Only his eyes and nose were exposed; even his face was tightly wrapped in bandages.
"Who's that?"
Obito muttered under his breath.
"How should I know?" Hankuang shrugged.
"That's Morino Ibiki." Kakashi recognized the man.
Good grief.
How badly had he been injured to end up wrapped like that?
Seeing that all of Team 9 had arrived, Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the table, signaling for them to quiet down.
"Your mission this time is to head to Supply Station No. 3! Morino Ibiki will tell you the specific details."
"Get yourselves ready. We'll set out in an hour."
With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his head and continued reviewing documents.
An hour passed quickly.
Team 9 assembled and, together with Morino Ibiki, left the village.
"Hey! Is that you, Little Ibi?" Hankuang moved beside the bandaged man and nudged his shoulder.
"Hankuang, call me by my full name!" Morino Ibiki turned around, looking somewhat angry.
"You could've just turned your head. Why did you have to turn your whole body too?"
"Because my neck is injured."
All right. It seemed his injuries were rather serious.
Morino Ibiki and Hankuang had been in the same class. The difference was that after graduating, Hankuang joined Team 9, while the other man joined Team 3.
The main reason Hankuang hadn't recognized him at first was that he was wrapped up too tightly.
"Tell us about the mission," Hankuang asked.
"This mission is complicated."
Morino Ibiki then explained the reason for and details of the mission.
After hearing him out,
the members of Team 9 all looked listless.
Simply put, this mission required Team 9 to rebuild Supply Station No. 3, because the station had already been destroyed twice.
Given the circumstances, the Third Hokage had decided that the reconstruction of Supply Station No. 3 would be carried out by a ninja squad.
That way, reconstruction and defense could be handled together.
"So your injuries were caused by the Sand Ninja's demolition squad?" Hankuang asked again.
"That's right! And both of my teammates were killed too."
Morino Ibiki's voice carried a hint of sorrow.
His teammates had all died. He was the only one who had made it back alive.
"I see..." Hankuang stroked his chin.
Before a major battle, infiltration, sabotage, and assassination were standard operations for every ninja village.
The most important objective was to destroy supply stations within enemy territory.
That way, the frontline troops couldn't receive adequate supplies, and their combat strength would plummet.
The simplest example was this: Side A had an endless supply of kunai and Explosive Tags, while Side B had only a limited number!
The outcome went without saying.
His thoughts returned to the present.
"Rebuilding the supply station won't be difficult. The difficult part is whether we can defend it," Hankuang raised the question.
After all, Team 9, together with the partially disabled Morino Ibiki, amounted to only four and a half people.
How were they supposed to defend the supply station?
The Sand Ninja's demolition squad only needed to sneak over in the middle of the night and toss in a few Explosive Tags. The supply station would be gone.
"This mission is really difficult~~" Kakashi sighed as well.
Passive defense was manageable with a large number of people, but with few defenders, it created a huge disadvantage—especially when the enemy was hidden and they were exposed.
The following afternoon,
the group reached Supply Station No. 3, which had been reduced to ruins.
The reconstruction work began.
Kakashi held a hammer and hammered away with a series of clangs, fixing a wooden plank to a tree trunk.
Obito carried a pile of scattered wooden planks, busy enough to be sweating profusely.
Rin squatted on the ground and sorted the usable planks together with Morino Ibiki.
Only Hankuang...
He held a wooden plank in his left hand and a hammer in his right, staring blankly into space.
Ninjutsu: Gravity Sphere (A+ Rank) [Quality Evolution]
Staring at the doubled Rasengan, Hankuang was lost in thought.
"What's this supposed to be? The Rasengan doubled, and even its name got lost?"
According to his original guess, doubling the Ninjutsu should only change its rank, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
The name alone made it clear that this Ninjutsu had already deviated from the path of the Rasengan.
"If it doubles again, could it turn into Planetary Devastation?"
Hankuang made a bold guess.
"Hey! Everyone, look! Hankuang's slacking off!" Obito suddenly shouted.
Immediately afterward, the other three turned to look at the absentminded Hankuang.
"Don't say things like that. I'm thinking about a problem." Hankuang spoke with righteous conviction.
"Really?" Obito looked suspicious.
"Hankuang must be thinking of a way to defend the supply station." Rin spoke up in Hankuang's defense.
"Keep working." Kakashi remained expressionless.
This left Morino Ibiki somewhat confused.
That dead-last Hankuang was blatantly slacking off, yet Team 9 barely reacted?
Had they already gotten used to it?
Whoosh!!!
Just then, a strange gust of wind swept over from the distance.
Along with it came more than a dozen drifting Explosive Tags.
Seeing this,
the group quickly retreated more than ten meters.
Under everyone's watchful eyes,
the dozen-plus Explosive Tags drifted toward the supply station.
Boom!!
It exploded.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Vicious Slogans, Hankuang's Fishing Plan!
The explosion rang out, blasting apart a large number of wooden planks.
Smoke and dust billowed, carrying several tongues of flame with them.
Several charred wooden planks flew to their feet, as if displaying their grievances.
"Kakashi!"
Hankuang called out.
Whoosh!
Kakashi leaped forward and charged in the direction from which the gust had come.
Ten minutes later,
Team 9 and Morino Ibiki stood gathered around, looking at the blank Sealing Scroll on the ground.
"So you searched all around and this was all you found?" Hankuang frowned.
Before you continue