Infiltration Operation

Night, 2:00 a.m.

Konoha was under a wartime market curfew, and the village now lay shrouded in darkness, with only a few households still lit.

Most of the village's electrical supply had been diverted to a handful of special locations, such as the Hokage Building and military factories for ninja tools. Even the gambling dens and pleasure districts, bustling even in peacetime, had lost their former revelry.

Under the dim moonlight, figures could occasionally be glimpsed flashing across rooftops and eaves. Most wore gray-black combat uniforms and masks, warily scanning their surroundings.

On the streets, one could only occasionally spot a person getting off work this late.

War was not merely the steel, blood, fire, victories, and sacrifices of the front lines. It also rested on rear-echelon production, transportation support, and the gathering and defense of intelligence.

Just like at this moment, inside an unknown little house.

Members of three Iwagakure squads gathered around an unlit table, carefully listening to the plan explained by the man seated at its center.

The briefing did not take long. Everyone's assignments were clear enough.

After changing his disguise, "Mr. Kojima" solemnly said at last:

"Does everyone understand?"

"Yes."

Even though they had lowered their voices, the eyes of every Iwagakure ninja present made their stance clear.

"Very good!"

"Now, begin the mission!"

The Iwagakure ninja, having removed their forehead protectors, concealed their faces, and stripped away every identifiable marker, did not linger. They proceeded in orderly squads toward the underground passage constructed with Earth Release in the corner of the room, utterly resolute.

"Mr. Kojima"—or rather, Thousand-Faced Ash Soil, who had roamed the intelligence world of the Five Great Nations for over a decade, completing countless reconnaissance missions for his village and earning an immense reputation—quietly watched them leave.

He knew that most of them would die in Konoha Ninja hands today, just like the group from that morning, in deaths that seemed utterly meaningless.

But this had to be done.

They had to obtain Tsunade's Team's mission intelligence as quickly as possible.

At this very moment, the Third Tsuchikage was at the Earth-Lightning Front, leading his troops in a grueling war of attrition against Cloud Village's main force.

If they wanted to assassinate the Third Tsuchikage, collapse the front, and plunge Iwagakure and the Land of Earth into internal chaos, then now was the best opportunity.

The people of Iwagakure understood this. Naturally, Konoha understood it as well.

Ash Soil contemplated in silence.

At last, he resolutely stepped toward the depths of hell.

"Yawn—"

Outside the Sealed Archive.

A boy who looked barely twelve or thirteen yawned long and hard, rubbing at his sleepy eyes as he grumbled, "Sensei, isn't it time to change shifts yet?"

"Quiet."

The one leading this Genin squad was a middle-aged Jonin who looked to be in his thirties. A cigarette hung from his mouth as he leaned against the wall beside the Sealed Archive's door.

Yet, seeing the boy's still somewhat childish face, about the same age as his own son, he could not help but add:

"Just a little longer."

"Seriously." The young Genin propped his cheek in his hand as he stared boredly at the night outside the window. "This kind of mission is actually C-rank? We're not going to be stuck doing boring things like this from now on, are we?"

"Enough, Shuichi!" the girl beside him scolded. "Don't say something so willful while carrying out a mission."

"Yes~"

The boy dragged out his response, his back turned toward the exterior window that had only recently been repaired.

Yet, almost at the exact instant his voice sounded.

A kunai thrust out from the darkness and suddenly pierced the Genin's neck.

"Shhk—"

The kunai was pulled free.

Scarlet blood splashed through the air.

"Shuichi!"

The dazed girl cried out instinctively.

The experienced middle-aged Jonin had already moved first. He lunged out, seized the arm extending from the darkness, and yanked it hard backward.

"Pop."

With the sound of a stopper being pulled, the "arm" with its lit fuse came away in his hand.

The Jonin's reaction speed was astonishing. In the blink of an eye, he hurled the explosive out through the window, then rapidly formed Hand Seals.

"Water Release: Water Wall!"

In a waterless environment, he formed the simplest possible single Hand Seal and abruptly created a wall of water large enough to surround all three of them, perfectly demonstrating why he was a Ninjutsu Type Jonin.

The thunderous blast outside instantly put every worker in the Hokage Building on alert, and they looked toward the shattered window.

Beneath the dark night sky, the blaze was terrifying.

Almost at the instant the sound rang out, four figures completely wrapped in black charged toward the three people enclosed by water at astonishing speed—the Sealed Archive's door stood behind them.

Yet, at the instant they appeared.

"Bang, bang, bang—"

More than a dozen figures, some in Anbu uniforms and others in Uchiha Police Force vests, burst through the exterior windows and surrounded the squad.

Uchiha Yayoi stood at the forefront, staring coldly at the four with her scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

She had realized while examining the corpses during the day that the big fish had yet to take the bait.

She had only expected to stake out the place for several more days. She had not expected them to show up so quickly.

Yet, despite being surrounded by more than a dozen ninja, the suicide squad at the center behaved as if they had noticed nothing.

Their leader sneered and ripped open his black shirt.

Beneath it was a vest covered in Explosive Tag Seals.

Uchiha Yayoi's pupils contracted sharply.

The next moment.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion roared like thunder.

But it had not come from this floor.

Not only Uchiha Yayoi, but many of those present instinctively looked up toward the floor above them.

The fourth floor was the Hokage's Office.

A diversion!

Could their target have been the Hokage's Office from the very beginning?!

Almost everyone had the same thought.

"Quick!"

"Capture these ones first!"

Uchiha Yayoi had no time to think further and immediately gave orders to her companions.

At the same time, she had already rushed ahead toward the foremost suicide squad member.

The genjutsu she had long prepared within her Sharingan erupted at once.

"Demonic Illusion: Sharingan!"

The Iwagakure suicide squad member who had just torn open his Explosive Tag Vest froze for an instant, a flicker of confusion appearing in his eyes.

But the companion behind him, eyes closed and expression savage, shoved him forward while pouring chakra into his Explosive Tag Vest.

"Boom!"

Another explosion erupted.

The suicide squad member's body was instantly torn apart. A mist of blood mixed with scattered limbs exploded in every direction. Even tiny bone fragments were as sharp as shuriken, striking the walls with a rapid series of crackling impacts, while a massive breach was blasted through the corridor floor and the building's outer wall.

Uchiha Yayoi, who had charged at the front, was swept up in the explosion's smoke and dust. She rolled to the other side to bleed off the force, half her body stained by vividly colored blood.

Damn it.

The tomoe in the girl's eyes seemed to spin even faster with her violent anger.

The three Iwagakure suicide squad members who had prepared for this used the force of the blast's aftermath to launch themselves toward the other end at tremendous speed, their bodies covered in tiny wounds.

Without hesitation, the blades in their hands aimed at several clearly younger and inexperienced ninja, intending to use them as a point of breakthrough.

Before the operation began, they had known they were destined to die.

But even in death, they had to take down several enemies who might one day appear on the battlefield against their village.

At the same time.

Fourth floor.

Led by Ash Soil, two genuine elite squads poured through the breach created by the explosion and surged into the Hokage's Office at top speed.