deeply into the tree trunks.

Impressive!

Hidden in the shadows, Ninomiya Hao's pupils contracted. That man was very strong, already at the level of a Special Jonin, and he possessed the rare Wind Release Technique.

Of course, that rarity was only relative to Konoha. In Sunagakure, at least six out of ten people possessed Wind Release chakra. No one knew whether it was due to geography or bloodline. The other nations were much the same: Stone Ninja excelled at Earth Release, Cloud Ninja specialized in Lightning Release, and among Mist Ninja, Water Release reigned supreme.

By comparison, Konoha was a massive melting pot, with people practicing every kind of elemental release.