Changes on the Frontline

In truth, the five great nations did not border one another.

Like wings, each great nation was surrounded by a ring of smaller countries that served as buffers.

In peacetime, these smaller nations were exploited as vassals, their resources stripped away. When war came, they became battlefields, keeping the fighting from erupting within the great nations' own borders.

So although it was called a border region, the Konoha Ninja encampment was essentially already on the border of the Land of Rain. As the meeting point of the Sand, Stone, and Konoha villages, this place had always been fiercely contested.

The other regions were either too vast or exceptionally troublesome. Only the Land of Rain was suited for the three great nations to wage a grinding war. Thus, Konoha's battlefield was generally divided into two routes: the eastern Land of Rain front against the Sand Ninja and Stone Ninja, and the western Land of Hot Springs front against the Cloud Ninja.

Meanwhile, Mist Village lay isolated overseas. Even if they paid attention to it, there was only so much they could do. The very existence of the coastline made defending against the Mist Ninja extremely difficult.

Thus, their usual deployment involved defense and reconnaissance around, or even within, the Land of Rain.

The Sannin were stationed there, guarding against surprise attacks from the other two great nations.

The cost of doing so was that, aside from the Land of Hot Springs defense line, the other directions were relatively poorly defended. But there was no choice. The Land of Rain absolutely could not be abandoned. As the bridgehead linking the three great nations, if any two nations reached an agreement, the third would be utterly ruined.

Unlike the isolated Cloud Village and Mist Village, the relationships between the other nations were more complicated and delicate. They had to keep watch on one another. The weakness of the other fronts was unavoidable unless Konoha could somehow conjure another high-ranking Ninja out of thin air.

But that Ninja had been confirmed dead a month ago. It was difficult for Konoha to pull out any more top-tier combat power for support, so they could only place their bets on the Land of Rain.

Yet the Sannin, the highest commanders in the Land of Rain region, were now silently racing through the night.

The other jonin and Chunin who should have been supporting them were not at their side. Once the Sannin unleashed their full speed and strength, they could easily be caught in the crossfire, and their presence could also expose the surrounding arrangements.

Yet even with the Sannin tracking them at full strength, all they could see were the backs of the mysterious pair. It even felt as though those two were deliberately leading them on, maintaining a distance where they flickered in and out of sight while allowing the Sannin to pursue them.

"Shouldn't we notify someone in advance?"

Jiraiya, racing through the forest, looked at his two silent companions behind him and asked curiously,

"We're the ones commanding the Land of Rain right now. It feels a little wrong to just rush out like this—"

"We have to catch those two. They left documents in the command tent before walking out. Even if their intentions are friendly, we need to know exactly who they are."

"Tsunade is right. Enemies with abilities like that are probably no ordinary foes. The three of us together is the safest option."

Tsunade and Orochimaru immediately cut Jiraiya off. Each stared at the two figures in Haori ahead, both feeling a chill in their hearts.

They had seen with their own eyes how those two had entered their command tent, placed documents on the table as though no one else existed, then swaggered out through the front entrance.

They did not know why everyone else acted as though they could not see them, but the Sannin had instinctively charged straight after the two figures. Their instincts told them those two carried an enormous secret.

They had not informed anyone else partly because they had absolute confidence. With the strength of their team, dealing with two mysterious Ninja should not have been a problem. On the other hand, judging by how the pair had entered and left the tent, the lower-ranking Ninja probably could not see them at all.

There was also another important reason.

But everyone felt that it should not have counted as a reason.

Staring at one of the two figures in white Haori, Tsunade bit her lip and prayed that her intuition was only an illusion.

"...Mm. This will do."

The slightly shorter figure of the pair, with a head of messy hair, suddenly spoke.

The two figures in Haori abruptly stopped in a clearing within the forest, causing the Sannin to land some distance behind them.

Before the Sannin could demand to know who they were, the two strangely dressed men directly challenged them instead, making it difficult to tell which side the pair belonged to.

"You three deliberately left so many clues behind, yet you only caught up at a time like this. Has the so-called Sannin been exaggerated?"

The leader looked at the pursuing Sannin with dissatisfaction and rebuked them in a low voice,

"Whether it was the route you chose or the guards you arranged, how were you planning to deal with an enemy who excelled at infiltration? By chasing them out like this and leaving the main camp exposed to the other Ninja villages?"

"You are... Konoha Ninja? From the Uchiha Clan...?"

Seeing the two figures wearing white Haori, Konoha insignias on their heads, and masks over their faces, the Sannin who had chased them out of the tent froze where they stood.

The man standing in front and rebuking them had not covered his eyes. A pair of Three Tomoe Sharingan was enough to prove that he belonged to the Uchiha Clan.

The back of his Haori bore the character for "Six," and together with the Uchiha Gunbai crest, it looked rather imposing.

But what truly made the Sannin tremble from the bottom of their hearts was the figure behind that Uchiha. His moon-white long hair made all of them think of a name they had remembered for a very long time.

Tsunade's boyfriend. A supporter of Konoha's Medical Ninja system. A renowned Konoha powerhouse who had mastered the Spirit Transformation Technique. With that moon-white long hair and slightly slender frame, every one of the Sannin had reason to remember him.

Dan Katō.

The white-haired man suspected to be Dan Katō stood beside the Uchiha, wearing an animal mask as he looked at them.

"Dan... is that you?"

Why...

Looking at the man among the two who wore a Haori marked with "Two" on its back and embroidered with Lycoris Radiata around its edges, Tsunade's pupils began to tremble.

She would never mistake that figure for anyone else.

Even though she could not sense any Chakra, even if all that remained was a shadow, the sight of that moon-white hair and familiar figure made a piercing pain bloom within Tsunade.

How could she possibly fail to recognize what her beloved looked like? That gentle, scholarly figure—Tsunade would recognize him even if he had turned to ashes.

That was Dan Katō.

Dan Katō, who had once been confirmed dead. Dan Katō, Konoha's war hero.

Even with the situation still unclear, the princess of the Senju Clan could not help taking a step forward. She stared at that familiar figure in disbelief and called out softly.

"Dan... are you alive now?"

"..."

"Dan! Why won't you say anything?! Is it you?! Did someone use a forbidden technique to summon you?! Answer me, Dan!"

"..."

The two masked figures in white Haori stood there silently, ignoring Tsunade's grief-stricken cries.

The air seemed to have frozen. Tsunade looked painfully at her beloved hiding behind a mask, and it felt as though her heart were being torn apart.

Looking at Tsunade's despairing expression, the white-robed figure addressed as Dan Katō spoke quietly to his companion.

"...Continue according to the plan."

"Yeah. I know."

Facing the Sannin, the two figures in white Haori slowly drew two sharp blades from their sleeves.

A cold wind blew through the forest at night, rustling through the sparse trees.

Under the white moon, something unimaginable seemed to be unfolding in this place.

The two long blades flashing with cold light beneath the moon were reflected in the Sannin's pupils. The two mysterious visitors in Haori and masks slowly held their blades horizontally before them.

In an instant, an invisible pressure descended without warning, as though the world itself were rejecting them, making the Sannin stagger instinctively. That formless pressure slowly spread with their movements, even making it difficult for the Sannin to breathe.

What is this?!

The sudden pressure caused the Sannin, who had been planning to secretly form hand seals and summon their beasts, to lose their opening. They could only watch as the blades in the pair's hands released a dazzling white glow.

"Pseudo-Shikai."

Their low voices overlapped, intertwining in the darkness like quiet weeping.

"Burn again, Jiejin."

"Separate, Spirit Self."

Light and shadow intertwined, and a bizarre cry rang inside everyone's hearts.

In an instant, only Jiraiya and the mysterious Uchiha remained in the empty forest clearing.

Faced with that surreal sight, Jiraiya's eyes widened. He could not believe his two teammates had simply vanished before his eyes.

"—!"

He could not sense them.

He still could not sense anything.

As though everything were an illusion, as though Jiraiya himself had gone mad, he could feel nothing at all.

Only a growing, crushing pressure filled his entire body, as if nature itself were opposing him, as if the whole world were hostile toward him.

Jiraiya glared furiously at the Uchiha Clan figure beneath the white moon, whose blade had become a Withered Branch, and finally shouted,

"Who the hell are you?! You're clearly Konoha Ninja, so why are you doing this?!"

"...Precisely because we are Konoha Ninja, we have to do this."

The pressure surrounding him suddenly loosened.

The next second, with a muffled thud, Jiraiya watched helplessly as the Uchiha Clan Ninja holding the Withered Branch instantly pierced his shoulder.

As blood sprayed out, the Three Tomoe pupils visible behind the mask stared at Jiraiya's shocked expression, as though they intended to pour something into his soul through the Withered Branch and those eyes.

"Precisely because I am a Konoha Ninja, I have to do this. My... junior!"