Information Retrieval

At dawn, darkness enveloped a small village.

Directly east of the village's surrounding wall, a large gate slowly opened. A team of three ninjas traveled together, and after leaving the village through the gate, they soon turned south.

It was clear that their basic abilities were decent. They could move at high speed while maintaining an appropriate level of vigilance.

They traveled in silence, hurrying along until nearly noon, when they finally decided to stop and rest for a while.

To conceal their movements, protect themselves, and ensure that their current mission proceeded normally, they obviously could not simply sit by the roadside like an old man out for a stroll and start resting.

The three found a dense forest. After conducting a brief reconnaissance from outside, they plunged inside.

The forest was an ideal place to rest. It offered a considerable degree of concealment, while also giving them enough time to react if anything unexpected happened.

However, after these three ninjas from the Tsugawa Clan entered the forest, a figure instantly dropped upside down from a large tree in front of them.

"Who... are... you...?"

The three ninjas instinctively reached for the Ninja Tool Bags at their waists, but by the time all three pairs of eyes turned toward the suddenly appearing "enemy," it was already too late.

Before they could make any effective response, those scarlet Three Tomoe Sharingan appeared in their pupils.

People in later generations summarized a method for dealing with the Sharingan. In short, it involved engaging in a righteous two-on-one: one person drew the enemy's attention from the front while another launched a sneak attack from behind.

It was unclear whether these three knew about the Sharingan or understood how to counter it, but they clearly had no chance to execute such a tactic.

Thus, they were "instantly killed." The wary, murderous expressions on their faces immediately turned utterly wooden.

"Tell me the basic circumstances of your Clan Leader, Clan Elders, and other higher-ups, including their residences, daily routines, and the clan's organizational structure..."

"Yes..."

This person was naturally Uchiha Nanami.

As she questioned them, she also tried to directly dig the valuable information out of their minds.

Seeing that Uchiha Nanami had subdued the enemies, the hidden Yuzhen and Fūma Kotarō also revealed themselves.

To avoid arousing the Tsugawa Clan's suspicions too early, Yuzhen and the others had acted very cautiously, choosing a location far from the village.

Moreover, after obtaining some intelligence, they had no intention of eliminating these three ninjas directly. Instead, after Uchiha Nanami erased all traces of the genjutsu, they let the three continue heading out to carry out their mission.

Under Uchiha Nanami's mental control, the three would not remember being attacked or controlled by genjutsu at all. They would rest in the forest for an hour according to their original plan, then set out again.

They did not sense anything unusual.

Fūma Kotarō, on the other hand, was so shocked by Uchiha Nanami's eyes that he nearly forgot to record the intelligence he had heard.

"You, you're... Uchiha..."

When the emotionless Three Tomoe Sharingan turned toward him, Fūma Kotarō immediately shut his mouth and instinctively lowered his head. Seriously, what normal person would dare meet the Sharingan's gaze?

Yuzhen had indeed mentioned that there were ninjas from a major clan among the Ashes, but Fūma Kotarō had not expected that clan to be as "major" as the Uchiha.

During combat missions, some topics were inconvenient to discuss in depth, but the shock brought by the Sharingan still changed some of Fūma Kotarō's attitudes.

"Shall we continue?" Uchiha Nanami asked Yuzhen.

"Of course. Proceed according to plan."

The three then left immediately.

That evening, they once again followed a team of Tsugawa Ninja heading out. The process was almost identical to the previous time, with Uchiha Nanami once again using genjutsu to extract information.

Then came the third time.

After cross-checking and consolidating the intelligence obtained from these three attempts, Yuzhen and the others gained a relatively complete understanding of the Tsugawa Clan's leadership structure.

"One Clan Leader, two Clan Elders, and five Combat Captains... They have five combat squads of around twenty people each. In other words, this ninja clan's organization is flat and monotonous. As long as we deal with these few ninjas, it will be equivalent to destroying the brain of the Tsugawa Clan." Yuzhen summarized.

Fūma Kotarō nodded. With clear intelligence supporting them, he felt that the chances of completing the mission had increased greatly.

All right, the truth was that it was not the intelligence that gave Fūma Kotarō confidence, but another companion... The Uchiha name was indeed useful.

"Yes. Next, I'll begin the infiltration operation and deal with the other higher-ups one by one, leaving the Clan Leader aside. I'll tighten the pressure step by step in order to create panic. Once the panic spreads... In short, I hope their endurance isn't too strong."

Yuzhen began calculating his targets... One Village Committee Director would be left alone for the time being, while the other two deputy directors and five production-team leaders were to be eliminated as thoroughly as possible.

It sounded like a petty squabble. If Yuzhen had to give his combat plan a name, it would probably be something like the "Village Committee Collapse Plan."

"The first phase of the combat plan has been completed perfectly. Now that we've obtained sufficient intelligence, we'll begin the second phase. Yuzhen will be responsible for infiltration, while we'll remain outside the village," Uchiha Nanami said.

The two obviously were not simply waiting outside. To support Yuzhen's actions, they would now be free to hunt any Tsugawa Ninja who ventured out.

However, before the second phase began...

Uchiha Nanami first handed Yuzhen a small blood vial, then used the Summoning Technique to summon a half-human-height White Fox.

"I synchronized my senses with my Summoning Beast, so it can help you identify the main targets... Hmm, its name is Xiao Qi." She pointed at the White Fox.

Uchiha Nanami had invaded the minds of Tsugawa Ninja with genjutsu, allowing her to recognize the higher-ups of the Tsugawa Clan directly. However, she assumed that Yuzhen was immune to her genjutsu, so she naturally concluded that she could not transmit those facial details to him through genjutsu.

Therefore, she decided to use her Summoning Beast to help Yuzhen complete the infiltration plan.

Find the targets with a fox? Yuzhen looked at the White Fox. It seemed reasonable enough. After all, foxes were also canids.

He did not correct Uchiha Nanami's impression of him, much less explain that his resistance to genjutsu was not a passive skill but an active one... No normal person would want someone messing around inside their brain.

Yuzhen accepted the blood vial and thought, Since it's Nanami's Summoning Beast, is that why it's called Xiao Qi? What a simple naming system.

"The vial may not be needed, but I'll take it for now."

The White Fox seemed like an elegant creature, but when Yuzhen carefully examined Uchiha Nanami's Summoning Beast, he noticed that it had somewhat chubby cheeks, making it look rather adorably foolish.

There was no need to dwell on it. Yuzhen then infiltrated that village shrouded in darkness.